Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2021 i Stamp Collector

Planning has now resumed for London to host an international stamp exhibition in 2022. Originally to be London 2020, the event should have been held last May. Now it will be known as London 2022, and will take place on 19 to 26 February next year. The venue will still be the Business Design Centre in Islington in London (nearest Underground Station: Angel). For the latest news, particularly with regard to the competitive exhibits and sales booths, visit the exhibition website at www.london2022.co/news Applications can still be accepted for entries in the Literature Class. The fee is £25 per entry and, as previously, applications should be submitted via the National Commissioner (which for exhibitors from the UK is Mike Roberts: UKcommissioner@london2022.co), with applications to be received by the Commissioner General…

When and why did you start collecting stamps? This will surely age me, but I started collecting some 55 years ago. I was in Scotland on holiday with my parents, and remember buying a new issue to commemorate the opening of the Forth Road Bridge, actually that was 1964, 57 years ago now. I had a few stamps somehow collected but this issue was my first new issue that I could afford with my pocket money and of course it was an issue being sold at a Post Office near the bridge and with a special handstamp to mark the occasion. My father also took me to a stamp shop in Edinburgh near where he lived and I bought a few more and somehow that was it, I was interested…

Guernsey Post has announced the launch of Clematis Gold, a new miniature sheet series depicting award-winning clematis, which have been cultivated by world renowned nurseryman and Guernsey grower, Raymond Evison OBE. Each of the clematis depicted on the stamps has been part of the Gold Medal award-winning displays at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Beautifully depicted by botanical artist Gillian Barlow, the first miniature sheet depicts the Sarah Elizabeth clematis, which was created in memory of Sarah Elizabeth Groves, whose life was tragically cut short when she was murdered whilst backpacking, on board a houseboat on Dal Lake, Srinagar, Kashmir, on 6 April 2013. Sarah was just 24 years of age. Raymond Evison said: ‘Clematis Sarah Elizabeth was bred and developed as part of the Evison (R) and Poulsen (R)…

Spink’s sale of the Stamps and Covers of South East Asia included an 1895 Straits Settlements registered envelope embossed proof on card with the surround handpainted in rose-lilac and with value and lettering. Dated March 1895 the proof of the head design features in pencil on reverse ‘25/3/95 Essay’ and was described as ‘unique and most attractive’. SOLD FOR £4,800 The sale of the James P. Myerson Collection of Superb United States Stamps at Robert A Siegel featured an impressive range of rarities, including many 19th-century classics, but the sale also featured a selection of attractive errors, not least an example of the famous ‘CIA Invert’. The $1 Candle Holder stamp, with colour inverted was described as being mint with deep rich colours. The auction lot explained the story of…

In the early 1880s a number of developments in postage stamp usage and production brought about changes in the appearance of issues purchased at post-office counters. The first occurred as a result of continuing attempts by fraudsters to remove cancellations from used stamps. Although never successful on a massive scale, the crime’s nuisance value prompted defensive measures by the Post Office to develop fugitive inks. Their use meant that stamp buyers, and Post Office employees working in sorting offices, encountered rather more frequent changes in the colours of stamps than they could handle without voicing complaints. In turn, the mutterings of discontent resulted in newspaper comments such as the Nottingham Evening Post, 20 December 1882: The Post-office has determined upon a very important and useful reform in the issue of…

This month I am using this cover to show how trying to obtain a postmark often results in an interesting item, writes David Gwynn. One way of getting a postmark is to send a cover ‘Poste Restante’ to the appropriate post office, hoping it will be postmarked before being sent back. I wanted to try this method once again, as it has been quite a few years since I had tried. I had success then, and luckily I had success this time. The postmark I wanted was from Mtzamboro on the island of Mayotte. Mayotte chose to remain part of France when the Comoros became an independent state. So I sent a cover to a fictitious person ‘Poste Restante’ at the post office there. I just put my return address…

Stamp collectors are rarely portrayed in popular culture as winners. But the third series of television hit Fargo tells the tale of twin brothers, who are given an inheritance after the sudden death of their father. He leaves behind two items: a red corvette and a set of stamps. Emmett, the more charming brother, convinces his more awkward twin, Ray, to take the car. After all, they’re teenage boys – which item will be the bigger hit with the ladies? Fast forward twenty years and Ray is now living in semi-poverty driving a rust-bucket anachronism. Emmett has sold the stamps (bar one) and has a business empire worth millions. Cars may look good, is the message, but stamps are worth dollars if only you are in the know. It’s therefore…

