FOR STAMP COLLECTORS

Evening Star, Issue 22453, 25 September 1936, Page 2

FOR STAMP COLLECTORS

[By Philatelist.]

The monthly meeting of the Dunedin Philatelic Club was held in the_ Y.M.C.A. rooms on September 17, there" being present 33 members. Two new members wore elected. The main business of the evening was a talk by Dr M. N. Watt on 1 Aspects of Type Collecting.’ The talk was full of interest, and some very sound advice was given. The d'splays for the evening were furnished by Mr P, M. Lusk and Mr P. Morris. Stamp sales as between mem hers brought the evening to..a close. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE COMMEMORATIVES. On the occasion of the Conference of Empire Chambers of Commerce the department will open a post and telegraph office at the Wellington Town Hall from October 1 to October 7 inclusive. A special t date stump will be provided for the office, complete with distinctive wording. The office will be open to the public, but letters (other than registered letters) for posting at the Town Hall office may, if so desired, be handed in also at the inquiry counter of the Wellington Chief Post Office. Philatelists and dealers who desire covers cancelled at the office may forward to the Director-General, Stamps Branch, General Post Office, Wellington, G.l, addressed envelopes with an indication of the value, and a remittance to cover the cost of the stamps to be affixed thereto. Special first-day envelopes for the Chamber of Commerce commemorative stamps are now procurable. BERMUDA PICTORIALS. The recent issue of pictorial stamps by Bermuda is described by Mr Frederick Wall in the July number of Gibbon’s ‘ Stamp Monthly ’ as follows: I must thank the Bermudian Government for not publishing the names of the places shown upon the new pictorials. Information, when easily gained, like everything else, loses much of its value and is either quickly forgotten dr but indifferently remembered. If there had been an explanatory subtitle on each of these Bermuda stamps I should not have been half as interested in them as I was, and am uow, after a most enjoyable spell of research work. The most fascinating design of all is that of the 3d. However greatly other writers have differed from one another in their descriptions of the issue, practically all of them have agreed that the 3d shows a “ typical colonial homestead.” I, too, might have left it at that had I not by chance come across ‘ The Story of Bermuda,’ by Hudson Strode. This delightful book, which I recommend to all my readers, contains some really outstanding photographs by Walter Rutherford, among which is the original from which this 3d stamp design was taken. It provides the explanation of the stamp’s strange frame, this being merely the Chinese Moon-gate in the foreground twisted round to look out at right angles from the design. “ Bermuda ” has been inscribed round the top, “ Postage ” at the bottom, and the value at the sides, but the general shape remains, the handles of the sliding door are still there, the grass on the fringe of the pathway outside the gate still shows—and! even the blossoming lilies (Lilium lohgiflorum Harfisii) still peep through at us! The actual central design, and for once the frame has stolen the limelight, shows what was once the buttery, and is now a guest room of Point House, Warwick Parish, the property of Mr Charles Stokes, of Philadelphia. It is about 200 years old, and lies two miles from Hamilton, the island capital. Mr Strode tells us that the present owner has been careful to maintain the Bermudian character of. the house and grounds, the, only “ foreign ” element being - this' very Chinese Moon-gate wliica has crept so insidiously into the stamp design, thus spoiling the “ typicality” ot this American-owned British colonial homestead ! ‘ The-Story of Bermuda ’ a.so shows us the original photographs from which the vignettes of the id, 2£d, 6d, Is, and Is Oct values were copied. That appearing on the id and Is 6d values depicts Hamilton Harboux - , and is so clear that it tells us that the nearer of the two yachts to the left of the centre has the beautiful itame, Soug of the Wind, in the background can be "seen the cathedral, a modern building consecrated in 1911 and built largely of native limestone. The 6d value illustrates the home ot a Portuguese gardener at Par-La-Villc, Hamilton. It is interesting to note that the gardens of Par-La-Ville, now public property, were once owned by \V. B. Perot, the postmaster, who, in 1848, issued the rare Bermuda Postmaster’s stamps. The beautiful scene of the 2id and Is stamps is that of Grape Bay in Paget Parish, on the south side of the island. The trees in the border are specimens of the native juniper—Juniperus bermudiana —a species found growing wild nowhere else in the world. Sir Algernon Aspinall, C.M.G., C.8.E., kindly tells me that the yacht on the 2d stamp is the Viking. This is one of Bermuda’s six-metres, aud a famous one at that, for it was the winner in 1932 of the Prince of Wales Cup, when it beat four American contenders. The design shows well the famous Bermuda rig. I understand that the Viking was built to the design of the Norwegian expert, fljarne Aas. In the top corners of the 2d design are two sea horses (Hippocampus punctulatus). These quaint little fishes (each about four inches long) form most interesting and welcome additions to the philatelic aquarium. One of their greatest peculiarities is that the male gives birth to tho young! At least this is what appears to happen, but actually the male has a pouch in tho front of his body, into which the female "deposits - her eggs, which remain there with the father until they ;.re hatched. The last design of. this interesting series (that of the Id and lid) gives us a picture of the south shore, near Spanish Rock. Spanish Rock should, it seeins, be more correctly called “ Portuguese ” Rock, for it bears an inscription F over 1543. which is.said to prove that the Portuguese, Ferdinando Camelo, visited the island in that year.