Stamp Story, No. 24 Mistake Made

Press, Volume C, Issue 29524, 27 May 1961, Page 8

Stamp Story, No. 24 Mistake Made

IBy KEN ANTHONY] VO-ONE can claim that this stamp is a rarity. The “Ship Penny” of South Africa is one of the world’s most common stamps and can be found in practically every schoolboy’s collection. It was one of the longestlived stamp designs—first appearing in 1926 and not being replaced until 1954. Over the years, so many minor printing variations occurred that a whole book for specialists has been written on the subject But although the stamp looks a dull one at first sight it is more significant than it seems. For the ship it depicts is the Drommedaris, flagship of Jan Van Riebeeck who

was the founder of South Africa, arriving in Table Bay in April. 1652. The South African area assumed great strategic importance after Vasco da Gama’s discovery of the Cape route to India, and Van Riebeeck was commissioned by the Dutch East India Company to estabish a permanent settlement at the Cape. The idea at first was not so much colonisation as the provision of fresh fruit and vegetables for ships on the long voyage to and from India. But, in fact, Van Riebeeck’s expedition led to 150 years of Dutch control. With three ships, he sailed from Amsterdam in December 1651. but it took him nearly four months to get there—a voyage which is nowadays performed by mall steamers in under two weeks. In all the years that the stamp was current, few people spotted a curious error in the design. The illustration shows the sun in the east, but according to the log of Van Riebeeck's voyage, Table Bay was sighted in the late afternoon. So the stamp depicts a sunrise instead of a sunset Three hundred years after Van Riebeeck’s arrival, South Africa issued special stamps to mark the annul-

versary. The 2d. value of the set showed all three ships entering Table Bay—but this time the sun was not indicated at all.—(Central Features. Ltd. All Righto Reserved).