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VOL. 15, No. 3

PhilatelistTHIRD QUARTER, 1979 WHOLE No. 52

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Presidene s ReportGeorge W. Stilwell

377 Rolling Rock RoadMountainside, N. J. 07092

On June 6, 1979, the Paterson, New Jer­sey post office had a special one day cancelfor the return of Railroad Engine No. 299from Panama. The Canal Zone Study Grouphad a cachet envelope made for this specialevent and enough covers for each memberof the CZSG. These unaddressed coverswill be sent to all paid-up CZSG memberswith their 1980 dues notice.

About 75 years ago, the Isthmian CanalCommission ordered 100 locomotives, andNo. 299 is one of the 60 ton Alco-CookeMogul locomotives built in Paterson in1906 by the Rodgers Locomotive Works.These engines saw duty during the- con­struction of the Panama Canal and formany years thereafter. Engine No. 299continued to run until 1953 at which timeit was retired and placed in front of theBalboa Heights Railroad Station.

After searching for several years, theCity of Paterson located one of these en­gines in the Canal Zone for their Indus­trial Museum. The Panama Canal Companythen donated Locomotive No. 299 to Pater­son for this museum.

As for the final event of the Canal ZonePostal 'Service which will take place Sep­tember 30, 1979, the Canal Zone PostalService will have a special cancel for twopost offices, Cristobal and Balboa. Thesepost offices will process as many self-ad­dressed stamped covers as you wish to send.These covers must have the correct amountof Canal Zone postage for their return. Anymembers interested in obtaining covers forthis event must send their own self-ad­dressed stamped envelopes as the CZSGis not undertaking this asa group project.

Mail Sale No. 8

REMINDER: Closing date for receiptof bids is October 11, 1979, no laterthan noon P.D.T. at Richard H. ISalz's,60-27th Avenue, San Francisco, Cali­fornia 94121.

Marginal MarkingsBy Douglas K. Lehmann

On February 18, 1970 the Canal Zone issued Scott No. C48a, the 10c airmail bookletpane. This issuance broke a 34 year absence since the last booklet was issued in 1935For about one-half of this time no booklets were available over the counter in the CanalZone.

The advent of No. C48a led to No. C49aon September 24, 1971 and No. C50a on lustrated in the Scott Specialized Catalog ofFebruary 11, 1974, the 11¢ and 13¢ airmail U.S. Stamps. Being larger stamps, theseissues in booklet format. What will be in booklets were produced from 200-subjectall likelihood the last booklet pane issue plate layouts. Figure 1 shows the layoutwas also 13¢, but· for regular postage is- for No. C48a. The sheet has 50 pane posi­sued on April 19, 1976. These four i:sues tions five columns across and ten rowswith two cover types represent the modern deep. On the left margin are two colorera of Canal Zone booklet pane production. bars, the top is black and the bottom orange

The four issues were unique in U.S. (light from first printing and dark frompostal history in the type of marginal mark- second). When the sheet is cut for book­ings found on the individual panes. They lets the black bell' is cut forming a shortarea.ifferent from United-Srates issues buf ~bottom tab on pane- position_I; anCLa_Iargesimilar to the recent 400-subject plate il- (Continued on page 20)

Fig. 1. Layout for lO¢ and ll¢ airmail booklets.

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Published quarterly by The Canal ZoneStudy Group, P. O. Box 765, State College,Pa. 16801. Postmaster, send 3579 forms to29 S. South Carolina Ave., Atlantic City,N.J. 08401. Printed by Himes Printing Co.,State College, Pa. Second Class postage paidat State College, Pa. 16801.

Display advertising accepted from CZSGmembers only at the following rates perinsertion:

'(he Canal Zone

Philatelist(USPS 556-140)

A.P.S. Affiliate No. 42Gilbert N. Plass, Editor

P. O. Box 9973College Station, Texas 77840

one column, two inches $ 9.00one column, five inches 17.50two columns, five inches 30.00

No larger advertisements than above are ac­cepted. Remittance must accompany copy.Deadline for ads. first day of Jan., Apr.,July, Oct. Send all manuscript and ad copyto the Editor.

Subscriptions are $5.00 per year which in­cludes membership in the Canal Zone StudyGroup. Subscriptions, changes of address,and complaints of non-delivery should besent to the Secretary, Alfred R. Bew, 29 S.South Carolina Ave., Atlantic City, N. J.08401.

The dearth of Canal Zone material of­fered in auctions continued during thespring quarter. The following items broughtfour figure amounts. The first copy of ScottNo. 20d, 8 cts double, in pair with normal,ever sold at auction brought $1000 againsta catalogue price of $500 at Robert Siegel(10 copies printed). Scott No. 23a, twohorizontal pairs imperforate between form­ing a block of four, again offered by RobertSiegel, brought $1500 against a catalogueprice of $900 in spite of minor thins andslight tropical og (20 pairs printed). JohnKaufmann offered the handmade bookletScott No. 32c, four panes of 6 of 2¢ stampin complete booklet with cover by errorfor l¢ panes, which sold for $1050.

The 1930 Graf Zeppelin covers mailedfrom the Canal Zone are in great demand.Roger Koerber sold three of these. A coversent on the first flight from Cristobal toMiami, then steamship to Germany, andthen on the Graf Zeppelin from Germanyto Lakehurst, N.J. with both Canal Zonestamps and the $1.30 U.S. Graf Zeppelinstamp brought $2100. A 1930 card sent air­mail from Cristobal to New York and thenon the Graf Zeppelin from Lakehurst toGermany with both Canal Zone stamps andthe 65¢ U.S. Graf Zeppelin stamp brought$1600. The same but on cover with the

"Once it became known that subscriptionscould be taken anywhere on the Isthmusand transmitted by the first aerial mailhere, applications began to swarm in to thepost office until it became necessary to layeverything else possible aside and all towork for the good of the great commoncause.

