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Autumn 2013 Newsletter

TIN CAN MAIL

Douglas Harvey

At the Huston auction, I was the only bidder for this item, which has proved interesting. It is a cover from Niuafo’ou Island (pronounced Newafoo) to Mr. Jack Wheatley in Bradford, UK. To leave me in no doubt, there are 11 cachets on the cover in addition to the postal cancel of the 2½d stamp, SG 59 (issued 1934): a portrait of Queen Salote Unfortunately, the postmark date is unreadable, but it would be between 1934 and 1938.

On the website, the covers are given a valuation with ‘A’ low and ‘D’ high. This is rated according to the year and additional envelope cachets. Hardly surprisingly, my 1938 cover is an ‘A’. (Further comments on Tin Can Mail from members and web site visitors are welcomed and will be included here if appropriate.)

BELGIUM:- THE REGENCY STAMPS THAT WERE NOT ISSUED

Bryan and Minou Button

(Autumn 2013 Newsletter with Addendum)

In 1944 after the liberation of Belgium from the Nazi yoke because Leopold III King of the Belgians, his controversial second wife Lilian Baels and his children had been moved by the Germans to Germany and then Austria (and thence went to Switzerland), the King’s younger brother, Prince Charles Count of Flanders was asked to assume the Regency. This he did until 1950 when, after an inconclusive plebiscite and vast political unrest in the country, Leopold III abdicated in favour of his 20 year old son Baudouin I. The Prince-Regent then retired from public life to his Domain of Raversijde just outside Ostend having refused the use of gilded palaces to retain his autonomy and independence, becoming something of a recluse. His Domain of Raversijde was later bought for the nation. He disliked change and thus preserved the best and longest expanse of what has been called the Atlantic Wall which was included in his property.

• 7 June 1944: The day after the landing of the allies the SS arrest the king and his family

and deport them first to Germany, and then to Austria.

• 8 September 1944: The Belgian government returns to Brussels.

• 19 September 1944: Parliament meets to deal with the absence of the king who is still captive and unable to reign.

Prince Charles is chosen as Regent.

• 7 May 1945: The liberation of the king and his family is announced. They have left Austria and are in Switzerland.

• 15 June 1945: The king indicates he wants to return to Belgium.

The government informs him that it is not desirable for the following reasons:

• His refusal in May 1940 to follow the Belgian government in exile and continue the fight alongside the Allies.

He thus indicated that he believed that Germany would win in the end.

• His meeting with Hitler in Berchtesgaden

• His marriage to Lilian Baels during his captivity was badly received by part of the population,

as was his pseudo-prisoner status while 65,000 soldiers were kept in Germany until 1945.

• To and fro between Brussels and Switzerland while in Belgium positions harden.

• A referendum being unconstitutional, a “statistic of the opinion(s)” - what is the opinion of the people -

is proposed by the government I called it a plebiscite.

The king is proposing to abdicate if less than 55% of the votes are favourable

• Consultation of the population on 2 March 1950.

• Results overall are favourable but they reveal deep and complex community division.

Briefly, vote numbers are: 72% for Flanders, 48% for Brussels and 42% for Wallonia.

• The PSC Government of Jean Duvieusart feels mandated to end the impossibility to reign and organises

the return of the king.

• 22 July 1950 the king returns with his two sons.

• Violent and bloody demonstrations occur - I believe 4 people were killed.

• 1st August 1950: the king gives his powers over to his son Baudoin (who receives the title of Royal Prince)

and indicates his intention to abdicate.

• 16 July 1951: the King abdicates. Baudoin becomes king.

PRIVATE CARRIERS & MAIL SOLUTION PROVIDERS

Sandra Poole

As Royal Mail has just been sold to the public, I thought it an appropriate time to write about private post companies that have been operating a letter service for some years. These can largely be split into two categories- those that operate an internet service (hybrid mail) or what I call ‘Mail Solution Providers’ (MSPs) and the actual Mail Carriers. Of course, this is a simplification and some companies like imail/UKMail deliver a full service using their own carriers. Basically, with MSPs, you send your mailings electronically to the company, who deals with the whole process from thereon depending on your requirements from creation of new documents or checking, to printing, folding, inserting etc and then passing it all on to a carrier for delivery.

