Embedded Files
Spring 2011 Newsletter
GIFTS FROM ROYAL MAIL
Sandra Poole
I recently rediscovered a Royal Mail Christmas gift catalogue that I must have picked up at Stampex. I know it’s a bit late for Christmas, but the designers have made imaginative use of the humble Machin and they might give you some ideas for next Christmas – only 252 days to go!
The gifts are quite innovative and appear to be of good quality. As to the prices, you can make up your own mind about that. The velvet pouffe illustrated below costs £380. Matching velvet cushions in a similar design and filled with “sumptuous duck feathers” retail at £85 each. Well, quality doesn’t come cheap! If you think your living room will still be lacking that little something, how about a wool stamp rug which “luxuriously reproduces the perforations and regal profile of our iconic stamp. Skilfully and ethically handmade from beautifully soft 100% New Zealand wool by craftspeople in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal,” Makes a change from China. But these are not for us, I’m afraid- our cats would soon add their own perforations, unless we hung the rugs on the wall, which was another suggestion. Cost- £840.
More down to earth were their aprons, smothered in Machins, oven gloves and tea towels, which were more realistically priced, but I cannot see oven gloves and the like, however beautifully decorated, making it on to any woman’s Christmas wish list! But how about a ‘Classic Album’ T-shirt, a bone china mug, a Wallace and Gromit badge or a pewter pillar box replica? Or a knitted Machin? O.K., I made that last one up!
ALLEN WOOD- 50 YEARS OF CONTINUOUS MEMBERSHIP
A celebration to mark the above took place on Friday 1 April at the halfway mark of Allen’s display of worldwide material. Bryan Button gave the following speech:
‘This evening, we are celebrating Allen’s fifty years as an enthusiastic member of our Society. He has served as our President twice, as Hon. Auctioneer for many years as Hon. Secretary and general committee member on many occasions and he has represented the Society on the Huston Competition committee.
Allen was invited to become a member of the Royal Philatelic Society London in 1998 and has recently received the honour of becoming a fellow of the Society. He is an active member of the Italy and Colonies Study Circle.
Over the last twenty years, he has given over 30 displays to local, national and international philatelic societies and organisations. These displays cover many of the countries in Africa, Aden, Basutoland (now Lesotho) Cameroon, Eritrea, Libya and Zanzibar, not to mention his more recent display on world postal stationery.
Still now and for many years, he has supported the Qachas Nek Mission in Lesotho by receiving donations of philatelic material from numerous foreign and British sources, which he is able to sell, with the proceeds going to the charity.
His contributions to the smooth running of the Society are almost endless. Just to mention three: one, he always has well thought contributions to make on issues affecting the health of the Society. Two, he is always willing, in his quiet way, to help us acquire individual philatelic material and discover and share with us his wide philatelic knowledge. Three, many of us look forward to our annual meeting with Alfreton Philatelic Society, which is very close to Allen’s heart, when he brings an iced cake each year.
While I am not addressing his career here and while what follows is not philatelic, I would like to mention that Allen has served for many years as a Justice of the Peace; on the Ruddington Parish Council and on the organising committee of what is now the Farmers’ Market. For the latter, he has the ability to make cakes, jams and chutneys on a regular basis. And it is very likely that there are other contributions I do not know about.
Allen please accept on behalf of the Society, hearty congratulations, along with a special certificate to celebrate an outstanding and inspirational achievement of fifty years as a continuous member with boundless energy’
Allen receives his certificate from Professor Bryan Button, last year’s President.
In his reply, Allen paid tribute to Derrick Avery as a lot of the material shown in his display had formerly been Derrick’s and said that he was one of the true philatelists that the Society had ever had. He still had the energy to sort out material and we should all be grateful to him for encouraging others to carry on in this way. And I doubt whether anyone disagrees with that.
Allen receives the Society’s Certificate of Appreciation from President Dennis Boot, for his ‘worldwide miscellany’ display.
BLUE MAURITIUS
Alan Squires
I have a low threshold of boredom. This is why I occasionally miss ‘good’ programmes on the TV. If I have been watching for 10 or 15 seconds and the programme has not grabbed my interest gene I go off to do other things.
The same is true of books, my other passion outside stamps. When my older daughter recently presented me with a copy of the ‘Blue Mauritius, the Hunt for the World’s Most Valuable Stamps’ by Helen Morgan, I said “Wow, thanks. The Blue Mauritius.” But the truth be known I had already lost interest.
A few hours later I decided to give the book a cursory glance, just in case, because though age and experience have made me perfect, I have made a couple of mistakes in my life time! By the bottom of page 1, I was hooked. I finished the book in 4 days and would recommend it to any philatelist. It is well researched and entertainingly written.
However this is not a book review, merely a pre-amble to allow me to pass on an advert, somewhat tongue in cheek, which Helen Morgan quotes as a chapter heading. The advert appeared in 1891 in the ‘Monitor’.
