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Spring 2016 Newsetter

POSTAGE STAMPS OVERPRINTED 'SPECIMEN'

IAN JAKES

The majority of British Colonial postage stamps overprinted ‘SPECIMEN’ were distributed by the International Bureau of the Universal Postal Union for its members. Generally, three copies of each newly issued stamp were sent to each UPU member country overprinted ‘SPECIMEN’ to keep as a record of the stamps issued. The ‘ULTRAMAR’ hand stamp was applied in Lisbon to UPU specimens supplied to the Portuguese Colonies. (Encyclopaedia of Jamaican Philately, Vol.1, Sutcliffe & Jarvis).

Between July 1892 and September 1907, the decision to distribute stamps in quintuplicates (usually in strips of 5) to each UPU member country was implemented. (Sutcliffe and Jarvis).

Local specimen overprints are found on the postage stamps of one particular territory or groups of territories only. It is believed that most of them were used to provide presentation sets for Very Important Persons.(Specimen Stamps of the Crown Colonies 1857-1948 by M. Samuel).

Directly above is a bogus local specimen overprint (Samuel J5). Samuel states ‘I have listed all of the items which I believe, but cannot guarantee, to be genuine… being parsimonious, fakers often used defective stamps…and even…cancelled stamps for the misdeeds….Most of the old time fakes seem to have made their appearance in the 1920s. They are just as rare as the stamps with genuine overprints'.

500 YEARS OF ROYAL MAIL

SANDRA POOLE

(From Royal Mail's Press Release.) In 1516, Henry VIII knighted Brian Tuck, the first Master of the Posts and that was the start of a royal mail, just operating for the king and Court. It was not until 1635, that this was opened up to the general public by Charles I.

You can read more by Googling ‘500 years of Royal Mail’. Royal Mail, in partnership with the British Postal Museum and Archive, is celebrating its quincentenary ‘with an online gallery of 500 objects, people and events, telling the story not only of the postal service, but also their contribution to social and political development over the last 500 years’. Do take the time to view this- a lot of work has gone into creating it. A fine set of 6 stamps was issued in February.

This slogan appears in large and small format. The earliest I have is 4 Jan 2016

All you family historians might also be interested in ‘Letters of our Lives:’ ‘Royal Mail is gathering an archive of letters and postcards that will shed new light on our shared history’ and inviting members of the public to seek out old, personal letters that ‘reveal our social and political history as told by the people who lived it and submit them to the project.’

DRIVING CREEK RAILWAY

BRIAN CLAYTON

On 25 January 2016, Sandra circulated an email with the Waikato PS Newsletter 2016 No.1 attached. On pages 3-4 there was a short, but intriguing, reference to the Driving Creek Railway (DCR). As part of a five week fly/drive tour of New Zealand in February/March 2010, Sonia and I stayed on the Coromandel Peninsula (east of Auckland) and included a visit to the DCR. We had a full day to tour the area and spent a long time soaking in the wonderful coastal scenery at the stunning Cathedral Cove. Realising that we needed to move swiftly to Coromandel town, we felt we needed to take the shortest route and that meant negotiating the famous Route 309, a largely rough track through dense forests; Waikato readers will know the ‘road’! We made it and then experienced the spectacular DCR just to the north of the town.

I thought readers might like to see some digital images of the railway. Barry Brickell took 32 years to build the 2.6km of tortuous narrow-gauge railway track, after acquiring his 22 hectare block of hilly scrub-covered land in 1973. He arrived from Auckland in 1961 to become NZ’s first Kiwi-born fulltime handcraft potter. Initial work required trial surveys with a slasher, until a suitably graded route could be found and local contractors did the major earthworks. He built several substantial viaducts including the famous ‘Double decker’, 3 tunnels, 2 spirals and 5 reversing points so as not to exceed the 1 in 14 safe gradient limit, ensuring breath-taking views across the Peninsula.

