Lanarkshire Philatelic Society

"SPACECRAFT"

Mr. Harvey Duncan

Retired teacher, Harvey Duncan entertained society members with his thematic display of "Spacecraft".

He began by referring to "Halley's Comet", named after Edmund Halley, who had deduced that this comet reappeared every 76 years, coinciding with important earth events. A comet is, in fact, a "dirty snowball". He proceeded to show stamps showing various space/comet probes from the USA, USSR and Japan i.e. Giotto along with stamps from many countries celebrating the latest appearance of the comet in 1986, including sets from 5 different countries designed by Jennifer Toombs. He concluded his first round by showing a board of "It's a Rip-Off" material from Montserrat, which had issued 8 stamps (in 2 sheets of 4) and 2 minisheets, with the stamps both perforate & imperforate as well as two "overprint runs", one blue, one black, one over print run inverted and one doubled making a total, if he had bought them all of 32 sheets and 8 minisheets!

Harvey's second round showed spacecraft from the beginning of space exploration starting with the Russian "Vostok" craft right through to USA's Mercury, Gemini and Venus Craft. He also showed sheets depicting the many astronauts and cosmonauts through the years and well as covers from the USA's space exploration recovery ships.

Rev. Bill Izett gave a warm, and witty, vote of thanks in recognition of an excellent display.

Our next meeting, on Friday 15th October, has society member Brian Dow showing Norway.