January 2012 Newsletter

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Next Meeting

The next meeting of the Society will be on 16th February 2012, when Charles Lloyd will entertain us with Belgian Congo. Full details of the program for 2011 - 2012 are given on the Meetings page

India - 2nd February 2012

In the absence of the president, former president David Kindley, introduced Joe Ritchie's presentation, to our meeting on 2nd February.

Joe explained that there are 200,000 post offices in India and that 10 billion items, including 4 billion postcards, are posted each year. For many people without 'phone or internet the post remains the main method of communication. To encourage this communication the government has kept the price of sending postcards artificially low, since independence in 1949.

In the first half of his display Joe presented these post cards, beginning with the first issues and including reply paid cards. The first commemorative cards for Gandhi and for the 100th anniversary of the postage stamp in India were included, these examples being at the postcard rate of 5 pies. By 1968 that rate had increased to 10 pies and in 1973 India insisted on the PIN - Post Office identity Number - being included in the address, to ensure that mail reached the right office. Eventually competition post cards were introduced but for these the normal letter postage was charged resulting in an increasing disparity with the price charged for correspondence postcards. By 2003 the competition cards were 10 rupees compared to the postcards at 50 pies - a 20 times difference. From 1975 India started printing advertisements on the left side of the address side of the card to further subsidise them and although the number of different cards was limited to start with, the idea has caught on, and has resulted in a very large number of different cards being issued, in all of the 18 regional languages in India. Although there are a very large number of different cards issued, it's not expensive to collect them, as although the letter rate cards cost 10 rupees each - approximately 10p, the pictorial correspondence cards are at a reduced  rate of 25 pies or about 1/4p each. As Joe said however, the problem is actually getting all of the cards issued, since many are only available locally.

For the second half of the display Joe had an entirely different display, this time including some stamps! This display was split into two parts comprising Jammu and Kashmir and Indian Ship mail. Jammu and Kashmir post office was open for only 26 years from 1866 to 1894, after which the Maharajah was deposed and Indian stamps were used. Joe showed examples starting from the earliest crude hand stamped circular issues of Jammu and Kashmir. He pointed out that these are in watercolour and therefore have a tendency to run or even wash out completely, in a humid climate. From 1878 the stamps were in oil colour and the stamps were replaced with rectangular ones from 1886. Joe had complete sheets of these to entertain us!

For the final part of the display, Joe presented British Ship Mail to India for the period 1803 to 1860. To start with all mail was via the East India Co ships from Tilbury as they had a monopoly of trade routes. However the monopoly was lost in 1819 and from then on various ports were used, each of which used different hand stamps, all amply illustrated in Joe's display.

In conclusion, this was a fascinating display of philatelic material, rarely to be seen in the UK.

Alphabet Night - 19th January 2012

Our meeting of 19th January was the Alphabet Night, which this season comprised material related to the letter "A". Organiser for the evening was Vice-President, Graham Searle, and a total of 27 members participated by displaying a wide variety of material, all somehow related to the letter "A". A vote was held to determine the displays believed by members to be the best, and prizes awarded to the winners.

The display voted the best was that provided by Peter Payne, on Canadian Admirals, and by coincidence this was also the first display presented. The second best display, shown part way through the second half, was a thematic display of Apiculture by Dougal Macintosh.

There were many other interesting displays demonstrating the wide variety of material of interest to our members. In the first half, these included exhibits on the themes of "A" overprints, Ancestors, Proverbs (beginning with A), Antarctica, Autographs, Continents beginning with A (i.e. all except Europe), Åland, British Packet Service to West Africa, Finland 1867 issues sent to A's, and Apollo Achievements.

The second half included exhibits on the themes of Afghanistan Adventures, Alphabet ABC & Queen Astrid, Aerogrammes and Authors, Aalborg Locals, Aarhus, Azad Hind, Attitudes, Aero-Tag Poland, Alphabetical order, Airmen on Active Service in Aden, Aberdeen pre-stamp covers, Anniversary of the Accession - a preview of forthcoming Diamond Jubilee, Archaeologists, and finally, not seen before Canadian Admirals. Thus the displays both commenced and concluded with the Admirals.

In his vote of thanks, the President, Mike Longhurst praised all members who had contributed to an enjoyable evening. It was just as well that no more members had contributed, as we should then have needed a third half to present the display!

President's Night - 5th January 2012

Mike Longhurst, the Society President, presented at our first meeting of the New Year. Mike started by advising that he "collects what he fancies", and the ensuing display confirmed this to be true! He stated that one of his aims was to display stamps not often displayed and there was indeed a wide variety of material on display. The only common theme was that Mike's display comprised stamps as distinct from covers, etc., and that he appears to have an affinity with back of the catalogue and overprinted stamps

The display started with New Zealand officials and overprints on New Zealand for Niue, Cook Islands, etc. Then a wonderful selection of advertisements on the back of New Zealand issues, followed by various revenues with stamps up to a face value of £1000, and Life Insurance stamps. next some marvellous engraved North Borneo issues and overprinted Labuan stamps.

Next came some Sudan officials, Ceylon service issues, overprints on GB, particularly Seahorses, for Ireland, also issues for Levant, Morocco Agencies, Nauru, former Italian Colonies, Cyprus and Southern Rhodesia. Followed by early Barbados and Mauritius Issues.

And that was just the first half! Mike then did what was described as a "Jack Waterman", i.e. the sheets in their protectors were turned over to reveal the second part of his display.

This started with French stamps overprinted for Memel, some with several overprints and surcharges. Mike followed with Burma peacock local overprints which we were told have been extensively forged - Mike didn't claim that all his were authentic. Next Mike showed Polish local overprints on Germania issues, again a difficult area with many forgeries, sometimes with the overprints having been applied to used German issues.

