THE GBPS NEWSLETTER BI-MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF THE GREAT BRITAIN PHILATELIC SOCIETY

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1 THE GBPS NEWSLETTER BI-MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF THE GREAT BRITAIN PHILATELIC SOCIETY Editor: TONY WALKER WHOLE NUMBER 265 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER NAZARETH MEWS NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE NE2 1EW, ENGLAND Tel: Daytime contacts: Tel: ; Fax: awp@antwalker.idps.co.uk EDITORIAL Iwas apprehensive that the enthusiasm and build up to SS2000 would leave a dead spot afterwards, with little material for the Newsletter. Not so, and this issue has a wide range of articles, reports and requests, enough to satisfy the most demanding of readers. There is even a touch of humour, nothing great you understand, merely a few lines tucked away in the text, we do not wish to appear frivolous. There are some debates rumbling on from SS2000, one of these being the exhibit submitted by John Bohn in the Postal History Class, entitled The Mulready: its caricatures and pictorial offshoots, which was awarded a Vermeil medal. James Grimwood-Taylor, the thinly disguised contributor of Under Cover Investigates in the last Newsletter considered the Vermeil medal very inadequate, yet again. This is a sentiment I have heard expressed by others, both at SS2000 when the awards were known, and since. In speaking to one of the judges I understand the quality of the display is undisputed, as were other marking categories, but it contained a frame (or more) of material considered to be outside the scope of Postal History, more suitable for the Social Philately Class, and this brought the marks tumbling down. It is clear many people found this exhibit, and no doubt many others, extremely attractive and lookable at (sorry about that), but this carried no weight in the judging. Perhaps we exhibitors FORTHCOMING MEETINGS Saturday 16 September 2000 at the British Philatelic Centre 11:00 a.m. Booklets by Ian Harvey 12:45 p.m. Mini Auction 2:30 p.m. My Writings Illustrated by Harry Dagnall Dealers: Stanley Gibbons, Nigel Steen Saturday 23 September 2000 Stampex meeting Business Design Centre, Islington 2:30 p.m. Council Members Entertain Sunday 19 November 2000 at Glasgow :00 a.m. Victorian Stamps and Covers by Charles Reid Thursday 7 December 2000 Stanley Gibbons Invitation at 399 Strand 6:15 p.m. Short displays by Members (please advise Andrew Lajer if you wish to show something) Saturday 20 January 2001 at the British Philatelic Centre Competitions Speaker to be announced A GBPS Conference is planned at the July York Fair 2001 must decide where our priorities lie, to please the viewers or the judges; it may be difficult to do both at once. It is unfair to concentrate on John Bohn s exhibit alone, it has however highlighted this particular issue, and members may wish to express some opinions on the matter, including members who are judges. John himself has written an article which you will find in this month s issue of the GBJ, and our new President and International judge Chris Harman has contributed a piece to this Newsletter. You will see in the Newsletter, moves are afoot to have a meeting in York next year. Be assured you do not have to live north of Watford in order to get coverage of provincial events if anyone in the Society wishes to explore a venue for a meeting outside London, please use the Newsletter to gain a measure of the likely support. Meantime my sincere thanks to all contributors. IMPORTANT NOTE FOR CONTRIBUTORS TO THE NEWSLETTER Frequently when I receive items for the Newsletter, the contributors do not make it clear whether they wish details other than their name, to be published. Whenever there is any doubt I omit such details. 1

2 NORTH OF WATFORD : DO WE HAVE LIFT OFF? CHANGES IN MEMBERSHIP Chris Harman our new President telephoned following a GBPS Council meeting where it had been suggested a provincial weekend meeting in York might be popular. Now I wonder where that idea came from? Such an event would be an added attraction if arranged at the time of the York fair (July next year, the January date clashes with a GBPS meeting). A disadvantage of a July date is that all the local and regional Societies are in their summer recess. Several people have expressed their interest in such an event, and offered to help, and by the time you read this I may well have spoken to you. Tackled with enthusiasm and well organised, this meeting could be an enormous success, and perhaps bring in several new members see Howard Hughes comments in the May/June Newsletter. The likely format would be a display on the Friday and Saturday afternoons, allowing the mornings for the fair. A dinner on the Friday evening and something on the Saturday evening possibly, if demand is there. Time would be included for members displays as well as those from leading collectors. People could come and go during the displays, and non members would be welcomed. I will be in York for the July 2000 fair and will gather some relevant details on rooms, hotels, etc. and hopefully by the November/December Newsletter the organisation will be under way. If you want to help, please give me a ring. Tony Walker TEN NEW MEMBERS whom we welcome to the Society including four from abroad. R. C. Parks USA A. F. G. Verstappen Netherlands G. B. Hayward Australia B. Baker London D. Cooper Suffolk A. Vidler London I. J. Mason London J. E. Prideaux Cheshire C. M. Fraser Isle of Lewis Hiromasa Kido Japan Last month I noted how many members, through lack of action rather than intent, do not renew their subscriptions. Eight more such members have been reinstated, which is encouraging. FORSCHUNGSGEMEINSCHAFT GROSSBRITANNIEN Theo Brauers and Burkhart Beer from the German Society attended our SS2000 meeting and Burkhart has provided some background to their society. The society was founded in At present its membership stands at over 200. We probably have the best library on British philately on the continent. We normally meet at least twice a year in the philatelic centre of the Briefmarkenfreunde Dusseldorf Bachstr. 