OPUS 14
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Summary :
OPUS is AEP's flagship publication. This 2014 edition is devoted to Africa with 20 articles, plus 4 articles of general interest. Summaries are given below.
1) Le commerce et la poste entre Venise et l'Egypte de 1400 à 1797
Adriano Cattani
The author describes the commercial shipping lines established for centuries between Venice and the eastern ports, and the changes caused by the conquest of Constantinople in 1453. After this date, Alexandria and Cairo became the two most important ports, and the author shows us some very interesting letters, witnesses of the intensity of that commercial activity.
2) Le transport du courrier par chemin de fer dans les colonies françaises de l'Afrique subsaharienne
Paolo Guglielminetti
The author takes us through a detailed history of the construction of railways in French West and Equatorial Africa. He underlines the importance of the railways for the rudimentary postal service of the time and analyses the cancellations, which can be found on the mail carried by postal officials using these routes.
3) Bureaux de poste militaires italiens en Afrique du Nord 1935-1936
Emilio Simonazzi
The author provides us with a detailed analysis of the different military post offices that were operating during the Italian army’s 1935-1936 Ethiopian campaign. He shows us several examples, in which the cancellations clearly show the number assigned to each of these post offices.
4) The German post office of Lamu
Paolo Bianchi
The author tells us about the service provided by the German post office in Lamu, north of Mombasa, from November 1888 until March 1891. He shows us a few rare items, which were posted to Europe, and describes the route used to transport this mail.
5) Postage stamps shortage in Portuguese Africa in the 19th century. Prepayment in cash and the corresponding postal markings
Luís Frazão
The author explains the solutions identified by postmasters, in order to remedy the chronic shortage of figurines in the Portuguese colonies during the 19th century. He shows us examples from each colony, all of which are rare and some of which are unique.
6) The postal history of the Kionga territory
Eduardo & Luís Barreiros
The postal history of the small territory of Kionga has been the subject of several interesting and impassioned papers and books in the last few decades. Since the first article by Werner Ahrens published in the Clube Filatélico of Portugal bulletin, in 1962, other very important articles about Kionga have appeared in the philatelic literature, such as those written by George Pearson, José Carlos Kulberg, and more recently (2003) an important article by John Kevin Doyle, et al. In this latter, untitled The Portuguese in Kionga, a chronological census of fifty covers and cards are listed.
Now the Kionga postal history is revisited and the previous census updated. The mail composed of 69 letters and postcards are classified. 55 are postage paid letters using Kionga stamps and 14 are free franking letters. This latter group, mostly sent by the expeditionary forces, is more highly valued by the postal historians. The datestamps applied on Kionga letters and postcards are also classified: 1 - The military datestamp of the expedition to Moçambique (type I), used during the first and second expedition. 2 - The circular datestamp type II exclusively found on Kionga covers and only used during a month period (August to September 1916). 3 - The type III datestamp of the third expedition, firstly identified in two sub-types by the authors and 4 - The two postmarks used on the civilian post office, type A (circular) and type B (hexagonal).
An approach on mail from the Kionga territory during the German occupation was also accomplished.
7) Aviation pioneers and aerophilately in Mozambique
Altino Pinto
The author tells us about the advent and development of aviation in Mozambique. He describes the first flights undertaken in this Portuguese colony, in which many aviators, who were real modern day adventurers, lost their lives. As far as possible, he describes the postal implications and shows us some rare examples of letters transported by these aviation pioneers.
8) Mozambique Railways Mail
Bento Grossinho Dias
The author provides us with a detailed study of the railway system in Mozambique and its history. He looks at a wide range of cancellations used by the railway postal service, including an example of each type, which can be seen on isolated stamps, letters or postcards. Most of these cancellations are extremely rare and some of them are unique.
9) Le courrier provenant de l'enclave du Lado par la voie de l'Ouganda
Patrick Maselis
The author looks at the most difficult route used for mail sent from the Lado Enclave: the Ugandan route, as opposed to the Congo and Nile routes. The Lado Enclave had been occupied by Belgian troops at behest of King Leopold II and only an extremely limited proportion of mail reached Europe via this route. The items examined by the author are therefore extremely rare and, in some cases, unique.
