(Page 38) Summer 2016 Newsetter
AN UNUSUAL CARD
ALAN SQUIRES
This card was made by pasting a Mulready caricature onto a piece of card. The Mulready pre-printed letter sheets and envelopes were designed as part of the 1840 British Post Office postal reforms. They were on sale from 1 May 1840 and were first used from 6 May 1840. They were expected to be more popular than the postage stamps, but were too allegorical and misunderstood by the public. They quickly became extremely unpopular and were ridiculed and lampooned from the start. This led to their demise and they were withdrawn from use. There were many caricatures produced which were based on the Mulready and were probably more popular than the originals. The one used here was designed by Frederick Froome, printed by G E Madeley Litho and published by J W Southgate Library, 164 Strand, London, June 12 1840. This is a Deraedemaeker reprint from about 1890 and, though the publisher’s name can still be seen, the words ‘Deraedemaeker Litho’ have been cut through. This one is known as "Pickwick No 5" and is one of a series. The line drawings depict scenes from Charles Dickens’s Pickwick Papers, though with the seated Britannia and the British lion taking centre stage, a direct copy from the original Mulready.
I purchased this card even though I doubted the dealer’s description. It was advertised as:‘St Helena; Mulready Derivative; Paquebot 1943? It has a St Helena 3d grey SG135a (1) stamp printed 8 July 1940 and tied with a ‘CAPE TOWN / KAPSTAAD / 14. X. 43(?) 11:00 / PAQUEBOT’ cancel. This would imply that the card was produced in St. Helena and posted on board ship and landed in Cape Town as its first port of call. However, the card also bears a Type IX ‘TRISTAN DA CUNHA / SETTLEMENT OF / EDINBURGH / SOUTH ATLANTIC’ cachet. This cachet also ties the stamp to the card, but is clearly over-stamped by the Paquebot cancel.
If the dealer’s description is correct- it is possible that the card was posted in Tristan da Cunha with a St Helena franking. At this time there were no Tristan da Cunha stamps and it was common practice to send mail from the Island a) without stamps, b) with any stamps available to the writer, c) to use the stamps of the first port of call when the mail arrived or d) rely on postage dues at the first port of call or final destination.
The card could have been posted on board a St Helena registered ship which would attract the St Helena franking and the Paquebot cancel, but leaves the question of the Type IX (2) cachet.
As the card is addressed to Victor Marsh I think it is quite likely that this is another example of a Weston / Marsh concoction. These were made up by Edgar Weston using the pseudonym of Victor Marsh and a separate address in Twickenham as here. The back of the card bears the manuscript inscription ‘From Tristan da Cunha’ and is in the same handwriting as the address on the front.
My assumption is that this card would have been made up in England with the St. Helena franking already on and sent to Tristan da Cunha where it would have received a Tristan cachet for the time, in this case the Type IX, and then be posted from the Island. As the nearest port of call was usually Cape Town this is where the Paquebot cancel would have been applied.
It is known that the ship Tornus left Tristan on 14 October 1943, the same date as the Paquebot cancel. It takes five or six days to travel the 1743 miles (2810 km) from Tristan to Cape Town. Prior to this a liberty class supply ship, the U.S.S. William L Davidson(4) left Tristan on 14 September 1943. Though there are no details of its movements it is unlikely to have spent nearly a month at sea before reaching Cape Town. This cast some doubts on the postmark being 1943.
How the cover got to Tristan da Cunha is not known, but this was during World War II and ships were not regular visitors. Tristan was also cloaked in much secrecy as a meteorological station had been set up on the Island, both for weather reports and to act as a look out for enemy shipping. Official mail for the Island had to be addressed to "Job 9", (later changed to H.M.S. Atlantic Isle), the name given to the Island to prevent it being identified as a British base.
Another problem with the authenticity of this piece of mail comes from George Crabb’s book, (5) "Conversely the use of the Tristan cachets was suspended. Willie Repetto, who had the Type VII cachet in his possession, used to go out to visiting ships and for a small "consideration" would strike covers as souvenirs for the crew. When this breach of security came to the notice of Dr. Woolley, early in 1943, he confiscated the cachet and its use on mail was forbidden until 1946." (Lieutenant Commander E.J.S. Woolley being a naval surgeon who acted as the censor of mail.)
