1895 Scott 5 4g lilac brown "Lion of Judah" Note the Anharic numerals!Quick History Ethiopia (or Abyssinia) lies in northeast Africa. The Capital is Addis Ababa, and the population was 10,000,000 in 1939. Stamps were first issued in 1895, and stamp issues and surcharges and overprints ( In Amharic) continued until 1936, when the Italians occupied the land. Ethiopia has been a monarchy for most of its existence. It is one of the few countries in Africa to not be colonialized by a foreign power, except for the Italian occupation of 1936-41. Ethiopia was under the reign of Emperor Menelik II from 1889 to 1913. But it was Emperor Haile Selassie who most influenced 20th century Ethiopia. Then known as Tafari Makonnen, he became Ras and Regent for Empress Zewditu I, and was the de facto ruler since 1916. After Zewditu's death, Tafari became Emperor Haile Selassie in 1930. 1919 Scott 127 8g olive green & black brown "African elephant" The reprints are on brownish cracked gum, while the originals have smooth white gum Big Blue PictureBig Blue '97, on six pages, has 78 stamp spaces for regular, semi-postal, air post, postage due, and occupation categories. The 2011 Scott Classic specialized catalogue has 323 major stamp descriptions. Coverage by BB is 24%. Comments.... A) Ethiopia is a specialist's delight! Numerous overprints ( with errors), and not too expensive. I wouldn't mind delving deeper into Ethiopia. B) BB only gives the BB collector the "tip of the iceberg". The major issues are given a space, but as stated in A), there is so much more. C) Many of the major issues ( 1919 Scott 120-134, 1930 Scott 210-216, 1931 232-241, Air post 1931 C11-C17) in BB have reprints that are much cheaper. If one wants to be aware of them (and not pay too much for a "reprint"), one will need to be aware of the paper, ink and gum for each issue. The specifics are in the Scott catalogue. D) Amharic script is tough to decipher sometimes, including the denomination. One will need to pay particular attention. E) Plenty of stamps-mostly surcharge/overprinted- that are inexpensive (
