Stellenbosch Filatelistevereniging Stellenbosch Philatelic Society Posbus/P.O. Box 3950 SOMERSET-WES/SOMERSET WEST 7129

Telephone : 083-289-1825 (Niel) E-pos/mail : [email protected] Webwerf : stbphilatelic.wordpress.com

Klubaand : 1ste Dins van mnd om 19:00 Club night : 1st Tues of month at 19:00

Jaargang/Volume: 40 No/Nr: 5

Venue: Die biblioteek, Klubhuis, La Clémence, Webersvallei Road, Stellenbosch

NUUSBRIEF JANUARIE 2019

VORIGE BYEENKOMS 27 NOVEMBER Die byeenkoms was die jaarlikse afskeidsfunksie, wat deur die Voorsitter by Spur in die Stellenbosch Square Winkelsentrum gehou is. Die bywoning was egter erg teleurstellend, aangesien slegs 12 (insluitend eggenotes) dit bygewoon het. Dit lyk nie asof hierdie funksie die nodige ondersteuning geniet om daarmee voort te gaan nie, en miskien moet slegs ʼn gewone klubaand gereël word. Nogtans het die wat wel bygewoon het, dit terdeë geniet, en is die jaar se aktiwiteite goed afgesluit. The meeting was the year-end function, arranged by the Chairman at the Spur at the Stellenbosch Square Shopping Mall. Attendance was, however, disappointingly poor with only 12 (partners included) attending. It seems as if this function does not enjoy much support, and should maybe be replaced by a normal club evening. The people attending enjoyed themselves, and it was a fitting close to the year’s activities. Volgende vergadering: Die volgende vergadering is op 5 Februarie 2019, wat ook die Jaarlikse Algemene Vergadering is. Die kennisgewing sal ter gelegener tyd aangestuur word.

FACTS AND FEATS: THE POSTAL SERVICES Stamps issued simultaneously in two language versions were first produced by Switzerland in 1850. Stamps of 2½ rappen values were issued in French-speaking areas inscribed as POSTA LOCALE and in the German-speaking areas inscribed ORTS POST. No attempt was made to accommodate the Italian-speaking areas at the time. These stamps were printed in separate sheets and not in bilingual pairs. Subsequently Switzerland got around the language problem by inscribing stamps FRANCO (franked) which is understandable in French, German and Italian, and rendered the country name in Latin – HELVETIA (or CONFEDERATIO HELVETIA). Stamps issued simultaneously in three language versions were produced by Switzerland between 1939 and 1942. The first such issues publicised the Swiss National Exhibition in Zürich and were inscribed in French (right top), German (left) and Italian (right bottom). In 1940 stamps for the National Exhibition and Red Cross fund were inscribed in one or other of the three languages, according to the face value of the stamps. There was no attempt at that occasion to each denomination in all three languages. In Mar 1942 stamps publicising the national salvage campaign were inscribed TO SURVIVE, COLLECT SALVAGE in either French, German or Italian. Subsequent Swiss stamps have tended to be inscribed in all three languages or merely in Latin. Bilingual inscriptions, in countries with two major languages, were first used in Belgium (French and Flemish) in 1893, and in Canada (French and English) in 1927. In the latter case, the first concession to the Francophone population was the inscription TERCENTENAIRE DE QUEBEC on the series of 1908, English on that occasion being confined to the value and the word POSTAGE. In 1927 a set celebrating the diamond jubilee of the Confederation had the words POST and POSTES in the side panels. Since cents, dollars and the country name are the same in both languages Canada has neatly solved the problem of bilingualism by confining inscriptions to a minimum, and the showing considerable ingenuity in the use of words common to both languages or arranging the inscriptions in such a way as to minimise the repetition of words common to both languages. The first stamps with inscriptions in two different alphabets were issued by the Grand Duchy of Finland in 1856. The value (in kopecks) was rendered in the Roman and Cyrillic alphabets. The first stamps issued by Moldavia (now part of Romania) were likewise inscribed in the Roman and Cyrillic alphabets. The first stamps in Roman and Oriental scripts were issued by Hong Kong in 1862 (in English and Chinese), while the first stamps in Roman and Arabic scripts were issued by Egypt in 1866. Jammu and Kashmir was the first country to issue stamps in two different Oriental scripts (Arabic and Hindi) in 1866. Facts and feats come from: Mackay, James, The Guinness book of Stamps, Guinness Publishing Ltd, Enfield, 1988 Please note that the information used for this article has in many cases been overtaken by events – Ed

