GBPS Programme 2021-2022

John says, "The display sets out to show a wide range of aspects of a much-maligned but short-lived issue of just 10 stamps. Die proofs of the small head design and some of the values are shown, followed by imprimaturs, specimen overprints, inverted watermarks, trial perforations, colour trials, cancellation trials, Government overprints, items overprinted for use abroad, together with a range of covers showing the stamps in use to a variety of destinations as well as a few cancelled abnormally overseas on mail bound for the UK. A couple of the die proofs have yet to be included in the SG catalogue.

The stamps were printed by De La Rue using their fugitive inks, designed to cause the colour to run when fraudsters tried to remove the cancels and re-use the stamps. This makes it difficult for collectors to obtain used copies in the true dull green colours, and the SG Concise Catalogue states that '... Stamps that have been soaked, causing the colour to run, are virtually worthless'. This collection illustrates that the problem can be largely overcome by collecting the values in mint condition or on cover, and avoiding copies soaked in the bath, but at a significant cost to the collecting budget. Some of the covers contain original correspondence with interesting historical and social stories, with others having vague destinations such as 'West Coast of Africa'. The covers indicate the postage rates in use at the time, although with some interesting anomalies."

Alan says: "Having maintained a general G.B. collection all my working life, some 25 years ago I decided to concentrate a little more on an area which attracted me. Hence I looked a little more closely at mail from G.B. to France. I split the collection into subjects – for no particular reason and this has evolved into the present display. The first part looks at pre Napoleonic and some post 1815 mail. The sections that follow include Late Fee mail, Registered, Redirected, unstamped and stamped mail used prior to the General Postal Union in 1875 – a good point to draw the line.

The second part looks at the problems of crossing the Alps during the same period. This includes mail sent to Italy and beyond via the Mont Cenis road, rail and tunnel and the growing need for speedy routes to the East. I deviate slightly by illustrating the need for the construction of Aachen Bahnhof on the border between Belgium and Prussia and examine the routes and destinations following from this. I finish by returning to France and the Alps. Throughout I give information on routes and rates, but the display does not attempt to cover all the detail on what is a very wide subject."

Peter says: "The display will cover the first forty years of airmail, starting with the pioneer period from 1910 to 1933 then continuing with the individual airline companies, many of which were very short lived. Proofs of the companies' labels will be displayed along with time tables and dispatch dockets plus pilot signed covers. The coverage will also include the Scottish airmails as many emergency flights took place, and a crash. A small study of the Lanark air meeting of 1910 will also be shown although no mail was carried but a Grandstand postmark was used."

Maurice says: "This collection started many years ago when I bought a large box of commercial covers from the 1960s and 1970s. Among these were some with £sd stamps used after decimalisation, which intrigued me. Other related items were added along the way, until it developed into a full-size collection aiming to show all the aspects of how the Post Office dealt with the change of currency. (I guess I never know when to stop.)

So what can you expect to see? Well, plenty of Machin material, naturally, both mint stamps and postal history, along with how stamp books, regional and commemorative issues, postage dues and postal stationery changed due to decimalisation. Covers will include mixed frankings and other unusual uses, some of which come from that original box! As collectors of Machin postal history will know well, some of the rates and usages from this era are now surprisingly hard to find.

Of course, postage stamps and rates are only part of the story. As one of the largest organisations in the country, the Post Office had many other changes to cope with. So the display will also show training and publicity material, some of the many hundreds of forms that needed to be revised (often with temporary 'bridging' versions), how postage meters were adapted for the new currency, changes in other items sold at post offices such as postal orders and savings stamps, and a range of miscellaneous ephemera of decimalisation! A look at a 'modern' topic that's now 50 years old.".

Peter says: "This display is based on my book of the same name, and on the exhibit which won 'Best of Show' in Cairo, looking at some of the curious occurrences in our postal history. Britain was at the forefront of developing a postal service: there is no doubt that leadership in developing a good postal service contributed greatly to Britain’s industrial success from 1780 to 1880. The flip side to this is that almost every single development was a 'world first', and there were bound to be oddities and teething troubles along the way!

