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Winter 2009 Newsletter
GB POSTAGE
Sandra Poole
Internet Mail: Following my article on US internet stamps, I thought I would investigate our own so, as in the previous case, I visited the website printed on the stamp- smartstamp.co.uk. This took me to the Royal Mail site, which obviously was very business orientated, with little interest for the philatelist, ie no pictures of the actual labels.
The service was set up on 15th January 2004, 2 years later than in the US, and the stamps are valid for all the usual services- special delivery, airmail , Airsure, surface mail etc. If you are interested in the technical details, visit http://www.lockheedmartin.co.uk , one of the partners in the venture.
The illustrated ‘smartstamp’ on an item sent to me by Sweatshop, is to the value £1.08 to cover the cost of 1st class postage and Royal Mail’s ‘Signed for Service’. Each smart stamp you print has a unique postage barcode, which can be read and verified at the mail centres. Postage costs are the same as for normal stamps, but there is a monthly subscription of £4.99 a month (three months minimum); a yearly subscription costs £49.99. I have also found a Photostamp which you can see below.
UK MAIL: I have just received a letter from UK Mail with an adhesive label, rather than the usual imprint. Is this the equivalent of the Royal Mail. Smartstamp, I wonder?
FASTSTAMPS :There has been a lot in the philatelic press recently about ‘Post and Go’ machines, which enable customers to weigh their postal item, pay and print the appropriate postage label or faststamp as they are called. Trials have been run and there have been teething problems, but is expected that they will soon be installed throughout the country. There are two basic designs- the one you see here for 1st class letters, Europe up to 20g and worldwide up to 10g and 20g, and larger labels to cover larger items and this time including a second class rate.
MORE PILLAR BOXES
Tony Marshall & Sandra Poole
Tony Marshall recently photographed the green post box in Sligo, Republic of Ireland. He wondered about the Edward VII royal cipher.- in fact, about 6% of boxes bear the Edward VII cipher.
We get so used to seeing all our post boxes painted red in this country, that it is hard to imagine seeing them in any other colour. But the postbox on the right, dating from the 1930s, is blue, because it was originally designed for letters to be sent by air mail.
I haven’t counted them myself, but according to an article in The Times, there are 116,000 post boxes to be found in this country. It is not a figure I’m likely to check, but no doubt Mick and Barbara Inger have seen a great many of them! If you are interested. in letter boxes, visit www.lbsg.org.
A HUMBLE POSTCARD
Minou Button
Going through the few documents I have from my grandmother, I found a little postcard which she had kept; and she kept very little. It contains all the misery of wars. I have included the translation of both sides, but I feel I should put the card in context.
My father returned from Africa on the 1st May 1940 and on the 10th the garde champêtre (ranger) knocked on the door of the house saying this is a war zone; you must evacuate the house. My parents loaded myself two and half year old and who had been very ill, my brother one year and half old on a bicycle, the only means of transport they had available. He also loaded as much as he could on the bicycle, my mother carried all she could and my grandmother carried my 20-day old little brother born two month premature in a half suitcase – he was too small to be carried in somebody’s arms. The dog Peggy trotted along. They hired a car, then a lorry and ended up on a train which criss-crossed France which was bombed several times by the Germans, having left the dog with some people in Tournai. They eventually made it to Bordeaux, where my father’s orders were to return to the Congo through Spain. They hired a guide who looked at my baby brother and me and said “I am willing to take you over the Pyrénées, but he and she will be dead”. So they returned to Brussels to last the war out. My grandmother wrote for her dog and received the following postcard.
Verso Tournai, 21st August 1940
Dear Mrs (Demarteau)
I am happy to know that you returned home in good health. I hope that the young couple and their children also came home in good health. As to us, we are in pain; we had to evacuate as the town was burning; we left with the car and on the 31st May. My dear husband was killed during the bombing of Coxyde; at the same time our car was burning with all it contained. We returned, my daughters and I, in the deepest sorrow. On our return we found no house, it had been completely destroyed with its contents. It seems to me that it is not possible to have more unhappiness! Your little Peggy is with friends. She was evacuated with them, she is completely used to these people where she is well taken care of. You can always have her back when it suits you.
Yours sincerely
Mrs (Widow) H Pipers
2 Atheneum Street Tournai
Addressed to : Mrs Demarteau 46, Friendship Avenue Overijsche (Brabant)
Readdressed to: 24 Peace Street Liège
On the left Valentine Demarteau-Lacroix, my grandmother, with Peggy on her lap. Be they male or female, her successive little French bulldogs were called Peggy. On the right Marie-Antoinette Lacroix-Rocmans, my great-grandmother. The photograph was taken circa 1937.
MORE STAMP GIMMICKS
Sandra Poole
Will it never end!!! Finland has now produced the first transparent stamp: stick it on your letter, and the envelope will show through. We have all, now, probably grown used to the strange shaped stamps of Japan, Canada and many other countries; we’ve even had our own (the vegetables issue), but they are still coming. The GB Darwin stamps due out on 12th February are to be jigsaw- shaped.
