By a sad mail,the president of the Club philatélique franco-britannique, Robert Marion, announced that one of French philatelic elders Jacques Renollaud passed away, Saturday 17 September, aged 90.
Former officer of the Club and of the Irish Philatelic Circle, the European Academician was known for the study of the French-British postal relations until 1855 and of the Irish-British ones until the 1920s. In Britannica, the periodical of the Club, he helped members follow the news of the Machin stamp saga.
He was still present at Europhilex 2015 in London and at the World Stamp Show in New York last Spring with his catalogue of the Mail of French Prisoners-of-War in England 1744-1815 (available through the Club). You can read, on the Club philatélique brainois website, Mr Renollaud's summary on his collection proposed in an European Academy of Philately's exhibition during Braphil'15, marking the bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo.
Showing posts with label prephilately. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prephilately. Show all posts
Thursday, September 22, 2016
Sunday, September 11, 2016
Week #2016.36 on SébPhilatélie
Experts, a lot of books and a tv series... with a look back to the mid-2000s.
Sunday 4 September: Expertise offensive in France, still going.
For almost a year now, associate experts Calves son and Jacquart are continuing expending their presence after they open their expertise certificate index on the web that allow to check a certificate a buyer or an exhibition judge wish to control.
This September, they are now publishing a monthly column in Timbres magazine alerting the public with the fraudulent and false stamps, cancellations or overprints they encountered recently.
November 2015, expert master Jean-François Brun, still active but perhaps not into communication as his two competitors, launched a pedagogic blog with pdf file to explain and teach the collectors on the problem of identifying frauds.
In the last article, he highlighted the lightness of stamp catalogue that have refused to print that a 70 cent Paquebot Pasteur can not exist without overprint (its issue was chaotic because of the 1939 declaration of war), allowing the hopeful doubt of having found a rarity... Then he reminds consumers that a dealer should not expertize the material he knows he is going to sell.
Wednesday 7 September: The 1836 Anglo-French Postal Convention by Geoffrey Lewis.
Having read large part of Australian postal historian Geoffrey Lewis' book, I proposed my literary critic - despite being a moron in the field he studied :)
The first chapter is the most important because he graphically explains what one should look at on a 1830s letter that went through the British-French postal road. Both postal administrations then created a mean to be sure that incoming and outgoing mail were going to be paid whatever the origin and destination in the whole world.
And that's why the other chapters are very interesting, even if quite repetitive. Lewis established them by marcophilic and geographic topics. Yes, he repeats a lot the same principles, but you easily find all the intels you need to decipher the marks on that particular letter you are holding.
To see how Geoffrey Lewis works, a pdf summary of one of his conference is available on the American Philatelic Society's Postal History Symposium website. He participated to the 9th edition at the New York Stampshow last May-June.
The book is published by the Royal Philatelic Society London.
Saturday 10 September: Philatelic t-shirt in The West Wing.
Article available in both French and English.
And I am still interested in any information on who designed this t-shirt, please.
Sunday 4 September: Expertise offensive in France, still going.
For almost a year now, associate experts Calves son and Jacquart are continuing expending their presence after they open their expertise certificate index on the web that allow to check a certificate a buyer or an exhibition judge wish to control.
This September, they are now publishing a monthly column in Timbres magazine alerting the public with the fraudulent and false stamps, cancellations or overprints they encountered recently.
November 2015, expert master Jean-François Brun, still active but perhaps not into communication as his two competitors, launched a pedagogic blog with pdf file to explain and teach the collectors on the problem of identifying frauds.
In the last article, he highlighted the lightness of stamp catalogue that have refused to print that a 70 cent Paquebot Pasteur can not exist without overprint (its issue was chaotic because of the 1939 declaration of war), allowing the hopeful doubt of having found a rarity... Then he reminds consumers that a dealer should not expertize the material he knows he is going to sell.
Wednesday 7 September: The 1836 Anglo-French Postal Convention by Geoffrey Lewis.
Having read large part of Australian postal historian Geoffrey Lewis' book, I proposed my literary critic - despite being a moron in the field he studied :)
 |
| The book cover (Books on philately. The philatelic bilbiopole). |
And that's why the other chapters are very interesting, even if quite repetitive. Lewis established them by marcophilic and geographic topics. Yes, he repeats a lot the same principles, but you easily find all the intels you need to decipher the marks on that particular letter you are holding.
To see how Geoffrey Lewis works, a pdf summary of one of his conference is available on the American Philatelic Society's Postal History Symposium website. He participated to the 9th edition at the New York Stampshow last May-June.
The book is published by the Royal Philatelic Society London.
Saturday 10 September: Philatelic t-shirt in The West Wing.
