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Delayed French letter – 220 years late so really slow snail mail
In the Daily Mail in April it was reported that a letter took 220 years to be delivered due to a mistake in its address. It was posted in 1790 from Paris to Siex in France, a town near Toulouse. It was wrongly delivered to the village of Saix, 150 miles away. The recipient could not be found and the letter stayed in a sorting office drawer and survived the rise and fall of Napoleon and both world wars. It was found in 1999 but it took another 10 years before it was decided to officially deliver it on 5th June this year. It was from officials in Paris refusing to recognize Seix as the main area town.
First Postal Order
It was reported in the press in February that the world’s first postal order, serial number Lombard Street EC 000001, was sold on 10th February for £4485, smashing the estimate of £2500. The auctioneers said ‘it was a unique item’. It was perfectly preserved and had been in the same Surrey family for 129 years.
Travellers get a postcode
It was reported in March that a judge has ruled that Fylde council in Lancashire should give a travellers camp in Hardhorn its own postcode. It was argued they need this so that emergency crews can find them. It’s not the first time this has happened but it probably the first time a council has been ordered to supply one.
We want our postbox
The 28 families of Ridgeway, North Staffordhsire organised a petition to save their postbox which had been in service for 80 years. One day they woke up to find a metal plate over the slot of their postbox but was told this was temporary. Later on workmen arrived and started bashing the concrete pole it was attached too which made them realise this was no temporary measure. Apparently the box had a hole in its casing and it was decided it was unsafe for posting items and action was needed. The residents felt it was a way of quietly removing their box meaning a two mile round trip to post a letter. After redress to their MP and involvement of a national newspaper, who reported the story in February, the Post office relented despite the light usage of the box and it was replaced close by. Royal Mail also mentioned it had increased post boxes from 113,000 to 114,500 in the past 4 years.
Famous collectors
It is reported that stamp collecting is no longer seen as an old fashioned hobby and that young Londoners, artists and famous names are starting to collect. The piece went on to mention Maria Sharapova a former Wimbledon tennis champion, President Sarkozy of France and Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones as collectors. The Royal Philatelic Society reports a significant rise in membership and eBay a 30 per cent rise in sales late last year. The article in the London Evening Standard in December last year went on to say that the hobby was following knitting, gardening and cup-cake baking, which are showing a resurgence. Some artists are using stamps in their designs. (That is turning the clock back as the Victorians used to stick stamps on all manner of things. Ed.) It is estimated there are 50 million stamp collectors worldwide with 2.5 million, a little over 5%, of the UK population collecting stamps.
Where people lead others follow
Jersey Post implemented a new, Size-based Pricing (SBP) structure for postage charges on 8 May 2010, so all items posted in Jersey are now charged according to their size as well as their weight, which is something we are all familiar with. SBP is now used by many postal authorities including Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Australia, Japan and the USA and it was introduced by the Royal Mail in August 2006, and Guernsey Post on 1 April 2010.
There are three new categories into which all items will fit, Letter, Large Letter and Packet. Jersey Post will also be introducing new delivery options for all local mail to offer greater choice, Standard and Priority. The Standard Service will be cheaper than Priority and will have a three day delivery target.
Auction rarities
The Treskilling Yellow, the most expensive stamp in the world was sold at auction in Geneva in late May, but the value it realised has not been disclosed. In 1996 it sold for £1.6 million to become the most expensive stamp and also the most valuable object by weight. The Treskilling or three shilling yellow was printed in 1855 and supposed to be green and only one copy is known to exist.
Another auction rarity
A copy of the 1904 6d Pale Dull Purple (I.R. Official), one of Britain's rarest stamps, has recently been sold for £400,000. The stamp is rare as it was issued on 14th March 1904 and then withdrawn almost immediately. Just 19 sheets were printed and most were destroyed.
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