Displays with ‘M’
ON THURSDAY November 11, members of the Loughborough & District Philatelic Society were asked to produce displays beginning with “The Letter ‘M’”.
The first to display was Ray Tomkins with 3 sheets of Mauritius Revenues and consisted of Merchant Marks, Bills of Exchange, (mainly used for the transfer of money/goods) with three different types of ‘sending’ in strips of 3 each.
He also displayed 3 sheets of Malta including locally printed and those printed in London.
Next came Derek Whitmore with his display of British Miniature Sheets commemorating a variety of events and occasions, from King George V stamps of 1924 through to 2007 and included the Archaeology set of 1989, the Scottish International Exhibition , 1990, the National Philatelic Exhibition 2000, Scottish Parliament definitive 2004, the 2007 issues of “Lest we Forget”, the 50th anniversary of the Regions stamps, of England, Scotland, Wales and N. Ireland, 2008, and the 250th anniversary of birth of Robert Burns,2009.
He was followed by Trevor Harris with his thematic display of Motor Cycles that included stamps showing motor cycles from Australia and Lichtenstein. A variety of machines, Royal Enfield, Norton, and Norton to name but a few and a ‘Bantam’ Motorcycle.
David Gabe came next with a small part of his Music on Stamps Collection, by showing some of the stamps, cards, covers and maps all relating to the famous composer Mozart’
Garth Taylor then produced some beautiful designed Mini sheets from Czechoslovakia, with mini sheets from the Prague Stamp Exhibitions of 1962, 68, 78.
There were also mini sheets on Art on stamps (1972 & 1990), Children’s Art (1982), and book illustrations (19890).
He was followed by Brian Buck. Brian display consisted of stamps depicting characters from the famous Marvel comic.
Not only were there a variety of individual stamps, but his display showed a sheet of stamps from the USA issued in 2006 and the Royal Mail of the 2009 issue..
Lionel Blower then produced 3 sheets of covers sent to his father, Tom Blower, (a keen philatelist and one of the founder members of the Society in 1947), all written to him by a friend in N. Rhodesia, and sent to his address when he lived in Mountsorrel for many years.
Colin Butler followed with a display titled “Man & Machines” that contained Motor Cycles. The display consisted of stamps with famous riders who took part in the Isle-of-Man TT races, including Charlie Collier (won in 1907).
Other stamps included a stamp showing a motor cyclist in a Mountain climbing challenge, plus a sheet showing the course. Speed records were shown for the 37¾ mile circuit including one for a woman, a Jenny Freeman who clocked 120 mph.
Not only did he display motorcycles, but stamps and covers commemorating the 50th anniversary of the airmail service to the Isle-of-Man.
Other items relating to machines included Trams, Trains, Fire engines, Lifeboats, Buses and of course Royal Mail transport.
Andrew Higson came next with his colourful display of Montserrat that included covers sent to him, O.H.M.S overprints, including errors (dot missing after the letter S. Double overprints and even a sheet of overprints with two dots missing!).
Other items showed stamps of 1977 commemorating the Queens Silver Jubilee (posted from HMS Britannia), 1989 issues overprinted Hurricane Hugo.
Then in 1995 a volcanic eruption occurred which devastated most of the Southern part of the island, including the main post office and in 2008 covers showing the new cancellation from the new post office from the capitol Plymouth.
Chas Ford followed with Mountains of Cyprus with stamps of Queen Victoria and King George V reigns, plus a facsimile of a £5 stamp and a hexagonal one.
Rowland Tatton then put up his display of Motorcycles and Motorcycling. He said that as two of his fellow members had displayed the same topic it would be a ‘put up and look’ display.
His first sheet was an A4 poster sent to post offices to advertise the issue on the 19th July 2005 of a set of six stamps all showing a design of a motorcycle.
A 1991 Norton F1, a 1969 BSA Rocket 3, a 1949 Viscount Black Shaw, a 1939 Triumph Speed Twin, a 1930Brough Superior and a 1914 Royal Enfield.
He then went onto display the mint set together with the PHQ card for each one, produced by the Royal Mail.
He continued with displays of motorcycles from countries all over the word.
Finally came the President of the society, Mrs. Christine Harris with her lovely display of “Conveying the Mail”, showing how mail, (including cards, letter and parcels), were conveyed all over the UK from the first 1d post to date and included the methods used, depicted on stamps, covers, postcards, cigarette cards, booklets of Mobile Post offices, Travelling Post Office, (used on trains), and numerous vehicles. A great historical display presented in a few sheets.
She then thanked all members for their displays.
The next meeting will be on Thursday November 25 and titled “An evening with Garth”. RFT.