(CANAL ZONE PHILATELIC NOTES

Published by the

Canal Zone Study Group

Edited by Edlk,rd S. Conger, 7317 Alaska A venue, N. W., Washington 12, D. C.

Vo~ume Number 3 October 1 9 5 3

THE CONGRESS

IN NEwARK

SPECIAL C. Z.

CANCELLATION

i\~

As Lnnounced in the last issue or the "Notes," the 19th Ameri­can Philatelic Congress will be held at the Robert Tre2t

Hotel, New&rk, New Jersey, beginning Thursday evening, October

29th, 2nC. continuing through Sunday, November 1st. The Congress oanquet lrilltc:ke plE.ce F:cic.ay,Saturday evening having been left open purposely for

specie.lty g:c'oupmeetings. Consequently, an informal CZSG dinner is being

planned ro:c"Sa-Gurday evening to be follm-red by an impromptu program. Sincene,' ..:c"l.:r haJ_f or our present membership of 126 is located Hithin easy travelingdi;:,t2.nceof NeHo.rk, it should be possible to have quite 0. respectable gather­

::'ng.. Some ITS knoVJ are bringing their wives. If the response wo.rrcmts, a pri­v&te room may be engaged for dinner and the meeting. Otherwise, we will dinein the hotel dining room or a nearby restaurant. In order that arrangements

may be completed, please drop a letter or post card immediately to the editor&t the c:bove address advising whether you Hill attend the dinner, or the meet­

ing, or both, 2nd how many places to reserve. Johnny-come-latelies may adviseof their intentions by contacting the editor or Col. DeVoss at the Robert

T~eat Hotel after 6 p.m. Thursday, October 29th.

Among those CZSG members planning to attend the Congress are Brett,

W. D. Coffin, Conger, DeVoss, Mitchell, Philler, Stull and Weiler. Advanceinformat~on indicates that CZSG exhibitors will include Blum, DeVoss, Congerand Wei:~er. A short story on the find of the 1909-21 Ii Hith center and

overp~int inverted (Scott No. 41d) will appear in the 1953 Congress Book.

No official word is yet available but reliable reports fromthe C2,nc,1Zone indicate that the commemorative cancellation

honoring the 50th anniversary of the independence of the

Republic of pc.nama Hill reE.d "Honoring 50 Years of Friendship and Cooperation"1nth the Hords cmd dE.tes "Panama - Canal Zone - 1903 - 1953" forming a border.

It is likely that commemorative machine cancellation dies will be supplied to

tl18 post oG'ices z.tAncon, Balboa, Balboa Heights and Cristobal, the only postoffices which use slogan or "first day of issue" machine ccmcellations. Since

Panama's independence anniverSary falls on Tuesday, November 3rd, it is logic­al to suppose that the commemorative cancellation Hill be placed in use on or

before thClt c~a:T. Watch the philatelic press c2.refully for official announce­ment of the first day of authorized use and for instructions on how to securecovers bearing the commemorative cancels.

50th ANNIVERSARYCOMMEMORAT IVES ?

Word reaches us that Canal Zone authorities are glVlng

most serious consideration to discarding previous plans

for the issuance of a short series commemorating the 50thanniversary of the transfer of the French canal properties to United Statesjurisdiction and the establishment of the Canal Zone. It i5 under5tood that

the final decision has not been made and that the Canal Zone authorities may

yet find it possible to proceed with original plans for the proposed stamps

if convinced that there is a genuine popular sentiment in favor of them.

Col. Richardson Selee

Civil Affairs Director,Balboa Heights, C. Z.

short series of from three

50th anniversary of the

sta~s should be ready on

and to:

Every member of the Canal Zone Study Group is urged to immediately writeair mail letters to:

Governor John S. Seybold

Balboa Heights,Canal Zone

expressing their keen desire for and support of ato five stamps of commemorative size honoring theCanal Zone. Do this now as time is short and the

or before the anniversary date, May 4, 1954.

In this connection it might be noted that the new commemorative issuecould include denominations which the Canal Zone Postal Service does not now

have available to meet greatly increased parcel post rates which became effec­tive October 1st and the new first class rates on overseas mail which go into

effect November 1st. The new rate on foreign letters up to one ounce is 8i,

and on post cards it is 4i. Many parcels from the Zone now arrive with large

blOcks of the 50i stamp which is the highest denomination ordinary postage

stamp now available. One-dollar postage stamps have not been available,except for air mail, since the U. S. overprints became obsolete over 20 yearsago. A commemorative series of from three to five stamps in denominations of3i, 4i, 6¢, 8¢ and $1 would fill a definite postal need in the Canal Zone.

Write the Governor and Col. Selee immediately -- it is later than youthink!

HOUSTON APS

CONVENTIONHouston being somewhat distant from centers where CZSG member­

ship is heaviest, only three members of the Group were in atten­dance at the American Philatelic Society Convention, September

23-26: Elmer A. Brink, Baton Rouge, La., W. Vernon Osgood, Orange, Texas, and

Lt. Col. James T. DeVoss, Alexandria, Va. Jim, who is International Secretaryof the APS, was reelected to that office during the convention for another

term of two years.

