March-April 2023
Volume 102, Number 2
Editor: Wayne L. Youngblood wystamps@gmail.com
Layout and Design: Jason E. Youngblood jyoungblood@gmail.com
Publications Committee:
John Barwis, RDP
Robert Gray
James Grimwood-Taylor, RDP
Matthew Healey
Daniel M. Knowles, MD
Robert P. Odenweller, RDP
(member
Advertising Manager: Robert Gray robertgray@me.com
Book Review Editor: Dr. Luca Lavagnino, Europe
Editorial Correspondence: wystamps@gmail.com
Business Correspondence: 11 W 42nd St FL2, New York NY 10036-8008 Tel. (212) 683-0559
email: info@collectorsclub.org
Website: www.collectorsclub.org
Executive Secretary and Librarian: Andrea Matura collectorsclub@collectorsclub.org
Authors’ guidelines for the CCP are available from the editor.
The Collectors Club Philatelist (ISSN 0010-0838) is published bimonthly in January, March, May, July, September and November by The Collectors Club, 11 W 42ND ST FL2, NEW YORK NY 10036-8008 A subscription to The Collectors Club Philatelist is included with dues paid by members of The Collectors Club. Subscription price for nonmembers in the United States is $70. Prices for foreign addresses and/or other classes of mail are higher depending on actual cost; consult publisher. Subscriptions for outside the United States should be paid in U.S. funds drawn on a U.S. bank. Back issues $9, including postage. For a complete list, write the publisher. Claims for undelivered issues will be honored only within six months of the date of publication. Beyond that, replacements will be provided at the single copy price. Periodicals class postage paid at New York, New York 10001 and additional offices. Office of Publication: The Collectors Club, 11 W 42ND ST FL2, NEW YORK NY 10036-8008 Copyright@ 2023 by The Collectors Club. All rights reserved. We do not give implied or other consent for copying for more than personal use.
Indexed in PhiLindx by E.E. Fricks and included in the article index of the American Philatelic Research Library and the Global Philatelic Library. The opinions and statements contained in the articles are those of the authors and not necessarily those of The Collectors Club, its officers or staff
Philatelist
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Volume 102, Number 2
65
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President Lawrence Haber
Vice President
Secretary
Robert Gray
Matthew Healey
Treasurer Roger S. Brody, RDP Chief Technology Officer
Class of 2023
Roger S. Brody, RDP
Vincent Cosenza
Joan Harmer
Kathryn Johnson
Joan Harmer
Class of 2024
Ozan Gurel
Mark E. Banchik
Lawrence J. Hunt
Stephen Reinhard
Robert G. Rose
Class of 2025
Robert Gray
Lawrence Haber
Matthew Healey
Daniel J. Ryterband
Wade E. Saadi, RDP
The Collectors Club Philatelist is an international specialty journal serving the needs of hundreds of collectors worldwide. It serves as the journal of record for the Collectors Club as well as publishing stimulating and helpful articles for collectors of many levels and specialties. The Collectors Club Philatelist strives to publish accurate philatelic information and serves as a forum for communication among members of the Collectors Club.
Lawrence Haber
The other day, I received a pleasant surprise in my email inbox. As president of the Collectors Club, I received a note from Jean Voruz informing me that the journal you are now reading, the Collectors Club Philatelist , was awarded the European Philatelic Press Award 2023. Jean is the President of the AEP, the European Academy of Philately. I was further informed that “this award is intended to distinguish a magazine of a high philatelic standard with a wide European circulation.” And “this is the fi rst time that a non-European journal has been awarded this distinction in its 20-year history.” Naturally, we are all delighted and appreciative of this recognition. In particular, it is very pleasing to see the e ff orts of our editor, Wayne Youngblood, being rewarded.
There is no way we can ascertain whether the efforts of our Publication Committee played a role in our being honored, but I do hope that is the case. About a year ago, it was felt that the “connectivity” between this journal and its membership needed to be deepened. We then reconstituted our Publication Committee, the members of which can be viewed on our masthead. Our first obligation is to help source impactful articles to assist Wayne. This journal should be a reflection of the membership, both its needs and its capacity to provide insightful copy. This journal is
expected to provide scholarly material and, at the same time, help inform the membership on Club and philatelic matters. The goal is to tie us better together as we pursue our shared passion. If this journal is to provide material, there clearly must be a supply. That is not just my job or Wayne’s, but our communal job. We look to you for your efforts and your insights. That frequently means we ask you for a submission.
When we speak to prospective authors, the most frequently asked question goes along the lines of “I write on the post history of the Duchy of Grand Fenwick, why should I pub-
lish my article with you? Wouldn’t it fit better for the Grand Fenwickian Postal History Journal?”
Our response is pretty simple: As a generalist society with a generalist readership, if you would like to reach non-specialists in your area, if you would like to educate judges, if you would like to expand interest in your area, then send the article to us. If your article has applicability beyond your immediate area and has meaning as a lesson for other disciplines, we are the best place to publish. In other words, we are the place if you want to reach beyond your bubble. We are the place if you would like to reach people who do not yet share in your particular passion.
The two-part article we ran last year from Steve Roth is a case in point. “The Carriage of Mail by Eastern Stage Lines Before 1860” was awarded the 2022 Robert P. Odenweller Award for Best Article in the Collectors Club Philatelist. If you still need to read this article, please go to your copy or our online archive and read this. It has broad applicability that goes far beyond the specifics. We are grateful for having had the privilege to have been able to share with our members its deep insights. Reaching a broad and appreciative audience and expanding the group is precisely the reason to publish with us rather than the Grand Fenwickian Postal History Journal.
One of the things I tell our Zoom series presenters is that we provide an opportunity to make converts out there. That someone out there watching the program will make the decision to take on the challenge of your topic. Not a soul disagrees or challenges that formulation. I am sure they want me to be correct about this. Realistically, we do not have armies of people taking up a discipline they hear about from our programs. There may be only one individual who takes up the opportunity. But if it is just one, isn’t that marvelous? Now, if that is true of a Zoom program, why wouldn’t it be true for an article? Curiously, I get no arguments from our Zoom presenters, but I frequently do when asking for a written article.
There isn’t a soul reading this letter who could not give us an article. Try it.
While we are discussing the written word, let’s talk a bit about our library. With our move coming to 58 West 40th Street, we will soon have room for additions to our library. So please think of us when looking at books you wish to de-accession.
Not everyone could be out at our annual meeting. Please view the video in our online archive if you did not attend our annual meeting. In addition to the updates on Club activities, we discuss our move to our new home on 40th Street.
Speaking of our new location at 58 West 40th Street, we are making excellent progress on the design work with our architects. We are close to finalizing the floor plan. We will share our progress as we proceed. Finally, and most importantly, our enthusiasm and optimism about the future of the Club remains. It is going to be very special.
I was reminded recently of the dangers both of breaking up multiples (so-called “blockbusting”), and also the occasionally seemingly fickle and capricicious nature of expertizing. The auction description for the stamp shown nearby was fair enough: “Fresh, original gum, lightly hinged, sound, just fine. This example shows a partial doublelined 'S' in vertical reversed orientation. (Copy of 1984 PF Cert #141670 for strip from which it was taken).” In the auction I was watching (about 2012), that item, shown in Figure 1, hammered for $2,100 against its catalog value of $15,000, which at first would seem to be a bargain, despite its being off center.
The stamp once was a Scott 271a, a so-called “USIR” watermark error of the First Bureau issue of 1894, but now is apparently nothing more than a normal Scott 271, according to its current Philatelic Foundation certificate. But let’s first examine the error.
Instead of the standard double-line “USPS” watermark, a small quantity of a couple of values of this series of stamps was mistakenly printed on paper intended for the production of revenue stamps that bore a double-line “USIR” (United States Internal Revenue) watermark. Because the letter-shaped bits used on the dandy roll during papermaking (which impress the watermark) are the same type and style for both “USPS” and USIR,” a single stamp requires the appearance of at least a partial “I” or “R” to be verifiably distinguishable as an error. This makes sense, but therein lies the problem for our patient.
Lest you doubt the perceptual value of an expertizer’s certificate, consider the following. Despite the fact this stamp is demonstrably part of a documented error strip of three, according to the Philatelic Foundation, it no longer qualifies as an error. The new certificate was issued in 2012. Once separated from the documented error strip, our stamp apparently became one of the anonymous standard-issue stamps with a catalog value of $120. Its description, from the 2012 PF certificate (No. 473278) is as follows: “WE ARE OF THE OPINION THAT IT IS A GENUINE, PREVIOUSLY HINGED, SCOTT 271 WITH THE "S" PORTION OF A "USIR" WATERMARK; ORIGINALLY THE RIGHT STAMP IN A PREVIOUSLY CERTIFIED STRIP OF THREE OF SCOTT 271a.” The original cert was deactivated by the PF at some point after this cert was listed, with the notation “No Image when Cert has been replaced.”
While the PF notes on the new cert the stamp’s origin as an error (and acknowledges it), the organization now lists it as a regular Scott 271.
Before pontificating further, however, shame on the dealer who split the strip of three into singles to maximize (in theory) his profits. The original strip (which came from the Col. Green collection), was the largest-known original gum multiple of a total of 13 unused examples as recorded by Siegel. The strip may not have had all four letters of the “USIR” watermark, but it was a significant bit of philatelic history and a true rarity. While I strongly disagree with the PF’ assessment of the stamp, it’s hard not to feel – on some level – that this was a deserved punishment – or at least karma – for that dealer.