A stamp collector, the possessor of a collection of 12,544 stamps, wishes to marry a lady who is an ardent collector and the possessor of the Blue Penny stamp of Mauritius, issued in 1847.
Well it’s one way of completing your collection!
SO WHAT IS YOUR COLLECTION WORTH?
(A personal perspective on collecting stamps)
Alan Squires
Sir Gawaine Baillie had spent a lifetime collecting stamps. On his death they were auctioned off in sections and fetched approximately £15 million pounds. After London 2010 the Treskilling Yellow was sold off in a private sale and is apparently still the most expensive item by weight.
It was reported recently that someone had collected a million stamps, though no value was given for this prodigious number.
After a mere 4 years of collecting I mused on how much my own collection was worth. I’m sure we have all done the same at some time. I have, of course less than a million stamps, and I doubt I could swap them for that famous Yellow Error. According to Stanley Gibbons catalogue my carefully collected 4,500 Commonwealth stamps would be worth a tidy sum. Here ‘would’ is the operative word. I doubt any of my collection would fall into the category of being a perfect stamp. And no one outside Stanley Gibbons seems to get catalogue price, though some dealers do push their luck.
The other problem with my collection is that it never seems as good as anyone else’s collection that I get to look at. I seem to have missed a lot of good stamps whilst at the same stamp fairs as friends who collect the same area as I do. And why is it they always seem to be able to pick up that perfect piece for just a couple of pounds, a minute fraction of its true worth?
This may sound like sour grapes, but believe me, it is not. I decided what I wanted to collect and how much I was willing to spend. I always come close to my budget, or just over when I go to purchase stamps. I always buy the best I can afford at the time. In fact I have managed to replace some stamps with better quality stock to try to improve my collection.
So how much is it worth? After much thought I realised that as the temporary keeper of these stamps their value is not measured in £sd. In fact the answer is probably ‘nothing’ as I have no intention of selling them. I did not buy them as a clever investment or a possible hedge against inflation. I have no intentions of acquiring vast stocks so that I can become a dealer. I bought them because they appealed to me. They were necessary to me to complete a particular set or start a new set in one of the Commonwealth countries I am interested in.
At the moment there is no one in my family remotely interested in my collection. Therefore I have no one to pass them on to when the inevitable happens. I doubt that whoever eventually sells them after I have gone will get a fair price for them. Probably less than I paid for them. So why continue?
Well the money I have spent on them is ‘dead’ money. But the enjoyment I get from seeking out a particular stamp or set of stamps and adding them to my collection cannot be counted in pounds sterling. I suppose it’s like the proverbial mountaineer who climbs it because it’s there. And trying to finish off some of my sets is certainly becoming an uphill struggle.
MEETING REPORT: GREECE IN THE BALKAN WARS-
Adrian Ritoridis, 1 February 2011
The First Balkan War began on 8 October 1912, when Montenegro declared war on Ottoman Turkey. Within ten days, Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria were also at war with the Ottomans. The victories of the allies were quick and extensive, and the First Balkan War ended on 30 May 1913 with the Greeks acquiring large portions of Ottoman Macedonia and Epirus. The Second Balkan War broke out on 16 June 1913 when, dissatisfied over the division of the spoils in Macedonia, Bulgaria attacked her former allies, Serbia and Greece. The Greek and Serbian army repulsed the Bulgarian offensive and counter-attacked, penetrating into Bulgaria, while Romania and the Ottoman Empire took the opportunity to intervene against Bulgaria and make territorial gains. In the resulting Treaty of Bucharest, Greece nearly doubled in territory and population. Nevertheless, for Greece, there were still outstanding territorial issues, which Greece would pursue, first at the end of the First World War and then during the Asia Minor Campaign of 1919-22. This exhibit shows, through the use of contemporary material, the story of the Greeks during this turbulent period. The order of the material is arranged by theme, not in order of issuance, use or production. The themes are:
Part A
1. The Balkan League: with postal history, stamps, cinderellas, postcards and ephemera illustrating the complex relationship between the allies in 1912-13.
2. The Greek Army and Navy: with material chosen to demonstrate the modernised Greek military machine and its significant contribution in defeating the Ottoman Empire.
3. Military Mail: with military mail from the home front and the fronts of Epirus, Macedonia and Thrace illustrating the use of censorship and postal routes in newly-occupied territories, and shedding light on the everyday life of the combatants.
4. Type V postmarks for New Territories: with examples of various new postmarks used by the Greek occupying forces as an expression of occupation and authority over the new territories.
Part B
5. The Transitional Period: with stamps and postal history illustrating how the governments of newly-liberated territories attempted to express their desire for independence and
incorporation into Greece; as well as the complexities and peculiarities involved in transporting mail.
6. Greek Popular Imagery: with postcards based on patriotic lithographs created by some of the great lithographers/artists of the time.
Adrian’s display was a fascinating collection of unusual and often scarce material which included postal history, military mail, local issues, poster stamps, propaganda labels, overprints, postcards and much more. He also provided wine, music, & Greek food that he had prepared himself. (Ed.)
