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Winter 2013 Newsletter
YES, WE ‘WANT’ NO BANANAS TODAY
Sandra Poole
All good things come to an end. Ever since the death of Peter Goodwin, who used to send banana labels collected by the NPS to Becky Martz in America, I have been making up a packet to continue the tradition Thanks to all your efforts, I have just sent her nearly 300 stickers and think it is time to call it a day- if I do it for much longer, I can see that it might be the start of another collection! But, who knows, I might just change my mind!.
Becky now has 12,243 banana labels. Since April 2012, some of these have been appearing on Vedett beer bottle labels in Belgium. So you can collect beer labels and banana labels simultaneously! She also has 93 broccoli and 157 asparagus bands, and before you even ask, the answer is NO! Go to http://www.beckymartz.com to see her entire collection.
ISLE OF WIGHT STAMPS
Douglas Harvey
I have a friend who is aware of my philatelic interests. When he visited the Isle of Wight, he inquired in Newport Post Office about Isle of Wight stamps. If the Isle of Man have their own stamps, why not the Isle of Wight? He was politely told they are not issued. Not quite correct. The 1988 Lighthouses issue had the Needles (SG 2036) and the 2006 ‘A British Journey: England’ had St. Boniface Down (SG 2605), both views of the Isle of Wight, but national GB issues.
During the January 1971 postal strike, at the same time as the introduction of decimal currency, local issues appeared and the Isle of Wight had their own stamps. I have only one, a 5p/one shilling. The stamp shows the shape of the island and is entitled ‘Vectis Postal Service.’ The printer’s imprint is 'Vale of Ryde', Otherwise, not too exciting from a design point of view. (I would be interested to know what other values and designs also appeared.)
EARLY FRENCH TPOs
Davis Shipstone
The building of railways in France began shortly after their development in Britain and the first line opened in 1832. From that point, though, development was very slow, held back by the country’s long period of recovery after the Napoleonic Wars and its limited industrialisation. In the next 10 years the French built only small, widely scattered lines and the development of the main railway system did not begin until after 1842, the year in which the government took matters in hand.
My earliest TPO cover was posted in Ste. Marie-aux-Mines, a small town in Alsace, on 8 April 1855. It was addressed to Ars sur Moselle, close by Metz, and was carried only a short distance on the Nancy-Forbach route. Of much greater interest is the cover illustrated below. This commercial entire, addressed to Lyon in the Rhône valley, was posted in Bayonne, close to the Atlantic end of the border with Spain, on 23 September 1857 At that time there was still no direct rail route to Lyon and my cover changed trains twice, first in Bordeaux and then in Paris. It is backstamped with 3 TPO marks, (a) Bayonne-Bordeaux and (b) Pyrénées-Paris, both for 23 September, followed by (c) Paris-Lyon for 24 September. Finally there is (d) the Lyon receiving mark dated 25 September. So this cover travelled to Lyon via Paris, up the western side of France and then down the eastern, a total distance of some 765 miles. A crow could have done it in 350 miles.
The fascination of the internal covers is that, in large measure, we are told what route they followed. International covers, which we might reasonably expect to have greater philatelic interest, actually carry much less routing information because mail destined for other countries was first gathered together at designated centres. Once there, it seems, these covers would have been bundled together before despatch. Philatelically speaking, they then usually disappeared from view until they reached their destinations, at which point receiving marks were applied. For example, a cover posted from Elbeuf to Vienna on 1 December 1858 bears a Le Havre-Paris TPO back-stamp and a Paris transit mark of the same date, after which the only indication we have of its journey is the Vienna receiving mark of 4 December. Like all of my other international French covers of the period this one was hand-stamped ‘PD’, indicating that postage had been paid through to its destination.
