Innehållsförteckning för September 2024 från Stamp Collector

INCORPORATING COIN COLLECTOR The 2024 Congress of Great Britain, which was held in Southampton in July, had a theme of ‘New Directions in Philately’. Over the course of four days, delegates enjoyed a variety of interesting and thought-provoking presentations. I was fortunate to attend for a couple of days and really enjoyed the event. It was particularly interesting to learn about the relatively new idea of concept philately. In a joint presentation between David Beech in Great Britain and Alex Haimann in South Africa, Alex showed a cover he has been researching that dates from just after the Battle of Rouke’s Drift in 1879. His extensive research into the cover included tracking down the temporary camp, only in existence for a short period of time, where it was written. Although,…

A ncient Egypt and China may have had their own postal systems, but the Achaemenid Empire created a mail service, in around 550 BC, whose like wouldn’t be seen again until the 18th century. True, it was still used mainly for official business, but in terms of its speed, organisation, standardisation, scope and reach, the Chapar Khaneh was the first true postal service (Figures 1–2). According to Herodotus’, writing in his Histories, ‘There is nothing mortal that accomplishes a course more swiftly than do these messengers, by the Persians’ skilful contrivance. They are stopped neither by snow nor rain nor heat nor darkness from accomplishing their appointed course with all speed.’ When the USPS adopted the motto ‘Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers…

The Edwardians had a craze for novelty postcards in the years leading up to World War I, but for reasons that will emerge, magic novelty cards are amongst the most difficult to find intact. The story begins with a young engraver, Theodore Brown (1870–1938), who developed a fascination with optical toys, photography, stereoscopy and moving images. Among his patented inventions was the ‘Magic Post Card’, which ran to at least Series 34 with several numbers in each (Figures 1–2). The publishers included his own venture, The Stereoscopic Living Picture Company at Castle Street, Salisbury, and W Mate & Sons Ltd, 62 Commercial Road, Bournemouth. Technically, these cards are known as anaglyphs, which produce a stereographic effect by printing two images in complementary colours that are then viewed through red and…

FIRST DAY COVERS Mystery covers The time has come for me to pass a mystery to you and see what you come back with, writes Brian Austin. Recently, I bought these two covers at a stamp fair for £1 each, I have tried every angle I could think of to try and research them but have come up with precisely nothing! So, what do the covers tell me? Well, they are both British stamps, but the paquebot cachet allows them to be cancelled with a foreign postmark. My initial thought was that this was on a ship, but the 26 December 1969 postmark seems to have been at the airport in San Francisco, so were the covers flown into the USA? Up to two years ago, there was still a…

From the Meiji era of Japan (1867–1912), the auction at Baldwin’s on 10 July included a phenomenally rare, copper pattern yen, dating from year 3 – 1870 (lot 502). The Japanese government established the official silver standard in 1870, and this coin was a pattern for the first silver yen and represents the first machine-struck yen of Japan. Designed by the famous British engraver LC Wyon, these coins were struck at the Royal Mint. A handful of surviving yen patterns are known to exist in silver, white metal and tin, but this is believed to be the first copper pattern yen to have ever been offered for sale. It sold for £40,000, four times its lower estimate of £10,000. SOLD FOR £40,000 From the Indian princely state of Bhopal, the…

Medal collectors tend to avoid buying awards that have been altered or defaced, and if they do purchase one that has been tampered with, they prefer to restore it to its original state. But as the expert John Hayward once said: ‘medals were not made for collectors’. A classic example of this is the Boer War medal to Thomas Chaplin. The auction catalogue from which I bought the Queen’s South Africa Medal with clasps Cape Colony, Transvaal and Wittebergen to 6548 Private T Chaplin, Wiltshire Regiment, said simply that it was ‘brooched’. I did not pay enough attention to this, and when it arrived, I discovered that the medal was in two parts (Figures 1–2). One was a disc with the obverse scarred by the surviving fittings for a brooch…

On 8 July, La Poste issued a stamp on the theme of pétanque as part of this year’s release for PUMed (a postal collaboration of 23 Mediterranean countries), which focuses on Mediterranean sports. Pétanque began in 1907 in La Ciotat as a result of the simplification of the rules of a Provençal game, which was its ancestor. Its name comes from the Provençal expression ‘pés tanqués’ meaning to have your feet planted on the ground. Over the years, it has spread from being based in the south of Fance to becoming a national pastime, and it has now spread to more than 100 countries on all continents. For many, pétanque is a symbol of France and much more than a sport or a leisure activity – it is an integral…

Imagine you had enough money to afford all the stamp rarities in the world. If you were a collector of US stamps, would you swap the most expensive item you have just bought at auction for around three million dollars for a missing stamp that changed hands a few years earlier for $935,000? Two decades ago, the American billionaire William H ‘Bill’ Gross was prepared to do so, in the desire to fill the last gap that was missing to complete his collection. He thus became the third person in a century of philatelic history to assemble a complete collection of USA issues by Scott catalogue number. In June 2024, the best specimens in his collection went under the hammer in New York in a sale conducted by Siegel Auction…

