ZOOM in on
Jamie Smith’s Displays
Over the next few weeks we will be adding Jamie Smith’s Zoom displays to our website – and possibly even onto YouTube as well. You can see Jamie’s South African Cinderellas of WW2 by clicking on the link here.
As a clue to his identity, he was SA’s most identifiable sailor in WW2. This short 9 page display includes several navy-oriented SA WW2 Cinderellas that nicely complement Jamie Smiths display above.
EMPIRE EXHIBITION
JIPEX 36
Our thanks to SACS member Roy Ross who has sent us his exhibit that was awarded a Vermeil medal in the National Exhibition (Chester, 2002). Previously only available as a booklet, this authoritive display on the Johannesburg International Philatelic Exhibition of 1936 (JIPEX 36) will be of great help to anyone wanting to identify and number individual JIPEX 36 miniature sheets, as well as learn about the significance of this event as a source of labels, postmarks, covers and postcards, etc.
THE POSTAL HISTORY OF BASUTOLAND
David MacDonald is a Scot with an affinity for collecting the colonial stamps of Basutoland, a mountainous kingdom surrounded by South Africa and known today as Lesotho. This is an enjoyable display covering a fascinating and difficult period in the development of the heartland of SA in the years following the Zulu Mfecane (“the crushing” of their enemies) and the Boers trek into the interior to find farmland and a secure homeland of their own. Land and security were things the Basutos wanted equally for themselves. The ensuing conflict with the OFS and Basutoland’s long association with the Cape colonial postal system is well-covered.
Any idea what the above were used for?
We think we might know. These particular examples were used to pay a ZAR transport tax on goods that were exempt from customs duties. Read how we came by this in the FORUM DISCUSSION
A NEW LOOK AT THE PHILATELY OF OLD SOUTH AFRICA –
NOW SHOWING ON A SCREEN NEAR YOU
The Worcester Hub (Afr. ‘naaf’) had its origins in 1819 on a remote Western Cape farm in the room arrowed above.
Die Worcester Naaf (Hub)
‘Die Worcester Naaf’ is our first Afrikaans display. It includes an English translation at the end. One is also provided separately as a PDF file. In this display Gawie Hugo of Worcester details the growth of the town and its post office up to the present day. In 1994, Worcester became a regional postal hub, one of 26 countrywide, with responsibility for Barrydale, Ceres, Porterville, Swellendam, Touwsrivier and the Breede River valley. This informative postal history by a native son of Worcester will hopefully be the first of many more such ‘town’ displays.
‘Mooi skoot, Meneer Hugo!’ (Afr. ‘good shot, Mr Hugo’.)
Please post comments on this display here.
The Moon Variety bathes the future ‘Mother City’
and Hoerikwagga (Table Mountain) in moonlight.
TABLE MOUNTAIN,
THE INSPIRATION
This enjoyable thematic display from Gawie Hugo on the inspirational influence of Table Mountain as an icon in South African philately won him a Large Silver Medal in 2021. I have enjoyed reading and learning from it. ‘Dankie meneer.’ I chose to use the image above showing van Riebeeck arriving in what for White South Africans would later become ‘The Mother City’. The question of ‘exactly whose mother?’ is a socially and culturally sensitive one for some today. A recent discovery showed that President Paul Kruger, a pariah to many, had Khoi ancestry, a result of the first recorded mixed marriage between Krotoa (known to the Dutch as ‘Eva’) and a settler. Thus the story of South Africa as a ‘Rainbow Nation’ begins in Cape Town beneath Table Mountain, once known as ‘Hoerikwagga’, (Khoi. the Mountain in the Sea) . If anyone wants to discuss this display, please do so in the Forum.
CAPE OF GOOD HOPE
REVENUE STAMPS.
Part 2: Embossed Revenue Stamps 1825-1865
The second of John Fletcher’s three informative books on Cape of Good Hope Revenue stamps shows the new British rulers of the Cape exercising growing political power as they emerge from the shadows of the previous VOC regime. In placing COGH revenue stamps at the centre of colonial life, this well-researched, illustrated and accessible volume provides an historic legal and financial back story to the purpose of many a postal history cover.
THE POSTAL HISTORY OF NAMIBIA: Part 1
German South West Africa
As the German government has now recognised that the Kaiser’s military was responsible for genocide in SWA, I thought it appropriate to put a display together that shows how and why this crime against humanity happened. There will be many, especially in Germany and southern Africa, who will strongly disagree with my comments and conclusions. Signed-in members can have their say in the FORUM.
The rather dull postcard above shows Germany’s misplaced enthusiasm for the new century, one that would see it brutally exterminate African people in order to acquire their land and make serfs of the survivors. Despite suffering defeat in two world wars, Germany has still not made amends for its actions in GSWA. The people whose land the German colonial authorities stole through murder have had no justice.
THE DARMSTADT TRIALS
This display is for the philatelic purist passionate about paper, inks and printing processes. The ‘Darmstadt Trials’ were made to determine the best method of printing new Union of South Africa stamps. Supplied by Tony Howgrave-Graham, Chairman of the South African Collectors’ Society, this definitive collection is unrivalled. His coverage of the Shuck Maclean ink trials are unique. Our thanks to him for adding yet another Top Class display to the SAPC’s growing on-line archive!.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
If you want to comment on this website, or have some suggestions for its improvement, please do so via Letters to the Editor.
FORUM:
SENDING MONEY HOME –
RSA TO LESOTHO (1973)
Louwrens Erasmus breaks new ground with this contribution on migrant mineworkers sending money home from South Africa to support their families in Sekakes, Lesotho,. It may not satisfy the State, Colony and Union collector but it says a lot about what those places became as the industrialised Republic of South Africa. We need more displays like this!
CONCENTRATION CAMP MAIL OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN WAR: 1899 – 1902
The arguably well-intended British ‘Refugee Camps’ of the South African War ultimately had a devastating effect on the Boers and the Black people unfortunate enough to find themselves trapped in these deadly ‘Concentration Camps’ for displaced people. This excellent display does not make easy reading. British indifference saw the Children’s Death Rate in the Camps reach a staggering 433 per 1000! I had to stop reading this the first time I tried. My thanks to David Mordant who has again generously made a previously paid-for article free to view here.
Sadly, I missed the Pretoria Philatelic Society (PPS) Zoom Meeting which was at 8.30 am. It is with early-bird enthusiasm like that that the PPS is re-inventing itself. Like most societies the PPS is using Zoom to spread its wings and attract international visitors.
I had prepared a ‘K is for….’ display which was that meeting’s theme. If you wish to see it as a PDF file, CLICK HERE.
ZOOM MEETINGS
Zoom meetings have really taken off. A lot of wonderful philatelic material has been displayed in this format. All of it is ready to be shown again. Here’s how to see it!
The South African Philately Club’s co-founder, Jamie Smith, is eager to show his prepared Zoom display material to your society or club. As a result, we have opened a new forum topic that allows you to see the Zoom displays that Jamie can show to your club or society. We hope that others will also use this facility to list their Zoom displays here in order that they can be contacted to show their material again… and again.
CLICK HERE