Journal Articles Archive - Page 11 of 233 - Channel Islands Specialists’ Society

75th Anniversary Celebrations 2025

As part of our anniversary in 2025 the CISS has been invited to provide a full presentation to the Royal Philatelic Society London on 9 February 2025. 54 frames of Channel Islands material will be available to view, and a handout is being produced to mark the event. All members are invited to attend. Please add the date to your diaries. Details will follow in the December Journal.

A 1952 parcel post- customs due label

The PPL (parcel post label) illustrated below was illustrated in the Stanley Gibbons Channel Islands Specialised Catalogue, 1983 edition (page 185).

It is a MW-C6 type light green colour PPL-customs form with the type ‘E’ coat of arms. These types of labels were printed by Griffith & Co. from 1937 and were in use until 1970.

A charge of 11d paid the postage rate for a parcel not exceeding 2lb in weight. A King George VI 11d definitive stamp was used to cover the postage.

The customs dues were £1-12s-10d, covered with two 2d definitives, alongside 2/6d, 10/- and £1 values of the 1951 Festival of Britain issues.

All the adhesives were cancelled with the Guernsey type G31 23.5 mm diameter single circle datestamp, with the numeral 11 inserted at the top. The despatch date was SP 52 (September 1952), but no date numeral has been inserted.

Interestingly this PPL was sent by O.J. (John) Simpson (joint founder of the CISS in 1950), and the reverse was endorsed in manuscript, ‘payment for dues for tobacco sent from Guernsey to London’ by O J Simpson.

A 1943 Jersey Occupation Cover to Guernsey

One of the lots I acquired in a CISS auction was described as a Jersey occupation cover from Jersey to Guernsey. Upon closer inspection, it can be seen that it was actually postmarked with a Type 3 datestamp from Beresford Street.

But the date slug reads 15 OO 43. Instead of OC for October it has OO. I wonder if the C was beyond use, and no other slugs were available from the U.K. as replacements, or the O was just not altered into a C. Maybe it was just a genuine mistake! Does any other member have anything similar from this town sub-office? Also interesting is that it was addressed to Dr Symons, Fermain, Guernsey. Dr Angelo Symons was the States of Guernsey Occupation Controlling Committee Health Service Officer. He was born in Nelson, New Zealand, in 1875.

2025 Subscriptions

2025 subscriptions are due by 1 January and a renewal request will be sent out via email or letter in due course.

When you receive a renewal request you will find a link to allow you to pay your subscriptions via the Society website. Please use this method of payment if possible, saving our officers a good deal of admin time! If you prefer, you can pay your subscription using the same method of payment as last year but, if you pay by cheque, please send this to the CISS Treasurer, Bryan Elliston at Ragged Lands, Ranscombe Lane, Glynde, BN8 6RP.

Subscriptions will remain unchanged for 2025:

Paper membership:

UK and CI £15

Rest of World £20

Electronic membership: £10

Royal Hotel at the Channel Islands

This is a postcard sent 20 June 1898 from the Dutch town of Arnhem to a Dutch Hotel guest. The message on the back is in Dutch to his sister (“Lieve zus,” – Dear sister,) staying at a Royal hotel in “Engeland”.

The exact location of the Royal Hotel, Geursey or Guerdey, is not clear. It could be Jersey or Guernsey which both have/had a Royal Hotel, but also another town in England (in Dutch Engeland, see left corner beneath) or in the UK. The Dutch were, certainly in this period, not precise in the correct with the indication of the region in the UK. Eng(e)land is similar for the whole of the UK.

The postcard was first sent to Jersey and arrived there on 22 June 1898 (SG J40). The Royal Hotel was contacted about whether the Dutch “guest” was still staying at the hotel. This seems not to have been the case; see the remark below.