Article available in both French and English.
 |
| The philatelic collectibles on the heroin's shoulders (The West Wing, 2005). |
Sunday 11 September: Belgium in the Biblioteca Sebastiana.
Thank to a gift this week, I present the three Belgian books in my small library: the 50th edition of the Official Catalogue of Belgium (2005), Patrick Maselis' 2005 book on the thirteen trials of creating colonies in the whole world from the Azores Islands, known as the Flemish Islands back in the mid-15th century, until the still Belgian inhabitants of Villaguay, Argentina.
 |
| Cover of the Englihs and French edition of Vincent Schouberechts' book (the editor website). |
2016 new publication I received is Vincent Schouberechts' The Post Books: 500 Years of history in Europe (Lannoo edition). Through the study of fifty documents, he told the larger public possible how the postal system was established, has grown in Europe from the 16th century until the General Union of Post that make international sending of mail easier.
A common line helps organised the book: the birth and death of the postal monopoly of the Thurn und Taxis family in the Holy Empire. On the side, the author proposes trips to the Antiques, Middle Ages and Space mail. Let's hope it attracts new people towards the study and collections of old documents and postal history.
The most attentive of you will remember the special exhibition proposed by the Club of Monte Carlo at Europhilex London 2015: 20 documents for 20 events that changed the world. The enjoy this book and the pdf of the exhibit still downloadable.
Sunday, August 28, 2016
Week #2016.33 and 34 on SébPhilatélie
A good one and a half week of writing thank to fellow philatelists who seriously participate to forums (you should read forums), and to societies broadcasting their members' reasearch.
Thursday 18 August: Classical postal history of Algeria to 1851.
A very well illustrated and full of postal history and historical knowledge conference at the Collectors Club in New York last June 15th: Kenneth Nilsestuen present the mail (mostly from Europeans) from Algeria starting with a 1603.
Look for the engravings and pictures Kenneth Nilsestuen used to put the viewers in Algeria as it was before the French invasion in the 1830s, during which mail increased in number.
Filmed conference available on the Collectors Club website or on Vimeo.
Next part on 15 November with the 1849-1876 period.
Saturday 20 August: Let's Cinderell in London mid-September!
The proclaimed very first World Cinderella Congress will take place in London between Friday 16 and Sunday 18 September, thank to the Cinderella Stamp Club.
From an exhibition at Stamp dealers show at the Business Design Centre, Islington, to lectures, collections and trade tables at the Royal Philatelic Society building, Marylebone, where you could admire the memorabilia of past British Philatelic Congresses donated by the late Francis Kiddle.
Kiddle, a Cinderella specialist, is also remembered through a booklet that reproduced a handful of lectures he gave at Congresses, including three showing how Cinderella collection has become more and more included into philately since the 1980s.
Monday 22 August: Stanley Gibbons' back to philately. Finally!
A summary in French of what the StampBoards participants were commenting since the beginning of the decade: how the Stanley Gibbons company was losing its soul and financial safety.
After creating a mastermind in Jersey, the company bought both competitor specialist stamp dealers and high priced good trades. In a way seeing Spink auction house as its main enemy.
But, the marketplace website strategy was costly, the Jersey heads most interested in profit than products and consumers and the London Stock Exchange players were not amused.
Starting last Spring, the Boards of directors went fast: they let the executive officers refinanced the company while putting forward their new colleague, non executive director/stamp collector Harry Wilson... And as the Gibbons share was down to 7 pence, on 15 July, the Jersey heads were made redundant and Wilson's capacity become executive.
Just in time for the publishing of the August issue of Gibbons Stamp Monthly and its three page interview by the fireplace with Wilson that you can even read for free (Buy our shares, please!)
Capitalism and Game of Thrones...
Tuesday 23 August: Somalia postal service back on track.
Those who follow carefully the evolution of states knew that a Federal Government was established in Somalia in 2012, a first since the country collapsed into civil war and war tribe control with a hint of islamism since 1991.
A government whose power was first limited to the control of Mogadishu airport, before a 2013 international operation put a limit to the nuisance of the islamist militias (still there however). Somalia Post was resurrected late 2013 but was not very operative...
... Until two collectors shut the news on their blogs and StampBoards. David Langan, a world postcard collectors, visited the Somalian capital early August and visited the Great Post Office there. Surprised but pleased with the interest, the officials there gave him a tour and accepted the mail he's got for himself and Jinesh Joseph, a world countries collector.
For now, Somalia Post is renovating and opening post offices throughout the country, even in separatist Somaliland it seems. Thank to an agreement with Emirates Post, it receives mail from overseas but delivers it only at the counter... Put your correspondent's phone number along the address.
What the hope? Next January 2017, Somalia Post wish to propose a postbox service for people to collect their mail, and that they can send mail abroad like our two bloggers.