THE EVOLUTION OF MAIL AND POSTAGE STAMPS (10) This is an article written by Tom Fortunato, and can be found at the indicated website, and an excerpt will be featured over the next few months. (http://www.frontiernet.net/~stamptmf/exhibits/stampcollecting/index.html) IV - Security Measures Inks Optically variable inks contain tiny flakes of special film that change color as the viewing angle is varied. This technology was first used on banknotes.

before and after heating - see the lower cloud color change before and after heating - check out the pan Heat-sensitive thermochromic inks have been used on stamps that turn color when heated by slight rubbing with a finger.

before heating - pink lei turns white

before and after heating - black turns grey revealing the inner molecule and Chemistry inscription (silver Queen's head did not reproduce well in upper left corner of each stamp) when warm checkerboard background and boxes in the border turn color

Hidden Images Scrambled Indicia® is a "patented pre-press process that scrambles, distorts, intertwines, overlaps or otherwise manipulates images making encoded information on them unreadable by the naked eye, and non-copyable by current color copiers and digital scanners" per the Graphic Security Systems Corporation's web site. The technology has been in use since 1977, and was adopted as an anti- counterfeiting measure on US postage stamps in 1997. When printed, the images are seen through a simple plastic decoder lens allowing the viewer to see the encoded images. Here are two demonstrations of the decoding technology from the company. A variety of images appear on the 1998 "Bright Eyes" animal commemoratives and $1 fox definitive USPS issues.

Perforations Printers have also experimented with different perforation shapes to deter counterfeiting. In 1993 Great Britain postal authorities uncovered a massive plot selling fake 24 pence Machin definitive stamps (on the right) around the country. Their perforations were uneven and crude, but probably not noticeable to the general public. The Post Office turned to Dutch printer J. Enschede that created an elliptical perf to thwart future forgeries. The 29 pence stamp was issued this way later that year. Two different distinct types of these perfs have been used on British definitives, best seen while two stamps are attached together. J. Enschede and other printers have used variants of these perfs on other stamps. horizontal elliptical perfs

"B" shaped elliptical perfs

maple leaf perfs

double elliptical perfs

elliptical perfs and large holes in corners

star perfs in corners

To be continued…

TIMELINE Battle of Marshall Islands. On 3 Feb 1944, American forces invaded and took control of the Marshall Islands. The Marshall Islands are located approximately 350 km northwest of the Gilbert Islands, and had been occupied by the Japanese since World War I as part of the South Pacific Mandate. The Japanese regarded the islands as an important outpost for their navy. Japanese forces occupied the Gilbert islands on 10 December 1941, landing troops of the South Seas Detachment on Tarawa and Makin islands, a few days after the attack on Pearl Harbour, in order to protect their south-eastern flank from allied counterattacks, and isolate . The islands were to become a staging post for the planned invasion of the islands by the Japanese, under the codename Operation FS, but their setback at the Battle of the Coral Sea delayed the plans, and their defeat at the Battle of Midway and later in the Solomon Islands put a definitive end to it. Allied commanders knew that an eventual surrender of Japan would require penetration of these islands. While commander of the U.S. Army General Douglas MacArthur wanted to push towards the Philippines via , the U.S. Navy's Admiral Chester Nimitz favoured a drive across the central Pacific, through the Gilberts, the Marshalls, the Carolines, and eventually the Marianas, which would put American B-29 bombers within range of Tokyo. In addition to forcing the Japanese to fight two fronts against the Allies (Nimitz driving from the east and MacArthur from the south), Nimitz's plan would neutralize the outer Japanese defences, allowing American ground, naval, and air bases to be stationed there for future attacks against other occupied island groups. These outer islands included the atolls of Tarawa and Makin in the Gilberts, and Majuro, Kwajalein, and Eniwetok in the Marshalls.[5] After the Gilberts fell to the Americans in late November 1943, Operations Catchpole was aimed at capturing Japanese Bases at Kwajalein, Eniwetok, and Majuro in the Marshall Islands. On 3 Dec 1943, Task Force 50, under Rear Admiral Charles Pownall, using fleet carriers launched carrier aircraft against Kwajalein. Four transports and fifty Japanese aircraft were lost, but the attack lacked strategic value. Fearing a counterattack from Wotje, Pownall ordered a second strike against the island. The Japanese did counterattack via a night bombing strike, in which Lexington sustained a torpedo hit but was not sunk. The task force later returned to Pearl Harbour. The Yorktown's aircraft would continue to fly air cover over the atoll on 29 Jan, 31 Jan, and from 1 Feb to 3 Feb 1944. International Society of Worldwide Stamp Collectors, Wikipedia and other sources

Geskryf deur Robert Harm 17 Januarie 2019

CLUB PROGRAMMES (Western Cape)

Bellville Philatelic Society, at the Bellville Public Library at 19:00 on 2nd Wednesday of the month. 13 Feb 2019 AGM; One-Page Competition; Awards evening. 13 Mar 2019 Auction – open to all interested.

