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Summer 2018 Newsetter

AN UNUSUAL POSTING

SANDRA POOLE

(Summer 2018 Newsletter)

I believe this item, obviously philatelic, came from a small box of GB kiloware and it is unusual because it was posted in a K4 telephone box, one of only 50 manufactured. Of these, only 4 remain in public use- in Frodsham, from where this was sent in March 2012, Whitley Bay, Warrington and the environs of Tunstall.

I mentioned the K4 in the Autumn Newsletter, so you’ll already know that it incorporated a post box and stamp vending machine on the outside. It was designed by the PO Engineering Department in 1927 and manufactured by Carron. It used the design of the K2, but was much bigger, because of the additions. Unfortunately, I don’t have a photograph yet. But I do have one of the K2, which was smaller than the ubiquitous K6 (ubiquitous, at least, in Nottingham.) I found this one in Islington, London where the K2 is not so hard to find.

K2 Telephone Box, not far from the Business Design Centre. The K2 has 6 rows of glass panes; the K6 has 8, with 2 different sizes of pane.

DISCOVERING A NEW STAMP VARIETY

IAN JAKES

(Summer 2018 Newsletter)

This is possibly the desire of most stamp collectors, but they fall at the first fence because they assume that most catalogue stamp varieties have already been discovered. This is certainly true when considering perforation varieties, paper varieties, watermark varieties and most constant printing flaws. Despite this, new varieties appear every year in Gibbons stamp catalogue. Many of these varieties appear on key-plate stamps, caused by printing flaws. Shown below is a page of Leeward Islands King Edward VII key-plate flaws not shown in any stamp catalogue that I have made up from stamps which I found in the late Ken Benham’s collection.

The same key-plate flaw can appear on the stamps of more than one commonwealth country and on the stamps of the same monetary value and showing a different monarch’s head.

The discovery of new flaws had been enthusiastically encouraged, initially, by King George VI stamp collectors of all commonwealth countries. This interest has extended to King George V key-plate flaws which are found on stamps issued during the earlier reigns of King Edward VII and Queen Victoria.

Key-plates were made so that the cost of printing stamps for all commonwealth countries could be reduced. A key-plate stamp goes through the printing press twice. Some key-plate stamps are printed in two colours, although many are printed in just one, even though they pass through the printing press twice. The first part of the process is of the monarch’s head plate. The usual procedure is for the first printing pass to be used for the printing of stamps of more than one commonwealth country.

Hence, the same monarch’s head plate flaws can appear on the stamps of more than one commonwealth country.

The second part of the printing operation is of the duty plate (the country name/value in money and used to complete the printing on a stamp of one country only.) DUTY PLATE FLAWS ARE THE BEST WAY TO FIND NEW CATALOGUE STAMP VARIETIES. The collector must remember that both head and duty plate flaws can appear on just one printing. Often the flaw is seen and repaired or the head or duty plate flaw is replaced after just one printing. Occasionally, the head and duty plate flaw occurs on more than one printing of the stamps. If there is a change of monarchy a new head plate would be used, but the duty plate containing the flaw could continue to be used. If a duty plate flaw is seen, the collector should look for the same flaw (on the same monetary value on the stamp, never on a different monarch’s head. Duty plate flaws tend to be on either the country or in the area of the monetary value.

I have been in conversation with Frank Walton RDP, RPSL, who has recently asked the Gibbons catalogue editor when he is likely to exercise his discretion for an unlisted flaw to appear in Gibbons catalogue. The answer is:

a.) The flaw must be constant. This means that the flaw must be of an unvarying quantity. A random flaw will not be considered for catalogue status.

b.) The position number on the sheet of stamps must be known. (Peter Brooks, a specialist on Leeward Islands flaws, is able to confirm the sheet position number of several of Ken Benham’s flaws.)

c.) The flaw must be visible to the naked eye.

Postscript: An unlisted flaw head plate flaw is illustrated. I will show unlisted duty plate flaws in my next article.

A VISIT TO THE POSTAL MUSEUM STORE IN DEBDEN

SANDRA POOLE

(Summer 2018 Newsletter)

The Postal Museum Store is just that- a large warehouse on an industrial estate in Debden, Essex, with lots of different letterboxes, vintage PO vehicles and other bulky items like the Mobile Post Office, too big to store in a regular museum.