WIRELESS LICENCE REMINDER
Derrick Avery sent me these scans; the original form belonged to his father-in-law. In these days of personal computers, mobile phones, Iphones, Ipods, Ipads, MP3 players, Wiis etc, it is easy to forget that the wireless was the main source of entertainment and communication in 1937 when this reminder was sent. I do wonder how many people actually dismantled their wireless when deciding not to renew!
MISCELLANY
MOBILE PHONE POSTAGE- S. Poole
You need to post a letter, you’ve run out of stamps and it’s out of hours, so what do you do? Well, in Denmark, you get out your mobile phone and text the Post Office. Problem solved. More precisely, since 1st April, all you have to do is text the word ‘PORTO’ (postage) to ‘1900’ and you will be given a code, valid for 7 days, to write on the envelope in the normal place for a stamp. It costs the same as an ordinary 50g letter rate (ie 8kr) for addresses in Denmark only, plus the normal charge for a text message. So is it progress or just one more nail in the coffin as far as stamps are concerned? They say it’s not intended to replace traditional stamps, but if the charge for texts remains reasonably low, it will be tempting to send letters regularly in this way. It certainly beats queueing, but it won’t be popular with stamp collectors!
Two elderly philatelists had been friends for many decades. Lately, their activities had been limited to meeting a few times a week to look at stamps together. One day, they had their albums out when one looked at the other and said: ‘Now don’t get mad at me. I know we’ve been friends for a long time, but I just can’t think of your name. I’ve thought and thought, but I can’t remember it. Please tell me what it is. His friend glared at him for at least three minutes. He just stared and glared at him. Finally he said: ‘How soon do you need to know?’
Slogan and other postmarks- Jim Weston drew a blank on the Royal Show postmark despite consulting several books. Peter Goodwin has sent in another query: does anyone know when the following slogan was used:
‘Nominate your/ children’s/ champion.’ There are also a couple of characters following ‘champion’, but they are not legible. This example appears to be from around Oct 1988?
Stamp Gimmicks- Gibraltar issued stamps with part of the rock of Gibraltar applied within the design.(Autumn 2008 newsletter) and now China has issued two stamps containing bits of shell. I have also read that China issued a set of stamps last year, which incorporated digital poems from the Tang Dynasty. They can be read aloud by an MP3 player.
Tyrosemiophilia- a word not in my dictionary, but it is to cheese labels what philately is to stamps. (I wonder what the equivalent for banana labels is) I found it in an old newspaper (2008) advertising an auction of 13,000 cheese labels that was to take place in Gotham. Cheese labels are collected in the UK, but apparently they are really popular in Eastern Europe, where there are hundreds of collectors and clubs I am no longer interested in cheese labels, but I would still love to know how much this particular collection went for.
Bryan Button has sent me information of MonacoPhil 2011, which is to take place from 2-4 December. There will be exhibitions and meetings, and 100 world rarities will be shown, with items from Prince Albert of Monaco’s collection and others from those of Queen Elizabeth II, postal museums and members of the Club de Monte-Carlo. There will also be material from the collections of the Royal Philatelic Society, London.
ERIC CROFT sent the following abbreviations he thought might be useful for vendors. (These are all very well, so long as the buyer understands them. I remember once being mystified by ‘og’!)
Cds circular date stamp RP real photograph
Cvr cover stkcrd stock card
Def definitive s/l straight line
Ent entire s/r single ring
FFC first flight cover unad unaddressed
FPO field post office imp imperforate
H/s handstamp inc included
M/s miniature sheet ord ordinary
Ms manuscript pl. plate (number)
Og original gum lmm lightly mounted mint
P/S postal stationery un (unused) no pmk, no gum
Ptsa priced to sell at pmk postmark
Stc – stated to catalogue, kindly translated by one auction house:
‘value supplied by vendor and while believed,accurate cannot be guaranteed.’
Perhaps buyers should supply their own abbreviations: Woeigtbt: Who on earth is going to buy this?
Op overpriced Ex extortionate Rb rubbish Iyd in your dreams
Not so successful! We complain enough about Royal Mail when the post does not arrive on time, but Peter Goodwin reports from New Zealand that someone ordered some items through the post and they arrived six and a half years after posting!
Derby Scout Post- the editor has recently received final figures from Bruce Kilgour, the Derby Scout Post Organiser, for the number of cards delivered this Christmas, their 29th year of operation. Despite the adverse weather conditions, just over 265,000 cards were handled during the period from the first delivery weekend up to Christmas Eve. The numbers are estimated by weight so, as Bruce explains, this can never be absolute, but it’s pretty close. This is a tremendous achievement, but not their highest figure. Although I do not have numbers for every year, it would appear likely that the highest figure was the 375,264 recorded in 1991. Money raised goes to nominated charities and to participating Scout and Guide funds.
DISCLAIMER: While every care is taken during the production of this newsletter, neither the editor nor the Society officers can accept any liability for views,opinions or unintentional publication errors that may occur.
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