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We’d like to encourage more members to take part in our discussion board.

Launching "Participate and Pick up a Gift" !

Here’s how it works:
• Make any post on the discussion board (a new article, doesn't matter how long, a question, a comment, or a reply)
• Visit the “Gifts Available” post below and choose one available item
• Pick up your gift at the next club meeting

Gifts are donated by the webmaster and will vary from meeting to meeting (covers, stamp packets, individual stamps or sets). 
One gift per member, per meeting.

Please note: Gifts are picked up in person at the meeting -- if you miss the meeting, the gift goes back into the pool for next time. (We want you at the meetings too!)

Hope you like the gifts! Claim a new one every meeting. Just participate!


Roy

Germany adopted meter franking later than many other countries. However, during the currency crisis in 1923 prototype machines were rushed into use in several cities. The three biggest players merged and formed FRANCOTYP GmbH. Their first commercial, multi-value, lever machines were heavily marketed in  1924.

Over ten thousand machines were in use for commercial and bulk mailings by early 1932. In 1934, the new regime ordered all new meter dies to carry state symbols. Initially this was a small swastika but it was quickly replaced with a larger eagle and swastika by the end of the year. By 1939, there were 25,000 such machines in use.

The operator fed the mail through a lever operated printing head and, in one motion, the dater and value frank was struck. Values were selected by a hand-wheel and counter-wheels reduced the prepaid credit.

Here is an example of a FRANCOTYP meter franking on a cover (actually a folded advertising reply card) from August 7, 1939. The metered postage of 3Pf (for printed matter) was applied with red ink (the UPU standard for such mail). This commercial cover was sent by Förster & Borries courting distributors for its 1940 “Föbo” line of calendars.

The single ring dater die reads, around the inside rim, ZWICKAU (SACHS) / II. The II suggests the firm had two machines. In the centre is the date ... 7 . 8 . 39 / 19‑20. [Evening, August 7, 1939]

   

Here is an example of a metered cover, using the same type of machine, during the occupation after the war.

It's the same basic die but Deutsches Reich and the swastika have been ground off. Allied directive No. 30, on May 13, 1945, ordered the removal of all emblems of the Third Reich. Francotyp meter dies were literally milled away and, as with adhesive stamps, become examples of local or provisional franking. The ink colour is no longer a red but a violet or brown ink which was common toward the end of the war and during the occupation (until late 1946) when aniline red ink was scarce. The UPU still required red ink, but the violet/brown ink was tolerated until red became available. The printed matter postage rate is now 6Pf. The Allied Control Commission increased the Drucksache [printed matter] rate on March 1, 1946. The 1946 dater die is a double ring with bar.

These are catalogued as aptiert [altered] dies. The term describes any cancel, meter die, or printing plate whose design was physically excised or re‑engraved.

The cover is a commercial cover. That is, a folded flyer from Erwin M. Meine, a Berlin stamp wholesaler / dealer. The meter reads, BERLIN SW 11 / am and 11.9.46. -16 [September 11, 1946] Berlin 11 would have been postal district Kreuzberg in the American Zone.

Later in the year, new replacement dies with the more neutral DEUTSCHE POST began to appear across all four occupation zones.

   

One other interesting change, I suppose, is in the area of language used in correspondence. It changed too. The text of the 1939 marketing material included a phrase at the end of the copy ... Mit Deutschem Gruß [With German Greetings]. In 1933, Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick ordered this phrase be used for traditional sign-offs on all government correspondence. In other words, it become a compulsory closing to a letter. Over time it also become common in commercial correspondence and was added to contemporary 'style manuals'. The copy of the 1946 flyer doesn't use this expression. The phrase was banned by the Allied Control Commission. It was classified as verfassungsfeindliche Kennzeichen [an unconstitutional sign].

   

As for the stamp dealer .. his product offering is quite interesting. On the surface he is simply promoting the few German issues he is allowed to trade. Yet, he seems to be doing a good job of positioning the local and occupation stamps aa a patriotic tokens of Germany's physical and economic reconstruction.

He writes, "These lots contain only officially recognized issues in splendid assortments, and the material sells quickly. ... The print‑runs of these issues are almost universally far smaller and therefore full of future promise!"

   

I got both covers from one of Roy's approval boxes. With apologies to Forrest Gump, you never know what you're going to find.

Cheers, Hugh

Here are some 1944-45 sets of North China Japanese Occupation stamps. 

They were issued for use in Hunan, Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong and Norther Jiangsu.