Its website does say that there is currently no public access to it, but it did take a booking in June for the well-respected Letter Box Study Group, of which I am a member. Our tour started with a general introduction to the store, followed by a power-point presentation on Postal Crime and Investigation from the origins of law and prosecution in 1683 until the present-day investigations into fake stamps, Ebay crime and theft of post boxes. After that, we were invited to look round the store, which represented a Post Office social history, but not in any particular order! Suited me. All objects were on open display, with no barriers around them and no formal descriptions on them We could also avail ourselves of our guides’ expertise whilst wandering round and taking as many photos as we liked. This is what I had come for, so I immediately took out my phone and started snapping. Oh, no! I had hardly started before my phone gave up the ghost. Not to worry, I had another camera; that died after spitting out just one photo and that reluctantly. However, fellow member R. Treeby, kindly agreed to take photos of what I needed and sent me others that he had taken for himself.

(Illustration shows three George V lamp boxes)

We hadn’t come all this way not to see letterboxes! You are unlikely to see any of these Victorian letter boxes anywhere else than in a museum! The hexagonal one on the left is a Penfold, Swindon. Next to it, is a London Ornate PB, 1857-9, with its aperture (letting in rain) on top! (See close-up) Last, but not least, is the Liverpool Special, 1862-3.

On view below, are a vintage PO motor vehicle and an Inspector’s parcel bicycle with wicker basket.

This really is fine collection- still a work in progress- and it is impossible to do justice to it in just a few pages. Two other items that impressed me (out of many) were a cabinet of small model postmen wearing uniforms from 1793 to 1910 and a large envelope-making machine!

(Left) Stamp vending machine; (Right) Wooden telephone box

And, as a finale, Sir Rowland Hill’s desk:

Hill became secretary to the Post office in 1856 and this is the desk at which he and subsequent company secretaries worked until 2003, when the Secretary’s office was refurbished.

Thanks to Rob Treeby, LBSG, who took most of the photos.

FRIEDENSRICH HUNDERTWASSER (b. Friedrich Stowasser)

SANDRA POOLE

(Summer 2018 Newsletter)

In the last Newsletter, I mentioned an article that Minou Button had written for the Winter 2007-8 Newsletter, but did not mention the name of the architect and stamp designer, who was featured in it. Coincidentally, soon after, I stumbled on an article by Thomas Broadhead. in the October 2016 copy of The American Philatelist. In this, he reports that there are 39 stamps that Hundertwasser designed, ten of which were issued posthumously. That, thankfully, saved me ploughing through 6 volumes of SG catalogues! Here are some examples from my own stamp collection;

L.Social Summit; Top, Small Path (maze); R. King of the Antipodes; bottom, Spiral Tree

The stamp (below) is another artist’s depiction of the Hundertwassserhaus in Vienna, which was the inspiration of Hundertwasser, with the architect Krawina being the named co-creator after a long legal battle. Hundertwasser believed in ‘an architecture in harmony with nature and man,’ and this house has ‘undulating floors’ and a roof covered with earth and grass (not uncommon in Scandinavia) and large trees grown from inside the house with branches extending through the windows. ‘Within the house, there are 53 apartments, 4 offices, 16 private…and 3 communal terraces and a total of 250 trees and bushes.’ (Wikipedia.)

A picture of the actual house built between 1983-1985 may be seen on:

https.//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/hundertwasserhaus.

PASSING THE TIME OF DAY

ALAN SQUIRES

(Summer 2018 Newsletter)

On a recent visit to the British Horological Institute we were shown several Regulator clocks from the early 1900s. These were accurate timepieces, which were used to set other less expensive clocks on a regular basis, usually every day. The Royal Mail had a regulator clock at its headquarters in London. This was used to set clocks which were then put on board their horse-drawn coaches. These were double-locked clocks, which were then set in London by the Royal Mail regulator clock and taken on the coach. The clock was double-locked so the coachmen could not tamper with the lock if they were not keeping to their schedule. Once at their destination not only did they off-load passengers and mail but would also tell the time from their on-board clock. This became known as ‘passing the time of day’. The people waiting for the coach would stand around gossiping with one another and so ‘passing the time of day’ came to mean standing around and engaging in general chit-chat.

A Regulator Clock similar to the Royal Mail’s clock

Post script. In 1836 John Henry Belville, a London businessman, had a ‘John Arnold’ pocket chronometer, which had been made for the Duke of Sussex. Every morning, Belville would go to Greenwich Observatory and set his watch. He then had 200 clients around London that he visited to set their clocks for them. In this way, he made a living to support his wife and family. When he died in 1856 his wife continued the business until her retirement in 1892. The watch was handed to her daughter, Ruth, who took over the business. Ruth was known as the Greenwich Time Lady and retired at the ripe old age of 86 in 1940.

A PIECE OF POSTAL HISTORY

ALAN SQUIRES

(Summer 2018 Newsletter)

I received this missive in the mail recently. I was astonished to find it may be unique on several counts.