Also, a boxed Jersey “Inconnu / Not known” handstamp was added. In the Stanley Gibbons Channel Islands Postal History catalogue a similar type is listed as SG J194a for 1945. But this handstamp was used much earlier. See also the articles by Peter Williams and Gerald Marriner in Les Iles Normandes Volume 26 No.1 (Mar 2007). All known early handstamps of this type have dots after ‘Inconnu’ and ‘Not Known’. In J194a the dots are however omitted.

Is the Jersey “Inconnu / Not known” handstamp a different type not listed in the Channel Islands Postal History catalogue?

Postal pencil markings in blue were also added. These were most likely added in Jersey as ”Try Guernsey” is included.

The postcard was sent to Guernsey on 27 June (SG G25). Apparently, the addressee was again not found at the Royal Hotel on Guernsey as the postcard was sent back to Arnhem. The journey back was via the Returned Letter Office in London and the Amsterdam – Antwerpen travelling post office The postcard arrived in Arnhem on 12 July. In Arnhem, an attempt was made to deliver the postcard back to the sender who was however unknown (in Dutch: Afzender onbekend).

The British Red Cross in Lisbon, Portugal

In early 2021 I purchased an unused envelope through an online auction bearing a cachet BRITISH RED CROSS SOCIETY LISBON in red, as shown in Figure 1.

As I am currently researching the British Red Cross and its connection to the IRC Channel Islands Civilian Message Scheme, I purchased the envelope to further my research on the subject, as the cachet is not recorded in David Gurney’s book, The Red Cross Civilian Message Scheme with the Channel Islands 1940-1945. I took the cover with me to a Channel Islands Specialist Society meeting in London to see if anyone present could assist me to identify the significance of the cachet. Although the item was of interest to the members, no one was aware that the British Red Cross had an office or delegate stationed in Lisbon. The general opinion was that the Portuguese Red Cross handled everything.

As the British Red Cross (BRC) head office archives were closed, I contacted the International Red Cross Committee (ICRC) in Geneva seeking assistance. The archivist in Geneva was most helpful and sent me a copy of the Report of the ICRC Red Cross Conference held in Stockholm in 1948, listing all details of their assistance to the Channel Islands from 1940 to 1945. Four times there are references made of a British Red Cross delegate in Lisbon. The final one states : “Once more, the SS Vega sailed from Lisbon, on 31 May 1945 for the Channel Islands, this time under the entire responsibility of the British Government. On board was the representative of the British Red Cross in Lisbon and it carried the remainder of the supplies warehoused in Lisbon for the Islands.” (Figure 2)

They also confirmed that Colonel Frédéric Iselin was the ICRC delegate in Lisbon for the duration of WWII, supplying me with a copy of his records card, including his photograph.

After further correspondence with the archivist in the IRC, he also sent me a copy of their records on the British Red Cross in Lisbon. The scan below bears the unrecorded COMITE INTERNATIONAL GENEVE cachet in red, and Copie conforme ARCHIVES DU CICR, also in red. None of these is recorded in David Gurney’s book. This also states that Stanley Rawes was the British delegate in Portugal who took over when Sir Arthur Lawrance retired in 1942. The address was c/o James Rawes & Co. 47, Rua Bernardino, Lisbonne. (Figure 3)

Finally, the cover illustrated at Figure 4 is an original envelope in my own collection, carried on the SS Vega in December 1944, addressed to V. Carey Esq., who was the Bailiff of Guernsey. It was endorsed in manuscript “Col Iselin per Mr. Callias”. André Callias was an ICRC delegate in Lisbon, in charge of bringing material relief to the Channel Islands in 1944-1945.

Unrecorded cachet in red COMITÉ INTERNATIONAL DE LA CROIX-ROUGE, DÉLÉGATION A LISBONNE.

All illustrations supplied by the International Red Cross Archives are reproduced with the permission of the ICRC

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:

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.
Sell to a philatelic dealer.
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:

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.
Indicate the main sections or groupings of the collection as this will help ensure they do not get bundled together as a ‘job lot’.
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.
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.
If selling to a private collector it may be best to have the collection valued in advance so a fair price can be obtained.
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