PART FOUR (1977 TO 1986)

The fourth decade commenced with the publication of Volume 21 of Precancels, still holding to the same format of foolscap size, double sided typescript as for several years previously, and still finding enough enthusiasm and copy to produce one part per month. A particularly good article graced this part, an article on the local issues from Seattle, Washington which was originally published in a 1942 copy of The Precancel Optimist. Regrettably, this was the last really major article to be seen for some time.

Reg Lee’s Magpies Nest was clearly well feathered and Reg kept this going with the same keen knowledge and enthusiasm which had been evident since its inception. By this time, most of the 6.3c Bureau issue had been made and Reg had kept his New Issue Service of these going, but now was the time to start with the new 7.9c. (Oh that there were new Bureaus issued with such regularity nowadays).

The 29th AGM was held that October and a total membership of 92 persons was recorded which was a drop of 10 from the previous year. As has always been apparent, complaints continued to be made on the apathy of the majority of members who were so keen to accept everything that the few stalwarts on the Committee did for them, but were not prepared to do much themselves for the Society. (How often has that been heard over the 50 years?) By now, the Society met three times each year in addition to the AGM, but all these were in hired halls, mostly in the London area.

One member reported on a Robson Lowe auction sale which included several lots of precancels. The member who did bid (remember this was 1976) on a collection of reportedly about 21,000 with a valuation of £55, the sum of £77.50 was horrified when the lot went for £160. Oh well how times change. Well, things changed very little within the Society, but Precancels altered tremendously. Gone now were the pages of unrivalled information, and the space once occupied by such knowledgeable articles was filled by page after page of new Town and Type Issues, descriptions of new typefaces being used in the printing of Bureaus and never-ending Members’ Ads.

The Society certainly seemed to be going through a difficult period during which the packet Superintendent was “commuting between England and Israel” while the secretary appeared to be enjoying the highlife in Brazil and South Africa. (Good on ya’ David and Claude). (Times don’t really change do they? Seems we hear a lot about Sri Lanka and America these days!) As was to be expected by now, who held the fort in those days? Yes, that’s right, Reg Lee.

At last, into the second year of the decade came the first seriously important article, this time by member Bob Cheshire, a renowned Canadian collector at that time. This article related to the identification of different types within the Admiral issues of Canadian cancels along with notes on wet and dry printings. Carl Bibo, a member from New Mexico and a mailman by profession provided a further article on the UN 11/4 c Bureau issue and the subsequent forgeries. The New Issue Service still going strong with the 7.9c mostly complete, well into the 7.7c and the start of the 8.4c Bureaus.

Continuing the interest in European precancels, a further article was published, this time on the French Coin issue. Also about that time and unbeknown by the Society, the then latest issue of a new Canadian cancel came to the notice of Reg Lee and he reported a 12c flower so cancelled which, as it turned out, was to be one of the last before precancellation stopped in Canada. The 31st AGM was, to some, of certain importance. It was at this meeting that we saw a considerable change in the composition of the Committee, having a new President, Secretary, and Librarian elected. It also saw for the first time, a general trend towards holding meetings, except for the AGM, away from rented venues and held instead in members homes – a trend Dave Philcox picked up in the States.

Another first was the offer by a member to hold the first Society postal auction, a proposal keenly accepted. About this time also, was the publication of the DLE catalogue, the first for 23 years. One of the earliest meetings to be held away from London was held at the office of Urch Harris in Bristol, which gave those who braved the journey the chance to see at least part of Bob Cheshire’s Canadian Admiral precancels. In Precancels we were further regaled with information on French, and were introduced, albeit very briefly, to Austrian newspaper wrappers. For a short period of time, many articles were flowing in again on various new topics (to Precancels that is) and one which stood out at the time was an excellent one covering OS Precancelled Stationery. This consisted of some five pages, well illustrated with very concise lists of various types. Another promise was fulfilled when Reg Lee produced in several copies of Precancels, the shortly awaited notes on Austrian wrappers, clearly supplementing his earlier introduction to the subject; a most valuable addition to our knowledge. Another illustrated item was submitted by Doug Barfoot, our then President, showing modern Canadian Printed Postal Stationery.

