Lanarkshire Philatelic Society
"Iceland" & "French Antarctic"
Dr. David Cumming
It
was a cold outside last Friday – and even inside also as members of the
Lanarkshire Philatelic Society were taken to 2 cold places by our
guest speaker, Dr David Cumming, President of the Caledonian Philatelic Society.
First
to Iceland – and a wonderful vista of stamps was viewed – beginning from
1873 when the country was a Dependency of Denmark and the stamps were the same
design but with the name "Island"
inscribed.
The stamps followed through the
reigns of Christian IX, Frederick VIII and Christian X.
Between 1918 and 1944 it became an Independent Kingdom in union with
Denmark and the stamps issued showed King Christian X.
A
change came in 1928 when the stamps were overprinted with an illustration of a
monoplane and the following year designated Airmail stamps were printed.
This was followed by the celebration of the 1000th Anniversary
of the Althing
(the government) and stamps now showed historical, mythological and scenic
images. In 1938
stirring images of Geysir (oldest known geyser) were printed.
On
17th June 1944 came the complete break with Denmark and the country
gained its Independence.
The stamps now illustrated Icelandic sports; Flowers; Europa; re-afforestation;
the Gullfoss Waterfall etc and in 1948 a set was issued giving wonderful images
of the Eruption of the Hekla Volcano.
The display ended with the stamps issued in 1963.
Secondly
to French Southern Antarctic Territories – and David began by explaining that
it was by chance that early Explorers came upon these islands in the Indian
Ocean. The islands are Amsterdam;
St Paul; Crozet; and Kerguelen.
The islands are not inhabited but 4 bases were built and these are
visited only by researchers.
In
1955 the first stamps were issued – these were definitives and were followed
throughout the years by stamps and covers commemorating Anniversaries and
Exploration: - including International Geophysical Year 1957; Kerguelen
Archipelago Discovery 1960; Human Rights Year 1968; First Flight of Concorde
1969; Antarctic Ships 1973; Bicentenary of Cook’s Passage to Kerguelen 1976
etc.
There
were also many covers sent from ships to the bases – the Paquebot handstamp on
each cover indicated which ship was passing the area and all were viewed with
interest.
The
display ended with a great show of Covers recording the work of the French
Oceanic-research vessel "Marion
Dufresne"
(1973-1995) This
was chartered by TAAF (Territoire
des Terres Australes et Antarctiques Françaises)
and served during the summer months as a supply and relief ship for the 4
islands and also delivered personnel to the 3 permanently manned bases of the
French Southern and Antarctic Territories.
Alex
Magowan led members in thanking David Cumming for giving most
informative and entertaining displays.
Our next meeting in the Caledonian Bowling Club, Motherwell Road, Hamilton, is on Friday, 24th February, 2017, at 7:30pm when our guest, Bill Russell, will present a "Miscellany".
Anyone with an interest in stamps, postal history, postcards etc is very
welcome to attend.