But back to the original point. The fact the stamp was separated from its error bretheren should not relegate it to the relative ash heap of philatelic obscurity. In my mind, the stamp is not as desirable as one with a partial “I” or “R,” but its provenance as an error stamp is absolutely incontrovertible. The fact that the watermark was created from a fixed “USIR” wire bit on the dandy roll doesn’t change the reality that our patient is an error stamp. Adding the Col. Green provenance also helps with its desirability, even in its lessened state.
Needless to say, after the PF issued its new opinion, the buyer of this stamp returned it and requested a full refund, leaving the item in a sort of philatelic purgatory. Although I've kind of been watching for it to resurface, the stamp has seemingly disappeared. Let’s hope that it wasn’t simply separated from its somewhat inaccurate cert and sold as a normal example.
There’s a certain hubris to rushing into a decision that cannot be reversed. In this case, a philatelically significant item with both a history and provenance was destroyed, with the problem being compounded by what I consider to be a thoughtless and inaccurate re-evaluation of the single. Pity...
March 29
The Navigators – Commonwealth of Australia High Values, 1963-1974, Jonas Hällström
April 19 Westpex Special Program, Behruz Nassre
April 26 American First Day Cover Society (AFDCS) Special Program
May 3 Scandinavian Collectors Club Special Program, Behruz Nassre
May 17
June 7
June 21
Boston 2026 Update, Yamil Kouri
Ottoman Railway Postal History, Dr. Atadan Tunaci
Steamboat Mail and the 1847 Issue, Dan Ryterband
More details found at www.collectorsclub.org/events
March-April 2023
Matthew Healey
I find few things more satisfying than delving into a piece of postal history and discovering the stories it has to tell of the lives and fates of its senders and recipients. When the good folks at Stanley Gibbons offered me the cover shown in Figure 1 a couple of years ago, I immediately knew it would take me on a journey, but I didn’t quite anticipate what an adventure it would turn out to be: tracking down a quintessentially American tale of European immigration and hardscrabble frontier life.
Of course, one can ooh-and-aah over the adhesive, which is a rather nice example of the Great Britain 1-shilling embossed of 1847 (Scott No. 5), with generous sheet-corner margins on two sides. But if covers bearing such quality examples this stamp are not plentiful, neither are they terribly rare.
“ ... the stamp and postal markings, though nice, are just doing their job of chronicling the cover’s trip across the ocean, one made by hundreds of thousands of similar covers around this time. To focus on the adhesive and the postmarks misses the main point: this cover simply tells a wonderful human story.”
The cover is addressed to “John Campbell Esqr., Seguin, Guadalupe Co. Texas, U. States.” The “Esquire” doesn’t mean that he was an attorney. In 19th-century England, it was a mark of respect for a member of the gentry; its use in an Irish context may have been a form of gentle mockery.
It’s a fairly straightforward matter to catalog the various postmarks on the front and back of this cover. The stamp is canceled by a heavyish-but-legible barred numeral, shaped like a diamond to signify Ireland, “176” being the number assigned to Donegal. In the upper-left corner is a two-line handstamp giving the name of the village, Mountcharles/Donegal, and below it, in blue, is a circular date stamp of the town of Donegal, dated June 26, 1852. This blue CDS is struck again on the back, where we also find a red Dublin dater for June 27 and a small black octagonal date stamp for the 28, which would have been the day the letter was sorted into an oceangoing mailbag in Liverpool, fulfilling the “Per Steamer” instruction on the front.
Not being an expert in U.S. postal history, I turned to Richard Frajola, who very graciously filled in some details about the letter’s journey. Having missed the Cunard sailing on the June 26, the letter was put aboard a U.S.-registered contract ship, the Collins Line steamer Arctic. A small red “21 cents” was applied to alert the Americans to the share of the franking they were owed.
(Tragically, two years later the Arctic would collide with a French ship in dense fog off the coast of Newfoundland, sinking with 322 passengers aboard including the wife and children of Edward Collins, the line’s owner.)
On its arrival in New York City on July 11, 1852, a large red circular date stamp reading “Am(erican) Packet/Jul 11/Paid 24” welcomed the letter to U.S. shores after a crossing of just less than two weeks. This is, incidentally, the only marking that actually ties the stamp.
As to its onward journey from New York City to Texas, Frajola writes: “at this date it would have most likely been carried by rail to the Mississippi River (possibly on the Ohio River to get to the Mississippi River) and then by steamboat to New Orleans and then by contract mail steamer to Galveston and then to Seguin, Texas, by coach.”
But the stamp and postal markings, though nice, are just doing their job of chronicling the cover’s trip across the ocean, one made by hundreds of thousands of similar covers around this time. To focus on the adhesive and the postmarks misses the main point: this cover simply tells a wonderful human story.
Let’s start at the point of origin. The village of Mountcharles (pronounced “Mount-char-liss”) lies on the northwest coast of Ireland, about three and a half miles west of Donegal in the county of the same name. The village’s traditional Irish name, anglicized as Tawnytallan, means “field of salt” and comes from the nearby tidal flats that historically were mined for sea salt.
It is a small village even today, with a population just shy of 500, and largely unchanged in appearance since the mid-1800s. This is confirmed by a vintage photograph, shown in Figure 2, posted to one of the village’s Facebook pages. I paid a brief visit to Mountcharles on Google Street View, and it looks pretty much exactly as it did back in the day.
Never a wealthy village, when the Great Famine hit in 1845, times must have been very hard, indeed. As happened all across Ireland, a large percentage of the population either died or emigrated.
According to the website of the Seguin Conservation Society, John Campbell –the recipient of this cover – had arrived on the Texas frontier by 1847 and built a small log cabin about five miles south of where the town center lies today.
Texas at that time had only just become a state, and its sparsely populated western boundaries were far from fixed. The vintage map shown in Figure 3 shows Texas in 1845, on the eve of Lone Star statehood. Of the cluster of small counties laid out by that time, Guadalupe County – shown in yellow at the map’s center – was on the westernmost fringe of settlement, the pale of American civilization. Beyond to the west is a large expanse – colored green – labeled “Range of the Comanches.”
Why did John Campbell go there, when so many of his countrymen were content to settle in the great centers of Irish immigration in eastern cities such as Boston, New York or Scranton? I don’t know the answer to that yet, although he may have had a connection: a James Campbell, Texas Ranger, had fought in the Texas Revolution and was one of the founders of Seguin, before he was murdered by a pair of Comanche men in 1840.
Certainly the frontier had its allure. Land was cheap or even free. There was no limit to the number of horses a man could own, something that must have appealed to an Irishman, forbidden under the perversities of English law from owning a horse worth more than £5.
www.collectorsclub.com
Sometime in the early 1850s, John Campbell returned briefly to Ireland to fetch the rest of his clan, coming back to Seguin with no fewer than 23 family members. This cover (the contents, alas, no longer accompany) probably dates from around the time of that great embarkation. The Famine was ending by then, but the Campbells could envision no better future for themselves than in America.
John’s brother, Peter Campbell, evidently decided the log cabin could use a little enlargement, and added a second room. Despite the house’s lack of electricity or running water, the Campbells and their descendants lived in it until 1957 – more than 100 years. In 1979, its subsequent owners donated the cabin to the local historic-preservation society, and it was moved to its present location in the center of Seguin, where it serves as a living museum. Figure 4 shows the house as it appears today, and Figure 5 is a close-up of the historical marker that stands in front of it.
So there, in the microcosm of a single cover, is the story of America. And yes, the stamp has nice margins, too.
Signing ceremony to be Held during IBRA 2023
The Roll of Distinguished Philatelists is the highest, oldest and most prestigious of honors in philately. It recognizes achievement, research, publication and service in many areas of philately. The Roll was instituted in Harrogate, England, in May 1921 and the signature of His Majesty King George V appears as the first signatory. The total number of signatories up to and including those selected in 2023 (but excluding H.M. King George V) is 407 from 41 different countries. In its design, the Roll contains the names of 44 so-called “Fathers of Philately,” names of great philatelists who would have been invited to sign had they been alive at the time. At the first ceremony in Harrogate, the signatures of the initial 39 names were added to the Roll.
This year’s signing ceremony, on the occasion of the 102nd anniversary of the first signatories to the Roll, will take place in Essen, Germany, during the IBRA 2023 International Philatelic Exhibition. The 2023 signatories will be accompanied by two elected during the last two years who have not yet been able to sign due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The new signatories join 89 other current living RDPs from 27 countries spread over six continents. This year’s new RDPs followinclude Pradip Jain, RDP, India; Patricia “Trish” Kaufmann, RDP, United States; Professor Dr. Damian Läge, RDP, Switzerland; Jesús Sitjà-Prats, RDP, Spain; and Turhan Turgut, RDP, Turkey.
Pradip Jain. In international philatelic circles, the name Pradip Jain is among the best-known philatelists from India, both as an individual and as the head of a family of philatelists. His involvement in Indian and global philately stretches over many years. Pradip was active in the organization of three FIP world stamp exhibitions: India 1989, Indipex 97 and Indipex 2011, as well as the FIAP exhibition Indipex Asiana 2000.
Pradip has served three terms as a member of the Philatelic Advisory Committee of the Indian Government, which advises India Post on the formulation of national postal policy. He was also the FIP Aerophilatelic Commission member for India between 2000 and 2004.
As a collector and exhibitor, Pradip has had a major focus on various aspects of Indian philately. His collection of India airmails is well-known and his exhibit Indian Airmails Development and Operations 1911-1942 has gained international awards, five times FIP Large Gold, Special Prizes, felicitations of the jury at Pacific 97, and a Grand Prix National nomination at Indipex 1997. It was awarded Best Aerophilately Award at Italia-98 and was shown in the Championship Class of London 2000. Other major airmail exhibits include Development of Airmail Route between UK and India 1918-1929, which was awarded a gold medal and Best in Class at London 2010. Traditional exhibits King George V issues of India and India 1948 Mahatma Gandhi Issue have variously received gold and vermeil medals internationally. Among postal history subjects, Pradip has formed an important collection of British Indian postal history.
