British Columbia: back to fundamentals

In these times of crisis, during which speculators are feeling the moment the cycle will return like the surfer feels the wave beginning to break..., let's go back to fundamentals thank to Canadian stamps.

Canada Post issued, on 1 August 2008, a stamp for the 150 years of the creation of the British Columbia colony, on the Western Canadian coast on the Pacific Ocean.

(Canada Post website)

Cartographic profile and the origin of pioneer effort during the 19th century: the quest for gold when the long and hard labor built the hope and, sometime, the wealth of the argonaut. Maybe should I read something else than Carl Barks and Don Rosa? :)

The stamp is very well designed and efficient in communicating the intended message. Bravo to Matthew Clark et Roy White de l'agence Subplot Design Inc. of Vancouver.

A little marketing though to justify why you accept to buy the indivisible sixteen adhesive stamp sheet (8.32 Canadian dollars, circa 7.10 United States dollars or 5.25 euros): old photographs of European habitants of the colony on the back.

Fifty years ago, this mythified work of the gold worker was the principal topic of the centenary stamp. The British Columbia was founded in 1858 by separation from the 1849 colony of the Vancouver Island.

J. Harman was classic in this illustration for an instutional stamp, while many stamps of Elizabeth II's reign had been already graphically modern.

Two stamps, tow styles, but fondamentals last: beautifully deliver the message.

In 1908, no commemorative stamp. The times were not at illustrating every passing-by events, only royal heads.

Machin in Gibraltar

Like many British postal entities, Gibraltar used the Machin head on its stamps.

This is a stamp from a four stamp series, issued 1979 for the centenary of the death of Rowland Hill. The portrait, of a young and vigorous reformer, would be used on a British stamp in 1995 too.

On this red 9 pence, the stamp depicted is a definitive one of 1971. Yvert et Tellier catalogue gave a precision: it was sold by machines inside a roll of five: two half-pennies, two of this blue penny and one two-pence. And it bears the royal profile that became as famous as the Rock of Gibraltar profile stamp of 1969.

tem'post and postal history

Mail sent through tem'post are part of the postal history of France, despite their philatelist receiver putting them in the paper trash. tem'post is a service of La Poste dedicated to big sender of bills, mensual listings or social checks.

This week, I had a thought for those who are trying to follow this history of the contemporary postal service when I discovered that the proof of franking is on the inner correspondance, not on the cover.


When EDF (French former electricity monopoly) and a large part of firms print the tem'post mark on the cover, the MGEN (a professional social security service) print it on the letter, just above the receiver's adress.

Like amateurs of classical covers, the correspondance will always be as interesting as the cover for the historian.

Alice, philagenic princesses

Modified message: too many Princesses Alice. I confused two princesses. My apologies to Saturday morning readers.


Princess Alice, wife of Henry, Duke of Gloucester, was King George V's daughter in law and aunt to Queen Elisabeth II.

In February 1945, she and her husband were honored by three stamps of Australia, where he was becoming Governor-General, representing the King in the place. Their uniforms reminded that the time of war was still on.


Another Princess Alice, the daughter of Queen Victoria's younger son, was honored by one of the stamps issued by Trinidad and Tobago this 3 October 2008 for the sixtieth anniversary of the University of the West Indies, whose she was the first chancellor. But, it was not the first stamp of her long life (1883-1981).

(TT Post)

In 1951, the States participating to the creation of the University of the West Indies launched a omnibus two-stamp issue: the arms of the university on the first, the new chancellor on the second. Certainly, the English-speaking Caribbean post offices may have issue stamps in her honor since the fifties (but I lack catalogs).

During a Google search, I found two text cancellations of Jamaica around 1955 (1 et 2), visibly a call to donate to a charity leaded by Princess Alice because the first years of the university were financially difficult.


Thank to the Stanley Gibbons' Commonwealth & British Empire Stamps 1840-1970 catalog, very useful: British world only, stamp designers and printers quoted, precise dates of issues, etc.

States-General of the Press

The French news website Marianne 2 wrote about the States-General of the Press beginning today, with the same scepticism some, like me, considered the States-General of the Philately (or in French political jargon Grenelle de la philatélie, even reunion on how thirty people conceived philately).

Because French newspaper press is a more serious topic than the collection and study of philatelic and postal items, the Omni-President moved himself to open the discussions on the future of French press.

How to attract young people? What inside: costly report by journalists or verbatim of government's briefings? How do you move it to the press shop or the subscribers? And at what price, when newspaper's website are free or sold dematerialized?

About this last question: same price for the paper and the numeric version, but what a huge margin for the magazine made on printing and postage! Different prices with a bonus for the numeric reader, but what is then the value of work and research, and of the knowledges discovered?

