(Page 2) Summer 2007 Newsletter

WHERE HAVE ALL THE LOCALS GONE?

Vic Holland

On my homecoming, all the covers had duly arrived in good condition, but from a postmark point of view the result was much as I half-expected. Almost all had been machine cancelled at the nearest regional centre. Most of the strikes were legible, clearer than those we have come to expect from Royal Mail, but by no means up to the high standard still set by the German and Austrian Post Offices.

This experience made me think of a similar exercise I conducted many years ago, when my parents took me on a coach tour of Ireland. The philatelic plan was much the same; my father thought I was mad, but the outcome was an interesting small collection of (mostly) handstamps from obscure post offices which, for all I know, may not exist any more. The tour was an anti-clockwise circle starting and finishing at Dublin, and took in Athlone, Galway, Limerick, Killarney, Cork, Waterford and Wexford. The overnight stops were mostly at larger places, producing machine cancellations. It tended to be the comfort stops during the day which were the richest source of handstamps, especially the southwestern area around Killarney. The weather was mostly wet, as it often is over there, and I spent quite a time trudging the streets of unfamiliar villages in an attempt to find post boxes. This was not always easy, as they were often in the form of one pane of a sash window in a dwelling house filled with a piece of green plywood with a slot in it. The letters “p&t” were daubed below the slot in yellow. I suspect these endeavours may have delayed my fellow coach passengers on several occasions. They were very understanding - I was never left behind! After all, the pace of life was much slower in those parts.

My other lasting memory of this holiday (apart from the excellent Irish food and hospitality) was the helpfulness of the staff at post office counters in response to the unending demands of a spotty young man. They were quite prepared to look through their stock for that awkward stamp and often turned up long-obsolete items, much to my delight.I show below a few of the frankings I obtained. I think I may have run out of 5d stamps on some occasions, since I seem to have been forced into the extravagance of higher denominations!


THE WRONG RAILWAY GROUPS

Chris Tennant

For some years I have been puzzled by two Nottingham-area railway parcel stamps, which are in my collection. On the face of it, they both seem to have been issued by the wrong railway group.

As readers may know, almost all of the private railway companies were amalgamated into four large groups in 1923 viz: London,Midland & Scottish (LMSR), London & North Eastern (LNER), Southern (SR) and Great Western (GWR) and these were all nationalised in 1947 to become British Railways. The first stamp is an LNER issued at Lowdham Station in 1955. This station is five miles east of Nottingham on the old Midland Railway, Nottingham to Newark line and was therefore included in the LMSR group in 1923 and in the London Midland Region of BR in 1947. The second stamp is an LMSR issued at Arkwright Street Station in 1955. This station was just south of Nottingham city centre on the Great Central Railway, Sheffield to London line. It therefore became part of the LNER in 1923 and was in the Eastern Region of BR n 1947.

While there is much written about the history of the private railway companies, post-grouping and postnationalisation information on administrative matters is scarce or obscure. However, after considerable digging (much at our City’s excellent Central Library), a possible explanation has emerged. It seems that in the early 1950s, British Railways re-organised some of their Regions and ‘stations east of Carlton & Netherfield’ were transferred from the London Midland Region to the Eastern Region A little later, the section of the old Great Central line, which included Arkwright Street, was transferred from the Eastern Region to the London Midland Region of BR. Soon after nationalisation, British Railways were issuing ‘Newspaper’ stamps but the organisation was very slow to produce ‘Parcel’ stamps and as late as the mid-1950s, stamps with the old pre-nationalisation titles were still being issued. Lowdham Station now being in the Eastern Region was therefore issued with LNER stamps while Arkwright Street Station, now within the London Midland Region was issued with LMSR stamps. Lowdham Station is still open and is operated by Central Trains. Arkwright Street Station closed in 1963 but was re-opened in 1967 when Victoria Station closed and a new terminus was needed for the Nottingham to Rugby service. The Station finally closed in 1969. Newer members may be interested to know that ‘Ken’ Benham’s original stamp shop was on Arkwright Street and this provided the name for his business : ‘Ark Stamps’. The street itself was named after the cotton manufacturer Sir Richard Arkwright.

MEMORIES: MACHINS LANE

Sandra Poole

I am sure everybody but myself knew about Machins Lane in Edwalton. Despite living in Nottingham for many years, I discovered it only recently whilst out running in that area, but it did set me thinking. Obviously, it couldn’t refer to our definitive stamps, so who or what was Machin(s)?

In 1879 (or 1880, depending on where you get your information from), the Nottingham to Melton Mowbray railway line was constructed, with its first stop after Nottingham situated at the Melton Road/Village St. junction, Village St. being almost opposite Machins Lane. It followed the northern boundary of Miss Machin’s Field. Miss Machin’s Field is still there, but is now owned by the Borough Council, but I have no details of Miss Machin, nor the time to research this before going to press. Perhaps some other member knows…….