1) It has been cancelled by Royal Mail - unusual

2) The machine cancel does not cover all stamps on the cover - interesting

3) The uncancelled stamps have not been defaced with biro scribblings – very unusual

First time for everything!

What Alan hasn’t mentioned is the fact that it also has a legible slogan congratulating Benjamin Myers, winner of the Walter Scott prize for historical fiction- uncommon! (Ed.)

MISCELLANY

SANDRA POOLE

(Summer 2018 Newsletter)

Whilst we are on the highbrow stuff, here’s a slogan celebrating the Hay Festival And, no, it’s not a jolly for farmers to celebrate a good harvest but, as I understand it (I’ve never been) a serious gathering of writers, philosophers, performers, scientists, speakers, artists etc, with serious discussions, workshops, educational sessions for young people and a bit of fun thrown in as well. Royal Mail is obviously on the ball!

Stamp Corner

Civil War Stamp

Court of Honour

I recently learned that this year’s Stampex featured an ordinary childhood stamp collection in the Court of Honour. I didn’t see it myself, but I can’t imagine how it could compare with some of the exhibits that I have seen there before. Is it yet another case of ‘dumbing-down’ or am I missing something?

What I did see at Stampex, however, was a display in the new ephemera class. I quote what the editor of Stamp Magazine (April} wrote about one of these displays: …”I was transfixed by a study of toilet paper from the 1959s and 1960s. A bit like Brexit, it came ‘soft’ or ‘hard’, and left half the population feeling sore.” So why should I be interested? It was not my display, but it was my (former) collection that I had started when I was 12 and sold to a fellow philatelist last year, after it had remained unloved for many years. Perhaps it will be in the Autumn Stampex Court of Honour! In 1971, the record number of people, all students, standing on the oval top (6 sq, feet) of a pillar box is claimed to be 29. They used to do crazy things like that, so I can believe it. I haven’t seen it bettered, but who knows?

In the Winter 2017/18 Newsletter I reproduced (with his permission) an article that John Waller had written in the Waikato newsletter re the NZ ‘seeds’ issue of stamps. After the article had appeared in the Waikato NL, John wrote: ‘Dave Butcher of the Kiwi Stamp Circuit pointed out to me that there are serrations at the bottom of each stamp where the coloured point stops, so the bottom bit, whether it is blank or has printing and other information, can be removed leaving a nice pointy stamp.

DISPLAY REPORTS BY DOUGLAS HARVEY

The Amazing Life of Herbert Wilkins- Alan Godfrey, 18 May 2018

George Hubert Wilkins was born in Australia in 1888 and left his studies in Electrical Engineering for a more adventurous life in Europe and America. Many of his adventures reflect the pioneering nature of the times: the polar and world exploration expeditions involved aircraft, airships and submarines, all with the background setting of the early twentieth century. The display included photographs, many originating from Wilkins’s interest in photography, philatelic items and some of the advertising propaganda to promote the Polar expeditions. The failed attempt to cross under the North Pole in a submarine was the pinnacle of his adventures. Alan Godfrey’s research and documentation were outstanding and this gave us an evening which was both informative and very entertaining.

“Tell and Show”- Members, 8 June 2018

As with all members’ evenings, a variety of philatelic material was on display, but on this occasion, members were asked to explain their exhibits in addition to their displays. Some members recalled the unusual items or bargains that they had obtained from the vast quantity of items that they had looked through in dealers’ stocks. This included material from the South Atlantic Islands, Hungary, Portugal and GB. Although British Post Office mistakes are rare, particularly in Victorian times, cancellation errors and forged stamps were discovered, whilst the introduction of phosphor printing techniques produced some unusual GB varieties. Rare postings from Australian sources and Burma stationery trials were items of exceptional interest, whilst amusement was provided from a San Marino adventure.

The Life and Times of King George VI- Daphne McMillan, 5 July 2018

The life of Albert, Duke of York, who became King George VI was presented in a Gold Medal Winning Social Philately Display by Daphne McMillan. The introduction biography included the family tree from Victoria through Edward VII and George V. The brothers, Prince Albert and Prince Edward, were educated together at the Royal Naval College, Osborne, and after military service in 1923, Albert married Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. Many fascinating letters and documents were on display to give a more personal touch to the established history. The royal visits to Canada and France were documented, together with information on the planning of royal events. When Edward abdicated the throne, the coronation in 1937 was “same date- different king”. Dulac’s own signature was on the familiar stamp. In Part 2, the Second War period was followed by the Victory and Festival of Britain philatelic issues, which had additional documentation. Finally, the display had the announcements of the funeral in 1952, when the throne passed to Albert’s elder daughter, Elizabeth, our Queen.

