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This is an example of a shussei tsūchi hagaki (出征通知葉書) That is, a pre-printed Mobilization Notice Postcard. A “Departure for the Front Notification” postcard. Newly enlisted soldiers were expected to send them to relatives and employers once their reporting date was fixed.

It was addressed in 1943 and sent to  Tsuchiya Yoshio, [care  of the] Ichikawa household, 7 9 Ōokayama, Meguro ku, Tokyo.

   

Stamp: Japan
General Nogi Maresuke (1849-1912) [Hero of the Russo-Japanese War]
Issued on May 10, 1937
2s, Scarlet
SG 318

2 sen was the domestic postcard rate at the time. As the sender was not yet in the military, this was not sent 'free' but required civilian postage and travelled through the ordinary mail system.

Cancel:
It appears to be a machine cancel with six wavy lines. The wavy line obliterator looks like it is enclosed in a box which is different than western usage.
Single ring dater die 鶴見 / 18 /  6 . 3 [Tsurumi, June 3, 1943 (Shōwa 18)] Tsurumi, or Tsurumi-ku is one of the wards [ku] of the city of Yokohama.
There is an ornamental scroll with the character for Post in the bottom portion of the dater die.

Tsurumi [the posting office] sits on the Tōkaidō Main Line about 25 km south west of Meguro. The card probably reached Tokyo the same day or early the next morning.

Postcard:
On the front of the rather rough, buff coloured card, at the top, are the words 郵便はがき [Postcard] The paper stock and the blotchy printing suggest that by 1943 higher grade materials were being diverted for military needs.

Pre-printed Message: On the back of the card is printed a standard message (based on machine translation)

With profound respect,
At this crucial moment, as our Great Japanese Empire lays the foundations for its next hundred years, it is a comfort to learn that you remain in continued good health and tireless endeavor.
Through good fortune I have been permitted to take part in the supreme task of breaking through the present national crisis.
This is thanks entirely to the guidance and support I have received from you and all the others, for which I offer heartfelt gratitude.
On the occasion of my departure for the front you extended many kindnesses; please accept my deepest thanks.
After entering the ranks I shall devote myself single mindedly to the complete fulfillment of the national policy, and I beg you therefore to set your mind at ease.
I write in haste to convey my thanks and this brief notice.

The year (Shōwa 18 / 1943) and the month (6) are pre-printed on the card. The sender was supposted to add the day in the space provided. The sender of this card did not do so.

Manuscript addition: The sender added his name Nakamura  Tatsuo and the name of the unit to which he is being posted ... 千葉市 歩兵第七十二部隊 [Chiba shi Infantry Regiment No. 72]

This regiment was established in 1938 in Chiba. It was deployed in China and in the Philippines.

   

Here is another example of a (出征通知葉書) Mobilization Notice Postcard from the start of the war.

It's from Shōwa 13 (1938), five years earlier. At that time, Japan was engaged in a full-scale war in China (Second Sino-Japanese War). It had started in the summer of 1937.

The 1938 card was sent to a Mr. Ōishi at Nagamizuta Hamlet, Hatsuō (初生) Village, Hamana District (now, Hamamatsu City in Shizuoka Prefecture).

   

It was posted on September 29, 1938 by Suzuki Osamu  newly posted to the 4th Squad, 3rd Company of the Hamamatsu Anti-Aircraft / Artillery Detachment.

While they are very similar in function (and have the same stamp, postcard rate and postmark type), there are a few interesting differences between this card and the one above.

For example, the paper is of somewhat higher quality (firmer) and the type and printing is darker and cleaner.

The paper shortage was not yet as challenging as it would become by 1943.

Also, the pre-printed message on the back is also a bit different. It appears to read:

With respectful greetings.
When I was called up and entered camp, you were kind enough, despite your many duties, to come personally to see me off and to extend special courtesies; I am deeply grateful.
Thanks to your support I have today safely joined the unit listed at left; pray set your mind at ease.
Henceforth I am firmly resolved to devote myself single heartedly to repaying our Sovereign and Country.
I beg that, during my absence, you will continue to favour me with your kind guidance.
I write first to tender my thanks and respectful salutations.
Shōwa  13, 29  September

   

In my view, the 1938 version of the message is more like a polite personal letter. He thanks his friends and family who had come to see him off and promises to do his duty.

The 1943 version, on the other hand, appears to have shifted into the realm of war propaganda. There was no mention of a send-off and the language has shifted to talking about 'breaking through the crisis'.

While soldiers in other parts of the world were asked to 'write home' as soon as they were posted (often with a 'check the box' pre-printed card) these Japanese cards are new to me.

I'm going to see if I can find a series of these cards over the the 30's an 40's and trace the evolution of these messages. I'd be interested in seeing how the language of mobilization hardens as the war unfolds.

