Channel Islands Specialists’ Society

Founded 1950

Journal Articles

Journal Indexes

Member Profiles

This Journal sees the publication of the first in a series of Profiles of Society Members.

The Society has some 230 Members, of which more than 70 have in excess of 30 years membership; and yet there are many Members about whom we know little as regards their collecting interests, or how/why they became a Member.

CISS clearly has a great many long-serving Members, which is testament to a dedication to their interest in and collecting of Channel Islands philately. Whilst it is not practical for many Members to attend meetings in person and interface with fellow Members, it is hoped that the publication of Member Profiles can serve to introduce Members to others in the Society, perhaps facilitating Members seeking contact with others who share their particular collecting interests. Over time, such Profiles give Members a better understanding of the collecting habits within the Society which, in turn, can help the Executive better focus events and other Member services to Members’ wants and needs.

To facilitate the above, it is proposed to include in each future issue of the Society’s Journal one Member profile, in one page, using a standard template of questions, the end product of which would have the feel of a mini interview. A passport photo of the Member would be included in the Profile.

It is proposed initially to focus the production of the Profiles on those Members who have thirty or more years of membership, the first to be published being Ron Osborne, who is believed to be our oldest current Member. Should the idea prove popular, consideration will be given to publishing a brochure, in connection with the Society’s 75th Anniversary in 2025, of the Society’s 75 longest-serving Members including, with their permission, an individual Profile of each of those Members to which they themselves would contribute by way of the questionnaire template. Members for whom a profile is proposed to be completed will be contacted at the appropriate time.

Secretary’s Clipboard

As you would be aware the November 2022 Member’s Meeting was cancelled due to the rail strike that took place that weekend. The plan is for the display theme for that meeting to be carried forward to the 2023 November meeting.

By the time you read this page the 2023 Annual Competition Day will be done and dusted and may I add my congratulation to the individual class winners listed on page 38; and if you didn’t win, a big thank you for just taking part. Without your entries there would be no Annual Competition Day. My understanding is that the number of entries are down on 2022, so please make an effort and try and enter the 2024 Annual Competition Day. As a point of interest, and in keeping with major philatelic competitions, we are now using two experienced judges to judge the Competition entries.

Our next get together is the 2023 Members’ Annual Weekend meeting at the Peninsula Hotel, Guernsey from Friday, 21st April to Sunday, 23rd April. If you haven’t booked your place at the hotel please do so as soon as possible as room availability could be limited. As always, the programme for the weekend looks good with a standing display, two main displays by members, and the large room/postal auction being the highlights. Can you let me know if you are planning to bring a display for the Sunday morning members’ displays. Also, we will be welcoming guests from the Guernsey Philatelic Bureau as guests-of-honour to our banquet on Saturday. I look forward to meeting members old and new to the Weekend.

Forthcoming meetings for 2023

21st – 23rd – April Members’ Weekend at the Peninsula Hotel, Gsy.

8th July – Annual General Meeting followed by room auction and a main display by Gerald Marriner.

16th September – Members’ Meeting – Theme: Early P.H.

25th November – Members’ Meeting – Theme: Letters T, U. V.

Currently all meetings are held at the Royal Philatelic Society London, 15 Abchurch Lane, London, EC4N 7BW commencing at 11.00am. Tea and coffee is available from 10.30 in the Members’ Lounge. Further information can be found on the society’s website: www.ciss.uk

1904 Jersey-Austria Taxed Postcard

A rather attractive Beresford Series postcard entitled Jersey Old – Farm House Mont-au-Prêtre was acquired at the London 2022 International Stamp Exhibition by my Postage Due Mail Study Group colleague Michael Furfie.


The card was sent from Jersey on 26th April 1904 to Vienna in Austria. As usual at that time, underpaid mail from the Channel Islands going abroad was routed via London, hence the hexagonal T / 15  / L  London taxe mark. A divided back card, it was liable to letter rate, so the deficiency was 1½d = 15 centimes, due 30 centimes = 30 heller.

I am grateful to Michael for permitting me to scan the card and share it with C.I.S.S. members.

