Second episode. I hope you like it.
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Wednesday, October 27, 2021
Tuesday, October 19, 2021
We learned from a previous post Jerusalem is under siege that from December 1947, Jewish Jerusalemwas under a de-facto siege. At this time there were about 100,000 Jews and about 65,000 Arabs living in Jerusalem, but the vast majority of those Arabs lived in the old city. (Jerusalem is the small red blob on the middle right edge of the stamp).
Transportation to the city from the Jewish area was limited to the only road in existence, and that road was under constant attack. Supplies were in short supply.
The British had enough problems. They had had enough. It was just three short years after the end of World War II; India had their independence and they were already out of there and the Palestine mandate was drawing to an end, so why would they want to get involved and help Jews; despite their requirement under the mandate.
The British had announced that they were closing down their postal services in Jerusalem as of May 5th. However on April 20th, Arabs ambushed a huge 350-strong vehicle convoy on its way to Jerusalem. Many soldiers and passengers were killed. What was the British answer? To close the postal services! As of April 25th there were no more postal services to and from Jerusalem.
Now from other posts in this blog we know that the Jewish community created their own postal system. Read here. This was supposed to take effect as of May 2nd. Houston we have a problem, there is no way to get the stamps to Jerusalem, the roads are closed!
There was heavy fighting between Arabs and Jews in Jerusalem and it wasn't exactly safe to get to a post office anyway. May 8th the Jewish forces seemed to overcome the Arab forces in the Jerusalem area and a semblance of peace evolved. So what do we do now? Let's call our family and let them know. Problem is that this is 1948 and there were very few phone lines and the only method was writing.
Now there is a new problem, they had no stamps as supplies were not coming through. There were also no JNF stamps on hand to use and overprint. So what were they to do?
You know the Partition Plan JNF labels? Well the printer of those stamps, Haoman Press, still had the printing plates. Problem solved, let us add the word Postage and the face value of the stamp. OK then, they decided to issue three values, a 5mil for the printed letter rate, a 10mil for the regular rate and 25 mil for registered.
So Haoman Press printed the stamps and to speed up the process, they had Lipshitz Press add the overprint. This went on sale on May 9th. Amazing, from idea to store within 24 hours! Looks like they really wanted to send mail.
There were long queues of people who wanted to buy these stamps, many of them as souvenirs, and supplies ran out within a few hours. But as it turns out, Haomnan was still printing sheets, but this time they were adding the overprints themselves, in the same process. However they added the overprints in a different way. In the first issue, the word Postage was added at the top and in this issue, they were added at the bottom. This issue was put on sale on May 10th. Collectors know these as First Issue and Second Issue, I wonder why.
May 14th Israeli statehood was declared and on May 16th the Doar Ivri stamps went on sale, except in Jerusalem. A war? A siege? Both.
Pressure was on to open the main post office in Jerusalem and because they were running out of the 5mil stamp, they ordered a reprint. The post office was opened on May 21st and the new overprints were delivered on May 24th. Problem was that the 5 of the 5mils was slightly different. So what name do we give this issue? Third Issue, right? Actually the also became known as Jerusalem Locals I, II and III to differentiate them from the Palestine Mandate overprints.
The history of Jerusalem is always exciting, but the study of stamps in the framework of the struggle makes it more enjoyable.
Transportation to the city from the Jewish area was limited to the only road in existence, and that road was under constant attack. Supplies were in short supply.
The British had enough problems. They had had enough. It was just three short years after the end of World War II; India had their independence and they were already out of there and the Palestine mandate was drawing to an end, so why would they want to get involved and help Jews; despite their requirement under the mandate.
The British had announced that they were closing down their postal services in Jerusalem as of May 5th. However on April 20th, Arabs ambushed a huge 350-strong vehicle convoy on its way to Jerusalem. Many soldiers and passengers were killed. What was the British answer? To close the postal services! As of April 25th there were no more postal services to and from Jerusalem.
Now from other posts in this blog we know that the Jewish community created their own postal system. Read here. This was supposed to take effect as of May 2nd. Houston we have a problem, there is no way to get the stamps to Jerusalem, the roads are closed!