Not one of my covers which left France tells how it travelled to the border. The one illustrated below, to Zurich, is the most informative of the bunch. It was franked 30 centimes and hand-stamped with the red boxed ‘PD’ accordingly. Postmarked Ars sur Moselle on 6 September 1866, it was carried that same day on the Forbach-Nancy line (a). From Nancy it was sent on to Strasbourg the following day via (b) the Paris- Stasbourg TPO. En route it would have been bagged or bundled up with other covers bound for Switzerland and it carries no further French marks. We do know (though this comes as no surprise) that it crossed the border into Switzerland at Basle because it was then carried by the Swiss railway (c) on the line from Basle to Olten, a little further south. Later that day, still 7 September, it reached Zurich (d), probably by mail coach.
THE EAVESDROPPER’S STORY
George Kirkham
This short story took place only recently. I am ashamed to say that the parties concerned were not talking to me; I was only ‘ear-wigging’ as the expression goes. The discussion centred around the most pleasing GB stamp. Naturally the 1840 pair were much examined as was the Edward VIII issue. The £1 U.P.U.. was offered up, as were the current Machins. There seemed to be no overall concensus, each putting up his or her favourite.
One of the number standing there asked me my opinion .Let me say straightaway I am not now a GB collector. I have many vices, collecting GB is not one of them. Many years ago now, I did indeed fill in the spaces in a ‘Windsor’ album and can recall the simplicity of the GVI £1 Silver Wedding stamp of 1948 .I ventured the view that I preferred this item. One of the group looked at me and asked if I had ever seen one postally or commercially used? I admitted that I hadn’t. His argument went that in his opinion, the stamp was a gimmick, just produced to make money from collectors. I felt I had no answer. Does anyone else think the same, bearing in mind there was already a £! value from the 1939 set?
Scans of commemorative stamps mentioned in George’s article
(I would willingly pay a pound for the £! P.U.C.! I had a friend who managed to pick up a used copy from his workplace and the stamp on the right appears to have been used on a registered item. If you had bought the former in 1929, you would have made a handsome profit (c. £900), but you would have barely broken even with the other. The £I value was not unusual even in Victorian times and there was also a £5 value.. Interestingly, the £1 value of that issue is worth more than the £5 one-(£80,000 as opposed to £10,000.) Ed.)
NORDIA 2012, ROSKILDE, 2-4 November
Sandra Poole
Nordia is a large stamp Exhibition taking place annually at different venues in Scandinavia. I had been wanting to visit one for some time and as this year it was in Denmark, it became a must and so, at the beginning of November, we set off for Roskilde, which is about twenty miles away from Copenhagen, has a population of around 47,000 and yet boasts an impressive Exhibition Centre within easy walking distance of the main hotels. There were three main halls with access to smaller rooms, where the auction, talks and meetings were held. We arrived early in order to see the Post office Orchestra playing in the foyer. This was certainly novel and set the mood for an enjoyable few days.
On arrival, each visitor received two philatelic journals, which, between them, provided all the information you could possibly need regarding the event. My first port of call was to the dealers’ stands (over 50), which were situated in the largest hall, along with a number of exhibits. I was pleasantly surprised that in most cases, the prices were not excessive. What did come as a bit of a shock, though, was that when I came to pay, it was a case of cash only- no cards! I hadn’t planned for that!
Many years ago, I used to go to local stamp fairs and spent hours rummaging, with others, through large boxes of stamps priced at 2p each. So I was amused to see a group of people, including children, picking out stamps from a massive heap piled high on a long table. Here, however, it was much more regimented than in England, with the sorters, at a signal from the dealer, having to leave the table after a certain period, whilst a new group moved in to replace them and a few fresh stamps were sprinkled on the pile. I never did find out how much each stamp cost or whether customers paid by weight, but a lot of the stamps did look rather ordinary.
I later went to view the exhibits (158 + literature), which included the new postcard and open philately classes. I watched a little of the auction where prices seemed high and attended Birthe King’s informative talk on Open Philately. On the final morning, I returned to look again at some of the exhibits and to see how they had been judged! I found the event well worth attending and learnt a lot from other collectors. And I even had time to go sightseeing!
