ZAMBIA OFFERS FASCINATING LESSER-TROD PATH FOR COMMONWEALTH COLLECTORS
I go to my local stamp club meetings whenever possible, no matter what is on offer, and so it was I found myself at the Arbroath public library on an uncharacteristically warm Scottish evening recently. However I and the other members were quickly transported to the exotic locale of Zambia, the former Northern Rhodesia, by a fascinating display of the country’s stamps and postal history.
Our guide was the Rev. Alan Roy, who lived and worked in Zambia for many years. He presented many aspects of a Zambian collection and I soon realized it would be a good idea to take website visitors on a brief tour as well, even if it never could be as vivid.
The Rev. Roy explained that Zambia, while a poor country suffering from the ravages of HIV/AIDS, has had much better leadership in recent years than neighbouring Zimbabwe and has stable prices after a period of serious inflation. Likewise its stamp policy has generally been sound, notwithstanding a tie-up with a United States philatelic agency at one point.
Sets of stamps are generally issued in modest numbers and typically portray the country’s culture, history and wildlife, although subjects of international importance also crop up. A good example is relatively recent stamps picturing Mahatma Gandhi, the great Indian leader and proponent of non-violent resistance. These are popular with the many Gandhi collectors worldwide
The stamps are generally attractive and well produced, largely thanks to a veteran Zambian artist and stamp designer, Gabriel Ellison, who designs many of its issues. She quickly made her mark on the issues of Zambia as she designed its excellent first definitive set, which pictured current and past facets of life in the country.
The Rev. Roy noted that Zambia is a large nation, some 1,200 miles from end to end, and for those of its 13 million people living in outlying areas the postal services are sketchy. The district where he lived, for instance, was the size of a British county but had just two post offices.
As I know next to nothing about Zambian stamps virtually everything that the Rev. Roy presented was new to me, but I did take particular interest in a few particular points he illustrated with material from his collection:
¨ The 1953 Northern Rhodesia Queen’s head stamps while very familiar looking, are hard to find used on cover because they came out not long before the federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was created and were not in use for a long time.
¨ The final Northern Rhodesian definitive set picturing the country’s arms and a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II can be found with a variety of errors, chiefly the lack of a value.
¨ Postage due stamps are also hard to find properly used on cover, and because of sketchy supplies in post offices some real rarities can be found. The Rev. Roy showed a fascinating cover to himself from an acquaintance of limited means that was underpaid and had Northern Rhodesian due stamps overprinted Southern Rhodesia.
¨ Zambia suffered such horrific inflation in the mid-1990s that ordinary people could not afford to send letters and so covers from the period are scarce. Much of the display was on Zambian air mail rates and even before this period it took a large group of stamps to pay for postage to overseas destinations.
As is the case with many poor African countries, covers are often found with markings noting that an item has been forwarded by surface mail because of insufficient postage for airmail. Quite a few Zambian stamps have been overprinted with new values, creating interesting issues and envelopes for the many collectors of such stamps.
More details on Zambian stamps are available from: Philatelic Bureau, Zambia Posts and Telecommunications Ltd, PO Box 71857, Ndola, Zambia. However, if you go to Zambia Post’s web site at http://www.zampost.co.zm/ you will find nothing other than an optimistic message: "Website to be restored soon!"
NEW ZEALAND POST GETS SERIOUS NEW COMPETITOR
New Zealand is leading the world in privatization of postal operations, and what seems to be another serious competitor to New Zealand Post has entered the field. That competitor is Croxley, a well-known stationer manufacturer and subsidiary of the US-based international stationery giant Max. It says it aims to win 10% of the market within three years.
What makes the Croxley initiative so interesting is that it will provide prepaid postal stationery items, a logical step for a firm that makes envelopes. It will also offer a variety of boxes, mailing bags and other products. The new Croxley Mail service started with six stamps with a face value of 50 cents to $1.50 as well as the prepaid envelopes. The firm already supplies New Zealand Post stamps and envelopes through many firms, some of them owned by Max, and it expects many outlets to switch to the new product. These envelopes and covers with the Croxley Mail stamps can be posted in New Zealand Post mailboxes or postal centres.
The first stamps are attractive, featuring photos of idyllic New Zealand scenes. These were shot at night under full moonlight at Muriwai Beach at Auckland, giving them an ethereal quality. As with other New Zealand private post stamps, they are never likely to be common, especially on cover.
