FOR STAMP COLLECTORS

Evening Star, Issue 22571, 12 February 1937, Page 2

FOR STAMP COLLECTORS

[By Philatelist.]

The monthly meeting of the Dunedin Philatelic Club was held on Thursday evening, February 4, in the Y.M.C.A. Rooms, there being present 39 members. Three new senior and one junior member were elected. The main business of the evening comprised displays of ‘Rarities and Oddities,’ in which members gave short talks. Stamp sales between members brought the evening to a close. New Zealand Notes.—The pictorial stamp printed on multiple watermark paper and bearing the identification mark “A 4 ” has been over-printed “ Official.” New plates have been used to print the latest supplies of the 2|d stamps. The identification mark is “ A 3 ” in reverse on the selvedge below the second from the last stamp on the sheet. The ‘ Australian Stamp Monthly,’ in its December number, prints the following article by A. E. Gould, L.L.A., entitled ‘ The Cross and the Stamp ’: —The Cross has been in use as a sacred symbol and ornament from the dawn of civilisation. In preChristian times it was frequently connected with some form of Nature worship. The Egyptians, Greeks, and Chaldeans all used a cruciform device of kind in their worship. The Spanish conquerors of Mexico found the Cross already an object of reverence among the Aztecs, and the native Indian tribes of North America engraved it on shell work to place _in their burial mounds. An amazing variety of crosses may be found on stamps, sometimes forming the chief part or the design, but more often tucked away in a border or corner of the stamp. It is interesting to search them out, and discover their particular significance. Perhaps the specimen that comes to mind first of all is the Cross of Cong on the Irish Free State’s Eucharistic Congress stamp issued in 1932. The depicted cross is a magnificent gold and silver ornament made in the twelfth century for the King of Connaught. It is now in the National Museum, a wonderful specimen of early art. It is of the type known as a “ wheel Cross,” and was doubtless derived from the sun emblem of our pagan ancestors. Many Cornish stone crosses are of this shape, and so-called Runic crosses are a development of it. The Irish Free State provides us with two other crosses. The 3cl aud lOd stamps of the permanent issue show a Celtic cross with all four arms of equal length decorated with typical _ Celtic ornament. The stamps issued in connection with Holy Year in 1933 show the familiar type of Latin cross with the lower arm longer than the others. Two angelical figures kneel in adoration, and above is a Latin inscription “ Safety in the Cross.” It is interesting to note that this beautiful stamp was designed by a student of stained glass windows, hence its simplicity or line and arrangement. Another Holy Year stamp showing a cross was issued by the Vatican City, In this case the design is allegorical, the cross surmounting the world being symbolical ot Christianity. Tin’s Latin cross prdbably first became the acknowledged symbol of Christians at the time of the Emperor Constantine, whose conversion to the true faith was attributed to his vision of a cross in the sky accompanied by the words ‘ In this conquer.” Constantine s mother, bt. Helena, is said to have found the Holy Cross in 326 a.d„ when she was visiting Jerusalem. She was guided Calvary by an aged Jew, and when the Ground was dug three crosses were Found, our Lord’s being identified by the miraculous cure of a i sick woman who was laid thereon. This discovery is commemorated on. the stamp of St. Helena,, issued in 1904 which shows the samt the cross m her arms. The Clmmy stamps or Surinam issued in 1930 also show Latin crosses. Some values have hands before the cross m an attitude of supplication, while the 3, 4. and 5 cents values show clasped kauds m front of a cross signifying A helping ll This’ brings us to other charity stamps bearing crosses. A btamp Collecting ’ correspondent has recently commented on the use of the Lorraine or double cross on certain chanty stamps. The reason for, the choice of this emblem for “ anri-tubcrculosis stamps is thus explained by the National Association for the P r «', of tuberculosis. The use of the red cross with the double arms stretche back into Christian usage of the Mi ddl ® Ages, when it was the emblem of the Second Crusade. It, was employed by the celebrated soldier, Godefrey de Bouillion, who placed it triumphantly on his standard at the capture of Jerusalem from the Infidel in , 1099, and had) it incorporated later in the arms of the House ol Lorraine The use of this cross as an international emblem in. the crusacfe against tuberculosis dates from 1942, when it was recognised at an international conterence. Just as the :great crusading movements, of the Mil die Ages unified Europe in the preseme of a common enemy, this cross excesses the spirit of all countries of determined warfare upon tuberculosis, th< greatest plague that has ever devastated humanity. It is a locographio sign intended to convey a meaning withmt words. Belgium first adopted i] to denote her anti-tuberculosis stanps, and this is understood by both F;eneh and Flemings ns an idea rathlr than a word 1 . Tins is demonstrated iy Now Zealand using the same sign to convey the same meaning to an English-speaking population. Estonia copied the idea in her anti-tube.rculosi! stamps of 193.3, ami Latvia also has idopted it. The use of siens to convey a definite meaning in different countres half the world apart indicates a retuin to, days of picture writing. The «al double cross is known as a patriireb’s cross, and should be carried in procession before archbishops or befnn the patriarchs of the Greek Church.;

(To be coninued.)