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The Smoky Mountain Philatelist JOURNAL OF THE ASHEVILLE STAMP CLUB ESTABLISHED 1924 • APS CHAPTER NO. 0793-64417 • SINCE 1971 January - February 2018 Volume 11, Number 1 CONTENTS President’s Letter ....................................2 Editor’s Column .....................................3 Club News .............................................3 Great Britain’s Victoria Jubilee Stamps ...4 Pacific Mail Steam Ship Straightline Cancels ...................................................8 Which US Stamps Can No Longer Be Used for Postage? ..................................14 Shows and Events .................................16 The Variety Hunter ..............................17 Classifieds .............................................17 THE ASHEVILLE STAMP CLUB President’s Letter WWW.ASHEVILLESTAMPCLUB.COM hat a year 2017 was! Many new members now on board which WWW.STAMPS.ORG/ASHEVILLE-STAMP-CLUB WWW.SEFSC.ORG/ASHEVILLE-STAMP-CLUB is so enjoyable to all of us. Randall Chet has done a magnificent job and producing a new bi-monthly Asheville Stamp Club (ASC) Wpublication. As professional looking as any club’s publication anywhere with- ELECTED OFFICERS in the U.S. President: Robert Taylor, 828-447-4699 Email: [email protected] Unfortunately our yearly Christmas Luncheon was cancelled on December 9th because of a tremendous snowfall the night before. First time ever. Vice President: Jim Haxby Email: [email protected] We all cannot thank Ed deBary enough for securing our quality meeting Treasurer: Stan Kumor, room for our monthly meetings. Email: [email protected] 2018 looks exciting right away with our yearly Champion Stamp Auction Secretary: Jay Rogers and our popular club auction early on in the first quarter. Our new vice- Email: [email protected] president, Jim Haxby, will no doubt schedule some interesting programs that should be entertaining and educational for all of us. Past President: Ed de Bary Email: [email protected] I encourage all members, new and old, to suggest any ideas to the officers. The officers represent you and we want to make our club (and it’s member- APPOINTED POSITIONS ship), one of the best clubs around. 50-50 Fundraiser: Lucille Lamy I thank all of you for your past support and look forward to an entertaining Auctioneers: Ed de Bary & Jay Rogers and educational 2018. Membership: Larry Oliver Best regards, Robert Journal Editor: Randall Chet Email: [email protected] ASC MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION WHO TO CALL DATE If you cannot make a meeting, club event, presentation, or have a question or a NAME suggestion, please contact: ADDRESS Robert Taylor, 828-447-4699 Email: [email protected] CITY GENERAL INFORMATION STATE ZIP The Asheville Stamp Club meets at Deerfield Episcopal Retirement Community, 1617 PHONE Hendersonville Rd, Asheville, NC in the Blue Ridge Room of the Community Center at 1:30 EMAIL pm on the third Sunday of each month. Bring stamps and covers to sell, trade, or show. There COLLECTOR DEALER (CIRCLE ONE) are Nickel Boxes and Envelopes of stamps with new material being added all of the time. I COLLECT The club’s 2017 Scott catalogs will be at the meeting; 2012 World Classics, US Specialized. As always, there will be the 50-50 Drawing and Door Prizes. RECOMMENDED BY ©2018 The Asheville Stamp Club Please print, fill out and bring to a club meeting with $10 payable to ASC, or send to Jay Rogers, Secretary ASC, 15 Hickory Court LN, Hendersonville, NC 28792. Email your articles, letters, classified ads, auction items, and comments for the Smoky Mountain Philatelist to Randall Chet: [email protected] Deadline for the March-April issue: February 25th 2 The Smoky Mountain Philatelist January - February 2018 Volume 11, Number 1 EDITOR’S COLUMN Smoke Signals s I write this, the temperature is dipping into the teens, a fire is in the fireplace, and I’m thankful to be doing the next best thing to adding stamps to my collection: writing about them! A As we kick off 2018, I’d like to thank all our contributors to this publication, especially Larry Oliver, who kept a steady stream of excellent articles arriving to my inbox. I also want to thank Scott Martz for his Variety Hunter column, and everybody else who has kept me up-to-date on club happenings over the past year. Finally, thank you members of the ASC for allowing me to pretty much do what I like with this publication! That said, I encourage our members to contribute items to make this a more well-rounded journal. I would really like to see some articles about contemporary stamps -- US or foreign. Don’t forget to send me info about yourself; I would love each and every one of you to share your story of how you became stamp collectors. It is very important to remind our other members of what you collect and why. I encourage all our new members to participate. Please send your own story to [email protected]. Thanks! CLUB NEWS Club Officers for 2018 The