FOR STAMP COLLECTORS

Evening Star, Issue 21623, 19 January 1934, Page 2

FOR STAMP COLLECTORS

[By R.W.W.]

NEW ISSUES AND NOTES. Sweden. —A stamp was issued this month in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Swedish Postal Savings Bank. Its colour is green and it is to appear in three perforation varieties —import' x perf 10, imperf x perf IT, and perf 10 all round. United States.—lt is rumoured that the dc N.R.A. stamp will be overprinted for use in the Canal Zone. Hungary.—A special stamp in memory of Count Albert Apponiji, the famous statesman, is proposed. Turkey.—The tenth anniversary of the Republic, celebrated last year, has been the cause of a special set, which was only on sale for three days from October 29. . rT „ . ... A correspondent in U.S.A., writing to me recently, speaks of our health stamp thus:—“ Well, let’s not be too harsh on the artist this time. I am sure that be was trying to depict the (Garden of Eden just before the first couple emerged from their morning’s wasb-up. Since you do not have Prohibition in New Zealand, I cannot account for his ‘ vision ’ in any other way.” , U.S.S.R. —To commemorate the record flight into the stratosphere a special stamp has appeared showing the stratosphere balloon. Members of the Dunedin Philatelic Society can procure the air mail envelopes for Ulm’s flight to Australia from the secretary.

ARGENTINE REPUBLIC

As a result of the discovery that, largo numbers of forged stamps of the previous issue were being circulated throughout Buenos Aires a new senes was issued during 1923. They were surface-printed, and all values up to 1 peso were in the one type, which shows a portrait of General Jose de San Martin, the prominent figure in South American history. These stamps had been on sale little over a year when they_ were superseded by a new series identical in every respect, except that the stop below the “ e ” of the value has been removed. We have seen no official explanation of this alteration, and wonder _ whether some new forgeries had been discovered making it necessary to alter the design again. AN ANTI-THIEF DEVICE. In countries as big as the United States the disposal of stolen property is not a very difficult matter if the right channels are employed. In order to limit the area in which stamps stolen from post offices can be _ marketed, the stamps now being issued from offices in Kansas and Nebraska are being overprinted with the abbreviated names of the State, Kans. or Neb., as the case may bo. Stamps overprinted in this manner can only he sold in the particular State for which they are overprinted, although they are available for use in any part of the United States. Mr B. T. Cadbury, of Moorestown, N.J., in telling us of this interesting overprint, says that at the time of writing only these two States and eleven values, 1c to 10c, including the lie, were concerned. The actual issues involved are the rotary press printed stamps perforated 11 x 10J. The future task of the specialist, ni American stamps will present appalling difficulties, for he will he required to collect eleven values from each of fortyeight States. We can appreciate Mr Cadbury’s comment: “ Some of us hope that fhe experiment will not be carried further than the first two States!”— An exchange. ANTIGUA’S TERCENTENARY. Among British colonial possessions in the New World Antigua is one of the few that may claim the distinction of having been discovered by Columbus. That was in 1493. in the course of the Genoese navigator’s second voyage of discovery in the New World, The island remained uninhabited for a further 140 years until 1632, when a party of British settlers from St. Kitts landed upon it and commenced colonisation. The tercentenary of British association was therefore celebrated in 1932, and in commemoration of the event Antigua issued on January 1 a special set of stamps comprising eleven values, ranging from id to 10s in value, using four designs Antigua is the seat of Government of the Leeward Islands group, which consists of five presidencies (2) St. Kitts-Nevis with Anguilla; (3) Dominica; (4) Montserrat; (5) the Virgin Islands. Antigua is the largest island of the group, and 108 square miles m area, with a circumference of fifty-four miles. Unlike most ol the West Indian islands it does not possess a central range of mountains, and the highest point of land is among the hills in the south-west of the island, a mere 1,328 ft above sen level. The comparative flatness of the land results in a scarcity of rivers and streams. This fact, coupled with the almost complete deforestation, makes the island particularly liable to drought. Fortunately the soil is fertile and retentive of moisture, and despite the wide fluctuation in the annual rainfall—the average in recent years has been 45in—tho agricultural industry has struggled along with no really great difficulty. Approximately one-qUarter of the island’s area, some 17,000 acres, is under cultivation, principally for the suggar and cotton industries, and the greater part of the population, estimated at 30,000 in 1929, is associated with these industries in one way or another. The island also exports considerable quantities of molasses, fruit, and arrowroot. Redonda is more or less uninhabited, and Barbuda, although cultivated intensely in its more fertile parts, is principally noted for the excellence of its sporting facilities. It boasts many splendid herds of wild deer, and its tarpon fishing is famous. As we have already stated, Antigua was discovered by Columbus in 1493, and it is believed that he named the island after a church in Seville, Santa Maria la Antigua. In 1632 the first hand of British settlers arrived with Sir Thomas Warner, but serious development was not put in hand until 1663, when another group of settlers arrived under the leadership of Lord Willoughby, to whom the British Government had granted tho island. This party was not allowed to settle down, however. for in 1666 a French force attacked and captured the island. It remained in French hands for only a short time, however, and a determined effort led to its recapture by the British a few months later. Subsequently it was formally restored to Britain by the Treaty of Breda, and it has remained British territory to this day. The capital of the island is St. Johns, a town of some 7,000 inhabitants, where stands the Governor’s residence, Government House, which is illustrated in j-Un clesiVn used for the 2d, 2}d, and 3d values of the new stamp issue. The old dockyard at English Harbour, ill us-

trated on the id, Id, and lid values, is of vastly greater interest, for it was hero that Lord Nelson refitted his ships and took in supplies in 1805, in the course of his famous pursuit of the French Admiral Villeneuve from the Mediterranean to the West Indies and back. On the outward run of' this voyage Nelson succeeded in crossing the Atlantic in the remarkably fast time of twenty-four days, an outstanding feat of seamansmp. The- design of the 6d, Is, and 2s fid values shows Nelson’s flagship Victory lying off St. Johns just before the return voyage to Europe, which ended, as most boys know, in the blackading of the French fleet at Cadiz, and finally the battle of Trafalgar, at which Nelson scored a crushing victory and met his death. To-day English Harbour is only rarely used by shipping, but the naval barracks there still contain many relics of its past glories, including an inscription painted on its walls by H.M. King George when as Prince _ George in his naval service days he visited the island. Finally there are the _ss and 10s values, the design for which shows the seventeenth century vessel in which Sir Thomas Warner and his band of settlers reached the islands from St. Kitts in 1632. The ship is'seen through a long corridor and three arches, symbolic of the three centuries that have passed.