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I was delighted to find an unused stamp album from Captain Tim’s Stamp Collectors Club at the Brockville Vintage Paper Show. Captain Tim hosted a radio show on NBC, sponsored by Ivory Soap. You could send in soap wrappers to get stamps from the H.E. Harris Stamp Company.

       

Captain Tim was inducted into the American Philatelic Society Hall of Fame. This is his entry on the APS website:

Reginald Stafford Healy (Captain Tim Healy)
(1892 - 1947)

Reginald Stafford Healy was born in Sydney, Australia in 1892. He fought through World War I with the Australian Army and was part of the Allied forces at Gallipoli.

Reginald Healy came to the United States to learn the oil business in Texas. There, he met his future wife, Margaret, a schoolteacher, and they moved from Gainesville, Texas to New York Coty, where he ran the financial side of a small oil company.

The business collapsed in 1929, and after that, he did whatever he could to survive, his son recalled, including sweeping streets. For a time, he had a radio show called “Captain Tim's Stamp Club of the Air” on NBC. Healy used his son’s name as his on-air personality.

In the early 1930s, Henry Ellis Harris partnered with the consumer products firm Procter and Gamble to produce a radio show using “Captain Tim” to sell stamps. For a small price (and a couple of box tops from some Ivory Snow detergent), a person could be a stamp collector. Another Harris insight was that collectors not only needed stamps, but they needed a low-priced series of albums to put them in. The radio show that Harris produced and hosted by “Captain Tim” Healy, offered not only stamps but a small album to put them in. Captain Tim’s albums were produced in the millions.

Thanks to Captain Tim’s exciting tales of battle and stamps, thousands, young and old, joined the rank of collector.”

You can hear a sample show from 1939 on YouTube. Content includes a discussion of how the “war in Europe” is affecting stamp prices:

https://youtu.be/aZ1sz-vu4Xg?si=k3YPJAgE9SpWWujR 

The album is about the size of a very thick comic book. What a great find!

This season’s sessions for the Kingston Seniors Association got underway on September 8 at the new location, St. Andrew’s By the Lake United Church, in Reddendale. The guest speaker was Jim Gould, who provided a thorough and informative talk about US Pre-cancels. He illustrated his talk by passing around colourful album pages which displayed a range of stamps with a wide variety of lettering and bar styles. He mentioned some of the alternative uses for the stamps, including revenue.

Thanks to Jim’s presentation, when I saw the back of this postcard at the Eastern Ontario Vintage Paper Sale, I knew better than to pass on it because I already own two copies. I don’t know if it was mailed from Wolfe Island, but there was insufficient postage. When it reached Watertown, New York, a pre-cancel was attached to record payment of the 2 cents postage due.

I am looking forward to showing this to the class!

I have no idea why I have this cover. Perhaps for the slogan, possibly because it is about scouting, maybe even because I was born in 1953 … but there is was in a bin marked “Phil to be sorted #9”. 

The Pan-Pacific Scout Jamboree ran from December 29, 1952 to January 9, 1953. Over 11,000 scouts and 2,000 scoutmasters attended, representing 16 nations and every Australian state. There were even 241 “Lady Cubmasters” in attendance, because unlike the Girl Guide movement, Scouring has welcomed leaders of both sexes. The location was Holroyd, in Sydney, where a quarry business offered 250 acres of space for the event. Council staff, volunteers and scouts spent months preparing the land, installing water, electricity, lighting, roads, and other amenities. There was even a branch of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia! (Facebook, Old Sydney Album)

The federal government commissioned the commemorative stamp, which was available from November until January.

Unfortunately, none of the “Phil to be sorted” bins I have checked so far - don’t ask how many I have - contain stamps from the Australian states!

For more information about the jamboree, check out the Cumberland Times blogs: https://cumberlandtimes.blogspot.com/201...3.html?m=1

I am starting this thread to capture some of the Q and A from the Stamps and Their Stories sessions. 

If you will be a guest speaker, it may help you prepare. 

I hope it will help all KSC members think about possible topics of interest to new members or prospects. Maybe we could include mini training sessions at a table in our meetings occasionally?

I would like to know how to soak stamps off envelopes.

The first thing to know about soaking stamps is - Don’t do it! At least not until you have studied the envelope in its entirety. Who sent it, who is it addressed to, what was its path through the postal system, what slogans and date stamps and cancellations does it carry? Often the envelope is of more interest to a collector than the stamp. 

The second thing to know about soaking stamps is - Don’t do it! Soaking can cause dyes to run from paper onto stamps. The material you layer between drying stamps can leave embossed patterns on stamps. Modern stamps require dangerous chemicals to dissolve adhesives. 

