Indholdsfortegnelse for January 2024 i Stamp Collector

UNIVERSAL POSTAL UNION SET TO FEATURE ON VARIETY OF 2024 STAMPS In 2024, the Universal Postal Union celebrates its 150th anniversary, and a host of countries will be marking the anniversary with special stamps, including Belarus, China, France, Germany, Guernsey and Slovakia. The UPU’s origins can be traced back to the Paris Postal Conference of May 1863 when 15 countries came together following a suggestion by the USA’s Postmaster General Montgomery Blair. Eleven years later, on 9 October 1874, 22 countries gathered to sign the Treaty of Bern, creating the General Postal Union, which would later become known as the Universal Postal Union. Today, the UPU has 192 member countries, and the theme for the anniversary year is set to be ‘150 years of enabling communication and empowering peoples across…

Sending greetings by mail with best wishes for the New Year has a long tradition in Europe. From centuries ago, we find letters with nicely written addresses that were exchanged between regents and noble houses wishing each other a good start to the coming year. Some of these historic documents still seem rather affordable. New Year greetings from royal families have preserved their fascination for collectors as recent auction results may demonstrate. A folded card with a photo of Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II, on the throne since January 1972, was sent in 1979, signed by her and her husband Prince Henrik (1934–2018). Ulrich Felzmann sold the souvenir for €320. A sum of €270 was bid for a 1980 folded New Year greetings card with two family photos of Sweden’s King…

In recent years, several postal companies have put special stamp versions onto their sale desks that are meant to be especially attractive for customers with a bigger wallet and budget. Several shiny productions from Scandinavia have been issued decorated in genuine gold. Iceland’s philatelic service surprised customers in 2002 with an announcement of a special limited edition celebrating the 100th birthday anniversary of Halldór Kiljan Laxness (1902–98), winner of the 1955 Nobel Prize for literature. The normal souvenir sheet of 7 March 2002, at a nominal value of 100 kroner, shows the Nobel Prize medal printed in golden colour in the left margin. The special edition was sold in a folder with a guarantee of authenticity at 1,700 Icelandic kroner in an issue of 5000; here the medal was embossed…

GEMS OF PHILATELY A Gems of Philately sale is being held by Schuyler Rumsey at their San Francisco offices on 14 December. Held as part of their four-day December sale, an American highlight in the auction is a rare American Civil War patriotic cover sent from Honolulu during the end of the Third Treaty period (lot 3067). This extremely fine cover was sent aboard the American bark Comet, which departed Honolulu on 18 April 1863 and arrived in San Francisco on 12 May with mail bound for the east coast postmarked the next day. Featuring an attractive red, white and blue Eagle and Flag patriotic design, bearing the slogan ‘Forever wave that standard free – Bear it aloft o’er land and sea!’, the cover has an estimate of $5000–$7500. Also…

For over a century, semi-postal, or ‘charity’, stamps have combined the practical aspect of the post with a spirit of altruism, raising funds for a national cause and giving something back. These stamps offer intriguing designs and long-running sets for collectors to pursue, while telling stories of charitable causes, notable patrons, even reaction to disaster. Here, Richard Tarrant discovers the semi-postals of three European countries, and we provide more semi-postal examples to collect on page 44 Switzerland’s Pro Patria stamps Switzerland has issued ‘Pro Patria’ stamps annually for decades, to raise funds for national causes, giving collectors a wealth of designs to collect and study Switzerland has issued over 300 Pro Patria stamps. In doing so, they have raised a huge amount of funds that have been devoted to a…

SAVE £21.25 WHEN YOU SUBSCRIBE Sign up today and we’ll send you FIVE ISSUES FOR £5 Subscribe by Direct Debit and you’ll receive your first five issues of Stamp Collector magazine for just £5, after which you’ll switch to a quarterly payment of just £11.99 per quarter – still a 20% discount on the shop price. And that includes free delivery. Subscribe today. Call us 01778 392463 or visit: bit.ly/stamp-subscribe POSTAL SUBSCRIPTION FORM…

Leadbelly, USA One of the four-stamp Folk Musicians set issued in the Legends series of American stamps of 26 June 1998 featured folk and blues artist Huddie William Ledbetter, better known to blues fans as ‘Leadbelly’ or ‘the king of the 12-string guitar’. Born around 1888 or 1889 in Louisiana, he spent much of his life in prison for crimes including murder. As a proponent of folk-blues, Leadbelly lent his powerful voice to field and prison hollers and, during his time in the 1930s trade union movement during the Depression, of protest songs. He died in 1949 without ever achieving fame, but after his death his songs, including ‘Rock Island Line’ and ‘Goodnight Irene’, became hits for other artists. Gospel Singers, USA Issued on 15 July 1998, the 12th issue…

RECORD-BREAKING INVERTED JENNY At a special Robert A Siegel sale on 8 November, an original gum example of the iconic ‘Inverted Jenny’ stamp, sold for $1,700,000 (over $2 million when including buyer’s premium) – a world record for an American stamp. Described by the auction house as the ‘finest Inverted Jenny in existence’, the stamp, from position 49 in the sheet of 100, was purchased from Eugene Klein in 1918 by a collector and kept in the same family for 100 years, before being sold to the previous owner in 2018. Position 49 was clearly selected as one of the finest centred examples from the sheet when sold by Eugene Klein in 1918. It remained in its pristine ‘post office’ condition in a bank vault for the next 100 years…

