I started collecting Channel Islands stamps in the late 1960s. My father worked for British European Airways (B.E.A.), which enabled our family to visit Jersey and Guernsey during the summer holidays. I became particularly interested in 1969 with postal independence.
A colleague my father had worked with at B.E.A., Dennis Burns, had moved to Guernsey when his parents bought a Bed and Breakfast located in Elm Grove, St. Peter Port. We stayed with them when visiting the island.
Dennis had a brother, Bob Burns, who was a philatelist and member of the C.I.S.S. He had purchased many Red Cross messages on the island at a time when locals were happy to sell them for 10/- (50p).
When he sold his collection, he gave me the rump of it including the piece above. Bob suggested I should join the society, which I did in 1974, and the rest , as they say, is history.
Steve Wells has sent in scans of a postcard he has in his collection, which he refers to as “very unassuming”. It has a very nice strike of the Jersey double circle datestamp.
However, the other side shows a lovely pen and ink drawing ‘filled in’ with various stamp cut outs depicting a rather elegant lady. He adds that it is “of no great value, but still one of my favourite covers in my collection.”
Thank you, Steve.
Allix card 63 St Catherine’s Bay caught my attention when it was offered on the delcampe website as item #1734394237 on 14th March by French vendor ‘vinolie’ at an initial amount of EUR 12.00. There were three bidders and the final successful bid was EUR 187.50!
The card was sent from Jersey to France on 28th December in either 1908 or 1909 and was written at 41, La Motte Street in St. Helier.
Chas E. Larbalestier featured an example of this particular numbered postcard and image in his book [1] along with another similar image – using the same number – in which the pony and trap are facing in the opposite direction.
Reference:
- The Postcards of Henry George Allix. Chas E. Larbalestier. Société Jersiaise, 2004, p. 65.
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Copyright © Steve Wells 2023
A colleague in the Postage Due Mail Study Group based in Bermuda, Horst Augustinovic, forwarded to me copies of correspondence written in the days just before Liberation sent from Guernsey to Bermuda on 9th May 1945. He thought that the covers were historically interesting.
His guess is that the sender – J. Robin of 106, Victoria Road, Guernsey – may have worked in Bermuda before the war as he seemingly knew several people in St. George’s.
There are three addressees. Figures 1, 1a and 1b relate to the Roberts family, a prominent St. George’s family, having been both store owners and mayors. Figures 2, 2a and 2c concern the Fox family: Fox is a fairly common name in the East End of Bermuda and Gracie obviously worked for the Gosling liquor store (Horst suggests maybe the writer did too). Figure 3 is addressed to Dr. Parker, who Horst thinks must have been his local doctor.
Unfortunately there are no backstamps on the covers, so it is not possible to establish an arrival date in Bermuda.
I am grateful to Horst for having the opportunity to share these covers with C.I.S.S. members. Copyright © Steve Wells 2023.
