Cape of Good Hope: Newspaper mail
Steve,
We must have posted almost simultaneously and I missed your comment. I would have preferred that the world becomes better and museums don't get bombed, looted or burn. It is a place where humanities heritage should be kept. It is our "commons". On the other hand your argument that collectors will preserve and cherish them better is also true. Tibet has been in my bucket list for years!
The loot letters is an amazing archive consisting of about 50,000 letters and documents that were captured from enemy ships when "piracy" was legal and practiced by most European nations. When a ship was captured the loot was brought to Britain and went through a legal process to have it formally seized. Most of these items were captured from the Dutch and there has been some research done, sadly not philatelic. An important find was that most of these letters were in sailors chests and not official mail. There are items from the Cape and I think one can once and for all settle the "VOC" handstamp question through these archives. A find of a letter from the Cape to Holland or Batavia would unequivocally prove that it was used in the Cape. So far none is known.
Anyway, I will be posting more "newspaper mail" soon. I have been stuck reading them rather than scanning them! Fascinating stuff.
The loot letters sound intriguing. I have done a fair bit of my own research into the VOC handstamp. I am aware of most if not of all the current arguments that have been made for its use at the Cape. I still do not believe that any real proof has been found to make the case for the VOC handstamp's use at the Cape. Overall, I think most people who have studied the subject feel that the "proof" is still far from overwhelming and conclusive.
Regarding you getting stuck reading your fascinating historic newspapers before scanning them, this happens to me when I lay newspaper out before painting a room. There is invariably an interesting article to read. Unfortunately, this is a job that now urgently needs doing again. The last time I pained the interior of our house was ten years ago when I still read the Sunday Times every week-end. But in this day and age where will I find newspapers? I stopped buying the Sunday Times about a year ago, much to the disappointment of a neighbour who used them for her dog's litter!
Today I posting a summary of the Newspaper stamps. I have used my photocopy of Sherwood to number them and fixed a couple of inaccuracies.
I am almost done with all the scanning and hopefully in a few days I will summarize all my findings.
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There are some great items here. Unfortunately there are a few distracting comments about postage - these are red herrings. The stamps are pure revenue stamps as outlined in the Ordinance of 1826. Otherwise I agree with almost everything published. If I can master the technology I shall upload a few pages from my own collection that support what has already been said.
Any newspapers apart from Government Gazettes and Grahamstown Journals are very rare indeed.
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Quite so, Jamie.
First of all a big welcome to the forums to britishhonduras and for helping us to understand these relics of the past better. Does the pseudonym means you collecting British Honduras also?
Your upload of 11.pdf on the "Natal Mercantile" newspaper also helps to clarify another post here in the forums. See https://southafricanphilatelyclub.com/forum/topic/cape-of-good-hope-fabrications-forgeries-and-fantasies
It provides the missing "stop"! Maybe I was wrong to accept that it was a fake piece. Although this one was added on the newspaper after it was printed.
Yes, I also Welcome British Honduras and if he does collect that country may I recommend this book. Jamie.
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