Notes & notices for forthcoming meetings in February & March 2017

The Royal Philatelic Society of Cape Town Founded 1911 Hon Life President: Des Hyland RDPSA Website: www.rpsct.org The RPSCT meets at 8pm on the 2 nd and 4 th Mondays of each month at the Athenaeum 154 Campground Rd, Newlands Des Hyland The Acting President reported at the second January meeting that Des Hyland our Hon Life President of the Society was recuperating at home after a serious health setback. Mary had assured Nora Hyland of the Society s best wishes. Notes & notices for forthcoming meetings in February & March 2017 13 Feb 2017: Brian Fennemore: British Occupation of Italian Colonies in Africa ; 27 Feb 2017 AGM & Arthur V Jacob Cup Competition 13 March 2017 All Members favourite page(s) evening, 27 March 2017 Betty Swart Pages from the Collection of Anna Smith ; and Rob Allen British West Indies (Part II); 27 March 2017 Details of these displays are set out in the following pages Study information wanted: The Protea (3rd) RSA Definitive Series Dr Heinz Wirz is part of a group studying the Protea (3rd) RSA Definitive Series. If any member is able to help (even if all you have is a stamp or block that may illustrate a previously unrecorded variety, a coil roll that has a platable variety, or a study of this issue) Heinz would like to hear from you. Contact him at wirz@global.co.za Contents 1. Notices of meetings in Feb & March 2017: pp. 2-5 2. Errata: p.5 & p. 17 3. Notices: p. 6 4. Accounts of meetings in January 2017: pp 7-16 13 Feb 2017 Brian Fennemore will show British occupation of Italian Colonies in Africa 1

Brian s story begins with the entry of Italy into the war on the side of Nazi Germany on 10 June 1940, by declaring war on Britain and France. His display will look at six Italian territories that were occupied by the British: Ethiopia (which Italy had occupied in the mid 1930s). Italian Somaliland, and Eritrea, Cyrenaica, Tripolitania, and the Dodecanese Islands If you do not know anything about Italian Colonies in Africa or where the Dodecanese Islands are/were, Brian will fill you in. By 1920, Italy had acquired a colony on the Red Sea coast (Eritrea), a large protectorate in Somalia and administrative authority in formerly Turkish Libya and the Dodecanese, a group of 12 major islands in the southeastern Aegean Sea, occupied by Italy from 1912 to 1943. In 1935 Italy invaded Ethiopia, His display will cover the provisional issues for the British occupation of these Italian colonies. The stamps shown above were overprinted for use by the Middle East Forces and the East African Forces. There were several different (over)printings of these stamps. Subsequent issues were overprinted EAF and BMA. Brian s display will survey the use of these stamps during the war and n the immediate post war period. 27 Feb 2017 AGM & Arthur V Jacob Cup Competition The Committee invites four outstanding exhibits [which have not previously won this cup or te Royal Cup) of the previous calendar year to compete at the AGM for 2

the Arthur V Jacob Cup. The four exhibits to be shown on Monday 27 February 2017 are David Wengrowe Natal Postal Stationery (shown in August) Roddy Sparks Anglo Boer War including the Canadian Contingent (Shown July 2016) David Watts Estonia (Shown in May 2016) Colin Rowe s GB Machins (Shown in October 2016) These are outstanding exhibits and will be well worth seeing (or seeing again if you were present when first showed). To see more about these exhibits visit the website (www.rpsct.org ) and consult the relevant 2016 newsletters reporting on these exhibits. 13 March 2017 All Members favourite page(s) evening This notice is for you. Please bring along and talk about one, or a few, but no more than ten favourite/obscure/don t-fit-in-elsewhere pages from your collection(s) or some accumulation that you would like others to see, and hear about. We hope that at least half of those who come to this meeting will bring one or two pages (and that a few will bring a few more). Please think about what you will bring, and make this the fun and varied evening it should be 27 March 2017 Betty Swart Pages from the Collection of Anna H Smith ; and Rob Allen British West Indies (Part II) This evening will show two quite different aspects of the hobby: the patient stamp collector (Rob) who builds a one-stamp country-collection by painstaking search year-by-year, until it reaches as-near-as-possible completion (for mere mortal collectors) and a serious pioneering study of stamp collecting terms in English and Betty Swart s display Afrikaans, illustrated with divers and wonderful material. In 1959 Anna H Smith wrote a bilingual dictionary entitled: The language of stamp collecting: definitions for an exhibition of philatelic material illustrating collectors' This was published by the Johannesburg Public Library, where Anna H Smith was the Librarian. Anna H Smith, who came form a family of distinguished philatelists, continued to collect material 3

