Stamp displays give interesting historical insight

Oct 9 2008 by Margaret Shaw, Hamilton Advertiser

LANARKSHIRE Philatelic Society welcomed members of Paisley Philatelic Society to their meeting last Friday.

The visitors gave displays on four subjects. Alex Greer provided an interesting history and display about Croatia. During World War II, Alex had been stationed in Italy, across the Adriatic from that country.

He began by explaining that on April 6, 1941, Yugoslavia invaded and an independent state of ‘Croatia’ was set up. Yugoslavian stamps were overprinted with ‘Independent Croat State’ until, in late 1941, the new country was able to issue its own stamps.

Stan Hunter followed this with his display which featured a brief history of Hungary. He began with the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1868 and displayed a stamp on a letter posted from Pest to Vienna. Austrian stamps continued to be used until 1903 when Hungary issued its own displaying the Crown of St Stephen.

Madagascar was the theme for Jim Moffat’s display. In 1878, Madagascar was made a colony and French Post Offices opened in various parts of the country. British Inland Mail also operated until repressed by the French in 1895.

Madagascar was declared a French colony on August 6, 1896. In 1943 the Free French took over and in 1954, stamps were issued to mark the 10th anniversary of liberation. In 1960 Madagascar became independent as the Malagasy Republic.

Alex McIntosh displayed ‘Polish Occupation’, beginning from September 1, 1939, when Germany invaded Poland. This led to Polish stamps being overprinted by the Germans until 1940 when German stamps were used and the postmarks all bore German insignia. The display ended with the surrender of Germany on May 7, 1945.

Rev. Bill Izett gave the vote of thanks for these professional displays of much historical interest.

The next meeting will be held in Hamilton tomorrow (Friday) at 7.30pm in St Andrew’s Parish Church hall, Avon Street.

More details are available on the website www.lanarkshireps.co.uk