Week #2016.50 on SébPhilatélie

Wednesday 21 December: The Post Office Without in South Georgia.
In the two last issues of Gibbons Stamp Monthly (dated November and December), Hugh Osborne told the postal history of the British subantarctic territory of South Georgia through the many lacks the post office of Grytviken suffered along the decades from 1904 (without a post office!) until 1932 (and the incredible "32" missing because there are only 31 days a month after all!!).

Thursday 22 December: Current fiscal stamps in Cameroun.
In November Camerunese medias were chatting over all the rises and newly taxes the government was preparing for 2017 to finance all the country needs to be competitive in the context of a new free trade agreement with the European Union.

The current communal and bilingual 200 CFA franc stamp (via Cameroon-Info.net).

Among the solutions an increase of the fiscal stamp needed for a A4 size document from 200 francs CFA to 600 francs, and larger sizes from 400 to 1000.

The most affected by this decision would be high school and university students who need it to fill the exam forms, and after that the public service competitive exam... in which a birth certificate has to be added with one more communal stamp...

Let's hope that foreign businessmen and tourists will give enough taxes per hotel nights.

Friday 23 December: Tea to perfume mint infusion and Gibraltar stamps to spice Moroccan postal history.
How the British entrepreneurship affected Morocco is the object of geographer Christian Grataloup in French bimestrial Carto magazine: how did it come that Moroccan began to drink mint tea in the 1850s while they had been drinking mint infusion.

Where did that tea came from?

Yes, the English are at fault again: how to get rid of the mass of tea leaves that could not be sold to the Russians anymore? A side effect of the Crimean War. Thank God for the conquest and keeping of the Rock of Gibraltar!

Veüe du d'Estroit de Gibraltar, et des Environs, avec les tranchées du Siège mis en 1704 (Bibliothèque nationale de France, availbale and zoom-in-able on Gallica).

In parallel Richard Garcia continued his articles on Gibraltar classical philately in November Gibbons Stamp Monthly with how postmistress Margaret Creswell and her successors managed the British post agencies in Morocco from the tiny colony.

Saturday 24 December: Postal Lego.
Florence Fraboulet, Director of the French Association for the Development of Philately (ADPhile), explained her actions towards children and schools with a strong sentence: "Make stamp alive in a world that doesn't see it anymore".

The first Lego post office in 1982 (Model 6362 instructions via Brickipedia).

Can the evolution of some major toy brands show and correct this trend? Are Lego fan kids, for example, still educated in postal services today?

With the help of the Brickipedia in English and Wiki Lego in French, my Christmas article show that the golden age of postal services in Lego City was the 1980s, with two little postal vehicle updates in 1998 and 2008.

But, express parcel services (planes, trucks, trains, container ships) were already winning in 2008. Sould we be hopeful for 2018???

A postman among the ninjas (minifigure from Model 70751 via Wiki Lego).

Perhaps, look at the Ninjago brand: fantasy ninja sets of Lego, completed on TV by an animated series. One of the second role is a mailman.

A new philatelic webshop for African bureaux

During a side conference on October 5th at the Universal Postal Union Congress in Istanbul, Turkey, the public postal operator of Morocco (Poste Maroc in French, Barid Al Maghrib in Arabic) and seven fellow operators of Africa announced the launch of a common philatelic sale website: the Hub philatélique africain or Africa Philately Shop in the two languages available at  http://www.africaphilatelyshop.post .

A press realease was posted by Poste Maroc on his website the same day, explaining the purpose and project around this new tool.

The Moroccan stamp announcing the Africa Philately Shop, printed by the French post's printer plant Phil@poste Boulazac (Poste Maroc).

Host of the website, Poste Maroc issued a nine dirham stamp for the occasion, with the officials signing first day covers.

The illustration is as perforated simple and efficient as the website that I suspect could be easily used with the touchscreen of a smartphone - the object whose text-and-phone only form has permitted to develop banking and commercial services for many, unhoped for during the landline period.

The six countries whose postal operators entered references on the Hub are; Burkina Faso (2), Ivory Coast (7), Mali (1, the 400 francs Serval - the animal in thanks to the French military operation), Mauritania (10), Senegal (12) and the host (2 stamps, 1 minisheet, 3 commemorative covers).

Part can be selected for order, the other not. But I didn't finalize a new client inscription and place an order: the website is currently missing some legal page to reassure the customer and not all necessary page to order were translated in English.

Though when finished, the operation seems promising. The list of participants could reach Centrafrica and the Democratic Republic of Congo, partners of the initiative. And all those who can sign in in the future: officials of the Universal Postal Union and of the West African States Postal Conference that replaced in 2012 the West African Postal Conference, created 2001.