Jain’s book, Indian Airmails Development and Operations 1911-1942, published in 2002, is considered the key reference book in this field and received a gold medal at the Chicagopex Literature Exhibition.
He was honored in the AAMS (American Air Mail Society) Hall of Fame in 2011 in appreciation of his contribution to aerophilately and is a Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society, London
Patricia Kaufmann. Patricia Kaufmann (known to all within the world of philately as “Trish”) has been – for many years – the leading dealer in U.S. Confederate States material, with an encyclopædic knowledge of the stamp production, significance and use of these issues, including general issues, provisionals, postmarks and more. She generously shares her knowledge through many award-winning articles and monographs spanning 50 years. Her website, www.trishkaufmann.com, is the repository of a wide range of information from her research. She served as editor-in-chief of the full-color Confederate States of America Catalog and Handbook of Stamps and Postal History (2012), the major handbook on the subject, and has contributed significantly to the listings in the Scott Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps & Covers.
Trish gave up collecting and exhibiting so as not to conflict with her clients, but her exhibit, Evolution of Confederate Postal History, won the National Grand Award in 1972. From 2010-13 she was a member of the Council of Philatelists of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Postal Museum and was a founder donor to the William Gross Gallery of the National Postal Museum. She served for many years as an expertizer on the Confederate Stamp Alliance Authentication Service (renamed the Civil War Philatelic Authentication Service) and now holds emeritus status and assists at the major expertizing services on many of the most difficult and challenging items.
From 2016-22 Trish served as the chair of the board of vice-presidents of the American Philatelic Society. In this role, she not only contributed to the operation of the board as the senior alternate to the president, but operated and was re-
sponsible for the society’s disciplinary procedures. She also served on the board of the APS Philatelic Research Library 1983-86, as well as in many senior positions on organizing committees of numerous exhibitions.
Trish has been instrumental in using her research and artifacts of the Civil War period to bring alive the history and interest in this important period of American history. As part of this, she endowed the Kaufmann Civil War Room at the American Philatelic Center in Bellefonte, Pa. She was named a Distinguished Philatelist by the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society in 2019 and was honored this year by this organization (Collectors Club) as Lichtenstein Award winner for outstanding services to philately.
Dr. Damian Läge. It is rare to find a single philatelist that is associated with a single philatelic collecting and exhibiting class to the extent that Professor Dr. Damian Läge is to Thematic Philately. While he has formed several collections and exhibits of traditional, postal history and postal stationery classes (mostly relating to the German inflation period), he is best known for his major thematic exhibits. His influence stretches beyond merely the formation of great exhibits, but covers the conceptual evolution as to how a top-class thematic exhibit should be constructed. In this, he has led the way for many years, achieving international recognition of what is generally considered as being one of the finest thematic exhibits ever formed. His achievements have so many “firsts” that it would be difficult to list them all.
Damian became a member of the FIP Commission for Thematic Philately in 1999 and was elected chairman 2004-12. He was the driving force behind the organization of the FEPA European Championship for Thematic Philately and has acted as jury president at virtually all events since. He has exerted similar influence and performed similar roles at the German Championships for Thematic Philately since its inception. He is regularly seen on juries at international exhibitions around the world and has taken the important position of Jury secretary on numerous occasions, the most recent being at Helvetia 2022.
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As a regular lecturer on Thematic Philately in general – and on his own collections and exhibits in particular – Damian received, among other things, the Best Presentation Award of the Collectors Club in 2009. He presented the Harry Sutherland lecture in 2009 to the Royal Philatelic Society of Canada. His book, Thematic Development; The Personal Design of a Thematic Exhibit (1996), was described as the guide to the “4th Generation of Thematic exhibiting” and remains the best guide to concepts and development of a top thematic exhibit.
It is rare to find a Thematic exhibit among the top awards at international exhibitions. However, Damian has achieved numerous top honors, including his Australasian Birdlife being the first thematic exhibit to receive 97 points in an FIP exhibition (China 1999); first thematic exhibit to be a candidate for an FIP Grand Prix International (Belgica 2001); first thematic exhibit to be a candidate for a FIP Grand Prix d’Honneur (Washington 2006 and Bucharest 2016); and first thematic exhibit to win the World Stamp Championship (Budapest 2022).
Jesús Sitjà Prats. Very active in philately within Spain and in international judging and exhibiting, Jesús Sitjà Prats has been on the board since 2010 and president since 2013 of the Real Academia Hispánica de Filatelia e Historia Postal (Royal Hispanic Academy of Philately), the leading philatelic society in Spain. Actively involved in many aspects of the organization of seminars and presentations, Jesús researches many aspects of the Spanish postal system, having retired as an engineer and gone back to university to complete a degree in history. At present he continues to pursue a doctorate in history at the University of Barcelona with the thesis The beginning of the Royal Spanish Mail in America, 1764-1780. He has also served on the board of the Spanish Philatelic Federation (FESOFI).
His philatelic interests cover not just Spain, but also the Spanish Colonies of South America. Several exhibits have achieved Large Gold medals and, in Paris 2012, his Classic Peru exhibit was awarded the Grand Prix International, while his Maritime Mail of Spanish Colonies in America was among the candidates for the Grand Prix International in New York 2016.
A prolific writer, Jesús has been publications director of the Spanish Academy of Philately since 2017 and is responsible for the publication of Academus (six issues) and several specialized publications. In the last year he was author of the book Barcelona, 1850-1950 – Historia Postal y sus Marcas (2022), covering the postal history and postal markings of Barcelona. Previous books include El Correo Colonial en Virreinato del Peru (2009), Postal Markings of Madrid (two volumes, 1850 to 1872, and 1870 to 1940), as well as pioneering studies of Peruvian maritime mail during colonial times, parcel post in the Spanish American colonies, the use of Spanish revenues and documents and the railway markings of Spain; his most recent publication is Private Markings in Spanish Railway Correspondence, 1848-1878 (2023).
A qualified national judge and FIP accredited international judge on Traditional and Revenues, Jesús is regularly seen on international juries.
Turhan Turgut is a familiar presence at international exhibitions across the globe. He is a sought-after member of juries as an FIP qualified postal history judge with a wide-ranging knowledge of postal history generally, and of the complex Ottoman area, in particular. Recent judging assignments include Notos 2021, London 2022, Hunfilex 2022, Helvetia 2022 and Liberec 2022, where Turhan’s role was often as jury team leader or jury vice-president.
In his home country, Turhan is honorary president of the Turkish Academy of Philately and was much involved with the response to the various lock-downs due to the Covid 19 pandemic. A philatelic exhibition had been planned to celebrate the centenary of the Turkish National Assembly and a decision was made to convert this exhibition to being one of the first e-exhibitions, with all aspects being held virtually, including well-attended workshops on postal history and discussions on the future of classical philately.
Turhan was involved on the organizing committee of an Ottoman Post workshop in conjunction with the Fatih Sultan Mehmet University of Istanbul, which brought together for the first time in Turkey academics and collectors to discuss Ottoman postal services, where he also presented.
His own collecting interests focus on the postal history of the Ottoman Empire and various of these exhibits have received gold awards at numerous exhibitions since the 1990s. His Ottoman Field Post received the Grand Award at the World Meeting of Turkish and Ottoman Philately in Washington, D.C., in 1995. In addition to his Ottoman interests, Turhan collects modern Great Britain, including the Machin issues.
Turhan’s study of the postal history of the Ottoman Empire culminated in the 863-page book, Postal History of the Ottoman Empire –Rates and Routes 1840-1922, published in dual languages of Turkish and English in 2018. The book was highly acclaimed and received international Large Gold and Gold medals at several exhibitions. The second volume, due for publication during 2023, examines the postal history of modern Turkey until 1950.
Full details of this year’s honorees, rules and a nomination form for The Roll of Distinguished Philatelists can be found at: www.abps. org.uk/roll-of-distinguished-philatelists/
Great Britain – Line Engraved Issues 1840–1870 –
The Åke Rietz collection
British West & East Africa –
The ‘BESANÇON’ collection (part II)
Australian States & Commonwealth of Australia –
The ‘DUBOIS’ collection (part II)
Austria & Lombardy-Venetia 1850–1867 –
The ‘WALDVIERTEL’ collection (part II)
Zeppelin – The ERIVAN collection (part II)
Italy, France, European Countries and South America –
The Ing. Pietro Provera collections (part VI)
Switzerland, incl. Ziffermuster 1882-1899 –
The Dr. James Johnstone collection
All World – Stamps & Postal History, incl. Austria – First Stamp Issue 1850 – The ‘HABSBURG’ collection (part II), Cyprus – Austrian Post Office – The ‘DUBOIS’ collection (part II), Hungarian Post Offices in Romania – The Dr. Geza Homonnay collection, Greenland 1721–1938 – The ‘POLAR LIGHT’ collection (part I), Australian States – Unused – The Peter Campbell collections (part I), Australia – King George V – The Steve Butcher collection, Ecuador 1865–1872 –
The ‘GUAYAQUIL’ collection (part III), South & Central America – The Brian Moorhouse estate (final part), The Postal History of Nepal – The Robert Wightman collection
Never issued! Provenance: Dublin Find (1899) Earl of Crawford (1911) E. Tresoldi-Granger (1950)
LARNACCA DI CIPRO
Never Issued: Intended to replace the ‘Kangaroo and Map’ stamps in 1914!
