FOR STAMP COLLECTORS

Evening Star, Issue 22618, 9 April 1937, Page 2

FOR STAMP COLLECTORS

[By Philatelist.]

The usual monthly meeting of the Dunedin Philatelic Club was held on Thursday evening last, when 35 members were present. Three new members were elected. Very interesting papers were read by three of the lady members. The subject of the paper read by Mrs Rawei was ‘ American AVoraen on Stamps.’ Miss Munro’s contribution ,was entitled ‘ Behind the Stamp,’ and Miss Purdie read a paper on ‘ Religion on Stamps.’ The papers were listened to with keen appreciation, and the ladies were heartily congratulated on their efforts. All of the papers were illustrated by exhibits. Stamp sales ns between members brought the evening to a close. • UNITED STATES “ HEROES ” STAMPS. The United States has commenced the issue of a series of 10 commemorative stamps known as “ Heroes ” stamps, in honour of celebrated figures in American naval and military history, The first of the stamps, two 1c values, one with a naval and the other with a military design will appear about August 1. The other stamps will follow at monthly intervals, two 2c values on or about September 1, two 3c on October 1, two 4c on November 1. and two 5c on December 1. There will be 17 portraits in all, the list comprising nine naval and eight military “ heroes.” Seven of the stamps will carry two portraits each, and one three, and the remaining two will have on them pictures of military and naval academies. Four of the naval commemoratives will have on them portraits of the following: Ic, John Paul Jones and John Barry; 2c, Thomas MacDonough and Stephen Decatur; 30, David Glasgow Farragut and David Dixon Porter; 4c George Dewey, William Thomas Sampson, and Winfield Scott Schley, The fifth, the 5c value, shows the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis. The heroes in the Army list are as follows: Ic, George Washington and Nathaniel Greene; 2c, Andrew Jackson and Winfield Scott; 3c, Ulysses Simpson Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman; 4c, Robert Edward Lee and Thomas Jonathan “ (Stonewall ”) Jackson, THE STAMPS OF CHRISTMAS. Generally speaking, collectors view stamps that become annual issues with rather mixed feelings; throughout the year we get a surfeit of “ charity ” stamps. Those intended for use on the Christmas mails, however, bringing thoughts of youth and Yuletide, are in a class apart. Thousands of people welcome them; they even interest advanced collectors of older and more costly stamps. These Christmas stamps belong, of course, to the present century; but one can trace the genesis of the idea a long way back. There > was only one adhesive stamp of the nineteenth century, however) that was known as a Christmas stamp. This was the mapstamp issued by Canada to mark. the introduction of Imperial Penny Postage. It bears the date as “ Xmas, 1898,” reminding us that this _ mostpopular . institution was a Christmas gift to the Empire in that year. In 1912 a picture stamp, of no postal validity, was issued by_ the “ Pro Juventute ” foundation in Switzerland. It was sold at 10 centimes, and was permitted to be affixed to correspondence in the Christmas mails in addition to the ordinary postage. Inscribed “ Sun and Health for all ” in French, German, and Italian editions, the sales brought 127,593 Swiss francs to the funds for child-welfare. The following year the Swiss Postal Administration permitted the “ Pro Juventute ” organisation to prepare a stamp which served the dual purpose of franking mail and contributing small sums to the society’s work. The design was a head of Helvetia by Eugene Grasset, the price—lo centimes—was divided as to 5c postal value and 5c contribution. Over three and a-quarter millions were sold. The outbreak of the War was responsible for the passing of Christmas, 1914, without a children’s stamp. The plan, however, had taken root, and every Christmas from 1915 to date, a little aeries of charming stamps—two, three, or four low .values—has appeared. The annual sales _ have been well over ten millions during each of the last few Decembers. The Swiss children’s stamps have owed their attraction in a largo measure to the inspiration of the promoters and their artists. First of all AVilhelm Balmer told the story of the Swiss cantons in happy glimpses of their children. Then the late Rudolf Monger started the superb series of heraldic stamps which ran from 1918 to 1926. After Hunger’s death the theme changed, but there has been no lack of appropriate motifs to carry on the series. In the stamps to be added this Christmas, three of them continue the pleasing gallery of portraits of young ladies, in the picturesque garb respectively of Neuchatel, Schwyz, and Zurich._ These are by the painter Jules Courvoisier, who began his sequence in 1933. The interesting old character on the 5 centimes stamp, Hans Georg Nageli, was the composer of some of the most popular Swiss song melodies; he died a century ago. The portrait is by Karl Bickel, the Zurich painter and etcher. For a little over 10 years Switzerland was alone in issuing this class of stamp, but after delegates from an international conference on childwelfare had visited and studied the “ Pro Juventute ” organisation, a few other countries began to issue children’s stamps. Holland and Hungary started in 1924, Germany in 1925, Austria and Luxemburg in 1926, and several other countries, and one British colony (Jamaica) played with the idea without making an annual habit of it. Few of the other child-welfare and Christmas stamps have had such inspiration and continuity as the Swiss pioneers. A few of the Dutch issues nave been attractive enough, but others were merely grotesque. Luxemburg started in 1926 with a charming portrait of the young son of the Grand Duchess; in the five following Christmas issues the other children of the family were pictured, making a six years’ sequence of attractive stamps. Subsequent issues from this country have been interesting, but without

special charm. Germany began with heraldic designs. One of the most delightful sots was that issued in Austria in 1926, telling in a single series of six stamps the story of the Nihelungs. • The Jamaican set of - three “piccaninnies” (1923) was pleasing to many. A collection of these Christmas and child-welfare stamps would provide fairly wide scope, and few, if any, of the numerous varieties are at present rare or expensive.,