JERSEY What does Christmas mean to you? On 11 November, Jersey issued a set of eight stamps that explored the meaning of Christmas. For the issue, eight local artists were asked the question ‘What does Christmas mean to you?’. The resulting stamp designs ranged from the whimsical and festive to the incredibly poignant. Inspired by his love of sea swimming, and a soft spot for the Lido at Havre des Pas, artist Will Bertram illustrated the island’s traditional Christmas Day swim (60p). Graphic designer and illustrator, Dean Porter, lost his younger sister in 2020. His design (98p) is a tribute to her, with one person missing from a family creating snow angels together. He said: ‘The snow angels created by the family form the shape of a flower, which represents…

Who doesn’t feel a particular, sparkly, cosy, Christmassy thrill when festive post arrives bearing a special Christmas stamp? Even more so if you’re a philatelist! If you collect stamps, the chances are that Christmas offerings will have enticed you over the years with their wonderful images of light in the darkness, seasonal traditions, happy revellers and, of course, the miraculous tale at the heart of the season’s festivities. So if it should happen that you’re one of the rare Scrooge-like philatelists who looks at Christmas stamps and thinks ‘bah humbug’, we’d kindly like to suggest that you turn over this page and peruse the many other brilliant articles in your new magazine because right now we’re going to herald the glories of the Royal Mail’s Christmas 2023 set. For 2023,…

‘OLD STAMPS/NOT RECOGNIZED’ HANDSTAMP A United States Postal History sale was held by Robert A Siegel on 11 November. One of the star lots was an embossed envelope with an ‘OLD STAMPS/NOT RECOGNIZED’ handstamp from 1861 (lot 2519). Sent from Philadelphia, this 3c Red Star Die entire, addressed to Leominster, MA, had a bold strike of the two-line ‘OLD STAMPS/NOT RECOGNIZED’ handstamp alongside a 19 August 1861 datestamp and a straightline ‘Due 3’. As Philadelphia was one of the first post offices to receive the new 1861 stamps, the 1857 issue and old-style embossed envelopes were demonetised by that post office earlier than many others. As the new 1861 issue embossed envelopes were released on 8 August, a five-day exchange period for the old issue expired on 13 August, before…

At first glance, the Queen Elizabeth II issues of Montserrat look like those of any other island in the British West Indies: exotic birds and fishes; royal anniversaries and visits; handicrafts; scenery; and sports. But mixed in with the rest is a story of two natural disasters and one unexpected casualty. In I986, the island issued a set of four stamps promoting tourism. The top value is one of very few stamps to feature a recording studio; Associated Independent Recording studios, universally known as AIR. The story of AIR Composer and producer George Martin visited Montserrat in 1977, fell in love with the island and built a home there. Two years later, he opened a studio with all the technical facilities of his London studios – but with luxury accommodation…

The letter illustrated here was bought simply because the author was attracted by the well-executed drawing of the ‘Pincian Mount’ in Rome contained within the letter written to Lady Charlotte Lindsay by Hamon de Bellers in 1831. It was many years later in a virtual meeting of the Postal History Society that Keith Brandon, an expert on Austrian postal history, asked me if I was aware that I had a ‘Metternich’ letter. Of course I was not, but underlying the letter is a fascinating tale of intrigue in the courts of Europe. Although the Treaty of Vienna in 1815 had brought peace to Europe, there remained a climate of distrust among the former opposing powers. The Austrian diplomat, Prince Klemens von Metternich, who served as their Foreign Minister from 1809…

Most people probably associate the Falkland Islands with the ten-week war that broke out between Argentina and the United Kingdom on 2 April 1982. The islands had been made a British crown colony in 1841, and the local population is mainly of British origin. However, Argentina has always claimed that the islands – known as Las Islas Malvinas in Spanish – are part and parcel of the South American nation. However, the UK government has always stated that it wants to respect the wishes of the Falklanders who, in their vast majority, are opposed to being part of Argentina. The Argentinean military junta launched a surprise attack on the Falkland Islands on 2 April 1982, occupying the entire territory. The following day Argentinean forces occupied South Georgia. The junta in…

Following the Christmas celebrations, the countdown begins towards the change of year in the Gregorian calendar we use. Just one week to prepare ourselves for further festive cheer with friends and family, not all of whom are living close enough to be with us as New Year’s Eve moves into New Year’s Day. So, we send our greetings by text message, telephone, email and social media. What would our ancestors have given to have had these facilities to bring joy. If we turn back to the beginning of the last century and a few years after, we have evidence of the use of the postal system to send a letter or suitable postcard to give greetings, one such year being at the height of the British Edwardian period: 1907. Prior…

CINDERELLAS Royalty: Kings and Queens on poster stamps The coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla on 6 May 2023 made it possible for people not only in the UK but also in the rest of the world to discover a lot about traditions going back many centuries in time, writes Christer Brunström. It certainly was an impressive event, of great interest to all history buffs regardless of whether one is a royalist or a republican. All this reminded me of the huge amount of poster stamps and charity labels that have featured members of royal families. In 1939, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth made a visit to Canada. It created a tremendous amount of attention in the North American nation, and on 15 May 1939, the Canadian…

CHAPTER THREE THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF A DEATH IN CAIRO PART THIRTEEN – LONDON’S CALLING Avile stink sent stinging sensations through the nostrils of Le Queux as he observed the Earl’s valet Fred sitting forlorn and bedraggled in the corner of an underground cell. Le Queux had been surprised upon arrival at the jail to find Fred crammed into a squalid chamber no bigger than five by five feet with five other occupants. The man-servant was visibly relieved to see the reporter and proceeded to blurt out all that had transpired since he’d left Noella and Le Queux at the restaurant just a few days previous. Apparently Fred believed he knew whom the overcoat button belonged to. His knowledge of the other English-speaking valets and the tailors their masters frequented…