Provenance:
Agar Wynne (after 1934)
Franklin Burchett (approx. 1940)
Jack Cato (1954)
Herbert McNess (1979)
Arthur Gray (2015)
Provenance:
Heath (1962)
“Maximus” (1970)
H.W. Fisher (1983)
Postage for a complete set of 10 catalogues
CHF 20.– EUR 20.– US $ 30.- GB £ 20.(including 7 hard bound auction catalogues)
catalogues online from May
registration online from May
All single lots from the upcoming auction will be available for viewing at IBRA 2023 in Essen, Germany.
Barry Jablon
The 3¢ Locomotive stamp was the most important of America’s first post-Civil War issue, the innovative “1869 Pictorials,” as it paid the domestic letter rate, which accounted for more than 90% of the mail. Its vignette of a wood-burning locomotive was chosen to commemorate – in advance – the long-anticipated transcontinental railroad, which was completed on May 10, some six weeks after the 3¢ stamp was released on March 27. The U.S. Post Office Department chose the National Bank Note Co. of New York City ( NBNC) to produce the pictorial issue. Figure 1 shows the design inspiration for the 3¢ stamp, a design that NBNC had used to produce bank checks, and Figure 2 shows the final design of the issued stamp. Note the locomotive’s wide mouthed wood-burning smokestack; there was little coal available in the western states.
Tying the west to the east through a transcontinental railroad had been a national goal since the 1840s, but a part-slave, part-free country couldn’t agree where the line should run. The Civil War produced an answer. The line would
be completed through Nebraska, not Texas. That meant Chicago, Omaha and the San Francisco Bay would be the major terminals, as shown in Figure 3. This article will show the intersection of the 1869 3¢ pictorial and the completion of the line.
The major players were the Union Pacific Rail Road Co. (UPRR) and the Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR.) The UPRR’s route from Omaha to Ogden, Utah, is shown in Figure 4, and a letter with progress report is shown in Figure 5, though the transcontinental was declared “complete” when the UPRR and CPRR lines met at Promontory, Utah, and drove the Golden Spike (Figure 6), the line’s rickety tendrils were in some parts rails on logs laid on mud, which had to be improved throughout the next few years.1
a another collector to attend the next online event of the Collectors Club.
Figures 5a-5c (below). Union Pacific Rail Road Co, Omaha Neb., to New York City, June 8, 1869, “O. To C. (Ogden To Cheyenne) U. Pacific R.R. Jun 8” RPO, Towle 932-d-2. Letter reads, “40 miles out on the road Omaha Neb., June 9, 1869. Dear James: we reached here today at 3 p.m. – all is well – yours truly, R.K. Haldane.”
119 behind him.
Figure 7 (left and below). Lockport, N.Y., to Sacramento, Calif., Jan. 2 (1870). Mark Hopkins (below) was treasurer of the CPRR. "Sacramento" was a sufficient address.
The Central Pacific Rail Road had been organized by four Californians, Leland Stanford, Collis Huntington, Charles Crocker and Mark Hopkins, who is shown in Figure 7.
The CPRR’s RPO imprint is shown in Figure 8; its home base and main manufacture and repair shops were in Sacramento, Calif. (Figures 9 and 10), whose “RRB” imprint stands for “Rail Road Business,” requiring no postage; this implies the letter was for private business, since it is franked with the 3¢ Pictorial.
Figure 9 (right). Central Pacific R.R. of Cal, Division Superintedent’s Office, Sacramento Division to Oakland, Calif.
Figure 10 (below). Detail of 1870 Sacramento city map, the Sacramento River in the foreground and arrows pointing out CPRR shops with roundhouse behind them.
Figure 8. Hamilton, Nev., Wells, Fargo office (60 miles south of Elko) Oct. 19, 1869, reaching the CPRR the next day, bearing a “Cent. Pacific R.R. Oct. 20” RPO datestamp (Towle 976-b-1.) The 3¢ 1969 was added in New London for posting on the 28th to Leonardsville, N.Y.
To help the UPRR and CPRR secure vast land grants from the government, numerous feeder lines tied themselves into the main (see Figure 11 as an example), though this sometimes meant, for the first time, building through Indian country. The letter contained in the Figure 12 cover, dated April 30, 1870, states “I am engaged ... on the Kansas Pacific RR ... Am encamped forty miles from a farm nothing around but the vast prairie which looks as an ocean in the distance with not a tree to obstruct the view nothing but hostile indians who feed upon buffalo deer elk antelope &c in which the county abounds ... Women is so scarce in this country…”
Similarly, Figure 13 shows a cover from Fort Sedgewick, Colorado Territory, built to protect the UPRR line from the Indians, and Figure 14 shows a watercolor of the fort itself:
Fort Sedgwick was an army post from 1864 to May 1871, and John Dunbar's destination in the novel and, later, movie Dances with Wolves. Dunbar finds it abandoned and in disrepair, rebuilds it, then leaves to spend time with the Sioux; when he returns he finds the fort re-occupied by troops. The movie has a Hollywood ending but the battle of Little Bighorn loomed. The watercolor by Anton Schonborn, Fort Sedgwick, C.T., shown in Figure 14 was painted on Oct. 18, 1870, only weeks after the letter shown in Figure 13 was mailed. At its maximum, Fort Sedgwick held 600 troops, primarily 7th Iowa cavalry, to protect railroad workers (note the UPRR line in the Figure 15 detail).
To deal with the Indians, the Army had created the Military District (later, “Division”) of the Missouri, which included responsibility for all states and territories west of the Mississippi River, north of Texas and east of Idaho, Nevada, and Arizona. On March 4, 1869, Philip H. Sheridan was promoted to lieutenant general and assigned to command the division. Sheridan, who penned the address on the Figure 16 cover, is pictured in Figure 16a. In 1869 negotiations, Silverknife (Tosawi, Figure 17) said to him: “Me, Tosawi; me good Injun,” to which Sheridan allegedly replied, “The only good Indians I ever saw were dead.”
Sheridan later denied saying that, but did not deny saying in 1874, of hunters poaching on Indian lands, “let them kill, skin and sell until the buffalo is exterminated.”
Another Army innovation for “dealing” with Indians was the creation of an all African-American cavalry unit from the (segregated, of course) African-American troops mustered by the Union during the Civil War. These soldiers were armed with long-barrel pistols so they could maintain aim with rapid fire while at a gallop; an accurate representation of their kit is shown in Figure 18. In 1866, Maj. Gen. Benjamin Grierson, who as a colonel led a brilliant Civil War campaign from Vicksburg to Baton Rouge, was rewarded with leadership of the newly formed 10th Cavalry, based at Fort Sill, Okla., the first peacetime African-American regiment, soon to be known by Indians as the “Buffalo Soldiers.” A letter to Fort Sill for Grierson’s wife is shown in Figure 19.
New York to San Francisco, as the crow flies, is around 2,600 miles, or four months by oxcart, though by the mid-1860s mail traveled from New York to San Francisco in a little over a month, partly by rail and partly by stagecoach, unless you were wealthy enough to afford the Pony Express from St. Joseph to Sacramento and save two weeks travel time. Here are two transcontinental letters mailed a little before and a little after completion of the railroad on May 10, 1869: the first letter, Figure 20, was mailed from New York to San Francisco on April 2, five days after the 3¢ stamp’s first day of issue and five weeks before completion of the railroad lines. It went by train to approximately Echo, in the Utah Territory, where it would have been transferred to the Wells Fargo Overland stage line, which carried it through the Humboldt Valley to Elko, Nev., for transfer to the CPRR. Docketing shows the letter’s arrival in San Francisco on April 20, 18 days after mailing.
The cover shown in Figure 21, from the same New York firm to the same San Francisco firm, was mailed June 4, 1869, three weeks after the CPRR and UPRR met at Promontory, Utah. Docketing shows its receipt on June 10, just seven days after mailing.
Even a transcontinental railroad left much of America’s vastness untouched. For example, the letter shown in Figure 22 went by train from Boston to Reno, Nev., and then by stage or wagon to Fort Bidwell in the northeast corner of California and on by rider or wagon over the military road from Fort Bidwell to Camp Warner in Oregon, and – because of a mistake at Fort Bidwell – sent on another 100 miles to Camp Harney, from which it was returned to Camp Warner. The letter was mailed Feb. 6, 1870, and arrived March 12, 35 days later. All three forts had been built to subdue the Paiute and Shoshone.
The construction of the transcontinental railroad was financed in large part through grants by the government of public lands adjacent to the tracks, which the railroads could resell as farmland. Figure 23, a letter from the UPRR’s Land
Office in Junction City Kans., advertises on its reverse (Figure 24) “1,300,000 acres of the choicest lands in … the richest valley in the state ... only one-tenth down, ten equal annual installments … from 2$ to 10$ per acre.”
