NEWSLETTER OF THE ROYAL PHILATELIC SOCIETY OF NZ

ROYAL LINES

www.rpsnz.org.nz

                PO BOX 1269, WELLINGTON 6140 TEL: (04) 472-2590 FAX: (04) 472-5426 rpsnz@orcon.net.nz

 

Vol. 47 No 1 .                                                                                                                                          February 2008

 

1.             February Meeting

 

The next meeting of the Society will be held at l30pm on Tuesday 12 February in the first floor rooms of Turnbull House, Bowen Street, Wellington.

 

NOTE: The library will be open for members from 7.00pm to 7.25pm on meeting nights.

 

Programme:     Business

Items of Interest

Members' Night - Topic, Transportation.

Please note, due to unforeseen circumstances, there is a change from the planned programme.

2.         December Meeting

President, Adam Miller welcomed about 20 members to the Christmas meeting, noting a few le.ss familiar faces present, and the absence of a couple of regulars.

 

The President's Medal may be awarded annually to a Society member who has performed meritorious service toward the Society, rather than for any philatelic endeavours. For his long service as our Secre­tary, and additional and considerable work on several of our recent publications, this year the medal was awarded to Wayne Kitching.

 

As usual to start the meeting members were asked to bring along unusual items or 'things' they had collected during the year, not necessarily of a philatelic nature.

 

Herb Cowley had a postcard with a North Pole, Alaska postmark (unfortunately missing the stamp!), and a small mounted collection of New Zealand Forces Christmas cards from WWI. Jenny Banfield had an 1804 GB hat tax stamp proof, a WWII Iraq airmail cover censored three times - in Iraq, GB and Ireland, and a receipt from a Prague corkmaker with an Austrian revenue.

 

Brian Vincent had a 16 page display of rugby covers from the World Cup 2007. John Kersel had several perfins from the Union Steam Ship Co. (USSCo) and included a specimen perforation from Robert Samuels collection, illustrated in Robert's 1968 book. Des Hurley had several GB prestige booklets. He commented that he almost stopped subscribing to them but never quite managed to! Geoff Rickards showed a number of recent acquisitions from the recent sale ex Brodie, including a Mulready 2d. enve­lope with a rare St Asaph skeleton mark, and a Brazilian stamp said to be the world's largest, despite the claim in Wikipedia that a US newspaper stamp is the largest.

 

Adam Miller had several Wellington-pressed transcription discs and some examples of Peruvian mail carried by private companies 'outside the mails'. Bob Watson had a 1878 schedule for the Cheshire RR (USA) showing his Great Grandfather as the General Ticket Agent, an 1883 cover NZ-USA with a 'PAID ALL' marking, an 1865 cover NZ-USA showing various transit markings including one from Portland, Maine. The latter was carried trans Atlantic to Portland aboard the Nova Scotian of the Allen Line (Montreal Ocean Steamship Company). It turns out that this may be related to Ron Allan's distant family.

 

Marce1 Stanley Trophy

Adam was pleased to announce that this year's winner was Norman Banfield for his colourful exhibit of St. Petersburg: Residence-Related Taxes, which was adjudged Ruby.

 

The other entries were:                                                                                                          .

Robert Odenweller - New Zealand 1898 - 1935 Airmails (Ruby)

H C Smits - Non-Mechanical Timekeepers (Emerald)

Brian Vincent - India - The New Nation (Sapphire)

Brian Vincent - 'At the Game' (Topaz)

The 2007 judges were Tony Thackery and Colin Larsen.

 

The competition will not 'be held in December this year as usual. Following extensive discussion at Council during the past year, it will be revamped and appear at the Manawatu Philatelic Convention in June 2009.

 

3.         Tarapex 2008

Initial details have been received for this National Exhibition, to be held in November, at the TSB

Stadium, Mason Drive, New Plymouth. Entry forms will need to be in by the 30 June 2008 and entries by 1 November. Further information can be had from the Secretary, Tarapex 2008, P 0 Box 7129, New Plymouth or email tarapex@xtra.co.nz

 

4.         May Postal Sale                                        

A reminder that material for the May Sale needs to be received at the office by the 28 February.

 

5.         New Members

There was one new member during the past month, David Farr from New Zealand. Royal Lines welcomes the new member to our society.

 

6.         Volume IX

Don't. forget to order your copy of the award winning Postage Stamps of New Zealand Volume IX. Priced at $140.00 plus packaging and postage this volume, the latest in the handbook series, covers all aspects of postal stationery. Contact the office for details and an order form.

 

7.           Members Badges

Council are considering the idea of having member's badges produced for the Society, for sale to. members for a modest amount. These would be in different colours to reflect the length of membership (probably in 10 year bands), with special ones supplied gratis to Fellows, Honorary and Life Members. The design would follow from the Society's existing logo. Council would like feedback from members on this proposal so your thoughts are appreciated. Contact the Office by letter, fax or email.

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8.         New Zealand Philatelic Federation

News just received from the Federation includes the Award of Honour to Trevor Bevan and Philatelist of the Year goes to Ross Marshall. Congratulations to Trevor and Ross from Royal Lines.

 

9. Miscellaneous

Received from the Expert Committee is an Advisory Notice relating to the 2004 Olympic stamps, lenticular varieties. Following requests to certify some of these stamps the committee declined to do so on the grounds the items had been manipulated and therefore not genuine. A warning was issued that it is possible to remove and replace the lenticular portion of the stamps. This warning does not affect the one major variety of this issue which is the inverted lenticular on the $2 stamp genuinely sold at NZ Post outlets at the time of issue. A copy of the Notice is available from the office and it is planned that an article on the subject will appear in a future issue of the New Zealand Stamp Collector.

John Mowbray has informed us that as from January Stanley Gibbons Australia will be known as Mowbrays Australia. It is only a name change - all other details and services remain the same. Their first public auction will be in Melbourne on February the 1st. with the Lionheart Collection Part 2 and the General Sale the following day. Contact Mowbrays for further details. Also of note from Mowbray's is notification of the auction of the late David Jarvis' collection. This will be held on the 29 March in Wellington. (See enclosed flyer)

 

The Doulton Plate Draw for new members was held in December. The lucky members were Trevor Mason from New Zealand and the overseas member was Andrew Williamson from the United Kingdom. Congratulations from Royal Lines.

 

From the British Library, Philatelic Collections come news of new and revised web pages. These have recently been launched and include many new images, full descriptions of the fifty collections or archives held and with details of their scope and coverage. Go to www.bl.uk/collections/philatelic

 

The newsletter is always happy to publish any items of interest you may have so please either fax material to the Editor on 04 971 8537 or email to the Society's office. As usual, we reserve the right to publish.