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.46 No 8

 

September 2007

 

1 September Meeting - IMPORTANT CHANGES

The next meeting will be the combined meeting with the WELLINGTON PHILATEUC SOCIETY ON

MONDAY 3 SEPTEMBER commencing at 7.30pm. It will be held at the WELLINGTON CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE ROOMS, GROUND FLOOR, WCC OFFICE BUILDING, ACCESS FROM WAKEFIELD STREET.

The doors will be manned from 7.15pm.                                   

NOTE: As the meeting is at a different venue and day, the library will not be open as usual.

 

Programme:

 

Speaker.: Paul Wales on his award winning collection of 1970 Pictorials

        

 

2          August Meeting

President, Brian Vincent, reminded us that Huttpex is being held from 31 August to 2 September at the Lower Hutt Town Hall (see details overleaf).    .

 

Items.of interest.

Brian Vincent had several PSE's from alternative postal operators including Petes Post, Fastway Post and DX Mail along with the rather drab NZ Post effort. Neil Fenwick brought some Huttpex posters for distribution. Also a 6s 3d cover including 6 copies of the 1940 1s Kauri, 1942 to the UK. He also showed a block of 4 of the same stamp nicely cancelled at Rangiora.

Geoff Rickards had a number of items from our upcoming postal bid sale: a cover to Utiku that bounced between there and Taihape four times, a collection of local posts stamps on several leaves including from Turkey, Swiss hotels, Suez Canal, Danube Black Sea Post, Canada's Caribou Express, New Hebrides-Australia Shipping Co., Christ­mas Island Plantation Mailboat Service, Coolgardie Cycle Express, a GWR airmail stamp, and UK local authority seals. A couple of examples of cinderellas from the 1924 British Expedition to Mt Everest including a rare example (one of seven existing) cancelled at the Rangbuk camp.

Des Hurley had an example of-the Regent franking machine of Armstrong & Springhalls, a genuine use of the forces mail envelope from Vietnam, and a 1917 USA cover from Philadelphia to Tasmania. Stephen Jones brought several pages of presentation sets ex a recent Spinks auction of first side faces, 1898's and George V stamps. Aerogrammes to Holland with bars over airmail etiquettes, a 1938 Tauranga relief cancel on 2 x Id kiwis on cover, a couple of George VI official airmail covers to Honolulu, 9d officials on cover, 1940 officials on cover, an Italian military mail card with 2 x 5d 1935 stamps airmail to NZ and an aerogramme from Somes Island with 6d airmail to Germany with Nazi censor mark.

 

Doug Tennant had a wonderful label on the back of a UK cover sent to the Royal recently. 'The sender didn't pay enough airmail postage on this item, so we had to divert it to an alternative service. Sorry if there was a delay.' NZ Post take note!  .

Adam Miller on RoyaltyTax Stamps.

Adam cranked up an old gramophone and played a 78 record 'Airmail Special' while he set up his display, a very novel 'in the mood' introduction. He then handed out a diagram 'Royalties on Music-Simplified' showing all the flows of royalties between composer, record company, publisher, radio station and performer.

 

His first frame showed the breadth of what was available. There are four main classes of issuer copyright organisation, record company, music publisher and composer. There are 220 different issuers known so far, 100 in the UK and 38 in Australia. Most UK examples show a value on the stamp to represent a 5% of the retail price under Copyright Act in UK, raised to 6.25% in 1928. Several agencies were shown including The Copyright Protection Society, starting with their generic design of a double circle but with increased sophistication with time. Several other organisations were shown, including the French EDIFO. It is curious that no stamps from either Canada or India have been found.

 

Stamps involved complex organisation and accounting, and so the use of these faded away. The peak was in the late 20's and early 30's. Certainly by WWII much had disappeared, although for special purposes stamps are still used today - an example being stamps for use on imported CD's. Some examples from the USA where the fee was 2. cents per composition up to about 1970 with a gradual increase since then. Some other examples were composers stamps from Australia and the UK, and Music publishers (many issues with a variety of handstamps and provisional values). Adam displayed some showing the evolution of design over time; New Zealand examples included Beggs and Arthur Eady.