There was heavy fighting between Arabs and Jews in Jerusalem and it wasn't exactly safe to get to a post office anyway. May 8th the Jewish forces seemed to overcome the Arab forces in the Jerusalem area and a semblance of peace evolved. So what do we do now? Let's call our family and let them know. Problem is that this is 1948 and there were very few phone lines and the only method was writing.
Now there is a new problem, they had no stamps as supplies were not coming through. There were also no JNF stamps on hand to use and overprint. So what were they to do?
You know the Partition Plan JNF labels? Well the printer of those stamps, Haoman Press, still had the printing plates. Problem solved, let us add the word Postage and the face value of the stamp. OK then, they decided to issue three values, a 5mil for the printed letter rate, a 10mil for the regular rate and 25 mil for registered.
So Haoman Press printed the stamps and to speed up the process, they had Lipshitz Press add the overprint. This went on sale on May 9th. Amazing, from idea to store within 24 hours! Looks like they really wanted to send mail.
There were long queues of people who wanted to buy these stamps, many of them as souvenirs, and supplies ran out within a few hours. But as it turns out, Haomnan was still printing sheets, but this time they were adding the overprints themselves, in the same process. However they added the overprints in a different way. In the first issue, the word Postage was added at the top and in this issue, they were added at the bottom. This issue was put on sale on May 10th. Collectors know these as First Issue and Second Issue, I wonder why.
May 14th Israeli statehood was declared and on May 16th the Doar Ivri stamps went on sale, except in Jerusalem. A war? A siege? Both.
Pressure was on to open the main post office in Jerusalem and because they were running out of the 5mil stamp, they ordered a reprint. The post office was opened on May 21st and the new overprints were delivered on May 24th. Problem was that the 5 of the 5mils was slightly different. So what name do we give this issue? Third Issue, right? Actually the also became known as Jerusalem Locals I, II and III to differentiate them from the Palestine Mandate overprints.
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The history of Jerusalem is always exciting, but the study of stamps in the framework of the struggle makes it more enjoyable.
Thursday, October 14, 2021
Sunday, October 10, 2021
Today I have another surprise for you. Another very good friend has volunteered to write something for us. So thank you Jean Wang for joining us.
For collectors of medical philately, the pandemic has provided lots of fodder, with so far over 100 official stamp issues, slogan machine cancels and meter marks, pictorial postmarks and postal stationery, among others. The stamp issues have covered a wide variety of pandemic-related themes, including thanking essential workers, promoting public health measures, spreading messages of solidarity and support, and more recently promoting vaccination. Among these, two issues from Austria stand out: a semi-postal souvenir sheet issued in October 2020 and a stamp issued in September 2021.
Both of these COVID-19 issues are made of unusual material, something for which Austria Post has developed a reputation. They have previously issued stamps made of porcelain, leather, glass, fabric, plastic, wood, and an aluminum plastic composite (ski tip), as well as stamps with crystals, seeds, pearls, or rock dust affixed.
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| Austria toilet paper souvenir sheet |
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| Toilet paper strips. Photo credit: Leonhard Foeger (Reuters) |
Austria’s second pandemic-related stamp is also manufactured from unusual material and promotes another public health measure: the use of facemasks, which have become a mainstay in reducing the spread of COVID-19 in indoor spaces. In January 2021, in the midst of their third lockdown and in response to increasing numbers of cases caused by the more contagious variants of the coronavirus, Austria mandated the use of medical-grade FFP2 (Filtering Face Piece) masks, which are more protective than cloth or surgical masks, on public transport and in shops, businesses and hospitals.
While some collectors might consider such non-traditional stamp issues frivolous and unbecoming of a global health crisis that is now approaching its second anniversary, these two issues from Austria do serve to highlight important public health measures and will likely reach a broader audience due to their unusual qualities. Humor helps us cope with stress, and as the pandemic drags on, Austria Post’s efforts to make us smile can make the world feel a little less gloomy, one stamp at a time.
Tuesday, October 5, 2021
Some religious people say to you, "May the Lord be with you" or "Go with God", which is pretty nice but if you are a Star Wars fan, you probably say "May the Schwartz be with you". But this is a blog about philately and so we will leave the Force and the Schwartz alone.
Some of us who collect prephilately, whether it is our main topic or just because it fills our thematic collection, have often noticed some letters or abbreviations on mail, often on maritime mail. It is bad enough trying to decipher the address itself but then you get letters that you scratch your head wondering what they are.
