Spring Stampex 2013 - Aftermath

Well, Stampex is over  for another six months. I've had a bit of time to sort out my purchases - two "collections" of Poland covering up to about 1970 and my usual material from the Hytech machines.

There were the usual amount of dealers there with the expected stock. However, there seemed to be so little for the junior collector - at least on the two days that I visited. I suppose that this is to be expected since most of the people visiting were over 40. 

How do we encourage the younger collector to come to these events? Stampex does have a "junior" stall at the weekends but is that enough. There were many stands which had significant material for the more "mature" collector. Penny blacks galore were available from £95. Covers of all descriptions from around the world were there by the box load. But what about packets and equipment for the junior collector?

I have been to philatelic societies around the country and found that I was frequently the youngest person present.So what can we do? We cannot send collectors into schools because they would require a CRB check which costs at least £36 a time but can remain valid for up to 3 years. But who would organise the CRB? Schools won't because you are not permanent staff and supply agencies wouldn't be interested. I think that the Philatelic Trust organises visits and school clubs.

What sort of school should be targeted - primary or secondary? Primary would give the best feedback and give a positive boost to collecting but as soon as the pupils hit secondary school the stamp collection would find its way to the back of the cupboard at best. 

Using stamps and postal history material in association with class work would be beneficial. The BPMA has some material which is downloadable for key stage 2 on the Victorians, WW1 and even on aspects of design covering the Festival of Britain.

Year 5 and 6 do work on ancient Egypt, why can't something be put together using the wide variety of stamps illustrating pharaohs, gods and artifacts.

 

All those Shakespeare stamps could be used to illustrate stage and costume design associated with the plays that secondary pupils have to study. Art is so richly covered but why do so few teachers illustrate the works of the great masters through stamps. Look at the quality of artwork associated in producing some of the stamps - there have been some great engravers.

It would just take a bit of time and research to associate the appropriate stamps and material with the course of study.

Back to Stampex... I did spot a talk on Jane Austen and the new stamps on the Friday close to the Royal Mail Stand but surely it could be an advantage to all to have such talks throughout each day with the Saturday talks targeted at junior and new collectors.

And the "Aftermath" for me... Well I filled in some large gaps in my Polish collection (around 700 covering 1919 to 1965). I also found a single 1919 bogus stamp and a charity "stamp" for a Warsaw based charity for the blind. All this gives me some areas to research and learn about.

I was tempted to buy a bundle of 100 covers for £15 because of the top cover showing the 1970 Declaration of Arbroath stamp. There were a number of other covers of interest for cancels.

I have also scanned the Hytech material and have produced the third issue of the ATM Informer. so  just look at the earlier entries for the links.

Wincor-Nixdorf and Hytech Cattle

I was fortunate to re-visit the Autumn Stampex event on the 28th September for the release of the Cattle faststamps. I wanted examples from both the Wincor-Nixdorf and the Hytech on the first day.

I stopped off at William IV Street/Trafalgar Square to obtain examples of the "normal" Wincor stamps. Kiosks 1 and 2 were vending sheep and kiosks 3 and 4 were producing the cattle stamps. I purchased single examples of the faststamps from kiosks 1 to 3 and two sets of six first class stamps from kiosk 4 to fill FDC requirements.

The Wincors produced were as expected - font 1 and with the normal ident (015010). The datastring is as normal - 015010 4-06244-01. The receipt had one minor variation - the address was all on one line and in lower case lettering. Of note is the session number, 06244, which is low. This would suggest a resetting around the 17th July. This is about the same time as the 000000 fault on kiosk 1 which was also reset about that time.

The Hytech produced a new form of datastring which includes letters - A9GB12 A1-000259-06. The "A" in A1 indicates a kiosk which may be used by the public, "B" is a backroom kiosk and "C" is for Philatelic Bureau produced items. The basic receipts for the Hytech are much simpler and yet more complicated than the Wincors but come in two or more parts - the basic order receipt (illustrated) a card receipt (not illustrated) and a receipt for any collector's strips.

The fonts in use in both kiosks for printing the stamps now seem to match each other.

Both sets were cancelled by the Stampex first day cancel for this set.

Collecting on a Shoestring 2

Experienced collectors always say that one should always purchase and collect the best available stamp or cover available. But always remember that most normal people have a restricted budget.

Some of these “experts” then proceed to do the exact opposite by collecting rather tatty, torn, water stained or partially burned items. These damaged items are collectable crash or accident mail and are the survivors of plane, train or ship accidents. Items from some of the more famous accidents such as the Hindenburg crash/fire are highly sought after. These are stories in themselves and take in researching the causes of the accident, who were involved in the accident, why were they there, was there a special stamp or cancel for the journey and so on.

What about the mail that drops through our letter box? If it is like anything like the mail that drops through mine, stamps are rare. Most of the items have their carriage paid either by meter or PPI (Post Paid Impression). So, at first glance, these envelopes can be dropped straight in to the great grey receptacle. However, take a closer look at the envelopes as there may be a strange story behind each of these dull items.

Postal operations add marks which assist in getting the item from sender to recipient and by “reading” these markings, one can build up a picture of the route taken. The difficulty arises from developing the skills to do so.

Metered mail, in the UK, receives either a red or blue inked impression giving the rate paid by the sender. In the impression, one gets a date stamp, possibly a slogan and there is a serial number identifying the machine and even the model!

Coding marks applied to automate the sorting of mail can through light on why the envelope may have been delayed, which machine was used to code it and where, date and time information and even an unique identifier for that item of mail. With some older processed items it may actually be possible from records to identify the person on the coding desk.

Postmarks have long been seen as the quickest and easiest way to track a mail item. The sending office puts a postmark cancelling the stamp. Sometimes intermediate offices may also apply a cancel mark and the receiving office may also have added the mark too.

Back to basic stamp collecting. Mint stamps appear to be promoted as the way to collect. These stamps should automatically be in the best condition since they are obtained direct from source and not subsequently used and abused by the postal service. They also make a nice display without those “nasty black smudgy cancels” to spoil the aesthetics.

First Day Covers (FDCs) are more bulky but are a very easy method of getting the stamps used with a clear cancel that also documents the first day of use of the stamps. However, these days, many FDCs are not first day as such. Philatelic bureaux prepare and cancel covers in advance of the issue to meet the prospective orders. In the UK, at least, there are about half a dozen Special Handstamp Centres (SHCs) which accept first day items up to a couple of weeks after the day of issue to allow for the “vagaries of the post”. In addition, these centres offer a range of special cancels which have relevance to the stamp issue and not just the place of posting.

Used stamps are exactly what they appear to be. They have been used to prepay the postage of an item. They have weathered the “hardships” of the postal services and received markings en route. Worst of all are the stamps attacked by the over zealous postie with a biro. This totally devalues the stamps as being collectable but some collectors do actually add such items to their collection as complete envelopes to show what can go wrong.

Collectors soak these stamps off the envelope and dry using blotting paper. However, self adhesive stamps which have become more popular over the last decade tend not to be able to be removed from the envelope by soaking and the best way to deal with them is to cut round the stamp. If there is a clear cancel then cut around the stamp and cancel.

So to finish this entry, it is possible to piece together a story from the envelope and how it passed through the systems. This can add to the story given by the image on the stamp.