"Major W. W. vVynne, with LieutenantsEdward W. Warren and Kenneth Winslowfrom the Aviation Corps at France Field,left Coco Solo at 9:05 this morning andthe mail left the Cristobal Post Office incharge of Postmaster Gerald Bliss andElmer Oberg, the Acting Assistant Post­master, at 9:12, where it was nIshed to thelaunch in one large sack and taken to Dock10, placed on board the hydroplane, whichleft at 9:31, timed by Captain Fels andPostmaster B!iss. Major Wynne rose and atonce left for Balboa, reaching Dock 18 atfive minutes after 10, thus making the tripfrom ocean to ocean in 34 minutes. Themail was safely in the hands of PostmasterGeorge E. Lemire at Balboa at 10:25 A.M.. . . The result was an addition of $93,000to the Fourth Liberty Loan fund, which isabsolutely velvet and is sufficient indicationof what the Postmaster has done for thegreat cause.

"At 8 P.M. last night it was found thatthere were not sufficient envelopes andA. P. E. Doyle, in charge of the PanamaCanal Press, had to be sent for at his horneon Colon Beach to have some more printed,which of course he cheerfully did.

"The suggestion has been made that J.Wendell Greene, who has done so muchin tabulation and arranging the subscriptionat the Cristobal Post Office, and who isthe champion long distance swimmer on theIsthmus, should swim through the Canalwith the last subscriptions for the nextloan, and this he would cheerfully do.

"The envelopes will be returned to thesubscribers without delay, duly endorsedand numbered, for last night at the PostOffice every subscription received was num­bered and card indexed so that only sub­scribers could possibly secure the covetedsouvenir. The first number was for C. H.Calhoun (the man who had been at theWashington-New York aerial mail start),the second Harry F. Frey (transfer Clerkat the Cristobal Post Office), and the thirdGerald D. Bliss (the Postmaster). In allthere were 919 envelopes and the totalsubscriptions received were $93,000.

"The names of the staff at the CristobalPost Office who worked so hard for thecause throughout the campaign and prac­tically all night last night with Gerald B.Bliss were as follows: J. Wendell Greene,W. K. Howe, E. B. Obers, B. Spotomo,W. L. Howard, Edward L. Greene andHarry F. Frey, while William Rattner wason hand as per usual, busy as only he canbe with the tabulator and Claude Hollickwas a much appreciated volunteer help-er.... "

$1.30 U.S. Graf Zeppelin stamp brought$1600.

In the following list the price realizedis followed by the catalogue price in paren­thesis as listed in the auction catalogue.The name of the auction house follows.All items are unused and without seriousdefects unless mentioned otherwise. Allprices have been rounded to the nearestdollar.

Scott No. 39g, $450 ($550) John Kauf­mann; 7le, $46 ($50) Kaufmann; 80, plateblock of 6, $650 ($350) Harmers of SanFrancisco; 86, bl. of 20, $95 ($30) Harmersof SF; 86b in pair with normal, $325 ($301)Kaufmann; 87, $10 ($12) Peter Kenedi;87, bl. of 30, $425 ($367) Harmer of SF;88, $8 ($6) Kenedi; 95, bl. of 6, $500($310) Hanners of SF; 97, $13 ($15)Kenedi; 120-135, $46 ($54) Harmers ofSF; 120-135 on FDC, $30 Roger Koerber;C2, $75 ($65) Kaufmann; CI5-C20, $32($35) Hamlers of SF; J28 on cover, $27Kenedi; 01-2,04-7,09, $26 ($21) Kenedi.

No. U3, $375 ($400) Kenedi; U4, $120($1l0) Kenedi; U4, used, $56 ($70) Kene­di; UX2, $90 ($85) Harmers of SF; UX4,used, $30 ($25) Kenedi.

First Ocean to OceanAirmail Flight

By Gilbert N. PlassSome additional information has been

received about the first ocean to oceanairmail flight of 1918 and the submarincemail of the following year (see Vol. 14,p. 25 and Vol. 15, p. 10). It seems thatthe idea for the airmail flight originatedwith C. H. Calhoun of the Canal Zone whowas present for the first flight of airmailservice from Washington, D.C. to NewYork, N.Y. on May 15, 1918. He wrote aletter to the Postmaster at Cristobal andsuggested a Canal Zone flight to raisemoney for the Fourth Libelty Loan.

Thc actual flight is well described bythe Colon Star and Herald of October 18,1918: "Early risers or belated travellerspassing the Cristobal Post Office about2:.20 A.M. this morning might have noteda body of young men leaving the buildingwith tired but happy faces. Had they caredto investigate further they would havelearned that these were the boys who hadgladly volunteered their time and servicesfor the promotion of the successful closingof the Fourth Liberty Loan Campaign. TheOcean to Ocean Aerial Mail Service whenfirst contemplated was merely thought tobe a good idea to bring in a few morethousand dollars for the Atlantic sectionand double-rivet their claim to the quotaflag, and while it was started at the veryeve of the close of the drive, it was almostimmediately apparent from the spontaneousinterest displayed that it might easily de­velop far beyond the anticipations of itsauthors.

The Canal Zone Study Group

Auctions

Copyright 1979

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..Fig; 4. Scott No. '138 with imperforate top margin.

"The Universal Postal Union Conventionprovides for the acceptance at post officesunder certain conditions of correspondencebearing postage other than Canal Zone,if it has originated on board a vesselwhile on the high seas or in a foreign port.In order to be accepted as 'paquebot' mail,such correspondence must be delivered tothe Balboa or Cristobal post offices. Thedelivery is made by an officer or represen­tative of the steamship company, who bringsthe correspondence to the post office witha statement (written or oral) by which thepostmaster (or his representative) is satis­fied that the correspondence originated onthe 'vessel under-the prescribed conditions.If the postage stamps other than CanalZone, have not already been cancelled bya postal agent or officer on board the ves­sel, they are then cancelled by the CanalZone post office with a 'paquebot' post­mark or with the regular postmark; in thelatter case the word 'Paquebot' is placedon the envelope with ink or with a rubberstamp.