What is of interest to us today are the letters Q.D.C. Now before I continue let me explain what this is. From approximately the end of the 17th century until the beginning of the 19th century, maritime mail used marks such as Q.D.C. or Que Dieu Conduise which means "May God Guide". This, added together with the name of the ship and the captain showed that the fee for the mail was paid for although it was quite often free. They were then distributed locally free of charge in the port. It seemed to be acceptable practice that the marks + the name of the ship + the name of the captain meant that postage had been paid, either free or not, so no further fee was charged. This is as seen on French maritime mail as the item above.
According to one source similar markings exist on maritime mail from other countries such as "Which God Protect" (WGP) (English), "Che Dio Guardia" (Italian), or "Que Deus Guia" (Portuguese). I must admit that I have never seen any of these.
One other marking is seen, but not as often, DLC or "Dieux Le Conduit” which basically means “God leads”.
Getting back to the item shown above. It was sent in 1818 from Alexandria to Marseille and is endorsed 'par Cap. Bertrand ou Q.D.C.' with chisel slits for disinfection. From 1787, ships from suspect areas bound for France were sent to a quarantine office at the foot of Fort St. Jean, in Marseille harbour, where they were slit for fumigation and dipped in vinegar.
The letter was addressed to a Mr. Balthalon and there is a bit of a story here. Pierre Balthalon mainly, but also others in his family, such as his brother, were the receiving point in Marseille for Bernardino Drovetti, the French council in Alexandria, to trade antiquities. Mr. Drovetti used others as receiving points as well, although to a lesser extent, and Balthalon had other connections to trade in Alexandria (the trading house there existed before and after Drovetti, established by Pierre's father and survived until their bankruptcy later in the 19th century.
For more information see:
.
Some of us who collect prephilately, whether it is our main topic or just because it fills our thematic collection, have often noticed some letters or abbreviations on mail, often on maritime mail. It is bad enough trying to decipher the address itself but then you get letters that you scratch your head wondering what they are.
What is of interest to us today are the letters Q.D.C. Now before I continue let me explain what this is. From approximately the end of the 17th century until the beginning of the 19th century, maritime mail used marks such as Q.D.C. or Que Dieu Conduise which means "May God Guide". This, added together with the name of the ship and the captain showed that the fee for the mail was paid for although it was quite often free. They were then distributed locally free of charge in the port. It seemed to be acceptable practice that the marks + the name of the ship + the name of the captain meant that postage had been paid, either free or not, so no further fee was charged. This is as seen on French maritime mail as the item above.
According to one source similar markings exist on maritime mail from other countries such as "Which God Protect" (WGP) (English), "Che Dio Guardia" (Italian), or "Que Deus Guia" (Portuguese). I must admit that I have never seen any of these.
One other marking is seen, but not as often, DLC or "Dieux Le Conduit” which basically means “God leads”.
Getting back to the item shown above. It was sent in 1818 from Alexandria to Marseille and is endorsed 'par Cap. Bertrand ou Q.D.C.' with chisel slits for disinfection. From 1787, ships from suspect areas bound for France were sent to a quarantine office at the foot of Fort St. Jean, in Marseille harbour, where they were slit for fumigation and dipped in vinegar.
The letter was addressed to a Mr. Balthalon and there is a bit of a story here. Pierre Balthalon mainly, but also others in his family, such as his brother, were the receiving point in Marseille for Bernardino Drovetti, the French council in Alexandria, to trade antiquities. Mr. Drovetti used others as receiving points as well, although to a lesser extent, and Balthalon had other connections to trade in Alexandria (the trading house there existed before and after Drovetti, established by Pierre's father and survived until their bankruptcy later in the 19th century.
For more information see:
.
Monday, September 27, 2021
Today we look at a letter and quite often we don't give a thought to how the letter arrived, if we are luck enough for it to arrive. Very often our main mode of communication is WhatsApp or something similar or even an email, although sometimes our mail goes into a spam folder.
But this was not always the case. Are any of you marathon runners? Have you ever given any thought to its origin, and no it is not because of the Olympics; that only started in 1896 at the first Olympics. Well way back before then, there were no computers or smartphones and very often no writing paper or people who could read or write, so what happens if you need to bring news to Athens of an important victory over an invading army of Persians? Well the legend says that in 490BC, an ancient Greek messenger raced from the site of Marathon to Athens, a distance of about 40 kilometers and hence the marathon was born. Personally I don't even feel like driving 40km but I am not a Greek messenger. Apparently after giving the message, the poor exhausted messenger simply collapsed and died.