A change to the New Issues Section in the Journal

As part of our offering to Channel Islands Specialists’ Society members, we have for many years listed details of New Stamp Issues in our Journals.  These listings have been popular as they have provided members with an overview of any new stamp issues planned over the following year. 

We are very grateful for the assistance the Postal Authorities of Guernsey and Jersey have given us by providing details of the new planned issues over many years and this will, of course, continue with our revised arrangements with them.

In a recent survey of our members, it was made clear that they wanted more information on each of the issues planned.  We have therefore looked to include a New Issues section on the Society website.  We felt it appropriate to include not only the details of the individual items within each issue, but also a description of the whole issue, the specifications (designer/artist, printer, perforation etc) as well as an image of each item in colour. This information will appear around two weeks before the release date to coincide with the issue being available for pre-order at the relevant Postal Authority.

It is my hope that by advertising details of new issues to our members in a more detailed way, it will encourage them to purchase new issues at release time. This development will begin with the New Issues for 2023.

However, I regret that due to the death of H.M. The Queen, both Postal Authorities have had to make changes to their stamp production calendar and whilst we have received the information for Guernsey, at the time of writing, we still await that for Jersey. This will appear on the website as soon as it is available.  

The First Flight into Alderney


This postcard has a great story……………


 The postcard was written on Alderney on Monday, 4th July 1921, addressed to a Mrs Bowman in Manchester, and posted on Wednesday, 6th July. At the time, the postage rate for postcards was the short–lived 1½d rate.  The 1½d stamp has been cancelled by the Alderney double circle datestamp without a code letter inserted but, as the postcard was not of a standard size, the postage rate should have been 2d and the instructional mark ‘1d/324’ has been added. The 1d postage due stamp was applied and cancelled in Manchester, but because the card was subsequently re-directed to Anglesey, a boxed ‘CHARGE NOT COLLECTED/FRESH LABEL REQUIRED’ cachet has been added together with initials in manuscript.

It is believed that this latter instructional mark was issued to all Head Post Offices in Great Britain (including Guernsey and Jersey) in or around 1920 and was withdrawn after Postal Independence in 1969. Examples of this handstamp used in Jersey only are recorded

The intrigue is in the message “We flew over here for lunch today in 55 minutes”. With grateful thanks to Roger Harris, information has been provided which means that this postcard is an amazing discovery for the history of aviation in the Islands, as the first sea landing (accidental) at Alderney was on the 5th October 1919 whilst the first recorded land landing was not until the 4th August 1933.

The plane did not originate from Shoreham or Southampton as those airports were not built until the early 1930s, although airfields did exist there before. Southampton airport was originally ‘Atlantic Park’ opened in 1918 and manned by the U.S.N.A.F. as a WWI supply base. 1n 1921, it was a hotel that was virtually a self-contained township for over 3,000 emigrants and trans–migrants escaping Europe and Russia in the hope of going to America by ship from Southampton. Shoreham (Brighton Airport) is the oldest airport in the UK opened on the 20th June 1911, but was mainly used for local club flying at this time,

The normal flying route to the Islands would be by land plane from Croydon to clear customs with the shortest Channel crossing possible until they reached the French coast and then following the coast of France westwards to the Islands. This journey could take over 2 hours.

Civil seaplanes would leave from the Hamble using Southampton Docks Customs until 1923 when a seadrome was built on the Hamble with customs facilities. Royal Navy seaplane flights would be from Calshot on the other side of the Solent. The quickest time for crossing from the Solent with a tail wind helping for both civil and Naval craft was 95 minutes.

But our man Geoffrey says their flight was 55 minutes – therefore he must have flown in from France not England.

There was very little civil aviation in 1921 with no new aircraft being built, but there was a stockpile of over 20,000 ex-war planes. Most of the pilots at the time were ex-RAF war veterans and many of these bought old RAF planes either for personal use or business such as joy rides or taxi services. Their favourite aircraft was the Avro 504K biplane which had been a trainer in the RAF, but when the dual controls were removed, could carry two passengers. Geoffrey refers to “we” so it is suspected that he was on a tour of France with one or two friends.