Friday 26 August: An American trilogy (1): cultural diversity.
Even if I know that diversity in the United States society is not without difficulties, I wrote that article to confront the current French problems with diversity to the philatelic happenings in the US and Canada.
The French problems: fighting jihadism and islamism by banning (over)dressed women from the beaches and non pork eating kids from school restaurants doesn't feel very effective to me, even if I am no intelligence agent, nor lawyer.
On the North America side: USPS regularly issued religious holidays stamps for all religions present in the society. A stamp for the end of Ramadan in France... Do you actually want more kilometers of ill-argumented comments on social networks and under newspapers web articles!
Last February, Canada Post reminded all the memory of the only Black soldiers in the Canadian Great War history. Their role was limited to cut wood in the French Jura mountains and suffered the very cold weather there, almost no of them face combat.
Black people on a French stamp can be done, only among the famous trilogy Governor Éboué, writers and politicians Senghor and Césaire. But only on confidential commemorative please, the last time a kid looks not European enough on the current definitive Marianne of the Youth... Hateful comments by readers.
Hopefully, the French post tries to show the diversity of the French population: last June, at the end of the schoolyear was issued a stamp for the 150 years of the Ligue de l'enseignement, an association that promoted all kind of activitives for the teachings of children. La Poste hired caricaturist Plantu (founder of Cartooning for peace) that explicit described the girl on the stamp in the September issue of Timbres magazine.
A shame this stamp was not issued in front of the news camera in a primary school by the Minister of Education on next Thursday, the first day of school in France.
Saturday 27 August: An American trilogy (2): hyperactiv philatelic research.
"Roads not taken" could summarize my impression after many years of watching French organised philately from afar and discovering British and US ones closer through the Royal Philatelic Society London's activities and library.
This opinion strenghtens with the 27-28 October Grand Opening of the American Philatelic Society library in a former match factory in Bellefonte, in the middle of Pennsylvania.
The American Philatelic Reasearch Library has now the space it needed for many years to come, to host members and researchers, lend books on site and by post. In Paris, there is a philatelic library on top of the postal museum... Not sure the same standard.
The speaker of the opening will be David Beech, retired Curator of the Philatelic Collections of the British Library... Sure, there are philatelic books and periodicals at the France National Library, even some digitised... But no specialist portal about them. Better used the British managed Crawford Library project for that purpose.
As I say in French: You may fish something philatelic on the BNF's Gallica website. Fishing's good to contemplate open air nature without being annoyed by fishes.
"Roads not taken": I would say that the French philatelist unconsciously chose local associations over specialised associations and project societies (RPSL, Collectors Clubs, etc.), opposed to what some decided in the UK and the US.
On The Stamp Collecting Forum whose recent threads inspired this American Trilogy, when one asked for advices on how to begin an exhibition, steps, stationery materials, etc. The answer wasn't advices, it was a link to the American Association of Philatelic Exhibitors!!!
I fear to discover one day the answers I'd get on a French forum or at an association sunday meeting in France.
Sunday 28 August: An American Trilogy (3): My name's Tomato.
I became aware of the existence of Tomato on Wednesday 10 August. It was standing there in my peripherical vision, on the side wall of the last automated gas station in center Montpellier, France.
Add Tomato locker as one of your address and the next time you order from web hypermarket Amazon, you can retrieve your packet here and not at home.
Amazon is continuing to propose new ways of distributing products: street lockers, drones one day?
But if you listen carefully to people's testimony, like on The Stamp Collecting Forum, you will discover that the new actors of the packet indutry do still need the historic operator.
In a little city and its surrounding rural areas, a forumer discovered that since April the local USPS postmen drive with their vehicles packed by Amazon. Every day, including closed Sunday, a private delivery company unload Amazon arriving boxes and envelopes at the distribution office.
To the rural areas, guess the most common deliveries? Animal food and babies diapers. From the new hip bookshop to your local supermarket, that's Amazon thanked to the USPS daily presence everywhere in the country, especially areas where the income is lower.
Another forumer confirmed with UPS, a private express company. You are not at home, they have to keep the package and come back, lose money. Nowadays either you pay for them to keep it or you won't and they put it in the local postal system with USPS ; and you receive it with one more day of waiting.
Finally, readers from the United States who are Amazon clients too, if you want to financially aid the American Philatelic Society, the American Philatelic Research Library or any other philatelic associations that is a charity under the US fiscal law, go suscribe to Amazon Smile and 0.5% of your purchase will be given back to your chosen charity.
Thursday 18 August: Classical postal history of Algeria to 1851.