Open Philately.
At the above event, I learnt that ‘Social Philately’ no longer exists as a class at National or International level; it is now known as ‘Open Philately’. I don’t know why the name was changed but I do know that there are a lot of guidelines on judging the class and that these were approved at the 72nd Congress on 24 June 2012. I suggest you go to the ABPS website if considering entering this class to see whether there have been any significant changes to what were the rules of the former Social Philately class. Whatever these may or not be, the minimum requirement for philatelic material remains at 50%.
THE HIDDEN DANGER IN YOUR COLLECTION
Alan Squires
This article may have appeared first in one of our more sensational Daily National Newspapers (tabloid obviously). As I recall I wrote about my swap to ring binders in an article entitled ‘Space, the Final Frontier’.
I have been using this system for some time now and been pleased with the ease with which I can expand single countries and generally move stamps and sets about. Whilst placing some recent acquisitions in their allotted places according to Stanley Gibbons Catalogue I came across a serious problem.
We are all aware of the damage that can be attributed to sunlight. Our precious possessions fading until we have more colour variations that Gibbons have ever seen. Some of your stamps may be hot property and some of my earlier purchases leave me cold. But our collection needs to be stored at an ambient temperature.
Linked to temperature is of course, damp. Humidity needs to be carefully controlled. The collection needs to be carefully placed in acid free plastic mounts also. Fortunately the vaults I’ve created for my collection take all this into account. (In my dreams!!)
So, what is this new major threat? Static electricity.
Whilst placing my latest acquisitions into their plastic pages I suddenly lost 6 stamps. I knew they were the next 6 to go in, but where were they? I looked nearly everywhere. Until I chanced to turn the page over. Static electricity was the culprit. The Hawid mount, itself made of acid free plastic was firmly stuck to the underside of the plastic sheet by mutual attraction.
I must remember that in future, I thought. So I took the next page out of the binder and laid it on my desk. Carried on adjusting the set of stamps and turned over to discover, not more stamps, but dust.
A quick wipe over only encouraged the dust to stick more, but now on the edge of the sheet. I couldn’t use a damp cloth, which would work, but would destroy the stamps. Casting round for a solution I remembered my old vinyl record collection. There were various devices to remove static from records, most of which worked using moisture somewhere. But I had purchase a gizmo called the ‘Zero Stat’. Fitted with a piezzo electric crystal it fired a beam of anti static at the records surface to help remove dust and of course static.
After several days of frantic searching I eventually found the thing. It’s a little gun like device in white plastic, with a trigger and a metal pointer that the negative ions shoot out of. I pointed the Zero Stat at a plastic page covered in dusty particles and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened the dust was quite happy to stay where it was I reasoned that after some 40 odd years the Zero Stat probably doesn’t work any more. To test my theory I placed my finger on the metal pointer and pulled the trigger. The sudden pain in my finger told me the Zero Stat was still in good working order and confirmed three basic facts. 1) I was going to have to put up with the dust. 2) They made things to last in the good old days and 3) I do have some stupid ideas now and again!
OBITUARY: ERIC CROFT (23 APRIL 1928 - 10 NOVEMBER 2012)
Eric was born in Adel (near Leeds), where his father was in service at Adel Manor. Later, his parents bought a hardware shop on Annesley Rd, Hucknall, for his mother to run. Unfortunately, his mother died when he was sixteen and Eric was taken out of Henry Mellish School to take over the running of the shop for a year or two, until his father was released from his reserved occupation at the end of the war. Eric then started work as a wages clerk at Bestwood Colliery and was moved around all the other local collieries. He later became Salary Liaison Officer and continued working for the Coal Board until he retired in 1985.