"A 'paquebot' letter, if mailed on thehigh seas must be prepaid by means of thepostage stamps and according to the postagerates of the country which owns or main­tains the vessel on which it was mailed. Ifmailed in a foreign port, it must be pre­paid by means of stamps and according tothe postage rates of the country where the

Treatment of "Paquebot" Mailat Post Offices

the stamps. This variety was listed forawhile in the Scott catalogue, but then wasdropped for a reason not known to my­self, perhaps because of the very weaksecond printing.

Various perforation varieties are knownon the permanent series of stamps. Forexample, one copy of the 2¢ Roosevelt,Scott No. 138, exists with imperforate topmargin. This is shown in Fig. 4. This blockshows clearly how this variety occurred dueto a paper fold which resulted in the freakperforations shown on the left of the block.This left the stamp on the right with thecompletely imperforate top margin.

(Continued in next issue)

Fig. 2. Scott No. 97d. ZONE only.

Fig. 3. Scott No. lOla with double CANAL.

tograph from which Fig. 3 was made, butmayor may not be visible in the cut usedto print this figure. The C of CANAL isabove the D of UNlTEDnear the top of

made from the sheets of 400 which wereungummed and imperforate. The panes of100 tended to curl in the printing pressused to apply the overprint with the re­sulting fold-overs of part of the pane whenthe force of the press came down. All threecopies of this error have the perforationscutting into the design. Thus the collectorhas no choice of condition if he wants thiserror in his collection. The same situationis true of many Canal Zone errors andvarieties - they simply do not exist withvery fine centering or with undisturbedgum.

One pane of the rotary press printingof the 2¢ booklet pane, Scott No. lOla, wasdiscovered with CANAL double on thebottom two stamps. This second CANALis very weak and can only be seen withdifficulty. It shows up weakly in the pho-

Fig. 1. Scott No. 31a. Inverted center.

Canal Zone ErrorsBy Gilbert N. Plass

Inverted centers have perhaps the great­est appeal of all the errors that occur inphilately. The rarest Canal Zone invertedcenter is without question Scott No. 31a.A fourth copy has recently been discoveredwhich is shown in Fig. 1. This copy is in

- -~very fine condi'ion and appears to showthe trimmed perforations on the right char­acteristic of a stamp from a handmadebooklet pane. One of the other knowncopies clearly shows trimmed perforationson the left side, so that it seems establishedthat the stamps from the error pane wereused to make handmade booklet panes.No one noticed the error at the time thebooklets were made or even when thestamps were used, as no unused copy wassaved for collectors. A block of 16 stampswas left over in the center of the paneof· 100 after the handmade booklet paneswere made as we have discussed previously.It is interesting to speculate as to whatmay have happened to this block! One ofthe other copies of No. 31a is in very finecondition, while the third copy has minordefects and the fourth copy is unfortunatelyin poor condition.

A United States overprint error whichhas not been illustrated previously in ourjournal is Scott No. 97d, ZONE only onthe 2¢ Perf. 10 rotary press printing. Onlythree· copies have been found of this errorand one of these is shown in Fig. 2.BAllofthese errors were caused by fold-overs whichprevented the entire overprint from beingprinted on the stamp. Such fold-overs hap­pened m'ore often on the stamps that wereoverprinted from 100 stamp fully gummedand perforated panes, as was the case·Jorthis stamp, than on the earlier printings

As our original article stated there werethe specially printed covers (see Fig. 1, VoL14, p. 25) plus approximately 150 addi­tional letters and 15 post cards (see Figs.2 and 3 of previous article). Note that thenewspaper states that there were 919 printedenvelopes.

Reference: "Pioneer Airpost Flights ofthe World 1830-1935" by Dr. Max Kron­stein, American Air Mail Society, 1978.

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port is [oclted. Articles mailed aboard anyvessel for posting at the Canal Zone maybe prepaid by me of Canal Zone postagestamps, however, such articles are nottreated as 'paquebot' but as regular CanalZone domestic mail. Articles mailed onboard any vessel during its stay in a CanalZone port, must be prepaid with CanalZone postage.

«The following are examples of articlesnot entitled to receive 'paquebot' markingsat Canal Zone post offices and must beprepaid by means of Canal Zone stamps:

Articles not bearing valid postage of acountry as indicated above.

Articles mailed in a letter box or letter

drop.

Articles mailed at post offices otherthan Balboa or Cristobal.

Articles originating on board a vesselduring its stay in a Canal Zone port."Canal Zone Postal Service.

-OTTO L. LANGER

Marginal Markings -

(Continued from page 17)

top tab on pane position 6. The orange tabremains intact on pane position 31. Thiscut remains the same for No. C49a (longand short black bar; long olive bar). Theblack color bar was moved a short distance

vertically up the margin for Nos. C50aand 163a. In these last two issues the longbar is found on the bottom and the shortbar is on the top (black on No. C50a andblue on No. 163a). Additionally a secondcolor bar might be expected on No. 163a.There is none, because No. 163a wasprinted from a single plate in the Gioripress, while the airmail booklets are printedfrom two plates. Thus Nos. C48a, C49aand C50a have three collectable positionswith bar varieties in addition to the plainpane; No. 163a has only two bar varieties.Since only three of the fifty panes on theplate (two for No. 163a) have the barvarieties, these are scarce. All five panesin an unexploded booklet are the same,either all with plain margins or all with oneof the bar varieties.

In a recent visit to the Bureau of En­

graving and Printing, I was shown an un­cut sheet of Nos. C48a and 163a. Two

plate numbers appear in each of the fourcomers of the sheet before being cut off.For No. C48a the black number 170959is closest to the outside margin; the orangenumber 170963 is the next to it towards theinterior of the sheet. For No. 163a only oneplate number (black) was printed, 172976,and its position is on the outside fourcorners. The BEP is in the process of pro­viding me all plate numbers used and totalprintings. I was unable to see uncut sheetsof Nos. C49a and C50a but they shouldhave two color bars on the left margin andtwo plate numbers in all four corners.

In correspondence with CZSG member

Fig. 2. Short and long bars.

Tom Brougham, he asked how booklets areformed and the reason for narrow and widetabs. The full uncut sheets and covers areassembled in stacks about 500 sheets highin unexploded booklet order. That is frontcover, five sheets of stamps, back cover,front cover, etc. Then they are trimmed,cut and stapled. The cutting process is byguillotine and using this process it is im­possible to cut the en'ire stack evenly. Thesame method is used for your money. Lookat several dollar bills and note the differentsize margins.