These was followed by French Colonial overprints, again Mike pointed out that many have been forged, but these, he stated, are easier to detect. And finally, Mike displayed machine testing labels, including the double width labels used to test the machines used to apply the GB 1957 Scout Jamboree issue to first day covers.

All in all a marvellous display which amply demonstrated the huge variety of stamps that are available for us to collect, albeit it would be very difficult to replicate the extent of this collection without very many years of collecting!

Room Auction - 15th December 2011

Our annual room auction was held at our meeting of 15th December 2011.  This evening, the last meeting of 2011, saw the participation of a large contingent of members. The auctioneer encouraged vigorous bidding for contested lots, and the meeting was the usual popular event. Empty albums and stock books in excellent condition, provoked keen bidding, probably because this type of material is attractive regardless of collectors particular interests. Reserve prices were such that most items sold, and hence many members will have plenty of new material to examine over the Christmas break!

D-Day - Chad Neighbor - 1st December 2011

Although his display, on 1st December, was entitled "D-Day" this was but the first part of a varied presentation by Chad Neighbor. His father had been on a landing craft on D-Day. Although its intended destination was Omaha Beach the craft landed away from the main area with the result that, where almost no one else survived, there were few casualties on that craft. Chad's remarkable display of different philatelic material, drew on a book, privately published by his father, entitled "One Mans War Story - An account of my experiences in the US Army during World War 2".

Chad followed this with an unusual display of material from Abilene, the Mid West town where he had been born in 1951, 147 miles west of Kansas City. Again, not something that can have been easy to collect, but the display included much philatelic material and ephemera. Abilene was also the home town of Dwight D Eisenhower, free admission is still available to his house, and views of this and of the Eisenhower museum have generated some philatelic material.

Following the interval Chad presented an entirely different display, this time of compound postal stationery. He showed a collection of envelopes and other prepaid stationery where it has been necessary to apply more than one postage impression. The collection displayed included, among others, material from Canada, Australia, Germany, Ireland, Denmark, Malaya, Russia and the UK. Although there are some examples that are philatelic in nature, more generally these stationery items were issued when postal rates increased, to avoid the necessity to scrap items already printed. These items, being transitional in nature, are frequently scarce. This was demonstrated by a very unusual US cover from the civil war era, where the first postal impression of 3c was to cover the charge from the post office to destination, but a further impression  of 1c had been added, to cover delivery from the letter box to the post office.

Commerce in the Post - Ron Goodfellow - 17th November 2011

Ron Goodfellow displayed Commerce in the Post at our meeting on 17th November. He introduced his display by setting out the criteria that he uses to select material: it must have a true commercial background and have gone through the legitimate and then current post.

Ron described the display as easy to look at, with lots of diagrams and colour advertising, all forms of commercial products or services. He started with the short lived 1893 adverts on the back of New Zealand stamps moved on to blank booklet panes printed with adverts and then Embossed commercial envelopes. The display then expanded into covers of the world, which were considered in different categories including among others Construction, Household products including kitchen units and sanitary ware, Lighting, Paints, Gardens, Electrical and Lino. One German commercial postcard caught my attention in that it was posted early in the devaluation period in the 20’s with a previously purchased low (10pf) stamp, which if not available would apparently have cost the sender 200,000,000,000 marks.

Continuing after the interval, Ron showed Building supplies, Manufacturing Tools & Machinery, Agriculture, Railways, Fuel and Motor Vehicles. Regions represented in his display included South and North America, as well as India, the Far East, South Africa, Madagascar, and all of Europe with especial strength in Germany. Many of the covers with business perforated stamps included superb detailed printed illustrations of their products. Other covers had early clear business meter marks. All in all a superb display with lots of interest for all collectors.

The vote of thanks was given by Jeff Stone. He commented that after considering all the displays given to the society since its inception, he believed that this was another new category never before seen at a society meeting. He praised the subject, its layout and presentation

Thanks to Ian Kennaway for providing the above report!

Entertainment - 3rd November 2011

Members were delighted to be greeted by Chrissie Jefferies, dressed and made up in a splendid clown outfit, at our meeting of 3rd November. This reminded any that had forgotten, of the theme for the evening, which was to be entertainment. Regrettably Chrissie had changed into civvies before we were able to photo her for this column, quite understandably however, considering how hot it must have been inside the costume!

We have now received, are now delighted to show readers, a photo of Chrissie the Clown!

In the first half Chrissie introduced us to worldwide clowns, as illustrated on stamps, starting with Grimaldi  in the early 19th Century and moving on to more modern clowns. Chris showed how the Circus Ring was started with animals from  Zoos formed up in circles. Famous circuses were identified in Britain and the USA, with circus hotels in Florida and Las Vegas receiving a special mention. Chrissie enhanced the display of stamps, which have been issued by an extensive array of countries, with commemorative covers, booklet, brochures and various advertising posters for example for the Moscow State Circus and for Zippo's circus.

In the second half of the display Chrissie expanded her theme to include Children's Fairy Stories with Enid Blyton, Beatrix Potter and Winnie the Pooh receiving particular mention. The tales however included, among others, tales from Hungary, Netherlands, USA, Cambodia, Australia, Romania, China and Germany thus illustrating the worldwide interest in fairy stories.

Chrissie concluded her display by looking at seaside entertainment and theme parks. She included beaches of the world, fairgrounds, Punch and Judy and carnivals, and, appropriately, considering the time of year, finished with fireworks festivals.

In all another excellent display for the society - but the first in the writers experience to have been given by a clown!

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