Cheers, Hugh

A fifty-cent purchase provided many hours of entertainment and some lessons in history …

   

This postcard has a tear across the centre, but to me it holds excellent value because it led me through the Google-verse to learn about: US Marines in China, Naval Hospitals in Japan, the Boxer Rebellion, and two natural disasters.

It was the illustration that caught my attention first, and then the fact that it was postally used, unlike other Japanese cards in the dealer’s box. But what sealed the deal (pun intended) was the blue sticker, which reads “United States Naval Hospital Yokohama”.


   

Dated January 26, 1906, and postmarked the following day, it was sent to a woman named Edna Idle in San Francisco from a man named Ted, who noted that he was leaving for Shanghai in the afternoon.

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By the time the card arrived, Edna had moved. The card was forwarded to a hotel and then to another address, all in the Nob Hill district. The San Francisco earthquake occurred on April 18, 1906. I don’t know if the card reached Edna before the earthquake. Nob Hill suffered devastating damage from the earthquake and the fires that followed.

I recently acquired two more Orange Free State (OFS) postal cards. 

The first one is a 1½d. provisional card using a 2d stamp overprinted with the OFS arms (Setting 2, Die 2). The 1½ was added above the arms. The upper figure in the ½ uses a roman (serif) I and the lower element is a rather more cursive, antique 2. The I in BRIEF is fully formed ... that is, it is not missing the serif on the upper left. The address lines have been removed.

   

It is printed on a thick card stock. I got a micrometer from my woodturning shop and my estimate is that it is 0.4mm - within the recorded range of 0.33 to 0.47. I never thought of a micrometer as a philatelic tool, but I guess it is (smile).

   

From all this, it appears my new card is from an early printing.

It was mailed from Bloemfontein to Hansa Jewel in Cape Town in January of 1893. It is over-franked. The 1½d rate was meant for cards going overseas. The standard rate from OFS to the Cape was only 1d. There is no message on the card, Was it is pencil and erased over time or was it sent without a message? Who knows.

There is a very nice octagonal receiving cancel ('squared-octagonal'?] with BLOEMFONTEIN / O.V.S. and 17 JAN / 93. The single-ring arrival CDS reads CAPE TOWN * / CAPE COLONY * and is dated JA 19 / 93.

My understanding is that, by 1892, there was a railway line that joined the two colonies. I'm assuming, therefore, that the card travelled from Bloemfontein to Norval's Pint (Orange River Crossing) then on to Da Aar, Worcester and Cape Town. The January 17 to 19 travel time sounds very reasonable.

The second postal card is another provisional. This time it's an example of Setting 15A, Die 5. The B in BRIEF is missing its top left serif. The K in KAART is broken and the final T is split. The address lines, now back, have small breaks in lines 1,2 and 4 and the type used for the words Aan and Te have been changed. The card is thick, my estimate is again 0.4mm ... consistent with the known range of 0.39 and 0.44.

   

The OFS arms are overprinted on the card on top of a 1/2d stamp. The ½d overprint, above the coat of arms is the postcard rate for domestic use.

The card was sent from Winburg to J?.H. Wolmarans, Esq. in Kroonstad. There is a well-struck single-circle CDS from WINBURG * / O.V.S * dated P / SP 19 / 95. Which I assume means it was dispatched on the morning of September 19, 1895.

There is no arrival cancel. It was probably sent by horse cart or mail coach west from Winburg to a junction with the railway line about 30Km away.  From there it would have traveled north about 140Km to Kroonstad.

I'm just starting to study this area .. it's rather an interesting period, just before the war.

The American Philatelic Society makes available to the general public a large number of Free downloadable PDF stamp albums. 

Here's the URL: https://stamps.org/community/stamp-albums

And, here's an example. A worldwide album of interest to those collectors who want to collect one, and only one, stamp from every country. It includes room for previous sovereign government. For example, under Canada it has space for the stamps of Newfoundland, PEI, NS, Vancouver Island and BC.

It was prepared by the Smithsonian National Postal Museum in 2013. So, it's a wee bit out of date with some of the recent changes. But, that's what stock pages are for, right?  (smile) 

https://stamps.org/Portals/0/albums/Stam...ountry.pdf

There are few indoor activities as satisfying as starting a new album - stock book filled with stamps from Roy on my left, my first purchase from PostBeeld on my right, and all these empty pages filled with the promise of new discovery.

These albums come with a trigger warning. I still seethe with anger remembering all my teachers who had years to correct the fable that Columbus came first, and left us in ignorance. And don’t get me started on Cabot! 

   

   

Great Britain Penny Reds : A short tutorial

This series of stamps, in use from 1841 to about 1880 causes a lot of headaches, and mis-identifications.

