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

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Vol.46 No 9

 

October 2007

 

1 October Meeting

 

The next meeting of the Society will be held at 7.30pm on Tuesday 9 October

in the first floor rooms of Turnbull House, Bowen Street, Wellington.

 

NOTE: The library will be open for members from 7.0Opm to 7.25pm on meeting nights.

 

Programme:

 

Annual General Meeting

 

Notice is hereby given that the 119th Annual General Meeting of the Society will

be held in Turnbull House, Bowen Street, Wellington on Tuesday 9 October at 7.3opm.

 

Business:

1. - Minutes of the last Annual General Meeting--­

2.  Annual Report and Financial Statements for year ending ­30 June 2007.

2.1 Annual Report

2.2 . Financial Statements   

3. Election of Officers

            a. Patron

            b. President

            c. Vice Presidents

            d. Secretary

            e. Treasurer

            f. Honorary Auditor

            g. Five Council Members

4.  Other Business

 

Once again members, the time of year has rolled around for the Annual General Meeting. You will notice this year a decrease in the amount of paper used in the package you receive. Council has given much thought over the previous 12 months as to ways of reducing costs and this is one consequence. You will find the President's Annual Report contained in the Stamp Collector and the Agenda for the meeting, above. The Financial Report is part of the package because several pages are still needed for the figures!

Don't forget, if you wish to make yourself available for any position please contact the office for a nomination form or on the night, nominations will be taken from the floor. Following the meeting there will be a  usual, a display by members, this year please, a few pages each on famous people. And to round out the evening; some nibbles and a glass or two of New Zealand's finest wine.

 

2              September Joint Meeting with the Wellington Philatelic Society

Patrick Brownsey welcomed those present. Brian Vincent, President of the Royal, added to Patrick's welcome and introduced the speaker for the evening, Paul Wales. Brian recollected Paul's early sojourn into the 1970 definitives and the articles in Captain Coqk, the journal of the Christchurch Philatelic Society, Paul had contributed.

 

Paul opened his talk by indicating that the collection was continually under construction as new discoveries are being made and as items are purchased. He chose the 1970 set to specialise in as it was on sale at the time when he was looking for a subject to get really involved with. He did this in conjunction with a few fellow collectors, mainly with Jim Shaw in Auckland. They were in constant contact letting each other know when something new appeared and swapping examples for their collections. The designs used in the series were the result of a design competition held in 1968 - 333 designs from 88 competitors. The lower values were to have had Maori names as well- he drew our attention to the 2½c artist drawing. However this was dropped as the names differed according to localities and there were no universally accepted Maori names in the fauna depicted. The set was issued progressively in seven groups starting with the 10c on March 121 1970 and ending with the 23c on 18 December 1971.

 

The set is important for New Zealand stamps as it was the last one to have stamps issued on watermarked paper ­these being the ½c to 20c values. In 1973 the 1c to 7c and the 10c values, less the 2½c, were reissued on unwatermarked paper and in 1974 the 8c, l5c, 18c and 20c appeared on the unwatermarked paper. Some of the un-watermarked paper stamps came out with a 'so called' white gum and blue gum.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          .

A postal rate change 15 February 1971 made ½c, 2½c, and 7½c superfluous and therefore they did not change to unwatermarked paper. The demand for, and shortage of 4c stamps saw the overprinting of the 2½c stamp which is a subject of another of Paul's collections! The issue was available in several forms. Sheets of 100 or 200 stamps,

Booklets costing 75c which contained 1c, 3c and 4c stamps, Vending machine Rolls and Lightning Rolls.

 

 

Paul then demonstrated the wide range of the material contained in his display. These included missing colours, offsets and various perforation varieties due to paper folds. He then showed a wide range of spectacular colour shifts. It was noted that many of these, and other errors appeared more on the unwatermarked paper rather than the original watermarked variety and he surmised a factor was likely to be the thinner unwatermarked paper.

Included were several recent discoveries such as colour separations on the $1 and $2 stamps. After all his years collecting the material, Paul was still obviously enthusiastic about his display and collection and this made for an entertaining and very well received address. A range of questions and comments rounded out the evening. Brian Vincent proposed a vote of thanks to Paul which the meeting endorsed by acclaimation.

 

3          Marcel Stanley Competition

Enclosed with this newsletter please find the entry form for our annual competition. It will be held at the Christmas meeting as usual, but changes are in the wind. We will keep you informed once details are finalised.

 

4.         Award Winners

The following members were prize winners at the recent Huttpex '07 Exhibition. The Grand Award went to Don Richardson. Other prize winners were George Stewart, Jeff Long, Ross Marshall, Len Jury, Tony Thackery, Robin Startup, Ian McMahon, Raymond Mulholland, Tony Jones and Stephen Shimmin.

And more good news through from the American Philatelic Society's Stamp Show 2007 at Portland Oregon held during August. In the Literature section Stephen Schumann won a Grand and Gold award in the open' section for NZ Postal Stationery 1876-1940, Paul Maselis won for his book From the Azores to New Zealand and Volume IX won the Reserve Grand and Gold. Royal Lines congratulates all these winners. Well done.

5          Volume IX

Don't forget to order your copy of the award winning Postage Stamps of New Zealand Volume IX. Price  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.

 

6          International Auction

John Mowbray has informed us that his International stamp auction will be held on Saturday October 6 at the West Plaza Hotel, Wellington. There are about 1200 lots estimated at $1,600,000. Catalogues are to be posted out by 15 September, available on line from the lOth, with viewing on the 5th October at the Otaki office. or at the West Plaza the morning of the 6th October.

7          November Postal Sale - Reminder

The closing date is set for noon on the 8 November and again it looks like being another big one. Of special note the sale includes many items from the late C D Rudd's Philatelic Terms and Varieties collection, which uses a wide range of unusual items, early to modern, from all parts of the world, to illustrate its subjects. These subjects include colours (trials, shifts, controls etc.); perforations and watermarks; essays, proofs and samples; special purpose stamps (AR, Charity, Express Delivery, local posts, Pneumatic posts, registration); overprints and surcharges, (varieties, double, treble, inverted, typewritten etc.); fractional stamps & bisects; paper (native, gold/silver foil, silk); errors and flaws; forgeries and reprints, (inverted centres, tete-beche pairs, double prints, pre-stamp covers, paquebots, taxe percue etc.). Inspection is advised for full appreciation of the wide range and fine quality of material included. See Catalogue for times.

 

8          Important Brochure available

The New Zealand Philatelic Federation have produced a brochure about 'Estate planning for your stamps.' This gives a basic guide for the collector to ensure your wishes can be carried out when you have passed on. All Federation brochures can be found on the Federation's website at www.nzpf.org.nz or by writing to the Secretary, New Zealand Philatelic Federation, P 0 Box 19 119, Hamilton 3244.

 

9           Overdue Subscriptions for 2007/08

Just a reminder in case you have forgotten, please send your remittance back, together with the invoice, email address and your new postcode. (The Royal's postcode is 6140).

 

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.