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Winter 2015 Newsletter
OH YES IT IS! OH NO IT ISN'T
BRIAN CLAYTON
I acquired this cover recently, not because it had an ‘in your face’ impact, which it doesn’t, but because of the vendor’s description. This read: AUSTRALIA. COVER. SCOTT BASE ROSS DEPENDENCY.1951. N ZEALAND ANTARCTIC PROGRAMME.
‘Australia’ seems to be irrelevant, but the importance of the description lies in the date, 1951. As any Ross Dependency philatelist will know, the first set of stamps issued, of which two are shown on the cover, occurred on 11 January 1957, which is also the cancellation date for Scott Base Post office. Several questions therefore arise:
(a) Is the 29 SP 51 an error of date on the canceller?
(b) Is the 1 in 51 an incomplete 7 so the date should be 29 SP 57?
(c) Should the date actually be interpreted as 29 SP 61.
The answer to the first question is maybe, but what a find! I have carefully scrutinised the cover under high magnification and I am convinced that the answer to the second question is a definite NO. In any event, the first mail to leave Scott Base in the summer season 1957/58 is known to have been cancelled on 2 October 1957 Careful scrutiny of the cancel on the 4d stamp shows a quite convincing 5 in 51, but the cancel on the 8d stamp indicates a more likely 6 for 5 giving a cancellation date 29 SP 61. It is known that the first mail to leave Scott Base in the summer season 1961/62 was cancelled 29 SP 61. It looks as though I must settle for that date but to have a ‘first mailcover is still a worthwhile acquisition.
So, always check all dates shown on a cover and correlate with known facts !!
TRINIDAD RED CROSS LABELS
IAN JAKES
On 17 September 1914, the Governor in Trinidad & Tobago wrote to the Trinidad Postmaster General authorising letters relating to the charitable business of Trinidad Red Cross Society to be sent through the post throughout the colony free of charge. On 18 September 1914, Trinidad Red Cross Society delivered about 900 letters, each bearing a Trinidad Red cross Charity Appeal label, to Port of Spain Post Office, but before Clarence Ross, the Trinidad Postmaster General, had issued his requirements for the implementation of the free postage facility.
Mr Ross had a dilemma. If he asked Trinidad Red Cross Society to collect their mail from his Post Office because he had not issued his requirements for free postage and the envelopes did not bear postage stamps, the charity and the Governor could both be offended by his action. On the other hand, if he allowed the letters to pass through the post, the letters would be taxed, because there was no postage stamp on the envelope. Furthermore, Trinidad Red Cross Society had just started to sell their charity labels at 24 cents for 100 labels; that is about one penny for eight labels. The unsealed letter rate in Trinidad in 1914 was one halfpenny for a local letter. If envelopes bearing charity labels rather than postage stamps were allowed to pass through the post in connection with the charitable business of Trinidad Red Cross Society without further safeguards, the general public would soon be using charity labels rather than postage stamps on their personal mail.
Clarence Ross cancelled each of the 900 envelopes with a date-stamp and the Trinidad Red Cross label affixed to each envelope with an 18 September postmark. Also on 18 September 1914, Mr Ross caused a circular to be sent to all sub-offices reading ‘Letters bearing a Red Cross stamp and which has been obliterated in Port of Spain must not be taxed.’
The Postmaster General also replied to the Governor of Trinidad and Tobago on the 18 September 1914. The reply reads: ‘On the subject of allowing the correspondence of the Red Cross Society to be forwarded by post free of charge within the colony…I see no objection to such a course provided that the letters in addition to bearing the Red Cross Stamp are duly franked by…someone appointed by the committee to frank such letters…but on no account must this label be obliterated again.’
Scott, the American catalogue, recognised the Trinidad Red Cross label as a postage stamp in 1915. Stanley Gibbons did not recognise the charity label as being a postage stamp until 1974, but that is another story.
These covers are two of approximately nine hundred envelopes which contained circular letters, 50 being written in purple ink and the remainder being addressed in the handwriting of Mrs E M Phillips, the Treasurer of Trinidad Red Cross Society, where the Trinidad Red Cross Label was cancelled by 18th September 1914 postmark and date stamps. The label was later declared to be a halfpenny red postage stamp for this day only.
Most surviving covers were undelivered and returned to Trinidad Red Cross Society.
