The Philatelic Database – Archive of Stamp Collecting Articles

The following article was first published in Australian Stamp Monthly (December, 1952) and written by Alec A Gavin. THE little Registered Label (R6 in P.O. phraseology) plays a very important part in a vital post office activity, and the collection and study of these items of Commonwealth postal stationery has attracted the attention of a [...]

Periodically, reference is made in ”The Aero Field” to “All–Up” mails and the term appears to have puzzled some new collectors for the publishers have had several requests for an explanation. As the few that have written are probably only a small proportion of those who have been mystified the following notes may be of use to many readers.

World War I naval/military postal historians will find this article from Maurice Mishkel most interesting…

The cover has a total postage of 1/ 7d made up of a pair of ½d orange KGV heads and the 1/6 Hermes airmail stamp. It has two ENMORE/ 130P 16 JL 36/ N.S.W postmarks plus a blue By Air Mail/ Par Avion vignette. It is addressed to E. L. Angeloglou. Esq./ 13. El. Manakh. [...]

This information has been extracted from the “Official Year Book of the Union of South Africa and of Basutoland, Bechuanaland Protectorate, and Swaziland” (1933-4).

[Published by kind permission of the artist.] -

The establishment of the Compagnie Caledonniene des Nouvelles-Hebrides in 1892 was with the explicit aim of establishing French control in the New Hebrides. In 1887, alarmed missionaries persuaded the Victorian and N.S.W. governments to subsidize shipping services to and from New Hebrides and Australia. Figures 1a and 1b: Click to Enlarge

This is one of the most extravagant advertising covers I have written about, and it is also the third cover to the Congo I have recorded.

Recently I noticed two British New Guinea/Papua items offered in the Cherrystone Auction 20 Jan 2005. The question that these items gave rise to was about the status of these so-called proofs…

The following article was first published in the “Oxford Junior Encyclopaedia” (1957) and is a sound introduction to the various different railway systems around the world at the time.

Published by kind permission of the author.

Before telling the story behind the fascinating cover illustrated, a description is necessary…

This is a rather rare article originally published in an Australian journal “Sea, Land and Air” in 1918.

It is a fascinating look at an attempt to establish airmail services from England to Australia. It would be another sixteen years (1934) before a service was established.

The Royal Mail Steam-Packet Company was incorporated in 1839 by Royal Charter, with a subsidy of ₤240,000. Supplemental charters extending the operations of the Company were granted at intervals, one in 1904 containing an ‘all British’ clause confining control of the Company to British subjects.

The first cover I suspect may have been philatelically contrived by the unidentified sender. It is addressed to Mr. Walter George Rendall, Artist, Goulburn…

This photograph was kindly provided by Andrew Hamilton. It claims to be the smallest post office in New South Wales. If this is the case, it can only refer to an active post office. All states of Australia had much smaller post offices in the past.

The Pacific ocean is the largest body of water in the world. The total area of the Pacific Ocean is estimated at 163,000,000 km or nearly 40 per cent of the whole water extent of the world.

SS South Australian. 716 tons. Built 1876. First Steamer of ASSCo. Sold, 1898. Sister ship to Victorian.

This cover was addressed to No 1157. L.A.C. Palmer, T.P., R.A.A.F. Detachment, Australian Coronation Contingent, Australia House, London W.C. 2, England, and the two mauve 9d ‘Kangaroo on Map of Australia’ stamps were postmarked with an ASHFIELD/ 1 AM/ 7 MAY/ 1937/ N.S.W with a slogan roller cancel.

Each year since 1957 Australia has issued Christmas stamps to facilitate the mailing of greeting cards to inland addresses, sometimes at a reduced postage rate. In later years there have been higher values in the series to cover postage rates to other destinations.

This extremely informative article originally appeared in “Shipping Wonders of the World” in 1936. It explains in some detail the carriage of letters and parcel posts by ships and their ports of call in the 1930s.

This photograph was sent to us by Noel Routley. Noel was Postmaster at Korong Vale in northern Victoria in the 1980s.