Channel Islands Specialists’ Society

75th Anniversary Year

Journal Articles

Journal Indexes

Selling Your Stamp and/or Your Postal History Collection – Some Points to Consider

The Society has been made aware that collections in the estates of some members who have died recently have been sold by executors who had no knowledge of the true worth of the collection. This means that the beneficiaries did not receive the best return when the collection was sold.

There are three main options for disposing of a collection:

  1. Sell to a private collector. However, they may only be interested in the area they collect or might want to ‘cherry pick’ the items they are interested in.
  2. Sell to a philatelic dealer.
  3. Sell via a philatelic auction house or through a specialist society’s auction.

We suggest that members might consider the following points to help in the event of their collection being sold:

  1. To produce a list which identifies the key or high value items and how much was paid to acquire them. This will help ensure that they are not overlooked by a valuer or dealer.
  2. Indicate the main sections or groupings of the collection as this will help ensure they do not get bundled together as a ‘job lot’.
  3. If possible, write up the important sections of your collection. Again, this helps identify the more valuable elements and makes it easier to sell. If you exhibit parts of your collection, keep the exhibit together.
  4. Let the executors know that they should use a member of the Philatelic Traders Society to value the collection for probate (if necessary and it may be insisted upon by the solicitor handling the execution of the will, if the collection is insured.). They have a good understanding of current market values and trends. They will charge for this, but you may have this refunded if you either sell to the valuer or, if an auction house, you sell the collection through them. Remember, auction houses charge a seller’s fee plus VAT. We suggest that you do not accept an auction house’s suggestion that they ‘Buy In’ the collection.
  5. If selling to a private collector it may be best to have the collection valued in advance so a fair price can be obtained.
  6. If the collection is large or valuable and you are a member of a specialist society such as the CISS, then your executors might wish to contact the society’s officers who can help them deal with the collection. Please note that the CISS and its officers are unable to provide valuations.

The Channel Islands Specialists’ Society has helped many spouses to obtain the best value for collections of Channel Islands material through selling it in their regular auctions. The executors should be asked to contact the Society’s Secretary for information on how this would be handled – secretary@ciss.uk.

Letters to the Editor

David Ripley of Beltsville, Maryland, writes in response to Neil Mumford’s item in Vol 43 No2 (June 2024) to say that he does not own an example of the 1d Arms Banknote posted on 7 April but has a pair of the ½d and a single of the 1d posted on 9 April, but neither cover is endorsed First Day. However, he does have a pair of the ½d posted on 26 March. He was “reliably” informed that no official first day existed for either stamp, but that the blue paper stamps were only to be issued when stocks of other issues had run out. The Michel Catalogue records first days for the ½d as being 11 March, and the 1d 7 April.

Ed Fraser of Nokomis, Florida, writes in reply to Jerry Tomes Letter to the Editor, also in the previous journal, that information about why the Channel Islands were omitted from the later version of the leaflet was first “suggested” in the classic work by E. Gilbert in his 1978 articles. See the article in Stamp Collector of December 1978, concerning Box 506.

There Gilbert shows the example of a cover and letter from Thomas Cook that indicates why some places were delisted.  German-occupied France was listed for a time, but Thomas Cook apparently found that it could never confirm that any covers got through.  This was the impetus for the TC&S Box 1036 Stockholm “Experiment” tried late in the war.

Thank you both for your replies, Editor.

CISS Member Profile – Leopold Mayr

When and why did you start collecting C.I. stamps/postal history?

When the CI became postally independent in 1969 I started to collect the new Guernsey postage stamps.

When did you join the CISS? What/Who introduced you to the CISS?

I joined in April 1975 and as far as I remember it was a note on Peter Wilson’s pricelist that showed a contact address.

What benefit have you got from your membership of the CISS?

At first it awoke my curiosity for Guernsey, so that I regularly went there on vacation. The CISS publications became sort of a manual to systematically build up my collection and eventually inspired me to submit also a few articles. On my first visit to a meeting in London in 1978 David Gurney encouraged me to visit the Archives of the GPO where I spent many hours over the next years. The books written by me as author or co-author would never have been printed without the help of several CISS members and their knowledge. The book that Michael Wieneke and I published on the German Occupation has even become the standard reference amongst many CISS members, although it is printed in German.

Another benefit was certainly that my rather poor school English improved due to my visits to the weekend meetings and occasionally to the London meetings.

What aspect of C.I. stamps/postal history do you collect?

Having at one stage collected virtually everything connected with Guernsey, from postal history, postmarks, sub-offices, locals, occupation to modern stamps I have limited my focus entirely on the occupation period for several years now.

Do you have a favourite item or group of items in your C.I. collection?

My favourite item is always my most recent special acquisition. Currently this is a card posted in the Sylt concentration camp on Alderney. It is in perfect condition, and I got it for next to nothing as the German auction house had no idea what it really was and had mis-described it.

Do you collect other non-C.I. stamps/postal history?

No.

What has the hobby of philately meant to you?