The third thing to know about soaking stamps is - Don’t do it! Your time is too valuable. Once you have determined that there is nothing on the envelope other than the stamp that you wish to keep, use a small paper trimmer (or scissors) to cut out a piece of the envelope with the stamp centred within a frame of 1/4 to 1/2 inch on all sides. These “stamps on piece” can be organized in stock books, in binders with specialty inserts, or secured on custom made pages with scrapbook tape or glue.

The first class for this fall’s session at the Kingston Seniors Association was on Monday. Jim Gould led the group through a thorough and very interesting presentation on precancels. He brought album pages to illustrate his talk and gave everyone a multi page coloured handout to take home. He explained how this is now the focus of his collecting life. One objective of this series is to demonstrate there is no “right way” to collect. How and what we collect is an individual choice, and collecting styles span a spectrum. Jim provided a superb example of a highly specialized collector!

One of the attendees said she has registered for Stamps and Their Stories every time it was offered, as well as the Collecting History series that Hugh and I offered when KSC was taking a break last winter. She was devastated when she was told the program wouldn’t run because there were not enough registered participants - twice - and was very happy to be sitting at the table on Monday.

I really identified with the participant who said she hoards stamps and has to get them under control!

I got these two covers from Mark at the recent show in Gananoque. 

The first was mailed by Michael Millar with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN. He, and the FAO, were working on Seed Improvement in Haile Selassie's Ethiopia in the aftermath of the world war, when the UN was still new and the Cold War was just beginning. In 1952, it was sent to Dr. Frank Novosad of the Division of Forage Plants, Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa, Ontario -- a Canadian agricultural research hub.

The airmail letter, franked with 75c worth of stamps was marked postage due. There is a large T hand-stamp in red ink inside an upside down triangle on the front cover. On the borders of the cover is a repeating tri-colour pattern in the national colours of Ethiopia.

   

This is a security envelope with a moiré pattern.

   

Stamps:
Ethiopia / Emperor Haile Selassie
Series: 60th Birthday of the Emperor (7 stamps)
Issued on July 23, 1952
25c, Ultramarine
Sc. 323

Series: Commemoration of Ethiopia's Federation with Eritrea on September 11, 1952 (9 stamps)
Road and Broken Chain
Issued September 11, 1952
50c, Purple
Sc. 330

This is a total of 75c. And, as noted above the cover was marked postage due. There are, however, no other postmarking. Nor is there an arrival back-stramp. Not surprising for the time.

Cancel:
Double ring CDS with central bar
Between the rings አዲስ አበባ / ADDIS-ABEBA [The name of the city in Geʽez (script used for Amharic) and Latin letters. Addis-abeba = New Flower in Amharic]
5 12 52 [December 5, 1952 ... the order of the month and year is assumed based on the issue dates of the stamps]

The other, similar, cover is from a couple of months later.

On February 5 (or 6), 1953, another letter was sent by the FAO to the Central Experimental Farm in Canada. This one was addressed to the Senior Plant Breeder in Oilseeds. 

   

The franking is mixed. There are nine stamps from the Haile Selassie birthday stamps, six 10c (Sc. 321) and three 5c (Sc. 320). They add up to 75c, the same as on the first cover. However, there are also two semi-postals. They added 10c in postage (for a total of 85c) and 4c as a contribution to the local TB fund. There is not postage due mark this time which implies that the proper airmail rate to Canada was between 75 and 85 cents. I haven't found a rate table for Ethiopia but there I have found other covers on HipStamp and eBay to the UK and Denmark with a foreign airmail rate from Ethiopia, in the early 1950s, of 85c. So, that's my working assumption ... 85c.

Stamp:
Anti-TB Work
Scott describes the stamp as a Tree, Cross and Snake. I thought it might actually be a Caduceus [two serpents with wings and Hermes' Staff] but it looks more like an Ankh. After giving it some thought, I recorded it in my notes as an image of the Rod of Asclepius [Single staff with one serpent which is the classical symbol of medicine and healing.
Issued on November 25, 1951 [Series of 6 stamps]
5c + 2c, Deep blue green, Engraved
Sc. B21

Cancel: As above. As far as I can tell, the date reads 05? 2 53 [February 5, 1953. it could be the 6th]

Cheers, Hugh

Most members are aware that Debbie and I offer boxes of albums and packets as "U-Pick / 10c per stamp". We bring about 6 big boxes of these to the club every meeting and members are welcome to take selected albums or packets home just by signing them out.