Varieties of two basic types are due tooff center guillotine cutting. The five regis­ter bars between the fifth and sixth rowsof booklet panes can be included for thefirst type. They could be left or right,singly or together, either top or bottom.CZSG Auctions 5, 6 and 7 offered No.C49a with these register bars at TL, TR,and TL and TR of top margin. Since thisis a cutting variety it· can appear any num­ber of times in an unexploded booklet, oneto five times. The author would like to hear

of other known positions on the four issues.Can anyone report these bars on bookletsother than the ll¢ one or at bottom of

pane?The second type error includes a pane

with part of the plate numbers in any offour positions, UL, UR, LL, and LR. Noneof these have been reported.

Unstapled copies of Nos. C50a and 163awere provided for first day cover servicing.The former is known mint, cover and inter­leaving included. 1 have not seen or heardof others either on FDC or in mint con­dition. These unstapled panes should existwith the color bars in the margin tabs.

As has been reported before, the secondprinting of No. 163a was with a dark greencover (first printing light green) withcrimped tabs instead of staples. This print­ing was for 104,400 complete booklets(with 5 panes each) as compared to 131,760booklets of the first printing with staples.Both varieties are worth collecting as isdone with regular U.S. booklets. UnlikeU.S. postage which changed from staples

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to crimped seals between emissions, the CZNo. 163a is unusual with both types on oneissue. The printings less cover and fasten­ing type are identical in all other ways.

The modern era of Canal Zone booklet

philately is about to end after a ten yearperiod of use. The earlier era (documentedby Col. James T. DeVoss in CZSG Hand­book No.2) produced 36 major varietiesin 40 years. Counting both No. 163a varie­bes, the current era has five, but with theadded twist of marginal markings. Thesemarkings ar~ unusual and truly not com­mon.

I hope this article will stimulate moreCZ booklet pane collecting, at least for thebasic 2 or .'3 standard color bar varieties.

The author would someday like to supple­ment Handbook Number 2 with this modernera of booklet pane collecting. Informationon the questions posed would be appreci­ated. Address is 3307 Chicamuxen Court,Falls Church, VA 22041.

15¢ Freak PerforationsOne pane of 50 of the new 15¢ Lock

stamp has been found with the verticalperforations considerably too far .to the left.On the top row of the pane they cut about6 mm into the design on the left side. Onthe plate number copy the perforations areto the far side of the plate number.

Correct Dates?By Richard H. Salz

Scott Specialized catalog states that theoverprinted United States stamps (ScottNos. 4-8) were first placed on sale on July18, 1904. I would like to take exception tothis date and will present the following insupport of a July 17 date. For emphasiscertain dates in the following excerpts havebeen italicized.

The Canal Record of June 2, 1909, pg.316, states: "On June 24, 1904, the Secre­tary of War, by direction of the President,issued an order establishing a postal servicein the Zone, with nine post-offices ...From June 24 until July 17, 1904, Panamapostage stamps (which were Columbianstamps surcharged 'Panama') having thewords 'CANAL ZONE' overprinted with arubber stamp, were issued in the Zone. OnJuly 17 a supply of United States stamps,surcharged 'Canal Zone,' was put intouse .... "

The Annual Report of the Isthmian CanalCommission dated December 1, 1904, states:"On the 13th of July the supply of UnitedStates postage stamps was received and onthe 17 of July the use of Panama stampswas discontinued .... Total sales of United

States postage stamps surcharged 'CanalZone' from July 11 to September 30 ­$1,583.80 (gold). The receipts from thesale of Panama postage stamps surcharged'Canal Zone from June 25 to July 16 ­$926.00 (local currency) ,"

Fig, 1. Scott C25a. Pair imperforate vertically from lower left pane.

From the above it is apparent that thefirst day date for the overprinted UnitedStates issue must be July 17, 1904, and notJuly 18, 1904, as stated in Scott Specializedcatalog. Should a cry be raised that July 17was a Sunday, so it was, but it should berecalled that at least during this earlyperiod of the Canal Zone postal service thepost offices were open on Sunday. This canbe proven by the dozens of first seriescovers that exist with Sunday dates.

Now what about covers or stamps withdated cancellations. On one side of thefence (the fence being July 17, 1904) thereare no recorded cancellations of the firstseries stamps with the July 17 date, butthere are four covers on record dated July16, 1904. What about the second seriesstamps? Well, so far there are no reportsof any covers or stamps with a July 17,1904 cancellation. Hopefully one of ourmembers will come up with that July 17date, in which case please let our editorknow about it, so we can send a requestto Scott to make the necessary change ofdate in the catalog.

Incidentally while on this subject ofdates do any of our readers know of afirst day cancel for the third series stamps(Scott 9, 10, etc.)? We have records ofcancellations on December 13 (second day)but the December 12 date is a blank. Andthe December 12 date is correct as both thepostal service records of the Isthmian CanalCommission and the Scott catalog agree!!

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Second Time Around

(The following article appeared in STAMPS

on May 11, 1957. It was written by Col.James T. DeVoss who at that time wasstationed at Paris, France, with the SupremeHeadquarters Allied Powers Europe. Whereadditions have been made to the text theyare enclosed in brackets.

- R. H. SALz)

Canal Zone Part Perforate Sheet

Major Error 31¢:"Cerise" Discovered

By Lt. Co!. James T. DeVoss

Never again will I complain about as­signing the shade designation "cerise" to alake red stamp. Scott's catalog has myblessing, henceforth and forevermore, touse the color term "cerise" for any shadeof red stamp in existence. But let me geton with the story of why "cerise" to me issuddenly such an adorable shade althoughit is still a non-descriptive term that fewstamp collectors can define.

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing'swonderful record of almost thirty years ofprinting Canal Zone stamps without a majorerror has now been shattered. (The invertedoverprint on the 6¢ official airmail stamp,recently reported was printed in the Canal

Zone.) A sheet of Canal Zone 3l¢ airmailstamps, shade "cerise" according to Scott's,has been found imperforate verticallytruly an. unusual item, reported now forthe first time.