A very well illustrated and full of postal history and historical knowledge conference at the Collectors Club in New York last June 15th: Kenneth Nilsestuen present the mail (mostly from Europeans) from Algeria starting with a 1603.
 |
The msot ancient European letter from Algiers to Toulon, France dated 1603 (collection Kenneth Nilsestuen, Collectors Club, New York, June 2016).
|
Filmed conference available on the Collectors Club website or on Vimeo.
Next part on 15 November with the 1849-1876 period.
Saturday 20 August: Let's Cinderell in London mid-September!
The proclaimed very first World Cinderella Congress will take place in London between Friday 16 and Sunday 18 September, thank to the Cinderella Stamp Club.
From an exhibition at Stamp dealers show at the Business Design Centre, Islington, to lectures, collections and trade tables at the Royal Philatelic Society building, Marylebone, where you could admire the memorabilia of past British Philatelic Congresses donated by the late Francis Kiddle.
Kiddle, a Cinderella specialist, is also remembered through a booklet that reproduced a handful of lectures he gave at Congresses, including three showing how Cinderella collection has become more and more included into philately since the 1980s.
Monday 22 August: Stanley Gibbons' back to philately. Finally!
A summary in French of what the StampBoards participants were commenting since the beginning of the decade: how the Stanley Gibbons company was losing its soul and financial safety.
After creating a mastermind in Jersey, the company bought both competitor specialist stamp dealers and high priced good trades. In a way seeing Spink auction house as its main enemy.
But, the marketplace website strategy was costly, the Jersey heads most interested in profit than products and consumers and the London Stock Exchange players were not amused.
Starting last Spring, the Boards of directors went fast: they let the executive officers refinanced the company while putting forward their new colleague, non executive director/stamp collector Harry Wilson... And as the Gibbons share was down to 7 pence, on 15 July, the Jersey heads were made redundant and Wilson's capacity become executive.
Just in time for the publishing of the August issue of Gibbons Stamp Monthly and its three page interview by the fireplace with Wilson that you can even read for free (Buy our shares, please!)
Capitalism and Game of Thrones...
Tuesday 23 August: Somalia postal service back on track.
Those who follow carefully the evolution of states knew that a Federal Government was established in Somalia in 2012, a first since the country collapsed into civil war and war tribe control with a hint of islamism since 1991.
A government whose power was first limited to the control of Mogadishu airport, before a 2013 international operation put a limit to the nuisance of the islamist militias (still there however). Somalia Post was resurrected late 2013 but was not very operative...
 |
| Three of the letters prepared and reveived by Indian blogger Jinesh Joseph, forwarded by David Langan to Mugadishu GPO on 10 August 2016 and received around ten days later in Bangalore, India (collection Jinesh Joseph, worldairmail.blogspot.com, with his permission). |
For now, Somalia Post is renovating and opening post offices throughout the country, even in separatist Somaliland it seems. Thank to an agreement with Emirates Post, it receives mail from overseas but delivers it only at the counter... Put your correspondent's phone number along the address.
What the hope? Next January 2017, Somalia Post wish to propose a postbox service for people to collect their mail, and that they can send mail abroad like our two bloggers.
Friday 26 August: An American trilogy (1): cultural diversity.
Even if I know that diversity in the United States society is not without difficulties, I wrote that article to confront the current French problems with diversity to the philatelic happenings in the US and Canada.
The French problems: fighting jihadism and islamism by banning (over)dressed women from the beaches and non pork eating kids from school restaurants doesn't feel very effective to me, even if I am no intelligence agent, nor lawyer.
On the North America side: USPS regularly issued religious holidays stamps for all religions present in the society. A stamp for the end of Ramadan in France... Do you actually want more kilometers of ill-argumented comments on social networks and under newspapers web articles!
Last February, Canada Post reminded all the memory of the only Black soldiers in the Canadian Great War history. Their role was limited to cut wood in the French Jura mountains and suffered the very cold weather there, almost no of them face combat.
 |
| Yes, if you search French newspaper websites of 2013, you'll find racist comments on the playing boy in the corner... (personal collection). |
Hopefully, the French post tries to show the diversity of the French population: last June, at the end of the schoolyear was issued a stamp for the 150 years of the Ligue de l'enseignement, an association that promoted all kind of activitives for the teachings of children. La Poste hired caricaturist Plantu (founder of Cartooning for peace) that explicit described the girl on the stamp in the September issue of Timbres magazine.
A shame this stamp was not issued in front of the news camera in a primary school by the Minister of Education on next Thursday, the first day of school in France.
Saturday 27 August: An American trilogy (2): hyperactiv philatelic research.
"Roads not taken" could summarize my impression after many years of watching French organised philately from afar and discovering British and US ones closer through the Royal Philatelic Society London's activities and library.