148 in Dusseldorf. Next meeting will be at this venue on October 14th. We had a late member Heinz Reck who had i.a. a gold-medal collection of the Victorian period. (He also displayed once to the GBPS some years ago). His extensive library was bequeathed to the Society. Items already in our library have been auctioned to members. The proceeds now go to the Heinz-Reck Literature Award. This prize will be awarded every other year for a publication on British philately. The first winner is Hanns Jorg Fasching of Vienna for his Bookmark Catalogue of British Decimal Postage Stamp Books, 7th edition. The award ceremony will take place on October 14th at 2pm. The arrangements for which were finalised today (8th July) at a committee meeting. Guests are very welcome. My address is below. Hoping that you are keeping well and trusting to see you again before long. Burkhart Beer Dachsbau 12, Monheim, Germany We regret having to report the death of Mrs A. Lee. JUBILEE STUDY GROUP MIKE ROGERS has put this proposal to interested members: I have been collecting the Queen Victoria Jubilee Issue for some time and would like to hear from anyone who would be interested in forming a new Jubilee Study Group, as the original one was unfortunately disbanded some years ago. There is still a lot to be learned from this fascinating set of stamps with new and unlisted varieties, still appearing. Please phone me on or qvsp@btinternet.com 2

3 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING : 24 JUNE 2000 Report from the Subscription Treasurer, Leslie Wilkinson More members are now paying by standing order which makes life easier and I am pleased that the vast majority of the remainder paid before the end of January many thanks. As usual, a number fell by the wayside but some have since renewed following a personal reminder and I believe that the eventual loss of existing members will be quite small. This should be more than compensated by new members during the year. Report from the Honorary Auctioneers, Peter Tanner followed by Fred Taylor Peter: It has been some months since my last auction and I wish to thank members, both those who submitted material and those who bid, for making my term as your auctioneer so successful. I wish Fred Taylor, who is now well into his first auction, all the best and I am sure that you will give him your full support. Clear, legible, accurate descriptions and realistic pricing make an auctioneer s life a lot easier! Fred: You have received my first catalogue and, no doubt, looked through it. Certainly, some of you have read it thoroughly judging by the number of bids sent in so far. I would appreciate constructive comments from both bidders and non-bidders so that it can be better next time. Did you find it easy or difficult to read the text? Were the descriptions sufficiently clear or were there any ambiguities? Was the selection of illustrations useful? A problem arose in this auction regarding the bidding steps, which some of you have not followed. Bids in steps of 1 are accepted only up to 20. Over 20, bids are in steps of 2 and odd value bids are rounded down. So, 25 becomes 24. This has a secondary disadvantage in that the first received highest bid wins the lot but as 25 counts as 24 a second bid of 25 does not succeed. Thus, please check that you are using the correct bidding steps if you want to maximise your chances. Similarly, vendors should note that reserves over 20 should be in precise bidding steps as intermediate amounts need to be increased to the next step to comply with your instruction. Report from the Private Treaty Manager, Leslie Wilkinson A quiet year but there are a number of lots from an overseas member which will probably be appearing in the not too distant future. The Consultants reported as follows: Postal History by Michael Lockton I have received a few enquiries during the last year for information that is readily available in publications if one knows where to look. Such enquirers have been given detailed references and occasionally provided with photocopies of relevant GB Journal articles. The interest is unabated and the vast pool of literature is increasing continually, making more information readily available. The recent development of Social Philately, adding a new dimension with different studies of postal history items, is to be welcomed. It is a new discipline that has not been addressed as such in The GB Journal but recent studies on Rowland Hill and the introduction of the Uniform Penny Post are certainly precursors of Social Philately. QV Line-Engraved by Bill Bird During the year, I have viewed half a dozen manuscripts or books and, of the latter, two have been fully reviewed. I have received some fifteen queries which I have answered or indicated the whereabouts of relevant information. QV Surface Printed by Peter Young This consultancy has continued to be desultory with some signs of a resurgence in interest. Four new members have asked questions which have ranged through plating, shades, proofs to postmarks. Follow up enquiries include the early perforators for De La Rue low values and Ray Simpson has adequately demonstrated in the GBJ the alternatives to Tony Wiseman s contentions about them. An unusual letter about Before Hardening, After Striking and other handstamps on proofs for other contracts ( Foreign, India, Colonial and Non-contract ) resulted in some interesting findings. I hope that the correspondent will submit an article to Mike Jackson for inclusion in The GB Journal so that other members may share this information. My enquiry in 1988 (GBJ, Vol. 26, p. 21 ) for sight of any covers using British stamps from the Cook Islands, Raratonga or the Gilbert and Ellis Islands received a response and, at first sight, appeared to provide an answer. Unfortunately, I had to conclude that the 1d lilac stamp had been added. Accordingly, may I repeat this ancient appeal to members. 3

