Members’ Displays at the Weekend Meeting in Southport
24th & 25th March 2007

Terry Wagg:  Inspired by the Post & Telegraph Museum's publication in 2004 – "Copenhagen – Copenhagen viewed through its stamps" (available from the SPS Library), Terry took us on a walking tour of the Danish capital.  Terry commented that many of the stamps featured had been engraved by the master, Czeslaw Slania.

Per Erik Knudsen:  Locals from a number of Danish towns and cities.  Per Erik introduced his display by saying that forgeries were common but, almost without exception, these had been produced contemporaneously with the genuine issues, largely for supplying the demands of the German philatelic market.  Per Erik illustrated this by saying that forgeries of the first issue of Horsens locals were more common than the genuine stamps.  The second issue was not forged originally but the later overprints of this issue were.  The situation was further complicated in that later overprints were produced only for sale to collectors and dealers; there are no used examples
Per Erik then moved on to locals from Vejle which include many reprints, shades and paper differences.  Once again supplying the philatelic market resulted in dubious practices with some overprints being deliberately produced inverted to meet dealer demand.  Showing Svendborg locals Per Erik observed that some issues were readily available used and with nice cancellations, but that particular canceller was never used commercially.  The display concluded with a selection of locals from Randers.

John Godfrey:  The impact of the early years of World War II on airmails to and from Finland.  John began his display with two precursors: an Helsinki acceptance in May 1939 for the PanAm Clipper service from Marseille to the USA (although this service had to avoid overflying Spain due to the Civil War) and a cover carried from Finland to Canada at the end of June using the route via Southampton and Foynes.
A cover delayed by adverse weather in March 1940, addressed to Dallas it had been postmarked Helsinki on the 3rd, was in Lisbon on the 21st and left the Azores on the 26th and the via Bermuda to arrive in New York on 27th.  A blockade runner cover carried via Stockholm to Leuchars and then rail to Bristol where it was flown by BOAC to Lisbon and onwards to N. America via PanAm.
Examples of “long-way round” routings to Britain. Firstly a cover leaving in September 1940 flown – Turku-Stockholm-Riga-Moscow then rail to Siberia and ship to Japan and onwards to Canada, air to the east coast then on ship again to Britain.  A second example to Britain was again flown via Stockholm and Riga to Moscow then down to Baghdad where it was sent by rail to Basra, then via ship to Cape Town, Lagos and Lisbon and then completing its journey by air.
A cover from Eastern Karelia to the Finnish legation in Vichy and another from the Finnish Consulate in Tunis (then Vichy controlled) to Finland routed via Switzerland.

Don Millington:  (Mainly) Icelandic Revenues.  Don observed that designs of Revenues tended to remain unchanged for long periods and unlike postage stamps the higher values were often easier to find than the lower denominations.  The first revenues issue of 1918.  Examples of usage on waybills (paying import duty), bills of exchange and a life insurance policy.
The Tollur cancellations on postage stamps indicate their usage for paying customs duty; although this was possible in the period 1920-38 the cancellers were only available from 1924.  A parcel card where three separate fees were being collected indicated why an audit department was required by this branch of the postal service.
Revenue stamps had been introduced in Norway in 1873 and Don also showed two sheets of various issues and concluded with the Pakke Porto reprints of Greenland.

David Macdonald:  Danish bi-colours.  David remarked that although the Queen Victoria India issues were the world’s first stamps to be printed in two colours the Danes were not far behind.  David showed both the skilling and the first øre issues with paper varieties and various frame and matrix flaws and pearl flaws.  On cover examples included an 8 øre postal stationery card uprated with 12 øre for Cash on Delivery, cancelled with a green manuscript “Uindløst” – unpaid; a parcel card franked with 658 øre paying the 16 øre parcel weight, 480 øre insurance for the declared value of 28,500 kr., 12 øre CoD charge and 150 øre fee for counting the cash.