The 31¢ stamp, one of six denominationsin the series of 1951, and still current, wasissued July 16, 1951. To date only twoorders for this value have been placed withthe Bureau of Engraving and Printing byCanal Zone officials, with 190,000 shippedto the Zone in June 1951, and 165,000shipped in April 1954. The 31¢ stamp(Scott's No. C25) is needed to pay thehalf-ounce airmail letter rate from the CanalZone to New Zealand, Australia, and otherFar East countries. The rate of 31¢ is ob­tained by adding the 6¢ rate from the CanalZone to the United States to the 25¢ U.S.rate from the U.S. to the Far East.

This part-perforate sheet was discoveredaboard the R.M.S. Ruahine, a passenger/cargo vessel of British registry operated bythe New Z'ealan;rShTpping Co.,- Lia.: -ofLondon, on runs between England and NewZealand via the Panama Canal Zone. PeterF. Curtis, a member of the British MerchantNavy, who worked in the Purser's officewith the rating of "Writer," first discoveredthe unusual sheet of part-perforate 31¢stamps when he returned from lunch onMay 23, 1956, one day before the vesselarrived at the port of Cristobal, to find hissuperior, the assistant purser, having dif­ficulty separating the stamps from thesheet. Although he was not a stamp col­lector, young Curtis realized that this sheetwas unusual, so promptly purchased theremaining 97 stamps.

Curtis carried the stamps back to Lon­don on the return trip, and after rejectinga £, 25. offer (a fraction over double face)by a prominent Lon.don stamp dealer,turned them over to another importantstamp firm in London for sale at auction.The conservative auction description failedto attract a single mail bid in excess of the.£ 30 estimated valuation. But the floorbidding was' a different story and the com­petition was keen. Of the several com­petitors all but two dropped out as the lotquickly rose above the .£ 150 mark andthe amount continued to advance until thelast competitor, another London stampdealer, dropped out, and the unlisted, pre­viously unknown, error sheet was knockeddown to "Yours Truly,"

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Who would ever think of purchasing acomplete unbroken bundle of 10,000 31¢stamps from a post office window at onetime? And therein lies the story of how thispart-perforate error got out past the postalemployees undetected.

Norton Lilly & Co., Cristobal, CanalZone, the New Zealand Shipping Company'sagent in Panama, sent a bundle of 100sheets of the 31¢ airmail stamp, still sealed,just as they were delivered from the Bureauof Engraving and Printing, to the Londonfirm during April 1954. The 31¢ value,together with Canal Zone 1¢ and 5¢ ordi­naries and the 21¢ airmail, were madeavailable to the passengers of the five ves­sels making the London/Wellington tripso that letters written before reaching theCanal Zone could be posted while transitingthe Isthmus. Although many passengersused the 6d British air letter sheet, whichis the cheapest possible airmail rate, Canal

_Z.one_Ro_~ftge_.F_l\.SMS9-provided. for theirconvenience.

Opening the bundles in London, the NewZealand Shipping Company placed a fewsheets of each Canal Zone value aboardthe vessels one day prior to sailing. Recordsindicate that only 300 of the 31¢ stampswere normally placed aboard the R.M.S.Ruahine (Maori meaning "The Old Wom­an") at the beginning of each voyage, andit was during the "fateful" voyage whichdeparted London on May 11, 1956, that theerror sheet came to light.

Approximately 50 sheets of the 31¢ stampstill remained unused in the vaults of theNew Zealand Shipping Company when Ihad the opportunity to examine them per­sonally on March 29, 1957. What a thrillingmoment - a chance to examine the stockfrom which the error originated! But alas,twice through the bundle and no addi­tional errors to be found. It is extremelydoubtful whether any additional part-per­forates will ever be found. if they have notalready been discovered since this sheetcame from the first printing of June 1951.

Printed on flat plate press by 400-subjectplates, George W. Brett reports that thesestamps are first perforated horizontally, thenseparated by hand into two portions of 200stamps each, next perforated vertically, andfinally separated again by hand into postoffice panes of 100 stamps, checked,

(Continued on page 24)

Secretari s ReportAlfred R. Bew

29 S. South Carolina Ave.

Atlantic City, N. J. 08401

This year's list of members who qualifiedfor the "non-payment of dues" list amountedto a rather large total of 75 members whencompared with the 1978 qualifiers whoadded up to 45.

As noted in our last report we mailedpersonal letters to these 75 and here arethe results as of June 1, 1979. Reinstatedare 27 members and 3 members have dis­

appeared into the bottomless pit known asthe NF A (no forwarding address). Mightwe suggest that those of you who moveto a new habitation should notify your postoffice so that your mail will receive propertreatment.

Comparing the 45 non-payers of 1978with the 75 non-payers of 1979 we findthat those who pungled up accounted for13 in 1978 and 27 in 1979. Thus we didhave a better percentage of reinstatementsthis year, and the net loss of membershipwas 6.9 percent which is to be expected.

Our study group's membership stands at615 as of June 1, 1979.

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Winner's Circle

The 43rd Annual Stamp Exhibition &Bourse, SOJEX '79, had a passel of winnerswho exhibited some outstanding Canal Zonematerial. There were not enough Juniorexhibitors to have the special section whichhas been a show feature for many years;so the Juniors were judged as part of theoverall competition. Our long time member,Joseph A. Korba who is 16 years of age,did a bang-up job of exhibiting and walkedoff with a Silver Award - special con­gratulations to him. We are also pleasedto report that Gary Flatow gathered in aVermeil Award for his Canal Zone PostalIssue exhibit and Richard F. Larkin didhimself up proud with a Vermeil Awardfor his U.S. and Possessions Booklet Panesand Covers.

Possibly the three CZSG members, allof who won Significant awards, have madea record in Canal Zone exhibiting andaward winning at a regional stamp show.They are to be commended for a job welldone and should be an inspiration to otherCZSG members to get into the exhibitingphase of stamp collecting. Nice going, gang!