'POST AND GO',TRANSPORTING THE MAIL

SANDRA POOLE

The first pictorial ‘Post and Go’ stamps (labels to the purist) were issued on 17 Sep 2010 and featured garden birds. (see Autumn 2010 newsletter. The latest set of 6- ‘The Royal Mail Heritage: Transport’- was issued on 17 February this year. One of the stamps featured a Royal Mail 1970s minivan, postman and letter box with a post office direction sign- definitively a ‘must have’! I had hoped to purchase one from the machine and send it to myself, but both the machines and the unofficial philatelic counter had run out and there was none elsewhere in the PO- it was a very popular issue I was told.

This unfortunately meant I had to order the whole set of 6x1st class, which I would probably keep in its entirety, as it really is beautifully presented, with its colourful and informative accompanying card.

Another stamp in the set would probably interest those who were at Yvonne Wheatley’s presentation on ‘Moving the Mails by Rail’ as it shows a Travelling Post office and the railside apparatus from which the mail pouch was snatched whilst the train was still moving- Health and Safety would not have been amused!

Other stamps in the set showed a post boy from the 1640s, a mail coach from the 1790s, a Falmouth packet ship from the 1820s and an airplane used for transporting mail.

I read in the spring issue of the Letter Box Study Group journal that in the interests of accuracy, Royal Mail had consulted the Post Office Vehicle Club to ensure the illustration of the minivan was correct in all its details and likewise, the Letter Box Study Group was consulted in the same way with reference to the letter box. design.

This transport set, according to the card, is the first ‘in a series of Post and Go stamps (note ‘stamps’ not ‘labels’!) to explore the transportation of mail; to be continued in 2017’

TOURIST POSTS

SANDRA POOLE

I once showed to the Society a few sheets of TNT tourist stamps This. Post, which operated in Spain and the Canary Islands, ended in 2004 and I haven’t given much thought to these posts since- that is until a friend returned from Majorca where he had come across Swiss Post, Sun Post and one other that I presume was Easy Post, which were also aimed at the tourist market. I already had a Swiss Post stamp, which I was going to look up someday and that day is today!

Swiss Post is co-operating with La Poste (France) in a joint business venture, Asendia, and aim to deliver postcards to Europe within 7-8 days and overseas in 8-9. It operates in the Balearics and Canaries. It also operates in Italy, with stamps again showing tourist spots or famous monuments. Swiss Post does not control the price of its stamps and they can be more expensive than those of Spanish Post. I don’t know when the company started operating, but it was no later than 2012.

Easy Post- I have scant details on this post. Postcards again have to be deposited in special red boxes and stamps may be purchased, I presume, as above. The posts on the internet are not reassuring- delivery times vary from up to 12 weeks to never, but of course people are always prone to complain rather than praise and I haven’t tested the service myself.

Sun Post- states it specialises in cross-border postal deliveries. They have their own, red letterboxes and seem to provide the same service.

WELCOME TO OUR NEW PRESIDENT OSWALDO PONCE

Oswaldo (Ossi) Ponce from Ecuador joined our Society in 2014. Below are some extracts from his ‘Welcome’ on the Website. We wish him good luck.

Photo: Brian Clayton

I am proud to have been appointed President and we would like to interest new members and keep the Society evolving with new ideas, whilst keeping the old traditions. I will give my best effort to follow the example set by the past-presidents, who have gradually given our Society more recognition in the philatelic world.

Anyone is welcome to come along and sample one of our meetings, to see the displays and experience the friendly atmosphere, which we hope will tempt you to return.

