All of us know what Hamas did on that fateful day on October 7, 2023, which was far worse than the American 11th September, but for those who have forgotten:

Hamas launched a land, sea, and air assault on Israel from the Gaza Strip, which resulted in more than 1,200 deaths, primarily Israeli citizens, marking it as the deadliest day for Israel since its independence. More than 240 people were kidnapped by Hamas during this invasion. This was the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, a true act of genocide/

Israel declared itself in a state of war for the first time since the Yom Kippur War in 1973 and conducted air strikes on the Gaza Strip, followed by the incursion of ground troops and armored vehicles. The intent was to destroy the Hamas tunnels and to rescue the hostages.

Hamas' military wing and other Palestinian armed groups committed numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity against civilians during the assault. I will spare the details here of Hamas' rapes and heinous acts because this is a blog about stamps. I will state something that many people have ignored, Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 and Gaza was a 100% Palestinian entity.

The support for Hamas through the philatelic community was very quick, stamps being introduced already in 2023, barely two months after the invasion.

Jordan

On the 7th November 2023, Jordan Post was quick to enter the philatelic support announcing that they were going to overprint some issues with the phrase (Gaza the Steadfast). They claimed:

* The first issue, consisting of one stamp, which bore the name of the Intifada and was issued in 1991 with a value of 20 fils, was a new issue for this year, decorated with a new value of one Jordanian dinar, bearing the phrase (Gaza the Steadfast), where the decoration came in blue. Strangely this was issued in only 1000 copies and prices reach in the hundreds. The intent here is probably for philatelist.

* The second issue, consisting of one stamp, which bore a drawing of the Arch of Triumph (Hadrian’s Arch) in the ancient city of Jerash, issued in 2003, with a value of 50 fils, was a new issue for this year, decorated with a new value of one Jordanian dinar, bearing the phrase (Gaza the Steadfast), with the decoration in black.

Libya

Libya soon followed with an overprint of its own with words "Gaza Struggle"

Syria

Syria issued a stamp with the words "Occupation Resistance". This must not be confused with the stamp that they issued in October for the 50th Anniversary of the October War. It seems strange that they would issue another stamp so quickly, less than two months after the invasion. Stamps take preparation.

Iraq

Iraq also jumped on the bandwagon and issued a stamp and a souvenir sheet, showing the Dome of the Rock but with the words Tawafan Al-Aksa, a common error. No, I don't accept the current woke whitewash that the Arabs refer to the entire Temple Mount as Al Aksa seeing as how they use a different term, Haram al Sharif. However the word Tawafan means a storm, meaning a storm on the Temple Mount (using the proper terminology)

Today we are going to show a case of religious reasons for withdrawing an issue.

November 19, 1987, South Africa Postal Authorities intended to issue a four-stamp set to commemorate the Bible Society of South Africa, which was founded in 1820.

However, one of the stamps, the 40c stamp contained two lines of script, one in Koine Greek, the language of the New Testament, and one in Hebrew, the language of the Old Testament. Both of the lines contained the word “God”.

The Orthodox Jewish community protested that the stamps were a serious transgression of Judaic law, which says that God’s name may appear only in the Torah and prayer books. It was not permissable for God's name to be torn, cancelled or defaced in any way, especially during mail handling process.

o offense had been intended by the Postal Authorities and they quickly recalled the 40c stamps from the Post Offices across South Africa, before the initial release date.

The stamps were prepared to be destroyed in the interests of religious harmony. However, they were informed this was equally unacceptable to the Jewish community and were told that the stamps should be buried.

The Postal Authorities decided that was a step too far and the stamps were duly destroyed.

It is understood that some of the smaller Post Offices were running short of 40c stamps and opened their parcels before the official release date. They were sold over the counter with many being used for postage. It is believed that less than 1300 stamps exist.

Israel and India established full diplomatic relations on January 29, 1992. However, even before that, Israel had a Consulate in Mumbai from 1953. Ties between the two countries flourished and currently include agricultural cooperation, water management collaboration, thriving trade, increasing tourism and much more. Over the last 32 years, Israelis have developed a special relationship with the people of India, and many people go to India in post army trips.

An announcement was made that on the 23rd February 2024, there would be a joint stamp issue with India depicting two colorful festivals, Purim and Holi, representing our close cultural links and similarities between our festivals. 