4 King Edward VII by Michael Brooks This year has been quiet with only two enquiries. The first requested an opinion on shades which I declined to give as this is a notoriously difficult subject (particularly for me as I am red/green colour blind!). The second drew my attention to a minor break in the 1½d tablet which I referred on to Tony Wiseman to see if it might be plated. King George V by Leslie Wilkinson By far my busiest year with a large number of enquiries, although from a limited number of members. Most of these have been in connection with the Seahorse issues on which a great deal of research is being carried out by several members at the present time. This covers all aspects including trials, proofs, printing, paper, re-entries, shades, perforation and identification of plates. Other enquiries have dealt with papers used for low values, perforation, varieties, specimen/cancelled stamps and, of course, coils. King Edward VIII and King George VI by Gordon Jessop Another quiet year for these two reigns, indeed I have had only five enquiries over the last few years. Four have been concerned with minor varieties and the fifth enquiry was more substantive relating to the 1939/48 high values where I was able to assist. Maybe I will receive more during the forthcoming season. Revenue and College stamps by Chris Harman Although revenues generally have been receiving considerable comment in the philatelic arena, there has been very little activity as a consultant. Perhaps this is because the focus of activity is towards those societies specialising in the subject rather than a general society such as ours which embraces this subject among so many others. I have always considered my College stamps consultancy to include private Carrier labels, Circular Deliveries, etc. This year has marked the arrival of a new researcher on the College stamp front who has done some research in the Post Office records. He has already contributed articles to The GB Journal and his work promises to reveal a number of previously unknown secrets about the College postal systems and their development. Postal Stationery by Alan Huggins This year has seen very few enquiries from members although postal stationery continues to attract interest generally. Queries are welcome whether on existing topics or new discoveries. IAN HARVEY Footnote: Tony Walker stood down as the QEII consultant when he took over as editor of the Newsletter at the end of The Society would like to fill this vacancy. Do not be modest, telephone the Hon. Sec. if you would like to be considered (Andrew Claridge ). Tony says enquiries are relatively few, it is not an onerous task by any means. BISHOP MARKS : Martin Willcock requests: ALL THE REFERENCE WORKS that I have seen state something to the effect that the size of Bishop Marks increased from 14 mm to 20 mm between 1713 and I have seen nothing in print which refines this so that a close estimate of the date of an entire can be made from the size of the Bishop Mark, a potentially useful tool where the year is not mentioned in the contents of the letter. From this I have two requests of Members: 1) If anybody knows of more detailed information in print could they please let me have details. 2) Would Members who have items of Postal History with Bishop Marks on them, please let me have full details of the mark as follows: a) Full date of the entire (day and month from the mark, year from letter) b) A brief description of the mark, Day/Month on top, serifed or sanserif letters c) Extreme dimensions of the mark in mm horizontally along the centre bar and vertically at right angles to it (to 0.1 mm) d) Any other information (reversed/inverted letters, colours other than black, damage to any part of the stamp, etc.) For the sake of completeness, I would appreciate this information for the entire period of use of the Bishop Mark (i.e to 1787). If I receive sufficient replies it is my intention to correlate all the information to see if it is possible to narrow down the period of usage of each size and eventually publish this information for the benefit of all interested parties. I can be contacted by at captain@mwillcock.freeserve.co.uk, by phone on (01472) or by post at 44 Chichester Road, Cleethorpes, NE Lincolnshire, DN35 0HZ. 4

5 DIARY OF A SS2000 BIN LADY NEVER DID I, a non-philatelic spouse, think that when I volunteered to help at Stamp Show 2000 I would enjoy myself so much, and make so many new friends. I had been appointed a checker and the Wednesday morning before the show started saw me along with many others earning our Blue Peter badges making boxes in which to store the exhibits, a vital part of the whole procedure. The exhibits in the main were brought in by the commissioner responsible for their country s entries. Some had only one or two entries but others had over 90. Once the exhibits arrived they were checked and put in the boxes, and labelled with the class and frame numbers of the exhibit then put in the secure bin room. Whilst unpacking the exhibits from the commissioners, we needed wire cutters to cut lead seals, and several commissioners had forgotten their combination lock numbers! Most of the commissioners spoke English but those that didn t managed with help in particular from Keith Fitton, the Chief Commissioner, and sign language to sort out any queries. Several exhibitors brought in their own exhibits and there were several prima donnas amongst them but they received the same treatment as everyone else. Meanwhile, the Earls Court exhibition area was beginning to take shape and we were soon able to start mounting the exhibits