Before 1840, there were two separate 'official' Postal systems operating in Britain: mostly making separate charges. In addition there were several types of 'private carrier', most more or less illegal, and at least one unofficial private post system sanctioned by the Post Office. Initially all post had to go through London (or Edinburgh), postal charges until 1788 (1801 in Scotland) were the sum of the charges to and from London, charges were based on distance - sometimes just on estimates or guesses of distance - and on number of sheets of paper, rather than weight. Hypothecated extra charges were allowed on a few routes, and MPs (and a few other odd bods) were allowed the privilege of free post in the general but not the local post. This free post privilege was widely abused - MPs apparently did not always have the integrity which characterises modern members of the Government!

I have attempted to put together examples of all the oddities and anomalies, and to explain them. It has been a lot of fun making this collection; I hope you will find it interesting."

This meeting will be held via Zoom and will be an ensemble display by members. This will have a similar format to the one held in December 2020 with members invited to submit a single item or page (which will be converted into a PowerPoint slide) to be shared with members. For preference material should be of a seasonal and/or humorous nature but any small offering you think may be of interest to others is welcome. Members can either leave the item to speak for itself or will be given the opportunity to talk (for around a minute) about the item.

If you have something to offer then please contact Steve Teuma via meetings@gbps.org.uk with details (i.e. your name and a brief description of the item(s)). Don’t be put off if you are not familiar with PowerPoint as we can handle that side of things - you just need to provide a suitable scan of the item(s).

Our final meeting of 2021 will be on Wednesday 8 December. This will be the annual Stanley Gibbons Christmas Evening Reception from 6:00pm-8:00pm at their premises, 399 Strand, London WC2R 0LX. They are good hosts, providing a variety of food and drink as well as generous discounts on their stock on the night. Please remember to RSVP (to S.G. not the GBPS) regarding your attendance in good time so they know how many people they are catering for.

Members are invited to bring up to two frames (of 12 sheets per frame in 3 rows of 4 sheets) of material to show during the evening. Please dig out something to bring along, as it is a highlight of the evening to see a mix of material from as many members as possible. As usual, if bringing a display it helps if you can let us know ahead of time so we can get a head start on a running order and determine the number of laydowns we will need (out of a maximum of three for the evening) so please email Steve Teuma via meetings@gbps.org.uk with details (i.e. your name, how many sheets/frames you wish to bring and a title/subject).

David says:

The display shows the development of stamp rolls for use in both vending and office affixing machines from the very earliest trials through to the QE2 period where postal rates were changing rapidly. A number of scarce Coil leaders from all reigns will be shown.

The Post Office were initially reluctant to start roll production, but examples of trials in New Zealand that eventually led to development by Mrs Kermode of machines and stamp rolls for sale in the UK will be displayed. Eventually, by 1912 official vertical delivery rolls were produced by Harrison, of the ½d and 1d Downey head design in crown, simple cypher and multiple cypher watermark varieties.

The layout, design and colour of the Coil leaders were altered over time and there were numerous amendments to roll pricing, as make-up charges were altered and eventually abolished. For a number of years pressure to produce sideways delivery rolls came from the Merkham Trading Company who distributed the Multipost affixing machine. It took until 1924 for Harrison to start production following further trial work.

The development of continuous printing to simplify the make-up and accounting procedures for rolls will be displayed, with illustrations of the equipment designed and manufactured by Grover and the coils produced by Waterlow.

During the reign of George VI both stamps and leader designs continued to change, recognising the need to economise during wartime and changes in postal rates. Values up to 6d were produced and throughout the reign rolls were produced both continuously and by joining sheets of stamps. With the installation of vending machines at seaside locations, to serve the increasing demand for stamps for postcard usage, work on the roll design and machines was essential. At these exposed locations there was a real problem of coils sticking to each other because of the damp conditions, preventing smooth operation of the machine.

The QEII period saw the transition from the Wilding head design to Machin head in both pre-decimal and decimal values, with machine development running to keep up with the ever escalating cost of postage. Examples of some of the scarcer coil leaders of this period will be shown including the only commemorative stamps of the Elizabethan era issued in rolls - the 1957 Scout Jamboree issue.

In 1922, following the 1916 Easter rising, the Irish Free State was established. Whilst a new permanent definitive series of Irish Postage stamps for the new Free State were approved and printed the existing George V stamps were overprinted in Gaelic. Whilst Dollard and Thom in Dublin overprinted the sheet stamps Harrison produced stamps in rolls utilising their own characteristic 5 line and 3 line over-print. With over-print varieties, leader variations and base stamp varieties a whole new level of complexity of analysis arises. Leaders, strips and usages will be shown.

