IT'S NOT JUST A HOBBY


Thursday, July 22, 2010

Argentina - Coat of Arms 1966


Argentina - Coat of Arms 1966:

10 Pesos
- National Coat of Arms
10 Pesos - Buenos Aires
10 Pesos - Capital Federal
10 Pesos - Catamarca
10 Pesos - Cordoba
10 Pesos - Corrientes
10 Pesos - Chaco
10 Pesos - Chubut
10 Pesos - Entre Rios
10 Pesos - Formosa
10 Pesos - Jujuy
10 Pesos - La Pampa
10 Pesos - La Rioja
10 Pesos - Mendoza
10 Pesos - Misiones
10 Pesos - Neuquen
10 Pesos - Salta
10 Pesos - San Juan
10 Pesos - San Luis
10 Pesos - Santa Cruz
10 Pesos - Santa Fe
10 Pesos - Santiago del Estero
10 Pesos - Tucuman
10 Pesos - Rio Negro Province
10 Pesos - Tierra del Fuego, Antartica and South Atlantic Islands Province

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Turkish Cyprus - Europa, Folklore 1981

Ireland - Folklore 1980

North Korea, National Costumes (Knight Suit of The Li Dynasty) 1979

Liechtenstein - Medieval Singers 1962


0.20 CHF - Konig Konradin
0.30 CHF - Kraft von Toggenburg
0.40 CHF - Heinrich von Veldig
2.00 CHF - Der Tannhaufer

Liechtenstein - Minne Singers 1961


0.15 CHF - her Heinrich vo Frowenberg
0.25 CHF - her Ulrich von Liechtenftein
0.35 CHF - her Ulrich von Gutenberg
1.00 CHF - her Chunral vo Altfietten
1.50 CHF - her Walther vo der Vogelweide

Liechtenstein - Medieval Singers 1963


0.25 CHF - Heinrich von Sax
0.30 CHF - Kriftan von Hamle
0.75 CHF - Werner von Teufen
1.70 CHF - Hartmann von Aue

Liechtenstein - Medieval Singers 1970


0.30 CHF - Wolfram von Efchenbach
0.50 CHF - Reinmar der Fiedler
0.80 CHF - Hartmann von Starkenberg
1.20 CHF - Friedrich von Hausen

Liechtenstein - Coat of Arms 1980


0.40 CHF - Buchel 1690
0.70 CHF - Marxer 1745
0.80 CHF - Frick 1503
1.10 CHF - Oehri 1634


Liechtenstein - Coat of Arms 1981


0.40 CHF - Meier 1748
0.70 CHF - Kindle 1534
0.80 CHF - Negele 1600
1.10 CHF - Matt 1693

Liechtenstein - Coat of Arms 1982


0.40 CHF - Kaiser 1664
0.70 CHF - Kaufmann 1748
0.80 CHF - Walser 1690
1.10 CHF - Banzer 1658

Liechtenstein - Coat of Arms 1966


0.20 CHF - herren von Richenftein
0.30 CHF - Junker Vaifni
0.60 CHF - Edle von Trifun
1.20 CHF - die von Schiel

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Turkish Cyprus - Traditional Costumes 2002

250,000 Turkish Lira -
300,000 Turkish Lira -
425,000 Turkish Lira -
700,000 Turkish Lira -

Turkish Cyprus - Police Uniforms 2001


125,000 Turkish Lira -
200,000 Turkish Lira -
500,000 Turkish Lira -
750,000 Turkish Lira -

Turkish Cyprus - Traditional Costumes 1987


20 Turkish Lira - Turkish Cyprus Folklore
50 Turkish Lira - Turkish Cyprus Folklore
200 Turkish Lira - Turkish Cyprus Folklore
1000 Turkish Lira - Turkish Cyprus Folklore

Turkish Cyprus - Karagoz Theatre 1986


Karagoz

In the foregoing chapter I have touched in passing on karagoz and Hacivat, the two cronies who are the leading characters of the Turkish shadow theatre karagoz , but the main character is karagoz . Karagoz is uneducated but honest . However there are many others a whole host of characters in fact which throng this square of cloth representing a window into reality. Viewed from the manipulator's side of the screen, these personages are merely small, flat figures made of thin, transparent pieces of leather, pierced and incisd in filigree-like detail and exquisitely colored, which hung clothesline -style on a horizontal string by their rods, await the pleasure of the showman to take their cues. However to the audience they are tiny animated creatures who walk, talk and gesticulate like real human beings, each possessing his or her own characteristic physiognomy, dress, accent, mannerisms, character traits and personality. They even have their own clearly defined name, trade and civil status. An experienced devotee of these karagoz shadow plays can easily guess what caharacter is about to appear merely by listening for the melody which is sung or played before it comes on the screen , for each has its own characteristic theme song which heralds his or her appearance. The manipilators and their assistants are unerring on this point, are skilled in preparing their public by creating atmosphere through music. This careful attention to atmosphere is all the more necessary , since the stage is almost entirely devoid of props and decorative sets.