in the frames. On the Sunday the Stamp Show closed, and all the certificates, medals and special prizes that had not been collected had to be placed in the relevant commissioners boxes. At about 6:30 p.m. the demounting began and everything was checked yet again and put back into the boxes and then into the bin room. The first commissioners arrived at 7 a.m. Monday morning and others continued to arrive throughout the day in pre-planned blocks, some were not scheduled in until the Tuesday. The philately jungle drums had warned that some exhibitors could be difficult but on the whole we had no problems. My thanks to Ian Nutley and Pat Rothnie for helping me to enjoy myself so much and to Tony Finlayson for making me a member of the Black Hand Gang. As a footnote, on the Thursday morning before the show started those of us staying at Putney Bridge were woken by the fire alarm at 5:45 a.m. and we were all to be seen in various states of dress standing outside whilst the fire brigade sorted out the fault. Susan Jones (married to Allan, our Competition Organiser) DEALERS DIRECTORY GB BOOKLETS KEVII QEII Full listing of GB stitched and folded booklets, including cylinder plates. Free booklet with first order. Bryan Davies, 7 Bennetts, Bolney, Haywards Heath, RH17 5PW. GB 1840 TO DATE Free catalogue on request plus illustrated colour monthly lists covering quality early items. Andrew Vaughan Philatelics, PO Box 6051, Tamworth B78 3JB. Tel: andrew@stampsgb.co.uk KGV CONTROLS We have fine stocks of singles, pairs, strips & blocks of six. We stock QV KGVI controls, watermark varieties, shades, errors, proofs, essays and booklet panes. Our renowned fully illustrated lists are available FREE of charge. Contact us now. Bushell & Wright (Dept GBJ), PO Box 3788, London SE1 5NE. Tel/Fax Bushwright@cs.com GB POSTAL HISTORY Extensive stock of county and subject material for all collectors to advanced level specialist Scottish section. Established 1981 David Shaw (GBPS), PO Box 27, Malton, N.Yorkshire YO17 7GJ. Tel/Fax GB POSTAL HISTORY Send for my latest 14 page list, with 3 pages of photos. Lists issued every 4 weeks. Members of U.D.P.A. Byron Stamps 19 Byron Way, Wistaston, Crewe, CW2 8DA. CORBITTS Regular auction with large GB section. Leading buyers of general, country or specialist collections.contact us for catalogue of 8 June auction and visit our Web site: 5 Mosley Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 1YE. Tel ; Fax: corbitts@compuserve.com GB POSTAL STATIONERY The most comprehensive stock anywhere. Free price list for s.a.e. 9"x6½" stamped for 250 grammes. Keen buyer of clean mint pre 1967 including overprints for overseas use, and clean used pre Send any quantity well packed for my offer, but phone first for later issues. Andrew Whitworth, Prizet House, Kendal, Cumbria, LA8 8AB, UK. Tel: GB LINE-ENGRAVED please contact us at: G. Chappell, PO Box 112, Leeds LS8 2LT or tel: , or visit 5

6 STAMP SHOW 2000 A reflection from David Hill GBPS NEWSLETTER 265 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2000 Iwas delighted to receive this interesting letter from David, who is not a GBPS member, but Secretary/Treasurer of the Perfin Society and therefore receives the GBJ/Newsletter on an exchange agreement. He was one of the unsung heroes at SS2000, being a mounter, and saw and handled many of the exhibits, although he was not an exhibitor himself. His letter was prompted by observations on the SS2000 included in our last Newsletter: Your mention of imaginative mounting reminded me of Ron Brigham s Canadian in the Traditional Commonwealth. There were two pages of shades which the Commissioner told me had spread over more pages when conventionally mounted. One had been rearranged in an overlapping spiral, the other a fan. The exhibit won a large gold. An aside on shades, I m not saying this happened on issued stamps, but The Ideal Stamp is seen in many colours. I have seen an archive of many more colours and shades, some distinctly strange. As the stamp was printed from one plate on one machine these shades come from sheets worked through the machine when changing colour. I fear this printer s waste may yet appear on the philatelic market. On computer write ups the children had the adults beat! Whilst most youth exhibits had the write up flowing round the stamps, many adults had resorted to cutting out and sticking. ( I admit I would have been amongst them). I remember Tony Wiseman s oversize sheets, fortunately it was well planned. Most instructions to mounters were explicit but they are open to interpretation. Whilst sometimes an odd sheet serves to wake up the team, it can also throw it, remember it may be late in the evening after a long day. Interleaving protectors take twice as long to mount and dismount. I can t remember Mike Jackson s at all, I m sure I looked at them but my mind s a blank. Were there 3,500 frames? It felt like more! (I have also heard the value quoted much higher). There were bound to be some less well lit in a multi purpose exhibition hall. When there was a little criticism on the first day, I thought Where were you last night? Traditional GB in the back corner was at least easy to direct people to, it even made a pleasant break to walk someone there who was unsure, or to the championship class in the other corner. These nearly caused an outbreak of pneumonia amongst the mounters as it took ages to get the loading doors nearby closed. Also the French frames were criticised for having black backings when black or coloured pages are specifically banned. They did show up any vagaries in mounting more than the white of the old English frames. It is best to butt protectors up around the centre of the 16 sheets, spacing them can lead to problems. Borders are best not put on sheets, the mounter already is not sure whether to line up the edge of the protectors or the edge of the page. That is always