MISCELLANY
A LABOUR OF LOVE? : Sandra Poole
Apparently, a resident of a nursing home in New Jersey, USA, has made a needlepoint of every stamp issued by Israel since its creation in 1948. I haven’t got a current catalogue, but up to the end of 2003 and going on SG numbering, that makes 1684, minus a few, as this number includes miniature sheets as well as the single stamps and minus a few more where the design is the same but the value different. Call it a round 1600; that is some achievement, by anyone’s standards.
HABRIA 2008 (HANOVER STAMP EXHIBITION): Geoff Taylor
As a member of the Hanover Stamp Club- 1886 (possibly one of the oldest in Germany), I always attend their annual November exhibition. This year, it was young collectors up to 18 years who were holding centre stage, exhibiting at National level in Rang (rank) 2. The German ‘rang’ system is at three levels- 3, 2 and 1, starting off at 3. A silver or above must be gained before progressing to the next rang, judging being carried out by accredited judges working in pairs. These youngsters who come from Hanover and other Lower Saxony areas, hold a silver at rang 3 Junior National level. Their exhibits (there were 25 entrants) covered Traditional, Postal History and Thematic. Schools play a prominent part in encouraging youngsters in our hobby. Also, the Hanover club members hold stamp evenings during the year for the youngsters on all facets of collecting, including layout, what to look for and exhibiting. Groups are taken to exhibitions and explanations given as to where points have been gained or lost. In 2009, they are being taken to Berlin to participate in that city. On looking at their entries and talking to the youngsters and teachers, I realised how knowledgeable and talented they are. Maybe, hopefully, these are international Golds and Large Golds waiting to be gained in the future.
THE EXPERTS SAY ‘YES’ : Brian Clayton
Last year I went, as usual, to the Machin Collectors Club (MCC) biannual meeting, this one being in the autumn. I wanted to find a particularly interesting folded booklet to complete a series that I had been building up for some time. I was, indeed, successful in tracking down the said item at a surprisingly good price. But that was not my only reason for being there. Members will know of my boring obsession with the 17-pin Machins of the early 80s and more excitingly, my collection being enhanced by a used 26p red example. This remarkable find by Derrick Avery set me on a quest to find if anybody else had made such a discovery and where else better to check than with the MCC. I went to several well known experts and highly reputable dealers who all more or less followed the same line of reasoning:
1. No, I haven’t seen a used example; in any event there has been no demand for such an item.
2. One might find a philatelic example but probably not with contemporary cancellation.
3. It is highly unlikely one would find an example of the variety postally used with a contemporary cancellation.
4. Oh, you have one eh!? This was said with irony and scepticism. Let me see it.
5. Lots of furrowed brows, peering through a glass, overlaying on mint blocks, followed by a sigh, then first a reluctant and finally a congratulatory approval of the find.
6. It was found by whooooo? This was said with total incredulity and with some humility.
7. And it is not for sale!!!!!!
So there you are Derrick, you have been approved by the Machin Experts
MPF 16 SHEET COMPETITION, LOUGHBOROUGH: Wendy Orr
On 15th November, I was lucky enough to be invited to accompany Tony Plowright to the above competition which, together with a stamp fair, was held in The Shelthorpe County Primary School. We arrived in plenty of time to take a quick browse around the competition entries before going to the fair taking place in another room in the building. We bumped into Gordon Low, who was representing the Society at the MPF Convention and there was quite a good turn out of various other members from the NPS. There were about 20 dealers at the fair, so we split up and started our search for available material to suit our different collections. I was quite pleased with my own purchases, as I believe Tony was with his. At lunch time, we made our way to the canteen, where the ladies behind the counter were doing a sterling job, cheerfully keeping their customers supplied with freshly made bacon cobs, sandwiches, cakes, cups of coffee and tea, all at very reasonable prices and guaranteed to ‘keep us going’ when we returned to further our searches at the stamp fair. Later, we returned to the Competition Room and had a thoroughly enjoyable time browsing through the competition entries, which were of a very high calibre. The entries had, with the exception of three or may be four, all been copied. This is a new concept to reduce the high insurance costs involved and avoid the likelihood of theft, which is sadly on the increase. It would have been nicer to see the real articles but, in all honesty, the copies were of excellent quality and it was often hard to tell the difference from the real thing. The judging had taken place prior to the competition being displayed, another new method, and we were able to see a breakdown of the winners and their mark from printed sheets left at all the tables. I have acquired one, which I have handed to our Secretary, if anyone is interested in referring to it. The markings go to show how high a quality the entries really were. If you missed it, then you missed out on a real treat. I had a great day out and found some material for my collection I had been seeking, so I would just like to say thank you to Tony for being so kind in offering to take me. (Marks ranged from 51-88, 19 entries, 5 classes- Ed.)
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