The end of 1979 saw the virtual finish of the Bureau decimal issues, that is those with town, state abbreviation and two lines. In all the 6.3, 7.7, 7.9 and 8.4c issues totalled 541 stamps, some of which are now extremely rare and costly, while one other, the Richmond Va 7.7 Linotype, was issued later. To facilitate ease of collection, a complete list of these was compiled by Dilmond Postlewaite and published in Vol 24/1. Officially, the Bureau use of precancels bearing town and state names ceased at the end of 1978, and soon we were to see the 8.4c Americana issued with lines only, the forerunner of several similar issues and values so cancelled. These snippets of information on Americana Buros was soon followed by printed proof to those members who thought that all american precancels could be had for pennies. Lots from a recent Stateside auction were illustrated, coil pairs and strips of up to 4 stamps, all imperforate with prices which realised up to $650. The first Society auction came and went and the auctioneer gladly reported a small profit for the Society but regretted that there were only 5 vendors.

Replacing the lines only issues on the Americana Buros, came the first of the designated commercial uses as overprinted on the stamps, this being ‘FIRST CLASS PRESORT’ on the 9 and 13c values. Many more were to follow and be listed in Precancels as they were issued. A new series of Monaco cancels was illustrated, those of seasonal trees with the horse chestnut being the subject. Some 22 Japanese New Year cards were illustrated by Ted Coles, while Dave Philcox produced a tabulated summary of how prices of the top 27 Buros had risen in the 50 years from l926.

A newcomer to the illustrated articles was a reproduction of one from the American Philatelist by a certain G.William Schall on Special US Postal Markings which showed and discussed the wide range of early lines, bars and more graphically designed types. In Vol 23/3 was published the (I think) first Library List showing some 86 Precancel items from catalogues, magazines, articles and the like, a valuable source of information readily available to all members. Colin Philip produced a listing of all the precancels of Monaco with illustrations, following this in the next issue by a complete illustrated listing of all known cancels from Algeria (23) and Tunisia (8).

Once again problems presented themselves over the editorship of Precancels. Poor Reg Lee, after years of holding the Society together, had pleaded to be given a break as his other commitments were suffering. As is usual in such cases, no other member was interested in obliging. Luckily it took a new member to volunteer his services and so a new era started. The general format of the publication was similar, but the front page displayed at the top, an irregular selection of various precancelled stamps. Unfortunately though, it was at this time the Society appeared to be passing through another period of apathy, and such very little copy was being provided to the new editor. A similar problem had been encountered in the past and had been overcome, so there was still hope in store. Luckily we still had members interested in seeing their names in the advertisement column, with excellent results it must be added, and we still had Mr PSS-GB himself. To this end, Magpies Nest was still running well, and now a new column appeared – Katalog Korner – in which Reg reviewed existing and projected catalogues.

Throughout this decade, the annual auction appeared to be doing very well with the Society benefiting from the sales every time. After many years of silence it was again decided to restart the various country and type counts, and Bob Eveleigh, offered his services in this matter. Also it was very sad news for collectors of Canadian precancels when use of them was stopped on 1/1/1982. An excellent article broke the monotony in mid 1983, when a Belgian member presented an article on the 1915 Albert Issue.

With the reintroduction of the counts, it was felt opportune to have an understanding of the various types covered by the title Double Line Electros, and to this end an illustrated article was included showing the differences. As forecast earlier, the Society appeared to recover from the period of quiescence, and once again a wide range of articles began appearing.

At the recent AGM it was agreed that a series of articles on the development of precancels originally presented in ‘Foreign Stamps’ would reappear in Precancels for the benefit of newer members. At the same time a continuation of the series on Austrian wrappers appeared and also the first by Gordon Rowe on Early US Bar Precancels. A further article followed a month later, again on Austria but this time on stamps and not on wrappers. Hungarian Precancels were the subject of an article by Fred Cutler. A subsequent issue saw Precancelled Battleships by Colin Blakebrough, British Precancelled Stamps (Training School Issues) by Geoff Longbottom and the first really technical one by Peter Attrill entitled ‘Repair of Precancelling Printing Plates for USA Bureaus’.

And so into the last year of the decade with no apparent easing up on the reawakened flow of articles, we were to see such as Luxembourg Doubles by P.K.Stone, Canal Zone Precancels by Roy Osborne, Danzig by Colin Blakebrough, Current (then) US Postage Rates by Jim Callis, Listing of Belgian Towns by Dave Philcox and also Black Hardings by the same author. So it went on to the end of the decade, proof itself that the Society was still thriving and with a membership of enthusiasts.