to illustrate philatelic terms, and at the same time translated these into Afrikaans. Her work as a Librarian and her work on terms led in 1976 to the SA Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns making an exceptional award to her for: Kultuurbevordering. She exhibited pages from her collection of terms illustrated with rare and not so rare philatelic material at DISA in 1979, where she won a gold medal. This collection has remained intact and has recently been given by a descendant to a Cape based collector. A selection of some four fames of this wonderful collection will be shown at the meeting on 27 March 2017 just as Anna H Smith left it many years ago. The selected pages contain philatelic gems and a careful introduction to the lexicography of philately. Among the covers illustrating philatelic terms are two showing the VOC handstamps. For many years the prevailing wisdom was that these were never applied at the Cape (but in the Netherlands or Batavia) and both Jurgens and Goldblatt held this view. More recent research (and in particular the research of Kees Adema FRPSL, RDP, has sown that they were. That a set of instruments in the different denominations were sent to the Cape before 1791, and that there are letters and wrappers that bear the VOC stuiver marks used at the Cape. An example of a wrapper addressed to the Cape bearing the extremely rare 2gulde VOC handstamps. Was this applied at the place of posting or at the Cape? Two VOC covers will be shown, and the question will be asked of the two to be shown: were the marks applied at the Cape or elsewhere? (Image taken from the internet, 7 February, 2017) For those interested in finding out more about these pre-stamp VOC handstamps the leading article on this subject is that by Kees Adema (London Philatelist; Jul/Aug2014, Vol. 123 Issue 1417, p222) in which he looks at the possibility of the application of VOC handstamps issued by Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC), at the Cape of Good Hope while under Dutch and British control, and concludes that the Wolff de Beer type k (WDB-k) handstamps were used in the Cape of Good Hope. (The Royal Library has a complete run of the London Philatelist.) Rob Allen s display 4

Rob Allen s display will explore the stamps of the British West Indies. Expect a representative display of the stamps of some of these islands and territories and Rob s inimitable stories about their history and peoples. Errata Errata for Newsletter No1/1977: First, in the account of Keith s display (President s evening, December 2016) the 2/6d QE II coronation issues was stated as not paying any known rate: Keith has pointed out that this is not correct and that 2/6d was in fact the ½ oz. airmail letter rate from S Rhodesia to North America and Australia & New Zealand. Secondly, Keith has noted an error in his display and in the record of this in Newsletter 1. Keith showed his (believed unique) example of the Southern Rhodesia 6d Victory issue, with full offset, used. He had been under the impression that this value was printed in 4 panes; in fact, it was not and a corrected page is to be found at the end of this newsletter. Notices: 1. South African new issues This international small letter rate stamp marking 50 years of the krugerrand is now available. A stamp marking the 2016 centenary of Fort Hare is due for release in February 2017. 5

2. Useful Website for postmark collectors John Carter has drawn attention to the following website that collectors of Southern African postmarks may find useful: www. postmarks.co.za 3. Additions to the Library and Library Catalogue The Library has acquired a copy of Brian Trotter s important new book Southern African Mails, Routes, Rates and Regulations 1806 1916, published November 2016 by the RPSL. This book which runs to 600 pages: provides an overview of the main routes, rates and regulations. It covers all the territories of Southern Africa, begins in 1806 with the Second British Occupation of the Cape of Good Hope and ends in 1916 [and] ranges from the period when the first postal system was available to the public to a time when the postage routes, rates, and regulations in Southern Africa were well developed. The digital Library catalogue includes all material accessioned up to 2010. If anyone is able to help bring this up to date, so that it can be put up on the website as a useful tool to help members use the Library optimally, please let Brian know. Accounts of Meetings in January 2017 Monday 9 January 2018 Brian Franklin showed Malta Brian s display covering Malta during the period 1858 to 1960, showed again that the Society is privileged to have a member who has become a serious student of Malta, 6