David Bond:  Danish West Indies.  The British opened a postal agency in St. Thomas in 1843 and examples of the C51 duplex and St. Thomas double arc cancels were shown.  A letter to Bourdeaux despatched from St. Thomas on 14 May 1862 which arrived in London on 2 June and was in Paris the following day.
The first Danish produced stamp issue was in 1855 and for the next 50 years the designs were as for the issues of different but with different colours and being denominated in cents.  David recounted the problems that could occur as the stamps were shipped from Demark to the Caribbean with sheets becoming stuck together and the various, somewhat extreme, treatments tried to separate the sheets after their receipt in the DWI.  Examples were shown of various issues including perforation differences, plate flaws and provisional overprints.  A shortage of the 2 cent denomination in 1902 was met not only by producing provisional overprints but also by bisecting 4 cent stamps.
The King Christian IX issue of April 1905 saw the introduction of a completely distinctive design for the DWI but also a currency change with all values now denominated in bits.  As well as the King Christian IX issues the subsequent King Frederik issue of 1907-8 were shown.  A postal stationery card of 5 bits denomination uprated 5 bits addressed to the Lord Bishop of Guyana in Georgetown from the rector of St. Croix and cancelled Frederiksted 20/4/06.  The final issue of the DWI was the King Christian X issue of 1915-16.  On 31 March 1917 the US purchased the territory for $25million dollars, however the DWI stamps remained valid until 30 September.  David’s display concluded with the Christmas seals issued for the DWI from 1907-16.

Brian Flack:  Postcards showing visits by Danish monarchs to Iceland; the first such was King Christian IX’s visit in 1874.  Brian showed a later postcard reproducing a photograph taken on that occasion.  For King Frederik VIII’s visit in 1907 a large variety of postcards were produced.  Although the King spent only 3 to 4 days in the country he travelled widely, often on horseback.  The royal party had arrived in Iceland aboard the Birma., however a side trip to Greenland was made aboard the SS Island.  Postcards depicting the visit in 1921 of King Christian X were also shown, with motor transport by then having noticeably replaced the four-legged variety.

John Smith:  A Faroese miscellany, including Thorshavn cancellations; postcards - several depicting fowling and egg collecting and, from more recent times, examples of FDCs other than those issued by the Postverk Føroya.

Peter Rooke:  Pre-philatelic covers of Denmark illustrating rates and routes.  A 1750 cover to Husum.  A cover to France prepaid to Hamburg then charged for the rest of the route on arrival in Draguignan.  Examples of the additional charges for delivery over and above the charge for the routing between the post offices.  A cover of 1818 charged 15skiliings, 12 for routing and 3 for local delivery.  Two later examples from Randers which indicate that the local delivery fee was 1 skilling whereas 2 skillings appears to have been the rate in other towns.
Official post marked KT (Kongelige Tjeneste) or KTMA (Kongelige Tjeneste med Attest): a cover marked KTMA 332 the digits indicating the number of the particular certificate permitting post-free usage.  A letter from Copenhagen to Skælskør with a boxed Talt mark.

Mike Elliott:  Finnish TPOs, particularly on the St. Petrersburg – Helsinki line.  Every station on the line hhad its own identifying number.  Initially, in the 1870s these ran from 1 for St. Petersburg to 35 for Helsinki.  The later addition of new stations resulted in three re-numberings with Helsinki becoming 38, then 41 and finally 45.
The Finska Post bridge cancellers were introduced in 1888; in the 1890s these were abbreviated to KPXP to make room for the addition of Cyrillic names as part of the Russification of the Finnish postal system.  All foreigm mail entered Finland via St. Petersburg, this was illustrated by a postal stationery card from Birmingham to Turku sent in 1882.  A Russian postal stationery card sent in January 1816 from Finland to Romania (written in French) illustrated that Russian franking was required for all foreign mails at this time.  The mailvan “2 bis” cancellation only used on the Petrograd to Viipuri section between 1814 and 1917.  Cancellers with the Cyrillic script erased were used after the republic was declared on 6 December 1917; an example dated 6 November 1918 was shown.