Carriers collect bulk mail, sort it, then deliver it to a Royal Mail Centre for final delivery. A charge, per item, is payable to Royal Mail for access to their network, referred to as Downstream Access or DSA. In December 2003, I received a Saga brochure, unusually delivered by Express Dairies. The service, delivering business mail to householders, was trialled in 2002 in Liverpool and later extended to, at least Manchester, Nottingham and North Lincs . In 2004, 5 million items were carried.

So where is the interest in all this for philatelists? Well, the MSPs have logos and all postal carriers have to be licensed, so in the absence of stamps, I suggest a closer look at the postal indicia accompanying the MSPs’ and carriers’ insignia.

On the right, in a vertical rectangle, there is a large ‘S,’ ‘POSTAGE PAID GB’ and ‘C9’, followed by the carrier’s licence number. I don’t know what the ‘S’ stands for, but I feel it could be ‘standard,’ and I had spent hours searching for the significance of the ‘C9’, when a sudden brainwave led me to the British Postmark Society website and there it was: it stands for “Condition 9’ of Royal Mail’s licence from Ofcom that requires access to Royal Mail’s delivery network to be granted to other postal companies at a reasonable cost.” The label on the left is one of an MSP who used Secured Mail, C910017, as its provider; the one on the right shows a carrier’s logo and licence no. C9 10003. DHL’s DSA business was acquired by Secured Mail in 2012.

In June 2012, the ‘S’ block was replaced with one showing the Royal Mail logo and the private carrier’s licence number. No doubt, Royal Mail wished to have recognition for their part of the operation! ‘S’ marks were seen after this date, probably while old stocks were used up.

Note that the Romax logo above has changed from the earlier one, as have the carriers used- from Secured Mail (this was received on 23.5.12) to City Link (9.5.13) The City Link label has been stuck over the Royal Mail PPI (Postage Paid Impression) One problem I have encountered whilst collecting these covers is that of identifying the lesser known carriers that some MSPs use. I learnt from the BPS website that Royal Mail Wholesale apparently regards the identity of licence holders as commercially confidential. New Zealand does not suffer from the same sensitivities and I have an official register of all alternate private mail companies printed from the internet. There are, however, lots of gaps in the English list that I am compiling. The indicia below show C9 10034 (used by Docmail) and C9 10045 (Adare), but who are the carriers?

A further selection of MSP and Postal Carrier logos appear below. You will notice a couple of them in the colours associated with the customer, but there are many more..In the case of large businesses, such as banks and insurance companies where bulk mail is collected directly by the mail carriers, the PPI may be accompanied by a simple plain logo or one like a mock-up of a stamp with imitation perforations.

Lynx was acquired by UPS in 2005 and the Lynx brand disappeared.

Secured Mail acquired the DSA side of DHL in 2012. Here the DHL logo and indicium are in Ocado green; UK Mail (C9 10001) is in Saga blue!

And to finish- imail, which appears to be the mail solutions side of UKMail and Postalnet, an internet company, about which I know very little. Have readers any more information?

Some of you may have noticed that TNT (C9 10002)- the biggest player in this field-is missing from these pages, as are other minor companies. That will be for another time- perhaps!

LETTER BOX CASUALTIES

Sandra Poole

Whilst doing my survey of letter boxes in Nottingham, I have discovered three that have been victims of careless driving and subsequently replaced by newer models. But the photos below show that vehicular carelessness is not the only danger that post boxes have to face.

This letter box (!G1 123) situated on South Park Rd, Ilford, was the victim of a V2 rocket attack, one of thirty five that Ilford endured between 26 October 1944 and 28 March 1945. The area had previously sustained attacks of V1s, but its successor was even more deadly, as it was silent and consequently gave no warning when it dropped. The V2 was about 46 foot long and 5ft 6 in diameter and it caused a lot of destruction, loss of life and misery. But 68 years on, this letterbox is probably the only remaining evidence. I wonder whether any letters were salvaged and now hold pride of place in somebody’s collection of wreck covers!