A different kind of “land agent” was the emigrant contractor. While the transcontinental railroad shipped huge amounts of produce east (though oranges wouldn’t come until the late 1880s when the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe acquired trackage rights through Cajon pass) it also shipped a sizable number of humans west. In addition to all the track-adjacent land being offered for sale by the CPRR and UPRR, pursuant to the Homestead Act of 1862 anyone, citizen or not, could claim 160 acres of unoccupied government land and earn title to it in five years. Various groups emerged to help (for a fee) provide sturdy European bodies to work those lands. The American Emigrant Co., based in Connecticut, is one of the more noted due to correspondence generated by George and Elizabeth Warner, “among the Beautiful People of their day,” as Michael Laurence describes them,2 who visited Denmark and Sweden during 1869 and 1870 on behalf of the company to make arrangements with local agents. Figures 25 and 26, part of the Warner correspondence, show letters to Mrs. Warner in care of their Danish agent Henry Duhrssen, the first at the “open mail” rate of 13¢ per ½ oz. taking 20 days travel time, the second at the faster 16¢ per ½ oz. “closed mail” rate, arriving in 18 days. The efforts paid off; there are now more former Danes living
Figure 25. Hartford, Conn., to Copenhagen, Denmark, Feb. 8, 1870, the 3¢ used with a1¢ blue 1867 “F” grill. Boxed red “Bremen” transit of Feb. 22 and “Weiterfrei 1 Sgr,” (silbergroschen, equal to 2 ½¢), red “2½”¢ credit to the North German Union. Reverse (not shown): red “New York Paid All Direct Feb 12,” black “Kloster Havn” receiver of Feb. 28. ex Coulter.
in California than in any other place outside Denmark, which explains why you can breakfast on Danish sausages and lingonberries next to a windmill in Santa Nella, just off Interstate 5 in the Central Valley (Figure 27).
The 3¢ Pictorial might be described as the little engine that couldn’t, since the 1869 pictorial issue was abandoned by the USPOD after only a year of existence, and, as the 3¢ was by far the most widely used denomination, it must shoulder the blame for the issue’s lack of success. Everyone has an opinion as to the cause of its sudden disappearance, from backroom bribery to “ugly artwork,” and mine is that the small square format was difficult for users who had to lick the backs. But the series – and this stamp, specifically – gave us a glorious ride and a satisfying way of commemorating and documenting the completion of America’s greatest construction project prior to the Panama Canal.
1. See generally Nothing Like It In The World, Stephen Ambrose, New York, 2000, which presents a brilliant history of the genesis and construction of the transcontinental railroad; another excellent resource is David Bain’s Empire Express, New York, 1999.
2. Michael Laurence, Ten-Cent 1869 Covers, a Postal Historical Survey, Collectors Club of Chicago 2010, pp.213-34.
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380th Heinrich Köhler Auction
16–17 & 20–25 March 2023
American Trans Atlantic Mail Carriers 1800–1870 The Graham Booth Collection
El Salvador The Michael Peter Collection
German States The ERIVAN Collection · 9th Auction
Germany 1849–2000· German States and German Colonies with Occupation Issues
The Erik B. Nagel Collection (part I)
Bavaria from 1849 The Eliahu Weber Collection (part IV)
Bremen from 1855 The Karl-Hillard Geuther Collection (part I) (part I)
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Guadalajara
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1867, '4 reales' on 'Un peso' lilac, unused. The most outstanding rarity of the provisional issues of Guadalajara – no further copy of this stamp has been recorded.
Provenance: Dr. Gene Scott
Omar Rodriguez
Yorktown, Kut-al-Amara and Singapore were the three largest British military surrenders. Maj. Gen. Charles Townshend, Indian Army, commanded a force of Indian and British troops that were repulsed by the Ottoman army at the Battle of Ctesiphon near the Tigris River in Iraq. Gen. Townshend then retreated 40 miles south to Kut-al-Amara and was besieged there by a large Ottoman force on Dec. 7, 1915. The result was ultimately catastrophic with Gen. Townshend forced to surrender on April 29, 1916.1 The surrender included 13,309 troops and 3,248 Indian civilian support personnel. Two thousand sick and wounded – and their care providers – were exchanged for Ottoman PoWs and were then allowed to leave aboard British hospital ships.2 The besieged units at Kut-al-Amara are listed in Table 1.
ArmyUnitNon-Official Name
Indian6th DivisionPoona Division
Indian30th Brigade
British16th Brigade2nd Battalion Dorsetshire Regiment
British17 Brigade 1st Battalion Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire
British18 Brigade2nd Battalion Norfolk Regiment
British30th Brigade1st/4th Battalion Hampshire Regiment
Those remaining became prisoners of war and were marched to Baghdad and ultimately were interned in Turkey. The marches and internment resulted in very high casualties.3 Figure 1 shows a sketch map showing approximate location of the key towns in Southern Mesopotamia (Iraq).
There was no outbound mail during the siege, but there were attempts to get mail to the troops, including dropping mail bags from an airplane. Only one Field Post Office, Number 318, remained at Kut. The others were sent to 90 miles southeast to Amarah during the retreat from Ctesiphon before the siege.4
Mail sent from Britain to the British units was hand stamped with “UNDELIVERED THROUGH CAPITULATION AT KUT.” This mail would have been addressed using the name, number and unit followed by I.E.F. D (Indian Expeditionary Force D) c/o India Office London.
Undeliverable mail to Indian units was handled differently, as shown by the cover pictured in Figure 2. The cover is addressed to Col. W. (Walter Willis) Chitty, who was the quartermaster general for the 6th Division, and part of the immediate staff of Gen. Townshend. His home regiment was the 119th Infantry, also known as the Mooltan Regiment. Col. Chitty was born in 1866 and joined the Indian Army as an officer in 1886, reaching the rank of Lt. Colonel in 1911.
After the fall of Kut, Col. Chitty was taken as prisoner of war first at Shumran near Kut, then to Baghdad and to Yozgad (Turkey). He was later sent to Broussa (Turkey) where General Townsend was held in December 1916. These moves are mentioned to explain why Col. Chitty’s location may not have been determined for some time after the surrender.
The cover was canceled at Ahmednagar, India, on Dec. 21, 1915, some two weeks after the siege began. There are two manuscript notations, “54” and “119 Infantry D.” The number 54 may be a sorting guide and 119 is Chitty’s regiment. The D refers to I.E.F. force D in Mesopotamia. There is also a “PASSED CENSOR
D” circular handstamp indicating that the cover reached Mesopotamia and was censored at Basra, the location of the Base Post Office for I.E.F. D. as well as the military censor office.
The cover’s verso, pictured in Figure 3, shows a second CDS, Chief Base Office Bombay, dated Dec. 24, 1915. All deployed military mail was sent first to the Chief Base Office where locator lists were maintained. From there the cover would have been sent to the Base Post Office at Basra. It was therefore likely held at Basra during the siege until it became apparent that Col. Chitty was taken as prisoner of war. At that point the cover was hand stamped with a boxed “PRISONER OF WAR” at Basra and then sent to the Dead Letter Office (D.L.O.) Bombay, arriving on Oct. 21, 1916. There is an additional D.L.O. handstamp, boxed with “RECEIVED OPEN AND TORN/ manuscript signature/ MANAGER –D.L.O. BOMBAY.” The cover does not appear to have been opened or torn. The cover has no return address and likely remained at the Bombay D.L.O. until it came into the possession of a philatelic collector.
Col. Chitty was repatriated in 1918, whereupon he joined the Military Department of India Office as Personal Assistant to the Military Secretary of the India Office (London). He retired in 1933 as a Military Knight of Windsor and died the same year.5
Footnotes
1. Gardner, Nikolas, “Sepoys and the Siege of Kut-al-Amara, December 1915 – April 1916,” War in History 11, No. 3 (2004): pp. 307-26, www.jstor.org/stable/26061926
2. Kut al Amarah, https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/kut_al-amara, URL accessed January 2023
3. Fitzgerald, Lee J., 1927, “The ‘D’ Force (Mesopotamia) in the Great War,” Aldershot: W. May
4. Proud, E.B., History of the Indian Army Postal Service Vol II, 1984, see page 250 for details on FPO 318
5. Auction of Col. Chitty medals.www.dnw.co.uk/auction-archive/past-catalogues/lot. php?auction_id=431&lot_uid=275758, URL accessed January 2023
British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines (BCPA), was an airline formed by the governments of Australia (50%), New Zealand (30%) and the United Kingdom (20%) to operate “British” trans-Pacific air services linking Australia and New Zealand with Canada, principally in competition with American airline Pan Am. BCPA was registered in New South Wales in June 1946, with headquarters in Sydney. Its original route was SydneyAuckland-Fiji-Canton Island-HawaiiSan Francisco and Vancouver. Services included Melbourne from 1953.
Initially, BCPA had no aircraft of its own and so chartered all flights from Australian National Airways (ANA), which used its Douglas DC-4s. The inaugural service departed from Sydney on Sept. 15, 1946. In late 1948, BCPA took delivery of the first of four Douglas DC-6s, fitted as sleepers. Each aircraft was named for one of the four vessels of Captain James Cook: Resolution (VH-BPE), Discovery (VH-BPH), Adventure (VH-BPG) and Endeavour (VH-BPF). The DC-6s enabled BCPA to introduce pressurized services on the Pacific ahead of rival Pan Am.
Flight 304/44 was flown by the Douglas DC-6 named Resolution and registered VH-BPE, on a flight from Sydney, Australia, to Vancouver, British Columbia, in Canada, with scheduled stops at Nadi (Fiji), Canton Island, Honolulu and San Francisco. It crashed during its initial approach towards San Francisco International Airport on Oct. 29, 1953, killing all 19 people on board, including the American pianist William Kapell.
The aircraft was flying the Honolulu - San Francisco leg with a crew of eight and 11 passengers (10 adults and one child). Capt. Bruce N. Dickson (aged 34)
and his crew took over the plane in Honolulu as scheduled. The estimated flying time was nine hours and 25 minutes. Dickson and his first officer, Frank A. Campbell (aged 28), each had several thousand hours of flight time in a DC-6. Both pilots had made more than 100 approaches into San Francisco Airport, many of which were actual instrument approaches. The weather in the San Francisco area presented no adverse flight conditions; however, visual reference with the ground was precluded by the overcast foggy conditions and an instrument approach was required.