Editor's note: These articles are adapted from my long-running Commonwealth collecting column in Canadian Stamp News. For more details on this excellent publication, including how to subscribe, go to http://www.canadianstampnews.ca
Our guide was the Rev. Alan Roy, who lived and worked in Zambia for many years. He presented many aspects of a Zambian collection and I soon realized it would be a good idea to take website visitors on a brief tour as well, even if it never could be as vivid.
The Rev. Roy explained that Zambia, while a poor country suffering from the ravages of HIV/AIDS, has had much better leadership in recent years than neighbouring Zimbabwe and has stable prices after a period of serious inflation. Likewise its stamp policy has generally been sound, notwithstanding a tie-up with a United States philatelic agency at one point.
Sets of stamps are generally issued in modest numbers and typically portray the country’s culture, history and wildlife, although subjects of international importance also crop up. A good example is relatively recent stamps picturing Mahatma Gandhi, the great Indian leader and proponent of non-violent resistance. These are popular with the many Gandhi collectors worldwide
The stamps are generally attractive and well produced, largely thanks to a veteran Zambian artist and stamp designer, Gabriel Ellison, who designs many of its issues. She quickly made her mark on the issues of Zambia as she designed its excellent first definitive set, which pictured current and past facets of life in the country.
The Rev. Roy noted that Zambia is a large nation, some 1,200 miles from end to end, and for those of its 13 million people living in outlying areas the postal services are sketchy. The district where he lived, for instance, was the size of a British county but had just two post offices.
As I know next to nothing about Zambian stamps virtually everything that the Rev. Roy presented was new to me, but I did take particular interest in a few particular points he illustrated with material from his collection:
¨ The 1953 Northern Rhodesia Queen’s head stamps while very familiar looking, are hard to find used on cover because they came out not long before the federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was created and were not in use for a long time.
¨ The final Northern Rhodesian definitive set picturing the country’s arms and a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II can be found with a variety of errors, chiefly the lack of a value.
¨ Postage due stamps are also hard to find properly used on cover, and because of sketchy supplies in post offices some real rarities can be found. The Rev. Roy showed a fascinating cover to himself from an acquaintance of limited means that was underpaid and had Northern Rhodesian due stamps overprinted Southern Rhodesia.
¨ Zambia suffered such horrific inflation in the mid-1990s that ordinary people could not afford to send letters and so covers from the period are scarce. Much of the display was on Zambian air mail rates and even before this period it took a large group of stamps to pay for postage to overseas destinations.
As is the case with many poor African countries, covers are often found with markings noting that an item has been forwarded by surface mail because of insufficient postage for airmail. Quite a few Zambian stamps have been overprinted with new values, creating interesting issues and envelopes for the many collectors of such stamps.
More details on Zambian stamps are available from: Philatelic Bureau, Zambia Posts and Telecommunications Ltd, PO Box 71857, Ndola, Zambia. However, if you go to Zambia Post’s web site at http://www.zampost.co.zm/ you will find nothing other than an optimistic message: "Website to be restored soon!"
NEW ZEALAND POST GETS SERIOUS NEW COMPETITOR
New Zealand is leading the world in privatization of postal operations, and what seems to be another serious competitor to New Zealand Post has entered the field. That competitor is Croxley, a well-known stationer manufacturer and subsidiary of the US-based international stationery giant Max. It says it aims to win 10% of the market within three years.
What makes the Croxley initiative so interesting is that it will provide prepaid postal stationery items, a logical step for a firm that makes envelopes. It will also offer a variety of boxes, mailing bags and other products. The new Croxley Mail service started with six stamps with a face value of 50 cents to $1.50 as well as the prepaid envelopes. The firm already supplies New Zealand Post stamps and envelopes through many firms, some of them owned by Max, and it expects many outlets to switch to the new product. These envelopes and covers with the Croxley Mail stamps can be posted in New Zealand Post mailboxes or postal centres.
The first stamps are attractive, featuring photos of idyllic New Zealand scenes. These were shot at night under full moonlight at Muriwai Beach at Auckland, giving them an ethereal quality. As with other New Zealand private post stamps, they are never likely to be common, especially on cover.
Editor's note: These articles are adapted from my long-running Commonwealth collecting column in Canadian Stamp News. For more details on this excellent publication, including how to subscribe, go to http://www.canadianstampnews.ca
posted by Chad Neighbor at
2.3.10
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