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Spring 2008 Newsletter
POST OFFICES ABROAD
Sandra Poole
Post Offices may be closing right, left and centre in England, but we were astounded at how difficult it was to find a Post Office in San Francisco. After a lot of walking and asking, we eventually tracked one down to the basement of Macey’s, a well known department store. There it was amongst the vacuum cleaners and coffee makers, just where you’d expect to find one! And as you walked into its gloomy interior, you couldn’t miss the huge board encouraging you to buy your stamps online. A death wish or what!
We also walked miles in Honolulu in search of a Post office. This time, we found one hiding in a small shop up some steps. Basically, it consisted of a post office counter, in front of which a large cardboard box doubled as a post box. We never did find another letter box there, but were advised to just leave mail at a hotel’s reception desk.
In Singapore, there was no problem finding letter boxes. Whilst we were out there, there was a city wide project that, according to the website, celebrated the city, city life and the city dwellers. Forty city post boxes were selected for a makeover. Forty teams were selected out of over 1000 entries and given the chance to showcase their designs to the rest of the country. The general public was then invited to vote online for the best one. As you can see, the art work was quite spectacular.
‘Life is not just about pursuing material things, nature is free and all you need is some time.’
PHILATELY :From ‘philo’ (love) and ‘ateleia’ (paid or tax free). First used in 1864 by Georges Herpin, an avid collector of stamps. (Singapore Postal Museum)
IS IT A POSTCARD, IS IT A LEAF?
Bryan and Minou Button
We recently went to Stewart Island at the very southern tip of New Zealand. Very few people live or have lived there, some 396 at the moment, but it is now opening up to tourism – more than 1000 people a week – a tremendous lot for its 27 km of roads. We took a guided tour to explore it and were intrigued to be told of some of its postal history.
In the old days, when the rare ships carrying mail were due, everybody donned their best clothes and rushed to Oban, the capital, from Stewart Island and the surrounding islands- sometimes a two-day trip – to receive and post their mail. Conditions were hard and paper hard to find, so they used a leaf, probably from the kapuka tree, to act as a postcard. Jo, our friendly tour guide, showed us the leaf and we picked one, which was 12 centimetres long. We took it to the Halfmoon Bay Post Office in Oban and they carefully and delightedly stamped it.
However, regulations now being what they are, we had to put said leaf in an envelope and had to have it sent to Nottingham that way.
Still, we now feel we have a share in Stewart Island’s postal history.
SINGAPORE POSTAL MUSEUM
Sandra Poole
Whilst in Singapore, I also took the opportunity to visit their postal museum. (I often visit postal museums whilst on holiday and have been particularly impressed by those in Paris and Oslo, but have never visited the one in England. Perhaps someone who has could write a report?) The Singapore Postal Museum, spread over several rooms, was particularly fun filled and user-friendly.
The first room dealt with the basics of philately and stamp production and had lots to look at and to touch for children and sufficient explanatory text for adults. I did have the shock of my life, however, when, alone in the room, I heard a voice, turned round and realised that it was Queen Victoria talking from within the frame of a penny black- yes, seriously, she WAS talking and it wasn’t just the heat getting to me and fun it was!
The ‘Room of Rarities’ housed the Museum’s permanent collection. According to the blurb, this covered almost 200 years and traced the philatelic and postal milestones of Singapore from The Straits Settlements period to today. This was serious stuff, with examples of pre-stamp covers dating from 1836, the early stamps with essays and proofs and other items that you would expect to see in a specialist collection. There was also all manner of Post Office ephemera- a variety of post boxes, booklet vending machine, colonial postman’s uniform, a roller date stamp and much, much more. I was particularly fascinated by the box ‘that contained ink glazed on a glass plate for thumbprints, which were required if the recipient could not sign’ when collecting mail. The Heritage room portrayed the lives and culture of the different ethnic groups in Singapore in the past.
Unfortunately, the room devoted to ‘Famous Philatelists and Collection of International Stamps’ was temporarily closed for refurbishment. However, three temporary exhibitions were being held whilst we were there, one of these being on herbs and spices. ‘See, smell and taste herbs and spices’ said the brochure and so you could. You could also see them depicted on a worldwide selection of thematic stamps.
I’M AN EBAYER, I AM!
Brian Clayton
During much of last year I heard members of the Society discussing the bargains they had captured on ebay. In that same period I had read and heard about other experiences, not necessarily related to philatelic items, in which less rewarding results had been obtained. I had a number of concerns:
· Were items accurately described?
· How secure was the financial transaction?
· Were the items genuine (always a risk in philately)?
· Was there a risk of poor packaging for postal delivery? and so on.
I decided to dip my toe in the water towards the end of last year and indeed successfully bid for an item that really was a bargain. Even more importantly, the above concerns evaporated as the quality was excellent, the payment secure through the protected PayPal system, the item was certainly genuine and delivered without a blemish. Since then I have bid for a number of items, not all successfully, but I can say that my experience with stamp ebayers has been entirely positive. For me there has been plenty of desirable material to fill out existing collections and to replace some of my own with better examples If you have not already done so why not give it a go, but please do not bid against me!