This opinion strenghtens with the 27-28 October Grand Opening of the American Philatelic Society library in a former match factory in Bellefonte, in the middle of Pennsylvania.
The American Philatelic Reasearch Library has now the space it needed for many years to come, to host members and researchers, lend books on site and by post. In Paris, there is a philatelic library on top of the postal museum... Not sure the same standard.
The speaker of the opening will be David Beech, retired Curator of the Philatelic Collections of the British Library... Sure, there are philatelic books and periodicals at the France National Library, even some digitised... But no specialist portal about them. Better used the British managed Crawford Library project for that purpose.
As I say in French: You may fish something philatelic on the BNF's Gallica website. Fishing's good to contemplate open air nature without being annoyed by fishes.
"Roads not taken": I would say that the French philatelist unconsciously chose local associations over specialised associations and project societies (RPSL, Collectors Clubs, etc.), opposed to what some decided in the UK and the US.
On The Stamp Collecting Forum whose recent threads inspired this American Trilogy, when one asked for advices on how to begin an exhibition, steps, stationery materials, etc. The answer wasn't advices, it was a link to the American Association of Philatelic Exhibitors!!!
I fear to discover one day the answers I'd get on a French forum or at an association sunday meeting in France.
Sunday 28 August: An American Trilogy (3): My name's Tomato.
I became aware of the existence of Tomato on Wednesday 10 August. It was standing there in my peripherical vision, on the side wall of the last automated gas station in center Montpellier, France.
 |
| Tomato (licence creative commons nc-by-sa 3.0 fr). |
Amazon is continuing to propose new ways of distributing products: street lockers, drones one day?
But if you listen carefully to people's testimony, like on The Stamp Collecting Forum, you will discover that the new actors of the packet indutry do still need the historic operator.
In a little city and its surrounding rural areas, a forumer discovered that since April the local USPS postmen drive with their vehicles packed by Amazon. Every day, including closed Sunday, a private delivery company unload Amazon arriving boxes and envelopes at the distribution office.
To the rural areas, guess the most common deliveries? Animal food and babies diapers. From the new hip bookshop to your local supermarket, that's Amazon thanked to the USPS daily presence everywhere in the country, especially areas where the income is lower.
Another forumer confirmed with UPS, a private express company. You are not at home, they have to keep the package and come back, lose money. Nowadays either you pay for them to keep it or you won't and they put it in the local postal system with USPS ; and you receive it with one more day of waiting.
Finally, readers from the United States who are Amazon clients too, if you want to financially aid the American Philatelic Society, the American Philatelic Research Library or any other philatelic associations that is a charity under the US fiscal law, go suscribe to Amazon Smile and 0.5% of your purchase will be given back to your chosen charity.
Saturday, April 30, 2016
Week #2016.17¾ on SébPhilatélie
From history as a support for topical philately...
Wednesday 27 April: to the West!
Two finds of philatelic finds that makes me look Westward.
First, the Club philatélique franco-britannique conferenced Briton collectors - of French Britanny - in Rennes last January, reports association Philapostel Bretagne. Among the collections presented, the best aerophilately one at London Europhilex 2015: Jean-Claude Vasseur's Airmail of Newfoundland, now available in print.
Secondly, the Royal Philatelic Society London's Crawford Medal of the year was awarded to Steven Walske and Richard Frajola for the book Mail of the Westward Expansion 1803 to 1861. A wonderful book, especially when I discover the authors made it graciously available in pdf format on the Western Cover Society!
Thursday 28 April: Balkans in French and British magazines of May 2016
Coincidence of periodical publishing again, now with the Balkans, the South Eastern region of Europe, during the period when nationalities fought for their independence against the Ottoman Empire and, then, among themselves for national borders.
In British Stamp Magazine, John Winchester told the history of Serbia, her first stamp series to 1914 through the hate of the two local royal families... Bloody.
In French Timbres magazine, Laurent Veglio told how speedy the mail between Vienna and Istanbul went when a British company built late 1850 a railway between the Danube and Kustendje (now Constanza in Rumania) on the Black Sea. 1866 it was beaten by a new railway upstream the Danube and connecting to Varna, Bulgaria...
In all these articles, the fall of Ottoman power and the rise of territorial and economic rivalries between the newly independent states.
Saturday 30 April: Balkans, Bermuda and Finland, all for class 2C
Balkanic rivalries that can be illustrated through postal history for some years thank to the International Federation of Philately's class C: a lot of philatelic and postal history material but with a lot of history, sociology and economy meaning, including some documents about that.
How to find examples?
Let's take the most exhaustive study of covers from, to or that went through Bermuda ; a study and collection presented at the Royal Philatelic Society London last Thursday. After his wonderful presentation, David Pitts (who works with Arthur Groten) implied in the end how these letters and covers are testimonies of the commercial importance of the small British archipelago before steamboats, containerships and airplaces.