Peter Hinitt:  Covers to and from Denmark in the 1st and 2nd World Wars.  Of the 10 covers from WWI several were in respect of Russian PoWs including one to Hungary from a Russian internee in Denmark and another to Lódz going no further than the sorting office at Copenhagen railway station where it was marked as undeliverable.  The effects on postal deliveries in the immediate aftermath of the end of the war were also illustrated. A Danish Red Cross cover addressed to Poznan in May 1919 but returned as undeliverable because at that point the area was under military occupation and did not become part of Poland until the following month.  Another Danish Red Cross cover from a PoW to the Eastern Ukraine in October 1919 was cacheted (in English) “Service suspended” as both the direct route and that via Turkey were closed and the destination was on the frontline of fighting between Bolshevik and White Russian forces.
The WWII section a cover of May 1944 from a German naval officer serving as the harbour captain at Nyborg to his wife in Kassel.  This contained its original contents a letter that demonstrated how it was news of ordinary, mundane, everyday events that helped families to stay close in wartime.

John Thomlinson:  John’s rather cryptic title for his display, “A Depression over Norway” was explained by the fact that this was an interim report on his study of the shades of the various posthorn issues printed in blue.  John confessed that he found it far from straightforward to distinguish even the basic shades listed in the catalogue.  He had been using a scanner and computer software to obtain more objective measures of the colours in terms of Hue, Saturation and Brightness (HSB).  He had started with the recent laser printed stamps as he had expected these to be most consistent.  The measurements tended to fall into two distinct groupings – dark blue and powder blue with Hue measurements of 230 and 217 respectively.  John is now working backwards through earlier printings of blue posthorns and some interesting groupings are being obtained.
Jihn also reported on an ongoing study of flaws on NK42 the 5 øre green of 1882-5.  These stamps were printed after C. Johnsen had taken over the contract and flaws are known to be common.  So far over 400 potential flaws have been identified and work continues to determine which are consistent.

Birthe King:  Thirteen examples of correspondence between members of the Holbøll family (ancestors of Einar Holbøll who created the first Christmas seal).  Although based in Schleswig Holstein several members of the family travelled widely.  Carl Peter (1795 – 1856) as well as being a botanist and zoologist served for several years as the Danish Inspector in Greenland.  Two letters from Carl Peter whilst in Greenland in 1848 back to his daughter Ludviga in Denmark.  One of these carried privately by Dr Rasmussen who was travelling back to Denmark via the Faroes.
Other letters to Ludviga from her elder brother, Frederik Ludvig, whilst serving with the Danish Navy.  During the war of 1848 all mail from the Danish forces could be sent free of charge.  Frederik Ludvig was aboard the Pilen which was on patrol off Fyn.  He later served on the Christian VIII which was destroyed by fire in the battle of Ekernförde on 5 April 1849.  Frederik survived and was held as a PoW for a while, later returning to service aboard the Eidern.
Letters of 1852 and 1855 from Carl Peter, once more in Greenland, to his younger son Harald.  Carl Peter and Frederik Ludvig were both lost when aboard the Baldur which sank en route to Greenland in 1856.

Chris King:  Postal rates across the Danish border 1865 –1980.  Following the 2nd Schleswig War 1n 1864 Schleswig and Holstein were lost to Denmark however a border agreement of 1865 allowed local cross border mail to be sent at the national rates.  Examples of the original 1¼ groschen and 4 skilling rates were shown.  From 1 May 1868 the German rate was reduced to 1 groschen and examples shown included a 1 groschen large breastplate franked cover from Toftlund to Fauholdt pr. Ribe of 6 July 1874.  Pfenning rates were introduced in Germany on 1st July 1875.  The original agreement had been made before the advent of the postcard and the introduction of a 10 øre overseas postcard rate by Denmark also on 1 July 1875 introduced the anomaly that it was cheaper to send a letter than a postcard from a Danish border town across the German border.
Up until 1900 the applicable border area was defined by named towns, although there were frequent additions to the lists of towns (and some deletions also).  A new agreement on 1 April 1900 expanded the agreement to cover all Danish and German post offices that were less than 30 kms apart.  The German inflation period resulted in the applicable border rate changing almost on a weekly basis.