Again the Type IX cachet is thought to have arrived on the Island in 1948 probably provided by the organisers of The Tristan Venture Expedition.(6) This is 5 years after this card was cancelled. Many of the cachets from Tristan overlapped and it is not always possible to say that a cachet was definitely first or last used on a specific date.
More investigation of the cover was required. I had already used a 10x magnifying glass to examine the cancels, but decided to look again at much higher magnification.
A 65x enlargement of the year date on the Paquebot cancel shows the year to be ‘49’ not ‘43’. This means that the card was produced after the War and the cachet was now added after the Tristan Venture Expedition'
There were a possible five visits from ships in 1949. These were two in January, the Pequena and HMSAS Transvaal and three visits by the Pequena in April, September and November. The September visit was on the 17th, but the ship was in the Tristan area until October 7th.(7).It is more likely that the Pequena delivered the mail to Cape Town taking six days to make the voyage, with the mail being cancelled on the 14th. I have a number of covers with Type IX cachets and Paquebot cancels dated 14. X. 49 and addressed to Victor Marsh or Mr Lamkin (another Weston pseudonym), bearing different frankings. These are clearer examples of the cancel and allow a more accurate dating of the original piece. Obviously Weston sent a large number of covers to the Island for onward posting at this time.
I thought the card unusual because of the use of the Deraedemaeker reprint which I am reliably informed is not an uncommon Weston/Marsh manufacture (8).I still like this unusual piece and am happy to have it as part of my collection.
With thanks to Ray Lloyd for information and encouragement. References relating to this article-
(1) Stanley Gibbons Commonwealth Stamp Catalogue St Helena, Ascension & Tristan da Cunha 5th Edition
(2) Identified as a Type IX in both Stanley Gibbons Commonwealth Catalogues and in The History and Postal History of Tristan da Cunha by George Crabb 1980, but as a Type X in Monograph Number Five by Robin Taylor. This is the rectangular cachet in both cases.
(3) The History and Postal History of Tristan da Cunha by George Crabb 1980
(4) Ibid
(5) The History and Postal History of Tristan da Cunha by James A Mackay and George F Crabb 1965
(6) The History and Postal History of Tristan da Cunha by George Crabb 1980 and Monograph Number Five by Robin Taylor
(7) Monograph Number Eighteen by Robin Taylor
(8) My thanks to Ray Lloyd for this information.
TOURIST POSTS
SANDRA POOLE
In the last newsletter, I wrote about tourist posts operating in the Balearics, Canary Islands, Alicante, Italy etc. At that time, I had only one stamp and that was issued by Swiss Post, which I explained had joined forces with La Poste (France) in a joint business venture, Asendia. I now have stamps of the other two postal services, Easy Post and Sun Post, plus a few more from Swiss Post.
I think it is quite a clever touch that the Easy Post stamp (top right) has its name appearing on an ‘airmail etiquette’ incorporated into its design. Swiss Post takes the opportunity to promote Fuerteventura (Canaries) by splashing the website address across their stamp on the left. A Sun Post red letterbox was shown in the last newsletter; it would be nice to feature a red Easy Post box or a yellow with red-rimmed cross Swiss Post one, so if you are visiting any of the places mentioned above, please have your camera ready.
POSTAGE STAMPS OVERPRINTED 'SPECIMEN', PART 2
IAN JAKES
This article concentrates upon printers’ reference stamps. All the stamp printing firms, including De La Rue, kept records of their work. These records included many die and plate proofs to check the progress and perfection of their endeavours. They also kept copies of essays and colour trial schemes. In order to simplify this article, I have limited my research to the De La Rue archives. We start off with a problem because De La Rue’s Bunhill Row printing works in London were destroyed by bombing in WWII, resulting in many of their records being destroyed. We do, however, know that the earliest examples of their work were stuck down in day books, initially without overprint, but later, between 1862 and 1865, with a manuscript ‘Specimen’ overprint.
Fig.1 shows two Jamaican stamps with these manuscript overprints. Between 1863 and 1882, these manuscript overprints were replaced by handstamped ‘SPECIMEN’ overprints.
