Stamp_&_Coin_Mart_2016_02_

68 FEBRUARY 2016

http://www.stampandcoin.co.uk

Collecting the Empire

6 August, 1898 envelope to England with 1896 2½d paying Imperial rate, tied by Maltese Cross in diamond and ‘ST HELENA/

AU 6/98’ CDS. The 2½d rate to Britain is scarce, only having been in force between October 1896 and December 1898. Sold

for £420 in 2012

no inland delivery or collection of

letters before the 1880s. Mail was

held at the Jamestown post office

until called for and any due charges

paid. The first telegraph cable laid

between Cape Town and St Helena

introduced telegrams and was

completed in November 1899, with a

service from St Helena to Ascension

Island in operation a month later.

During the South African War of

1899-1902 many Boer POWs were

sent to St Helena. Their mail, with

appropriate markings, is eagerly

sought by advanced collectors.

Obtainable early issues

St Helena’s classic early issues include

many that fall within the buying

capacity of inexperienced collectors,

who can add to them a rich

assortment of interesting pictorials

from the 1930s to the 1950s. A

set of QEII pictorials issued in

August 1953 showed scenes from St

Helena’s flax industry. The plant was

introduced from New Zealand in

the 1870s to provide islanders with

much needed income following steep

decline in shipping traffic when the

Suez Canal opened in 1869. This

flax variety makes high quality rope

and twine. Women on the island

used it for lace-making, as seen on

the 2d value in the set. The 3d shows

St Helena’s national bird, the wire

bird, which is the only indigenous

land bird on the island.

In the 21st century St Helena’s

oceanic communication with the

outside world is via the Royal Mail

ship, St Helena, which makes a five-

day journey from Cape Town every

three weeks, carrying passengers,

mail and cargo. All will change

dramatically during 2016 when,

for the first time, St Helena airmail

letters become collectors’ items as

aircraft begin to land and take off

from the island’s first ever airport – a

£250 million investment by the UK

government on the eastern side of

the island. Once the air services get

up and flying, RMS St Helena will

make her final scheduled voyage to

the island. Meanwhile, enjoy the

covers accompanying this feature,

courtesy of Grosvenor Philatelic

Auctions. All arrived or departed St

Helena aboard a ship.

Newcomers to St Helena will be pleasantly surprised to fi nd QV offerings like these in many dealers’ stocks at affordable prices

The Jamestown harbour mouth is so narrow that early sailing ships had to use rowing boats to land cargoes and passengers. This

scene became so commonplace it now features as the Badge of St Helena and features on many stamps

Scenes from the island’s fl ax industry

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