'FRIENDS'

Alan Squires

I never really got on with Queen Victoria. She was always shrouded in black and difficult to see. Edward VII was out of my league, so we never really hit it off. Then there was George V, who was a bit of a gruff old character, but I could have grown to like him more. Of course Edward VIII wasn’t around for very long so forming a relationship with him was never going to be easy.

I have to admit that I did get on well with George VI. He was quite a character and had a big influence on me. I am getting to know our longest reigning monarch of modern times, Queen Elizabeth II, far better as time goes by.

Before I go any further I have to admit I didn’t know them personally and even a brief handshake with QEII hardly constitutes a friendship. We were introduced at the opening of a sports hall back in the 80s, she was doing the opening and I was one of several hundred people taking part in a variety of sports.

However, as a philatelist, I have collected commonwealth stamps from their reigns and in this way I have got to ‘know’ them. Queen Victoria was the first monarch on the first adhesive stamps ever produced. The Victorians seemed paranoid that these stamps would be used and re-used ad-infinitum and therefore devised ever more fiendish ways of cancelling the stamp as it passed through the Post Office. Far too many stamps of this era have been cancelled with ‘obliteration’ cancels which totally deface the stamp in question.

Most of Edward VII stamps are far too expensive for my pocket and it would not be easy to build up a complete-ish collection. The same is true for some of George V stamps, but in this reign was started the idea of commemorative stamps. These are easier to find and collect. Of course Edward VIII was only around for about a year before he decided to abdicate and left us with just one set of 4 stamps, which were used in a few commonwealth countries.

The bulk of my collecting is from George VI’s reign, so we get on really well together. In his 16 years on the throne, there were more than a dozen issues produced, not just in GB, but all over the commonwealth. This gave us an excess of collecting possibilities. But even this has been outdone in the reign of our present Queen. In the last 60 years, there have been numerous issues from all over the commonwealth, but I only collect up to about 1964.

With a recent change in my collecting habits I have switched to postal history and chosen to collect from a group of South Atlantic Islands. Looking around for help and inspiration, I have joined two new societies and have been cajoled into becoming a leader of a special interest group for St Helena Boer War. There are only 10 of us and I seem to be the only one with nothing from St Helena or the Boer War! But that is the challenge. Three weeks ago I knew nothing about either, but a little light reading (or rather reading with the light on, sorry) has left me making new friends and finding out about their exploits in the early part of the

last century.

Yes, I think Ernest Shackleton, Herbert Ponting, Hubert Wilkins and others of this era are now becoming my good friends. I’m sure you will already know Shackleton, who has always been a hero of mine, but may not be familiar with the other two. Herbert Ponting was Shackleton’s official photographer and kept a record during his ill-fated voyage in the Endurance. Hubert Wilkins was an aviator and polar explorer and did much to map parts of Antarctica from the air on a number of expeditions. I am sure there are others out there waiting for me to find them and I look forward to meeting them soon.

MISCELLANY

Dwindling Stamp Shops: Sandra Poole.

Bryan and Minou Button have just returned from another visit to Brussels and added further comments to Bryan’s short report in the Spring Newsletter on how there were now just two stamp shops remaining there: We all realise that it is very largely due to the introduction and increasing prevalence of information technology into our lives in its many forms. Ebay and philatelic websites in reality now provide easy access to what is available and what it costs. For Belgium, the facts and figures for over 5,600 stamps are available online, covering the period 1849 to 2010. Fewer stamps are in circulation for letters and parcels, thanks to the franking machines. Still Belgapost offers the new stamps whenever they are issued and are very efficient in providing them to the keen amateur.