contributing significantly to the philatelic knowledge of this historic island, and who has in his collection both examples of the more important items of Malta philately but also material that illustrated his original contributions to knowledge about it. The display began with a selection of GB used in Malta (GB stamps were used 1855 1884. Malta s SG 1 (issued 1863-1884) was for internal postage only. From Brian s display GB 4d used Malta 7 May 1867 In the pre-upu era of complex inerterroitroial postal CONVENTIONS 4d pays the 4d per ½ oz. rate to Italy. The marking PD means that this is paid to destination. The 2¾ accountancy marking means that 2 ¾ d of the postage was payable to Italy in terms of the Convention of 1857. (Malta, ed Martin, p 34) The GPU (later UPU) did away with these complex accounting The first stamp of Malta (SG 1) was the ½d yellow except that Gibbons recognises 29 printings in 13 shades of this stamp, no watermarks and Crown CC, blued paper, thin white hard paper, and three perf varieties! There were 30 printings, 29 in yellow and one in green (Malta, ed Martin, p. 98) Brian s display contained a study of this issue, highlights being the golden yellow shade and a block of 12 mint. Many a schoolboy collected the 1899-1901 ¼d Valetta Harbour stamp, Wmk Crown CA, just because it was a farthing! 1 Brian showed a page (reproduced below) showing the watermark and shade varieties and an example with watermark reversed AND with left side imperf, probably from the gutter between the panes of 60 stamps. Very small numbers of this imperf/wide margin have been recorded. (Malta, ed Martin, p. 131). His display of this issue was topped by a fine mint example of the 1919 10/- black. 1 Most of our schoolboy collections probably included the more common Multiple Crown CA watermarked issue of 1904-1914 7

i. The Melita issue (A helmeted emblematic figure representing Malta, Brian has made a particular study of the Melita issue. This page showed forged and genuine inverted overprints. (A full report on this inverted variety is set out in Malta, ed Martin, at pp 237 239). Also shown was Brian s study of the 1925 Two pence Halfpenny surcharge, (where Brian s Malta Study Circle publication updated the Study Circle s knowledge of the issue 8

Brian s display included this example of the KE VII ½ d + ½ d reply card. There was one printing, and 6150 cards were printed together with 732 specimens. No copies are known used. The Malta Post Office records show that while in 1902/1905 over GBP 1050 of 1d cards were sold only GBP 13. 7s. 8d worth of ½d + ½d reply cards were sold. These could however have been the QV ½ d + ½ d reply cards (Malta, ed Martin, p.348). If The KE VII card was actually sold usage and survival rates would have been very low.. Among other highlights in the display were: the 1910/1911 King Edward Head 5/- issues (in four printings between 1910 and 1911 only 66 sheets of 240 stamps were delivered); the key plate Nyasa type George V 2/- and 5/- (the 5/- with scroll variety). 9

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A page from Brian s display illustrating his archival research on the surcharge of on the 3d value. Two pence halfpenny Note on Demonetization In Newsletter 1 we noted dates for demonetization of certain S. Rhodesian commemoratives. The QV and KE VII issues of Malta were demonetised for postal usage on 1 December 1938 and for revenue use on 8 April 1938. 11

Note on reference: References to (Malta, ed Martin) are to the Malta Study Circle Handbook, Malta, The Postal History & Postage Stamps edited by RE Martin and published by Robson Lowe in 1980. Volker Jansen showed King Edward VIII How does one construct a display over four or five frames of Edward VIII? Volker showed us how. Though Edward VIII s reign was short-lived, and though GB issued only four stamps before the abdication (for choosing the woman he loved above the crown), the display was full of philatelic and historical interest. The display began with a comprehensive selection of the stamps, including a selection of the cylinder controls, watermark varieties. This was followed by a wonderful display of the difficult booklets: complete and with panes with advertising labels. This was topped by a number of full sheets of the issued stamps. Among the section of Controls and cylinder numbers shown by Volker were these two of the 1½d value. The first, is Cylinder 12 dot (A36) with the rare perforation type 2; The second is Cylinder 6 dot (A36) Perf type 5 (For more about perf types on the George V photogravure and the Edw VIII issues please see Appendix E to the SG Specialised Four Reigns Catalogue) The Edward VIII issues were overprinted for use in Morocco; Volker showed these and usage in Tangier. Volker s display was a mixture of serious traditional philately and a good dose of material appropriate to open class display. Central to the story of Edward Duke of 12