What isn't so well known is that we also offer collections with higher value stamps in them on the same "take them home on approval" basis. But we only bring a small sample of these to the club each meeting. 

Our standard price for these stamps is 30% of Scott, and we don't adjust for the currency difference. And that's 30% OF, not OFF. In other words a $10 Scott catalogue value stamp costs you only $3.00. And a minimum value 25c c.v. stamp costs you only 7.5c.

Since we can't bring these all to the club every meeting, I'm going to post newly available collections here before each meeting. I will only bring them if somebody asks for them, and they will be reserved for that person for that meeting - and available to take home if they want.

Here are this week's new collections (U-Catalogue - 30% of Scott):

1) White Ace album of United States regular issues - used. Includes C1-6, great Washington Franklins, especially coil pairs and some earlies

2) Small collection of New Zealand, mostly mint. Some useful int set c1970s. Nothing scarce.

3) Australia mint - interesting stuff. Blocks, coils souvenir sheets mostly 1960s-1980s

4) Great Britain mint sets from presentation packs.  I've got a Bankers Box full of these. Will provide a randomly selected large zip-lock bag full at a time. No need to catalog. These are offered at less than 60% of face value, counting £'s as C$. i.e. £10 face value costs you C$10. (Current exchange rate is about £10 = C$18.50)

5) South Africa mint collection. Appears very complete from 1950s to 1980. Lots of interesting items.

6) An old Scott International Junior album loaded with really old stuff. A lot of it will be minimum value, but there's lots better stuff too. 

I'm happy to answer any questions, or look for stuff on my shelves for the next meeting.

Roy

I just got back from Australia Stamp School 101 (Smile). Seriously, Richard is passionate about Australia and it shows. He's done a lot of prep and loaded us down with great handouts ... ranging from a book review of The Fatal Shore to maps and notes on the postal history of the Australian States ... die studies and more. 

Great first meeting ... looking forward to next month. 

   

People often think that occupation stamps are largely confined to the two world wars of the 20th century. There were (and are) a lot of occupations all over the world that leave a trail in postal history over the last three hundred years. 

Here, for example, is a cover from October 24, 1961. A CDS from Gaza was applied to this FDC with two UAR issued occupation stamps. The United Arab Republic was a short-lived union of Egypt and Syria between February 22, 1958 and September 28, 1961 when, following a coup d'etat in Syria, the union was ended. However, Egypt continued to be known officially as the UAR until it was formally dissolved in September 1971.

This cover, therefore, was cancelled after Syria had pulled out of the UAR.

The UAR stamps, also issued on this date, celebrated the UN Technical Assistance Program (UNTAP) and the 16th Anniversary of the UN. The stamps on the cover, however, which were printed in different colours, are the 'occupation' version of the stamps and were produced for use in Palestine (Gaza). Egypt had occupied the Gaza strip since 1948.

   

Stamps:
UAR - UNTAP / World Refuge Year (Occupation Series)
Issued on October 24, 1961

10m, Dark Blue and Orange
Sc. N81

35m, Vermilion and Black
Sc. N82

Here's a place where you can update other members of the club on your newest acquisition, what arrived in the mail today or just what you've been working on today. 

Here's what I've been doing tonight.

...

I've been working on this cover. I picked it up this week and was intrigued by it's unusual instructional marking. 

   

It's a May 14, 1947 patriotic cover from Muncie, Indiana to Hill Field a USAAF base in Ogden, Utah. On it there is a boxed purple hand-stamp with:

CIVILIAN EMPLOYEES ARE INSTRUCTED / TO HAVE PERSONAL MAIL SENT TO THEIR / HOME ADDRESS

Hill Field, at its peak in 1943, employed 22,000 civilian and military personnel. When this cover was sent, in 1947, the base was engaged in the preservation and storage of surplus aircraft. Following the creation of the USAF, Hill Field became Hill AFB on February 5, 1948.

This cover appears to have been sent to a civilian employee of the USAAF, OASC. Which I assume is the Ogden Air Service Command (the logistics HQ) the original name of the unit. The sender was probably unaware that, after the war, the unit name changed to the Ogden Air Material Area (OAMA) ... (in July 1946).

A bit of a puzzle is the manuscript (pencil) 'T-4' with the added number '41021' above the address. I'm assuming that it was made by a base postal worker. You can see that the base address was underlined several times, also in pencil. That was, presumably, the reason why the purple hand-stamp was applied. My guess is the T4 / 41021 was added at the same time. The civilian employee's job level and employee number?

What are you working on today?

Cheers, Hugh