These drawings of the Ruhleben Civilian Internee Camp, Germany, WWI were bought in a featured lot in a Sandafayre Public Auction. They were drawn by one of the internees, C. M. A. Whitehouse, who was a British Architect. The detail is unbelievably accurate. One of the plans of the entire camp can be seen in the Ruhleben Stamps and Postal History one frame exhibit.
I had been invited to take my one frame of Ruhleben Stamps and Postal History along with one frame of drawings of the camp to the philatelic event organised by the Royal Philatelic Society London and Academie de Philatelie de Belgique, at Ypres, Belgium to commemorate the beginning of World War I in 2014. About a week before leaving, I received a cal from David Holmes, Auckland City Stamps. He said, “I have something you should be interested in”.
It turned out to be a collection of Postcards written by Duncan Donaldson Brown, an internee sent to England and Scotland. He was a little bit different in that he was military, whereas most internees were civilians. After the war, Brown worked for the Commonwealth Graces Commission, and emigrated to New Zealand, working for the Auckland City Council as Chief Gardener. His work remains today because he designed the Albert Park in Auckland. Added to the postcards that I already had, I was able to put one frame together.
I contacted Patrick Maselis, the Head Commissioner for the exhibition, and told him what I had. He said they would somehow make space. The interesting thing is that the 3 frames of Ruhleben material stopped most people, and I received a wonderful response to it.
Adelaide Stampex 2017: 89 Points, Gold
The Capital Stamp Show 2015: 81 Points, Large Vermeil
This beautiful set of stamps were New Zealand’s first Pictorial Issue, issued in 1898, with the Boer War Issue in 1900.
At a Cabinet meeting held December 28th 1894, it was decided to have a new issue of stamps, and the Secretary to the General Post Office was instructed to draft a circular calling for competitive designs, and offering prizes for those selected. The first draft of the circular (Jan 30th 1895) stated that “Preferences will be given to the representation of the Queen’s head, or a scene characteristic of New Zealand”. This was subsequently altered 20th March 1895, when any mention of the Queen’s head was omitted. In response to the request 2400 designs were submitted, anomalously with a pseudonym; the identity was sealed in an envelope with the pseudonym written on the outside. These drawings ranged from the crudest of drawings to the finished product.
The items shown here are courtesy of the Royal Philatelic Society of New Zealand from their reference collection.
NZ2020 National Stamp Exhibition, Auckland: 85 Points, Gold
Macao 2018 FIAP Exhibition: Large Vermeil
Praga 2018 World Stamp Exhibition: Large Vermeil
Melbourne 2017 FIAP International Exhibition, Large Vermeil
Brasilia 2017 World Stamp Exhibition: Large Vermeil
Royalpex 2017: 83 Points, Large Vermeil
Christchurch 2016 Stamp & Postcard Exhibition: 90 Points, Large Gold
Christchurch 2016 Stamp & Postcard Exhibition: 90 Points, Large Gold
Scans will be uploaded shortly
This is my first truly Traditional Exhibit. I have dismantled this exhibit so that I can concentrate of the New Zealand 1898 Pictorial issue.
Canberra Stampshow 2018; 84 Points, Large Vermeil
Thailand 2016 FIAP Exhibition: 87 Points, Large Vemeil
Mandurah 2016 Fair: 88 Points, Gold
Baypex 2014; Vermeil
Upper Hutt 2013: 77 Points, Vermeil
This is a new exhibit. It follows the work that I have done with Dr Allan Craig in categorizing and publishing the various forms of Officially Sealing that has been done over the years. To date, there have been 5 articles published in “The New Zealand Stamp Collector” with 2 or 3 more to come.
This exhibit shows the different methods over the years of the New Zealand Post Office and New Zealand Post of Officially Sealing correspondence that has bee not sealed correctly, has been opened for “Return to Sender” or has been damaged in the post for whatever reason. It also shows the different methods and types of Censor labels, and Compulsorily Registered labels.
The Armistice Stamp Show Dunedin 2018: 83 Points, Large Vermeil
2018 Newcastle Stamp & Coin Expo; 83 Points, Large Vermeil
Scans yet to be uploaded
This was my first exhibit, and this is how it ended before it was dismantled. It started from the fact that I had “a bit of everything, and nothing in particular!”