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INCORPORATING COIN COLLECTOR ON SALE 13 SEPTEMBER Build your knowledge… build your collection with the UK’s only stamp and coin magazine How to Collect Norway WITH MORE THAN 2,500 DIFFERENT STAMPS ISSUED SINCE 1855, NORWAY HAS MUCH TO OFFER COLLECTORS Palaeoanthropology on Stamps LEARN HOW STAMPS HAVE MARKED THE EVOLUTION OF HUMAN BEINGS Stamp Story HOW ONE MAN BECAME THE SAILOR’S SAVIOUR Coins Through the Centuries WHEN CHRISTIANITY WAS FIRST DEPICTED ON COINS A–Z of Banknotes DISCOVER THE EYE-CATCHING BANKNOTES OF TURKEY AVAILABLE IN ALL GOOD NEWSAGENTS OR DIRECT FROM WWW.ALLABOUTSTAMPS.CO.UK…

9 August – Tennants Auction Centre, Harmby Road, Leyburn, North Yorkshire DL8 5SG www.tennants.co.uk 21 August 2024 – Warwick & Warwick Chalon House, Scar Bank, Millers Road, Warwick CV34 5DB www.warwickandwarwick.com 27–30 August – Abacus 29 Hardner Road, Mount Waverley, VIC 3149, Australia www.abacusauctions.com.au 4 September – Hansons Heage Lane, Etwall, Derbyshire DE65 6LS hansonsauctioneers.co.uk 15 September – Chris Rudd PO Box 1500, Norwich NR10 5WS celticcoins.com 18 September – Noonans 16 Bolton Street, Mayfair, London W1J 8BQ www.noonans.co.uk 20 September – Mowbray Collectables West Plaza Hotel, Wellington, New Zealand www.mowbrays.co.nz 24 September – Sovereign Rarities 17–19 Maddox Street, London W1S 2QH www.sovr.co.uk 25 September – RWB 144 High Street, Royal Wootton Bassett, Swindon SN4 7AB www.rwbauctions.com 26 September – Spink 67–69 Southampton Row, London WC1B 4ET www.spink.com 25 September…

I began my career in numismatics in the mid-1970s. At the time, precious metal prices played a relatively small role in the market for rare coins. Gold sold for around $150–$200 per ounce and silver hovered in the $4–$6 per ounce range. The rare coin market was quite a cottage industry. The most accurate and widely used price guide was the Guide Book of United States Coins (Red Book), which was published just once per year and highly anticipated. The market for rare coins was also much smaller, and investors had barely given numismatics a glance. By the late 1970s, inflation had become the number one problem in the United States. The numismatic world was about to change almost overnight! Gold and silver prices began a sharp rise in the…

The Collectors‘ Club of Chicago, has confirmed yearly $5,000 contributions until the start of the Boston 2026 international exhibition. The CCC made an initial $5,000 donation in March 2023. Melanie G Rogers, president of CCC, said: ‘We are thrilled to be able to support Boston 2026. This event will be a phenomenal opportunity for collectors from around the world to come together to enjoy and celebrate our beloved hobby and fellowship.’ Huntingdonshire Philatelic Society are holding a Stamp and Postcard Fair on 19 October at the Corn Exchange, St Ives, Cambs PE27 5AD. Running from 10am–3pm, there is free admission. Please contact 01480 468037 from more information. Maidstone and Mid-Kent Philatelic Society’s stamp fair is on 9 November from 10am until 3pm. It is being held at Grove Green Community…

4 August – Oxford Botley Women Institute, North Hinksey Lane, Oxford OX2 0LT www.oxfordstampauctions.com 6 August – T&T New Barn, The Estate Yard, Eridge Green, Tunbridge Wells TN3 9JR tandtauctions.com 9 August – Baldwin’s 399 Strand, London WC2R 0LX baldwins.co 10 August – Bil & Co Washingborough Community Centre, Fen Road LN4 1AB www.bilandco.co.uk 12 August – Plumridge Sunbury Cricket Club, Kenton Court Meadow, Lower Hampton Road, Sunbury-on-Thames TW16 5PS plumridge.co.uk 14 August – AJH The Laurels, Manchester Road, Accrington, Lancs BB5 2PF ajhstamps.co.uk 14 August – Toovey’s Spring Gardens, Washington, West Sussex RH20 3BS www.tooveys.com 18 August – Cambridge 27 Fore Hill, Ely, Cambridgeshire CB7 4AA www.cpa-ely.co.uk 18 August – South West 2nd Floor, The Watermark, Erme Court, Leonards Road, Ivybridge, Devon PL21 0SZ www.swpa-stamp-auctions.com 22 August – Baldwin’s…

