Dodecanese presentation
ON THURSDAY, February 27, members of the Loughborough & District Philatelic Society were entertained by Mr Paul Woodness, secretary of the Solihull Philatelic Society, who presented his Postal History display titled, Dodecanese.
This was the second attempt by Paul to visit the Loughborough Society as he was due to present his display on 14th November last year, only to be thwarted by the floods at that time. Paul was accompanied by his wife, who also belongs to the Solihull P.S and collects postcards.
Paul then gave a brief introduction to his subject. He informed members that the name Dodecanese literally meant “twelve islands” and are situated in the south-eastern Aegean Sea, off the coast of Turkey.
He said that actually there were 14 main islands plus 150 smaller islands of which 26 are inhabited. Rhodes being the largest island in the group.
In 1309 the Knights of St. John had occupied Rhodes until they were forced out in 1522 with those that remained fleeing to a famous island in the Mediterranean Sea, namely Malta. They then came under Turkish rule. It was at this point that Paul referred to his display. The first set of sheets consisted of a map of the area encompassing the Dodecanese Islands.
Then a series of covers and cards from the many foreign post offices in Rhodes. Each one different according to their individual authorities. Namely, Austria, France, Russia, Egypt, Turkey and British.
Following the outbreak of the Italian-Turkish war, early in 1912, Italy took over all the islands in 1913, with the exception of Kastellorizo. They remained under their control until the end of WWI. Paul then displayed covers that included some military post, (rare items), Censor strips, and a series of Italian covers with “Isole Italiane del Egeo” overprints on Italian stamps.
Following the war, Paul displayed some French covers up to 1924 with a range of different cancellations. These were followed by different local village postmarks on cover, (very rare). In 1929 a set of “Knights of Rhodes” stamps were issued. (All the Aegean islands used these). Again all shown on covers.
Airmail covers and registered covers were next in evidence as were some “Fascist party” covers during the late 1930s.
Covers during WWII are particularly scarce, but Paul showed a few of them, including a “Refugee Camp” in Slovakia, some P.O.W mail. A German registered cover and a German parcel label.
At the end of the war in 1945, the British took control with British stamps overprinted “MEF” (Middle East Forces), until 1947 when the islands were finally ceded by Italy to Greece. Paul ended his first half with a few miscellaneous covers including a Pacquebot cover and Greek Philatelic covers.
In his second half, Paul concentrated on covers from each of the other 15 islands. They each had their own postmarks, either in Greek or Italian or ordinary. They included Chalki, Kalymnos, Kasos, Karpathos, Leipsoi, Leros, Nisyros, Symi, Patmos, Marathos, Levitha, Pserimos, Saria, Nimos and Telendos.
He then closed his display with a series of covers from some of the smaller islands.
In his vote-of-thanks, Ray Thomson remarked that we had seen a truly wonderful Postal History display of such great quality. Paul’s discourse flowed without a hitch.
His remarks “rare” or very rare”, “only one or two known”, left members in awe. A truly fantastic evening’s display.
The next meeting will be on Thursday, March 12, when Gerald Marriner will present Falklands ‘82 Mail.
NB, This is a change to the original programme. The “5 sheets or pay £1” will now take place on April 23.