We may well ask ourselves, however: what does this screen really repreasent, in essence? This is a question which German scholars in the field of Oryantalism have never taken up, although they have written much about karagoz and in particular, have even translated a certain number of karagoz plays.
Karagoz
Karagoz puppet

Accordingly, I shall devote this chapter to describing something of the true structure of this little space which, small as it is, nonetheless contains a whole world of human types, all differing among themselves and extremely heterogeneous as to appearance and behavior. Thus we will assuredly gain a clearer understanding of the caharacters which comprise the karagoz theatre, and of the satirical significance of the antics with which they surround the events of their plays. Were you to ask few showman who still put on these little plays just what the screen itself depicts, they will tell you that it represents Kusteri plaza. A very fine plaza indeed, with neither square nor statue nor traffic policeman. To complete their information, they will tell you that Hacivat's house is at the left or plaza and that of Karagoz at the right. You will never see the houses, but you take the players word for this.

However by exerting your own perspicacity you can solve the mystery for yourself. All becomes clear, this screen with its manifold characters, its atmosphere its events and its intrigues, is nothing other than one of the old mahalles (quarters) of Istanbul in days gone by. With a realism which nothing can distort, the karagoz scene reproduces the very image of the traditional mahalle as it existed up to 1908. Neither caricature nor satire can obliterate its ever recurring secular stamp.

Shadow play Karagoz Characters

I refer advisedly to the mahalle, because it represented the only true unit of social life under the Ottoman Empire. The city was never anything but an agglomeration of mahalles, or precincts, each with a life all its own. It would be necessary to have lived in that era, which after all is not so very long ago, to understand the social omnipotence of the mahalle which through its stracture, its organization and its collective conscience, regulated the life of the individual down to its smallest details. It was the mahalle which, adapting itself to the contours of the land and centering about a mosque , lent a picturesque aspect to the great city, the urban unity of which was lost amidst a multitude of tortuous byways and shadow culs de sac. In addition to its mosque, where some pious and generous donor had founded a library, the mahalle had its school, its fountain its inn and occasionally its convert; numerous cafes, a standing corps of fireman, a muhtar, who cooncerned himself with everything, its night watchman, watercarries, rich people and poor people, devout persons and libertines, decent citizens and rogues.

Shadow play Karagoz Scenarios

The mahalle was well guarded, not only by its bands of wandering dogs which barred the way even to their canine friends and relatives from neighboring quarters, and by its night watchman who sounded their passing by thumping on pavement with their staves at each step, but by a sort of collective conscience which, ever alert to what was going on, kept constant vigil over the honor and welfare of all. It was the mahalle as a whole, represented by its muhtar, which provided for orphans, endowed penniless young girls, found husbands for spinters, managed the property of windows who had no family head to lean on, and very discreetly gave relief to the indigent by soliciting aid from the wealthy. On the other hand it was the community as a whole as represented by the mahalle which waged robust warfare against breaches of the public morality. The community offered no refuge for thieves, swindlers or sharpers. Woman of dubious character were obliged to leave the community immediately under penalty of forcible deportation, together with their lovers for the night, to the nearest karakol (police station) by a carnivalesque procession composed of the most redoubtable elements of the quarter. Even the most inverterate drunkards, fearing the severity of the community conscience, renounced if only for the month of the Ramadan their habitual vice, which was generously tolerated for eleven months out of the year provided, of course, that it did not degenerate into a public scandal.

Turkey - Clothing of Sultans 2005

Turkey - Nomads of Anatolian Highlands 2000

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Luxembourg - Coat of Arms 1956


0.25 Luxembourgish Franc + 0.05 Luxembourgish Franc - Echternach
0.80 Luxembourgish Franc + 0.20 Luxembourgish Franc - Esch Sur-Alzette
1.20 Luxembourgish Franc + 0.30 Luxembourgish Franc - Grevenmacher
2.00 Luxembourgish Franc + 0.25 Luxembourgish Franc - Echternach
4.00 Luxembourgish Franc + 0.50 Luxembourgish Franc - Esch Sur-Alzette
7.00 Luxembourgish Franc + 3.45 Luxembourgish Franc - Grevenmacher

Luxembourg - Coat of Arms 1957


0.25 Luxembourgish Franc + 0.05 Luxembourgish Franc - Luxembourg
0.80 Luxembourgish Franc + 0.20 Luxembourgish Franc - Mersch
1.20 Luxembourgish Franc + 0.30 Luxembourgish Franc - Vianden
2.00 Luxembourgish Franc + 0.25 Luxembourgish Franc - Luxembourg
4.00 Luxembourgish Franc + 0.50 Luxembourgish Franc - Mersch
7.00 Luxembourgish Franc + 3.45 Luxembourgish Franc - Vianden

Luxembourg - Coat of Arms 1958


0.30 Luxembourgish Franc + 0.10 Luxembourgish Franc - Capellen
1.00 Luxembourgish Franc + 0.25 Luxembourgish Franc - Diekirch
1.50 Luxembourgish Franc + 0.25 Luxembourgish Franc - Redange
2.50 Luxembourgish Franc + 0.50 Luxembourgish Franc - Capellen
5.00 Luxembourgish Franc + 0.50 Luxembourgish Franc - Diekirch
8.50 Luxembourgish Franc + 4.60 Luxembourgish Franc - Redange


Luxembourg - Coat of Arms 1959


0.30 Luxembourgish Franc + 0.10 Luxembourgish Franc - Clervaux
1.00 Luxembourgish Franc + 0.25 Luxembourgish Franc - Remich
1.50 Luxembourgish Franc + 0.25 Luxembourgish Franc - Wiltz
2.50 Luxembourgish Franc + 0.50 Luxembourgish Franc - Clervaux
5.00 Luxembourgish Franc + 0.50 Luxembourgish Franc - Remich
8.50 Luxembourgish Franc + 4.60 Luxembourgish Franc - Wiltz