On 11 December 1917, British General Edmund Allenby entered the inner city of Jerusalem – on foot as a mark of respect for the site, which is sacred to Christians, Jews and Muslims. He was still a military conqueror, however. Jerusalem and the lands around it had been part of the Ottoman Empire; the Ottomans supported the Germans in World War I, which was raging at the time, and Allenby had defeated them. After the war, long negotiations began about how to divide the old Ottoman-controlled Middle East. France took over Syria and Lebanon. The kingdom east of the river Jordan was given independence (it is modern Jordan). In 1923, Britain was ‘mandated’ by the League of Nations (the unfortunate predecessor to the UN) to administer the land Allenby had…

At the close of the 19th century, the Joseon Dynasty, which had ruled Korea since 1392, was collapsing in disarray. It was a fractious, confusing period, marked by tensions between Korea and its regional rivals: China and Japan. There was conflict between Korean Confucianism, Roman Catholicism and ‘Eastern Learning’, which was a home-grown religion popular with the rural poor. The closed kingdom was being pressurised by western powers, eager to trade, while a succession of boy kings failed to steady the ship. In 1873, it was Japan who forced open the country by sending a fleet of warships. This produced a ‘Treaty of Friendship’ between Korea and Japan, giving Japan access to three Korean ports. This unnerved the Chinese, who increased their military presence in the country, prompting another trade…

Perhaps the fictional Lady Whistledown of Bridgerton would have begun with ‘Dear reader, hardship and challenge faced by the Hughes-Onslow family may well make us wonder at the way in which they dealt with bad fortune during their lives, with commitment to their country in the years of adversity.’ A sound judgement and review, as will be shown and described. The 1916 envelope shown was addressed to Mrs Hughes-Onslow and contained two letters. One being a letter from Denzil Hughes-Onslow to his wife, Marion, enclosing a letter from his brother, Harry, which he had only received the previous evening. The time is of conflict and war, and the Great War was progressing by 1916 with no clear end in sight. ‘It will all be over by Christmas’ were the thoughts…

A few weeks ago, I attended the British Numismatic Society’s summer event at The Royal Mint in south Wales. Our group of around 30 were given a guided tour of the shop floor and the museum in the morning, before having a series of talks in the afternoon. I would like to thank everyone at the mint for providing such an enjoyable day. There was an amazing amount of material on display, and it was wonderful to see experienced numismatists going between exhibits gazing at what was on offer. Among the many highlights was an Alfred the Great Penny, one of the first coins to state it was minted in London, the original home of the mint. From more recent times, the museum has a 1933 penny, one of only…

Stack’s Bowers Galleries has announced the opening of a new office located in the heart of Copenhagen, Denmark. The opening extends the American company’s global presence to better serve its European clientele. Beginning in July, Stack’s Bowers Galleries will manage their upcoming sales of the LE Bruun Collection from this new location. ‘Luther Medals and Reformation Coins: Michigan Connections and Collectors’ is a new exhibition at the Concordia Historical Institute in Saint Louis, MO, USA. The institute houses the most extensive institutional collection of Reformation coins and medals outside of Germany. The exhibition, with over 125 examples, opened on 25 June and runs until 18 February 2025. Full details are available on the institute’s website (concordiahistoricalinstitute.org). On 1 June, the Economy Museum – The Royal Coin Cabinet in Sweden reopened…

Many people tend to forget that the money they use in the form of banknotes, has been created by artists and designers in a long and complicated process, multiplied by the most advanced printing techniques of their time. Friends of notaphily look deeper into the genesis of money. In my ‘View from Europe’ column in the April 2024 edition of Stamp Collector, I took the opportunity to present some examples from the work of Czesław Słania (1921–2005), the eminent stamp and banknote engraver and designer. Słania’s daughter revealed in an interview after his passing that he ‘started his career’ as a youth from a poor coal miner’s family by forging banknotes, painting them by hand! When he wanted to go to the local cinema to see a movie, he spent…

Because Eadmund’s children Eadwig and Eadgar were so young when their father died, he was instead succeeded by his brother Eadred – the youngest son of Edward the Elder (Figure 1). He began his reign facing yet another episode where York see-sawed back to Norse control. To make matters more confusing, conflict even arose between the kings of York themselves – with Erik ‘Bloodaxe’ initially taking control, before being deposed by Anlaf Sihtricsson, and then returning to rule after the latter’s death. NORTHUMBRIA ANNEXED Likely very tired of the constant bickering, Eadred invaded Northumbria in c.948 or 950 and destroyed much of the kingdom’s remaining infrastructure and offered incentives to Erik’s supporters if they deserted him. Perhaps weary after almost 15 years of instability, the Northumbrians finally expelled Erik in…