A hint to class 2C?
While I was googleing to find other reference to blockade mail of the United States after Steven Walske's and Pitts & Groten's recent papers, I stumble upon an April 2013 RPSL conference by Jussi Tuori on how Finland became an independent country at the end of World War One.
What's special about it? It's from an actual class 2C exhibit! Even with the debate on how the jury should evaluate the different natures of the documents presented...
... to Philatelic documents to support History research.
Wednesday 27 April: to the West!
Two finds of philatelic finds that makes me look Westward.
First, the Club philatélique franco-britannique conferenced Briton collectors - of French Britanny - in Rennes last January, reports association Philapostel Bretagne. Among the collections presented, the best aerophilately one at London Europhilex 2015: Jean-Claude Vasseur's Airmail of Newfoundland, now available in print.
Secondly, the Royal Philatelic Society London's Crawford Medal of the year was awarded to Steven Walske and Richard Frajola for the book Mail of the Westward Expansion 1803 to 1861. A wonderful book, especially when I discover the authors made it graciously available in pdf format on the Western Cover Society!
Thursday 28 April: Balkans in French and British magazines of May 2016
Coincidence of periodical publishing again, now with the Balkans, the South Eastern region of Europe, during the period when nationalities fought for their independence against the Ottoman Empire and, then, among themselves for national borders.
 |
| Cover of Stamp Magazine, May 2016. |
In French Timbres magazine, Laurent Veglio told how speedy the mail between Vienna and Istanbul went when a British company built late 1850 a railway between the Danube and Kustendje (now Constanza in Rumania) on the Black Sea. 1866 it was beaten by a new railway upstream the Danube and connecting to Varna, Bulgaria...
In all these articles, the fall of Ottoman power and the rise of territorial and economic rivalries between the newly independent states.
Saturday 30 April: Balkans, Bermuda and Finland, all for class 2C
Balkanic rivalries that can be illustrated through postal history for some years thank to the International Federation of Philately's class C: a lot of philatelic and postal history material but with a lot of history, sociology and economy meaning, including some documents about that.
How to find examples?
Let's take the most exhaustive study of covers from, to or that went through Bermuda ; a study and collection presented at the Royal Philatelic Society London last Thursday. After his wonderful presentation, David Pitts (who works with Arthur Groten) implied in the end how these letters and covers are testimonies of the commercial importance of the small British archipelago before steamboats, containerships and airplaces.
A hint to class 2C?
While I was googleing to find other reference to blockade mail of the United States after Steven Walske's and Pitts & Groten's recent papers, I stumble upon an April 2013 RPSL conference by Jussi Tuori on how Finland became an independent country at the end of World War One.
What's special about it? It's from an actual class 2C exhibit! Even with the debate on how the jury should evaluate the different natures of the documents presented...
... to Philatelic documents to support History research.
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Ancien Régime France and London technology at the RPSL
On Thursday March 31st, the Royal Philatelic Society London hosted two conferences.
During the tradition 5pm one, Christopher Hitchen presented "The Post in Paris up to the Revolution", that can be - to me at least - an introduction to French postal history before the Industrial Age.
The video of the conference can be watched on youTube here and a summary can be read on pdf by all visitors of the RPSL website.
Earlier in the afternoon, there was a presentation of the "digital services" proposed by the Society mainly to members, but to visitors and researchers too.
Mark Bailey described the content of the RPSL website and the intesresting elements reserved to members: links to live and on-demand youTube videos of the conferences.
His presentation highlighted how important it was to non-Londoner and overseas members that exhibited collections and collections are now available online.
Then, with communicative enthusiasm, Geoffrey Eibl-Kaye showed how The London Philatelist Archival Edition's software works and helps the philatelist finds all the necessary past articles of the Society's journal. An edition that was refurbished software-side recently and now sold on memory stick.
Finally, Mark Copley presented the two in-house scanners. The Plusteck I discovered during my second visit at 41 Devonshire Place for my first study trip in the library. Don't forget your memory stick or laptop.
The new one, purchased thank to a donation, is the very professional Bookeye 4 by Image Access that can quickly scan an A2 size space. Very efficient to digitalise whole books, one of the current projects of the Society concerning archives and old books.
It can be used by philatelic associations for a small fee per scan or, if a volunteer is provided, against some scanning for the Society's project.
I thank Chris King, past president of the RPSL, who gave me permission to publish the links to the youTube videos (here and there if you missed them during the reading), usually reserved to members. Let's enjoy French postal history and the services of the Society!
During the tradition 5pm one, Christopher Hitchen presented "The Post in Paris up to the Revolution", that can be - to me at least - an introduction to French postal history before the Industrial Age.
