Newsletter April 2017

PORT ELIZABETH PHILATELIC SOCIETY

PORT ELIZABETH FILATELIEVERENIGING

ESTABLISHED 1890 - RECONSTITUTED 1912

PO Box 15558, Emerald Hill, 6011, RSA

Venue: Bible Society House, 31 Cotswold Avenue, Cotswold

Correspondence: [email protected]

Volume 1 No 3

Newsletter April 2017

TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE

Editor's note ………...... 1

From the secretary's desk ...... 1

Rolling programme for 2017/2018 ………………...... 1

Minutes of monthly meeting ………...... 2

Things from another planet …………...………………………………………………… 7

Philatelic articles …………………………………………………………………………. 8

Auction news ……………………………………………..…………………....………… 9

Editor's titbits ……………………………………………..….……………...…………… 10

office-bearers

President/editor Francois Friend 082 554 8900 Vice president David Brown 041 360 4025 Secretary/treasurer/exchange superintendent Rodney Maclachlan 072 619 5409 Honorary auditor Barry Green 041 368 8504 Librarian John Haigh 041 373 0604 Exhibitions, frames and judging Herwig Kussing 071 175 9855 Catering, functions, trophies and awards Desre Kapp 072 237 8944 Margaret Morgan 082 574 7616

Vernon Mitchell 082 572 9127

Next meeting

8 May 2017 at 19:00

Copyright in this newsletter is reserved. No publication or dissemination of its contents is allowed without written permission from the Port Elizabeth Philatelic Society.

editor's note

Welcome to our newsletter for the month of April - the South African mid-year month of holidays and less work, or at least for some. Two thirds through the month and there is a mad scrambling to get up to date with various issues, uhm, including our newsletter that is ever so slightly a bit late due to prior travel commitments from the editor. We trust you will enjoy this month's edition.

from the secretary's desk

There are no birthdays in May so you can spend your money on buying stamps. Two members, Dave Brown and Graham Butcher, gave money to sponsor a page each in the new member’s information guide and Rob Cummings will place a black and white full page advertisement. He advised that he is operating as a dealer and has accessories etc for sale. He can be contacted on cell 074 583 6718 or by e-mail at [email protected].

rolling programme for 2017/2018

letters month date happenings numbers

Philatelic Services Stamp’s Friend Trophy competition. * General trading night and auction - bring some of your material May 8 May 2017 C, D, 8 that you wish to dispose of. Items of interest and new acquisitions.

Mike Koyd Postal History Shield competition. June 5 Jun 2017 Audio visual presentation. E, F, 9 Items of interest and new acquisitions.

Neville Polakow Trophy competition. General trading night and auction - bring some of your material July 3 Jul 2017 G, H, 1 that you wish to dispose of. Items of interest and new acquisitions.

Dave Berg Cup for best thematic display competition. August 7 Aug 2017 Show some of your favourite stamps, covers, etc. I, J, 2 Items of interest and new acquisitions.

Philatelic Services Stamp’s Friend Trophy competition. * General trading night and auction - bring some of your material September 4 Sep 2017 K, L, 3 that you wish to dispose of. Items of interest and new acquisitions.

Contemporary Cup competition. October 2 Oct 2017 Audio visual presentation. M, N, 4 Items of interest and new acquisitions.

TJ Strachan Ladies Bowl competition. General trading night and auction - bring some of your material November 30 Oct 2017 O, P, 5 that you wish to dispose of. Items of interest and new acquisitions.

December 29 Nov 2017 President's night. -

Quarterly Cup and Contemporary Cup competitions. January Jan 2018 Q, R, 6 Items of interest and new acquisitions.

President's Cup for the best one country exhibit competition. February Feb 2018 S, T, 7 Items of interest and new acquisitions.

Annual general meeting. March Mar 2018 U, V, 8 Items of interest and new acquisitions.

Quarterly Cup competition. April Apr 2017 Show some of your favourite stamps, covers, etc. A, B, 7 Items of interest and new acquisitions.