HANDBOOK OF BOOKLETSAND BOOKLET PANES

A reprint in handbook form of the story on "Canal Zone

Booklets" by Lt. Col. James T. DeVoss which appeared

in serial form in STAMPS magazine during March andApril 1952, is in the hands of the printers and will be ready for distribution

to all CZSG members in the very near future. As usual, there will be no charge

to members for this handbook, thanks to the additional contributions of Sus­

taining and Contributing Members.

Canal Zone Philatelic Notes, October 1953 Page 20

CAMPEX '53IN D.C.

ington, D. C.being:

Dates for the CAMPEX show were changed shortly after the last

issue of "Notes" went to press. The exhibition will take placeOctober 19th to 26th in the Pan American Union Building, Wash­

Exhibits will include several by CZSG members, the list to date

Rudolph B. WeilerLt. Col. James T. DeVoss

Edward S. Conger

Gustavo Schay

H. Dana Mitchell

Joseph Mandos

Canal Zone First Issue of 1904Canal Zone Series of 1909-21

Canal Zone Inverted Centers and Large Die

Proofs Complete, and Panama Postal History

Panama li on 2i 1884 and a Specialized StuQyof the Fourth Panama Provisional Issue of

1904Costa Rica Die and Plate Proofs of San.Juan

de Dios Hospital Issue

Guatemala 19th Century

3-CENT STUART

C. Z. NO. 114

acknowledgement

Two members, Bill Philler and J. W. Coffin, were able to give

Orv Milburn some help on the 3i Stuart in response to thethree questions posed in the last issue of "Notes". Publicof OrvIs appreciation is hereby recorded.

The third question as to the dates on which stamps from the last three

printings were issued in the Canal Zone comes close to being answered by the

dates of receipt of these printings by the Canal Zone. Two of these dates were

obtained from official sources there by George Brett and combined with pre­

vious information obtained from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the fol­lowing tabulation has been compiled:

Printing1st

2nd

3rd4th

Quantity1,050,000

525,000

525,000

1,050,000

Date dispatched

from WashingtonJanuary 6, 1933

May 23, 1933

August 30, 1933February 10,1934

Date received

by Canal ZoneJanuary 13, 1933

?September 7, 1933

February 16, 1934

Da te of Issue

January 14, 1933???

From this it will be seen that the first printing was issued one day after

receipt. The same would have been possible, but not necessarily so, in thecase of the other three printings. The only way of pinpointing the date ofissue of these printings will be through covers bearing stamps with plate num­

bers peculiar to the individual printings. Collectors having material of thisnature should promptly report it to Orville H. Milburn, 361 East Fifth St.,

Mount Vernon, N. Y.

THE FIRSTSERIES OF

1904

DeVoss, Ewing,

The response to Rudy Weiler's request for assistance in recording

a complete description of all covers bearing C. Z. Nos. 1, 2 and 3has been excellent. The list of CZSG members who have· submi tted

covers and supplied data includes Brooks, J. W. Coffin, Conger,Goldfrank, Graham, Helmholz, Mueller, Osgood, Philler, Stull,

Canal Zone Philatelic Notes, October 1953 Page 22

Tatelman and Ware, as well as non-member Jere. Hess Barr. Over 120 covers ,

bearing about 200 cancellations, have now been logged and some surprisingres~ts ~~~ ..

There are 3 cancellations on the first day of issue, Friday, June 24,1904; one on Saturday, June 25th; and 3 on Sunday, June 26th. The commonest

dates are Saturday, J~y 9th, 24 cancellations, and Wednesday, July 13th, 26

cancellations. There are no cancellations recorded from Thursday, J~y 14th

through Sunday, July 17th! The first annual report of the Governor of the

Canal Zone states that the overprinted U. S. stamps were received from theStates on July 14th and the Panama stamps withdrawn on the 17th, small remain­ders of the 5i and loi stamps having been destroyed shortly afterwards. Has

anyone an explanation for the absence of cancellations for the last four daysthe First Issue was available for use?

The destination of almost all covers is either the Canal Zone or Panama,

only a half-dozen showing destinations in the U. S. or abroad. It also appears

that some of these covers were mailed in groups as they have identical post­

marks, are on the same kind of envelopes, and are in the same handwriting.There is rather conclusive evidence that practically all First Issue coverswere made by philatelists on the scene at that time or mailed as souvenirs ofthe new postal service. An obviously commercial cover is almost nonexistent.

The list of town cancellations includes all of the 10 post offices then inexistence. The number of cancellations noted for each office is as follows:

Cristobal

Ancon

La Boca

985222

Culebra

Empire

GorgonaBohio

8753

Gatun

Matachin

San Pablo

221

PROSPECT IVEMEMBERS

(.

These preliminary findings could not have been possible without the team­

work of the CZSG. Everyone who has anything to contribute to this study and

has not yet done so, please get in touch with Rudolph B. Weiler, 9 Green TreeBuilding, West Chester, Pa.

Without a doubt, many members of the CZSG know of collectors

who would be interested in affiliating with the Group. Afew have taken the trouble to write us a note giving names

and addresses of prospective members. A prospectus has been prepared which

describes the purposes of the Group, benefits of membership and how to join.

A copy of the prospectus and an application blank will be sent to anyprospects suggested by the membership.

Canal Zone Philatelic Notes, October 1953 Page 23