Early Letter-Weighing Devices

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.

REGISTRATION:  The registration process on this site has default email verification, this cannot be bypassed.  Please check your spam folder if not received. If not in spam folder please advise me on  [email protected] using the email address you used at registration. I will then manually validate your account ASAP.  Please allow at least 48 hours for manual registration before contacting again.

(you may see reference to your profile at times when logging in or out. This has no effective relevance as the only details that those registering are able to enter are their name and email address. I have intentionally kept personal details to the practical minimum)

LOGIN:  This website has a default plugin to prevent malware or Distributed Denial of Service attacks. This security measure cannot be removed or deactivated. If subscribers make too many logins in a short period of time they may receive an “Access Denied” message. To try and mitigate subscribers inadvertently falling victim of this, I have set the inactivity logout at 60 minutes. Therefore if you need to leave the site for a short period of time you should likely not need to login again on your return.

If it so happens that you do receive an “Access Denied” message you will need to wait 30 minutes or so before attempting to log in again.

If you receive such a message on your first attempted login during a session it is likely to reflect the number of others logging in around the same time.

There will be an option to post comments on selected postings. It is hoped that by requiring registration it will discourage the leaving of inappropriate comments and mitigate the need for moderation of posts prior to publication. This would delay the publication and potentially devalue the facility if a posting would benefit from an early response (at times the facility to moderate comments may be activated if it is likely I will not be able to monitor for a while). As administrator I reserve the right to remove any post without need to give reason. Those deemed to be “abusing” the facility will have their registration revoked.

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)

There’s Something About Slogans

In a short article published in “Stamp Collecting Weekly” March 13th 1964″, C. Baker provides a brief introduction to slogan cancellations including advice on how best collected and what to look out for. It is an area where relatively scarce material may still be found cheaply by those with a little bit of knowledge. The article may be downloaded from the attachment below.

Something About Slogans

“Essex Post Goes and Coms. Every Day”

In an article published in “Stamp Collecting Weekly” April 10th 1964, L. J. Johnson summarised the development of postal services in Essex. From the end of the 15th century with the use of casual travellers, through the introduction of more regular services with the advent of stage coaches in the 18th century to the present day (1964)

Essex Post. Goes and Coms. Every Day

Puzzling Aspects of GB Stamp Printing-Colour Omitted

No sooner had the Post Office begun to produce more colourful commemoratives, and beginning with just a modest two colours with the Europa issue of 1960,  than the first colour omitted errors began to appear. To be strictly accurate the Europa issue provided an almost completely omitted error. The top right hand corner of possibly two sheets provided the green colour almost completely omitted from stamps 1/5, 1/6, 2/5 and 2/6.

As the numbers of colours employed in the design of stamps increased the phenomenon became more common.

In the September 15th 1967 issue of “Philatelic Magazine” E.C. Ehrmann describes how some of these omissions came about. This article was published in The Philatelic Register in July 2021. At the end of the article I added some comment of my own based on my experience and being frequently asked about unrecorded “missing colours”.

Puzzling Apects of GB Stamp Printing-Colours Omitted

The GB Sixpenny Definitive Aerogrammes of Queen Elizabeth 1954-1964

In 1965 according the G.P.O. 65 million airletters were posted annually

In “Stamp Collecting Weekly” March 12th and March 19th issues 1965   articles by I.H.C Godfrey  were published providing significant detail about the Sixpenny aerogrammes including the characteristics of various printings, and a checklist of the known varieties at the time. These articles are available for downloading from link below.

The 6d Definitive Aerogrammes

1976 Social Reformers issue-8½p value

The article that can be downloaded from link below was one of a number of articles produced for early editions of the monthly issues of “The Philatelic Register”, focusing on the story behind a particular issue or individual stamp in an issue. In addition to some historical detail and perspective, information is provided on items of interest for the collector to be aware of and perhaps seek out.

1976 Social Reformers issue-8½p value

 

GB Postage Dues “A short Official History” and healthy debate.

In the February 19th 1965 issue of “Stamp Collecting Weekly” a short article from the bulletin of G.P.O. Philatelic Bureau was published.  This article “GB Postage Dues – A short Official History” stimulated almost immediate “academic” debate.  Most notably a subsequent article by E.C. Ehrmann published in “Stamp Collecting Weekly” March 26th 1965 “GB Postage Dues- The G.P.O.  Philatelic Bureau answers questions”.  These two articles stimulated some further response reported in the “Quoting You” sections of Stamp Collecting Weekly in April and June. It is these letters that demonstrate the healthy debate and “banter” that collectors of the time engaged in, stimulated by philately but not always confined to matters philatelic.

GB Postage Dues. A short Official History

GB Postage Dues. Philatelic Bureau answers questions

Letter April 9th 1965

Letter April 30th 1965

Letter June 4th 1965

Early GB Simplified

The article that can be downloaded from the link below is a  must read for anyone who is in the early stages of getting to grips with the line engraved and embossed issues. Beautifully written and set out by Captain F.C. Holland, F.R.P.S.L and published in “Stamp Collecting Weekly” December 4th 1964 it covers amongst other issues that can befuddle the beginner in this area, black and red shades, papers, perforation guages, watermarks and Check Letter Alphabets.

Early GB Simplified

Inns as Post-Towns

After the end of the Napoleonic Wars, new roads were laid down by passing small towns. A consequence of this was that a change of horses drawing mail coaches now often needed to be undertaken a long distance from a town, often at a convenient inn. In time these inns became Official Receiving Houses.

In the article attached below from “Stamp Collecting Weekly” February 7th 1964, W.G. Stitt Dibden describes this evolution.

Inns as Post-Towns