This started me thinking- who now uses stamp shops? I am amazed these days, how many adults do not even know the meaning of the word ‘philately’, whereas when we were children, it tripped of our tongue as often as ‘ice cream’ and ‘bubblegum’. A neighbour was amazed to see a commemorative stamp on an envelope and wondered what it was; the machin booklets and the demise of post offices have a lot to answer for. As children, we got most of our stamps by swapping with others, from our mail, from little packets sold at newsagents and even ‘approvals’ sent through the post until we realised we actually had to pay for them! I myself rarely go into a stamp shop as it is a rare one that sells what I now collect, but I do sometimes go in for accessories. My main source is Ebay, specialist club auctions and large exhibitions Many stamp shop owners may have found stamp fairs a better source of revenue and with fewer overheads. Our local shop, however, always seems busy when I do go in. There are also long queues of dealers and collectors alike at the Royal Mail stand at Stampex. Do other members patronise stamp shops and what would the future be without them?

In the shop of a thousand accessories

Under the sign of ‘Rowland Hill’

There you will find a frustrated philatelist

By the name of unhinged Lil. (G.Ki)

Sale of the Society Library: Our treasurer received over £400 in sales to our members before the official auction was held at Cavendish on 11 September. Some books deemed unsaleable were turned down; the others were entered as 32 lots, just 5 of which were unsold. Star of the auction was lot 581-the Ferrari Catalogues, which made £650, £150 more than the estimate. Another surprise was lot 578 which went for £220, £120 above estimate. The most disappointing realisation was the £180 (estimate £240) for Nissen’s ‘The Plating of the Penny Black. Disappointing, but not totally unexpected as it is now available online, as reported in the last newsletter. (Last year, a copy apparently raised £350.) The total hammer price for lots sold was £3,427, commission, charges and Vat came to £635.35 and we received a cheque for £2,791.65. Thanks are due to John Jackson, who has helped throughout & now has our unsold lots on Ebay!

A postcard collector is called a DELTIOLOGIST. The word comes from the Greek ‘deltion’- a small writing tablet. But you knew that already, didn’t you?

All is not lost: Nearly 240,000 children of primary school age entered the competition to design this year’s 1st and 2nd class Christmas stamps. I wonder how many of the entrants had seen a Great Britain commemorative stamp before.

68,000,000 1d Blacks were issued.

SOCIETY MEETING REPORTS

The Falkland Islands: Alan Godfrey, 2 August 2013

Alan Godfrey displayed a very comprehensive collection of Falkland Islands stamps covering the period 1869-1990. Due to the remote location of the Islands, the supply of stamps from Britain was problematic. The Queen Victoria stamps of 1878 continued until 1904, differing only in watermark and colour changes. Some bisected stamps were used following the loss of stamps in a shipment and some cancels were improvised using corks. Higher values, half a crown and five shillings, appeared in 1898. ‘War stamp’ overprints appeared in 1918. In 1933, pictorial stamps of the Centenary of British Administration met with disapproval in Argentina. Many of the common 1938 definitives have forged cancellations. In the 1982 conflict, an Argentine Post Office was set up, supplying overprinted Argentine stamps. Later in 1982, the ‘Birds of the Passerine Family’ stamps were printed by Cowells of Ipswich and printer’s waste in various forms entered the philatelic market. Local stamps have dubious validity; from West Point, a bogus issue and an attractive stamp from Jason Island. Finally, in the display, postal stationery and aerogramme items were shown, although the actual requirement for these items in the Islands was minimal.

Alfreton Visit. 20 September 2013

A much depleted group of NPS members- just 8 of us- made our annual visit to Alfreton PS. Although numbers were down, the quality of the displays remained high and the subject matter eclectic. Topics covered included the farthing, a philatelic miscellany, Guernsey Revenues, Locals of the Scottish Islands, Kjobenhavn postal stationery and South Atlantic Islands. As it was the centenary of our Society, we were presented with a large anniversary cake, which Master Baker Allen Wood promptly cut into 20 or so pieces for us all to enjoy. It was, as usual, a successful evening, with Alfreton members showing their usual interest in the displays and with us all having plenty of time to discuss these and to generally socialise. The hosts were also delighted that after last year’s defeat, they now enjoyed a resounding success in outnumbering the visitors!

