On Tuesday February 5th Banbury Stamp Society held their annual Robson Cup competition. Eight members entered and we started with Ian Grace and ‘The Road to War’ with stamps connecting events in Europe from the rise of the Nazi party to the invasion of Poland.
John Davies specialises in the 1890 Penny Post jubilee and showed us material from the major exhibition held in Vienna where the first Austrian stamp was reprinted for visitors.
Paul Prichard talked about the cross post system introduced to avoid the need for mail to be routed through London. He showed various markings on covers ranging from ‘cross post’ to a simple ‘X’.
Jonathan Durley showed covers sent from Great Britain to India in the 1870’s. The covers had interesting stamp combinations to make up the 1s rate, and Jonathan had researched the recipient, a Major serving in the Indian Army.
Mathew Schaer introduced us to a mechanical canceller trialled between 1869 and 1872. The device was never adopted, but Mathew showed examples from the trial, including newly discovered early use dates. Mathew’s presentation was voted the winner by the members.
Michael Fernbank showed WWII covers from the RAF in Malta which had a range of censor and receiving marks.
Peter Fernbank’s Bahamas air letters covered the first issue in 1943 through to decimalisation in 1967.
Netia Piercy finished the evening with stamps from 1970’s Cyprus showing a 4th Century BCE ship that was raised in the 1960’s. The Turkish invasion meant that the ship was commemorated on both Greek and Turkish stamps. Netia included photographs of her working on the restoration.
The club will hold its annual dinner on March 19th. The next display meeting will be on April 2nd when the subject will be ‘USA’. Meet at 7:30pm at Hanwell Fields Community Centre. The Banbury Stamp Society is on-line at ‘www.banburystampsociety.co.uk’, or contact John Davies on 01295 255831.