FEBRUARY & APRIL 2010

February 2010

• The Waterlow "Australian Essays", or rather "Dummy Stamps" - King George VI "Australian" Essays bearing the English Rose, Scottish Thistle and Irish Shamrock. How could this be? Brian Livingstone and Glenn Morgan explode the myth that has linked these essays produced by Warterlow in 1937 with Australia.
   
  
• Private Postal Operations In New Zealand - As a sequel to the article on the New Zealand Post definitive stamps that appeared in October 2009 Stamp Lover , Peter Mellor looks at the operations of some of New Zealand's private postal operators, how they relate to New Zealand Post and some of the stamps that they issue.
  
  
• Setting up a home - Just Digging Around - David Alford, with advice from Cyprus specialist, Robin Davis, continues his look at the correspondence between Cyprus based Arthur Hubert Stanley Megaw CBE ("Peter") and his bride to be in Greece  r with illustrations of covers and markings up to the time of their wedding on 26 August 1937.
  
  
• Sun, Samba and ...."bull's eye" - Hugo van Tilburg helps us "discover Brazil" including a look at the early stamps of the Empire of Brazil - the Bull's Eyes and Cat's Eyes, the development of airmail services between the World Wars and censorship.
  
  
• The Commissioner's Tale  With London 2010 fast approaching, the role of the National Commissioners and the General Commissioner in international events is explained by Richard West.
  
  
• Recent Displays - Illustrated reports on the presentations given and material shown at recent meetings of the National PS. 

  Danish Censorship  1939-49 - Chris King FRPSL and Birthe King FRPSL gave a very comprehensive display of censored mail on Saturday 14 November and with the aid of a PowerPoint presentation took us through the early period of World War II when Denmark was a neutral country and through the increasingly punitive German Occupation and concluding with the postwar period with examples of mail sent to and from German nationals in transit or prisoner of war camps. 

  The Kingdom of Italy 1862-1946 - The stamps and history of the Kingdom of Italy where well covered in Michael Peascod's display to the mid-week meeting on Thursday 3 December. As this report indicates, both the definitive and commemorative issues were extremely well covered and it was good to hear how Michael had been brought into collecting this period.

• The Annual Competitions - 12 December 2009 - Details of the competition entries which this year included a class for photocopy entries which were judged by those present at the Meeting.

• New Issues

  • The Picnic and the Church - a look at the stamps issued by Germany, Austria and Hungary marking the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Hungarian border in 1989 and the stamp from Germany marking Twenty Years of peaceful Revolution and featuring St Nicholas Church Leipzig which played a pivotal roll in the fall of Communism.
    
  • Euromed Postal - France has issued a stamp commemorating the re-scheduled Euro-Mediterranean conference dedicated to postal matters.
    
  • Badgers and Sheep - Beloved of television presenters in the UK, the badger has been voted Animal of the Year in Germany with a stamp to commemorate the fact, whilst from Argentina comes a sheetlet showing the main commercial breeds to be found in that country.
  • Jersey has issued a third set of stamps in her Naval Corrections series, featuring the ships of Sir George Carteret on the 400th Anniversary of his birth. These are illustrated and Sir George's connection with the United States explained.
  • Footnotes - The latest developments in Belgium's Franking in Multiples system updating previous coverage in Stamp Lover.
    
    
• Cold Sweat - Michael Hide dreams of "Smiler Stamps".

• PLUS -  Regular Features - 
  

  • Book Reviews

  • Letters to the Editor, The President's Piece, National PS News

  • Stamp Fairs Listing - February, March & April 2010.

• War prisoners' Mail in the Philippines  - In his introduction to this two-part feature, David Tett describes the Japanese invasion of the Philippines and the establishment of the thirteen camps set up to house American POWs.
  
  

• Lest We Forget - Dave Hill examines  a random selection of postcards connected with the First and second World wars.
  
  

• Speculation in Stamps - the Austrian anti-Fascist Exhibition issue -  Keith Tranmer looks back at this Austrian issue of 1945 and the survival of a sheet of each of the two values that were rejected after being printed.
  
  

• London 2010 Festival of Stamps - a special four page guide to what this year of stamps has to offer
  
  

• How the Junior promoted the international penny post - Imperial Penny Post was extended to include the USA on 1 October 1908. By way of an introduction to a forthcoming article by David Potter on the envelope published by the Junior Philatelic Society (now the National PS),  the editor explains how he now understands why a cover from the USA bearing a 50 year old demonitised stamp was not surcharged.
  
  

• Paper - how it is processed for stamp production - coated paper is a key ingredient in much stamp production. Alan Randall Jones describes a visit to Tallis Russell Coaters Ltd in the Cheshire village of Bollington.
  
  

• The Land Below the Sea - The Flood Charity Surcharges - The stamps issued by the Netherlands in the wake of the terrible floods of 31 January and 1 February 1953 are described by Alan Bartlett.
  
  

• An Expats Life - This Benighted Island  - David Alford's series on the correspondence of Cyprus based Arthur Hubert Stanley Megaw CBE ("Peter") and his new wife takes us through to the early months of World War II with covers and postcards from Cyprus, Albania and Great Britain.
  
  

• Recent Displays - Illustrated reports on the presentations given and material shown at recent meetings of the National PS. 

  The Forgery Collection sees the light of day -  Sections of The National Philatelic Society's own Forgeries collection were presented by the President, Christopher Oliver at two recent meetings. At the midweek meeting on 4 March  Commonwealth items featured included forgeries of Cape triangulars and stamps from Ceylon, Heligoland and  the Canadian Provinces.

  Meanwhile some of the Foreign forgeries in the collection had been displayed at the Saturday Meeting on 9 January when adverse snow conditions prevented the scheduled speaker from travelling to London. Countries featured on this occasion included the United States, Egypt and Hawaii. 

  The Glory of Greece - and Crete - Allan Boyce took his audience through a number of the issues of Greece and Crete on Saturday 13 February including the 1861 Hermes definitives and the complex postal arrangements in Crete during the years between Ottoman rule and eventual union with the Kingdom of Greece. 

• New Issues

  • Mail in Tristan da Cunha - a look at the handling of the mails on this remote island as depicted on the issue of 23 November 2009  

  • Liechtenstein is another small country but its mail services are highly mechanised and were depicted on a set of stamps entitled "our Postal Services" released earlier in 2009.

  • Winter Olympics - a look at the interesting and attractive selection of stamps has been issued by Canada for the recent Olympic Games, together with a brief look at the issues from France - host of the first winter games in 1924 and of Liechtenstein with its team of five.

  • Jersey Maps - five new self-adhesive stamps for letters to the UK feature maps through the ages.

  • Footnotes - The late addition to the Centenary of Naval Aviation omnibus issue from Nauru.

  PLUS -  Regular Features - 
  

  • Book Reviews

  • Letters to the Editor, The President's Piece, National PS News

  • Stamp Fairs Listing - April, May & June 2010.

   

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