MISCELLANY

New Zealand Alternate Mail Operators- John Waller, Waikato PS. In the 1st issue this year of the Waikato PS, I read that there had been a merger of several big players in the alternate mail business and that a new one, Send, had arrived on the scene. I wrote to John to enquire when all this had happened. This is his reply, Ed.) I asked my friend about the dates the companies came under the same banner and he didn’t know either. G3 purchased New Zealand Mail, Pete’s Post and Fastway. SEND is part of the same group, but I was unaware of it beforehand. No doubt that there is some subtle difference. You don’t see many items from Send. On the face of it, all these groups appear to do much the same thing. Both Fastway and NZM still issue stamps, but I would think the vast bulk of their business would be selling pre-stamped envelopes to businesses. By buying all these mail operators, I imagine G3 was looking at asking New Zealand Post for a bigger discount in their mail processing charges- no G3 operator delivers mail. Of the big players, only DX delivers mail. Small operators aside, the main mail-processing groups are G3, DX and Croxley. Croxley uses NZ Post for mail processing, but DX deliver all their packets and parcels. (I have since found out from a link that John sent me that Send was registered on 27 June 2011. Ed.)

How to deal with the reduction in mail- Sandra Poole. Well, Finland has come up with a solution or two. As deliveries have fallen there too, on their quietest day of the week- Tuesday as it so happens- Posti is offering, for a fee, either a half or full hour grass-cutting service.in the summer.. The work will be done by volunteers from the workforce and Posti will apparently receive 65 euros per month per recipient per half hour. This seems like a good idea, but I am not sure what the professional gardeners who normally provide this service will feel about a possible threat to their livelihood. Apparently, other European countries have also come up with various ideas. La Poste, in France, will offer, for instance, a service that checks up on elderly people- you sign up to a scheme whereby postmen on their rounds will call in on your parent(s) to make sure that they are all right.Another of Posti’s ideas is for postmen to deliver meals on their rounds. Necessity is the mother of invention, so they say.(from news item in The Times).

Dull Men of Great Britain’ by Leland Carlson- a Review by S. Poole

I was attracted by the title; I wondered whether I should start another collection, take up a different hobby or even try a new job- such as watching paint dry. And yes, the first person featured did just that. He used to earn his living by literally watching paint dry. I won’t spoil the excitement by telling you why- that would be completely against the ethos of the book!

So which others to pick out? A random sample includes- a member of the Roundabout Appreciation Society, the Handsaw Curator, the Military Vehicle Restorer, a Model for Anoraks (the perfect job I would have thought), the Postbox Photographer-(well I had to put that one in, didn’t I) and and the Postal Museum in a Shed Curator! And no they weren’t nerds, cranks and weirdos, and just to prove it, I will just sneak in -for Chris- the Tax Disc Fanatic! At the end of the book, there is a paint chart with 50 shades of grey and an invitation to join the Dull Men’s Club. Far from being dull, it is fascinating- and humorous in a deadpan sort of way.

There is a fitting epilogue in the author’s foreword "Because whether it is bricks, milk bottles, postboxes or roundabouts, the mundane contains much that is beautiful and fascinating, and I encourage everyone to read through the 40 stories contained in this book and ask themselves ‘Where might I find happiness like that?’" And that probably relates to philately as well.

Sorting through my hoard, I found an article by Dermot Purgavie in ‘Night and Day’, 2000, where the people discussed would have fitted perfectly into the above. There was: the world’s leading scholar on moist towelettes- not only that, but he found other collectors- seriously- and they met up to trade towelettes and spread the word on the joys of ‘scented wipes.’ The author pointed out that the internet had brought together other collectors whose objects of delight were: pencil sharpeners; rum bottle labels; typewriter ribbon tins; sugar packets-38,000 of them- (pity I threw mine away); barbed wire in 18" lengths; 378 airline sick bags -empty, I hope. There were also people who collected the serial numbers on electic pylons.

In a recent BBC news item, I read that a Japanese Company was issuing free collectors cards to encourage the appreciation of their drain covers.

Stamps in Afghanistan were first issued in 1870. They were cancelled by cutting or tearing a strip from part of the stamp. Postmen tested penny-farthings with stabilisers in 1882.

DISPLAY REPORTS

Rumania- George Kirkham, 5 February 2016.

In the first part of the evening, George showed his collection of Rumanian stamps in the period 1928 to 1947. Although the spelling of Rumania differs in the English speaking groups, it also differs in the country itself. The stamps were of mint quality and were notable for the completeness of the sets.

