FEBRUARY & APRIL 2012

February 2012

• Cuba's International medical aid programme - some Postal History - Most stamps  issues from Cuba under Fidel Castro are common and colourful but as Mark Piper explains postal history reflecting Cuba's relations with other countries can be both interesting and rare.
  
  

• Was the "Junior" older than we thought...? The records state that the National Philatelic Society was founded as the Junior Philatelic Society in 1899. Glenn Morgan has however now found an item in the Daily News of 3rd November 1891which says that a group of philatelists were already thinking of setting up a Junior Philatelic Society.
   

• Collecting Netherlands Children stamps 1922-1999 - Each year since 1922, apart from the war years 1942-44 the Netherlands has issued stamps to raise money for children's charities. Michael F Griffiths tells bout these issues and the way in which the system under which they are issued operates.
  
  

• Johnson Benson Gilder, writer and editor turned despatch agent - an 1903 underpaid card bearing the mauve handstamp of London-based United States Despatch Agent J B Gilder has prompted Michael L Goodman to research Johnson Benson Gilder and one-time literary adviser and editor became a Despatch Agent.
  
  

• Hungary - the Mega-inflation Issues -  The 1945-46 inflation issues from Hungary may be dismissed as common stamps found in cheap stamp packets but their history is nonetheless worth recording as shown here by Dave Hill.
  
  

• New Issues - 

  • 150th Anniversary of Postal Services in the Seychelles

  • Argentine Sports Idols -  Although chess is not perhaps thought of as a sport, its inclusion in the recent Sports Idols III issue from Argentina prompts a look at this and the two previous releases in this series. 

  • Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Centenary - two of the more remote branches of the Association - St Helena and the Falkland Islands - have commemorated the centenary of the founding of the body in 1911.

  • The Unification of Italy - an update to the listing that appeared in August 2011 Stamp Lover describes eight "art on stamps" showing battles in the long struggle for unification between 1848 and 1917. 
    
    

• Recent Displays - Reports on the National PS Annual Competitions  which took place on Saturday 10th December and on the 1936 Berlin Olympics  given by Tony Bosworth FRPSL on Saturday 14th January 2012.
  
  

• Book Reviews - This popular feature this month takes in Naval Cover fakes and forgeries, mail robberies in Australia, the 1916-17 Bahamas Local Special delivery stamps and the life of Charles Darwin.
  

• A five day learning experience - the lessons to be learned for the National Philatelic Society's presence at the Ideal Home Exhibition.

  
   PLUS -  Other Regular Features - 

  • The President's Piece, National PS News

  • Letters to the Editor

  • Other Philatelic News 

  • Stamp Fairs Listing - February, March and April 2012.

April 2012

• Playing the Post and Go Machine numbers game at Stampex - A colourful update by Michael Goodman on the latest Post and Go labels exercise at Stampex
  
  

• Diamond Jubilee Display at Highcliffe Castle, Dorset - Christopher Oliver, President of the National Philatelic Society reports display and presentation given by John Davies FRPSL to mark the Diamond Jubilee of HM Queen Elizabeth II. .
  
  

• You too can write a philatelic article - Richard West FRPSL encourages philatelists to share their knowledge by "putting pen to paper" with advice on how to go about this based on his many years experience as a well-known editor of philatelic magazines.
   

• Antelopes of South Africa - The lead up to the first printing of self-adhesive stamps in South Africa - Christopher Oliver gives an illustrated account of the introduction of these stamps in 1998. 
  
  

• A Prisoner in Ruhleben, the racecourse turned prison camp -  David Alford supplies and explains the background to a postcard sent from Ruhleben, camp by Wallace Ellison in 1917.
  
  

• New Issues - 

  • Denmark, Faroe Islands and Greenland mark the 40th anniversary of the accession of HM Queen Margrethe II.

  • Malta - commemorates the 90th Anniversary of the Senate and Legislative assembly with a miniature sheet showing the £1 Melita stamp of 1922. 

  • The Sinking of the Titanic - the centenary is dramatically illustrated by new issues from Gibraltar and the Isle of Man
    
    

• Recent Displays at the National - A Report on the Tasmania - Stamps and Postal History display given by Patrick Reid FRPSL on 11 February 2012.
  
  

• Book Reviews - This popular feature this month the 2012 Scott Specialized Catalogue, Gibbons latest catalogues for St Helena and Ireland and specialised books covering Guernsey, French Military Posts, New Zealand and Afghanistan. 
  

 PLUS -  Other Regular Features - 

• The President's Piece, National PS News

• Letters to the Editor

• Other Philatelic News 

• Stamp Fairs Listing - April, May and June 2012.

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