   

Stamps:
North China Japanese Occupation Stamps
Overprints on earlier stamps of Sun Yat-sen and Martyr / Chen Ying-shih
[Note: Lower overprints are printed R to L on stamps]

Series: 6th Anniversary of the General Post Office of North China
Issued on August 15, 1944
Upper Overprint, black: 北 華 [North China]
Lower Overprint, red / blue: 郵政總局成立 / 六周年紀念 [The establishment of the General Post Office / Commemoration of the sixth anniversary]
Sc. 8N95 - 98

The Japanese set up a regional GPO at Beijing in June 1938.

Series: Commemoration of the Death of Wang Ching-wei (Wang Jingwei (1883-1944)
[President of the Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China (1940-1944), a puppet state of the Empire of Japan]
Issued on December 5, 1944
Upper Overprint, black: 北 華 [North China]
Lower Overprint, black / blue: 汪主席 / 葬典紀念 [Chairman Wang / Funeral Commemoration]
Sc. 8N99 - 102

Following the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, Wang accepted an invitation from the Japanese to form a collaborationist government in Nanjing, of which he served as the head of state until his death shortly before the end of World War II in Asia.

Series: Commemoration of the 2nd Anniversary of the Declaration of War
Issued on January 9, 1945
Upper Overprint, black: 北 華 [North China]
Lower Overprint, red / black: 參戰二周年 / 紀念 [The second anniversary of the war / Commemoration]
Sc. 8N103 - 106

These four stamps refer to the 2nd anniversary of the January 9, 1943 declaration of war on the US and UK by the 'Reorganized Government' in Nanjin

A 2002 joint issue between Canada and Hong Kong, China ... 

   
   

While perusing the Home Front History page on Facebook, I discovered these lovely cigarette cards from the 1930s, filled with tips for safety. I collect slogan cancels issued by governments attempting to modify citizen behaviour (e.g., USE A POSTAL CODE; MAIL EARLY FOR CHRISTMAS; PRAY FOR PEACE; BUY WAR BONDS) and I therefore found these cards to be irresistible. One of the best images posted was related to philatelic safety. I won’t post that because I have ordered an album of these cards for a gift, but perhaps the intended recipient will add the image to my post …

IMG_0407.jpeg Size: 111.55 KB  Downloads: 20

Sunday, February 22nd, 2026
10:00 am to 4:00 pm

The Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre (This is on the east side of the city before the downtown traffic snarl!)
6 Sakura Way
Toronto M3C 1Z5

$10 admission includes free parking

17 dealers confirmed so far

https://torontopostcardclub.com

Santa Claus left a box of Roy’s worldwide covers and a gift certificate under the Christmas tree. When you have the box at home with the luxury of time to savour each item, it is an incredibly lovely way to spend time on a snowy afternoon! This box had something I had never seen before:

   

This item is a sponsorship certificate issued by the (west) German Sports Aid Foundation in 1979. It has four semi-postal stamps featuring historical aircraft and a first day of issue postmark. I believe the stamps were part of the “Jungenmarke” or youth stamp series of semi-postals sold to fund youth activities. This will be a lovely addition to my German album, and it will be a wonderful slide next time I do a presentation on semi-postal stamps.

I can’t believe this is only fifty cents!

I have stacks of Bankers Boxes full of covers.

Two categories - USA and Worldwide (sorry, no "Canada only" -- Canada goes in the Worldwide boxes)

Club members are encouraged to take the whole box home on approval for a good browse -- whether you are interested in them as covers, or just looking for unusual stamps to soak. Just sign out the box and bring it back next meeting.

Price is 50c per cover. I bring a limited number of boxes each meeting. Reserve a box by letting me know before the meeting and I'll bring one just for you! Let me know if you want a USA box or a Worldwide box.


Roy

At yesterday's club meeting, Roy had several dozen (he says he has more at home) Barclays Bank covers from the 1920s. All from the UK. The stamps have Barclays' perfins, most, if not all are registered (the old fashioned way with crossed blue crayon), some interesting cancels (hooded and oval), lots of hand-stamps, R-labels and some very nice red wax seals on the back. 

And, all for one dollar each. 

I don't even collect these but I bought five just for the fun of the perfins, the postal markings and the seals. And, look at the ship label on the bottom cover in this photo. A hand-stamp from the storied S/S Ile de France. Very cool coves indeed. 

   

Send him a note if you want to get some at the next meeting. 

Cheers, Hugh

PS: For more information on the SS Ile de France, check out ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Île_de_France

   

... and nice to put faces to names at my very firstest Stamp Meeting EVER, woohoo! I am SUCH a child...

 See yas all next time! Happy Stamping!