In 1975, the United Arab Emirates planned to issue a set of stamps to commemorate the Second Long Distance Swimming Championship, an event that underscored the country’s growing interest in promoting sports and physical fitness. The UAE, which had only recently been formed in 1971, was keen to establish a national identity and highlight its participation in international events.

The stamps were designed with a focus on the theme of swimming and the championship. They featured vibrant illustrations of swimmers and related aquatic imagery. The designs were completed, and the stamps were printed and prepared for release. One of the flags for the participating entities was the flag of the Palestinian Liberation Organization. The compering countries were UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman and the PLO.


For reasons that remain somewhat unclear, the decision was made to withhold the release of these stamps. Scott Stamp catalog had a notation that noted that the stamps were withdrawn at the last moment because not enough supplies had been received from the printer. Initially the set was to be released in June 1975 but because the stamps had not arrived from the Crown Printers in England, the issue was postponed to August. However when not enough arrived even by then, it was cancelled.

Despite not being released, these stamps have become quite rare and sought after by collectors and prices range from $400 upwards, if you can find them. 

Israel announced a joint issue with the British Territory of Gibraltar to be issued in 2011 celebrating the easternmost (Israel) and westernmost (Gibraltar) extent of the Mediterranean Sea. The designed stamp depicted the rock overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar on the left side along with the flag with the coat of arms of the territory. The right side included the equally iconic Tower of David in the Old City of Jerusalem with the flag of Israel flying above.

Agreements between the two postal authorities were finalized and all was good.

But after the stamps were printed, the issue was canceled by the British Foreign Office. Although Gibraltar is supposed to be independent of Britain in most of its affairs, its foreign affairs are subordinate to the British authorities.

Image Courtesy: Ulrich Felzmann

In 2001, the German Ministry of Finance planned a special series of stamps to commemorate famous film stars. Audrey Hepburn was one of the selected icons. For more personally, her role in "My Fair Lady" was the best but my wife will never agree with me. Isn't that what wives do anyway? 

We all know how the rise of Nazism during the 1930s was not only a threat to the world, but also a threat to exterminate Jews, starting with Europe.

So, during the early 1940s, as the world was engulfed in the flames of World War II, many Jews in British Mandate Palestine felt a powerful urge to contribute to the fight against the Axis powers. Motivated by a mix of reasons—ranging from a deep desire to combat Nazism and protect their homeland to gaining military experience for the future defense of their community—these brave individuals enlisted in the British Army.

Their decision to enlist was profoundly influenced by David Ben Gurion's declaration in 1939: "We will fight the White Paper as if there is no war, and fight the war as if there is no White Paper." The British White Paper of 1939 had severely restricted Jewish immigration to Palestine and land purchases by Jews, a move that was deeply resented by the Jewish community and it was also against the mandate that the British had received from the League Of Nations. Ben Gurion's statement encapsulated a dual commitment: resisting British policies that undermined Jewish aspirations in Palestine while simultaneously supporting the Allied war effort against the Nazis.

Among those Jews who volunteered, some were captured by the Nazis during various campaigns in Europe, particularly in Libya, Greece and Crete in 1941 and early 1942. These soldiers, now prisoners of war, were sent to different POW camps across Nazi-occupied Europe. However most Palestinian Jews were sent to camp Stalag VIII-B, later renamed Stalag-344, located near Lamsdorf, now Łambinowice, Poland. The conditions in this camp were brutal, with severe shortages of food, inadequate shelter, forced labor, and the constant threat of disease.


Despite these hardships, the Jewish POWs made efforts to maintain their morale and cultural identity. They organized religious services, educational activities, and cultural performances whenever possible. However, their situation was particularly dire due to the Nazis' awareness of their Jewish identity, which led to increased brutality and harsher treatment.

Meanwhile, the idea of forming a distinct Jewish military unit within the British Army had been proposed since the early years of the war. Jewish leaders and organizations lobbied persistently, and their efforts finally bore fruit. In September 1944, the British government announced the formation of the Jewish Brigade Group. This unit was composed of volunteers from Palestine and stood as the only independent, national Jewish military formation to serve in World War II. The British demanded that this be comprised of both Arabs and Jews and called it the Palestine Regiment. No Arabs volunteered.