Fig. 2 shows copies of two such overprints on two Jamaican stamps
From 1865 onwards, De La Rue defaced postage stamps in their printing reference portfolio with various printed types of ‘SPECIMEN’ or ‘CANCELLED’ overprint.
As first steps towards gaining new printing contracts before new designs were prepared, the various firms of printers, including De La Rue, would supply administrations with specimens of their work. At first, they issued for that purpose previously issued stamps, sometimes imperforate, as an additional safeguard to prevent improper mail use and which were also generally overprinted ‘SPECIMEN’ or ‘CANCELLED’ for the same reason.
Fig. 3 shows a set of four imperforate stamps on paper overprinted ‘SPECIMEN’ which may have been given by a De La Rue salesman as samples to a potential customer.
Fig. 4 shows a set of five imperforate stamps on thin card overprinted ‘CANCELLED’. This set of stamps, because they are printed on card, may have formed part of De La Rue’s reference collection, rather than being a De La Rue salesman’s samples.
PENALTIES FOR RE-USING POSTAGE STAMPS
SANDRA POOLE
Quite sometime ago, I was amazed to see large bags of Machins- mint, no gum- not just for sale on Ebay, but also attracting large and numerous bids. Surely, they weren’t all being bought by artists who create pictures out of them and you’d have to write an awful lot of letters if you wanted to re-use them (illegally) for postage! In a recent packet that was doing the rounds, the packet manager requested members not to re-use stamps that had not been cancelled. The Post Office was now charging them £2 for items they had received and this, of course, affected the amount they could send to charities from the proceeds of circuit sales. A scan of the front of the packet was enclosed:
The penalties in Norway are more draconian than this modest £2 charge. According to an article in the latest copy of the Scandinavia Philatelic Society journal, ‘Contact’, Norway’s Posten, claims to have lost around £80,000 (equating to roughly 1 stamp re-used per 65 people) over an indeterminate amount of time and recently prosecuted three people for advertising and selling stamps for re-use. They were given prison sentences of around 7 months, 4 months and 2½ months.respectively and ordered to repay around £40,000 for lost revenue. Postage costs are high in Norway at around £1 for 20g and £2 for 100g, but I still find this figure hard to believe, as that’s around 20,000-40,000 stamps. That’s an awful lot of mail to receive or kiloware to sort!
AUSTRIA OVERPRINTS
DOUGLAS HARVEY
When the euro arrived in 2002, Austria issued new definitive stamps (SG 2607-26). In 2005, the 55c stamps were running short and the Post Office used up the stock of other values with overprints, described by Gibbons as ‘variously surch’. (SG 2743-50). My description is ‘amusingly surcharged'. I particularly like the striped cow with a new deposit on the adjacent grass. I am now trying to complete my collection of these tourist attractions stamps. The slogan overprint translates as ‘Austria is a labyrinth everybody is familiar with’- Helmut Qualtinger.
QUOTES FROM THE PAST
SANDRA POOLE
One advantage of being untidy is that every so often you have to tidy up in order to make room for new acquisitions. During this process, many interesting things can be found. One such item is a little book just 32 pages long called Knowledge Through the Keyhole of Stamp Collecting by Herbert G. Parson .It is not aimed at the committed stamp collector, but to someone who might like to know what the hobby is all about. It was written just after the war: and describes Portugal, whose first stamp was issued in 1853, as follows:
‘Wide fertile valleys produce an abundance of grapes, cereals, oranges, olives and mulberries. Fruits of the earth that we hope one day soon we shall see here again in England, after seven long years of being without many of the things we love to eat'. So this sets the period and hints at the deprivations of that time. A fact you may not have known: "In 1895, the first stamps of Uganda were issued, but as there was no printing press, they were made in Uganda by the Rev. E. Miller…on his typewriter! They were lettered ‘UG’ (ie Uganda Govt) and bore numerals representing the value in cowrie shells; the values cost from 10 shells for letters sent to Entebbe to 60 shells for letters to Koki"..
Another gem: ‘The writer once received a letter from the Gold Coast from a native who desired English clothes in exchange for stamps of his country.’ Reminds me of a collector in India who wrote to me requesting banknotes and a penny black in return for a few mint stamps.