following Officers of the ASC were duly elected for the year 2018 at the regular meeting of the ASC on November 19, 2017 as per the ASC Bylaws Article III Sect 4 and Article IV Sect 2. Robert Taylor: President With 27 members present representing a quorum, Ed de Bary, without objection, cast one vote for the Jim Haxby: Vice President unopposed slate. The above 4 Officers, along with the Immediate Past President Ed de Bary, are the de Jay Rogers: Secretary jure 5 member Board of Directors as per the ASC Bylaws Article III Sect 3 Stan Kumor: Treasurer Jay Rogers, Secretary New ASC Members 2017 2017 was a good year for membership. We lost some (13), we gained some (19!), coming out positive, but best of all, an injection of new blood adds to the excitement an enthusiasm of our overall membership. Total membership now stands at 73. So without ado, here are our new additions for 2017: Louis Bregger Birds, Latin America, US Marjorie Huffine US Commems Bob Brogi US Plate Blocks Richard Pederson Dealer: US Stamps, US Covers, WW Covers. Collects AMG, Prexies Lee Chase US, Worldwide Robert Sazama Dealer Hugh Clark Dealer in rare stamps, Cats on advertising covers, Classic covers David Shepard Worldwide to 1869 Frank Shurtleff US, Worldwide Allan Fleischman US, Worldwide Mark Vervaeke Sterling Kingbrook Auctions Henry Fleischman US, Worldwide Mikael Vickers Worldwide Jo Ann Garfinkel US Kimberly Vickers Pretty Stuff Roger Hatfield US David Watts Worldwide, Sell US Plate Blocks Richard Hoger Worldwide, Favorite stamp Joe Weinberger US from each Country The Smoky Mountain Philatelist January - February 2018 Volume 11, Number 1 3 Great Britain’s Victoria Jubilee Stamps Bob Bouvier n 1 April 1884, the British government issued Wiseman* states “With their usual sensitivity in these a lackluster set of stamps, called the Unified Is- matters, the authorities took no notice whatsoever [of the sue or lilac-and-green stamps (Scott 98-107). outcry]…” Postal workers, however, complained that the OThey were instantly designs impaired their ability to en- panned by the public sure the correct postage was collected. and postal workers This complaint was harder for the alike. Unlike previ- authorities to ignore. Support arose ous issues, where dif- for the formation of what became the ferent colors could 1884 Stamp Committee that first met be easily correlated on 31 October 1884 with the purpose to value and each of recommending features of a new stamp’s design was set of stamps that would answer these distinctly different complaints. On 1 January, 1887, the from others, the pas- new set was issued in connection tel colors of this issue with Queen Victoria’s 50th year on and the repetition of the throne, her Jubilee. This issue designs made select- featured two-color printing of British ing the correct stamp stamps for the first time and contin- more error prone. ued to be used to the end of her reign. 4 The Smoky Mountain Philatelist January - February 2018 Volume 11, Number 1 Scott lists 14 values and two shade varieties. By comparison, the Stanley Gib- First, a word on varieties other than shades. The most likely varieties bons (SG) Concise catalogue lists ten shade varieties, and the SG Specialized cata- one can reasonably hope to find in dealer stocks other than shades are logue lists 27! The Scott catalogue gives different names for the colors in most stamps with inverted watermarks, but be forewarned that some are quite cases; I recommend using the names shown in the SG Specialized catalogue, as I scarce. Many dealers and collectors don’t think to check for these. Imperfs did for this article, to retain the ability to distinguish shades accurately. are easy to spot but can be forged and are unlikely to be found in dealer Fortunately, many of the stamps included in the SG catalogues but not in stocks. They are rare and expensive; expertization is vital. Other varieties Scott are found commingled in dealers’ stocks. For the collector who enjoys hunt- found for some of the values are printed on the gummed side, printed on ing for varieties, this is prime territory. To help ensure you collect proper shade both sides, doubly printed, as well as numerous plate flaws and irregulari- varieties it is important to examine only unused stamps, the fresher the better, ties. Plate flaws are a specialty for the dedicated and patient collector and because the shade differences are subtle. Be aware that many apparent but mis- may also be found in stocks, but the search may well try your patience leading shades can be found among used and unused copies in degraded condi- as well as your eyesight. If you want to delve into these, it is necessary to tion resulting from exposure to moisture and other aging influences. [Note: with have both the SG Specialized catalogue and a thoroughly researched and sufficient notice, I am willing to provide interested members access to my Specialized documented reference such as the Wiseman book I used for this article.