| NZSCC stamp news on line May 2002
Evening Meeting
Wednesday, 22 May from 7.30pm in the Philatelic Centre, 67 Mandeville Street, Riccarton. Raffle We are to have a raffle as usual. Items of interest Do bring these to the meeting.Ten-minute talk Jeff Long will show and talk about a thematic collection of ‘Horses’.Silent display ‘Tribute to the late Queen Mother’. Many members were disappointed not to see this display in April because Shirley Bone was ill at the time of our last meeting.Bring an album Please bring part of your collection for others to look at during the next evening meeting. In the past when we have held these sessions they have been popular but they aren’t much fun if only a few of you remember to bring something along. It doesn’t matter if your collection isn’t wonderful or set out on album pages. Items in stock books or shoeboxes are acceptable.Six-page competition This will be one of the high lights of this evening. We look forward to seeing a number of displays in this annual event.One-page competition ‘Paintings’ - do make an effort to enter this one. Reminder of the themes to come: June Flora July Winter sports Aug Medical matters Sep Back of the book Oct Music Nov Leisure Dec Christmas: North & South Jan Stamps on stampsNews from here and there Farewell to Mike Cann and a warm welcome to our newly elected member, Yvonne MacKenzie! Have you noticed that our NZ Post mailboxes have a new look about them? And did you know that the letterbox models you can buy from NZ Post are of post-boxes from around the globe but not from here? Steven McLachlan says that Australia Post has issued a Star Wars - Attack of the Clones set of stamps in a large souvenir sheet format. No doubt they hope it will be as popular as the New Zealand Lord of the Rings issue. He thinks that a lot of the Star Wars computer graphics was done in Sydney film studios. Hank Smits has been watching price reductions of stamp jigsaws on sale at the Warehouse - he’d bought two of them at full price from NZ Post! Hank is seeking postcards to make maxi cards of the Children’s Book Festival Stamps. Perhaps hand painted ones would do?
There are stamps showing musicians, writers explorers, and soldiers. We even see Englishmen’s faces on some foreign stamps. Thus, there is a Greek stamp bearing a portrait of Byron, the great poet. Perhaps the most interesting of these, however, is the one shown here. This picture is that of J D Bourchier who for many years was the newspaper correspondent in Sofia as a journalist he did Bulgaria many good turns so The Bulgarians honoured him as you see.
If you attempt something and fail, don’t give up! Remember General Douglas MacArthur, the man who, perhaps more than any other helped to win the war in the Pacific during WWII. He may never have gained power & fame because when he applied for admission to West Point, he was turned down, not once but twice. But he tried a third time, was accepted and marched into the history books. Behind the scenes at the Canterbury MuseumSteven McLachlan sent an email to the Canterbury Museum regarding his concerns about access to the Sir Heaton Rhodes stamp collection. Anthony Wright, Director sent Steven a brochure about the $50m Museum revitalisation project and wrote this: ‘I understand your concerns about access to the Sir Heaton Rhodes stamp collection and would like to reassure you that the Canterbury Museum is fully aware of the importance of not only the Rhodes collection but other philatelic collections we hold. People who want to see the Sir Heaton Rhodes collection can browse through the catalogue, which consists of copies of pages from the albums, and if they want to see individual pages, can look at them within the Museum’s special research facility. Please note that there is no restriction on those who can look at the collection. ‘Over the past few years, the Museum has dramatically improved the storage conditions of all our philatelic items. They are now stored in our new environmentally controlled Documentary Collections Store in their own cabinets – part of a $300 000 storage development. ‘We have developed a plan to manage this complex collection, and prioritised the Sir Heaton Rhodes collection as the first collection to receive upgraded housing in the way of acid-free containers, and to be made available to researchers. I hope you will appreciate my dismay that despite all the efforts put in on the philatelic collection in the past, none of the honorary curators compiled any catalogues to the collection. Full inventory control is a fundamental requirement for the Museum’s collection, and we estimate that there are 18 000 items in the Sir Heaton Rhodes collection that need cataloguing. ‘While we are not currently displaying entire stamp collections, stamps are incorporated into displays where relevant. We are also looking into possible exhibitions should the Robert McDougall Art Gallery become part of the Museum complex, and hope that exhibitions of our philatelic collections may be suitable for this venue. My personal hope is that we will eventually achieve modern, international standard display/study/storage cabinets for the majority of the collection to provide ready public access. This is, realistically, still some way off but our revitalisation project outlined in the attached brochure, will give you an indication of the broad possibilities.’ Stamp FairsThe next ones to be held – at the Church Hall, Corner Papanui Rd & Rugby St, Merivale from 9:30am to 1:00pm on Saturdays 1 and 15 June 2002. A ‘joke’ from Canada – per Jim Measures of the Saugeen Stamp Club An Atheist complained to his Christian friend, ‘I don’t see why you have all those official holidays like Christmas and Easter, why they even issue stamps for some of them. It just isn’t fair!’ ‘You should try celebrating the first of April’ his friend replied. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- New Zealand Post security and ethics - a personal view by Steven McLachlan
New Zealand Post administrators rely on feedback to know what is happening in the wider philatelic community. This comes in many forms including regular surveys of their collector base. One way of encouraging customer feedback is to let people know the results of it. They can publish survey results or simply respond to letters or emails. Hopefully, they listen and eventually react to the feedback as collectors often put in a lot of time providing the information. Earlier this year I received an email from a collector in the Netherlands offering for sale several New Zealand 1996 ‘Teddy Bear Error’ Health souvenir sheets. New Zealand Post never sold these sheets and it was obvious these particular ones had come direct (and illegally) from the Dutch printers. I immediately informed New Zealand Post personnel who indicated they would follow up this lead. Despite several subsequent requests to them, it has not been possible to find out for sure what has happened about these sheets and what their current status is. When New Zealand Post announced in December 2001 the issue of its first Lord of the Rings stamp issue, its publicists widely used the word ‘Exclusive’ in their promotions. In March, I became aware that an American company was offering for sale Lord of the Rings stamps from the ex-Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan. These stamps feature beautiful images taken from the movie itself and have been issued in an attractive souvenir sheet of nine stamps. After I emailed New Zealand Post about these stamps seeking clarification on their status (and the New Zealand Post’s exclusive claim) I received an email from a spokesperson on 25 March with a promise to investigate these stamps and inform me accordingly. Since that date I haven’t heard anything of the matter. 
What will happen for the 2002 Stamp Rewards scheme? How many points will be required? What will the reward gift be? We are nearly halfway through 2002 and despite many requests to New Zealand Post it has been impossible to ascertain these answers. This is not a satisfactory state of affairs. A reward scheme should announce the spending required and reward at its commencement rather than after the year has finished. New Zealand Post contributes generously to the hobby but it also makes a lot of sales from it. I hope that it takes more care in future to guard its philatelic reputation than it has been doing recently. -----------------------------------------------------------------------Cultural differences – where do the Kiwis fit in then?
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