JUST ANOTHER UNCANCELLED COVER
ALAN SQUIRES
I recently came across this cover sent to me in May 2007 from a dealer in Leicester. (The sender’s address is on the back flap.) At first sight it looks like any other uncancelled piece of mail which we receive on a regular basis. Twelve 2p, one 1p and three 25p Coronation Anniversary stamps making up the £1 postage for a signed for letter Having just purchased a set of Coronation Anniversary stamps, I looked again. The 25p stamps are in fact from South Georgia with the Island name covered by the 2p stamps!
This is the middle value of a set of three issued in various colours from the South Atlantic Islands.
These sets can be obtained in a double block of three with a gutter label separating them.
Sure enough on the back flap below the sender’s address and used as a seal, is the label.By carefully peeling back the top corner of the right hand 2p stamp, it is just possible to see the words ‘SOUTH GEORGIA’. These stamps were issued in 1978, but not in this country!
This started as another rant against Royal Mail, but thanks to their dated ‘Notice Left’ label, I have a cover which, though of little value, does have some interesting features.
WHISTL UPDATE
SANDRA POOLE
As I wrote in the last newsletter, following the demerger from TNT Express who kept the TNT brand name, TNT Post had to come up with a new name and Whistl was the result. The TNT logo could no longer be used legally after the end of 2014 and the new Whistl logo was shown on the website.
Consequently, from 2 January, I was eagerly awaiting an influx of mail bearing this bright orange logo. TNT mail used to arrive by the barrow-load, or so it seemed, and they claim to deliver nearly 4 billion items of addressed mail each year, so where was my share? At last the penny dropped. I realised that I was still receiving Whistl mail; it just wasn’t bearing the expected logo. Instead, I noticed the TNT Post licence number (002) at the bottom of the Royal Mail indicium. So I did the obvious; I contacted Whistl and was told that they were continuing to use their licence number in this way ‘for now’. So that was that.
I also asked them about the electric ‘airwheels’ their ‘posties’ were supposed to be using- a video showing them in action may be viewed on their website. Whistl’s commendably prompt reply was that they were ‘currently under a trial period’. So instead of a photo of this trendy means of transport, I offer you this:
Definitely a transitional period: the bike shows ‘TNT’ on the frame and the postman proudly poses and shows off his new Whistl postbag!
WHAT DID SANTA BRING YOU FOR CHRISTMAS?
ALAN SQUIRES
The photographs show two items which I have had for some time and which I purchased to help with identifying stamps and one I bought for my granddaughters. The Morley Bright watermark detector seemed a good idea at the time. A number of stamps in my collection had very difficult to find watermarks and some of them would have been quite rare if the watermark was inverted, reversed or some combination. Needing to know meant I had spent a long time trying all sorts of tricks to find these elusive watermarks The first time I tried it out, I used a stamp with a watermark so obvious, I could see it without any difficulty at all. This was a good try-out, I thought. Wrong! The watermark was just barely visible in the ink pattern. On the rest of the difficult stamps, it fared even worse. The Colour Key was needed to identify those subtle changes in shades. I found this very difficult to use as the amount of colour on the stamp is usually very small and sometimes the shade given in the catalogue does not match any of the shades on the Colour Key. This was also a non-starter. Then I came across this, the Outdoor adventure 200x microscope. I bought it from a garden centre for about a tenner thinking it would be useful for my granddaughters to play with in the garden. All those plant parts and the bugs and insects. They weren’t interested. Not able to find a good magnifying glass one day, I decided to give it a try to identify a date on a cover. It was brilliant. I use it all the time now and can thoroughly recommend it to anyone wanting a good, cheap magnifier. It is battery operated and once you get used to the fact that everything comes out upside down, you can take it anywhere. It is now part of my philatelic tool box.
A SPANISH TRADITION
POPPY POOLE (aged 14)
Just before Christmas, my niece sent me a Spanish Stamp featuring grapes around a clock face and gave me a brief outline of what it meant. Knowing that my Nottingham granddaughter was soon to have a lesson in school on Spanish celebrations at this time of the year, I asked her to send me a fuller account. This is the email she sent:
’I've found out about the Spanish grape-eating tradition. Basically, it’s called ‘Las doce uvas de la suerte.’ (‘The twelve grapes of luck’). It takes place on New Year’s Eve, but is part of the Christmas festivities in Spain. At 10 o’clock (on New Year’s Eve,) they all have a meal together with the family, which is an important part of the Christmas holiday. Then at midnight, there is a clock that chimes in Madrid and people watch it on TV, like we do with the fireworks, and the countdown to the New Year. Then the clock will chime twelve times and people eat a grape every time it strikes (so that is 12 grapes in total) with their families. This is because it’s supposed to lead to a year of prosperity and also the Spanish are very family orientated. After the grapes are eaten, everyone kisses and drinks and goes out partying. The rule is that you can go out partying as late as you like. However, you must be back for the meal the following day with the family.