He met Stella in 1951 and they married a year later. Eric’s father used to keep bees and he and Stella took on the colony, which she enjoyed, increasing it to 15 hives and selling the honey for about 10 years. Eric also inherited his father’s interest in stamps, an interest not shared by Stella, although she was pleased that Eric could help her with the stamp club she set up at her school. She was keen to tell me about her message on the wedding flowers and wanted me to include it in this obituary:
‘Eric- postage stamps were your whole life,
I, just your trouble and strife.
I hope I stamped you correctly
Put you in the right pillar box
And that you arrived safely.
Rest now in your own philatelic Heaven!’
Eric was treasurer of the Notts Philatelic Society for 40 years and a member for 46. He was also treasurer of Probus, the Royal British Legion and the Church (where he was a server for many years). He was also a member of the St George Society. It is no surprise, then, that so many people went to pay their respects to him at his funeral. There, he had a two-man guard of honour, one representing the RAF, in which he did his National Service, the other the Royal British Legion. At the end, a bugler gave a beautiful rendition of the ‘Last Post’- so aptly named for a stamp collector! Last year, he and Stella celebrated their diamond wedding.
(Thanks to Stella for her information and kind permission to publish it)
He will be sadly missed not only by his family, but also by his many friends. (Sandra Poole)
It was with sadness that I learned of the death of Eric. Others knew him far better than I did, but I gained some insights into his early life on the few occasions I gave him a lift to meetings or discussed the auction with him. Some of his stories were retold at his well-attended funeral and left me with a wry smile on my face. My particular favourite was how he managed to secure his wartime posting back home to Hucknall from further south than he wanted to be. Why do you need travel warrants to get home when you can serve your country from there? I know that we will all miss Eric in different ways and my thoughts are with his family at this time. (Alan Squires)
MISCELLANY
Delayed in the Post? Sandra Poole:
Every so often, one hears news of postcards being delivered many decades after they were posted. I have always had a cynical attitude towards this, so I was pleased to hear that a Times reader recently wrote that he had had great pleasure in re-posting hundred year old postcards, which he had bought from stamp fairs. The Post Office vindicated and another mystery solved, perhaps?
Too Much of a Good Thing:
Not long ago, a member asked me what to do with a multitude of identical stamps. I don’t think my suggestion of dropping them in the recycling bin met with much approval! The USA has a similar problem they reportedly produced one billion sets of their Simpsons’ issue, but apparently managed to sell only a little more than a third of them. Think I’ll leave those out of my investment portfolio, then! Using these stamps as wallpaper or to cover lamp shades as did the Victorians may seem a little passé these days and using them to create magnificent pictures has already been done to perfection by others. But one idea I did find appealing was the one I found in January’s edition of ‘Stamp and Coin Mart’. Tim Clegg, proprietor of Torbay Stamp Centre, reported that they had purchased binders of highly duplicated Edward VII and Victorian stamps. On closer examination, they discovered that each one bore a different date-stamp and they were all mounted in consecutive date order- admittedly with gaps- from 1891 to 1910 That would get through a few thousand of them and the rejects could still go in the recycling bin as first suggested. Problem solved!
(When I was a teenager, I did a similar thing with old pennies, collecting one for each year, starting with QV. I had them all laid out on a kitchen shelf, which I admit was pretty stupid, but I did not foresee that a friend who was staying over would answer a knock at the door and pay the milkman with part of my collection!)
Going Post- TOBIAS SMOLLETT, Lyons, 10 October 1763
(On travelling from Paris to Lyons by road). The post is farmed from the king, who lays travellers under contribution for his own benefit, and has published a set of oppressive ordonances, (sic) which no stranger nor native dares transgress. The postmaster finds nothing but horses and guides; the carriage you yourself must provide. If there are four persons within the carriage, you are obliged to have six horses and two postillions; and if your servant sits on the outside, either before or behind, you must pay for a seventh. You pay double for the first stage from Paris and twice double for passing through Fontainebleau when the court is there, as well as at coming to Lyons and at leaving this city. These are called royal posts, and undoubtedly a scandalous imposition.