assuming the protectors are all the same size or even clean which sometimes they are not. So remember when including an odd sized sheet it may throw 16 pages. Is the front of the sheet the place for its provenance, as in Ex so and so unless it is important philatelically? What do the judges think? On the back I have seen all manner of notes and letters, etc. reminding the owner where it came from. We are warned against saying Only one known especially when two such items are likely to be facing one another. Did the thematic exhibitor get any extra points for the Mulready in his display on Indians? It was a rare proof which any GB collector would have coveted. Finally I would point out that whilst I am not a fan of Royal Mail, they are to be congratulated. It requires quite a leap of faith to put on such a show as its success is not assured. At 10 year intervals philately can change much. Certainly since 1990 specialism has thrived and possibly a gap between early and new issues has opened, although it is the first time I have thought about this. Overall I heard much praise and very little criticism. SEIZED MAIL : WWI Graham Mark is researching an interesting niche in World War I mails: During WWI German raiders seized mailboats, or just the mails, on the North Sea crossings and took them to Germany. When such letters arrived in the UK, or were returned to sender, they were often marked PART OF A MAIL SEIZED BY THE GERMANS AND DELAYED, or SAISI PAR L ALLEMAGNE , or some equivalent in another language. I am researching the treatment of this category of mail and would be grateful for details and photocopies of such items. I am in correspondence with Allan Totton of The Scandinavian PS so if a member has provided Allan with details I will already have them. 6

7 MORE SUCCESS FOR GBPS AT SS2000 I OWE a sincere apology to three members for unintentionally omitting their names from the list of successful GBPS members exhibiting at SS2000. To Alan Moorcroft, awarded a Gold medal for his KGV Profile Head Issue and to Gilbert Wheat who gained a Large Vermeil for his PH entry Passage to India and the Far East. Zeev Barak added a fourth Gold medal to his international successes with his display From Wyon to the Line-Engraved issues. Sorry folks. GBPS SPECIAL PRIZE Congratulations to Pichai Buranasombati on being awarded this special prize for his Large Gold Medal exhibit in the Traditional Class, entitled GB: Early Line-Engraved Issues. Pichai is a member of our Society, but the award was not restricted to members. WEMBLEY TOWERS : GBPS TO THE RESCUE THE PROBABLE LOSS of the famous twin towers at Wembley Stadium as part of the re-development has caused worldwide consternation amongst football fans and philatelists alike. Alan Sabey in a world exclusive for the Newsletter had this to say: I see they are offering items from the Stadium through an Internet auction. Now I could do with a new gate, mine is the original dating from 1938 which survived the war. It s been patched up over the years, but to bid for a turnstile to take its place is going a bit too far. Or is it? I wonder whether the local council s planning department would allow me to put it up? I have to dismiss the rumour I was seeking to acquire the Twin Towers. Alas my front garden can only accommodate one of them, unless another member wants to go halves?... AND NOW TO THE WEMBLEY EXHIBITION YOU CAN T KEEP a good philatelist down. Alan Sabey reports on a dramatic new find: I have discovered a variety which is common to all the pieces of china on sale at the SS2000 with the British Empire Exhibition stamp shown. ( Is there anything but!). It is a thickening of the horizontal lines behind the King s head, particularly adjacent to his mouth, which gives the impression he is smoking a cigar. I think this Smoking King variety is worth a mention in the GBPS Newsletter. HOW MODERN IS THE GBPS? DO YOU RECALL a short piece in the May/June Newsletter on this topic? It has prompted Peter Worsfold to respond: As a long time collector of GB King George VI stamps I have often felt that I am ploughing a somewhat lonely furrow. My attendance at Stamp Show 2000 seems to have confirmed this as none of the exhibits covered my interests and there was a dearth of unusual items at the dealers stands. I do read many of the erudite articles on the classic issues, but have looked in vain for stimulating pieces on KGVI. On occasion over the years I have written various articles myself and have usually concluded by asking for help and further information on the topics from GBPS members. Alas I received no response. I suppose the point of what I am saying is that if people feel the more modern stamps are not covered by the Society s publications then they should try to submit something themselves. Normal Flaw the two white lines under the left line of pearls are shortened To that end I have recently discovered a distinct and constant flaw on the 1d KGVI definitive (SG 463) which is not listed in the SG Specialised Catalogue (see illustration). I have five positional blocks of the flaw, so it is constant. I wonder if any member knows of this flaw and if so from which cylinder it comes. CAVENDISH AUCTIONS James Grimwood-Taylor has confirmed they are to auction in October the extensive collection of the late George Crabb. This material includes POW mail from 1706 to 1945, Boer War, many albums on WWII, and collections on most other 20th century conflicts. Other subjects include Royal and Parliamentary mail, Machine cancels, Revenues, Prisons, Parcel Posts and studies of London, Surrey and the I of W. Handbooks available from late Sept. Tel , Fax or stamps@cavendishphilauc.demon.co.uk for further information. Web site: 7

