PHILIPPINES - OFFICIAL "VICTORY" OVERPRINTS OF 1945

Hi everyone!  I hope you are all having a wonderful December.  It's been a rather mild winter here in California so far.  However, others around the world are having a difficult time with the weather.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to all those struggling in the southern Philippines with the recent typhoon.  The destruction and loss of life has been enormous.   Please help with your donations to charitable organizations assisting those in great need.

To herald the liberation of the Philippines in 1945, the United States Bureau of Engraving and Printing overprinted the Philippines 1937-1940 "Commonwealth" issues with the VICTORY legend.

These official VICTORY overprints followed the provisional, handstamped issues that were created locally in Tacloban, Leyte in 1944. 

These officially-overprinted VICTORY stamps were put on sale at various post offices throughout the archipelago, as each were reopened.  As a result, there are several "First Day of Issue" cancellations that can be found, for example:

19 January 1945 - Tacloban, Leyte

16 April 1945 - Manila

4 June 1945 - Iloilo

21 July 1945 - Cebu

1 August 1945 - Bacolod

The postcard and cover pictured above were prepared in Tacloban, Leyte, and cancelled on 19 January 1945, the First Day of Issue for these overprinted VICTORY stamps.

The official cachet, in violet ink, reads, "FIRST DAY COVER, FIRST REGULAR VICTORY STAMPS SOLD IN REOPENEND POST OFFICES IN THE LIBERATED PHILIPPINES, JANUARY 19, 1945".  This cachet was only used in Tacloban, Leyte.

In my collection, I have several VICTORY First Day Covers from Manila and Cebu, but I do not have examples from Iloilo or Bacolod.   If you have VICTORY First Day Covers from these cities, or others, please send me a scan so that I can post them here.  If you have spares to trade, I would be interested in possible exchange.

(Reference: Philippine Postage Stamp Handbook, 1854-1982, by Peter W.A. Harradine, 1987, McFarland and Company, Inc.  Photos of covers and postage stamps from my collection.)

VETERAN'S DAY 2012 - PHILIPPINES AID TO WAR VICTIMS SEMI-POSTAL STAMPS, 1950

Philippines, Scott B4 and B5, the 2c + 2c and 4c + 4c semi-postal stamps.

Sunday, November 11, 2012, is Veteran's Day in the United States.   Today, we Americans of all backgrounds remember and reflect on the service and sacrifices made by our veteran's and their families.  

During World War II, many Filipinos served bravely and honorably alongside the Americans defending the Philippines during the Japanese invasion and occupation.   Today, many Filipino-Americans serve in America's armed forces.  During our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, many Filipino-American families made the ultimate sacrifice.  This post is dedicated to all those families.  Today, we remember, and we honor them.

In the Philippines, a set of two semi-postal stamps were issued on November 30, 1950, to raise funds for war victims and their families.  These stamps are listed as Philippines Scott B4 and B5.

Die proof of Philippines Scott B4, the 2c+2c semi-postal stamp, originally from the American Bank Note Company archives.

These were recess printed by the American Bank Note Company in sheets of 200 stamps, comprising two panes of 100 each (10 x 10).  Perforated 12.  No watermark.  Plate number F13052.



First Day Cover with 30 November 1950 issue date.



(Photos of stamps, cover, and die proofs from my collection.)

ANNOUNCING MY NEW BLOG, "JIM JIM JR'S TANK BLOG"

ANNOUNCEMENT: I've just created a new blog for military scale modelers and armor enthusiasts.  Please visit my new blog, "Jim Jim Jr's Tank Blog" for clear, detailed walkaround photos of tanks, armored vehicles, and weaponry.  Please follow this link: http://jimjimjrstankblog.blogspot.com/ .  Thank you! 

V-PEX 1945 - CELEBRATING THE END OF WORLD WAR II... WITH STAMPS !

Philippines, Scott 461, with V-PEX black exhibition overprint

I find it somewhat hard to believe that only a few months after the end of World War II that the Philippine Philatelic Club (PPC) held a stamp exhibition in Manila.  Keep in mind that Manila was reportedly the second most devastated city during the war (after Warsaw, Poland).  But as we probably know, philatelists are a unique group of people, and philatelists celebrate events in unique ways... why not a philatelic exhibition to celebrate the end of Japanese Occupation and unconditional VICTORY!