In the second part, a wide range of covers was shown to illustrate the postal history of Rumania, with the WWII years dominating. Red Cross communications continued after the hostilities as the wrath of communism took over.

Zeppelin Mail- Doug Stubbings, 19 February 2016.

It was in 1928 that the Graf Zeppelin, the LZ 127 airship designed by Hugo Echener completed an inter-continental flight. Then in 1929, the airship made a round-the-world flight, landing at Tokyo and Lakehurst (United States) before returning to Friedrichshafen in Germany. Commemorative postal items were produced and in recognition of this important technological development, several countries issued stamps which were specifically intended for use on airship mail. The Zeppelin service to South America commenced and in the United States an attempt to build a larger airship resulted in disaster, Doug Stubbings showed a fine collection of the stamps, the mail and photographs to document the era. With the rise of Nazi Germany, Swastika Zeppelin stamps appeared, with great expectations for airship travel; but after the Hindenberg disaster in 1938, aircraft rapidly took over from airships.

Moving the Mail- Yvonne Wheatley, 4 March 2016.

With the establishment of faster travel by railways, an Act of Parliament in 1838 made provision for mail to be carried by rail. Yvonne Wheatley gave a comprehensive report on how this was implemented by the railways with reference to the development of apparatus to facilitate the exchange of mail bags at speed and the governing rules for the operation of travelling post offices. Initially, although the railways were employed to carry letters for Royal Mail, they were also allowed to operate parcel services. In 1890, a second Act of Parliament granted the railways permission to operate their own letter services in conjunction with Royal Mail. The letters for rapid delivery carried both Royal Mail and Railway Delivery stamps. A few additional services were provided, especially for newspaper reporters.

Commonwealth Antarctica 1950-75- Brian Clayton, 18 March 2016.

In this presentation, Brian Clayton showed examples of stamps and mail from the British Antarctic Territory, the Australian Antarctic Territory and the New Zealand administration of Ross Dependency. Both Brian and David Shipstone have visited Antarctica and they recalled their perilous journeys in small ships to reach the continent. In the reign of King George VI, the Falklands Dependencies, on the edge of Antarctica, had an established postal system. The first attempt to set up a permanent base on the main land mass was Operation Tabarin in 1944, but the principal early development of the continent was during and after the Geophysical Year 1957-58. Postal activities during this time were active and many letters and covers were displayed, including mail signed by Sir Edmund Hillary. He and Sir Vivian Fuchs were leading the Antarctic Crossing expeditions. With the bases built and maintained, attention turned towards university research, but the flow of mail continued and new stamps were issued. The stamps of Antarctica have played a vital role in the continental development. The display included many photographs and illustrated covers, some with attractive labels and multiple cancellation cachets.

Three Times around the World- Minou Button, 1 April 2016.

For her presidential Evening, Minou Button gave a pictorial history of her travel round the world. She has been a resident in several countries: Belgium, Belgian Congo, United States Hong Kong and Great Britain, and a visitor to the remaining continents, excepting Antarctica. A wealth of documentation, photographs, postcards, telegrams and stamps collected at the time was on show. Luxury Belgian telegrams gave a colourful contrast to the funeral announcements of family and friends and the mourning stamps from Belgium.

In the second part of the display, given on April 1st, the theme was ‘April Fish’. In France, April Fools’ Day is celebrated with ‘April Fish’, adding a touch of humour to the occasion of the day. In addition to the stamps, there were several items relating to the event. (D.H.)

ANNUAL DINNER

The last event of the year, apart from the AGM, was the Society Annual Dinner held at the Rancliffe Arms, Bunny. and attended by 26 members and visitors. It was an enjoyable evening and the food was good and copious. Our poet laureate, George Kirkham, was again in lyrical mood:

The Rancliffe Arms

Doth have its charms

A genial host

And a resident ghost.

Did you say ghost?

Yes you heard.