The CZSG meeting at SOJEX '79 wasattended by the usual group of devotees,and the CZSG meeting at WESTPEX '79also had its share of exhuberant collectors

who had the privilege of seeing a fabulousdisplay of eleven UF1's; a twelve frameslide show of artfully assembled colateralmaterial; and an informative showing ofcovers with interesting rates to various desti­nations - particularly the 3¢ postcard rateto certain foreign countries. More on thatlater.

R. H. SALZ

Book ReviewsBy David Farnsworth

Some older books about the Panama Ca­

nal have been reproduced and reissued.Hence, they are still in print. Many of themcan be obtained in the early editions atused-book shops for typically one-haH thecost of the new reissues. Most of the photosin the reproductions are not nearly as sharpas those in the originals. One reason for thisis that the entire books are copied by aphoto process from old copies. The printingis identical to the originals. The books byWilliams, McCain, and Miner are essentiallytheir Ph.D. dissertations and have outstand­ing bibliographies. The following are tele­graphic reviews of eight reissued titles or­iginally published before 1941;

The Panama Canal: A Study in InternationalLaw and Diplomacrj by Harmodio Arias(Arno Press, New York, 1970 reproductionof the original 1911 edition of P. S. Kingand Son, London) (ISBN 0-405-02001-5),188 pages, $10.00.

Mr. Arias was at the London School ofEconomics and Political Science when he

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wrote this book. Mr. Arias was President of

Panama from 1932 to 1936 during whichthe Hull-Alfaro Treaty was negotiated. Hewas the older brother of Arnulfo Arias who.

became president of Panama in 1940, 1949,.and 1968. Harmodio Arias was a lawyer.He attempts to give a brief on the legalstatus of the Panama Canal. The Bidlack­

Mallarino (1846), Clayton-Bulwer (1850),Constantinople (1888), Hay-Pauncefote(1901) and Hay-Bunau_Varilla (1903) trea­ties are reproduced in appendices. TheUnited States' national ambitions and the

evolving interpretation of the Monroe Doc­trine are traced. Arias points out that "theDoctrine belongs to the domain of politicsand not that of law." The legal meaning ofneutralization is discussed at length. Ananalogy with the Suez Canal is stressed in

this regard. The erection of fortifications by.the U.S.A. at the Canal is found to be law­ful.

The Story of Panama: The New Route toIndia by Frank A. Gause and Charles CartCarr (Amo Press, New York, 1970 repro­duction of the original 1912 edition of Sil­ver, Burdett and Company, Boston) (ISBN0-405-02022-8), 290 pages, $15.00.

Once you overcome the authors' no-dis­couraging-word attitude, this book doeshave something to offer. There is a littlefor everybody. A tour of the constructionin 1911, the administrative organization ofthe ICe, and a history of the region are thethree main topics. The history is over-sim­plified. For example, there is no hint thatthe United States had anything to do withthe November 3, 1903 revolution. Anti­Yanqui sentiments of the Panamanians aresystematically ignored. The authors are moreinterested in administration than people,hence the organization of the ICC chaptersare quite good. Although Gause and Carrwere first-hand observers, they did not lookwith a critical eye at what was happeningaround them. They are just the antithesisof Harry Franck whose book is reviewednext. For example, while Gause and Carrdismiss the people displaced by Gatun Lakesaying that they were "liberally reimbursed",Franck shows empathy for those poor dis­placed people with a lengthy discussion oftheir lot in life. There are ninety photos andillustrations. There is no bibliography sincethis is not a scholarly work.

Zone Policeman 88: A Close Range Studyof the Panama Canal and Its Workers byHarry A. Franck (Arno Press, New York,1970 reproduction of the original 1913 edi­tion of the Century Company, New York)(ISBN 0-405-02019-8), 314 pages, $15.00.

This is a thoroughly charming book frombeginning to end. It is sparkling and easyto read. Mr. Franck worked first as a census

taker, then as a Zone Policeman. His dutiestook him all over the Zone. He was a mas­ter of description. The book is set apartfrom the many diary-type books publishedby tourists during this era. His humor is

dry and ever-present. There are fifty pho­tos, most taken by the author. The insidefront cover illustration which is a copy ofthe ICC's final document dated June 18,1912 on Mr. Franck's employment is miss­ing from the new edition. Zone Policeman88 is a thoroughly enjoyable and informa­tive book. Mr. Franck wrote other books.about his travels and adventures around theworld.

Anglo-American Isthmian Diplomacy: 1815­1915 by Mary W. Williams originally pub­lished in 1916 by the American HistoricalAssociation, Washington, D. C., reprintedby two publishers: Peter Smith, Gloucester,MA, 1965 (ISBN 0-8446-1479-3), 356pages, $7.00 and Russell & Russell, NewYork, 1965 (ISBN 0-8462-0539-4), 356pages, $10.00.

This was the winner of the Justin WinsorPrize in American History for 1914. It is ascholarly work. The push and pull betweenthe United States and Great Britain andtheir citizens in the whole Central Americanregion is discussed in detail. The Britishhave loomed large as a very influential pow­er in this area even during the Spanish era.After the completion of the Canal, Britishcompanies held very large tracts of land inPanama. For example, in 1930 the PanamaCorporation of Britain acquired a very largeproperty adjacent to the Zone. Many coun­tries acted to counter the threat or supposedthreat of British commercial and militaryinterests in the Caribbean area. The lessexpensive reproduction-has the--better copyof the one map. It is a multicolored fold­out showing Central America in 1850-1860in the original and in the Peter Smith edi­tion. The Russell & Russell volume's map isa simple photocopy split onto two pages.This is a good solid reference book.

The Panama Canal: Its History, Activitiesand Organization by Darrell Hevenor Smith(AMS Press, New York, 1974 reproductionof the original 1927 edition of the ServiceMonograph of the United States Govern­ment: No. 44, The Johns Hopkins Press,Baltimore) (ISBN 0-404-57144-1), 413pages, $27.50.