Legend or not, it shows how important a message is and hence our story of the day. We will fast forward almost 2000 years to the Republic of Venice. The Republic of Venice realized early on that they also need to transfer messages to other cities, in Italy and elsewhere and they allowed for a courier service. Venetians were merchants and traded all over Europe. News regarding prices, goods, merchants and others was very important to get the best deals. The earlier the news arrived, the better the result. This is actually not much different from day, but the Venetian Courier service filled a void!
The service started off as a private service but in the 14th Century, the Great Council decreed that all couriers operating in Venice were subject to the control of their supervisors and also on rates. So the service became an official postal service. I actually have not found any information on the rates but if someone knows, I would be happy to update this post.
So now you employ the service to take a message from Venice to somewhere else, say Verona and you want it to get there quickly, so you pay extra and a notation of "cito" or "haste" is added to your letter. A horse was almost always used in mail but if the mail has the notation of cito, it means the horse must run. I have no idea how long it took the Greek messenger to run 40 km before he died, but Venice to Verona is about 120km, meaning treble the amount and a trot or a run can take ages. So you can pay extra by adding "cito cito cito" would mean fast, fast, fast, in essence no resting and top speed. There is little documentation about this service only in the age of customer service did people realize that you need to document a service so that people can ignore it.
The item shown below was sent from the Rectors of Verona (yes, it also worked in the reverse direction) to the Chief of Venice, the Head of the Council of Ten (one of the major governing bodies of the Republic of Venice) in July 1506. The three citos shows maximum speed and the stirrup grants him a horse change alone the way.
For more information see:
Saturday, September 18, 2021
Today I have a surprise for you. A very good friend has volunteered to write something for us. So thank you Yoram Lubianiker for joining us.
On November 29th 1947, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution (#181) for the termination of the British mandate. Palestine was to be divided into a Jewish state and an Arab state, with Jerusalem as a Special International Regime. The resolution was accepted by the Jewish side with great enthusiasm.
One of the manifestations of this reaction was a label issued by the Jewish National Fund (JNF), entitled “The Jewish State” which shows the map of the partition plan. The Jerusalem area is marked in red, and is completely surrounded by Arab territory.
While the Jewish side rejoiced the upcoming Jewish state, the Arabs completely rejected the partition plan, both before and after the UN resolution. In fact, Arab riots began on November 30th, the day after the UN resolution was reached, and those riots gradually escalated into war.
A prominent feature of the Arab war plan was to target Jewish settlements whose supply lines were under Arab control. One example was Gush Etzion – a group of four Jewish settlements which were located a few kilometers south of Jerusalem. On January 16th a platoon of 35 Jewish soldiers who were sent by foot to reinforce Gush Etzion was attacked by superior Arab forces. All the members of the platoon were killed and their bodies were viciously mutilated. Among them was 24 years old Alexander Lustig, a holocaust survivor who worked as a graphic designer for the JNF. As a JNF employee, Lustig was exempt from military service, but he felt the need to take part in the battle for an independent Jewish state and volunteered to serve. Just before he was drafted Lustig completed the design of the JNF label shown above.
Jerusalem was a city with a large Jewish population, located in an Arab dominated vicinity, as the map above shows. From December 1947, Jewish Jerusalem was under a de-facto siege. Transportation to the city from the west (i.e., from the Jewish area) was limited to the only road in existence, and that road was under constant attack. Therefore supplies were brought in by convoys, many of which were unable to break through. Things went from bad to worse as the British mandate came to an end.
On May 2nd, 1948 the Mandate postal services were terminated. Throughout the country, the Jewish population started operating its own mail service, using JNF labels that were converted into postage stamps using the overprint “דאר” (Doar = post), see the post When is a label not a label. These overprints were produced in Tel Aviv and in Haifa, and exist on numerous different JNF labels. Since Jerusalem was under siege, the overprinted stamps could be delivered to Jerusalem. Instead, “The Jewish State” labels were overprinted locally in Jerusalem for intracity postal usage, as well as for a handful of letters that were flown from the city to Tel Aviv.