The second frame was an in-depth study of Allen & Co. from 1923 to the mid 30's. This included constant flaws, 'Anvil' and 'C-line' with a number of other flaws on display. Adam said there are still many mysteries to be solved. The next frame showed various usage on piece including copyright stamps on piano rolls, record labels and sleeves, cylinder boxes, sheet music and a book and record (post)card. An example of a USA piano roll where the copyright was on the lyrics printed alongside the holes. Multi track recordings presented special problems with multiple stamps on the jackets or labels. An example shown was with a stamp and value printed on the label; Adam speculating that this could have been considered revenue stamped paper. Most of the display related to music although he had a book with a copyright stamp affixed.

 

Another frame held special items. These included sheet music with links to stamp designs - William Wallace's stamp designs based on his sheet music and a Feldman stamp with his portrait matched to similar on sheet music. These two amongst Adam's most exciting finds. There were also some mint sheets and blocks including some from a company’s archives and some Greek and EDIFO blocks, patent stamps from USA, NZ shop labels and advertising covers relating to record companies.

The next frame was what Adam called 'Maximaphily' - but in this case the stamps had a strong tie between the item, its label or sleeve and the stamp that was affixed. For example a Cinch stamp on. a Cinch label. It was a variation on the 16 page frame but with records and piano rolls instead. Examples were from Argen­tina, Australia, GB, Germany and Italy.

 

Finally Adam had an assortment of disks (Collecting 78's). These included a Berliner issued in 1898, some 3 1/2 inch records and postcards with records pressed in. Also an Aretino record with a propriety 3inch spindle hole. He commented that records are collected for their labels, the artists or tunes showing an example of a embossed gold foil label of 1905 (lousy music) and picture disks like Vogue with pretty pictures but indiffer­ent music. Adverts were represented by some Cadbury chocolate examples and an aluminium disk which carried a warning not to use steel needles but cactus or fibre ones! Adam also had an example of the first record recorded and pressed in NZ. This was on the TANZA label No 1. 'Blue Smoke' and an Elvis Presley 78.

In answer to questions Adam said there were not many collectors worldwide as yet but he has had some exciting finds. He said a lot of records disappeared during WWII when they were turned in to salvage the shellac so consequently pre war material is very rare. Brian Vincent proposed a vote of thanks to Adam commending him for distilling a complex area to make it much more understandable.

 

3          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.

.

4          Huttpex 2007 Final reminder.

This big event is just around the corner and is being held in the Lower Hutt Town Hall Complex, 31 August to 2 September. The organisers are now calling for volunteer assistance over the period of the exhibition. If you have time available then volunteers are required to set up on Thursday 30 August and dismantle after closing at 4pm on Sunday 2 September. Or if you cannot do this then maybe you could help out during the exhibition by manning the front desk, greet visitors or help as security, roaming the halls. Please contact Sue de Lange at the office if you can help out. All volunteers will be contacted prior o the event. Your help will be much appreciated. For other information on the exhibition go to www.nzpf.org.nz or email Huttpex@xtra.co.nz or PO Box 30-657, Lower Hutt. Huttpex is to be the first national exhibition to offer the First Day Cover class. This class has been included in Australian National Exhibitions since 1998.

 

5          November Postal Sale - Final Reminder for Material

Material for this sale should be lotted and sent with covering list to the office no later than August 30th. If you can send an additional copy of your list by email using the template, this would be much appreciated. If you require a lotting template please contact Sue de Lange at the office. The sale date is set for 8 November.

6          Subscriptions for 2007/08 Last reminder for rebate

Remember, to save the $5.00 on the subscription, don't forget to send your remittance back by the 31st of August 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.