8 FOXED AGAIN Gary Smith sought advice on foxing which had affected some QV and KGVI stamps he had recently acquired see Newsletter July/August page 7. Frank Allan (good to hear from you again) ed this response from New York: Hi Tony Just received your better than ever Newsletter and thought I could respond about foxing. Basically, this is a fungal attack, like mildew, and it can be removed by use of an oxidizing agent. Both household bleach and peroxide fit this description. My preference would be to avoid the bleach since it is quite a potent oxidizer and might damage the printed part of the stamp (essentially the active ingredient is chlorine). In addition, once it has done its thing, the remaining matter is sodium chloride which might stay attached to the stamp as crystals plus sodium hydroxide (caustic soda nasty stuff). Hydrogen peroxide is a milder bleaching agent and has the advantage that it becomes reduced to mere water. Whichever agent is used should be diluted several-fold and applied best by using a Q-tip (things for excavating one s ears). Neither reagent is recommended for mint stamps if one values the gum! I wish I could have attended the stamp show sounds a cut above what we are used to here. Tony Smith also wrote in, and quoted some useful references: Regarding Gary Smith s enquiry concerning foxing of paper some basic guidance can be found in A Collectors Guide to the Care and Repair of Books and Documents by Graham Moss and available from PaperSafe, 2 Green Bank, Adderley, Market Drayton, TF9 3TH. They also supply small quantities of suitable materials for removing foxing and paper preservation in general. Included in the booklist of the above booklet is The Care and Preservation of Philatelic Materials by T. J. Collings and R. G. Schoolley-West, however I have not seen this publication and cannot comment on its usefulness. Personally where foxing is concerned I would be inclined to leave well alone as all the methods I have come across for removing it contain a bleaching agent which can result in the related area ending up lighter than the surrounding paper. I would certainly recommend plenty of practise on worthless book pages and stamps before attempting the real thing. Edgar Smith has seen the Collings and Schoolley-West book referred to by Tony Smith, and has written in: The book is published by the British Library, ISBN the key problem is moisture, the stamps are damp, or have been stored in an area of high humidity. Collings and Schoolley-West advise drying the stamps. Then when dry take out of doors, and dust off the dried surface mould. Chemicals are not recommended. Drying out is a very slow process. As an interim measure wrap in a safe plastic material and place in a freezer. This will stabilise the position. Mould attracts insects. The freezer will kill insects. Do not wrap in cling film, since this has additives, which leach out, and will contaminate the stamps. Use safe plastics such as polythene and polyester. The book should be studied before taking any action. Lastly, Philip Robinson also contributed to the debate: I noticed the item headed FOXED in the Newsletter just received. I can help Mr Smith, either with advice or by treating his stamps gratis. Perhaps you could let me have his address. Of the cures suggested to Mr Smith, Hydrogen Peroxide won t work. Diluted household bleach will work but it needs to be VERY dilute. The best cure is Chloramine T, a very mild organic bleach which is marketed as Fox-It. There can indeed be a disaster from my experience blue or lilac stamps are the most susceptible to fading. Sometimes the result can be an unfoxed, pefectly clean piece of perforated paper... But most stamps can be treated successfully, especially if the foxing is confined to the margins or perforation teeth. Mint stamps cannot be treated, as the Chloramine T needs to be dissolved in water. If you like I can write a short piece for the Newsletter on the ethics and practice of removing foxing or maybe this will upset the purists! I remember a long conversation with the late Ron Lee on this subject, at the time when he was Chairman of the RPSL Expert Committee. Ron was of the opinion that there is nothing wrong with using Hydrogen Peroxide to cure the so-called oxidation of line-engraved stamps, but he was not so sure about removing stains. He told me it is up to the individual collector to decide if it is permissible. I have taken up Philip Robinson s offer to write a short piece on the ethics of removing foxing and it will appear next issue. I am delighted with the response to Gary Smith s enquiry, as I imagine he will be. The Newsletter should be the vehicle for just such an exchange. Graeme Sherman, GBPS Librarian, says we have a copy of the Collings/Schoolley-West book in the library. Ed. 8

9 SHADES OF OPINION Vic Currie sent in a technical study on the differentiation of shades, which will appear in due course in the GBJ. With this background, it was no surprise when I received this thoughtful letter from him on the same subject: I found Chris Harman s article in the May/June GB Journal of considerable interest, particularly his remarks on shades. It would have been even more interesting if he could have given us a little more detail as to how the committee go about deciding on the particular shade of a given stamp. This is a problem we collector members meet regularly, and some advice from the experts about procedures and methods could be very helpful. I was a little less happy about the tendency to knock sophisticated equipment. Whether these remarks referred to shades was not clear, but to rely in the main on subjective judgements would seem to be open to error. I say this with the greatest respect to the committee, but, from my own experience over the last eighteen months, I have submitted ten stamps to the Royal for verification as to shade and genuineness. All were purchased from well known dealers or auction houses. All failed to receive the Royal s approval as being what they were sold to me as being. (I would hasten to add, that in every case the supplier returned