As the flight neared the California coast, the aircraft contacted San Francisco Air Route Traffic Control (ARTC). At 08:07 Pacific Standard Time, it was cleared to descend in accordance with Visual Flight Rules and to maintain at least 500 feet on top of clouds, which the flight acknowledged. At 08:15, the flight reported that it was starting descent and at that time was given the San Francisco weather report. Just after 08:21 ARTC cleared the flight to the San Francisco Instrument Landing System
(ILS) Outer Marker beacon via the Half Moon Bay Fan Marker direct to the San Francisco Outer Marker, with instructions to maintain at least 500 feet above all clouds and to contact San Francisco Approach Control after passing the Half Moon Bay Fan Marker. At 08:39, the flight called San Francisco Approach Control and advised that it was over Half Moon Bay, 500 feet on top of clouds. Approximately three minutes later, the flight reported “Southeast, turning inbound.” At 08:45, a call to the flight was unanswered as were all subsequent calls.
Crew:
Capt. Bruce N, Dickson, 34, pilot in command
Frank A. Campbell, 28, first officer
George R. Murtagh, 28, navigator
Charles N. Cattanach, 31, flight engineer
Walter B. “Wally” Knight, 34, purser
Vernon A. Walker, 32, radio officer
Miss June F. Elder, 27, hostess
Miss Amy K. Lewis, 32, hostess
Passengers:
Reginald F. George Eastoe, 50, engineer from England.
William J. Cox, a shopfitter from Sydney.
Janos Feher, 39, a watchmaker from Hungary.
John A. Feher, 7, son of Janos Feher – flying to the United States for polio treatment.
John W. Butterworth, 52, an engineer from Melbourne.
Cyril G. McDonald, 60, an engineer from Melbourne.
Bernard R. Tischler, 31, a clerk from Adelaide.
Capt. Paul Oluf Olsen, 39, an Australian sea captain.
John K. Briscoe, 45, an insurance executive from England.
William Kapell, 31, a world-renowned concert pianist, of New York City.
Mrs. Jean Aik Chiverton, 65, en route to her home in Vancouver.
The Civil Aeronautics Board investigated the accident. The investigation began immediately after locating the wreckage in the mountainous area southwest of San Francisco, about seven and a half miles southeast of the town of Half Moon Bay. The aircraft was almost entirely destroyed by impact and ensuing
fire (aerial photographs from San Mateo Times Oct. 29, 1953). It had initially topped several large redwood trees, shearing off one of its landing gear and leaving it hungup in an oak, continued across a narrow ravine and crashed against the side of a steeply rising slope approximately half a mile beyond the first tree strike. The main wreckage area was at about 1,950 feet (590 m) above sea level.
The landing gear was down and locked at impact. There was no evidence of mechanical or structural failure prior to the impact. The accident site was between the Half Moon Bay Fan Marker and the ILS Outer Marker, and it appears that the flight did not maintain at least 500 feet (150 m) on top of clouds between these points but had descended in weather conditions that precluded reference to the ground. In addition, the flight had reported being over the Half Moon Bay Fan Marker at 08:39 and then “Southeast, turning inbound” at about 08:42. In this time interval it would not have been possible for the flight at normal speed to have flown from the Half Moon Bay Outer Marker to the ILS Outer Marker, make the required turn and return to the site of the crash in accordance with Civil Aeronautics Authority approved instrument approach procedure. Thus, it was likely that when the pilot reported he was “Southeast, turning inbound,” he was, in fact, southwest of the airport. The investigation then stated that it was probable that the captain, after reporting that he was over Half Moon Bay, either saw the terrain momentarily through an unreported break in the overcast foggy conditions or because of a radio navigational error, became convinced that his position was farther northeast and started to descend over what he believed was the proper area.
It was therefore concluded that the probable cause of the crash was the failure of the crew to follow prescribed procedures for an instrument approach.
Only 9 lbs., 5 oz. of mail was recovered. This comprised 344 total articles, of which 136 were undamaged and 208 were damaged and treated at the San Francisco Post Office.
In 50 years of collecting crash mail, I had not seen an example of mail from this incident until the cover illustrated front and back nearby turned up on Ebay. There are other crashes where the mail has been undamaged and no example of a surviving cover is recorded. That is understandable. However, 208 covers were allegedly struck with a boxed cachet and not one has apparently survived. This is not credible, based on other incidents where far smaller numbers of covers were recovered and so marked. Human nature is to save the envelope bearing a cachet as a memento.
The three-line boxed cachet shown nearby, supposedly used on mail from this crash, has been illustrated in a range of catalogs and books including the American Air Mail Catalogue and Henri Nierinck’s Courrier Recupere (Recovered Mail) Vol 2.
Sofarthisistheonlyknownsurvivingcoverfromthe1953BCPAcrashcanceled
In 2008, I placed an advertisement in the Airpost Journal, the organ of the American Air Mail Society, the premier aero-philatelic society in the United States. The query in the advertisement was:
I am looking for examples of covers from this 1953 crash. I believe mail was loaded at Sydney, Fiji and Honolulu. Although I am particularly interested in any items from Australasia I also wish to obtain copies of mail loaded at Honolulu.
The response was zero. Not only did no one have a cover from this crash; noone had seen one, nor even knew of an example of the cachet illustrated in the American Air Mail Catalogue.
How did the illustration of the cachet find its way into published literature? My own explanation is that a strike of the cachet lies in the San Francisco Post
Office (SFPO) archives – or did so 50 years ago – and this was taken as evidence that it was used. I suspect that the cachet was prepared but, for some reason, not used – maybe it could not be found when the mail arrived at the post office or the “damaged” mail turned out to be not so badly damaged.
In 2012, 59 years after the crash, the cover illustrated earlier appeared on Ebay. Not only does it not have the cachet stated to have been applied to mail, it has a completely different cachet. I suspect this was applied at the SFPO, as that is certainly where the mail was treated.
Sydney Morning Herald newspaper article of Oct. 31, 1953, describing the crash.
References:
1. Accident Investigation Report, Civil Aeronautics Board, April 12, 1954 (above).
2. Nierinck, Henri: Courrier Recupere (Recovered Mail), Vol 2, 1937-1988, Oostende, Belgium, 1995, page 288.
3. San Mateo Times, Oct. 29, 1953 (facing page).
4. Australian Stamps Professional, Vol 8, No 4, 2014, pp. 44-48.
5. Sydney Morning Herald Oct. 31, 1953.
6. YouTube video, www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIqSQS4KrDs
7. Phoenix Auctions (Melbourne), Perry Collection, June 7, 2013, Lot 1090.
Collectors Club Philatelist
Volume 102, Number 2
What follows are a few notable items from recent auctions that were advertised in the Collectors Club Philatelist. Members who do business with these firms should be sure to thank them for their support of the CCP. If you have spotted – or personally bought or sold—an item you feel is worthy of inclusion in the next round-up, no matter the price, please drop a note to secretary@collectorsclub.org
Mail to the Chiefs
$ 3,835
H.R. Harmer, New York City, October Postal History sale, Oct. 26-27, 2022, Lot 108. Further details at www.hrharmer.com
Postal history to or from Native Americans is scarce, and nearly always tells a story, often with a tragic backdrop. The Stockbridge Tribe, an amalgam of several tribes, including Mohican and Munsee people from New York’s Hudson Valley area, accepted Christianity, received the settlers’ education and helped fight against the British in the Revolutionary War. In spite of all that, they were eventually pushed out of their territory in the East and relocated to the shores of Lake Winnebago, south of Green Bay, Wis., where their descendants still live. This letter, datelined May 28, 1834, in Niagara, N.Y., speaks in heart-rending terms of its sender John W. Newcom’s desire to be reunited with his people – and asks for an old debt to be settled. It is addressed “To the Chiefs,” care of John W. Quinney, a Mohican agent and diplomat who represented the tribe in its dealings with the United States government. Markings and docketing show the letter was forwarded to Fort Howard and was carried around Wisconsin for a while. Described as “one of the most outstanding covers in all of Wisconsin postal history, ex Kramer,” scans of the full three pages are included on the H.R. Harmer website. Records show that Newcom’s claim of $535 was eventually paid out by the United States after an 1839 treaty. (Realization includes 18% buyer’s premium.)
Eastern Auctions, Bathurst, N.B., Canada, Autumn sale, Nov. 18-19, 2022, Lot 1182. Further details at www.easternauctions.com
Semi-official air mail labels issued in Canada between 1918 and 1934 range from fairly common to very rare, depending on the circumstances of the air club or transport company that produced them, and sometimes on the fate of a particular flight. This label, issued in 1920 for an air show put on by the Grand Army of Canada to raise funds for a war memorial (Scott CLP4), is one of the latter category. The auctioneer cites C.A. Longworth-Dames, author of The Pioneer and Semi-Official Air Mails of Canada, as stating that only 10 panes of five were ever printed; the American Air Mail Society’s reference, Air Mails of Canada and Newfoundland, estimates that only six to 10 examples survive. This one, with selvage on three sides, was part of a strip of three that once resided in the Robert T. Stevens collection, sold by Siegel in 1990. Eastern said it was the first mint example it has ever offered and called it “a ‘must-have’ for anyone attempting to complete a collection” in this area. (Realization includes 18.5% buyer’s premium.)