I’ll have him by his beard

And remove his flipping head.

Just a mo- he’s already flaming dead,

With his head tucked underneath his arm.

That’s all right then- he can do no harm.

The menu was studied for cakes and goodies

It reminded me of punters at the bookies.

We made our choice of mains and starters

(Hope you don’t mean gas or waters.)

Swivel-hipped waiters balancing plates,

Putting them on tables for us and our mates.

Then along came pud, sweet or seconds

All good stuff that calories beckons.

After that we were full, stuffed and replete.

After a while we staggered to our feet.

Now let’s all say ‘thanks to Bryan and Minou’

For a really good, smashing ‘bit of a do’.

Let’s all go home, quietly, softly and full of good cheer.

All being well we will meet up next year.

SOCIETY AND OTHER NEWS

Resignation- Jack Hailwood has sadly had to resign due to unforeseen circumstances.

Annual Subscriptions: it was decided at the AGM that these should remain at £10.

Members’ Displays to other Societies- Doug Stubbings gave a display entitled ‘All Things Military’ to the GNCPS on 10 February and Mike Siverns showed ‘The Third Reich’ at Chesterfield two weeks later. Dennis Boot gave a display on Victorian GB at the GNCPS on 9 March. Bill Whitaker was at Wombourne on 17 March, Streetley on 6 April and at Derby the following week, and Barbara Inger went to Alfreton on 1 April. Brian Clayton presented a display on Commonwealth Antarctic Territories, 1945-1965 to Rutland PS and Radcliffe-on Trent PS on 13 and 21 April respectively. Finally, Chris Tennant entertained members at Sudbury, Suffolk with a display entitled ‘Newspapers and the Railways’ on 19 April.

Forthcoming Displays at our Society:

20 May Annual Society Comp’n, followed by 10 sheet displays if time.

3 June Victorian GB Dennis Boot

1 July South Atlantic Islands Alan Squires

2 Aug Members’ Evening- Eastern Europe

Displays at the Greater Nottingham Co-operative PS- 7pm start.

11 May AGM and Bring and Buy

8 June Danish Telegrams Sandra Poole

13 July Latest Acquisitions Members

Displays at Radcliffe-on-Trent PS

12 May Postcards or Ephemera Members

26 May TBA

9 June Aspects of GB Registered Mail Steve Harrison

14 July TBA

Displays at Derby PS

12 May Wagons West John Edwards

9 June The Committee Entertains

14 July Indian Army during World War II Mike Siverns

Displays at Loughborough PS

12 May Visit from Redhill PS

26 May Visit from the British West Indies Study Circle

9 June An Evening with Colin Searle

23 June President’s Cup and One Sheet Competitions Members

Phoenix Trophy Competition- 6 May at Shirlands Golf Course. Supporters welcome. Details from our new President, Oswaldo Ponce.

Stamp Fairs at the Nuthall Temple Centre-Nott’m Rd., NG16 1DP, Wed 8 June and Wed 10 August.

York Stamp Fair: 15-16 July at York Racecourse.

Autumn Stampex: 14-17 Sep, Business Design Centre, Islington

World’s First Cinderella Stamp Congress: 16-18 Sep. Details were in the last newsletter and may also be viewed on the Cinderella Stamp Club.website. For updates or to express interest, contact Jon Aitchison: britishlocals@aol.com or telephone 01279 870488.

If you are going to Stampex on the Friday, why not pop into the Royal Philatelic Society London afterwards: 5-8pm welcome drinks, buffet and invited displays. There is also a lot going on on the Saturday as well.

Postal charges went up on 29 March- 1st class 64p. 2nd 55p (100g). Standard Europe, 20g, £1.05. World 10g, £1.05; world 20g, £1.33

Society Competition Evening-20 May. Rules are now on the website

Packet Circuit- more filled booklets are urgently needed.

DISCLAIMER: While every care is taken during the production of the reports, neither the editor or Society Officers can accept any liability for views or unintentional publication errors that may occur.

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