Bidding on ebay requires a careful understanding of the rules and the bid process. There is a ‘Help’ guide and it is important to be familiar with bid increments and timings so that in the sometimes frenetic final few minutes before bidding is completed on the item of interest you are not all ‘fingers and thumbs’ and so miss the final clinching bid in your favour. Indeed, such is the adrenalin rush of a successful outcome that one is tempted to have another go for an attractive item a little further down the list, after all it’s only on for 99p. The fact that in the last hour of the bidding a few more interested people spring out of the woodwork. and push the price up to £6.50 isn’t too bad. Then you win again, but in the final few minutes it has increased in cost to £19.50 plus p&p!! Never mind, you were the winner and that feels good! Your items turn up in the post within a day, the quality is fine and your collection benefits. Within a short time you are becoming skilled at picking and securing winners at an increasing frequency and you are now beginning to display signs of Ebayitis. Beware, I see people bidding higher than catalogue prices for standard items because all sanity is lost in the chase to the winning post. I have recently witnessed a winning bid exceed significantly the cost of the identical item just further down the list using the ‘Buy Now’ process from a dealer. Happily, I was the smart guy!! It is very easy to suddenly find your financial reserves disappearing rapidly and worse can follow. I have set myself a monthly limit, which I should not exceed. I might say that for the next two months I am on a very strict diet in order to maintain my best intentions, as I do not wish to catch Ebayitis.
MISCELLANY
IT COULD ONLY HAPPEN TO ME: George Kirkham
Radcliffe-on-Trent Philatelic Society used to meet in The Grange. I worked there as a young man. It was owned by the Dowson Family, brother and sister both highly intelligent and both in the legal profession. They were doing the house up for sale and after the main furniture had been removed to storage, it just left generations of clutter. The brother, Waldo, had been captured by the German army on the fall of France in 1940 and released at the end of the war. As is the way with solicitors, all his correspondence was kept. I took my courage in both hands and asked if I could look through the letters and cards. I said I would put all the correspondence back into fresh envelopes as it was only the stamps and postmarks I was interested in. She said she was very sorry but it was family correspondence and did not wish to part with it. I told her I understood, thanked her for her time and went home for my dinner. When I came back, the builders’ lorry driver had burned all the lot. From what I could understand, Miss Dowson had had second thoughts and decided I could have the lot and put it out against the door. I am prepared to believe it was a genuine mistake, but when I think of the material that went up in smoke, I could almost get emotional.
A VISIT TO SUFFOLK: Chris Tennant.
Through Chris Harman, I was invited to give a display to the Ipswich Philatelic Society last month .They meet on a Wednesday evening and another Revenue collector, Ed Hitchings, asked if I would give the same display to the Sudbury P.S., who meet on a Tuesday evening. So this was all going to work out very well and we were to stay with Ed and Carol Hitchings on Tuesday night and Ipswich P.S. had booked and paid for a hotel on the Wednesday night. Ipswich had already informed me that the display was to be two halves of 90 sheets, but unfortunately Sudbury had not told me that their boards only allow for 54 sheets! So it had to be three parts and a few on the table. This was OK because Sudbury are a very friendly crowd with around 25 members attending in the crypt under the church. And so to Ipswich, a large attendance of around 40-odd members in a large school hall. I had already been warned that they used sound equipment for the benefit of some of their members who were hard of hearing and this turned out to be a small microphone which fitted over the ears (rather like a pop star on stage). Fortunately or not, no one could get it working for the first half, but I did have to use it for the second half, quite an experience. We were persuaded to stay with Ed and Carol until Sunday so that we could enjoy Suffolk and also go down to the ‘Stamp Essex’ Fair and exhibition at Basildon on the Saturday (where I actually managed to find a couple of items!) So it turned out to be an enjoyable philatelic break with some pretty places like Lavenham to visit between events It was interesting to note that the competitive displays at Basildon and also at the ABPS Harrogate exhibition, are now including both revenue stamps and railway stamps- which must make me almost respectable!
YOUNG COLLECTORS: Gordon Low.
Steve Speak and Gordon Low visited the Methodist Church, Eaton Road, Stapleford on 6 May 2008 to give a talk on ‘Stamp Collecting’ to a group of children who are ‘educated at home’. Gordon had been contacted earlier by a Mrs Jo Dunn, who had obtained our details from the Central Library in Nottingham and asked if we could help by giving a short presentation to encourage the children’s interest in stamps. We were told that they expected a small group between 10 and 12 with an age range of between 9 and 12. In the event we were swamped with over 25 and had to transfer to a bigger room The date of our visit was philatelically significant as the 6th of May was also the date of the issue of the first adhesive postage stamp in 1840- the Penny Black. This didn’t seem to ring a bell with any of the audience; we didn’t have an example with us, but we did have a picture of one. However, most of the children were very interested in what we were talking about and Steve was able to call on his considerable experience as a teacher and also as a school stamp club organiser. A lot of the children had brought their albums or stock book with them and some had obviously taken the trouble to make neat and logical layouts. I gave a very brief overview of the current Machin series of definitives and passed round a number of album pages. We also had lots of used GB stamps to give out with some foreign as well. This was well received and resulted in much discussion between the children.We mentioned various ways to obtain stamps and how best to soak used stamps off paper. Overall, we felt the visit had been very successful and Mrs Dunn felt it may be appropriate for a return visit to be arranged, which we would be happy to do.
DISCLAIMER: Whilst every care is taken during the production of this newsletter, neither the editor nor the Society officials can accept any liability for views, opinions or unintentional publication errors which occur in this newsletter.
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