With further investigation, the pilot was undoubtedly Geoffrey Hilton “Beery” Bowman, a WWI R.F.C flying ace born in Manchester on the 2nd May 1891 – he would have been 30 in 1921. The Avro 504K or 504L had a top speed of 90mph and a cruising speed of 60mph so he set off from somewhere between 50 and 75 miles from Alderney. That places him on the Cherbourg peninsula or at St. Malo. This landing, therefore, pre-dates the first known landing by some twelve years.

The CISS 2023 Annual Competition

Next year’s Competition Day will be on Saturday 11th February 2023 and will take place 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 at our meeting at the Royal. The rules can be found on our website at www.ciss.uk/competitions/ where an entry form also 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 Friday 27th January at competitions@ciss.uk

Please feel free to contact the Competitions Secretary, Nick Martin at competitions@ciss.uk with any queries. Enquiries can be made by phone on 07703 766477 or 01285 653714.

As always, we look forward to your interesting and varied entries.

Guernsey Registered M.O.O. cover to Algeria

I have recently acquired an unusual registered cover illustrated in Fig. 1 above. This was sent from Guernsey to Bone (now Annaba) in Algeria on 29 December 1906. This was originally a KEVII 1d postal stationery envelope which was uprated with two KEVII stamps to give the correct 4½d overseas registered letter rate. This included 2d registration fee which was in use between 1878 and 1921. The stamps are cancelled with GUERNSEY M.O.O. (Money Order Office) datestamps.  These seldom seen datestamps have been recorded in use in Guernsey between 1884 and 1936. Alongside the stamps the Guernsey Post Office applied the ‘R in oval/ FEE PAID’ handstamp in violet ink. This use is one year later than that recorded in the SG Channel Islands Postal History catalogue (1991). The cover was routed via London where it received the London EC registered datestamp for 1 January 1907.

Fig. 2 (on reverse)

This was then forwarded to the town of Constantine in Algeria. The arrival datestamp is shown in Fig. 2 above. The cover was then re- routed to the addressees in Bone, a coastal town 100 miles north east of Constantine.

I would be interested to know if any members of the Society have also got C.I. mail addressed to Algeria.

The Mystery of the St.- AUBYNS type 7 datestamp

My original researches in the 1990s had always shown this particular datestamp with a code P recorded in the GPO Proof Datestamp Impression books as issued to Jersey on the 30th December 1870.

Thus a mystery arose when our member in Guernsey, John Triggs, FRPSL acquired an example shown below as a backstamp dated April 25th 1870, with the ‘P’ code which could not be found in the GPO Proof Datestamp Impression books before this earliest known date nor till 30th December 1870 as noted!

Thus it became clear that the 19c GPO Proof Datestamp Impression books were not as accurate a record as we had always believed to be the case as other later examples of the St Aubyns datestamps until the entry of the 30th December 1870 were not to be found. The searches made by the Archives Manager on my behalf with whom I had a most interesting conversation also showed to my own satisfaction that the original searches I had made twenty five years ago were thorough based on the original documentation at that time held in the Archives. Measurements then could be taken from original records which is no longer the case today as only copy records are available to the public.


Our member in Jersey, Steve Power, has also provided three later examples, two of which are shown on the next page in 1883 and 1885 which have slightly different measurements between the ‘S’s of ST.-AUBYNS which I believe on examination of highly magnified examples to be a variance between the strikes of the datestamps on the back of the envelopes either due to the angle and strength of the strike and also the residual ink remaining on the datestamp at the time of the strike.

These two backstamps are dated in 1883 and 1885 and have been slightly enlarged here to show the tiny variance which could arise from the angle of strike particularly with the shadow to that on the left. This could well be more apparent if the envelope was thick in paper content. Basically of the examples seen to date the measurements are more or less the same thus it is evident we have just one datestamp, albeit with different codes seen. Why there is no Proof Book impression prior to the 25th April 1870 is not known and can only be guessed!