The video of the conference can be watched on youTube here and a summary can be read on pdf by all visitors of the RPSL website.
Earlier in the afternoon, there was a presentation of the "digital services" proposed by the Society mainly to members, but to visitors and researchers too.
Mark Bailey described the content of the RPSL website and the intesresting elements reserved to members: links to live and on-demand youTube videos of the conferences.
 |
| The importance of web availibility of the 2015 conferences on youTube: dark blue the present at 41 Devonshire Place to exhibitions and conferences, light blue the web views of conferences (screen capture from Mark Bailey's presentation). |
Then, with communicative enthusiasm, Geoffrey Eibl-Kaye showed how The London Philatelist Archival Edition's software works and helps the philatelist finds all the necessary past articles of the Society's journal. An edition that was refurbished software-side recently and now sold on memory stick.
Finally, Mark Copley presented the two in-house scanners. The Plusteck I discovered during my second visit at 41 Devonshire Place for my first study trip in the library. Don't forget your memory stick or laptop.
 |
| The Bookeye 4 by Image Access. |
It can be used by philatelic associations for a small fee per scan or, if a volunteer is provided, against some scanning for the Society's project.
I thank Chris King, past president of the RPSL, who gave me permission to publish the links to the youTube videos (here and there if you missed them during the reading), usually reserved to members. Let's enjoy French postal history and the services of the Society!
Sunday, February 21, 2016
Week #2016.07 on SébPhilatélie, other blogs and medias
A week of crossposts.
The speculative bubble in Adelaide, Australia bothers me on a regular bothering matter in philately and postal history: the high cost one goes to buy a unused or clearly cancelled isolated stamp and on't bother that, in the second case, an envelope was destroyed in the process...
Monday February 15th: the century long life and career of Ken Baker.
Thank to the reading of StampBoards threads, I discovered two of the charismatic stamp dealers of Australia. On Sunday 14th I summarized the life of Max Stern who passed away the Thursday before, then I discovered Ken Baker, who left us on January, a Londoner migrant who became a successfull dealer first in Melbourne, then in Sydney.
To read the souvenirs Ken Baker told dealer Glen Stephens in English, the latter published them on his editorial website in March 2012 to mark Baker's centenary.
Friday February 19th: Cyprus classical philately at 41 Devonshire Place.
Despite being a complete moron on classical traditional philately and bored at the idea of sorting all these stamps myself to understand printing methods, I was amazed by Akis Christou's conference at the Royal Philatelic Society London.
About the Victorian stamps of Cyprus from 1880 to 1896, he went into all the details one can know about all the varieties affecting their overprints, even the - difficult - possibility of plating one of this issue by replacing blocks of stamps depending on the full sheet watermark!
As always, the video can be easily found by the Society's members and all guests can browse the pdf file.
Saturday February 20th: The Penguin Post Office backstage on BBC Radio 4.
A small discovery yesterday: British news and culture public channel Radio 4 broadcasted again last Christmas time the behind-the-scene testimony by the natural documentary crew that went to Antarctica to film The Penguin Post Office. between October 2013 and St David's Day 2014.
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| BBC Radio 4's chosen picture of the museum and post office, and a small part of the thousand noisy and smelling penguins (Radio 4 website). |
The TV show was viewable prime time on BBC 2 on July 2014 and on PBS in January 2015. The United States public channel issued a dvd, surely blocked on zone 1 [Readers in Canada and U.S. will make me happy to check what the dvd zoning number logo is, please].
The backstage documentary is breathtaking during the cruise from South America to the Antarctic Peninsula among the iceberg and the blizzard. The second part of the five episodes manages to present the long and patient wait for the penguins and other animals to do what you need to film, the difficulties of the crew managing both the filming (or lack of filming) and the maintenance of their living equipment.
The philatelist will of course enjoy the small talks with the Postmistress and her assistant, waiting for the tourist boats to arrive. The museum and post office is operated since 1996 by the United Kingdom Antartic Heritage Trust, that found a good brand with "the penguin post office", and uses stamps of the British Antarctic Territory.
Sunday February 21st: hangover or begin of wisdom in Adelaide?
All quiet on the Australian front, just the eBay shells falling here and there - my little centenary of the battle of Verdun touch, while StampBoards generals philosophing on philatelic strategies.
Were are we these past week? A stripe of unused six Adelaide emergency 30 cent stamps seems to be at 2,000 Australian dollars. The albino inverted "$1.00" error in a strip of six passed the 5,000 dollar mark. Used on cover or little kiloware paper clip are under the thousand, largely depending on their date of cancellation: look for anything cancelled well before the mediatisation mid-January ; better the 6 and 7 january ones.