The VICTORY PHILATELIC EXHIBITION, or V-PEX, was held in Manila on October 20-22, 1945 to celebrate the end of the war. Since no exhibition labels were readily available, a number of sheets of Philippines Scott 461 were made available to the shows sponsors to be overprinted locally. 


Philippines, Scott 461, plate #145417 single, with V-PEX red/black exhibition overprint



The PPC obtained permission to overprint Scott 461 to be given out at the exhibition as souvenirs.  These were overprinted with "PPC VPEX, Oct. 20.21.22, 19  45,  To, Commemorate, First Anniv., Leyte D-Day".  The alignment of the lines, letters, and fonts varied.  This overprint is found in Red, Black, and it appears a mixture of Red/Black (appears a very dark Red).  Red is the most common overprint. 

Some sheets were overprinted with both Red and Black overprints on the same stamp, sometimes with one of the overprints inverted, but these appear to be trial printings, and are scarce.  

These overprints were explicitly not valid for postage, but only allowed to be used at this exhibition.



Philippines, Scott UX23a postal card with VICTORY overprint (variety with "IC" of "VICTORY"close together), with black handstamp V-PEX exhibition cachet and blue-green CDS dated October 20, 1945 

An special V-PEX handstamp cachet was also used, and these are commonly found on covers and postal cards with a blue-green CDS with the date October 20, 1945, the first day of the exhibition.

PHILIPPINES JAPANESE OCCUPATION HANDSTAMPED "K.P." OFFICIAL BUSINESS ON SCOTT N4

This is a scarce example of Philippine Japanese Occupation 5-centavos Provisional Regular Issue, First Overprinting (thick top bar), Scott N4, issued September 1, 1942, with a handstamped violet "K.P." and Japanese "Koyo" for Official Business mail.

Although Eugene A. Garrett's book, "A Postal History of the Japanese Occupation of the Philippines, 1942-1945", shows many examples of handstamped "K.P." and "O.B." markings applied during the occupation, it is unclear to me which office may have applied this handstamp.  I welcome suggestions.  Still, an interesting and scarce stamp.

RARE PHILIPPINES JAPANESE OCCUPATION PERFORATED 5s LAUREL ISSUE

This is a very rare perforated example of the Philippines Japanese Occupation "President Jose P. Laurel" regular issue, Scott N37, from January 12, 1945.  This series of three stamps (5s, 7s, and 20s) were printed in the Philippines and issued imperforate, ungummed, on unwatermarked paper.

According to Eugene A. Garrett's masterwork, "A Postal History of the Japanese Occupation of the Philippines, 1942-1945", the Philippine Bureau of Communications originally intended to issue these stamps perforated and gummed, and apparently attempted to perforate a few sheets.  However, the poor quality of the paper and dullness of the perforating machine pins prevented these stamps from being issued perforated and gummed. 

Only a few sheets of the 5s value (some references state at least 2 sheets of 50 stamps), perforated 12x12-1/2 and without gum, were kept as proofs in the vault of the Manila Central Post Office.

During the battle to liberate Manila in February 1945, these few perforated sheets of the 5s Laurel issue were looted from the Manila Central Post Office when it suffered extensive damage.

The 7s and 20s values are also known perforated 12x12-1/2 and these are very rare.  It is known that at least 2 sheets each of the 7s and 20s value were specially perforated to order for Col. William Peck of the U.S. Army Air Corps, after the liberation of Manila.

THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM - THE 28th BOMBARDMENT SQUADRON, CLARK FIELD, PAMPANGA, PHILIPPINES, 13 JULY 1941

28th BOMBARDMENT SQUADRON

CLARK FIELD, PAMPANGA, PHILIPPINES

Cover sent by Private First Class Bernard E. Preston

Postmarked at Fort Stotsenburg, July 13, 1941

"The calm before the storm!"

The second incarnation of the 28th Bombardment Squadron was mobilized at Mather Field, California for duty in the Philippine Islands on September 20, 1921.  The squadron became active in the Philippine Islands at Clark Field on October 21, 1922.

The squadron was initially equipped with B-2 and B-3 bombers.  Later, the squadron received B-10 and B-18 medium bombers. By June 24, 1941, there were  approximately fifteen B-18 and six B-10 medium bombers in operation at Clark Field.

In his article about the 28th Bombardment Squadron (available on the "Philippine Defenders" website at http://philippine-defenders.lib.wv.us/pdf/rosters/28th_bombardment_squadron), veteran Edward Jackfert describes a serviceman's life at Clark Field was at that time beyond one's fullest expectations. Duty hours were brief, leaving much time for the pursuit of personal pleasures.  On weekends the barracks would empty, some going to the local barrios, some trotting off to Manila, and the remainder pursuing their pleasure in “Angeles”.