Allen Wood sent the following: In the Area of the open space, once stood Edwalton Manor. The last owners were the Machin family. By the 1960s, the house was in need of much renovation. Following the death of Miss Machin, the building was demolished. The bequest was, I am told, for the whole area to belong to the people and village of Edwalton. Sadly, some went to housing, but the rest remains as you see it today. A fete is held once a year, as a reminder that it still does belong to the village.



AN INNOCENT ABROAD

Minou Button

To my great delight, I have discovered ebay and the other day I went on ebay and found what I have long wanted to own the 1867 fantasy stamps which Jean-Baptiste Constant Moens had printed as an April fool joke. When we, Bryan and I, first discovered that we had some Moresnet stamps, in my innocence, I thought they actually were bogus stamps. Without prejudice, I can claim that the Belgian Jean-Baptiste Moens was probably the first stamp dealer in the world. He has several claims to fame, one of which is that he bought and sold eight of the twenty-seven well known Mauritius stamps.

In his magazine “Le timbre-poste” he recorded many of the latest facts that were then known about stamps, to the great irritation of some of the other dealers and colleagues and he was fairly often copied, most often by Pierre Mahé in the magazine “Le Timbrophile”. By 1867 Moens was really put out by this and decided that he would play a trick on Mahé to settle the score. In the April edition of "Le Timbre-Poste" he printed a letter addressed to himself in which a certain M. Decrackt, director of the Postal Services in Moresnet - a free commune lying between Prussia, Belgium and Holland and which interests my husband and me greatly, announced that a series of 4 stamps for letters was to be issued: stamps of 10c. and 20c. for Belgium and 12½c. and 25c for Prussia. They were to be printed by Messrs. De Visch and Livra in Brussels.The letter was signed by J.S. Néom. Of course, Mahé soon published an article in "Le Timbrophile", where he repeated the information but did not mention where it had come from. Had he read the letter correctly he would have seen that it was an April fool.


It must be mentioned here that in French an April fool is an April Fish i.e. Poisson d’avril. The letter was riddled with hints: a Visch is a fish in Flemish, Livra backwards is Avril, the French for April and Craque is a Lie (by exaggeration) hence Decrackt is a Flemish rendition of a liar. This letter was signed by J.B. Néom, once again read backwards this is Moen(s). The delight of Moens for having fooled Mahé can well be imagined and he must have made the most of it for the story to come down to us more than 150 years later- one of the better April fool jokes to date. Now I had better have my stamp checked to see whether it is the bogus stamp or a bogus bogus stamp.


CINDERELLAS THROUGH THE ROOF!

Sandra Poole

I recently had a Bonhams’ auction catalogue sent to me so, in the interests of researching an article for this newsletter (well, OK, there were some Scandinavian locals amongst the lots), I decided to go to London and join the big boys for the day, despite almost being put off by the 8 pages of very small print and legalese at the back of the catalogue and the proof of identity, residence, financial details, references and deposit which, if requested, I had to supply before my bid would be accepted. However, it turned out to be far less daunting than I had anticipated and the staff couldn’t have been more helpful or welcoming. Perhaps they took one look at me and saw megabucks coming their way!

What did worry me was the fact that the only item I was interested in was already out, i.e. somebody might actually want to bid against me. To cut a long story short, I left my bid and spent the next day, the day of the actual auction, in nervous but happy anticipation. I logged on in the evening and found that my lot, estimate £300-£350 went for £799 and it didn’t come to me! There was quite a large Cinderella section so, believing you might be interested in prices realised, I decided to check the more popular items (i.e. popular with our members) against the estimates: Paris parcel stamps, est. £180-220, sold at £611. Chinese locals, est. £250-300, sold for £1,704. Chungking, est. £100-200, actual cost £846. US locals, est. £100-120, actually £1,704 and (similar lot) £564. US revenues, est. £80-100, actually £541. Anyway, you get the gist of it- prices realised were often way above estimate, their definition of which reads ‘a statement of our opinion of the range within which the hammer is likely to fall’. I cannot understand how the experts were, in so many cases, way off target with their prices. If, in fact, these prices are representative of a general trend, then Cinderellas can no longer be considered the poor relation of philately, for it is obvious that, like their

CINDERELLA STAMP CLUB

If your appetite has been whetted by the above, why not diversify your interests and join the Cinderella Stamp Club? This society, founded in 1959, has around 600 members worldwide, has several meetings a year, an excellent quarterly magazine, 2 auctions each year, a well-stocked library, circuit packets etc, etc. Membership currently costs £18 per annum and if anyone is interested, I have further details and entry forms.

mainstream cousins, they now command a princely sum! Vendors rejoice; buyers beware!!