After undergoing rigorous training in Egypt, the Jewish Brigade was deployed to the Italian front in early 1945. There, they participated in several battles, distinguishing themselves through their bravery and skill, contributing significantly to the final defeat of Nazi Germany.


Following the war, members of the Jewish Brigade turned their focus to the rescue and rehabilitation of Holocaust survivors in Europe. They played a crucial role in smuggling Jewish refugees to Palestine, often working against British immigration restrictions. The experience and training these soldiers gained were instrumental in the formation of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), which would later become the military backbone of the nascent State of Israel.

The story of these Palestinian Jews in the British Army, their ordeals as POWs, and the eventual creation of the Jewish Brigade is a testament to their bravery, resilience, and unwavering dedication to their people. Their contributions during and after the war left an indelible mark on history and significantly influenced the establishment of the State of Israel. Ben Gurion's call to fight on two fronts—against the White Paper and the Axis powers—served as a guiding principle that bolstered their resolve and shaped their legacy.

Unfortunately today we see how the rise of Islam is not only a threat to the world, but also a threat to exterminate Jews. We are back to the 1930s.

You probably all know that the Sues Canal in Egypt was built by French and British engineers and managed by a French and British company? Right? You also know that Egypt had a king there, and it was the Kingdom of Egypt? Well this kingdom was aligned with the west and also not very pro-Israel, I mean it is the in-thing to be anti-Israel, the only Jewish country! Even the Americans had an arms embargo on poor little Israel. You also know that it was so western that British spitfires took off from Cairo and attacked Tel AViv during the 1948 War of Independence.

Well all good things come to an end and in 1952 a group of military officers called the Free Officers Movement, planned a coup d'etat that overthrew poor King Farouk I, who by the way had a great stamp collection. The Free Officers Movement wanted to end British influence in Egypt and establish a republic, well basically all western influence. In June 1953 King Farouk abdicated Egypt was declared a republic! The monarchy was abolished.

In 1954 Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein became Egypt's second president. Nasser wanted also wanted to move away from the west and more to Russia and this scared the west, partucularly the Americans and British. As such they withdrew funding for a huge dam, the Aswan Dam. Dammit, that was not a good move as the Soviets rushed in with funding.

In 1956 Nasser announced the nationalization of the Suez Canal in a speech in Alexandria. He announced that the canal will be managed and operated by the Suez Canal Authority, an Egyptian entity, instead of the international company that previously operated it. Nasser sought to establish Egypt's sovereignty. The nationalization of the canal led to the Suez crisis, a complex international conflict between Egypt, Israel, France and the United Kingdom. In essence it meant that shipping to Eilat was endangered.

The nationalization of the Suez Canal by Egypt led to a joint military operation by Israel, the United Kingdom and France against Egypt. The Israeli part of the operation was called Operation Kadesh, which began as early as October 29, 1956 , while the overall Anglo-French operation was called Operation Musketeer. Israel, followed by the United Kingdom and France, invaded Egypt. The military operation was intended to restore Western control over the canal and oust Nasser from power. The invasion provoked significant international opposition, mainly from the United States and the Soviet Union. The two powers, despite their Cold War rivalry, pressured the invading forces to withdraw. Operation Kadesh ended on November 7th 1956 with the entire Gaza Strip in Israel hands, meaning no more terror attacks from Gaza.

On October 31, 1956, during the first stages of the Suez crisis, the "Ibrahim al-Awal" received an order to bomb the city of Haifa in Israel. The ship fired several shells at the oil refinery area in the city, causing some damage but no significant casualties.

The ship "Ibrahim Al-Awal" was originally a British frigate of the Hunt series, built for the British Royal Navy during World War II. She was launched as HMS Mendip in 1940 and took part in significant battles during the war. After World War II, HMS Mendip was sold to the Egyptian Navy in 1951 and renamed "Ibrahim El-Awl".



As a small curiosity, in 1957 Israel organized a weapons exhibition in Haifa and showed the weapons captured in Operation Kadesh. The exhibition took place on the captured Egyptian ship. 

Did you know that there was a concentration camp in the heart of Tel Aviv during World War I?