On May 16th, after the State of Israel was founded, the Israeli post issued its first stamps, a set of stamps known as “Doar Ivri”. Of course they could not be delivered to Jerusalem due to the siege, so the usage of the overprinted JNF labels of “The Jewish State” continued there for a while.
The letter seen below was sent from besieged Jerusalem to Ra’anana via Tel Aviv. It is franked with JNF “The Jewish State” labels overprinted with the word “דאר” and a face value of 10 mils – the postal rate for letters within the country at the time. There were 3 different overprints, and the one shown here belongs to the second issue.
At that point in time, there were no regular postal connections between Jerusalem and the rest of the country, and letters submitted to the post offices in Jerusalem were held in the post office until the siege was partially lifted (the so-called first and second convoys of the ceasefire). The sender of this letter either had some postage privileges due to his position or (which is more likely) knew someone who was in a position to help. Therefore, this letter was one of the very few that were taken by the very few airplanes that flew between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The letter thus arrived at Army Post Office “Base A” in Tel Aviv, where it was cancelled on June 9th. It was subsequently forwarded to its destination in Ra’anana, either by courier or by the Israeli post.
Despite toning that developed over the years in different places this is a very rare cover, that commemorates the siege imposed by the Arabs on Jerusalem.
On November 29th 1947, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution (#181) for the termination of the British mandate. Palestine was to be divided into a Jewish state and an Arab state, with Jerusalem as a Special International Regime. The resolution was accepted by the Jewish side with great enthusiasm.
One of the manifestations of this reaction was a label issued by the Jewish National Fund (JNF), entitled “The Jewish State” which shows the map of the partition plan. The Jerusalem area is marked in red, and is completely surrounded by Arab territory.
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| A full sheet of the JNF label |
While the Jewish side rejoiced the upcoming Jewish state, the Arabs completely rejected the partition plan, both before and after the UN resolution. In fact, Arab riots began on November 30th, the day after the UN resolution was reached, and those riots gradually escalated into war.
 |
| Alexander Lustig |
Jerusalem was a city with a large Jewish population, located in an Arab dominated vicinity, as the map above shows. From December 1947, Jewish Jerusalem was under a de-facto siege. Transportation to the city from the west (i.e., from the Jewish area) was limited to the only road in existence, and that road was under constant attack. Therefore supplies were brought in by convoys, many of which were unable to break through. Things went from bad to worse as the British mandate came to an end.
On May 2nd, 1948 the Mandate postal services were terminated. Throughout the country, the Jewish population started operating its own mail service, using JNF labels that were converted into postage stamps using the overprint “דאר” (Doar = post), see the post When is a label not a label. These overprints were produced in Tel Aviv and in Haifa, and exist on numerous different JNF labels. Since Jerusalem was under siege, the overprinted stamps could be delivered to Jerusalem. Instead, “The Jewish State” labels were overprinted locally in Jerusalem for intracity postal usage, as well as for a handful of letters that were flown from the city to Tel Aviv.
On May 16th, after the State of Israel was founded, the Israeli post issued its first stamps, a set of stamps known as “Doar Ivri”. Of course they could not be delivered to Jerusalem due to the siege, so the usage of the overprinted JNF labels of “The Jewish State” continued there for a while.
The letter seen below was sent from besieged Jerusalem to Ra’anana via Tel Aviv. It is franked with JNF “The Jewish State” labels overprinted with the word “דאר” and a face value of 10 mils – the postal rate for letters within the country at the time. There were 3 different overprints, and the one shown here belongs to the second issue.
At that point in time, there were no regular postal connections between Jerusalem and the rest of the country, and letters submitted to the post offices in Jerusalem were held in the post office until the siege was partially lifted (the so-called first and second convoys of the ceasefire). The sender of this letter either had some postage privileges due to his position or (which is more likely) knew someone who was in a position to help. Therefore, this letter was one of the very few that were taken by the very few airplanes that flew between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The letter thus arrived at Army Post Office “Base A” in Tel Aviv, where it was cancelled on June 9th. It was subsequently forwarded to its destination in Ra’anana, either by courier or by the Israeli post.
Despite toning that developed over the years in different places this is a very rare cover, that commemorates the siege imposed by the Arabs on Jerusalem.