(Extract from a literary travel compendium spanning four centuries assembled by my late father but never published. Ed.)
Solution to Musical Interlude (Autumn 2012 Newsletter)
1. ‘Return to Sender’ by Elvis Presley
2. ‘The Letter’ by the Boxtops
3. ‘My Guy’ by Mary Wells’
4. ‘Dear Eloise’ by the Hollies
5. ‘I’m Gonna Sit Right Down & Write Myself a Letter’- many big names sang this but first big hit version was by Fats Waller, 1935
More and more Stamp Gimmicks
In August, the Isle of Man produced stamps depicting honey bees. The stamps (normal gum only) were scented with honey. Holland has produced the first pop-up stamp. I have only seen a photo of one, but it looks quite fun. Pull a cardboard slider and a bird pops up! Not exactly a gimmick, but a good idea. Argentina has produced stamps/labels with a photo of a missing person and a contact number to phone if you have relevant information.
A lawyer and a stamp collector are sitting next to each other on a long flight. The lawyer is thinking that stamp collectors are so dumb that he could get one over on them easily. So the lawyer asks if the stamp collector would like to play a fun game. The stamp collector is tired and just wants to take a nap, so he politely declines and tries to sleep.
The lawyer persists, saying that the game is a lot of fun. ‘I ask you a question and if you don’t know the answer, you pay me only £5. Then you ask me one and if I don’t know the answer, I will pay you £500’, he says. This catches the stamp collector’s attention and to keep the lawyer quiet, he agrees to play the game. The lawyer asks the first question: ‘What’s the distance from the earth to the moon?’ The stamp collector doesn’t say a word but reaches into his pocket, pulls out a £5 note and hands it to the lawyer. Now it’s the stamp collector’s turn. He asks the lawyer: ‘What goes up a hill with 3 legs and comes down with 4?’ The lawyer. uses his laptop to search all references he can find on the net. He sends email to all his smart friends, all to no avail. After an hour of searching, he finally gives up. He wakes the stamp collector and hands him £500. The stamp collector pockets the £500 and goes right back to sleep.
The lawyer is going nuts not knowing the answer. He wakes up the stamp collector and asks: ‘well, so what goes up the hill with 3 legs and comes down with 4?’ The stamp collector reaches into his pocket, hands the lawyer £5 and goes back to sleep!
MEETING REPORTS
Chris Tennant gave a display entitled ‘Railway Parcel History’ to our Society on 2 November. With the inauguration of railways in England, newspaper delivery became important and various labels were issued. The development of railways in the East Midlands was reviewed, in particular with the London service commencing in 1867. A variety of goods related labels were produced. As the railway system developed, the variety of labels became more varied and the 1923 grouping of railways into regions required new labels. The post-war British railways also had parcel labels.
George Kirkham presented on 16 November a display of Romanian stamps, no covers- starting from 1858 and continuing until the 1940s. It showed the different papers, watermarks and perforations of the regular stamps and also included parcel stamps, postage dues, colour and design trials and welfare-fund stamps.
Allen Wood presented an evening of mini-displays on 7 December. Allen explained that these were the original sheets taken from collections built up by Derrick Avery and Bill Tucker. They included foreign stamps, postal stationery cut-outs, embroidered cards and postcards with a range of postal markings from the Isle of Man and Channel Islands. There werealso photocopies of George V stamps that Eric Croft’s father had collected and, to finish, 8 sheets of Eritrea from Allen’s own collection!
On 18 Jan, Wendy Orr was to have presented a display on Hong Kong. Unfortunately, the meeting was cancelled because of snow and ice.
The Christmas Egg Cup Competition, in which there were 15 participants, was won by David Shipstone with an unusual greetings card from Berlin. Runner-up was Brian Clayton.
DISCLAIMER Whilst 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 which may occur.
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