On StampBoards starting with page 13, the talks were a little bit more philatelic than speculative: what happened to create the "30c" and "$1.00" albino inverted errors.
The speculative hopes will come from three catalogue editors (Gibbons, Scott and Seven Seas Stamps), two of them are preparing their new Australia catalogue... A new stampede from overseas now?
In the March 2016 issue of Stamp Magazine.
While I late discovered the now famous "treasure chest" full of undelivered letters, kept by French huguenot postmaster Simon de Brienne in The Hague, in the future Netherlands, my letter to Stamp Magazine was published to highlight the enthusiastic interview of historian David Van der Linden on France Culture.
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| The famous chest and its letters (© Signed, Sealed & Undelivered Team, 2015. Courtesy Museum voor Communicatie, The Hague, Netherlands). |
... That's why I like David Van der Linden and his colleagues' wish not to unseal the letters and x-ray them in order to read them.
Records in auctions, again in Stamp Magazine.
This month, in Stamp Magazine's "Auction Highlights" pages, two examples conforts my opinion that some may lose a lot financially, and more importlantly in knowledge for the next generation by focusing only on isolated stamps.
In a sale in Hong Kong on January 17th, Spink proposed Meiso Mizuhara's Chinese Customs Post collection. Projects for the first stamps of China were offered ; one with two drawn on the same sheet of paper (a large dragon and a pagoda) became the most expensive essays in philatelic history at 359,142 pounds sterling...
On the next page, a returned letter label, perforated, from 1872 Norway with a cancel on which you can read the city of origin reached 1,385 pounds at a Skanfil sale. The perforated stamp-size label explained why the mail was returned to sender.
When you think again how all that's said about our contemporary unstamped, labelled mail by stamp collectors...
French happenings on other blogs.
Yesterday, Adrian Keppel brought a TV Timbres video to the intaglio fan's attention. In this documentary Timbres Magazine's editor-in-chief Gauthier Toulemonde visited engraver Pierre Albuisson in his country home. The artist explained concrete things on how to engrave, how to prepare the tools.
A very nice addition to Gibbons Stamp Monthly's recent monthly articles on intaglio printing, started in the December 2015 issue, following the Long to Reign over Us issue.
Laurent Veglio published his second article on his blog in French - non-French readers can read the Italian version too or test Google Translate with both versions.
The postal historian is very efficient to prove a complete envelope is very interesting when the postmen help it: how a innocent 40 centime stamped letter from Paris to Italy in 1867 made a transatlantic return trip to Saint Thomas and Montserrat in the Caribbean.
Monday, December 21, 2015
Weeks #2015.50 and #51 on SébPhilatélie
Two weeks for one!
Tuesday December 8th: does Gibbons magazine want to promote intaglio printing?
In the December issue of Gibbons Stamp Monthly, Glenn Morgan started a series of article about intaglio printing with a biography of banknote - and now the Long May She Reign stamps - engraver Chris Matthews.
Will this series of article get momentum and start a British Art of engraved stamp like in France in the 2000s when Timbres Magazine promoted intaglio printing with the support of the artists until the French philatelic service promised a minimum of intaglio printing in the program.
Sunday December 13th: joint article on Don Rosa's year of mail art.
Read the article in English there, and the first Don Rosa open class episode over here.
Friday December 18th: About Huguenot folding letters found in a chest in The Hague, Netherlands.
Last November, an international university team publicized the start of a long work on some 2'600 letters of a chest, an item of the Museum of Communications in The Hague.
A radio broadcast on France Culture (French cultural public channel) Friday 18th presented the whole story by Dutch historian David Van der Linden who seems to be an eventual postal history collector from the content of the letter to how they were folded!
Tuesday December 8th: does Gibbons magazine want to promote intaglio printing?
In the December issue of Gibbons Stamp Monthly, Glenn Morgan started a series of article about intaglio printing with a biography of banknote - and now the Long May She Reign stamps - engraver Chris Matthews.
Will this series of article get momentum and start a British Art of engraved stamp like in France in the 2000s when Timbres Magazine promoted intaglio printing with the support of the artists until the French philatelic service promised a minimum of intaglio printing in the program.
Sunday December 13th: joint article on Don Rosa's year of mail art.
Read the article in English there, and the first Don Rosa open class episode over here.
Friday December 18th: About Huguenot folding letters found in a chest in The Hague, Netherlands.
Last November, an international university team publicized the start of a long work on some 2'600 letters of a chest, an item of the Museum of Communications in The Hague.
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| The famous chest and its letters (© Signed, Sealed & Undelivered Team, 2015. Courtesy Museum voor Communicatie, The Hague, Netherlands). |
Saturday December 19th: joint article on a West African joint issue.
Read the article in English there.
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