A largely Scandinavian Tradition- the Festival of St Lucia, from M.Inger.
At the Christmas Egg Cup competition, this celebration featured on one of the stamps in Mick Inger’s one page exhibit. He explained that this takes place on 13 December, once considered to be the longest night. Lots of families participate and parade around, with their youngest daughter chosen to represent Saint Lucia. She wears a long white dress and carries lighted candles on her head. What would ‘Health and Safety’ have to say about that, he wondered ? Sweden, Aland and Guernsey have all featured the tradition on their stamps.
CARRYING THE MAIL
SANDRA POOLE
Well, you all know what this is- a standard mail-coach, obviously!
But, like me, you may not have recognised the following: This is the Danish, egg-shaped ‘kuglepost’ or ‘ball’ mail-coach. It operated from around 1815 to1855 and had two distinct advantages: it travelled without the hindrance of passengers and their possible tampering with the mail and its body could be detached and transferred to a sledge when weather conditions were too severe for wheeled transport.
EDITORIAL SNIPPETS
SANDRA POOLE
On 18 October 2014, the Waikato P.S. celebrated its 75th Anniversary (see their December newsletter.) A dinner with a celebratory cake was held the day before and also at that event a customised advertising label was released. Their newsletter editor, John Waller, was kind enough to put this one on the envelope in which he sent the newsletter.
In November 2014, the James Czyl collection that I mentioned at a Society meeting recently, realised £853,112 in the Grosvenor November 2014 auction. A member of the Cinderella Stamp Club (amongst others), he was considered to be one of the leading lights of Cinderella philately.
Notts Scout Christmas Posts 2014
Here are the stamps of three of our local scout troops. The Radcliffe stamp is the same as the last two years and no doubt Southwell and Bingham (not shown) are also using up their everlasting supplies!
Derby Scouts: Bruce Kilgour, one of the post’s organisers, told me that they had ‘switched to self-adhesive stamps in 2013 and to keep the costs acceptable, had to buy a million all at once!’ . This meant that there were no new stamps, first day covers or booklets issued this Christmas. I have not yet received delivery figures, but they should be well into six figures.
Operation Pedestal-again!
In Tony Marshall’s article on his merchant Navy days (Spring 2014 Newsletter), he mentioned the Siege of Malta and ‘Operation Pedestal’ which relieved it. One of the stamps that Tony showed celebrated the 70th anniversary of the operation. I recently found this cover, which celebrates its 30th anniversary in 1972 and thought it might be of some interest to members collecting this material. It was carried from Gibraltar to Malta. On the reverse, there are two rectangular cachets in red: ‘MAIL OFFICE/ 10 AUG 1972/ H.M.S. DANAE’ and ‘FLAG OFFICER/ 21 AUG 1972/ MALTA’.
Royal Mail standard small parcels offer: this has now been extended to 29th March 2015. Just to remind you- you can send a parcel measuring 45x35x16cm and weighing up to 2kg for £2.80. Not surprisingly, the offer has proved very popular.
MEETING REPORTS
‘An Evening with Bill Whitaker’, 7 November 2014
Bill introduced his display with examples of his several collections, of which philately had become the most important. As a schoolboy, he assembled complete sheets of 1d reds and also collected the George VI Silver wedding issue. But it was due to his Great Aunt, a widow, who at 53 years of age, had emigrated to Australia that he developed a specialist interest in the philately of Australia. This initially centred around the early kangaroo issue and the many varieties of the George V head issue.Censored Australian mail from WWII was displayed with comparative censor markings. Also shown was a small collection of maps on stamps. On a less serious note, to prove the value of the humble 2nd class Machin stamp, Bill and his friends had posted letters home from many parts of the world with only that stamp affixed- just to see how the postal authorities reacted. Mail from Africa to the BBC Overseas Service illustrated the difficulty of transferring speech to the written word. Bill had also made a personalised portrait stamp- this originated in Australia before the GB Smilers were introduced. Finally, Bill showed his camera had captured some amusing public notices, to bring an informative and entertaining evening to a conclusion. (D.H.)