* due to unavailability of the sponsor the Philatelic Services Stamp's Friend competition will take place in May and September instead of April and August.

minutes of monthly meeting

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE PORT ELIZABETH PHILATELIC SOCIETY, HELD ON MONDAY 3 APRIL 2017 AT THE BIBLE HOUSE, 31 COTSWOLD AVENUE, COTSWOLD, PORT ELIZABETH COMMENCING AT 19:10 PRESENT: Dave Brown (in the Chair) MEMBERS: 18 APOLOGIES: 4 VISITORS: nil The Vice president welcomed everyone to the meeting. Francois was away overseas on holiday. It was good to see Rob Cummings, Chris Robins and Denise Cope Morgan attending after lengthy absences.

Minutes of the annual general meeting and general meeting dated 6 March 2017 were tabled for adoption. These were accepted - proposed by Herwig Kussing and seconded by Cecil Allers. The meeting then proceeded with the scheduled events.

(1) QUARTERLY CUP COMPETITION There were no exhibits for this competition.

(2) LETTERS “A” and “B” AND THE NUMBER 7 Only Margaret Morgan brought an exhibit of three parts totaling 5 pages, namely Agriculture, Bees and Beautiful Bosoms (boobs) under the letters “A” and “B”. [pity I missed the latter exhibit, Ed.] The judges awarded her the gift voucher of R 40,00. Well done Margaret.

(3) ITEMS OF INTEREST AND NEW ACQUISITIONS Rodney showed a Christmas card he received from David Lu from China. This was posted in November 2016 and arrived on 16 March 2017. David was a judge at Centapex 2012 and exhibited a literature item as well. He sends a card every year since then. Vernon Mitchell read an advertisement placed in the April 2017 Philatelist by Peter Whitlock of Graaff-Reinet regarding the sale of SA Philatelist magazines.

Dave Brown brought along some interesting items as usual, starting off with stamps from Portugal, a postcard sent from Fort Beaufort to Oudtshoorn in 1906 and the new £5 stamp issued in Great Britain. The latter large Machin stamp (illustrated below) was issued on 6 February 2017 to commemorate the 65th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II to the British throne.

New £5 stamp.

The Portuguese stamps are quite interesting. On 16 November 2016 Portugal issued a set of six stamps and three booklets to celebrate its fish canning industry. The first canning factory producing tuna in oil appeared in 1865, in Vila Real de Santo Antonio, and producing sardines in oil, in Setubal in 1880. However, it was chiefly from the start of the 20th century that the Portuguese coast would witness the installation of new canning units along its length, in particular Matosinhos, Espinho, Aveiro, Peniche, Sines, Setubal and the Algarve (Lagos, Portimno, Olhno and Vila Real de Santo Antonio) among others, in which sardine, tuna, mackerel and anchovy were the main species used.

The CTT Correios de Portugal have found an original way to mark this issue of stamps dedicated to the National Canning Industry. [Postal Services of Portugal, plc (Portuguese: CTT Correios de Portugal, S.A.) is the national postal service of Portugal. The acronym CTT comes from the former name of this department (Portuguese: Correios, Telégrafos e Telefones, meaning "post, telegraph and telephone"), which was also the designation of postal services for the former Portuguese colonies and still is for the Macau postal service nowadays. Ed.] The idea behind this very special highlight was the inclusion of 50 000 sets of these stamps presented inside food cans, specially prepared and screen-printed for the purpose, but otherwise identical to those used with tuna, sardines, mackerel, squid, etc - as illustrated below.

Top and bottom of the "sardine stamp tin".

Each set was made up into three booklets. This is the first time that an issue of stamps (see below) will be presented to the public “enclosed” in food cans. Collaborating with the CTT on this unusual venture was the oldest cannery still in operation in the world, “Conservas Ramirez”, established in 1853.

The "sardine tin" stamps.

Dave then showed a postcard that was posted at Fort Beaufort at 12 PM (12 noon) on 27 March 1906 and reached its destination, Oudtshoorn, at 6 PM on 30 March 1906. There are two other postmarks on the card, namely Cookhouse at 10 PM on the same day of 27 March 1906 (two strikes); and Graaff-Reinet on 29 March 1906. [thus arriving in Cookhouse a full two hours before it was posted in Fort Beaufort, things were quick in those days. Ed.] The front and reverse of the postcard illustrated below.

Front of the Fort Beaufort postcard.

Reverse of the Fort Beaufort postcard.

There are also traces of another postmark to the left of “DEAR SIR” on the reverse. The route travelled by this card is rather interesting. The first part of the journey is straightforward:

Fort Beaufort –> Adelaide –> Bedford –> Cookhouse –> Somerset East –> Pearston –> Graaff-Reinet –> Aberdeen. [see map below, Ed.]