This stamp tells four stories. One is of its era. It was issued in 1961, at a time when African nations were breaking free from their former imperial masters. After bruising attempts to hold on to Vietnam and Algeria in the 1950s, France decided to be more flexible with the rest of its empire. Mali, a largely desert nation twice the size of its old colonial boss, was given independence in 1960. This airmail stamp was issued the next year, to coincide with the opening of an airport at Timbuktu (Tombouctou). Access to the air was seen as a key sign of modern nationhood at that time – as, of course, was a nation’s freedom to issue its own stamps. The stamp still has a very French look about it,…

In the later decades of the 19th century, as the Scramble For Africa established many new borders across the continent, three European powers acquired protectorates in the lands that flanked Lake Nyasa. The territories held by German East Africa, Portuguese East Africa and The Nyassaland (sic)Districts Protectorate established an uneasy truce that allowed them to exploit natural resources around the lake. The British slice of the cake changed its name to The British Central Africa Protectorate in 1893; then to the Nyasaland Protectorate in 1907 – the name it retained until 1964 when it gained independence and established the Republic of Malawi. At the outset it must have appeared to the British Colonial Office that the protectorate offered excellent prospects of self-sufficiency, even profits. The highlands of the northern region…

It had been a long time in the making, as the phrase goes. So long due to the early 1930s worldwide economic depression which caused large scale building projects to come to a halt, with no guarantee of resumption. Working men were ‘laid off ’ from their employment with hardship for all, and this included the ship building area beside the River Clyde near Glasgow in Scotland. The 1920s had been times of change with an expected continuance of wealth and a public wish to travel. To meet this need, the Cunard shipping line decided to add to its fleet as by the end of this decade a trio of Cunarders were either approaching middle-age or due for retirement. By December 1930, John Brown and Company at their Clydebank shipyard…

andrew@upastampauctions.co.uk ‘money spent in the wrong way soon mounts up …’ Successful and enjoyable collecting depends upon understanding the relationship of your budget to your interest. Offers and services can be confusing can’t they, and money spent in the wrong way soon mounts up. In philately, sometimes it is hard to decide which way to go. Your passion may exceed your resource, so just what may be best for you? Often, it is not what you collect but how you collect This is the reason why my team and I have devised this quick and easy philatelic route-map QUIZ which does not ask you what you collect – but helps you to determine by your answers just which type of collecting service may best suit you … Presently you may.…

Guernsey Post’s Year of the Rat stamps were recently awarded seventh place in a global competition organised by The Chinese Shengxiao (Zodiac) Philatelic Society, with Hong Kong coming first in the annual event. Now in its eleventh year, the competition included Year of the Rat stamps issued by sixty postal administrations in late 2019 or early 2020. The winning stamps were selected by members of The Chinese Shengxiao Philatelic Society and a jury of 28 philately experts, who awarded Hong Kong’s stamps the top spot. Designed by Chrissy Lau, Guernsey’s stamp set, Rags to Riches, depicts a rat on each intricately designed stamp, which feature accents of gold reflecting the belief, in Chinese culture, of the rat’s association with wealth, abundance and prosperity, as well as fertility and reproduction. The…

There are some engineering achievements that clearly deserve recognition and the Eysturoy Tunnel certainly fits into that category. The underwater road opened on 19 December 2020 and is the largest ever infrastructure project in the Faroe Islands, stretching just under seven miles and connecting the islands of Streymoy and Eysturoy. But it isn’t just the technical aspect of the tunnel that commands celebration, including the two new stamps from the Faroe Islands. The tunnel has a number of artistic flourishes, including a subsea roundabout which features a huge basalt column in the centre. The contractors contacted, Faroese artist Tróndur Patursson and asked him to suggest artistic decorations for the column. Patursson’s solution was to feature the Faroese chain dance on steel. The dancing figures are illuminated from behind with colour-changing…