SPAIN'S BLUE DIVISION AND THEIR CRUSADE AGAINST BOLSHEVISM DURING WORLD WAR 2

SPANISH POST CARD PICTURING  "BLUE DIVISION" SOLDIERS INSPECTING A CAPTURED SOVIET TANK

(Series 1, Card 6)

GERMAN WEHRMACHT FELDPOST CARD

FELDPOST NR. 14929, INFANTRY REGIMENT 263, SPANISH

SPAIN'S VOLUNTEER "BLUE DIVISION"

POSTMARKED OCT. 7, 1943, LENINGRAD AREA AND THEIR WITHDRAWAL FROM THE EASTERN FRONT

The Blue Division (Spanish: "División Azul", German: "Blaue Division"), or 250. Infanterie-Division in the German Army, was a unit of Spanish volunteers that served in the German Army on the Eastern Front of the Second World War.

The 250. Infanterie-Division was formed in Spain during the last week of June 1941, immediately after the German attack on the Soviet Union. The unit was an offical Spanish sponsored formation created to partially repay the debt owed Germany for its vitally important assistance during the Spanish Civil War during 1936-1939. It was formed with Spanish volunteers from across Spain who flocked en masse to serve in the unit, originally named simply the Spanish Division of Volunteers, or more properly, Division Espanola de Voluntarios (DEV). The division was exclusively a foreign volunteer unit, designed for service within the German Wehrmacht, but to consist soley of Spaniards and to be led soley by Spanish officers.

GERMANY - THE LAST STAMPS ISSUED BY THE THIRD REICH, 20 APRIL 1945

GERMANY, THIRD REICH

SCOTT B292-B293

ISSUED 20 APRIL 1945

IN BERLIN, GERMANY

It has been 65 years since Hitler's Third Reich issued its last postage stamps, before it was finally crushed under the overwhelming weight of Soviet and Allied forces.  These stamps were issued on April 20, 1945; the Soviets launched their final thrust into Berlin the following day.  Germany would finally surrender unconditionally on May 7, 1945.

In "Philately of the Third Reich", author Alf Harper wrote that these two stamps were actually issued as part of a never to be completed set of five stamps honoring various Nazi party formations.  These stamps honored the SA and SS (an earlier released stamp honored the Volksturm, or People's Army; the last two unissued stamps were for the NSKK and NSFK).

PHILIPPINES JAPANESE OCCUPATION - Rare Foreign Mail from Bacolod, Negros Occidental, 1944

To: KOBASHI Touzaburo and FUJII Masuai

Oojima, Kurashiki-Shi,

Okayama Prefecture, Japan

From: FUJII Kohei

Kurashiki Industries Negros Farm

No. 62 Luzuriaga Street

Bacolod City

Negros Occidental Province, The Philippines

COTTON DEVELOPMENT DURING THE JAPANESE OCCUPATION

Rare Foreign Mail from Bacolod, Negros Occidental, 1944

This is a rare example of a non-philatelic Japanese Occupation cover displaying the First Class 7-cents letter postal rate for Foreign Mail that became effective May 15, 1944 in the Philippines. It is franked with a single Scott #N4 "Thick Top Bar" type and a pair of Scott #N12. The stamps are tied to the cover with a poor but legible impression of the "BACOLOD OCCIDENTAL NEGROS, P.I." provincial postmark dated SEP 18, 1944, with the distinctive single numeral "4" representing "1944" (reference Garrett's "Bacolod -1b" provincial cancel). There are no receiving postmarks or censor markings.

What I find truly interesting about this cover is the story that it reveals through the addresses of the sender and the recipient. The cover is addressed to KOBASHI Touzaburo and FUJII Masuai, Oojima, Kurashiki-Shi, Okayama Prefecture, Japan, and the sender is FUJII Kohei, Kurashiki Industries Negros Farm, No. 62 Luzuriaga Street, Bacolod City, Negros Occidental Province, the Philippines. The cover is addressed on the front and back using Japanese kanji and furigana. Furigana is a Japanese reading aid, consisting of smaller kana, or syllabic characters, printed next to a kanji (ideographic characters) to indicate its pronunciation. In vertical text, or tategaki, they are placed to the right of the line of text.