From Aberdeen there are three possible routes [see map below, Ed.]:

1. Aberdeen –> Willowmore –> Uniondale –> Herold –> Oudtshoorn,

2. Aberdeen –> Willowmore –> De Rust –> Oudtshoorn, and

3. Aberdeen –> Beaufort West –> Klaarstroom –> De Rust –> Oudtshoorn.

[a fourth route via Aberdeen –> Willowmore –> Klaarstroom –> De Rust –> Oudtshoorn also possible? Ed.]

Unfortunately there are no postmarks to indicate which of the routes was the one used. Dave is looking for any suggestions?

(4) GENERAL Rodney advised that he had been contacted by Mrs Joey Coetzee wanting to sell some stamps and covers of her son. She can be contacted on 041 360 6345. The covers and some control blocks etc are mainly from South Africa and South West Africa. Please make contact directly with her if interested.

Vernon also had a request from OFS Philatelic Society to get our members to exhibit at their exhibition, Bofex 2017, which is a One Frame Virtual Exhibition to be held on Friday and Saturday 21 and 22 July 2017. The prospectus with details can found in the February edition of the SA Philatelist and probably on the website.

The next meeting will be held on 8 May 2017 with the Philatelic Services Stamp’s Friend Trophy competition; general trading night and auction; items of interest and new acquisitions; letters “C” and “D” and number 8. Members were reminded that exhibits are a minimum of 16 pages and it is a fun competition with all members present judging over two evenings, so please make an effort to show something.

The meeting closed at 20:30 with there being no further matters to discuss. The acting president then thanked everyone for their participation and congratulated the winners of the various competitions. He also thanked the lady members for providing the snacks and members who helped in the kitchen.

President: Date:

Special note sponsorship/advertising in new member's information guide

Any member wishing to sponsor a page could do so at a cost of R 50 per page and would be acknowledged accordingly.

Advertisement costs as follows - back cover R 1 800,00; inside back cover R 1 000,00; inside front cover R 1 200,00; full page colour advertisement R 800,00, full page black and white R 650,00 and half page black and white R 400,00. (final date for reserving space 30 Apr 2017.)

things from another planet

Great Britain 1910 SG266a

2d Edward VII tyrian plum

Issued in May 1910, the stamp arose because of a desire to economise on the costs of stamp production. As a result, all stamps were issued in one colour to reduce ink costs. A new 2d stamp, printed in the tyrian plum shade and bearing the portrait of King Edward VII, had been agreed and was in the process of being printed. One hundred thousand sheets, totaling 24 000 000 stamps, were delivered to the post office stores for distribution to postmasters. However, following the death of Edward VII on 6 May 1910, it was decided not to go ahead with the new stamp and almost all the stock was destroyed. To this day only a few examples survive in private hands, making this stamp one of the great rarities of British philately.

£ 85 000 [Paul Fraser Collectables]

Great Britain 1840

trials and essays 1d blue rainbow sheet

1840 1d Rainbow Trial (State 2) - very fine sheet of twelve impressions from the cancellation removal trials (May - June 1840) printed on white wove paper in deep blue cancelled by four strikes of the "National Bank of Ireland" oval handstamp in red. The six stamps at right showing obvious attempted removal of the cancellation.

£ 160 000 [Stanley Gibbons]

philatelic articles

…. seems the Aussies down under still have it good!!

the below extracted from Glen Stephen's monthly newsletter (May 2017)

"The large Melbourne 2017 Stamp Expo finalised in April and from all accounts it was an overwhelming success. The Caulfield Racecourse venue was easy to access, with free parking, and I feel sure will be a favoured option for any future large shows in Melbourne. All dealers I spoke to were pleased with results and the Philatelic Bureau seemed to do especially well, and their direct client email and postal mail shots really helped bring in the public in large numbers. The line outside the doors each day was 100s of persons long, as you can see from the photo below, I took one morning. I attended the gigantic New York Stamp Expo 2016 in New York at the Javits Center, less than a year back, and it is my strong belief there were more people attending Melbourne each day, than they got there, despite their mega gazillion American budget! Great to see, and the health of the hobby is as strong as ever, that much is for sure. The organising committee did a great job, and these folks are truly the unsung heroes behind such huge events."