The book contains many facts and figures.Some items are given with great precision:for example, the gallons of gasoline sold bythe Panama Canal for fiscal years 1920,1921, 1922, 1923 and 1924. However, thereis not much detail such as where or towhom the gasoline was sold. The laws ofthe Zone are given. There is a forty-fivepage outline of organization listing positions,number of positions and the annual salaryrate for both the gold roll and the silverroll employees in 1925. There were thirteenpostmasters at $300 to $4000 annually. ThePost Office was under the Division of CivilAffairs.

The Isthmian Highway: A Review of theProblems of the Caribbean by Hugh GordonMiller (Arno Press, New York, 1970 repro-

duction of the original 1929 edition of TheMacmillan Company, New York) (ISBN0-405-02039-2), 327 pages, $18.00.

The topic of this book is really the UnitedStates' diplomatic activity in the WesternHemisphere. One-fourth is devoted to astudy of the Monroe Doctrine. It is inter­esting that the Doctrine was legitimized inArticle XXI of the Covenant of the Leagueof Nations. The author believed that theUSA was a trustee for the world and civili­zation like an international policeman. Thiswould justify the use of force where theUSA deemed necessary. Only a small por­tion of the book is about the canal. Mr.Miller suggests that the ICC should be op­erated more like an international publicutility and its bookkeeping modified ac­cordingly. The book is an essay which Mr.Miller, who was a prominent lawyer, callsan argument. It is full of extensive quoteswhich unfortunately do not have completeidentification of the sources. There are noreferences. There are thirty-two illustrations,mostly photos of diplomats and US presi­dents.

The United States and the Republic of Pan­ama by William D. McCain originally pub­lished in 1937 by The Duke UniversityPress, Durham, reprinted by two publishers:Arno Press, New York, 1970 (ISBN 0-405­02036-8), 278 pages, $14.00 and Russell &Russell, New York, 1965 (ISBN 0-8462­0714-1), 278 pages, $8.50.

Mr. McCain chronicles the first thirty­four-yeaI's--of Panama's-EIij3lomatiG-·life-·anddomestic life. The United States was deeplyinvolved with both. The disbanding of Pan­ama's army in 1904, the United States'maintenance of order at some Panamaniannational elections, the exercise of instanteminent domain on Panamanian soil by theu.s. with no appeal, the United States'control of all trans-isthmian transportationand communication and other involvementsare reported with particulars. Panama in­vested a large portion of its $10 millionfund for the canal rights in mortgages inthe United States. William Nelson Crom­well was appointed as Panama's fiscal agentto oversee these investments so many ofthe pre-November 3, 1903 personalities re­main. The Panamanian-Costa Rican bound­ary dispute is thoroughly explained. Thebook ends on a slightly more optimistic notewith the new U.S.-Panamanian agreementsinspired by F.D.R.

The Fight for the Panama Route: The Storyof the Spooner Act and the Hay-HerranTreaty by Dwight Carroll Miner (OctagonBooks, New York, 1966 reproduction of theoriginal 1940 edition of the Columbia Uni­versity Press, New York) (ISBN 0-374­95776-2), 469 pages, $18.00.

The most-often-ignored side of the canalcontroversies at the turn of the century isthe role of Columbia. Civil wars raged inColumbia during these critical years. Theworst, The War of the Thousand Days, left

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100,000 men dead. Columbia is the size ofOregon, Washington, California and Arizo­na together. It had a population of justover four million in 1905 and only fourhundred miles of railroad including those inPanama. Mules were the principal meansof movement. Bogota, the capital, was un­imaginably isolated in the interior. Thesituation in Columbia is carefully woveninto the events which led to the final out­come of 1903. This readable book has anarrative style. I recommend it highly.

Second Time AroundType III Mt. Hope Printing

The following article is taken from Canal

Zone Notes by Frank E. Greene which ap­peared in the Stamp Journal. The exact dateis not known but is probably from the Feb­ruary 1916 issue.

"Owing to a threatened shortage of oneand five cent Zone stamps, supplies wereobtained from the Panama Governmentand surcharged at the Panama Canalprinting plant at Mt. Hope. The amountssurcharged were, 100,000 ones and 50,­000 fives [Sc. Nos. 46 & 48]. Of theones only 52,600 passed inspection. Ofthe balance 47,200 had the second "A"of Canal missing, 100 had a badly shiftedsurcharge and 100 had inverted surcharge.Of the fives, 49,800 were acceptable. Ofthe other 200, one sheet was badlysmeared with ink and the other had adouble surcharge. The type used is likethat of the original New York (AmericanBank Note Co.) surcharge, the spacingis about 9 mm. I do not think the stampscan be distinguished by spacing but thecolor of the stamps seems to be of alighter shade than any of the old stampswith the same type of surcharge. I havelooked over a sheet of ones carefully andfind the following minor differences:

Nos, 8 and 18 the final 'L' and 'E'are in line.

Nos. 10, 20, 29 and 38 have the sameletters almost in line.

No. 28 has the final 'E' about 1 mmbeyond the final 'L'.

There are other spacings that are outof alignment to a lesser degree.

-RICHARD H. SALZ

1,000 Canal Zone CoversPLUS

100,000 more available

We want to buy Pitcairn Islandcovers that came to Canal Zonestampless where Canal Zone orU.S. Stamps are applied for fur­ther transmission.

Part Perforate Sheet -

(Continued from page 21)

counted, bundled, and sealed. Another paneimperf vertically must have existed at onetime, but how this one pictured here, whoseuneven left margin tends to indicate that itwas cut apart from the left hand pane byscissors, ever got out of the Bureau willprobably always remain a mystery.

Stamp collectors in New Zealand willprobably be on the alert to watch for thethree copies missing from this pane, whichwere used before Curtis made his purchase.Most of the passengers aboard this trip wereheading home to New Zealand, and airmailletters dispatched while transiting the CanalZone carried the news of their impendingarrival ahead of them. If the stamps wereused as singles - at least one must havebeen as the margin remaming tends to in­dicate - then they will have lost any pos­sible value, since part-perforate varietiescould easily be faked unless collected inpairs. (Stamps from Pos. 1, 2 and 3 wereremoved from the pane.)