Resisting pictorial cancellations at Le Chambon

In the family mail, a grand-aunt and her husband went to their usual camping in Haute-Loire. Their letter was cancelled at Le Chambon-sur-Lignon.

Surprise, one of the near-extinct pictorial cancellation resists with its part-historical, part-touristic message: "The open space / the spirit too". The second sentence reminds of the heroic past of this huguenot village whose inhabitants saved thousand of jew people during World War 2.

Canada Post vs Theodore Champion SA

Two months without blog, three months between three roofs, it is finally time to come back on olf and pleasant news.

Last May, I was disappointed facing how I can get what I wanted of the Canada-France joint issue for the 400 year anniversary of Québec City.

Either I paid eight euros for the classical French post's joint issue presentation pack (the first was, I think, for the 1997 Euroregion SAR.LOR.LUX stamp)¹ but I wouldn't have the margin inscriptions of the Canadian issue, or I ordered the full Canadian sheet of sixteen stamps because Canada Post do no more cut stamps into gummed sheets for ordering customers. But again problems: their full ordering website is far too complex and I don't want to use so much room for my collection (one sheet per issue...).

The miracle came surprisingly from the French new issue specialist, the anonymous society Théodore Champion and its hostesses at the June 2008 Paris Stampshow.


These ladies (who I never saw at the Drouot street shop) had at the collector's disposal the dreaming piece: sheets had not been fully cut into individual stamps. There were corner blocks that Canada Post succeeded to design up to the Israelian tabs. And at a price, superior to the face value, but reasonable compared to my two other options.

Really, this show was better on the merchant's side than of the one of overpopulated counters of the French post. But, I will be kind with Phil@poste: Canada Post is selling gummed stamps by the whole sheet only. Phil@poste do not do it... not yet :)

Notes:
1 : look at the Wikipedian article for more about the SaarLorLux concept.

To own a machin

To have one thousand pounds sterling in advance on my nowadays and future projects, or with a museum budget, be able to buy one of Arnold Machin's artwork that became the definitive series in use since 1967 in the United Kingdom.

Lot 73 to be auctioned by Cuttlestones, on 1st October 2008.

Dominique Stephan wrote about it, and about a sketch declared from 1967, certainly one of the seventy proposals that Douglas Muir dated January 1966 in its A Timeless Classic (some are reproduced pages 125 to 128). Don Schilling completes with an article from The Telegraph: this plaster is one of the only four known of this design... the other three been in the Royal Mail archives.

Ten thousand pounds...


Breaking News :
A rumor in Stamp Magazine dated October 2008 announced a new Machin for October, but Royal Mail refused to say more. The Postage Labels of the UK blog by Brian Sinnott is showing that the effigy by Arnold Machin is now printing on British machine stamps. In France, we are still on pale blue and yellow...

A former British machine stamps here and there.

Back... not thank to my provider

Sorry for the long silence, but my adsl provider, a former State efficient administration becoming a private competitive shareholder-friendly company, had some quite astonishing difficulties to move my line...

You would understand why I am not a great fan of a large privatization of the French public postage operator, La Poste. I fear that the final client won't be the better serve by this decision.

Stay tune for the return of articles.

Chungwha Post is back

At the origins of this blog, the first article talked about the change of the Taiwanese postal administration's name: Chungwha Post became Taiwan Post, and about the consequence on stamps. On 28 February 2007, the country name became "TAIWAN" instead of "REPUBLIC OF CHINA" and, moreover, on a commemorative stamp full of historical sense concerning the relations between the different "peoples" of the island since 1949.

One of the four last stamps to bear the "Taiwan" name
(from the Taiwan... Chungwha Post website).

Last 20 May 2008, began Ma Ying-jeou presidency celebrated with four stamps bearing a new mention: "REPUBLIC OF CHINA - TAIWAN", foreshadowing the return of the idea that Taiwan is China... even if not the one that wishes the People's Republic.

Today, 4 August 2008, the People's Chinese official press agency reports political marketing news from Taiwan. In April, a committee of the Taiwanese Parliament let until October 2008 for the Taiwan Post to return to its older brand. The postal administration's ruling body agreed last Friday 1st of August, with a ceremonial official application this Monday.


One more time, the stamps concerned are full of symbols: the last to bear the "Taiwan" name figured the aborigenal culture of Taiwan, of the inhabitants who where underestimated by the incoming nationalist rulers from the continent.

From what I can decipher on the minisheet to be issued on the next 20 August, the new name will be "REPUBLIC OF CHINA - TAIWAN". The stamps will present the Yimin festival (I found the name of this festival on an Wikipedia in English article about Shen Dzu fattened pigs to be eaten... slurp).