It is really amazing what people pay for items on eBay.  Recently a block of four stamps described as “Mafeking Siege - An unused marginal block of four with what appears to be SG 18 and SG 20.  However these are poorly printed (as were the originals) and I suspect they are forgeries.  Mint, No gum!”  This was sold (probably by a dealer) who has sold over 2200 lots on eBay, so I guess he must have known that they were not genuine!  There were seven bids starting at £2.00 and it was finally knocked down to a U. K. buyer for £17.00 (US$29.34, €24.65).  If they had been contemporary forged stamps, they would have course been worth more than £17.00 but modern souvenirs should never have been sold as “forgeries?”  I guess as Mafeking mint stamps are so expensive, they will at least fill a gap in somebody’s collection, but of course we all know that the 1d Cyclist and 3d Baden-Powell stamp were never printed on the same sheet.

Pricing in Proportion is the name given by our Royal Mail to charge the public more money for posting large items.  From August 21st 2006, the way postage is priced will change to take into account size as well as weight.   Unfortunately our bulletin comes into the large letter category being of A4 size and the cost of sending this to members in the UK will go up from 23p to 37p, but the weight of this can now be 100 grammes instead of 60, so issues with more pages should not cost more.  Mail will fit into one of three categories: letter, large letter and packet.  Before the introduction of the new system, a leaflet and paper template will be sent to every home in the country, although plastic templates will be available for purchase while free cardboard templates are available from www.royalmail.com/pip.  It is understood that size pricing for international mail will follow at a later date.

Following the most interesting article on the “Shanghai Emergency Postal Service of 1932 - the Scouting Connection” in Bulletin Volume 47 No. 5 of September /October 2003 by Hallvard Slettebø, I have recently been offered a cover which has not been recorded before.  It shows a stamp cancelled on May 27th 1932 which is consistent with the article and was the date that the postal workers went back to work.  It must be presumed that the gentleman posting the letter had already prepared the EPS coupon and most likely was on his way to the municipality found that the post office was functioning again and decided to post his letter there.  This article is well worth reading again.

On a personal note, having been “under the weather” for the last eight months, I am pleased to say that by the time you have read these notes, I will have been to the International Exhibition in Washington where I hope to meet many of our American members and SOSSI friends.  I will also be at our AGM in June and thanks go to Melvyn Gallagher, my Vice-Chairman for running the committee meetings during my absence.