‘GB, King Edward VII and George V’ : Ian Shaw, 21 November 2014
Following his superb display of Victorian stamps in December 2013, Ian Shaw returned to present another display of British stamps, which covered the stamps which were issued around the time of the formation of the Society. This collection was amazing for its completeness, with the variations in paper, printing, printers’ plates, watermarks and ink colours of the definitive stamps, all examined in minute detail. In addition to the stamps, some interesting covers were on show, including some pre-printed cards used by the WWI soldiers. The famous ‘seahorses’ stamps were shown in full detail and the display concluded with the pictorial issues for the 1924-5 British Empire Exhibition, the 1929 Universal Postal Union Congress and the 1935 Silver Jubilee. This was another impressive display of stamps, many of which were around 100 years of age, and were seen in perfect mint condition. (D.H.)
‘Zeppelin Era 1900-38’: Brian Hyner, 5 December 2014
When Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin invented his airship, the prototype received little attention. It was Hugo Eckler who realised the potential usage of the invention with sponsorship, and philatelic mail played a very important part in the development. Brian Hyner presented a detailed historical account of the airships, which was supported by a splendid display of philatelic items. In World War I, the Zeppelin had military supremacy in the air until 1916, when the improved biplanes were capable of attack. After the war, the primary use of airships was to transport mail and this continued when the large, passenger carrying craft were introduced. Mail from new and remote parts of the world was carried across the Atlantic Ocean, often with special stamps attached and always with an ‘identifying’ cachet. Philatelists marvel at these items, which can be precisely assigned to their flight history. Even after the Hindenburg disaster, some mail was carried in the Graf Zeppelin, although closure became inevitable. (D.H.)
Members’ Evening: Letters G.P.O. 2 January 2015
The meeting opened with a musical performance of Japanese songs from stamps, with Douglas Harvey (keyboard), David Shipstone and Chris Tennant (vocals). Some items from the General Post Office era, including HMSO printed labels, Post Office Christmas Cards and publicity for the Beeston Sorting Office, were displayed by Allen Wood. Dennis Boot and Wendy Orr, whilst Gordon Low and Tony Plowright showed some of the technical developments of the GPO era. Other contributors who took the individual letters for their themes were Chris Tennant (railway labels and tickets), David Shipstone (Prussia), Brian Clayton (Antarctic postcards), George Kirkham (magazine gifts), Mike Siverns (early Pakistan), Sandra Poole (Copenhagen local posts), Mick Inger (Europa Post Offices) and President Alan Squires (Pioneering Flight commemoratives. This was another evening of high class entertainment. (D.H.)
Not seen in the photo is our President, Alan Squires, who was drafted in as narrator. Bryan and Minou Button had the original idea and Douglas Harvey did the organising. The musical performance was a first for the Society and all participants should be congratulated. (S.P.).
‘New Zealand 1915-1935’, Dr. Andrew Dove, 16 January 2015.
The display concentrated on the development of the design for the King George V definitives, which were first issued in 1915. The original from H. Linley Richardson was rejected by Perkins Bacon in favour of a side face portrait, which was modelled on the famous penny black stamp. The study by Dr Andrew Dove was comprehensive, with drawings, die proofs, paper changes, colour trials and perforations for this issue and the subsequent revisions which occurred during this king’s reign Some rare overprints were shown of surcharged stamps, officials, specimens, cancelled stamps and issues for Pacific Islands. The display was completed with some early airmail covers and a variety of interesting revenue stamp items. (D.H.)
Dr. Andrew Dove, last displayed at our Society in 2007. At London 2010, he was awarded a gold medal for his exhibit entitled ‘New Zealand- Definitive Stamps Showing the Head of King George V’. This he showed at the Co-operative Philatelic Society the same year and he gave permission to print his introductory sheet in the 2010 Autumn Newsletter. Also in 2010, he was awarded the prestigious Stanley Gibbons Congress Cup at the Philatelic Congress of Great Britain, held in Kenilworth for his paper on the Definitive Stamps of New Zealand. (S.P.)
Disclaimer-whilst every care is taken in the production of this newsletter, neither the editor or the Society officers can accept any liability for views, opinions or unintentional publication errors that might occur.