Corinphila, Zurich, Sales 291-297, including Michael Lockton collection of Penny Pink envelopes, Nov. 28-Dec. 3, 2022, Lot 5379 (advertised in CCP Vol. 101, No. 5). Further details at www.corinphila.ch
The deeper you go, the higher you fly, as the Maharishi liked to say. Take a ubiquitous piece of postal stationery such as the Penny Pink, a workhorse of the Victorian era, introduced in 1841 and current (with minor modifications) until the 20th century. Such were the quantities produced that well over 200 working dies were employed. Then imagine all the myriad ways – some of them truly exotic – in which this simple embossed envelope could be used and you get the idea behind Lockton’s collection. The example here, posted in 1877 to Antananarivo, Madagascar, by French packet, was uprated with a block of four of the 1873-80 2½d rosy mauve (Plate 6) and a 1½d lake (Plate 3), all tied by Hastings duplex cancels. The total franking for the ½-oz letter came to 1sh ½d, of which 7d – indicated in red crayon – was credited to France. Corinphila describes the cover’s route as “carried on the French Packet Djemnah to Aden and thence by the Godavery via Mahe, Seychelles to Mauritius where backstamped in blue (March 12) and thence by private vessel.” Neither a common franking nor a common destination. (Realization includes 22% buyer’s premium.)
New South Wales
CHF 91,500
Corinphila, Zurich, Sales 291-297, including the “Dubois” collection of Australia, Nov. 28-Dec. 3, 2022, Lot 10030 (advertised in CCP Vol. 101 No. 6). Further details at www.corinphila.ch
Not many philatelic items can readily trace their provenance all the way back to the very dawn of philately in 1860. This magnificent block of 15 of the New South Wales 1852 Laureated 3 pence, with the left margin hand stamped “Stamp Office” and “Storekeeper’s Dept. N.S.W.,” was once part of an even larger multiple of 38. That partial sheet was presented in 1860 to Sir Daniel Cooper, a baronet and local politician, who returned to Britain and later became president of the Philatelic Society, London (nowadays the RPSL), chairing its first meeting in April 1869. The following month he gave the society’s first presentation, on New South Wales’ first issue, the “Sydney Views.” Cooper’s collection was sold intact to Judge Philbrick (for a then-record £3,000) and then to Philipp von Ferrary, with the block of 38 subsequently passing to Hind, Caspary, Lilly and others. John Boker broke it up sometime between 1868 and 1973. Still remarkably fresh and with nearly full original gum, this three-by-five survivor is truly “the most impressive and iconic multiple of New South Wales and possibly Australian philately.” (Realization includes 22% buyer’s premium.)
Double the Pleasure, Double the Fun
€ 23,180
David Feldman, Geneva, Autumn Auction Series, Dec. 5-9, 2022, Lot 60429. Further details at www.davidfeldman.com
The 1843 Double Geneva (known in French as the “Double de Genève” or in German as the “Doppelgenf”) surely ranks among any roster of philately’s greatest stars. Europe’s third-ever postage stamp issue introduced a novel concept, never to be repeated: one half was good for postage within city limits (“Port local”), while the two halves together paid postage to the borders of the Canton (“Port Cantonal”). It’s too bad the stamp never featured in a commercial for Wrigley’s Doublemint gum! The example offered by David Feldman in the firm’s December series of sales is a prime unused example, without gum, as is normal, but with four good margins and fresh color. A classic is a classic, and this one comfortably exceeded its presale estimate. (Realization includes 22% buyer’s premium.)
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To the New York Island $ 10,620 Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries, New York anyCity, The Magnolia collection of U.S. mail in China and Japan, Part 4 (sale 1271), Dec. 13, 2022, Lot 160. Further details at www.siegelauctions.com
The American postal agency in Shanghai, China, established in 1867, used United States stamps for mail to Japan, the United States and destinations beyond. The rates were 6¢ per half ounce to Japan and 10¢ per half ounce to the United States, so the 12¢ stamps of the Bank Note series or the 1869 Pictorial set are hardly ever encountered on mail to or from China. This cover, which is not mentioned in the 1869 Census book, is one of only two known bearing the 12¢ 1869 stamp from China to the United States, both of which happen to have been sent to the same address on the same day. One is a double rate, offered by Siegel last summer in Part 3 of the Magnolia sale, and this cover, with two examples of the 12¢ together with a 6¢ carmine of the 1870 National Bank Note issue, is a triple rate. Posted May 12, 1873, the letter was carried on the Pacific Mail Steamship Company’s Oregonian to Yokohama and then on the PMSS Alaska to San Francisco. From there it presumably traveled overland via the transcontinental railroad to its destination on Long Island. (Realization includes 18% buyer’s premium.)
A Charming Couple
C$ 35,100 Sparks Auctions, Ottawa, Canada, The “Athena” collection of Canada, Part I, Jan 21, 2023, Lot 13. Further details at www.sparks-auctions.com
Sure, this major collection of classic Canada included the stunning mint, never-hinged example (formerly one of a pair belonging to Charles Lathrop Pack) of the country’s number one rarity, the 12 pence Queen Victoria of 1851, hammered down for a quarter of a million dollars—$292,500 Canadian, with the buyer’s premium. But far more charming, at least in this reviewer’s opinion, was this composite die proof in a delicate brownish purple, of that same 12 pence stamp together with the 10¢ depicting Victoria’s consort, Prince Albert. One of just a dozen such composite proofs known, all in different colors, it shows a “scar” (resembling a re-entry) in the CE of “pence.” Formerly in the collection of famous race car driver and secret philatelist Sir Gawaine Baillie, it was described as “one of the greatest showpieces of this collection,” and it’s not hard to see why. (Realization includes 17% buyer’s premium.)
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Richard F. Winter RDP and John H. Barwis RDP, North Atlantic Non-Contract Steamship Sailings, 1838-1875, ISBN 978-0-93-358086-2, hardbound, 336 8¼- by 10¾-inch pages with mostly color illustrations, in English, October 2022, published by the American Philatelic Society, available from APS $55 for members, $60 for non-members, not including shipping, available at https://classic.stamps.org/Publications.
The authors of this book are both very well-known and highly experienced authors and researchers. Dick Winter co-authored the matching North Atlantic Mail Sailings 1840-75 with Walter Hubbard back in 1988. In the introduction to this new work, he explains that it had always been the intention to follow up the first book (recording steamer voyages carrying mails under official contracts) with a similar work covering the steamship voyages on which letters were (or may have been) carried as non-contract ship letters. After a wait of almost 35 years, this work has now been completed. Those who have had “Hubbard & Winter” on their shelves for decades will find this new work equally indispensable. Sensibly, the dust jacket of the new book closely matches that of the 1988 book; they look very good side-by-side on the shelf.
The book’s structure is clear and accomplishes all its authors have set out to cover; there are also some tables for the few mail-contract voyages that had yet to be tracked down for the first book. Each chapter covers a different steamship company, starting with the “British & American” and concluding with the “White Star Line” (Chapter 54); they appear in chronological order of their first voyages and, as in the 1988 book, there is a time chart showing their years of operation. Many smaller or short-lived shipping companies’ voyages are covered, such as the Guadalquivir, the Sloman Line, the Lafayette and the Pioneer companies, but many more pages are devoted to the better-known “household names,” such as the Great Western Steamship Co., the Cunard Line (its earliest non-contract voyages plus the 1852-75 voyages), the Anchor Line and the Norddeutscher Line. The single alphabetic ship-name index makes allocating individual covers to their shipping lines (and checking their voyage dates) very straightforward. Above all, this is a must-have reference book for all collectors with transatlantic covers of the 1838-75 period; each chapter also includes a concise historical background of each company.
The voyage date listings are straightforward to follow and will be very familiar to anyone who has used the 1988 book. Two significant improvements in the production of this book, when compared to the 1988 work, are immediately apparent. Firstly, there is the use of color illustrations throughout (most pages have pictures of the steamers or covers carried by them). Secondly, there is a good sprinkling of relevant newspaper paragraphs showing the sources of the dates and ports listed for every voyage. Almost every page of the tables includes very useful references to significant events of many of the voyages themselves, along with any extra details gleaned from the newspapers. Even though many newspapers are now available online, this book will save collectors many hours of surfing the net because everything is so easily found here merely by turning a page or two.
The only significant difference between this book and the 1988 volume is that it does not include line drawings of the handstamps most commonly found on the covers carried by these ships. The 1988 book had 25 pages of Dick’s fine line drawings of New York’s Exchange Office markings and illustrated a good number of those found on non-contract Ship Letter mails. Still, those with both books can easily use them in parallel (assuming one is at a desk rather than in an armchair … ). Collectors Club members should note that this new book is available now from the Club library, but every keen collector of postal history should acquire a copy.
— James Grimwood-Taylor
David Cobb Craig, First Class: America’s Marvelous Midcentury Stamps, photography and design by David Hamsley, foreword by Niko Courtelis, hardcover, 978-0764364716, 176 8½- by 11¼-inch pages, Schiffer Publishing, 2022, $39.99 list, available through some bookstores and Amazon.
There are many ways to look at a postage stamp, and our customary focus on the philatelic fundamentals of paper, ink, watermark, perforations, postmark or gum should not cause us to overlook the aesthetic dimension of stamps as miniature works of art.
And that’s before we even mention market value: it should go without saying that a stamp with a four-, five- or six-figure price tag is no more inherently worthy of our admiration than one that is still worth exactly what it says it’s worth; that is, something in the neighborhood of a nickel.
Craig’s evident delight in stamps as art has brought him to focus on an era many regard as the golden age of United States
stamp design: the roughly 15-year span from the late 1950s to the early 1970s when technological innovations such as the Giori press allowed multicolored reproduction to become commonplace, whilst the traditional approaches to stamp production, particularly the hallowed use of intaglio printing, were still in their heyday.
This intersection of new and old permitted artists such as Herbert Bayer, Stevan Dohanos, Paul Calle, Georg Olden, Gyo Fujikawa, Bradbury Thompson, Peter Max and many others to work with color in ways that earlier generations could only dream of, while still incorporating traditional technologies to render their work with an artisanal quality that has largely vanished today.