my purchase price plus the Royal s fee). I am satisfied in my own mind that the suppliers sold believing the stamps to be what they said. But if these people, who handle stamps every day for their living, can make these errors, based presumably on subjective judgement, it makes me doubt its value, and the need for some sophisticated equipment, particularly when it comes to the decision of the arbiter. To end on a more positive note. I shall certainly make sure in future, when submitting to the Royal, that I take Chris s advice, and give the reason for submission, if only to say for my own collection, and purchased from whom. Any of our dealer members care to comment? Ed. THE NEW PRESIDENT WRITES... Iwas interested in the very consistent views expressed by both Under Cover in the last Newsletter and in the editorial of the July/August GB Journal concerning the awards given at The Stamp Show As both an exhibitor and a judge at various exhibitions, and a member of the jury at The Stamp Show 2000, I thought that it might be useful if I were to put a slightly different slant on the views expressed in order to help current and future exhibitors. Both bring up the conundrum as to what is a good exhibit and what is an exhibit that scores well SILHOUETTE IT WAS the distinguished profile of Richard Payne which, despite a passing resemblance to Sherlock Holmes, escaped identification in the last Newsletter. Thanks to Richard for being volunteered. within the rules of the competition as used by the jury. It was not that long ago that a jury could just express a subjective view and just say Large Vermeil without having to give any deeper analysis. Thus, awards were often seen to be less than impartial and totally random in their levels. I well remember at least one senior judge remarking this is just not a gold medal country / issue. For this very reason a marking regime was introduced. It created a set of rules used by both exhibitor and jury to assess the exhibits. It made the jury think hard enough about the award that they had to provide an analysis broken down by headings and markings. Instead of what a beautiful exhibit it needed to be analysed by Presentation up to 5 points, Condition and Rarity up to 30 points (split in most faculties 10 and 20). Instead of this guy is the leading expert so he obviously knows it all the judgment is based on what philatelic knowledge is shown on the pages score up to 35 points. Treatment and Importance focuses on the coherence of the exhibit and its storyline as well as the stature of the subject, not only in absolute terms but in terms of how the subject is shown in the frames 30 points (split in most faculties 20 and 10). Naturally an exhibit that may indeed be a very fine exhibit in itself but does not fit within the rules will not do as well as its material might suggest in terms of scoring high marks. Thus the views expressed in The GB Journal and Newsletter must be seen in this light. They represent more the views of an onlooker than an analysis based on the rules of competition. It is for this reason that we have recently seen the growth of the Social Philately class and the Open class. These allow a much wider latitude to the interpretation of the rules, as 9

10 well as allowing non-philatelic material to be included that would be penalised under the current rules. Of course any exhibitor can show anything that they want in exhibition and it may indeed be a very fine exhibit of its subject. However, to score high marks in competition, the exhibitor needs both to be aware of the rules and to slant the exhibit in a way that wrings the most out of the marking system. As a judge, I always remind people that is no use complaining about the rules. You know what they are; so you really have three options: You can ignore them but should not complain if you do not score as well as you hoped; you can try to fit your exhibit within them; or you work to change them. The rules notwithstanding, I quite agree with both commentators that an exhibit such as John Bohn s Mulready caricatures contains such wonderful, rare and interesting material and is so beautiful to look at that it deserves better than it scores under the present rules. What I hope John will do is to embrace the subject of Social Philately and re-cast his material into a social history format. The whole thing will need to be re-thought in its treatment but it would make the most marvelous display. Title, maybe, The postal reforms of 1839/40 and their social impact. It could include the various commissions leading up to the Rowland Hill reforms, the Treasury Competition, the introduction of the penny post, the lampooning of the Mulready, the growth of the post as a medium for artistic expression, the use of the postal services for the promotion of social reform and advertising... What an exhibit that could make! CHRIS HARMAN GBPS MEETINGS SATURDAY 27 MAY AT SS2000 BITS AND PIECES BY JOHN PHILLIPS The President, Michael Sefi, welcomed 42 members and guests including Michael Dixon and Ann Triggle from the US, the latter being a guest from the Great Britain Collectors Club, Theo Brauers, the President of Forschungsgemeinschaft Grossbritannien in Germany, and our members, Burkhart Beer and Karl Louis who brought his father, Albert. This display covered the period from 1840 to 1887 and John chose his very understated title merely because he likes to collect examples of great interest, often of great rarity. When describing his surface printed collection, he described it as abnormal as he has so many of these types and this would be an apt description for the whole display. John started the Line-Engraved with Chalmers reprints, a Charles Whiting Treasury essay and the rejected First Die, in a range of colours including Fig. 1 1d black Plate 7 on 1843 cover cancelled by a London Head Office No. 12 in Maltese Cross. There was considerable Republican