Today’s Sultanate of Oman was once known as Muscat, an independent state ruled by the Al-Busaid dynasty. Located in the south-eastern corner of the Arabian Peninsula, Muscat’s postal services were handled by the Indian Post Office from 1864 until 1947. The dynasty celebrated its bicentenary in 1944 and to mark this important event, fifteen Indian postage stamps and ten service stamps were overprinted ‘AL-BUSAID 1363’ in Arabic script. As they were the only stamps specifically issued for Muscat, it is a country that can be easily completed. These two sets are considerably more valuable in used than mint condition provided that have been used during the last years of the Indian administration. Over the years, the two mint sets have slowly edged up in value. There was a time when…

In 1946, writes Richard Stenlake, an exhibition entitled ‘Britain Can Make It’, advertised throughout Britain by a slogan postmark, ran for fourteen weeks at the V&A focusing on modern British industrial design and how that was key to economic renewal of a nation up to its eyes in debt and enduring austerity. Comprised of beautifully designed but pricey objects, for most attendance was an exercise in covetous window-shopping. Bread was still rationed and there was no circus. The 1951 Festival of Britain addressed these shortcomings. Originally planned as a centenary celebration of the 1851 exhibition, it was rebranded to give the people hope about their post-war future and to bolster sagging support for the government which had gone on a spending spree with its Marshal Plan dough creating the Welfare…

Surely keeping the compromising envelope wouldn’t do any good, would it? And hiding it in a sewing box doesn’t sound very sensible. However, that’s exactly what Janette Brown, the recipient of our featured cover did when she received it from James Hoof, back in November 1847. Incredibly, by slipping the compromising cover inside her sewing box she was also disobeying the explicit instructions given to her by James Hoof, who wrote at the end of the letter ‘Burn as usual’. The facts are clear. The envelope and its contents were intended to be burnt once the recipient had concluded reading the incriminating material. But burn it she did not. And aren’t we glad she didn’t? The envelope, now world renowned, is known as ‘The USA Alexandria Blue Boy cover’ and…

Tariff change, or to give it the real meaning ‘price increase’, came early this year – January instead of March – and we saw the price of a collector strip rise to £13.84, this time last year it was £8.18, writes Stuart Leigh. Of course, the levels of service have changed considerably, especially the overseas rates, where additional weight levels have increased and large size letters up to 100g are covered with the standard collector strip. The tariff change was effective from 1 January, however, all Post Offices were closed and any franchised shops did not have the kiosks switched on – so the actual First Day of Issue was Saturday 2 January. Due to the lockdown situation the date of issue from the Postal Museum, shops at the Naval…

CELEBRATED SETS Canada was as much affected as anywhere else by the social upheavals of the mid-1960s. More than half of its 20 million population were under 25. They followed the Civil Rights and anti-war movements in the USA and the emerging counterculture across the western world. And they chafed against an establishment that was seen as too old, too British and too out of touch. This manifested itself in demonstrations on campus, strikes in the workplace and the growth of separatist movements, most noticeably in Quebec. One focus of discontent was the Canadian flag, which was based on the Red Ensign – the flag of British merchant shipping since 1707. And a spur to action was the upcoming centennial in 1967, which would prompt discussions about Canada’s history, its…

Most now contentious people who are celebrated on stamps were considered perfectly respectable when the stamp was issued! So, the idea of any nation purposefully celebrating robbers and thieves seems curious, but it does happen, and these make for a theme that’s sure to generate lots of debate. Train robberies, especially those involving mail trains, have, oddly enough, been commemorated on several stamps. Royal Mail’s 2019, 1st class Post & Go stamps featured the Great Train Robbery. These were issued to coincide with London’s Postal Museum Crime & The Post exhibition. India’s 1997 Kakori stamp marks another train robbery. This time, the perpetrators, who robbed the Number 8 Down Train travelling from Shahjahanpur to Lucknow, were members of the Hindustan Republican Association. The theft was a seen as a direct…

The Postal Museum have revealed details of a new exhibition planned to open on 1 April, celebrating the role the postcard has played in connecting people for more than a century and a half. The ‘Wish You Were Here’ exhibition was originally scheduled for 2020 but was delayed due to the pandemic. The British postcard’s history dates back to 1870, when it became an innovation of its time, opening new and faster correspondence for everyone in Britain. Postcards were used to send secret messages of love, to boost morale for soldiers at war and to boast from holidays near and afar. Exhibition highlights will include the first British postcard from 1870, a pre-paid postcard template with a blank front which sparked the public’s obsession for rapid communications; early 20th-century illustrated…