It played a central role in my leisure activities, it led to several interesting previously unknown discoveries in the Archives of the GPO and the Guernsey Archives, it meant countless hours of writing letters to other collectors who exchanged their views and experience with me, and last but not least it increased my circle of friends (many of whom have passed away meanwhile, unfortunately).    

Annual Competition Day – 8 February 2025

Next year’s Competition Day will be on Saturday 8 February 2025 at The Royal Philatelic Society London.

In line with last year, as many exhibits as possible will be available for viewing on the CISS website, as well as on the day at our meeting at the Royal. The rules can be found on our website on the competitions page, where an entry form can be found. Scans of entries will be accepted for members living outside the UK.

Entry forms and scans of entries should be sent to the Competitions Secretary by Saturday 25 January 2025 at competitions@ciss.uk.  UK based members should then bring their entries to the Royal on Competition Day.

Please feel free to contact me, the Competitions Secretary, at competitions@ciss.uk with any queries. Enquiries can be made by phone on 01865 378012

As always, we look forward to receiving your interesting and varied entries. The competition rules are easy to follow, and members often find that they can display previously written up material with relatively little amendment. I am happy to help members who may be new to competitions; feel free to contact me.

Julian Bagwell, Competitions Secretary

Advance Warning : 2025 Meetings

9 January 2025                 Anniversary Display to the Royal Philatelic Society London  

8 February 2025               Member’s Meeting – Annual Competition Day and Room Auction

11-13 April 2025              Society Weekend at the Peninsula Hotel, Guernsey

7-11 May 2025                  Europhilex, NEC, Birmingham

11 May 2025                      Society Meeting at Europhilex

17 May 2025                      The 2025 Solent Regional Meeting at Chandlers Ford, Hampshire.  Convener: Alan Whittaker

5 July 2025                 MIDPEX, Warwickshire Exhibition Centre, near Leamington Spa. (Society Stand)

12 July 2025               75th Annual General Meeting; Room Auction and Members’ displays

13 September 2025   Member’s Meeting – Theme to be decided

29 November 2025   Member’s Meeting – Theme: Letters A, B, and/or C

Forthcoming Meetings 2024

14 September 2024    Room auction. Themed Meeting: Letters W, X, Y and Z.

30 November 2024   Room auction. Preview display of invited members’ material for the CISS 75th Anniversary Display. A Zoom meeting will be held at 14.00 GMT. Login details will be issued in due course.

News of Members

Congratulations to Barry Mudie who was as awarded a Large Gold in the Open Philately Class for his exhibit “Channel Islanders Internee Mail November 1942 – May 1945” in the 2024 Inter-Federation Competition at York.

Congratulations also to Gerald Marriner who received a gold award at the Mare Balticum 2024 International Philatelic Exhibition held in Tartu, Estonia, in July for his exhibit entitled “Channel Islands Occupation – Disruption to the Mail Service”. Gerald’s exhibit of 5 frames was split into four sections-

  1. No direct postal service between the Islands and England
  2. Effect of lack of supply of stamps from England
  3. Occasional problems of sending mail between the Channel Islands
  4. Independent postal routes between the Channel Islands and British Dominions, or Neutral or German Occupied Countries

Brian Sole advises that he has recently self-published “A Reminder of the British Greetings Telegram Service” This is a 132-page A5 booklet with illustrations in colour of all 77 greetings telegrams issued between 1935 and 1982. It describes the background to the start of the service and provides the names of each designer and some of the printers, plus the dates of issue and withdrawal of each Greetings Telegram. This book is primarily of GB interest.

Copies are available from Brian Sole, 49 Westcar Lane, Hersham, Walton-on-Thames KT12 5ER Telephone 01932 220677 Email: brian.sole@btinternet.com. The price is £4.99 or £7.50, including postage and packing.

2025 Guernsey Weekend Meeting

A weekend meeting has been booked at the Peninsula Hotel, Guernsey from 11 to 13 April 2025. A flyer is enclosed with this journal with more details.

Bookings need to be made directly with the hotel as shown, but the form should be returned to Sue Winnie to help the planning for the weekend.

A form can also be found on our website which can filled in and returned online.

Secretary’s Clipboard

First of all, can I thank all those 18 members and one guest who attended the 74th Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at the RPSL, including the eight members who were able to join the meeting via Zoom. I am pleased to report that all those committee members who had put their name forward for re-election were elected to serve for a further twelve months. I am also pleased to report that Julian Bagwell was elected as the new Competition Secretary. A copy of the 74th AGM Minutes are viewable on our website.

For those members who attend the Member’s Meeting at the RPSL, there has been a change to programme which is shown in the ‘Forthcoming meetings’ section below. Further details for the 2025 programme can be found on the Society’s website at www.ciss.uk and clicking on ‘Programme’. For the November meeting, the plan is to show via Zoom a few of those displays that will be appearing at the CISS 75th Anniversary Event  at the RPSL on 9 January 2025.

I have already mentioned that Julian Bagwell was elected as the new Competition Secretary. Can I ask members to support Julian in his new role by entering one or more competition entries for the 2025 Competition Day on 8 February?