I can’t believe it is butter!
The story goes that the husband of an executive of the Baltimore company J H Filbert uttered the words ‘I can’t believe it’s not butter!’ at a tasting session prior to the low cost substitute being put on public sale, writes Richard Stenlake. The phrase was marketing gold and the product’s popularity spread globally almost as quickly as it glided across hot toast, prompting a buyout by Unilever a few years later.
But perhaps the saying had its origins in the ancient art form of butter sculpture, practised in Babylon, Tibet and by the Romans. In more recent times butter sculpture gripped North America in the late 19th century and its heyday was from then until the 1930s.
Butter sculpture is completely about showing off and where better to do so than an international exhibition? The Francobritish Exhibition of 1908 was a celebration of the 1904 Entente Cordiale, but Anglo-french Canada evidently decided to put its oar in too, made of butter! The subject matter of French explorer Jacques Cartier’s 1535 meeting with Donacona, chief of the St. Lawrence Iroquois, was by modern-day standards unfortunate as subsequent to this meeting Cartier kidnapped Donacona and took him back to France with some of his braves where all but one died, presumably because their immune systems weren’t up to it. This very non-pc pc will set you back about £6.
Our second illustration is a postcard that will cost you less than a fiver and shows Canada having another go at butter sculpture at the 1924/25 Wembley Exhibition with this fine study of the Prince of Wales, later Edward VIII, made from 3,000 pounds of the stuff shipped over from the Dominion then kept refrigerated. Perhaps mindful of the food miles already expended, one schoolboy was heard to remark that an ear would do his family for a week!
It is not very often that I show only a part of a postmark in this column, writes David Gwynn. However, a recent find in a batch of loose stamps from Australia caught my attention. The stamp is from Victoria and is a humble ½d orange from the reign of Queen Victoria. The postmark, however, is a single circle that reads ‘ENGLISH MAIL T.P.O.’ with a cross at the base and is dated 20 March 1894.
The postmark in question normally also includes an obliterating element to the right of the dater die. This is an oval of six horizontal bars with ‘VICTORIA’ in the centre. This postmark was one of several different types used on mail posted in Melbourne too late to catch the mail ship to England. However, an express mail train left Melbourne heading for Adelaide where the mail ship was due to call. The mail train took much less time to reach Adelaide than the mail ship. This meant it was possible to post letters destined for England several days after the ship had sailed and have them in Adelaide ready to load on the ship when it arrived there.
The letters posted to catch this service were sorted and postmarked in a special Mail Room at the GPO in Melbourne. Incoming mail from England that arrived at Adelaide would be off-loaded and taken by train to Melbourne, reaching their destinations days sooner than having to wait for the mail ship to arrive there.
This service began in 1887 and was discontinued in the 1920s.
Grace Davies FRPSL has for many years been building a collection devoted to a subject dear to most hearts – ‘Peace’. On 2 December she displayed part of this collection to the members of the Royal Philatelic Society London. The display was supplemented by a presentation also enjoyed by many members via Zoom.
As Grace explained, hers is an unusual collection, but its theme is one that has global impact for ‘peace is relevant around the world’. She took her audience through stages of peace: the aftermath of war; the peace conferences, sometimes resulting in a treaty; the League of Nations and the birth of the United Nations, its reputation and failures; the symbols of peace – the dove and olive branch; the peace rose; Alfred Nobel and the Peace Prize.
Giving the vote of thanks, David Beech MBE, FRPSL paid tribute to the passion shown by Grace for her subject, not only through its wonderful range of material, but also for its emphasis on people. David commented: ‘People start war; people start peace.’ Grace had been ‘entertaining, informative and erudite’.
Following her display, Grace was presented with the plaquette of the Society by its President, Peter Cockburn FRPSL.
Chelmsford and District Philatelic Society member Derek Connell gave a very informative and humorous presentation entitled ‘Aspects of London’. The description below does not do justice in describing the vast array of material that he provided for members’ entertainment.
He decided to display his material by going against normal convention and showing in reverse date order. His first material was in respect of the 2012 London Olympics with the first items being promotional material and stamps for 2004/5 ahead of London being successful in having their bid awarded.
Continuing the theme Derek also displayed stamps featuring some of the competitors from the UK that were awarded gold medals at the Games. He also included examples of materials for the Paralympic Games including a welcome pack and stamps featuring gold medallists.
Derek specialises in collecting materials covering exhibitions and he included amongst a wealth of other items, Stampex 2000, and for 1990 the 150th Anniversary of Alexandra Palace.
He also displayed material dating from 1951 on the Festival of Britain and a 1950 ‘get together’ at the Grosvenor Hall following the end of hostilities. Other material included that covering the 1948 Olympics.
For the second part of his presentation Derek continued going back in time and showed material covering the 1924 British Empire Exhibition, held in Wembley Park, the 1908 Franco-british Exhibition and the 1890 exhibition held at the Guild Hall to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Penny Post.
From the chair Pat Adams thanked Derek for a most interesting presentation. For details of the Society, contact Dave Everard on tel: 01245 465506; email: davideverard@live.com. New members and visitors are always welcome.
The American Philatelic Society are now accepting applications for the 2022 awards presented by the APS and the American Philatelic Research Library. Categories include the Luff Award for Meritorious Contributions to Philately; Nicholas G. Carter Volunteer Recognition Award; Ernest A. Kehr Award for enduring contributions to guarantee the future of the hobby; Charles J. Peterson Philatelic Literature Life Achievement Award; and the Dealer of the Year Award. Find out more at: stamps.org/news