I was born in 1944 when my father was in Vorarlberg for nearly 2 years forced electrical work for Illwerke (without any permission to assist in person my mother)! His was a passionate silver coins collector.
I learned electrical engineering and am specialized in nuclear power plants safety.
My main hobby is the collection of classic (< 1940) stamps, especially the British Empire Victoria stamps, the "Deutsches Reich" with some of the Old States, and the Austria-Hungary monarchy (empire before 1867 only!!), with emphasis on history of cancellations. Most of my documentation comes from a German vendor.
I have developped databases, in part because the identification of (partial) cancellations locations is then made possible. They include all historical post offices listed in Mueller, Klein (Austrian Monarchy) and several sources for the "Deutsches Reich" area (Feuser, Grobe etc). In other words, nearly all central Europe is listed (> 11000 data entries).
I have created a multi-lingual (en-fr-nl) Thesaurus for my job area, so I understand clearly why the Categories in Wikimedia Commons are so often mis-used!
The regions with a multi-cultural influence attract me. I want to create interest (and respect) for the past.

fr

Cet utilisateur a pour langue maternelle le français.

en-4

This user can contribute with a near-native level of English.

nl-2

Deze gebruiker heeft een middelmatige kennis van het Nederlands.

de-2

Dieser Benutzer hat fortgeschrittene Deutschkenntnisse.

This user believes that a user's edit count does not necessarily reflect on the value of their contributions to Wikipedia.

This user is a member of WikiProject Philately, a WikiProject which aims to develop and expand Wikipedia's coverage of the science of philately. Please feel free to join us.

Galleries of stamps

Below a gallery of stamps (none of these fake, in my opinion) I have scanned. I hope they may raise interest in the study of postmarks (rather than this obsession about the gum virginity...)!

Stamps and Postmarks of the Austrian empire

Issue I (1850)

2 kreuzer paper machine, ROHRBACH (Upper Austria)
3 kreuzer, Komarom (Slovakia)
6 kreuzer S.Pölten (Lower Austria)
9 kreuzer Wien
9 kreuzer Ersekujvar (Slovakia)

Issues II Type I (1858) and Type II (1859)

2 kreuzer type II
5 kreuzer 1859 type II - Frankenmarkt (Upper Austria)
10 kreuzer 1858 type I - Fehring (Styria)
10 kreuzer 1859 type II - Lomnitz blue (Bohemia)
15 kreuzer 1859 Type II - Spital (Carinthia)

Issue III (1860)

2 kreuzer Wien
5 kreuzer Hradek (Slovakia)

Issues IV (1863) and V (1864)

5 kreuzer (Slovakia)
2 kreuzer Wien
3 kreuzer Wien
3 kreuzer Wieden in Wien
5 kreuzer Wien Westbahnhof
5 kreuzer Eperjes (Slovakia)
5 kreuzer Neunkirchen (Lower Austria)

Stamps with Queen Victoria

1855
1857
1859
1859
1860
1891

Beautiful stamps

1882 Iran
1883 Siam
1902 China
1908 China
1921 Superb engraving in Soviet Union

Articles created - Substantial contributions

Cotation des oblitérations des timbres d'Autriche de la période 1850-1867 (fr)
Valuation of cancellations of the Austrian Empire (translation)
Histoire philatélique et postale de l'Autriche (substantial contributions) (fr)
Edwin Mueller (fr) (adapted from English)
Austrian post in Montenegro (en)
List of historical German and Czech names for places in the Czech Republic (renamed, large contributions and verifications)
Histoire philatélique et postale de Bade (fr)