Charles Leonard:  Finland – the Bore Steamship Company.  Charles began his display with a “forerunner”, a 1898 postcard from Sweden addressed c/o Captain Rusko in Turku.  Some two years later Rusko was appointed captain of the Bore, the first vessel of the newly formed Bore Steamship Company.  Operating on the Turku – Stockholm route a number of the publicity cards for the service were shown.  However on New Year’s Eve 1899 the Bore ran aground and eventually sank in the approaches to Stockholm.  Over the next 16 months mail was recovered and all three of the varieties of label attached to the recovered mail were displayed.  The vessel was raised and repaired and put back into service in 1901 under the name of Bore 1, another vessel the Bore 2 had been acquired in the meantime.  During WWI both vessels were requisitioned by the Russian Navy.  It was during this period in 1918 that the original Bore again suffered a major misfortune catching fire whilst in Hanko harbour and having to be scuttled to extinguish the blaze.  The vessel was sold back to the Bore Steamship Company in 1926 and was again put into service.
In April 1950 she ran aground at Storgrynnan in the Åland islands.  Rescued mail that had been affected by seawater and was going beyond Sweden received either a label or cachet in French or an English cachet.  In 1957 the Bore Steamship Company was injected into a joint venture that formed the Silja Line.

Peter Hellberg:  Swedish Postage Due Etiquettes.  Postage due fees were marked in manuscript until 1911 when the first of the distinctive green etiquettes was introduced.  As underpayment was normally collected from the sender where possible the etiquettes were normally only used where the sender could not be identified or on incoming international mail.
In all there have been 16 main types of etiquette.  Initially the etiquettes were undenominated and the fee due was entered in manuscript.  Later denominated etiquettes provided several varieties as rates changed; however often an old etiquette’ printed value was “uprated” in manuscript.
As well as normal usage of the etiquettes to indicate postage due, they were also employed on parcel cards where they indicated a demand for the payment of the incoming inspection fee.  Such usage on a despatch note sent from England in October 1971 was shown.

Mike Tuttle:  Icelandic mail through Edinburgh, the main port of entry for Great Britain.  A 10 aur postal stationery card sent to Vienna in 1888 with the large framed SHIPLETTER mark used from 1865 to 1888.  A smaller version was introduced in 1880 and so usage overlapped during the 1880s; the smaller mark being withdrawn in 1895.  Moving on to the straight-line Paquebot marks, Mike observed that Hosking originally listed three varieties but that seven are now catalogued and an eighth is now thought to exist.  In 1937 a machine Paquebot cancellation was introduced and the following year a double cds cancellation, Mike noted that the latter was particularly difficult to find on cover.
Mike concluded with postmarks incorporating the Edinburgh town number of 131 on Icelandic originated mail.  Beginning with the two bar Duplex cancels issued in 1894, Twin Arc cancels and combined datestamps were displayed.

Eric Keefe:  Finnish Maritime Mail 1889 – 1938.  A cover sent April 1889 from Helsinki to Enköping in Sweden.  Examples from Helsinki, Turku and Viipuri of the boat cachets allocated to all major ports for incoming mail.  The “Från utlandet” postmark used during the 1890s in Hanko on a postcard from Sweden.
A parcelcard from March 1930 from Denmark to Viipuri with various cachets.  The “Skeppsbrev” cancel used in Helsinki from the 1920s until 1934.  In the 1920s a route opened between Helsinki and Tallinn and an oval Deutsche Seepost Stettin – Helsingfors cachet from 2 April 1938 was shown.  A 1937 postcard entering the Finnish postal system at Petsamo and with the cachet of the M/S Jäämeri.
Two non-philatelic covers carried from Tristan da Cunha to Cape Town aboard the sail training ship K/L Suomen Joutjen.

