Category: Great Britain Philately

The Times of Rowland Hill 1795-1820

THE PHILATELIC REGISTER is owned, published and edited by Ian Lasok-Smith

Contact Address: 6 Hough Green, Chester, CH4 8JG.  Email: [email protected]

ThePhilatelicRegister.com has replaced the montly issue of The Philatelic Register. The change in format has been dictated by the need to have a format that is more sustainable with regards the time required to keep it updated. As was The Philatelic Register, this evolving resource is FREE, users just need to register (only name and email address required) on the site to gain full access to article content.  All articles may be downloaded and printed or saved to PC. The site has been constructed on a WordPress platform and as such  has afforded much more versatility and new opportunites compared with original format.

I hope that as it evolves this new format will make it easier to fulfill the “Mission Statement” that encompasses the inspiration behind the original idea.

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The most important purpose of the site is to provide a varied and expanding repository of knowledge and in doing so also try to recognise and preserve the work of many dedicated philatelists over the years. There will be regular postings but not at any specified times. The most recent postings appearing in “Latest Postings” in the sidebar.

The content of the site will be fully searchable using the search engine on the site.

Ian Lasok-Smith.  Owner, Publisher and Editor “The Philatelic Register”

Philatelic Traders Society (Gold Membership)

Collecting Village Postmarks

The collecting of postage stamps in isolation can rarely provide the full social context behind the reason for their use in any particular circumstance. It is useful and frequently rewarding for a collector of what ever area or region, who may count themselves a philatelist, to develop some of the instinct of the postal historian. To this end, the study of postmarks provides perhaps an entry level in to the wider field of postal history. In a short but eloquent article brimming with enthusiasm published in Stamp Collecting Weekly September 4th 1980, D. R. Atkinson extolls the virtues of postmark collecting and provides step by step guidance on how to seek out and organise a collection relating to village postmarks. Advice that can be applied to probably many other areas of postmark study.

The article can be downloaded from the link below.

Collecting Village Postmarks

GB ½d Vermilion: Junk and Non-Junk

From its issue on 1st January 1887 up until 1900 a total of 56,225,900 sheets each of 240 stamps of the ½d vermilion of the Victoria  “Jubilee” issue were printed. This providing a total of 13,494,216,700 stamps.

The enormous number produced provides a clue to the “Junk” part of the title of an article on the issue, written by Frank Walsham and published in the August 21st 1975 issue of Stamp Collecting Weekly. However the article seeks to provide inspiration (and encouragement for those on a budget) for those looking for an area of interest to develop. Mr Walsham outlines a number of the opportunities provided by the issue, the “Non-Junk” part of the title. These include; Marginal rules, plate flaws, controls, cancellations, underprints, overprints, used abroad and Perfins.

The complete article and some coments generated and published in the “Quoting You” sections of Stamp Collecting Weekly can be downloaded from the link below.

GB ½d Vermilion: Junk and Non-Junk

Letters in All Four Corners

Why are there letters in all four corners of the stamp?

I include this article in the archive not so much due to its “enlightening” content but more so to illustrate the enthusiasm and participation that was evident amongst collectors in past years, and which is a core aim of The Philatelic Register.

The article by W. V. Evans in Stamp Collecting Weekly August 21st 1975 and some of the responses it generated can be downloaded from the link below.

Letters in All Four Corners

 

Peculiar Postmarks

Some may have it that the first cancellation used in Britain, the “Maltese Cross” was unusual. Although over the course of time there have been many different cancellations most have in the main been standardised.

In an article published in the April 9th 1965 issue of Stamp Collecting Weekly, D. R. Atkinson describes and illustrates a multitude of “Peculiar Postmarks” that have appeared. An attempt is made to describe and group the reasons why such postmarks appeared and suggests that many more may be hiding in plain sight.

The article can be downloaded from the link below.

Peculiar Postmarks

Varieties on King Edward VII Great Britain

An article by K. S. Dent in the December 28th issue of Stamp Collecting Weekly provides a fine example of the effort that many contributors in this era (mid 20th century) made to disemminate the findings of their labours.

In the article that discusses and describes value by value and printer to printer, varieties found on the Edward VII low value definitives the hand drawn illustrations just have to be admired.

The article can be downloaded from the link below

Varieties on King Edward VII Great Britain

Great Britain “Officials”

The origins of the need for a means of accounting for increasing volumes of mail that the Post Office handled on behalf of govenrnment departments (a service that had historically been provided free) is outlined in a short series of articles by A.M. Beatson published in Stamp Collecting Weekly between July 9th and August 6th 1949. An account is then provided for each of the 85 stamps that were overprinted during the Victorian and Edwardian era for eight departments; Inland Revenue, Office of Works, War Office, Board of Education, Royal Household, Admiralty, Board of Trade, and Stationery Office. There was also a Government Parcels overprint that was used by all departments for packages over 3 lbs in weight.

The series of articles can be downloaded from the link below.

Great Britain “Officials”

 

 

The “Queensman” Column

A regular feature in Stamp Collecting Weekly  through the decades since the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II  was a column initially detailing varieties as they were found on GB and Commonwealth issues. From the early 1960s this became a column devoted just to Great Britain issues. In later years although still limited to Great Britain it discussed recent issues and related material more broadly. The column appeared under various titles over the years:

“Forum of Elizabethan Varieties”

“Current GB Flaws and Varieties”

“Looking at Current GB”

The title and style changing as authorship of the column changed hands. The one constant however throughout its time was the author always assumed the nom de plume  “Queensman”

Although many of the varieties listed in these columns found their way to the specialised catalogues sufficient did not to make it worth publishing the columns here. The “Queensman” columns are particularly useful for the decimal era as Gibbons stopped listing the minor constant flaws in the specilalised Vol.5, which itself is now out of print and was last published in 1998.

All “Queensman” columns reproduced will appear on this page and may be downloaded

The complete “Queensman” columns from 1964

The Scroll (Hooded Circle) Cancellation.

In the late 19th century a distinctive and many think attractive datestamp appeared. Initially employed for certain special purposes e.g Royal Household mail, government departments…their use gradually expanded and were in ordinary use in the Irish offices of Cork, Waterford, Londonderry and Limerick (the “Cowall” cancellations).

Links are provide below to some articles and the correspondence they generated that were published in Stamp Colleccting Weekly in 1974 and 1976.

The Handstruck Scroll Cancellation

C.F.K. Goldthorpe M.A.  July 25th 1974

 

Handstruck Scroll Cancellations Correspondence

 

A Unique Edward VII Scroll Cancellation

G.V. Eltrigham,  F.R.P.S.L.  August 29th 1974

 

The Experimental Scroll Cancellations.

Peter A. Forrestier Smith  January 22nd 1976

The “Castles” High Values

It was over 2 years after the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II that the first of the “Castles” series of high values appeared. They have become a “classic” issue  and with numerous different printers and watermarks being employed they have become a rich source for study. In 1979 a very comprehensive work on the issue by R.F. Allen was serialised in Stamp Collecting Weekly. At the time it was the most comprehensive review of the issue yet published. Covering everything from production (printers, papers, inks, perforation….) to errors and varieties, it is a work of interest and importance to any serious GB QEII specialist.

The full serialisation can be downloaded from attachment below.

The Castle High Values