Here are the three basic types:
   


Once you have learned to look at the upper corners first, the first one (#3) and last one (#33) do not present much of a problem. This tutorial is exclusively about the more complicated middle issue, Scott #8 to #20, with stars in the upper corners.

In my mind, if you have had a problem with these issues, it is not you, it Is the catalogue's fault! They seem to go higgly piggly all over the place -- but there is an underlying logic that can streamline identification.

The "set" has 4 basic properties, which show up in various combinations. If we pursue the properties in a logical order, everything becomes easy. These properties are:

Perforation : Either 14 or 16
Watermark: Either small crown (Scott wmk 18 = SG wmk 2) or Large crown (Sc wmk 20 = SG wmk 4) (See below)
Die : either original (equals SG die I) or re-engraved ( equals SG Die II) (See below)
Paper : either white or bluish (with varying depth of blue)

(SG means "Stanley Gibbons catalogue").

Sounds complicated, but it's not! Here's a useful ID table:

   


Here's the routine. Start with the perf gauge: 14 or 16? That puts you immediately into the top half or bottom half of the table, with only 4 choices now.

Next is the watermark: Small crown (18) or large crown (20)? Now you are down to 2 choices! Now the final narrowing down to one stamp may depend on either re-engraved or not, or bluish paper or not, but never both.

For example: Let's say your stamp is perf 16, wmk 20 (large crown). Only two choices for that combo, both of which are re-engraved -- either white (Scott #14) or bluish paper (Scott #18). Could it be much easier?

How about: perf 14, wmk 18 (small crown). Now you will see two choices again, both on bluish paper - the original die, and the re-engraved. Pull out your 10x magnifier and check the face -- that's it!

Here is the "close-up stuff" you are going to need:

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Here are two interesting stamps issued during the Soviet Occupation of the Province of Saxony in 1946.

Why interesting? They were printed on very thin paper ... Michel refers to it as "so-called 'cigarette paper'" So thin it is almost transparent.

Stamps:
Province of Saxony under Soviet Occupation
Series: Land Reform in the Province of Saxony - Farmer Plowing
Issued on February 21, 1946

6Pf, dark opal green, "cigarette paper"
Mi.Nr. 90
12Pf, red, "cigarette paper"
Mi.Nr. 91

Here are the stamps scanned against a white background.

   

   

And, here are the same stamps as they appear on a light table. I photographed the 12pf stamp from the back just to illustrate how transparent they are. The image is as clear from the back as it is from the front. (The item on top of the 6pf stamp is just the end of my stamp tongs. The stamps have a tendency to curl so it is holding it down).

   

As Michel says "The watermark is barely visible". Very true ... I've just about given up. There's something there but none of my devices is able to resolve it into a clear image.

The perfs look good ... K 13x13.25.

Not a fugitive stamp, but definately an unexpected one. I found this in a stockbook of stamps I bought at the club (mostly for the stockbook).

Stamp:
Series: India Military Stamps
Queen Victoria / Empress of India
Issued in 1900
3p, Carmine-rose, Overprint C.E.F. [China Expiditionary Force] on Sc. 54
Sc. M1

Two brigades of Indian troops were sent to China in 1900 during the Boxer Uprising 义和团运动 ... a postal unit was sent with the troops and I understand that the first recorded use of these overprinted military stamps was August 1900. Most of the Indian troops were withdrawn by 1906. 

   

Stamp:
Canada: Halifax Bicentenary
The founding of Halifax
Based on a painting by Charles William Jefferys
Issued on June 21, 1949
4c, Purple, engraved
Unitrade 283

Edward Cornwallis ... born on March 5, 1713. One of his grandfathers was First Lord of the Admiralty, the other was Governor of Ireland.

He was a twin. The family's plan was that one of the brothers would enter the church, one the military. But which one? When his brother fell from a horse and paralysed his arm., Edward, at 18, was commissioned into the army.

A career soldier, he fought for Cumberland at the Battle of Culloden in 1745 and was tasked, after the battle, with leading a regiment into the Highlands to 'pacify' Lochabar.

He was appointed Governor of Nova Scotia in 1749 and established the port town and fortifications of Halifax. He ended his career as a Lt. General and as the Governor of Gibraltar. He died in 1776.

His Nephew, Charles Cornwallis, commanded the British troops at Yorktown.

   

Finally got around to putting this in my album. A Commemorative celebrating victory in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05). This was the first major victory of an Asian Power over a European Empire in modern warfare.

Stamp:
Japan: 明治三十七八年戦役陸軍凱旋観兵式記念郵便切手
[Commemorative Postage Stamp for the Triumphal Military Review of the Army from the 37th–38th year of Meiji]
Issued on April 29, 1906 [Meiji 39]
1.5s, Blue, Engraved (T. Hosogai)
SG 154b (perf 12.5)