Credit for the factual information con­tained in this unusual story belongs toPetm' F. Curtis, who found the sheet; toDerek Archer and Thomas O'Meara of theNew Zealand Shipping Company, Ltd.,whose splendid cooperation will never beforgotten; and to George W. Brett, vicepresident of the Bureau Issues Association,who provided some of the technical de-tails.

Little did I realize when I wrote to theScott catalogers several years ago complain­ing about the color designation "cerise,"assigned to the 31¢ Canal Zone airmailstamp, that I would withdraw my objec­tions, eat my words, and publicly proclaim,"I adore cerise."

(Editor's Note: The R.M.S. Ruahine errorpane of 97 stamps was an UR pane. Asstated in the article an UL pane must havebeen left imperforate vertically at the sametime. It has never been reported. Later aLL pane of 100 appeared on the philatelicmarket. The pair in Fig. 1 is from thispane and is obviously from Pos. 9 and 10of the LL pane. Note that there is not astraight-edge at the right - the pane wasnot perforated vertically! It would havebeen perforated at the right edge on anormal pane at this time. Note also thata LR pane, never reported, must have beenleft imperforate at the same time as thisLL pane.)

Canal Zone Towns

By J. W. Brumbaugh

(Continued from last issue)

Copies of my map showing Canal Zonepost offices are now available. They arereduced by a factor of four on a 8112 x 17sheet. The detail on these copies is not as

good as had been hoped. Copies will besent to those sending 30¢ and a legal sizestamped and addressed envelope. An un­folded copy will be sent in a mailing tubefor $1.00. Send your request to J. W.Brumbaugh, P.O. Box 8661, Minneapolis,MN 55408.

COCO COLO (Mile 0)March 1, 1919 to July 31, 1919August 16, 1919 to November 1, 1942FPO 1955 November 2, 1942 to January

14, 1946Receiving APO 0958 November 2, 1959 to

presentBefore W\V I, there was a Navy subma­

rine base on Limon Bay. During \VW IIit was a Navy supply base and air station.The housing area name was changed toUpham during the war, but the name againreverted to Coco Solo following the war. Itis now a civilian housing area for Canaland Navy personnel. 1970 population ­1071.

COROZAL (Mile 42Y2)January 1, 1906 to May 15, 1943APO 828 July 1, 1942 to February 15, 1946February 15, 1946 to July 31, 1952

This is an Army Engineer Post near Al­brook Air Force Station, on the Pacific sideabout 1Y2miles from Balboa and borderingthe Canal. It is the oldest military post inthe Canal Zone.

CRISTOBAL (Mile 1-%)

June 24, 1904 to presentThis is one of the original 9 post offices

opened after the United States signed theHay-Bunau Varilla Treaty and the controlof the French "diggings" passed to the U.S.In 1850, William H. Aspinwall establishedthe first town as the Atlantic terminus ofthe Panama railroad on Manzanillo Islandin Limon (or Navy) Bay. Though it was

first called Aspinwall in his hontr, Columbiainsisted on the right to name itl Colon afterColumbus who explored Limon Bay on hisfourth voyage, in 1502, to the new world.The town site of Cristobal, in the CanalZone, is on a man made peninsula extend­ing from Colon's Front Street (in Panama).The fill was brought in from the French andAmerican diggings. Cristobal is primarily aport facility and is the Canal Company'sAtlantic headquarters. It has few residentsas most workers live in Colon, Panama orother nearby suburban towns in both theZone and Panama. Some early air serviceto the Canal Zone was by Panagra clipperwhich landed at Folks River Landing, untilservice was transferred to Albrook Air Ter­minal.

CRISTOBAL STATION A

September 1908 to April 30, 1914This substation was located near the an­

cient Panamanian town of Portobelo, about20 miles east of Cristobal along the Atlantic

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coast, to serve the workers engaged in crush­ing the rock for the concrete used in theCanal locks and dams. The crushed rockwas moved by barge down the coast andthen into the construction sites along thecanal where the concrete was mixed. Sincethe 1500's, Portobelo had been the Atlanticterminus of the Spanish Cobblestone Tran­sisthmanian Highway used by foot and don­key traffic to carry the gold and silver trea­sure from South and Central America to thewaiting Spanish galleons of the Atlanticfleet. Portobello is now a site of considerabletourist interest, but in the 17th and 18thcenturies, it was the world's greatest tradingcenter and the site of huge trade fairs heldin the Spanish Royal Treasury building. Asmany as 300 Spanish galleons and some1000 smaller craft were sometimes foundin its harbor. Columbus is reputed to havenamed it in 1502 when he exclaimed "Portobello!" ("beautiful port" in Italian) on en­tering.

CRISTOBAL STATION B

January 9, 1911 to May 1, 1916In order to protect the Canal and control

ship traffic, a fortification was constructedon the west side of the entrance to LimonBay at a location known as Toro Point. Thepostal substation was known as CristobalStation B. This fort, now known as FortSherman, had its own Post Office after May1, 1916.

CULEBRA (Mile 36)

June 25, 1904 to September 30, 1927The name Culebra means "snake". It was

one of the towns along the railroad whereit "snaked" around the hills. It was one ofthe original 9 post offices opened by theUnited States. It was a French and U.S.construction camp near the site of the deep­est (160 foot) cut between Gold and Con­tractors Hills. The excavation required theremoval of 103 million cubic yards of soil,and was the largest excavation attempted,to that date, by man. Though originallycalled Culebra Cut, it was re-named Gail­lard Cut after Lt. Col. David duBois Gail­lard, who was in charge of construction inthis section of the Canal. The town origin­ally known as Summit, was the highest pointreached by the railroad. Culebra was head­quarters of the Isthmian Canal Commissionfrom January 1, 1906 until construction ofthe Canal was completed. The headquartersfor the Canal Zone Administration was thenmoved to Balboa Heights.

CURUNDU

September 1, 1943 to July 1, 1975This residential area is between Albrook

Air Force Station and Panama City on thePacific. Postal service is now supplied bythe Balboa Post Office, and an office at AI­brook AF Station.

(Continued in next issue)