Windsor was the abdication crisis and his subsequent marriage, in France, to Mrs Wallis Simpson, a twice-married American divorces. Volker set the scene for this by showing a contemporary report of the broadcast by the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Cosmo Gordon Lang, who said: "From God he received a high and sacred trust. Yet by his own will he has... surrendered the trust," and the King's motive had been a craving for private happiness" that he had sought "in a manner inconsistent with the Christian principles of marriage". The marriage was ignored philatellically in Great Britain. But not in France, and Volker showed two commemorative covers produced to mark the event. (The first of two cover shown by Volker to mark the Marriage of the Duke of Windsor as he was now styled to Mrs Simpson on 3 June 1937, at Monts. Monts is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire departement in central France, and it was here at the Château de Candé that the marriage took place.) 13

(The 2nd of the two French commemorative covers, dated at Monts on the wedding day. This pointedly refers to Mrs Simpson by the name that she had taken by deed poll shortly before, Mrs Wallis Warfield, and prior to marriage to Edward) Further philatelic aspects of the display included the postage dues (distinguished by the E 8 R watermark) and - what are probably the rarest of the Edward VIII issues - the set used as Post Office training stamps.. 23 January 2017 Hugh Amoore showed a study of the the 2 nd RSA De Jong Definitives, so-called as they were designed by Ernst De Jong 14

(The designs as they stood in 1971- three years before issue on 20 November 1974 = and before several important design changes (and changes to values) were made, from a contemporary photograph, ex the designer s personal archive shown in the display) This display was accompanied by a 32 page handout setting out some features of this littlestudied and (in Hugh s view) undeservedly unpopular series. 2 (A version of this,, described as a work-in-progress, has been posted on the Society s website in the publications section, and the intention is that this will be replaced by more up-to-date versions as new information becomes available and that it will become a reference site for students of the issue.) The sheet issues were printed by the new De la Rue Giori printing press which had a double-sized intaglio cylinder in series with four gravure cylinders and an internal perforator. This gave rise to the possibility of transpositions, and a transposition of cylinders was shown on the 15c. Five distinct Harrisons papers were used. The coils, printed by the Goebels 840 Press, internally perf 12.5 and later comb perf 14, were the subject of experiments with numbering the rolls from 500, every fifth stamp, for stock taking purposes. The display showed the five papers on which the stamps were printed; how to the identify the 4 panes (not simply A & B, but Aa, Bb, Ac and Bd)) of the small format and the two panes of the large format stamps (Xa and Xb) by the sheet numbers; the perforation features of the small and large format stamps with particular reference to the beacon perf hole on each margin once on every 4 th pane of the stamps perforated by the Giori internal perforator; the coil issues and the numbering experiments on the 1c and 2c coil stamps 2 An indication of this unpopularity is reflected in SA Colour Catalogue prices: in 2008 the set mint ** was priced at R190, and in 2012 it was R80 and in 2015 R107. The 10c coil, perf 12,5, has dropped in catalogue price from R80(2000) and R90 (2008) to R30 (2015)! 15

Diagrammatic representation of the Giori in-built rotary perforator used on most of the sheet issues of the 2nd definitive series The diagram illustrates how Top & bottom margins were perforated through; Side margins were imperf except for one hole at the end of each transverse row, and one extra beacon hole once for every rotation (and hence once in every four panes) (Two rows from the full sheet shown of the 2c issue, pane Bb (no lattice colour control) showing (a) absence of sheet numbers and printing date, and (b) beacon holes at both ends of the transverse perfs between rows 9 & 10) An aspect of the display was a study of the numbering experiments in terms of which every fifth stamp (the rolls were of 500 stamps for the 1c, 2c, and 5c stamps and of 200 stamps for the 10c coils) was to be numbered (on the back) for accounting purposes. This led to a discussion at whether this was unique to South Africa coil issues (the numbering was standard on the coli stamps of the Protea definitive series. John Kilroe has reported a similar numbering system for coils used by Hong Kong. In 1987 Hong Kong introduced 2 stamps, a 10c Hong Kong flag and a 50c map of the territory, only using these designs on coils of 1000 stamps and numbering every 5 th stamp on the gum side. New issues were printed in 1989 and 1990. Four additional values were added using the map design in 1991, viz., 80c, 90c, $1.80 and $2.30, each value a different colour, in reels of 1000 stamps, each 5 th stamp numbered. In 1992, new electric vending machines were introduced, the only difference was the reels were made up of 2000 stamps for the new machines. This sheet replaces that in Newsletter no 1/2017. The 6d value was Not printed in 4 panes of 60 as the previous illustration suggested. This important, probably unique, item was shown by the President at the December meeting 16

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