Hotchpotch no. 3: Tony Sibley, 6 September 2013

When Tony Sibley presents a Hotchpotch, there is ‘never a dull moment’. This time, he opened the hotchpotch with Victorian Mulreadys and used penny stamps on covers, which included railway surcharge stamps and a paquebot cancel from 1897. An assortment of worldwide postal stationery followed which included examples of field post from WWII. Salvaged mail from shipwrecks and twelve air crashes completed the first part of the evening. Part 2 commenced with a fine thematic collection of undercover mail, showing communications between residents and internees in hostile countries. Most of the examples were from the WWII period, concentrating upon the service provided by Thomas Cook in Lisbon. Their service was well organised and included printed documentation of terms and conditions. Finally, a collection of covers with postage due stamps was shown. In addition to insufficient postage, in one case a VAT payment amounting to £120, some covers had revenue stamps or pre-used stamps attached. Not all of these had alerted the attention of Royal Mail, but they did reach the attention of our philatelist.

Past Presidents, Group A- 27 September

This year is the Society’s centenary and our President invited the past presidents of the Society to present a series of small displays. Amazingly, twenty past presidents responded with offers to contribute, with the consequence that two groups of ten were arranged: hence the ‘Group A’. Not only is this year the club’s 100th year, but it is also the 1st Australian stamps’ centenary year, and two of the speakers recognised this. Bill Whitaker had on display an Australian Kangaroo stamp, which was cancelled 10th Nov 1913, the actual date of the Society’s inauguration. The other presenters were: Doug Stubbings (Tonga Golden Circles), Paul Roebuck (British East Africa and ‘Minerals’), Dennis Boot (Queen Victoria Jubilee Issues), Tony Sibley (Eastern Europe after WWI), Steve Speak (Australia), Sandra Poole (Scandinavian Local Posts and Christmas Seals), Wendy Orr (the Nottingham Connection), Mike Siverns (India 1919-20) and Brian Clayton (British Antarctica.) Brian has the special honour of being both the current President and also a past president. This was, indeed, a splendid and unique meeting.

Sierra Leone: Frank Walton, 18 October 2013

This small country in west Africa formed the display and lecture by Frank Walton. His main interest centred around the period 1859 to 1931 when De la Rue printed the stamps. Interesting memorabilia from that country was on display, including printing trials, printing ink recipes and specimen stamps. Most of the mail in this period was sent between Africa and Britain, but little of the African incoming mail has been preserved, due to the conditions in the colony. In addition, the quantity of stamps produced was low, with no value other than the 6d issued until 1872. De la Rue then introduced key plate typography printing. Fiscal stamps were introduced for revenue collection and some were overprinted for postal use. The format was changed to ‘Postage and Revenue’ in 1896 and with replacement portraits of King Edward and King George V, the design continued until 1931. Larger format stamps were introduced for the higher values in the King George V era, although the £2 and £5 values were in hand when the printing contract was lost. This was an outstanding presentation on a subject of complex philately.

The Belgian Philatelic Study Circle’s Annual Conference, 7 and 8 September 2013: Bryan & Minou Button

For the first time in many years, the annual conference was held in Belgium at the Royal Astrid Hotel in Ostend. There were seventeen displays, six from Belgium and the remaining ones by English and French members. The displays were entitled 1944 Victory Lions; Ostend Postal History 1650-1914 and Roulette Cancellations; The Medallion issues; The Belgian Departements Conquis 1793-1814; early Original Marks; Complementary Hospitals in the 10th military region during World War I; Circle Varieties on the Medallion Issue; Ongoing Mail from the City of Oudenaarde to 1830; World War I Postmarks; Mourning Correspondence (Minou); Cancellations of Private Lines in East and West Flanders; The ‘Kepi’ issue and its usages on airmails; Eastern Cantons 1940-1944; Airmails; World War II Postal History and, finally, Distribution Office. Many of the displays were first projected onto a screen using power point images, a very agreeable way of viewing the displays. The depth and knowledge of some of the displays were quite outstanding. Some of the Medallion issues had been purchased from the recently auctioned Karpov collection, a six figure sample! The presentations were followed by some socialising and a dinner, and very pleasant it was too. About twenty-four people attended the annual dinner, of which seventeen were philatelists. Minou was delighted to meet some people who had attended the same high school- the Kouijnklijke Atheneum- as her, one even at the same time as her, but in another section.

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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