In the mid-19th century, a small but devout group of German Protestants, known as the Templars, felt a calling. They believed that to prepare for the Second Coming of Christ, they needed to live in the Holy Land, close to the sacred sites of their faith. Led by Christoph Hoffmann and others, they left their homeland, carrying with them hopes and dreams of establishing a new, pious life in Palestine.

Their journey led them to the rolling plains near the ancient port city of Jaffa, where they founded the settlement of Sarona in 1871. Over the years, Sarona blossomed. The Templars were industrious and innovative, introducing advanced agricultural techniques and modern machinery that turned the arid land into a thriving agricultural community. Their neat, red-roofed houses and well-tended gardens stood as a testament to their dedication and hard work.

Sarona wasn't the only Templar settlement; they also established colonies in Haifa, Jaffa, and Jerusalem. These communities were marked by their unique blend of German efficiency and Christian faith, and they significantly contributed to the development of the region. Life in Sarona was peaceful and productive. The Templars, though living far from their homeland, created a slice of Germany in the heart of Palestine, complete with schools, churches, and communal halls.

As decades passed, the Templars maintained their simple, industrious lifestyle. However, the winds of change were blowing across Europe, and soon, they would feel its chilling effects. By the late 1930s, as the world edged closer to war, the Templars found themselves in a precarious position. Their German nationality now cast a shadow over their communities.

In the 1930s, the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany began to influence the Templars in Palestine. Some members of the Templar community developed affiliations with the Nazi Party, displaying swastikas and engaging in activities that aligned with Nazi ideology. This connection increased the scrutiny and suspicion they faced from the British authorities.

When World War II erupted, the British, who controlled Palestine under a mandate, viewed the German Templars with even greater suspicion. The peaceful, hardworking settlers of Sarona were suddenly seen as potential threats, their loyalty questioned because of their nationality and political affiliations. In 1940, the British authorities made a drastic decision. They converted Sarona into an internment camp, rounding up the Templars and other German nationals. The letter shown below was sent from Berlin in late 1939, not long after the breakout of World War II and was sent to Mrs Lotte Fischer of the Germany Colony in Haifa. It was sent via the CID or Criminal Investigation Department and they forwarded it to the "Sarona Concentration Camp near Jaffa". The letter was actually opened by both the German and British censors (the back is not shown here).

I'm not really the type to spend time watching the news, but when the Abraham Accords were signed in 2020, I jumped out of my chair with joy!

However recently there was a UN Security Council discussion about Palestine and one of the enthusiastic supporters was the United Arab Emirates. I was surprised, shocked even.

With the United Arab Emirates we have so many joint projects, including philatelic projects which are just amazing, and we even held a joint exhibition which was just cool! We have guys from the area who are like family, but the question is - are the Emiratis (and Bahrain too) friends or not?

Just before the signing of the Accords, there was a decision by the Permanent Arab Committee in 2018, that approved the issuance of a commemorative stamp titled "Al-Quds - The Capital of Palestine". In 2019 the United Arab Emirates decided to comply with the decision and in 2019 issued a stamp going along with this. We can see the stamp on the right. Yes this surprised me although it was issued a year before the signing of peace agreements, but we had reasonable relations before then!

But were the Emirates always friendly towards us or were they in a state of war? Depends on who you ask. In 1998 I was sent by the company I worked for, to work in South Africa and we all know how much South Africa, these days, is a friend of Israel. In South Africa, the local distributor brought me a document to fill out and sign that the company's product is not Israeli and that I have to obey the instructions of the Ministry for the Economic Boycott of Israel whose address was in Abu Dhabi (the capital of the UAE). The office was completely governmental and was fully exempt from postage as seen in the 1974 envelope shown below. 




There are more examples but I'll discuss Bahrain, which is also one of the signatories of the Abraham Accords. As you remember, in 1973 in the Yom Kippur war we were caught not exactly ready. After the war, oil-producing countries began a boycott that caused a global shortage and increased prices. Bahrain did not participate in the war with armed forces but as part of a wider group of Arab states that supported the cause against Israel by other means, such as participating in the oil embargo imposed by the Arab oil producers. Bahrain decided to impose taxation on all mail sent through the Bahrain Post Office , a tax collected at a flat rate of 5 fils collected by selling a tax stamp affixed to each item of mail. On the stamp was written simply "Al Majhood Al Harbee" which translates as "the war effort". This is quite misleading as the funds did not go to support the military campaign but to help the refugees of the conflict. Who knows if any actually received the finds or how a refugee was defined. The stamp displayed is not exactly cheap. It's worth about $100 but so far I haven't seen it on a real postally used letter. The stamp was issued in November 1973 and was replaced in March 1974 and perhaps this explains the difficulty of finding it on letters. There are quite a few of the replacement stamp.