With few exceptions, the post office’s policy at this time favored a single stamp per commemorative issue, rather than the four to 10 stamps typically seen for most modern issues. That economy of canvas space compelled designers to condense each subject matter to its purest essence, often turning to abstract, modernistic interpretations rather than literal depictions. The resulting stamp issues were some of the most breathtaking works of miniature poster design ever seen, at least in this country.
Craig’s choice of method for reproducing these diminutive works in the medium of a coffee-table book pays big dividends. Rather than just tossing a single stamp on a scanner and hitting the button at the highest resolution available, he treats each stamp-sized work of art with the respect it deserves: he puts each one in front of a real camera and, yes, the difference is noticeable.
Thanks to the fact that all these stamps remain unbelievably cheap, we enjoy the luxury of admiring them in large blocks and sheets, which highlights the mechanical repetition that is part of postage stamps’ allure. This is eye candy par excellence.
There is something about zooming in so close at such high quality that subtly alters our perceptions of the art. Line-engraved intaglio is a tactile medium: lines and dots of ink are raised above the surface of the paper so you can actually feel them. This imparts a sensual character to intaglio that the more modern technologies of lithography and letterpress, represented by a few examples in this book, can never match. Alhough the intaglio process was historically developed with utilita-
rian security concerns uppermost in mind, it is by nature romantic and sexy.
Once upon a time, intaglio was used exclusively to render intricate machine-turned patterns and delicately sculpted faces. However, modern, post-Bauhaus de-
sign frequently utilizes large, flat areas of color and vernacular textures borrowed from the worlds of mechanical engineering and comic-book illustration. Rendering such modernistic design elements with dense intaglio cross-hatching would seem somewhat paradoxical, even perverse; yet the enlargements in this book show that, on the contrary, the technique yields a richness and texture to the stamps that, in the capable hands of the designers of this era, proved startlingly versatile.
If there is any criticism I could level at this book, it is that some of my personal favorite stamps were left out, including the magnificent 17¢ black, red and deep green Statue of Liberty airmail of 1971, with its sultry font and Pop-Art close-up of Liberty’s face. But that’s probably inevitable – and just gives me hope that Craig will produce a sequel.
— Matthew Healey
Specialized Catalogue of United States Counterfeits (2023, first edition), perfect bound, 102 6- by 9-inch pages plus cover, color illustrations, ISBN 978-0-89-487717-9, published by Amos Media, Sidney, Ohio., $24.99 list, available directly from Amos Media or from numerous dealers.
There’s an old adage: When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. While that’s not entirely applicable to the U.S. postal counterfeit situation, it’s fairly appropriate. Some of us have specialized in the collecting and study of postal counterfeits for many years (working with postal inspectors, I even wrote a monthly column on the subject in Linn’s Stamp News during the late 1980s to early 1990s). As a nod to serious students of counterfeits, the Scott Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps & Covers began listing them a few years ago, along with all known varieties of each.
Some postal counterfeits are far less convincing than others, but they still sell.
Until recently, however, material was extremely limited, and catalog listings took up only a few pages, as postal counterfeits rarely were a profitible crime unto themselves –their creation was often linked to currency counterfeiting and other more major crimes.
With the advent of the seemingly lucrative postal counterfeit trade coming out of China, all that has changed, and Scott determined that section in the Specialized was growing disproportionately. Listings in the 2022 catalog had grown to something approaching 30 pages, with no end of this burgeoning business in sight. As Jay Bigalke mentioned in his letter introducing the 2023 edition of the Specialized (more than 300 additional numbers had been added in the last year alone), the decision was made to remove the section from the Specialized, but to note that counterfeits exist with each affected stamp listing, which includes virtually every Forever stamp released for the past few years.
At right is a sheetlet of the freshly counterfeited Priority Mail stamp of 2022. Detailes of the genuine and counterfeit are shown below right.
The research work on postal counterfeits was saved, however, to create this important work – not only for those who collect counterfeits, but also for those trying to distinguish and avoid them.
Some stamps, such as the detail of one page of the 2018 Forever Flag stamp listing shown nearby (Scott 5260-63), has 56 collectible varieties known for 5260, 23 varieties of Scott 5261, 10 varieties of Scott 5262 and 18 known varieties of Scott 5263, covering nearly seven full pages of the new catalog for more than 100 varieties of counterfeits of the same design. It’s hard enough just to tell the real stamps from each other!
However, collectors are guided through the identification process with detailed notes for each.
There’s no question this catalog will need to be updated and expanded regularly, but I feel it is a “must have” for every serious collector of modern U.S. stamps.
— Wayne L. YoungbloodCharles A. Fricke, (Sesquicentennial Handbook) Plating of the First United States Postal Card (An Original Research Project), edited by Lewis Bussey, 126 pages, plus card cover, perfect bound, 8½- by 11-inch pages, color illustrations, ISBN 978-1-7351629-8-0, published by United Postal Stationery Society, $46 retail, $36.80 to UPSS members, postpaid domestically. Available from (https://www.upss.org/code/publications.php), or from UPSS Publications, PO Box 3982, Chester VA 23831-3982 (payment must accompany order).
In this, the sesquicentennial year of the release of the first postal card in the United States (Scott UX1 and UX3), the United Postal Stationery Society has reworked and re-released two important works on the 1¢ Liberty card of 1873 that were first released 50 years ago, in 1973. Both were authored/edited by the dean of this postal card, the late Charles A. Fricke (1921-2017), who also wrote dozens of articles on the 1¢ Liberty as well and likely knew about its origins, production and use better than any other individual.
The first book, A Contemporary Account of the First United States Postal card 1870-1875, was reviewed in the January-February issue of this journal (pp. 60-61).
The second, just released, is Plating of the First United States Postal Card (an Original Research Project). As with the companion volume, this book was extensively updated with new information; fresh images were added where possible. Lewis E. Bussey served as editor.
Over the course of its relatively short life, the 1¢ Liberty was produced in a quantity of close to 240 million cards on the then-new Hoe Stop-Cyliner Wood-
cut Press. Fricke painstakingly plated each position of the basic 72-subject plate (from two forms of 36 cards each), studying more than 12,000 cards in the process. The brown ink was abrasive and caused unnatural wear on the plates, leading to damage and repair that made the plating of this issue possible for Fricke. In addition to images of each of the basic 72 positions, there are also an additional 24 images of damaged plates, recut plates and late-state impressions, allowing the student to identify significant varieties.
Most collectors are at least aware of the so-called “Big Hole” flaw, shown nearby, which manifested itself in the upper-left frame of the design. But few collectors know that there are several different subtypes of the flaw, which was not progressive. A complete collection of all types of the Big Hole variety (from both large and small watermark types) would comprise a total of 16 cards. But the Big Hole is far from the only plate variety found on the 1¢ Liberty.
The book is organized first with a quick overview of production, as well as illustrations of different design elements, broken into easily understood georgaphical locations where flaws occurred, as is shown by the lettered Liberty vignette pictured above. Similar treatment is given to the frame and to the identifying “United States Postal Card” legend and accompanying design flourishes.
The rest of the book is devoted to identifying features of each subject from the plate, followed by five appendices, ranging from a “family tree” of proofs to a checklist of types and varieties. The most useful of these, in my opinion, is a two-page “quick reference” of flaws, showing thumbnail images of each.
Although interest in postal stationery seems to have waned somewhat in recent years, the updated and re-released sesquicentennial editions of these important references should help re-ignite some interest in an extremely fascinating postal card.
— Wayne L. Youngblood
Membership Update: Dec. 14, 2022, through Feb. 28, 2023. We are pleased to welcome the following new and reinstated (*) members to the Collectors Club.
Approved by the Board of Governors:
Jan. 31, 2023
Non-Resident
Bergstrom, Randal E. Omaha, Neb. Hering, Dr. James Stephen Marion, Ohio Wilson, Michael L. Doylestown, Pa.
Overseas
Carcenac, Dr. Francis Sarlat La-Caneda, France Sabon, Paul Geneva, Switzerland
Feb. 28, 2023
Resident Zierer, Ken* Upper Saddle River, N.J.
Non-Resident
McHaig, Sidney Anacortes, Wash. Vergara, Carlos Wheaton, Ill.
Congratulations to our new members. A membership certificate will be forwarded to the address on file for each. Please keep us updated as to current address and email so that we can continue to serve you. Electronic outreach is increasingly important as we continue to expand our offerings. Our website (www.collectorsclub.org) receives ongoing enhancements based on member feedback. Please contact us at info@collectorsclub.org with feedback, comments or questions.
Dues notices for 2023 have been sent to members’ email addresses. If we do not have a current, or valid email address, an invoice will be sent by mail. If you would like to update your contact information, please contact our Executive Secretary Andrea Matura at: info@collectorsclub.org
We regret that membership “drop notices” will be sent out after an additional outreach to members who have not renewed for 2023.
Please advise our office of address changes or other membership updates in a timely manner at info@collectorsclub.org.
Respectfully submitted, Mark E. Banchik, Membership Co-Chair Lawrence Hunt, Membership Co-Chair
To be offered at the Westpex Exhibition, San Francisco Marriott Waterfront Hotel (April 27- 30 2023)
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THE JEFFREY M. FORSTER COLLECTION
The 1869 Pictorial Issue Used in International Mails
April 2023
The Roger Brody Collection—1907 Jamestown and
Lawrence Haber Collection—1909 Issues
April 2023
The Yellowstone Collection of 1847 Issue Covers
May 2023
May 2023