Post Office Commemorative Covers (continued from p. 2511) 112mm. Portrait of De La Rue and inscription in green: "The De La Rue Stamp Collection on view at /The National Postal M um, London E.C.1/3rd October 1973 to March 1974". e was no special handstamp except, of course, for the one normally used at the Postal Museum. This cover was produced by De La Rue for the Postal Museum. 21st June, 1974: Cantat 2 (New Transatlantic Telephone Cable). 190×113mm. Design in blue, brown and black showing cable routes and cross-section of cable. Special handstamp: CANTAT 2/21 JUNE 1974/LONDON SEI.
1st October, 1974: Heathrow Airport. 190 × 114mm. pointed flap. Design in red, blue, black and grey showing airport scene. Special handstamp: HEATHROW AIRPORT /LONDON/HOUNSLOW MIDDX. This and similar handstamps have remained in use until the present day.
13th October, 1975: Easy View Code Sorting. 190 × 115mm. Design in dark green, light green and blue showing code desk operator and inscription "First ever/use of/easy view/automatic /letter /sorting/Reigate & Redhill/13th Oct- ober 1975". Special_handstamp: EASY VIEW CODE SORTING/13 OCT 75/REDHILL.
24th November, 1975: Brighton Area Speedpost. 165 × 113mm. Design in red and black showing map of Brighton area and figure of Mercury. Brighton cds and circular cachet in purple FIRST DAY OF SERVICE/24 NO 75/ BRIGHTON /EAST SUSSEX and Speedpost label. I am not sure if this was a Post Office production.
17th January, 1976 (?): Heathrow Airport. As before but the envelope has a square flap.
21st January, 1976: First Scheduled Concorde Flight. Envelope as before (square flap) with circular cachet POSTED AT TERMINAL 3 and special handstamp: FIRST SCHEDULED COMMERCIAL FLIGHT/OF BRITISH AIRWAYS/CONCORDE /21 JAN 1976 HEATHROW AIRPORT LONDON/HOUNSLOW MIDDX.
24th May, 1976: Concorde London-Washington Flight. 189 × 114mm. Design in red, blue, grey and black showing Concorde taking off over airport buildings. Special hand- stamp: "First commercial scheduled flight/London-Wash- ington /24 May 1976/Heathrow Airport/London: Houns- low Middlesex” and circular cachet POSTED AT THE CONCORDE DEPARTURE TERMINAL.
17th May, 1977 (a): The Queen's Silver Jubilee Tour- Scotland. 190 × 113mm. Design in silver, yellow, blue and violet showing thistle and flags. Special handstamp: VISIT OF THE QUEEN TO SCOTLAND used at Glasgow (17th May), Dundee (19th May), Aberdeen (20th May) and Edinburgh (23rd May). (b): The Queen's Silver Jubilee Tour-England. Design in silver, grey, red and brown showing rose and flags. Special handstamps used at Windsor (28th May), Manchester (20th June), Liverpool (21st June), London SW (30th June), Ipswich (41th July), Norwich (11th July), Leeds (12th July), York (13th July), Cleveland (14th July), Birmingham (27th July), Derby (28th July), Nottingham (28th July), Plymouth (5th August), Truro (6th August) and Bristol (8th August). (c): The Queen's Silver Jubilee Tour-Wales. Design in silver, green, grey and magenta showing leek and flags. Special handstamps used at Bangor (22nd June), West Glamorgan (23rd June) and Cardiff (24th June). (d): The Queen's Silver Jubilee Tour-Northern Ireland. Design in silver, blue, grey-blue and olive-brown showing flax plants and flags. Special handstamps used at Belfast (10th August) and Londonderry (11th August).
17th October, 1977: 50th Anniversary of the Post Office Railway. 190×114mm. Design in blue, green, grey and black showing underground train. Special handstamp: STAMP COLLECTING, 17th August, 1978
IXth British Commonwealth Games Edinburgh IX1070 British w Commonwealth. Games Edinburgh
1970
BCG
OPENED BY H.R.I THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH
JULY IGIK 1970
LONDON EC POST OFFICE RAILWAY 50TH ANNI- VERSARY /17 OCT 77.
Mention should also be made of the souvenir covers sold at the Trafalgar Square and London Chief Office philatelic counters, which are identical to the P.O. First Day Covers except for the wording POST OFFICE SOUVENIR COVER. These are sold to visitors who may thus obtain special envelopes with sets of stamps after the first day of issue.
One final section: amidst the interest shown in Post Office postcards some appear to have escaped notice-those published by the Post Office and sold at the Post Office Tower from its opening to the public in May 1966. I have a number of views, some small (150 × 105mm) and some large (230 × 121mm), with serial numbers (small) T.623C; N.L.13; N.L.16; N.L.22; (large) N.L.14GL; N.L.20GL and N.L.24GL.
Cook Islands Collectors (continued from page 2501)
Obviously, any misuse of the funds has been subsequent to its provision for apparently legitimate purposes although one might raise an eyebrow at payment in advance. But, as the Manager said, that had been done before, "and it had been repaid on every occasion.”(14)
References
(1) COPPELL, W. G. “A now and then story of the Cooks' money-spinning
stamps". Pacific Islands Monthly, June 1975: 37-39, (2) TRICKETT, PETER. "High wind in the Cook Islands", New Zealand
Listener, 18 March, 1978: 20-23.
(3) INDER, STUART. "Up front with the publisher". Pacific Islands
Monthly, November, 1977; 5.
(4) ANON. "... and in former territories". The Mailcoach, May, 1978:
206-211.
(5) ANON. “Stamp market newcomer". Pacific Islands Monthly, June,
1977: 20.
(6) ANON. "That stamp business again”. Pacific Islands Monthly, April,
1978; 24.
(7) Evening Post, Wellington. 3 April, 1978.
(8) anon. "Postage Stamps: Cook Island Premier replies to critics".
Pacific Islands Monthly, April, 1966; 10.
(9) ANON. "Premier accused", Pacific Islands Monthly, August, 1976: 34. (10) Report of Government Auditor for the year ending December 1972
(quoted in (4) above),
(11) COOK ISLANDER. “Islander examines the rule of the House of Henry",
Pacific Islands Monthly, September, 1976; 8–10. (12) Evening Post, Wellington. 6 April, 1978. 13) Evening Post, Wellington. 20 June, 1978. 14) The Dominion, Wellington, 19 May, 1978.
Collect King Edward VIII (continued from page 2505) King Edward VIII than at first meets the eye, and these stamps make a very interesting field for specialist study. As many collectors will realise though, for specialist study, much of the information required is not available in ordinary catalogues, and I was very fortunate in that much of the information above was made known to me in a collection I obtained some years ago, and that much of the material I have gathered since then has helped confirm some of the findings. Should anyone have any further information on these issues I would be delighted to hear from them.
2513
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.