A Trek into Rhodesia

In thinking about writing something for Philately from Australia about my interest in Rhodesian stamps, I began to draw some analogy to a recent essay I have just prepared on Samuel Johnson’s A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland and James Boswell’s Journal of a Tour in the Hebrides.

For me, two rather obvious matters stand out. Johnson believed that ‘curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous mind’ and I suppose that is so with many folk who engage in this hobby (or is it obsession?) we call philately. Secondly, Scotland in 1773 for Johnson was a wild and relatively unknown place and so too must be Rhodesia (now that rather sad place called Zimbabwe) and Rhodesian stamps for many of the readers of the Journal of the RPSV.

My interest in Rhodesian stamps, like that of others, has been an interrupted journey. Growing up in Southern Rhodesia, I began collecting the stamps of the day (stamps of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland) at a relatively early age. Like many, my collecting was spasmodic and waned with adolescence and all but totally disappeared with marriage, children and career. About five years ago, a chance encounter with an old British Africa collection brought me face to face for the first time with a Rhodesian ‘Double Head’. Curiosity took over and it has been a merry ride since then.

The Rhodesian 1910 Double Head issue – which used to be called the King and Queen issue – is one of the most colourful and widely collected stamps in the British Empire. First issued on the 11 November 1910 (SG 119-185) to commemorate the visit of the Duke and Duchess of Connaught to Southern Africa, it was originally designed to have the portrait of King Edward VII; however due to his untimely death (are not all so?) in 1910, the portrait of King George V and Queen Mary appeared on the stamps. In fact, King George V, as the Prince of Wales, was originally scheduled to make the visit to Africa. Probably first imagined as a commemorative issue, it developed into a definitive issue (November 1910 – August 1913) with 17 values: ½d, 1d, 2d, 2½d, 3d, 4d, 5d, 6d, 8d, 10d, 1/-, 2/-, 2/6-, 3/-, 5/-, 10/- and £1.

Below (from the left): A block of four 1d SG 123; A 5d (SG 141a) with a Registered Bulawayo cancel; 10d (SG 149) CTO, Gwelo; A pair of ½d Looker Catalogue 3 (olive green) with a Victoria, Mashonaland cancel; A 2/6 SG 156 and 2d SG 127; A 4d SG 138.

Little did I realise, when setting out to discover more about this issue, how complex and confusing the whole business would become, and indeed still is! To try and explain would be far too difficult and might suggest some mastery of the topic. The one thing of which I am certain, for me there is little mastery at all. Three plates were used to print the heads of the two-coloured values (all but the ½d, 1d and 2½d). The various printings are identified by the status of the “Gash in the Queen’s Ear” flaw on Position 2. Some experts have identified up to 22 states of the plates. Added to this, to further assist identification, are other flaws, printer’s marks and colour shades. And we have not begun on the frame plates! Stanley Gibbons identifies five different types of the 2d issue. In a recently produced essay (Rhodesia, Double Heads, 1910-1913, Edition VII), Captain David Underwood, suggests 42 different groupings for this stamp! I have a reasonable grasp of the five Stanley Gibbons classifications.

The stamps of the Double Head issue are generally classified according to the Stanley Gibbons Catalogue (SG) with additional classifications provided by R.J. Looker for the ½d issue (RJL) and various committees of the Rhodesian Study Circle (RSC) for other issues. For those interested in developing a deeper understanding of this issue, there are a host of articles that are available through the Rhodesian Study Circle and on the Gibbons Stamp Monthly web page.

What has made my rediscovery of philately a matter of great joy has been my membership of the Rhodesian Study Circle. Just after I had resumed my interest in matters philately and shortly after coming across a Double Head, I ventured onto that mindless leviathan, the internet, and came across the Rhodesian Study Circle – largely based in the UK, but has members across the world – whose main purpose ‘is the study of the stamps and postal history of the territories which formerly comprised the Rhodesias and Nyasaland.’ I applied for membership, was accepted, and very soon afterwards received my first copy of that excellent publication, the Rhodesian Study Circle Journal, edited by Derek Lambert. Since then, I receive every quarter, a copy of this journal, a wonderful forum for information, debate and discussion. Soon after joining, I also received, by telephone, an invitation to a meeting (most gatherings also include good food and wine) of the local chapter of the RSC in Victoria. We continue to meet regularly in each others’ homes, and I have benefited greatly from their willingness to share their collective knowledge (which is considerable) in the area and their most kind hospitality. It took me a little over a year, with their support, to develop a working knowledge of the classifications of the head plate of the Double Head issue. Their enthusiasm is infectious and their various interests in the area, have provided me with an alternative lens to wander and wonder. At a recent meeting in Sydney, there were fifteen members in attendance from Australia and overseas.

The below card, from Paul Peggie’s collection, is from the Reverend François Coillard established Mission in Barotseland, Northern Rhodesia on 17 March 1909. The card would have travelled from Lealui to Kalomo by runners, then to Livingstone on the 2 April, arriving in Switzerland (via the Cape) on 26 April 1909.

Observant members of the RPSV may have noticed that within the Society (some even, in positions of influence), there is a small cabal that devote much of their philatelic endeavours to the gathering and study of Rhodesian stamps. Don Napier has a more than passing interest in the 3d (‘Tickey’) Double Head and has an extensive plating study of the 5d Rhodesian 1905 Victoria Falls issue; Peter Trahar is knowledgeable and enthusiastic in all areas, but collects mainly the Rhodesian ‘Admirals’; John Shawley (our man from the Protectorate) has interests in early Nyasaland and Paul Peggie, who has an extensive and comprehensive collection of all British South Africa (Rhodesia) issues, is now concentrating on the early postal history of Northern Rhodesia, in particular, the mails coming from early missionaries.

I still collect Double Heads. They are, however, expensive. Like others, alternative paths are being explored. At Paul Peggie’s suggestion, I have begun collecting postmarks on the Double Heads – in the main on the 1d stamp (once described as ‘the greatest stamp in the British Empire’) – and derive much pleasure in the search and capture. Again at Paul’s behest, and greatly encouraged by Don Napier, I have branched into the collection of early used Rhodesian postcards. Not only do you get the postmark, you also get a story with an illustration. With all these ventures comes additional reading, always encouraging further searching. Exhibiting is the next hurdle. That stranger, the mind, has been let loose. It is fun.