So there you have it, the countries of the first Abrahamic agreements were not always friendly towards us and acted against us, unlike today when they are friendly towards us and in the act against us.

Once upon a time, in the mystical Pacific waters, there existed a tiny volcanic island named Niuafo'ou. Picture it: lush palm trees, turquoise waves, and a post office with a twist—literally! Imagine a place where ships couldn't dock because the island lacked a proper harbor, which means no mail. No problem! The ingenious Tongans came up with a wild idea: Tin Can Mail.

Here's how it worked: 

Tonga decided to spice things up. In 1963, they unleashed the world's first **self-adhesive stamps**. These weren't your run-of-the-mill squares; they were circular and embossed, like golden coins from a treasure chest. Tonga's stamps got creative: heart-shaped, bird-shaped, fruit-shaped - anything a crazy stamp collector would want to buy but not yours truly.

Niuafo'ou Island, aka Tin Can Island, became a legend. The pickup-and-deliver dance between swimmers, tins, and canoes left an indelible mark on philatelic history. And guess what? Niuafo'ou started issuing its own stamps. It was like the island saying, "Hey world, we're not just about coconuts and hula skirts!"

So there you have it, mateys! The Tin Can Mail, where biscuit tins became mailboxes and swimmers turned into aquatic heroes. Remember, the next time you send a letter, give a nod to those brave swimmers and their salty adventures.

In the golden age of aviation, flying was an exhilarating and daring affair, reserved for the privileged few. Taking to the skies was a thrilling experience, and even something as mundane as sending mail by air sparked wonder and amusement among onlookers, like the residents of Tiberius in the 1930s, who marveled at the flying boats landing gracefully on Lake Kineret.

But today, we're not here to talk about the spectacle of early air travel. Instead, we're going to unravel the intriguing tale behind an unassuming cover that most would dismiss as ordinary. Little do they know, this innocuous envelope has a story of daring adventure and calamity that would make even the most seasoned traveler's heart race.
On the 27th of January, 1932, Imperial Airways inaugurated the first regular weekly flight from Cape Town to London, and this cover was a passenger on that maiden voyage. The journey began in Cape Town, with a stopover in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia. But on the 29th, as the "City of Basra," a mighty Hercules DH.66 flying boat, prepared to take off from Salisbury, disaster struck.

While taxiing on the runway, the aircraft encountered a treacherous patch of soft earth, the remnant of a previously removed anthill. The impact was severe, leaving the majestic flying boat battered and unable to continue its journey. Thus, our unassuming cover earned its first battle scar, a "crash cover" in the parlance of aviation enthusiasts.

Undeterred, the passengers and mail, including our intrepid envelope, were hastily transferred to another flying boat, the "City of Delhi." With hopes high, the flight took off without incident. But the skies had other plans. A violent storm descended upon the aircraft, forcing an emergency landing in a swamp 50 miles from Broken Hill, Northern Rhodesia. Can you believe the misfortune? Two crashes in as many days!

As if the ordeal wasn't harrowing enough, the crew and passengers found themselves marooned in the swamp, their only salvation the prospect of being spotted by another passing flight. Two search planes scoured the area, but the relentless rain hampered their efforts. Finally, the "City of Baghdad" took to the skies, and its crew's sharp eyes located the stranded travelers.

With relief and resilience, the mail, including our indomitable cover, was carried by native bearers to Broken Hill, arriving on the 4th of February. From there, it was loaded onto the "City of Baghdad" for the final leg of its journey to London, bearing the scars of its remarkable odyssey.

So, the next time you come across an ordinary-looking envelope, pause and consider the extraordinary tales it might hide. This cover, which most would dismiss as unremarkable, has a story of daring, calamity, and perseverance that would make even the most seasoned adventurer's heart swell with admiration.