There will be sections on rolls produced for the British Empire exhibitions of 1924 and 1925, the Postal Union Congress of 1929 and frames highlighting test rolls used in machine developments and for use day-to-day by Post Office engineers in setting up the network of vending machines.

Trevor says:

This display provides a detailed study of the Regional £sd issues of Great Britain from 1958 until 1971 including their usages.

On 18th June 1956 an announcement was made from the House of Commons which stated that consultative committees had been appointed to advise on ‘individual stamps for the regions in small size showing the Queen’s portrait framed by heraldic or symbolical subjects’.

All designs contained the photographic portrait of Queen Elizabeth II taken by Dorothy Wilding Ltd. on 15th April 1952.

The first stamp issued was the 3d value on 18th August 1958. A total of four different denominations were produced for Jersey, Isle of Man and Guernsey, and seven for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The last issued being the 9d value of Scotland on 28th September 1970. The issue was initially valid for use throughout Great Britain, however, became invalid in Guernsey and Jersey from 1st October 1969 when they established their own independent postal administrations. All £sd Regionals not previously withdrawn were taken off sale on 25th November 1971 and were demonetised on 1st March 1972. The series was replaced by decimal regional values on 7th July 1971.

The period of this series coincided with technological changes aimed at the automation of the handling of mail, with the introduction of different phosphor inks, watermarked and unwatermarked papers as well as paper coatings. In addition, the introduction of 1st & 2nd class postage rates from 1968 altogether gives this issue much scope for study.

The display includes the designs & designers and detailed analysis by region for each value, the cylinders issued, shades, listed & unlisted varieties and production errors, as well as usages.

Jonathan says:

"My presentation will cover the separate but interlinked stories of the paper money histories of England, Scotland and Ireland.

This will start with a look at how these countries managed financial transactions before the advent of paper money in 1694 when the Bank of England was founded. I will then look at developments since then, starting with the founding of the Bank of Scotland in 1695 by an Act of the Scottish Parliament. The later founding of the Bank of Ireland in 1783 forms an important part of the story but in all three countries banking and banknote issuance involved many other institutions than these three, so I will look at how these fared and how differing legislation caused the histories of these three countries to diverge.

I will also look at how banknote design developed, the printers that designed and engraved the notes and how the constant battle to keep forgers at bay led to many of the innovations seen through the 19th and 20th centuries, in fact right up to the introduction of polymer notes in the last few years. My display will feature some of the notes referred to in the presentation with descriptive material placing each note in the overall story."

Chris says:

"The President's display will feature various legitimate and illegitimate private posts in the classic period up to the end of the 19th century. There will be a PowerPoint presentation offering an overview of the subject, with much more in the frames for viewing by those attending in person.

The display will be divided into sections covering:

• Pre-stamp letters carried privately or accompanying parcels
• Carrier labels issued by the many parcel carriers operating across the country and internationally
• The stamps issued by various of the Oxford and Cambridge Colleges in the 1870s and 1880s
• The stamps of the Circular Delivery Companies operating for a short period in 1865/67

The collection has been built up over the last 50 years and includes many items that have seldom been seen in public before."

The fair is open from 10:00am to 4:30pm and is one of the best regional stamp fairs with over 40 dealers in attendance and on-site refreshments.

So we can gauge numbers, if you plan on attending the GBPS meeting please email the meeting coordinator, John Davies FRPSL, via publicity@gbps.org.uk and if bringing a display please let John know how many sheets and the subject matter.

Graham says:

"The talk and display will concentrate on the things many exhibitors get wrong such as the title page of their exhibit. Both single frame and multi-frame exhibits will be covered."

The afternoon session will consist of the society A.G.M. followed by Members’ Displays. The A.G.M. will be held over Zoom for the benefit of those unable to attend in person. The Members’ Displays that follow will not be accessible over Zoom.

For those who are able to attend the meeting in person, please bring something along to show - any GB subject matter is acceptable. As always, advance notice of what you plan to bring (subject and quantity) is useful for planning the running order on the day; please email our Meeting Manager, David Griffin, via meetings@gbps.org.uk or ring him on 07450 113084 with brief details.