feeling in Queen Victoria s reign: maybe this is why the stamp is inverted on the cover! brown and the reprints, progressing to a die proof of the 1d black and examples of the Rainbow and cancellation trials, many in corner blocks. As regards the stamp, he showed the five repaired states of Plate 1, three each of Plates 5 and 9 and Plate 11 examples. This was followed by the trials on Dickinson silk thread paper from March to May Turning to the 2d blue, we saw the Postmasters Circular, the set of London numbers in Maltese Cross cancellations and various repairs to the bottom sheet row. Also a 1d black Plate 7 on an 1843 cover (Fig. 1) cancelled by the No. 12 in Cross addressed to one John Phillips! This lead on to a sample of 1d red plates and their repairs, for instance Plate 47 in a made up block of 35 and a copy of the B-/BA from Plate 77. John is much interested in the change from imperforate to perforated so there were examples of the Archer roulette, the Government trial perforations 16 and 14, query the purpose of the latter, and the Prince Consort essays including the blue colour used for experiments. These and the issued C1 stamps from Plates 155 to 176 showed matching imperforate and perforated examples. We cantered through a range of unusual 1d red material including corner plate number blocks, reserve plate usages, the Scudamore Inspector handstamp, Neale steam press experiments, Spoon postmarks, large crown watermark errors, colour trials for fugitive inks on the 1d plate numbers and, as a coup de grâce in this section, the four corner letter Plate 77 certified in 1914 by E. D. Bacon (Fig. 2). The Line-Engraved finished with the imperforate 2d Plate 9 Paris Exhibition proofs, the 1½d value was represented by colour trials of both Plates 1 and 3 and 10

11 the OP/PC error, there was a De La Rue die proof and the Ormond Hill Die Proofs of the ½d value. The embossed issue was covered by, for instance, the 1s value with double impression. Following this John turned to the Surface Printed progressing through the values for which he has a substantial range of standard material. This report picks the unusual. The 2½d showed numerous handpainted essays and imprimaturs. The 3d started the abnormals and a range of colour trials which do not have any apparent purpose. The 4d (and 9d) provided a January 1862 Postmasters notice with these stamps attached cancelled SPECIMEN as is normal for this use. These notices are another special interest of John evidenced by the display. Later 4d values through to the colour changes showed double printing, imperforates, imprimaturs, Plate 16 abnormals with upright and inverted watermarks and another Postmasters notice. To catch the eye, John had the 1867 Paris Exhibition proof sheets of 20 stamps on a number of values including here the d Plate 8 and, later, the 6d and 9d Plate 4. The 6d (and 1s) commenced with the 1856 Postmasters notice and attached specimens. It progressed from the lilac through the buff to the grey. The lilac was shown on extremely blue paper, there were plate proofs in green and blue and the watermark errors of missing bit and wrong replacement bit. The buff was there in imprimaturs and the chestnut and pale buff abnormals from Plates 12 and 13 respectively. The grey showed watermark varieties and Plates 17 and18 colour trials. The 8d value was represented by the unissued purple brown and a Plate 1 imprimatur. The 9d, as mentioned above, included the Plate 3 (with hairlines) abnormal and Plate 5 cut from the imprimatur sheet. This was Fig. 2 Penny Red Plate 77. not issued but was perforated for use in the De La Rue 1890 presentation packs. The 10d value saw more abnormals and specimens together with another lovely Postmasters notice for June 1867 attaching the 10d, 2s and 5s values. The 1s was well represented with many colour trials, the Stock Exchange forgeries on Plates 5 and 6 and the green Plate 14 abnormal. At this stage, John mentioned that he and Karl Louis hoped to pool their resources to create a definitive list and the story of the various abnormals. It was obvious from the display that the Journal editor is waiting in impatient Fig. 3 proposed surcharges to assist sorting the post by gaslight. 11

12 expectation! Finishing with 1867, we saw the 2s imperforate Plate 1 and the high value 5s, 10s and 1 colour trials overprinted specimen. Then, we turned to the 1879 tender with sheets of essays from Perkins, Bacon and examples from McCorquodale engraved by W. H. Hooper and from Charles Skipper and East all for the Consolidated Contract, which was awarded to De La Rue. Also, there were examples of the essays prepared by De La Rue based on different shapes for each value suggested by T. Jeffrey, controller of the London Postal Service, to help sorting in bad light. Penny Lilacs were shown in profusion with varieties, including imperforate, colour trials, imprimaturs and advertisements on the back. Additionally, there was a variety of the 1882 essays in strips of three overprinted in different colours and denominations as trials to assist sorting in gas light (Fig. 3). To draw the display to a close, we came to the lilac and green issue with the Postmasters notice of 1 April 1884, 56 colour trials of the 2d lilac (Fig. 4) and an example of the first die of the 5d with the line under d. Chris Harman thanked John for a fantastic display of the erudite and unusual, much understated in the presentation. This report can give only a flavour of the depth of coverage of these bits and pieces. IAN HARVEY Fig. 4 Printer s Samples. Colour trials from the De La Rue archives stuck down on paper: no watermark, perf. 14 in a wide variation of ink and paper colours. The annotations on the illustration are John s own. Editor s note: Reports of the displays given on Saturday 24 June 2000 The Marcus Samuel Collection and Tony Eskenzi s Seldom Seen will appear in the next Newsletter. 12