*****

You Reply: in the last newsletter, I asked for members’ theories regarding a letter apparently sent from both London and Birmingham on the same day! Douglas Harvey was the only one to reply (twice): 1.The red cds is over the savings stamp so that came first. It seems that the letter got paid in London but was put in a box after getting home in Birmingham. The sender had a day in London and met a friend who had a red machine. I agreed that the sender could have spent the day in London and met a friend but the friend would have had to work at RM Wholesale for the letter to receive the ‘Foreign Section London’ cachet. I also asked if one could assume that the addressee was a philatelist, which elicited the 2nd reply: 2. It occurred to me that the ‘sender’ of the letter could have been a foreigner who had obtained the 10p savings stamp thinking that it was also accepted for postage. The London friend realised that it was not for postage and applied the red stamp, but the savings stamp was already stuck down, so was left in place. Then the addressee is not wanting a Cinderella stamp. Since the last newsletter, I came across the following item (9 May 1975) and think it is quite feasible that the Post Office would have accepted National Savings Stamps for postage in 1976. They continued until later that year and can still be redeemed from NS & I, Glasgow at face value.

SOCIETY AND OTHER NEWS

Stamp Fairs at Nuthall Temple Centre- 8 Aug, 10 Oct, 12 Dec, 9.30am to 3.30pm.

Autumn Stampex- 12-15 September, Business Design Centre, Islington.

Opening hours- Wed: 11am-7pm; Thur/Fri: 10am-6pm; Sat: 10am-5pm.

The exhibition will include all competitive classes, including Open philately, Picture Postcards and Ephemera.

Advance Notice: Spring Stampex 2019: !3-16 February

Stockholmia 2019- 29 May-2nd June at the Stockholm Waterfront Congress Centre: to celebrate 150th Anniversary of the Royal Philatelic Society London. This includes, 1-2 June, the 2nd World Cinderella Stamp Congress, which will spotlight three areas: local posts, revenues and poster stamps Visitors may show a few sheets. Details of the Cinderella Stamp congress are on www.sff.nu/baltespannarna/. Details of the RPSL sesquicentennial will be on the RPSL site. For detailed information about STOCKHOLMIA 2019, including travel and hotel bookings, go to

www.stockholmia2019.se. Nice place for a spring holiday!

ABPS “are pleased to announce that all British Exhibitions are now (also) open to non-competitive entries. These may be wholly philatelic or made up of non-traditional material. If any collector would like to display material out of competition, just complete the entry form, tick the noncompetitive box, and we will be pleased to see your display.”

A private-die medicine revenue ‘stamp’ has been sold for £13,696 at auction. Good news for Cinderella philately!

In 1971, the record number of people, all students, standing on the oval top (6 sq, feet) of a pillar box is claimed to be 29. They used to do crazy things like that, so I can believe it. I haven’t seen it bettered, but who knows?

Circuit Packet Manager- Chris Murphy, with the help of Maria Hall, has now officially taken on the above role. They are both new members and we particularly appreciate them volunteering to help out the Society when no one else came forward. If you are on the circuit, please help them by passing on the packet within the allotted time and sending in returns promptly.

Committee: Oswaldo Ponce has offered to join the committee (we were one member short) and both his and Vice President Bill Whitaker’s positions were

ratified by members at June’s general meeting.

Circuit booklets-there would be no circuit without booklets, so could members please try and fill some. Douglas Harvey has kindly offered to make blank booklets and supply these to members at the cost price of 5p; please contact him at a meeting. Alternatively, you can make your own (roughly A5 size, 10 pages maximum each one.)

Phoenix Competition, 4 May 2018- just three members from Notts attended this year’s Phoenix Competition. David Shipstone was 2nd in the Postal History Class, just 3 points behind the overall winner, and Alan Squires was 3rd. There were only a disappointing 16 entries in the entire competition, all interesting, but down on previous years, and our group of 3 was still larger than Buxton’s, Chesterfield’s and Derby’s. If matters do not improve, I can see the competition going the same way as the Huston. This would be sad. Perhaps a few more of us could manage an entry next year?

Forthcoming Displays at our Society:

3 Aug Austria Douglas Harvey

7 Sep Falkland Islands Airmails Dave Mountfort

21 Sep Visit to Alfreton PS (7.30pm)

19 Oct Postal use of the Penny Black Nigel Sudborough

2 Nov Where my Caravan Rested (2) Mick Inger

Displays at the Greater Nottingham Co-operative PS- 6.45 for 7pm

8 Aug St. Helena

12 Sep Something to Show Members

10 Oct Back and Forth Sandra Poole

Display at Radcliffe-on-Trent- 7.30pm start

9 Aug Favourite Stamps Members

Display at Derby PS- 7.30pm start

13 Sep President’s Evening Roger West

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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