NOTTINGHAM ARCHIVES

Sandra Poole

As most members probably know, early material relating to our Society (newspaper cuttings, minutes books, membership cards/programmes etc) are now held at the Nottingham Archives on Wilford St. I decided to pay them a visit and pass on what I found. (This is complementary to similar articles in our first newsletters)

The Notts Philatelic Society was formed on the 10th November 1913, largely through the efforts of Mr. W.Morten and Mr.F.Mellors, who were appointed President and Secretary respectively. The inaugural meeting, with an attendance of 55, was held at the Victoria Station Hotel, where meetings continued to be held for many years. Mr Trivett became the first vice-president and went on to hold the office of president 5 times. In 1920, the NPS and Leicester PS jointly organised a philatelic exhibition held both in Leicester and Nottingham Castle- it attracted many 100s of visitors.

In November 1922, the NPS held a competition for Junior stamp collectors which resulted in over 60 entries. Spurred on by the success of this, the NPS in 1924 held another competition, which was open to all scholars in the county.

The subject of this competition was ‘What I learn from stamp collecting’ and winners in several classes were awarded gold, silver and bronze medals. Also in 1924, a ‘Public Lantern’ lecture entitled ‘The Literary Side of Stamp Collecting’ was given at the Nottingham University College. In 1927, the Philatelic Congress of GB was held in Nottingham under the auspices of the NPS, with Mr.Trivett in the Chair.

In 1939, extensive preparations were made for a public exhibition in the Castle to celebrate the centenary of Penny postage on 6th May 1940, but owing to the outbreak of war, the Castle was claimed for other purposes and the exhibition was cancelled.

Mr. James Nevin, FRPSL, president of NPS on four occasions, was one of the foremost collectors in the country.

There was no date for the above (slightly amended) historical account of the Society, but membership at the time stood at c.120, with attendances at meetings of 40-50. Those were the days!

At the first meeting of the Society on 5th Dec 1913, Mr. Morton was elected President and gave a talk on the first postage stamp and the stamps of GB. According to The Nottingham Daily Express report of that meeting, Mr Morton had brought along an Assyrian clay tablet 3,900 years old. Another item was a copy of a proclamation issued in 1654 concerning the first postal act ever passed- there were only three copies left: his own, one at The British Museum and another at the Bodleian Library. A local relic was an old box which had housed the bugle blown on the Nottingham mail coach.

On December 19th 1913, members were shown over the Nottingham Telephone Exchange in George Street. Mr. Morton was the district manager of the telephone service. At that time, it is reported that 14,867,500 calls were dealt with annually- quite a number, bearing in mind that few people would have had personal telephones at that time.

Mr. Hayman was the speaker at the 3rd meeting, held three weeks later. The Nottingham Daily Express reported that Mr. Hayman was Hon. President of the P.S. and Hon. Consul for Belgium in London. He had a Hungarian collection numbering just under 5,000 stamps and had won a gold medal at the Paris Exhibition the previous year. In the Nottingham Guardian report, he was described as one of the most distinguished philatelists in the country. Some of the continental papers had apparently expressed regret that the collection was not acquired by the Hungarian govt.

Mr. Hayman also showed 100 rarities of different countries, one of which was the rarest shade of the one franc carmine on a cover addressed to Prince Napoleon, President of the French Republic at Les Tuileries. This exhibit also won a gold medal, in the rarities class, at the Paris Exhibition.

Obituary of Ald. L.O. Trivett, JP- a précis of an article that appeared in The West Bridgford Times on 13 January 1933.

L.Trivett was the first Vice-President of Notts Philatelic Society and went on to hold the office of President on 5 [yes,5!] occasions. ‘Few people knew that Mr. Trivett was ill, as he was out and about only two or three days before his lamented demise’.

He started work when only 9½ years old at one of WH.Smith’s bookstalls, where he earned a few shillings a week, and finished as head of the then well-known firm of L.O. Trivett, lace, net, hosiery and veiling manufacturers & shippers Some years before his death, Mr. Trivett, who was a fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society disposed of a large part of his collection of foreign stamps for several thousands of pounds, a huge amount of money at that time. However, he retained some rare specimens of Jamaica and Gibraltar, which were claimed to be the finest collection in the world.

He wrote two brochures on philately entitled ‘The Inception of Penny Postage and Evolution to the Adhesive Postage Stamp’, a copy of which the King was pleased to accept, and ‘Philately- a National Asset as World Training for Growing Boys’. [We have a signed copy of the former in our Society library, catalogue number GB1]’

As well as being an eminent philatelist, Mr. Trivett was also Assistant Commissioner for Scouts.


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.