[must admit, those rows are quite enviable, Ed.]

auction news*

Interasia auctions 1 to 4 April 2017 - Hong Kong

De La Rue hand-painted essays: artist drawings for the first postage stamps of China and submitted to Sir Robert Hart, the Inspector General of the Imperial Maritime Customs, in London on 18 June 1877. Sold for HK$ 2 070 000,00.

Hong Kong 1863 - 1871 48c pale rose block of ten with watermark crown CC (SG17), from the K Ashleigh collection (provenance includes Ryohei Ishikawa) - sold for HK$ 115 000,00.

1954-62 QEII 40c bright blue printer’s working proofs on ungummed, light brown wove paper horizontal pairs (2), one in deep blue shade and the other showing a very faint impression - sold for HK$ 7 475,00.

* this month some of the items could have formed part of the "things from another planet" section!!

Kyalami Auction - Johannesburg 8 April 2017

Great Britain Queen Victoria stamps hand stamped SPECIMEN stuck to official paper - sold for R 10 100,00.

editor's titbits

The family and I were privileged to visit Vietnam and Hong Kong during April. Beautiful countries both, with spectacular views, nice people and a completely different outlook in things working technologically well (even Vietnam that is rapidly developing at present, irrespective of how suspect some electrical connections look). However, once again when arriving back in dear old SA, even with zumaguptised imbecilic actions happening on a continuous basis, one experiences the wonderful blessed feeling of "I'm home". Well folks that is that for our April edition of the newsletter. Should you come across useful philatelic articles, auction results, news items, etc - please forward to us for possible inclusion in future newsletters. Bye

still looking for that item?

Stamp’s Friend Port Elizabeth/Eastern Cape buying • selling • want lists

082 554 8900 [email protected]

British Commonwealth • Hong Kong • St Helena

Lighthouse accessories Magnifying glasses Vario Gigant binder + slipcase …..……... R 800 Straight shank 60 mm …………………… R 30 Exhibition sleeves (packet of 5) ………… R 120 Folding 30 x 21 mm ……………………… R 70 Basic stockbook 32 pages ………………. R 350 Illuminated 30 x 21 mm …………………. R 150 Basic stockbook 64 pages ……….……... R 600 Illuminated 40 x 25 mm …………………. R 140

Comfort stockbook 64 pages …………… R 675 Mounting strips Premium stockbook 64 pages ………….. R 900 Hawid pre-cut up to 29,9x30,2 mm (50) . R 30 R 1 100 Premium stockbook 64 pages + slipcase Hawid pre-cut up to 38,07x57,4 mm (50) R 40

Prinz 200 mm x 30 mm …………………. R 5 R 120 Vario pages (5, 6 or 7 strips - pkt of 5) … Prinz 200 mm x 48 mm …………………. R 5

Prinz 200 mm x 66 mm …………………. R 10 R 450 Stockcards (3 or 4 strips - pkt of 100) …. Prinz 200 mm x 75 mm …………………. R 10 Single stockcards ………………………… R 5 Stamp and first day cover albums Fasto hinges (packet of 1 000) …………. R 60 Various second hand albums in good Sharp nose tweezers ……………………. R 150 condition (from R 50).

Stock SF mounting strips (per 5 strips) Various world/British Commonwealth 217 mm x 21,5 mm or 27,5 mm ………... R 20 South Africa/Homelands/SWA/Namibia 217 mm x 33 mm or 36 mm …...………... R 30 Hong Kong/Great Britain/St Helena 217 mm x 40 mm or 45 mm …………..… R 30 217 mm x 55 mm or 66 mm ...... ………… R 40 we buy stamps and collectables R 50 217 mm x 72 mm or 84 mm or 92 mm … we do want lists 217 mm x 148 mm or 164 mm ..………… R 70

Specials April 2017

Bechuanaland George VI definitive set (SG118-128) cat £ 110.00 - R 900,00

Bible stamp (1987) - the rarest stamp in South Africa the past 100 years SACC 638 cat (2017) R 14 000,00 - R 9 500,00

Great Britain 1992 castles (SG1611-1614) cat £ 50.00 - R 400,00

Iconic cape triangle - 4d blue two margins (SG6a) cat £ 90.00 - R 700,00

Mandela 1994 "coin" cover FDC No 6.3b (SACC cat R 900,00) - R 450,00