Would you believe it? Back in the late 19th century, there was a lot of prejudice against Jewish people. Surprising, right? Well, meet Wilhelm Marr, a German journalist who actually came up with the term "antisemitism" in 1879. He used this fancy term to describe hostility towards Jews. He introduced it in his publication, "The Victory of Judaism over Germandom." So, it all started with a book in Germany in 1879! Quite the scientific term compared to simply calling it Jew-hatred, don't you think?

This prejudice was so prevalent in German society that it gave rise to antisemitic parties like the German Social Party (DSP), founded around the same time as Marr's term. Led by Adolf Stoecker, a Protestant pastor, this movement blended conservative, nationalist, and anti-Semitic ideas. They claimed that Jews held too much power in finance, commerce, and the media, which they believed was harming German culture. They even advocated for legal restrictions on Jewish economic activities and university enrollment, similar to Nazi ideology later on. As we all know, the same idea of Jews controlling everything still prevails today. Today people actually believe that Israel controls almost everything, including using birds and sharks as spies!

Responding to this growing antisemitism, the Zionist movement emerged, aiming to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine. This idea was met with some support within antisemitic circles, suggesting that maybe it would be a good idea to expel Jews.

Here we see a postcard from around 1900, titled "Die Zukunft" (The Future) which shows German soldiers forcing out a large group of Jews, who are following a route indicated by the sign "Nach Palästina" (To Palestine). The exiled Jews, portrayed with stereotypical negative attributes such as deformed bodies and enormous noses, are pictured leaving a lush landscape and crossing into barren desert land, which was how Palestine was seen. Unfortunately this postcard is not mine.

Back in the day, some American bigwigs wanted to dig a canal to connect the two oceans, but they couldn't agree on where to do it – in Panama, or in Nicaragua. A lot of them thought Nicaragua was a better bet, because the French had been trying to make a canal in Panama for like 20 years, and they sucked at it. They had to deal with a lot of rain and nasty diseases that killed people.

There was also this drama with Panama breaking up with Colombia and becoming its own country in 1903. If America went with Panama, it could piss off Colombia, who wouldn't be happy with America doing business in their ex's land. Nicaragua, on the other hand, was chill and had a lake that would make the digging easier.

This whole thing was a big mess for Congress for a long time. In 1902, this French dude named Philippe Buanu-Varilla decided to convince Congress to stick with the Panama Canal, instead of starting over in Nicaragua. Buanu-Varilla was actually an engineer and an investor in the French Panama Canal project, so he wanted to save his work and money. He teamed up with an American guy named William Nelson Cromwell to lobby Congress to go with Panama.

One of their tricks was to send every senator a specific stamp from Nicaragua, the 10c stamp depicted on the right. The stamp, which was part of a series, showed the railroad industry in Nicaragua, with a volcano named Mt. Momotombo in the background. The problem was, the volcano looked like it was about to blow, with smoke coming out of it!

The smoking volcano Mt. Momotombo was something that Buanu-Varilla wanted to use, to make Congress think that building a canal in Nicaragua was risky. This was even worse (or better for him) because of a volcano that exploded on an island called Martinique in 1902, killing 30,000 people. This made people scared of volcanoes.

Congress finally voted to keep working on the Panama Canal for many reasons – such as how long it would take to cross the canal, how much land they needed, and yeah, even volcanoes. Since most of Washington D.C. had been rooting for the Nicaragua canal for 10 years, Buanu-Varilla and Cromwell's six months of work in 1902 to get Congress to change their minds was pretty impressive.

A stamp helped make history!

A philatelic exhibition has three main viewers, whose aims are different, but you have to capture the attention of all three. These viewers are: the judges, the public and you.

When it is you, at least in my opinion, there is a lot of satisfaction in working for months, and then seeing your work displayed for all to see.

For the general public, they will pass through an exhibit and if it is an interesting subject for them, they will spend more time on it than on others. If the exhibit was awarded a very good medal, same thing, more time than on others. Many may use it to get ideas from for their own exhibits or collections or sometimes just to write an article about this. Actually some viewers may have more knowledge than you do on the subject and may find mistakes in your knowledge, or know of material that you are unaware of. I found that issue when viewing a particular exhibit at Capex22.