I have received the following awards for this exhibit:
Introduction
This exhibit is a new exhibit, and attempts to tell the story about a field of New Zealand Postal History that has not been adequately covered in the past. The exhibit is in the process of being developed and several good items have been obtained from The NZ 2020 Stamp Exhibition which should enhance the exhibit.
Awards
2018 Newcastle Stamp & Coin Expo: 83 Points, Large Vermeil
The Armistice Stamp Show, Dunedin 2018: 78 Points, Vermeil
Frame 1
Frame 2
Frame 3
Frame 4
Frame 5
This is my exhibit which has done best Nationally and Internationally.
I started collecting this material in a round-about way. I was collecting New Zealand Prisoner of War Lettercards when I saw some interesting items on E-bay. They were part of the Percy Wellington correspondence that related to a New Zealander who was with the Royal Air Force in Singapore WWII, when the Japanese invaded. He escaped to Batavia, was captured by the Japanese and spent the rest of the war in a number of POW camps. The items were Lettercards produced for use to POWs in Europe, and some Postcards produced towards the end of the war for use to Asia. The seller was Mr Graham Reynolds, Kent, England. I purchased about three scarce items from him, and looked at what else he was selling on E-bay. There was a lot of other POW material relating to the Japanese occupation, and I contacted him asking if he was selling his collection. The answer was no,; he was selling his duplicates. I commented at the time, if he ever wanted to sell his collection, let me know. Some time later he approached me, and on a subsequent visit to England and Ireland, the purchase was made.Since then, the collection has been substantially added to including items from David Tett’s sale in Hong Kong which I was able to attend and buy some of what I thought were the better items.
Graham Reynolds accumulated his collection by writing in longhand to over 2000 known POWs from Britain and the Allies, using a list provided by the British Home Office. That would not happen today!
Canberra Stampshow 2014, Large Gold, 92 Points, Special Prize
Baypex 2014 Stamp Show, Large Gold, 91 points, Large Gold
The Capital Stamp Show 2015, 93 points, Large Gold
Philataipei 2016 World Stamp Exhibition, Gold
World Stamp Show – NY2016, Large Vermeil
Melbourne 2017 FIAP Stamp & Coin Show, Large Vermeil
Bandung 2017 World Stamp Exhibition, Gold
Royalpex 2017 Stamp Show, 90 points, Large Gold
NZ 2020 Stamp Exhibition, Large Gold, 94 points, Special Prize
Stockholmia 2019, Large Gold 95 points
This Postcard was in a collection of cigarette Cards that I recently purchased. It took a lot of work to separate it from the album page that it was well and truly stuck down to!
Artist Trevor Lloyd (1863 – 1937) was a pioneer of etching in New Zealand and one of the leading political cartoonists for 32 years. During the 1905 All Black tour of Britain, he drew one of the first cartoons using the Kiwi as a symbol for New Zealand.
I had begun collecting this material when I saw on E-bay some interesting and extremely scarce items for sale. They were New Zealand Prisoner of War Lettercards designed for use in Europe, that were addressed to a New Zealand Prisoner of War Airman who was interred in Batavia. This is extremely unusual anyway, because New Zealand’s war effort was concentrated on Europe, North Africa and the Pacific Islands, not the Far East. Pilot Officer Percy Wellington was a New Zealand volunteer for the Royal Air Force and was stationed at Singapore when the Japanese invaded. He managed to escape to Batavia, but was soon captured and spent the rest of the war interred at various Japanese Prisoner of War prisons in the Dutch East Indies.
These items were being sold by Graham Reynolds from Kent, England. I managed to buy all except one, and then looked to see what else Graham was selling. There was a lot of other Japanese Prisoner of War material. I contacted him and asked him whether he was selling his collection. The answer was that he was only selling his spares. I eventually bought the balance of his material, forming the foundation of my Japanese Prisoner of War collections and exhibits.
The standard reference for this material is:
Treasured Letters: New Zealand Prisoner of War Air Letter Cards 1941 – 1945: Barry J E Scott & Robin M Startup, Edited by Brian Vincent; Monograph No. 18, RPSNZ, 2011.
Christchurch One Frame Stamp & Postcard Exhibition 2023: 91 Points Large Gold. Part of the Wellington Philatelic Society’s winning team of 5 exhibits.
Singapex 2019 FIAP Stamp Exhibition: 86 Points
BOFEX, South Africa 2017 Virtual One Frame Stamp Exhibition: 83 Points
Adelaide Stampex 2017: 90 Points, Large Gold