CASPIP, home of Dennis Landau, 24 Lochiel Road, Rondebosch at 20:00 on 3rd Wednesday of month. 20 Feb 2019 20 Mar 2019

Fish Hoek Philatelic Society, at Minor Hall, Fish Hoek Civic Centre at 19:30 on 1st Tuesday of the month. 5 Feb 2019 Thematic competition maximum 28 pages. 5 Mar 2019 AGM; Invited exhibits.

Paarl Filateliste, MBA Boland-Gebou, Concordia Street, Paarl at 19:30 2nd Thursday of the month. 14 Feb 2019 Do’s and Don’ts of Open Class – Gawie Hugo. 14 Mar 2019 Annual dinner for members only.

Pinelands Stamp Circle, at Activities Room, Pinelands Library at 19:00 on last Wednesday of the month. 27 Feb 2019 27 Mar 2019

Royal Philatelic Society of Cape Town, at Atenaneum on 2nd and 4th Mondays of the month. 11 Feb 2019 Aspects of WW2 Postal History – Hugh Amoore. 25 Feb 2019 AGM; A V Jacob Cup competition. 245 Apr 2018 Rare and Mysterious Columbian Stellenbosch Philatelic Society, at La Clémence, Webersvallei Rd, Stellenbosch at 19:00 on 1st Tuesday of month. 5 Feb 2019 Annual General Meeting; President’s evening. 5 Mar 2019

Walker Bay Stamp Club, at the Hermanus Bowling Club/Kleinmond Public Library at 17:30 on 1st Monday of month. 4 Feb 2019 4 Mar 2019

Thematics SA (WC Chapter), at Church Hall, DRC Vallei, c/o Postma and St Andrews Strs, Oakdale, Bellville 09:30. 2 Feb 2019 All members show pages from exhibits they working on to get comments. 2 Mar 2019 All members show pages from exhibits they working on to get comments.

CAPE STAMP FAIR Church Hall, DRC Vallei, c/o Postma and St Andrews Streets, Oakdale, Bellville at 09:00 until 12:30. 2 Feb 2019 2 Mar 2019 Auction 16 Mar 2019 Church Hall, DRC Durbanville-Bergsig, c/o Boland Way and Protea Street, Durbanville. PHILATELIC TERMS : A-5 Bibliography: McKay, James, Philatelic Terms Illustrated, Stanley Gibbons Publications, Ringwood, 2003. Nováček, Jiři, Guide to Stamp Collecting, Chartwell Books Inc, New Jersey, 1989. Smith, Anna H. (Ed), The language of stamp collecting, Johannesburg Public Library, 1959. Wood, Kenneth A. (Ed), This is Philately, Van Dahl Publications, Albany, 1982 Graham, Harold T. (Ed), A Glossary of Philatelic Terms, Philatelic Congress of Great Britain, 1951 Wikipedia Encyclopaedia at www.wikipedia.com.

A & T The overprint A & T or A-T appears, together with a surcharge, on stamps of the French Colonies general issue. These stamps were intended for use in that area of French Indo-China known as Annam and Tonkin. A number of different types of numerals and letters were used, and invert errors are known. These provisional stamps were replaced by the stamps of Indo-China in 1892.

Acanalado This is the Spanish word for ribbed.

Accent An accent is a mark placed over a letter that modifies its pronunciation. The philatelic significance of accents can go beyond that of pronunciation, however, as a special delivery of Canada illustrates. The stamp was issued by the Canadian postal authorities on 16 Sep 1946 with a denomination of 17c. The stamp depicts a Douglas DC-4 aircraft flying over Quebec. However, over the second e in the French language word EXPRÈS there appears a tiny inverted V known as a circumflex accent. It should have been a small line to the right called an accent grave. This was corrected and the stamp issued with the right accent the following year.

Acronym (akroniem) An acronym is a word made up of the initial letters of a series of words. Sometimes the first few letters of a word are used. There are many acronyms in the names of philatelic exhibitions, of which JIPEX (Johannesburg International Philatelic Exhibition) is well-known in South Africa.

AEF The letters AEF stand for Afrique Equatoriale Française (French Equatorial Guinee) and are found in place of the full country name on a set of four stamps issued on 5 Dec 1938, to mark the centenary of Gabon.