Between 22 and 24 February we celebrated the subject of new stamps and the work of stamp designers and philatelic bureaus around the world, with special articles, videos, and webinars. Highlights included webinars on Europa Stamps and with stamp engraver Martin Morck, as well as interviews with representatives from Jersey Post and Guernsey Post. Highlights of the Collector’s Conference on Modern Stamps are now available on the website at: www.allaboutstamps.co.uk/virtual-events/modern-stamps-conference…

To mark the occasion of Her Majesty The Queen’s 95th birthday, the Isle of Man Post Office will issue six commemorative stamps entitled Devoted to Your Service. Produced in collaboration with ten other postal administrations, the stamps depict some of the many high points of the life of Her Majesty and pay tribute to HRH Prince Philip. The Princess, writes Royal author Lady Colin Campbell, stamp is reminiscent of the famous broadcast Princess Elizabeth made to the Empire from South Africa to mark her twenty first birthday, where she spoke of her intention to devote her life to the service of all the peoples of the Realm, a promise she has kept throughout her long reign and even longer life. The stamp entitled Coronation depicts The Queen and her consort,…

Created and written by John Sullivan and first broadcast in 1981, Only Fools and Horses follows the exploits of wheeler-dealer Del Trotter, his younger brother Rodney, their Grandad and later their Uncle Albert. It ran for 64 episodes from 1981 to 2003 and at its peak was watched by 24.3 million people. The impact of Only Fools on the life of the nation is demonstrated by many of the show’s catchphrases and words having entered common usage. In 2003, the most popular of these, ‘lovely jubbly’, was listed in the Oxford English Dictionary. The show enjoyed a magical combination of skilled writing and excellent performances, sprinkled with the warmth and idiosyncrasies of the characters, memorable catchphrases, family feuds and emotion, an ensemble cast of supporting actors, and the kind of…

So you’re forced to spend your Christmas in a drafty stately home in the wilds of North Norfolk, writes Brian Austin of Buckingham Covers, and to add insult to injury you discover that just six days into 1969 a new pair of Machin definitives is to be issued and you have no stamps or special envelopes, well that’s just great! Well the producer of this cover did not have to worry as the drafty home is Sandringham House and we assume he has spent his Christmas and New Year working with the Royal family on their estate. At this point, if Her Majesty required it, the Post Office in house (as featured on an earlier cover of the month) would have been open, so getting the new stamps would have…

My name is Charles Epting, and alongside Michael Cortese, I co-host the podcast Conversations with Philatelists. Stamp Collector has kindly granted us the opportunity to review a full month’s worth of episodes in each issue. Michael and I kicked offour first full year of Conversations with Philatelists by speaking to two of our friends and peers, Ryan Wellmaker and Jessica Rodriguex. Ryan and Jessica are graduates of the American Philatelic Society’s Young Philatelic Leaders Fellowship, as are Michael and myself, and I always enjoy catching up with the two of them at various shows over the course of the year. Ryan and Jessica actually got married since I last saw them – a first for the YPLF – and it was great to hear that their passions (Ryan’s for philanthropy,…

From 1949, with visitor numbers rising following the end of the Second World War and restoration projects in place, the postal authorities decreed that it was time to install a post office; mail from the château being cancelled with a hexagonal postmark with the inscription ‘VERSAILLES-E’ within. It was used extensively before being replaced by a smaller circle mark in January 1967. The hexagonal type of cancellation has its origins in the earlier Auxiliary Post Office (R.A.U.) marks created in the late 19th century. A certain number of suburban and provincial offices were authorised to make special mail collections. Some of the marks were also octagonal but it is reported that none were used at Versailles. The earlier hexagonal marks had an interior circle containing the date. In 1904 it…

My life-long interest in astronomy was sparked when I saw Saturn and its rings clearly through the eye piece of my father’s telescope at a young age and since then my interest has taken me on a fantastic writing journey and in recent years, indulging myself in the hobby of astronomy and space-themed philately or astrophilately (figure 1). Brazil issued the first astronomy stamp in 1887. Perforated and blue in colour, this small 300 réis stamp depicted the Southern Cross or Crux Australis, an asterism of the constellation Crux seen only in the Southern Hemisphere. Stamps with an astronomical theme slowly spread to other countries including Italy, the United States, Poland and Norway. Here in the UK astronomy and astronomers were not commemorated philatelically until 1966 when the Royal Mail…