The press release explained the long-term project: that the philatelic new issue trade can be kept under the continental operators' control and to "open the prospect to establish an African platform for e-commerce" (my amateurish translation from the French).

It reminds the multi-sellers site host by Mauritius Post or the World Online Philatelic Agency (WOPA) host by Gibraltar, available in six languages and payment in twenty currencies, even some not used in the represented countries. As of today, WOPA proposed clients to look and buy directly stamps and souvenirs of 39 postal operators from more than 20 European States (a lot of overseas and autonomous regions and three operators from Asia, but more and more "normal" bureaux such as Austria, Croatia, the United Kingdom and, recently, la France).

As soon as the Africa Philatelic Hub/Shop is up and running smoothly, there will one more source for informations on African countries issues and stamps eventually (Ah... what of the postal agencies?) available in the local post offices.

Francophonies in December 2015 British philatelic press

Some very specialisaties from the French speaking world are available in this month British philatelic monthly magazines. Let's explore.

In The London Philatelist, James R. Taylor studies the diagonal overprint "ST - PIERRE  M - on" printed on the French colonies general issue in 1891. In Saint Pierre and Miquelon two series were overprinted: the then current Commerce by Alphée Dubois and the leftover stocks of imperforated Peace and Commerce series by Jules Auguste Sage.

This action was initiated in the whole of the French colonial empire to fight monetary speculation between colonies. Taylor went from how catalogues have reflected them to false overprints and varieties.



Change of scenery to contemporary countries not visited by the French philatelic press, but that Gibbons Stamp Monthly's authors visit regularly: the Western African countries and their really issued stamps, the overprints and, this December 2015, the cancellations they receive.

Nicholas Pertwee describes and lists the single circle postmarks used this two and half decades in Benin. That should convince some philatelists there are things to find in these countries collectors neglect, either because of their excessive issues by private philatelic agencies, or because of their modest stamp policy, too discreet to be caught by Western radars.

The article ends a first part in November about double circle cancels from 1970s to the late 1990s.


Finally, still in  Gibbons, David Horry is beginning a new monthly column of humoristic diversion of real stamps. After King George VI (never) unissued stamps parodies (full book sold at Murray Payne, the KG6 specialist), he is struggling with the secret archives of the Political Warfare Executive.

This section of the British Foreign Office was created August 1941 to create propaganda operations to discourage the populations and forces of the enemies.

The first of Horry's creation is a French protectorate Morocco stamp overprinted "Deutsche Reichspost in Marokko" which, the legendary tale told, was created by the PWE in May 1942, sneaked out by the United States Embassy in France and presented to French collaboration minister Pierre Laval to make him believe the German Reich was going to take over Morocco.. in the hope it would sever both countries' relations.

David Horry having a large sense of humour, he warns you of the false PWE falsification created to steal the good money of collectors by showing another stamp of Morocco overprinted by a modern printer :)

Relations between a postman and his datestamp in Morocco

He wished to satisfy a French tourist who was sending a postcard inside an envelope for a friend's son (any reference to my situation is purely fortuitous :p). A Moroccan postman at Meknes-Medina office had some difficulties with the inkage of his datestamp.

Four trials on the A5 left side of the cover. Even the last one, bottom right, shows a beginning of wear in the N of Meknes: its oblical bar is shorter and starts low.

Thank you, postman, for your work.

Round stamp from Morocco

Today, a round stamp from Morocco that I found in a box full of stamps on fragments at a stamp dealer in the Passage des Panoramas, in Paris.
The WNS site (index of the UPU and the WADP, completed by the postal administrations themselves) gives us the issue date of 31st of October 2003 for the "Solidarity Week". Its search engine shows us that this is a yearly series of round stamp and of photographs depicting king Mohammed VI acting with solidarity. Finally, the Morocco Post's website in French explains that the Mohammed V Foundation for the solidarity works to help poor people in the country.

The round form and the perforations (4 holes on the right and left of the holes of the stamp itself) remains me of somethin French collectors know very well : this round stamp was printed by the ITVF (French public postage stamps and fiduciary values printer). ITVF initials appears on the stamp (nowadays look for his new name since 2006 : Phil@poste). In 1998, ITVF created systems of perforation to make stamp round. The first one was issued in France for the Soccer World Cup. It has quickly proposed it to his usual post client and visibly Morocco Post adopts it well.

In France, after this success (48 millions of '98 round stamps sold) and certainly to make profit of the new machines, ITVF has regularly been asking by La Poste to print yearly heart stamps for Valentine's Day since 1999, and oval ones for Rugby World Cup. French territories' post did the same.

So remember to look at the printer's name (if visible), it helps sometimes to understand how postal administrations prepared their stamps.