Bill Ross:  Some selected Åland items including recent acquisitions.  An 1830 cover from Åbo to Skarpans.  A prepaid letter of 1872 from Grimsby to Vårdö with paid beyond cachet (see December’s Contact).  The M/S Rospiggen cachet (see March Contact).  Postcard from Svalbard (Advent Bay August 1899 cancellation) to Mariehamn.  A display of the Finnish post bus issues and a cover franked with a stamp from the 1952 issue carried on the Åland post bus.

Alan Totten:  An alphabetic pot pourri of Norwegian philately ranging from  A for Airmail to T for Tourism.  But for the 20 sheet limit on displays I am sure Alan could have gone on to complete the alphabet – including Æ, Ø, and Å!

Derek Thompson:  A selection of Danish postal stationery and early postcards.  A postcard from Copenhagen to London requesting a tender for supply of a locomotive – fully specified in the space provided by the card!  A card from Copenhagen on 15 September 1916 to Shanghai via Siberia then redirected to Peking arriving there on 17 November.  In comparison a card from Copenhagen to Hamburg, took five days to complete its journey in 1918 despite having an express label.  Examples of postal stationery cut outs used to frank an ordinary envelope.

Olga Ellis:  Olga recalled that it was the stamps on mail from her Norwegian grandmother that first sparked her interest in collecting.  She recalled being told the story of the battle of Stikelstad when an envelope arrived franked with the 30 øre value of the issue marking the 9th centenary of the death of St. Olav.  Later she was particularly taken by the 30 øre value of the Tourist issue of 1938 showing Jølster in Sunnafjørd.  Olga’s display was based on this issue.  Items displayed included a FDC, this was the first Norwegian issue for which a Førstedagsbrev cachet was used.  Souvenir proofs of the three stamps in a booklet produced by the printer, Emil Moestue.  Olga recounted how she had been lucky in a ballot organised by the Oslo Philatelic Club and been able to acquire a proof of the 15 øre value depicting a reindeer at Finse.  Various papers and flaws were also shown.
I always find it interesting to hear what got a collector interested in a particular country or collecting theme and this was a fascinating example from Olga of such a display.  We will be exploring this theme further at our December meeting at the Swedish Church – see the enclosed Programme Card.

Alan Pearse:  Alan had entitled his display “Good Old Sweden” and we were treated to some very high quality early covers and postal history.  Beginning with a letter of 1695  which although internal was addressed in French; from 1686 until the early years of the 18th century mail was either marked with a crowned B (Betalt) or crowned F (Fri).  Stockholm was one of four offices to be issued with a postmark that included the town name.  The Stockholm ribbon mark was illustrated on a letter of April 1735 to Tavastenäs.
An unusual piece of military mail was a set of orders giving notice of a future training camp sent successively to three NCOs in 1837.  The first Swedish unpaid mark was illustrated on a cover of 1846 with a strike reading “OBETALT FR./ DANNMARK/ H:BORG 16 NOV 46”.

Albert Megginson:  A philatelic tour of Malmö.   A wide variety of registration etiquettes on incoming international registered mail.  The railway station postmark.  Exhibition cancels and postcards.  Mail posted on board Swedish Naval vessels was bundled together and on arrival in Sweden received that port’s postmark; an example from H.M. Dristigheten with the Malmö Naval postmark for July 1909.
This concluded the members’ displays; as several members remarked a fine variety of territories and topics presented and the overall standard as good as we have seen.  Our thanks to all who displayed, informed and enlightened us.  The members were invited this year to vote for the display that they found the most entertaining and the overall winner was Birthe King who received the inaugural Margaret Webber Memorial award from our Lady Chairman [photo].