And now, shock horror:’ in the early days of stamp collecting, people used to pierce through the centre of each stamp and collect them in the form of a paper snake…Many a dealer has groaned aloud as he cut the string and stamps worth pounds would tumble on his table all ruined and worthless because of being holed.’
This is an ‘olde worlde’ book , with a literary style to match. But it is full of historical, geographical and philatelic facts. But what do I do with it now? Put it back on the shelf I suppose, until next time. But you can see now why tidying-up takes such a long time in our house!
A JAPANESE POST OFFICE IN KYOTO: PHOTOGRAPHED BY AMBER POOLE
DISPLAY REPORTS
Victorian GB- Dennis Boot, 3 June 2016
The cost of sending letters by Royal Mail was originally based upon distance and the display by Dennis Boot included several items of prestamp interest. The charge for receiving mail from abroad was especially high, the tariff being paid upon receipt. Free frank mail comprised letters sent by Members of Parliament, a privilege, which was often abused. Royal Mail looked attentively for reasons to impose delivery charges on free frank mail. When the Penny Post was introduced, Parliament lost the free service. In 1840, with the Post Office Reform, the Mulready envelopes proved to be less popular than adhesive stamps. The original black 1d stamps were quickly replaced with 1d red stamps and some matching pairs were displayed. These were stamps printed by the same printing plate and from the same sheet position in the two colours. In the second part, the De La Rue surface printed stamps were shown and the display featured the ‘Jubilee’ issue of 1887. Overprinted stamps for use in post offices overseas were introduced and attractive commemorative covers appeared. (D.H.)
South Atlantic Islands- Alan Squires, 1 July 2016
This talk and display centred around the Antarctic Continent and the surrounding islands. Maps of Antarctica were available even before the discovery of the continent and these were completely inaccurate. When exploration began, with the famous Amundsen and Scott expeditions, the difficulties presented in visiting the continent quickly became apparent. Herbert Ponting’s photographic documentation of Antarctica at the time was impressive. Despite the absence of inhabitants, the British Antarctic Territory has issued substantial quantities of postage stamps. While some of them were actually used by visiting tourists and resident scientists, most were sold overseas to collectors and this was reflected in the display. The quality of the stamps and covers was excellent and most of the stamps were issued more recently than those featured in previous displays at the Society. (D.H)
Members’ Evening- Eastern Europe, 5 August 2016.
As most of our members do not collect the Eastern European countries and some even sought to find a definition of Eastern Europe, it waspleasing to see that all 18 boards were filled. The contributors were: David Shipstone (Czechoslovakia), George Kirkham (Bulgaria and Romania in the time of severe inflation), Bill Whitaker (Gallipoli in WWI, involving Australian soldiers), Gordon Low (Sport in USSR), Mick Inger (A-Z of Modern Eastern Europe), Douglas Harvey (East Germany)), Sandra Poole (Letters from the East and Cinderellas). This was a successful meeting, although rather lacking in the detailed information that usually accompanies the displays, An ambitious challenge from our President which did not defeat the membership. (D.H.)
MISCELLANY AND SOCIETY NEWS
Re Vanishing Letterboxes- Allen Wood Reports:
Late last year, Barclays closed their branch in Ruddington, along with the ‘hole in the wall’. Our postmaster applied for and was granted planning permission to situate a postbox outside the Post Office. Along came Royal Mail and removed the box, hoping to move it forward, only to discover Services beneath the pavement. So no postbox other than a cardboard box during shop hours. Fast forward to April and a solution: Place a replacement box (ex-Beeston, removed due to vandalism.) on Church St outside the Post Office. For good measure, bring forward the last collection time to 5.15pm. P.S. Royal Mail does not need planning permission to site a box!
‘Dull Men of Great Britain- it was good to hear that after reading the review of this book in the last newsletter, a member went out and bought a copy. He was not disappointed. (SP)
A Sobering Thought- Like many others, I am using up mint stamps from my collection and presentation packs for postage. But I do wonder how I am going to affix 18 x 3p stamps and 1 x 1p to a standard envelope. And I do find it quite galling that when I purchased them, I could have sent 18 letters for just one today.