Afrika Corps Label The Afrika Corps Label is one of the philatelic rarities of WW2. In the Stamp Collector of 10 Mar 1979, Herman Halle reports that the label was issued to effect control over the number of packages mailed to Germany by Afrika Corps members. The soldiers were trying to help their family to overcome shortages developing due to the war, especially wool and olive oil. The labels did not prepay any postage, but members were limited to two labels per month during Mar and Apr 1943. Each label permitted the shipment of a package 1000 grams, which were franked with a 20 pf stamp. A total of 200 000 labels was distributed, and cancellations in various styles were used. All the cancellations read the same bei der Feldpost eingelievert (despatched at the Field Post). The label was only for use on packages, and cancelled labels can only be found on package wrappers. It is important to note that, due the contents of most packages (olive oil), most labels will show grease spots or stains. These must be accepted as the normal state, as these packages tended to develop slow leaks. The same happened due to the high oil content of wool. A cancelled label on parcel wrapper was quoted by Michel between $2000 and $4000 in 1982.

A.G. Prior to 1874, when the stamps of South Australia were overprinted O.S. for general use as Official Stamps, a variety of overprints on the stamps of that Australian colony were used to indicate trhe various government departments. The letters A.G. indicate the use by the Attorney General’s Department.

Air Accident cover The term is used to describe what are more commonly known as crash covers. “Album Weeds” This is a term that was once applied to forgeries of philatelic material. It was also used as a title of a 19th century book on forged stamps of the world by Rev R.B. Eanee. The last edition (which was in fact the third edition) was published in 1906. In the foreword to the boob the Reverend describes the enormous task this was, and that it took him three years to redo the second edition and produce the third edition. The book has been reprinted unchanged in paperback form, and can be obtained from certain dealers selling philatelic literature. NB – I have volumes 1, 2, 4, 6 and 8 on my bookshelf, still looking for volumes 3, 5 and 7.

AM The letters AM (overprinted or inscribed) and a surcharge on stamps of Greece issued in 1900-02 represent Axia Metallike, meaning value in metal (gold). Although available for use on letters, these stamps were mainly used on parcels sent overseas and for foreign money order, which have to be franked with postage paid in gold currency.

Ambulante This is the French word for a travelling post office, usually on a train. In many countries, in addition to railway post offices, post offices were established on ships (e.g. the river-steamer post offices of British Guiana), and there wre also streetcar post offices. A horse-drawn wagon service was also used for a short time in Washington, DC, New York City and Buffalo, N.Y. As the US railroads began to decline after WW2, Highway Post Offices (HPOs), in the form of large trucks appeared, which in term were replaced by mail by air. When the word ambulante is seen in postal marking of France or Belgium, it designates mail carried by railway or highway travelling post offices. The German term is bahnpost.

American Bank Note Co The company was formed in 1858 from a merger of Toppan, Carpenter & Co of New York and a number of other firms, including Rawdon, Wright, Hatch and Edson, who were the printers of the US 1847 5c and 10 c stamps. In 1879 the Continental Bank Note Co and the National Bank Note Co were incorporated as well. The firm printed US stamps between 1879 and 1894 and also produced stamps for a number of foreign governments. The company also had a Canadian division, which was responsible for printing Canadian stamps from the 1897 Jubilee issue until Nov 1922. The Canadian division then became the Canadian Bank Note Co. The US 1943-44 Overrun Countries issue were also printed by the American Bank Note Co.

A.M.G.-F.T.T. The overprint A.M.G. –F.T.T. was applied by Allied Occupation Authorities to Italian stamps of Italy from 1947 to 1954. These were for use by the Allied Military Government in Zone A of the Free Territory between Italy and Yugoslavia and including Trieste.

A.M.G. V.G. The overprint A.M.G. V.G. was applied to the stamps of Italy in 1945 by the combined US- British Government of the provinces of Venezia Giulia on the Italian-Yugoslavian border.

Ampersand This is the name of the symbol & meaning and. It is found as part of various overprints on stamps.

A.M. Post Deutschland This inscription appears on stamps used by the Military Government of the United States and the United Kingdom in their occupied zones of Germany following WW2. The stamp design features a large M in an oval. There are three identifiable printings made in Washington, D.C., London and Brunswick, Germany.

Anotado The overprint anotado, meaning noted, was applied to the 1868 stamps of Mexico in 1872. The stamps had previously been withdrawn and they were thus made valid againb for use until the next issue was available.

Compiled by Robert Harm 26 Dec 2018