For the judge, poor guy, he has less than half an hour to check out your exhibit and decide what you get. Some judges are very knowledgeable, and have a wide range of knowledge. With the limited time that a judge has, he is not able to read every page and view every item. Of course the bigger the item, the more the eye will be drawn to it. It also matters where the page is on the frame. However if you have an 1870 Queen Victoria ½d Bantam stamp, where the size of the stamp is half the height of a Penny Red and that stamp is in the bottom row, then good luck to you.

So the idea is that you need to make your pages eye-catching and eye-pleasing, you need to make all viewers WANT to look at your pages and you need to direct them to special items. How do you do that? The jury is still out on that.

In my exhibit I have some stamps that I need to write a philatelic explanation of them and the philatelic explanation will be a lot bigger than the stamp itself. Exhibit regulations state that:

The presentation and the accompanying text of the exhibit should be simple, tasteful and well balanced. It should add information to that provided by the material and show the level of understanding of the subject and the personal research of the exhibitor.

Let me give an example of the dilemma. Suppose you want to use the Sachsenhausen Concentration camp parody of the Great Britain 1935 Jubilee issue. In this case, the forgers wrote “This war is a JEWSH WAR”. Here is an example of what I would like to write in the philatelic text:

Heinrich Himmler came up with the idea of counterfeiting British postage stamps in order to convey that the war was a Jewish conspiracy and an attempt by them at world domination. Forgeries of the Silver Jubilee issue of 1935 were prepared at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Changes included the insertion of Jewish and communist emblems, placement of Stalin's head, and an inscription "This war is a Jewsh war". The years were altered to 1939-1944

If I used regular A4 paper, it would take up the width of the page. Will this catch the eye of the reader, probably, but who would want to read all that text? In my own opinion it is a presentation problem and then again, partially a development problem because most of the width is taken up. Can the text be more concise, probably a bit? Where is the problem? Not everyone knows the story! Some judges and viewers may not know of this and think that is a nice story. The exhibitor has to get the information across because although this is modern material, it is not readily available, maybe more ready today than in the past, but this falls into the category of philatelic knowledge.

Another example is the set of stamps issued in 1946 by Austria for the "Never Forget" ("Niemals Vergessen") exhibition on the crimes of Nazism. 8 stamps were designed, prepared and printed for the exhibition; however most people don’t know that at the last minute, the Allies placed a veto on two of the stamps, including this stamp on the left, as they were considered to have upsetting or unsettling imagery. Most copies of this stamp were destroyed upon orders of the allies, but of course some had already been sent to dealers etc. The stamp shown here and another was vetoed and were replaced by other stamps and the set was issued. The stamp is not a big stamp, and once again the philatelic text will be long. Again the question is, how do you both tell the audience what they need to know and at the same time, brag, after all this is not common knowledge and nor are the stamps cheap.

The solution is to use a QR Code. Most people already know what a QR Code, we get them on our monthly bills, but for those who don’t a QR code, or quick response code, is a type of barcode that can contain information. It can point to a website, an image, an audio file, send email, be a business card etc. A QR Code can be read by your smartphone camera and immediately direct you to the information. How does that help out? Again I am giving my own solution. I have a blog and a YouTube channel called “Stories Behind the Stamp” and I try to tell the reader or the viewer, the story behind the stamp. This is especially fun when dealing with PostKrieg as many don’t know the stories. So what you can do is to write a blog post and have your QR Code point to that blog post or YouTube video.

Here are two QR codes, the first pointing to my video about the German parody stamp: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AicEw-mpeco and the second the blog post about the withdrawn Austrian stamp: https://stampandstories.blogspot.com/2021/08/never-forget.html

I generate my codes from various websites on the web, including https://www.qr-code-generator.com/. Now that we have the codes, what do we do? By the way if you are using white pages, all good, but if your page is a different color, make sure that the image is transparent. Here are the two examples:
There are advantages to this method in that the viewer can take a scan of the QR Code from his phone and then it is saved in his phone’s browser. He can then read in his own free time. In addition the unexpected image next to the item, draws your attention to the item. I have used QR codes whenever the amount of text I want to write starts making the page look full of text, irrespective of the size of the item. The example I have provided are valid for your own collection as well and the use of QR codes in your collection is entirely up to you.

Note: I wrote this article almost two years ago and I was hoping it would be published in TC News but there hasn't been one!