Since the last newsletter, a railway enthusiast, David Brewer, 68, has photographed a train at every railway station in GB. There are over 2,500 of them and it has taken a lot of determination. One station at Teeside, for example, has just 2 trains a week- on a Sunday! He started to photograph the stations after retiring in 2007, having already by then travelled every line in Britain. He has also photographed all the tube, light railways, regional metro and tram stops. (Source: BBC News website) (S.P.)
Welcome to new member- Andrew Pearson, Andrew is a collector of GB and Commonwealth stamps.
Resignation- it is with great regret that I report that Doug Stubbings, for personal reasons, has resigned from the Society after 25 years. Doug has been President twice and treasurer for just over two years. He has presented full or short displays on a regular basis, both at home and away. We will miss you, Doug, but wish you all the best for the future.
Phoenix Competition, 6 May: there was a total of 17 entries in this annual competition and Brian Clayton was the winner of the Social Philately/Open Class with ‘The Antarctic Patrol Ship- HMS Protector 1959-68’. He was 4th overall with 81 points.
Members’ Displays to other Societies- Sandra Poole presented display on Danish Telegrams,telephone kiosks and the Magasin du Nord at the Greater Nottingham Co-operative Society on 8 June and Alan Squires followed suit on 10 August with a display entitled British Antarctic territories. Allen Wood showed ‘Basutoland’ to the National Philatelic Society on 13 August.
Forthcoming Displays at our Society:
2 Sep 'Germany': Philip Fearnley
16 Sep Visit to Alfreton PS : Members
23 Sep 'British West Indies': Ian Jakes and Peter Fernbank FRPSL
21 Oct 'Notts Postal History & Birds': Alan Marshall.
4 Nov 'Portugal and GB' : Jose Gomes and Gordon Low
Displays at the Greater Nottingham Co-operative PS
14 Sep General: Brian Ward
12 Oct 'Australian States': Bob Hill
Displays at Loughborough PS
8 Sep Recent Acquisitions: Members
22 Sep Thematic Mix : Brian Birch
13 Oct Letter I : Members
27 Oct 'X-rays' : Brian Brandon
10 Nov 'American/Canadian Duck Stamps' : Peter Marshall
Visit to Alfreton, 16 Sep- this is always a popular event and all members are more than welcome to attend, either with displays or as support. .Please bear in mind that the boards hold 9 sheets instead of our ten. If transport is a problem, please contact Ossi, who will no doubt be able to offer or arrange a lift. The meeting is held at Pentrich Village Hall, DE5 3RE.
Stamp Fairs at the Nuthall Temple Centre-Nottingham Road, NG16 1DP: 12 Oct and 7 Dec. Easily accessible by bus and parking for cars.
Autumn Stampex- 14-17 Sep, Business Design Centre, Islington.
Don’t forget the First World Cinderella Stamp Congress, from 16 to18 September. Details were given in the last two newsletters and updates may be viewed on the CSC website: www.cinderellastampclub.org.uk There will be around 75 frames of displays, competitive and non-competitive, devoted to Cinderella philately at Stampex and plenty going on at the Royal Philatelic Society, London
Treasurer- David Shipstone has kindly agreed to act as Treasurer following the sudden resignation of Doug Stubbings.
Apologies- I am sorry that the summer newsletter is out late, but there is a limit to what I can achieve in 24 hours and family matters have to take precedence. I believe that this is the first time it has been late since I became editor in the summer of 2007 and this issue is my 37th! Hopefully, things will be back to normal in time for the Autumn issue. But I do need members’ help. I have virtually nothing in hand. and I need more articles, (preferably around 1-2 pages long). I also need small philatelic items, news, photos, comments, suggestions etc- after 37 copies, you should have the idea! Either take material to a meeting or send it to me by email: sandy.poole@ntlworld.com . I would prefer text in .doc format, but otherwise please send it in .docx, which I can then send to my husband’s computer for unscrambling. Or you can just send it as a normal email. (If you have sent me articles in the past and I haven’t complained, then what you’re doing is obviously fine!) And may I take this opportunity to thank all regular contributors- without you, there wouldn’t be a newsletter. (Sandra Poole, Editor)
DISCLAIMER- Whilst every care is taken during the production of this Newsletter, neither the editor or the Society Officers can accept any liability for views, opinions or unintentional publication errors which may occur.