The examples reported so far on cover are:

25th April 1870 code P, 30th December 1870 code P, 9th December 1873 code B, 7th July 1878 code P, 20th May 1883 code P, 11th Sep 1883 code P, 29th July 1884 code P, 15th Sep 1885 code P, 13th June 1895 code A, 5th January 1897 code A, 11th October 1899 code A, and one on piece is just dated AU 22 ???3 (could be 1873, 1883, 1893 or 1903.

On Parcel Post labels:

14th January 1897 code A, 9th February ???? code A, 10th April 1902 code A.

There must be more examples in your collections and I will be most interested to receive scans of any further examples of this datestamp with dates of use and the codes you may have on cover or on parcel post labels.

Scans please by email to nangurney1@aol.com. Thank you.

Some new acquisitions by Henri Chartier in St Malo

I just came across an interesting CARD:Saint-Helier Havre des Pas S.M Belgische Legerposterij 1917. So far I never knew about some Belgian military in Jersey. In the view above we can read ‘I’m the one in the centre  on the beach.’ All four illustrations have been reduced in size.

In 58 years of collecting Jersey postal history I have never seen anything like it !!!!!!! A VERY RARE FIND.


Secondly  a card below from GUERNSEY to FRANCE in 1951 with the  taxe 7 frank +T 50, a nice item which I have consulted with Gerald Marriner and Gerald writes to say ‘the rates charged are interesting and your surcharged postcard to France has been assessed as seen above viz. postage paid was 2d. However the correct European postcard rate from October 1950 was 2½d so a ½d underpaid. Hence the hexagonal Tax handstamp which shows the postal deficiency. This was not 50, but 5 ct (gold centimes). The correct postcard rate from France to England in 1951 was 18 Fr. thus the postal deficiency calculated = 0.5/2.5 x 18 = 3 Fr 60 thus the surcharge is double the deficiency = 2 x 3 Fr 60 = 7 Fr 20ct. Rounded down to 7 F hence French postage due stamps to the value of 7 Fr were applied to this postcard.’

Unusual Postcard with Guernsey M.O.O. cancel

I illustrate above scans of an unusual postcard which I have recently acquired

  1. This postcard was sent from Guernsey at the correct 1d rate and was addressed to a protestant priest in Ferney in France.  The stamp was cancelled with the GUERNSEY M.O.O. datestamp for 6 October 1903.  This datestamp has been recorded in use between 1884 and 1936.  There is an arrival datestamp for 8 October.
  2. The addressee was not found at this address and the card was forwarded to the Bois Cerf Hospital in Lausanne, Switzerland (still open today).  There are three Lausanne datestamps. There is an arrival datestamp for 9 October (LAUSANNE/ FACT. LETTER).
  3. A similar datestamp was applied for 10 October.  There were two attempts to find the addressee at this hospital.  However, neither were successful.  There are two manuscript endorsements by the postmen “Inconnu à Bois Cerf” [Unknown at Bois Cerf].
  4. The card was then returned to sender on 10 October.  The card received a label ‘Unbekannt/ Inconnu’ [unknown] at the Lausanne Post Office together with a Lausanne departure datestamp for 10 October – inscribed ‘LAUSANNE/ EXP. LIT’.  This was applied alongside the GB KEVII 1d stamp.
  5. The card was returned to Guernsey via London where a London transit datestamp was applied in red, dated 19 October.  It is probable that the red’EX’ handstamp [= EXAMINED] was applied in London.  The London Post Office would have deleted the French address with red crayon.  On the front of the card, the words ‘P.O. Guernsey’ have been highlighted in a red frame and similarly the name of the sender.  The London Post Office then inserted the final destination “Guernsey” in red on the reverse of the card.
  6. A framed violet four line handstamp was applied.  This was inscribed: ‘Undelivered for reason stated/ to be returned to sender/ at the address shewn on cover/ Returned from R.L.O. [Returned Letter Office] London’.

I cannot record seeing any example of a similar four line ‘Undelivered for Reason Stated…’ handstamp used in Guernsey or Jersey.  I can record a couple of examples with a similar three line handstamp used in the Channel Islands.

I wish to thank Gerald Marriner FRPSL for his help with this article.