10) Le courrier envoyé d'Angola en transit par la voie intérieure du Congo belge 1928-1935
Vincent Schouberechts
The author has studied, in great detail, mail sent through the flight route from Angola to Tshikapa, in the Belgian Congo, and from there by air to Boma, where it was then sent by ship to Europe. He divides 1928 - 1935 into three periods and analyses the postmarks used during each of these times.
11) Le courrier des militaires belges pendant la campagne de l'Est africain allemand 1915-1918
Luc Van der Marken
The author examines, in great detail, the extremely rich postal history of the Belgian forces stationed in German East Africa during the 1st World War. He illustrates his study with documents bearing the many different postmarks used on mail posted to Europe. Especially in 1916-1917, the use of these postmarks, which are always rare, sometimes spectacular or even unique, was determined by the miltary events of this period.
12) Disclosure of Belgian Congo
Mark Bottu
The author looks at the development of aviation in the Belgian Congo. He describes the first flights and how the first flight routes to Belgium were organized. He shows us a variety of letters that accompanied these flights and takes a detailed look at the postage affixed to these items, based on the rates of the time.
13) The Era of the French Colonial Allegorical Group Type: Bénin/Dahomey
Edward Grabowski
The author presents an overview of the use of the Allegorical Group Type from the French Colony of Bénin/Dahomey. Postal rates, routes, military mail, use of the telegraph and railroad are carefully developed and analyzed through many rare and often unique letters.
14) The slave trade, from the Nile sources to Cairo
Hany Salam
The author has focused on slavery in 19th century Egypt. Slavery was then accepted as a social phenomenon, even by the authorities. He looks at items that refer to slaves, including official bills of sale and purchase, tax and customs documents, accounts and, last but certainly not least, certificates of emancipation.
15) Le Maroc et l'Europe 1852-1912
Maurice Hadida
The author examines the postal history of Morocco from 1852 to 1912 and illustrates his study with about thirty examples of postal exchanges between the French, British, Spanish and German post offices in Morocco and Europe. These items bear maritime and local postmarks, all of which are rare and some are unique.
16) Les marques de censure égyptiennes pendant la première guerre mondiale
Jean-François Logette
The author describes the various types of censorship postmarks used in Egypt during the 1st World War. He shows us several examples of these postmarks on mail sent between Egypt and Europe. He also shows us the different types of paper, accompanied by a variety of texts, which were used to reseal envelopes after they were opened.
17) Les "Zébus" de Madagascar
Philippe Lindekens
The author has written an extremely comprehensive study concerning a series, known as the “Zebus”, which was issued in Madagascar in 1903. He explains how it originated, before showing us a set of letters that bear one or more of these stamps and explaining the associated postage rates.
18) Space Mail from South Africa
Igor Rodin
The author looks at two documents that are perfect examples of ‘astrophilately’ – the term used to describe philatelic material that has travelled aboard a spaceship. These two ‘aerogrammes’ from South Africa were sent by Soviet cosmonaut Kovalenok, who travelled aboard the MIR space station, with cosmonauts Solovjov and Avdeev.
19) Les charmes de l'Orient et Invitation à la prière. Les dessous de deux perforations commerciales nord-africaines
Rainer von Scharpen
The author shows us two examples of perforated stamps affixed to documents. He provides us with an engaging introduction to the interesting facts, which come to light when we analyse and study these documents. These are two fine examples of what he calls “social philately”.
20) Les entiers postaux de France à destination de l'Afrique, jusqu'à la première guerre mondiale
Rainer von Scharpen
The author looks at thirty examples of French postal stationery that was sent to Africa. Until the 1st World War, this stationary was quite rare, as only Europeans would be able to read it in the French African colonies, apart from a few rare exceptions. The author has selected some examples of postal stationery from his collection, which accompany a text that perfectly illustrates how the Europeans lived in these colonies.
21) Provisional government of Modena. The 15 centesimi brown
Paolo Vaccari
The author has produced a comprehensive study of the 15 centesimi stamp, which was issued in 1859 by the provisional government of Modena. With reference to various examples, he describes the colours, varieties and many different uses of this rather special stamp, which did not correspond to any standard postage rate that existed at the time.
22) Enfin une "reconstruction" "reconstituée" après 70 ans
Arnaud de La Mettrie
Packed with nostalgia, humour and philosophical considerations, this article accurately describes the methods used to place the X168 variety of the 25 c. Cérès and adjacent stamps in their plates. It also stresses the importance of multiples when reconstructing plates.
23) La poste franco-turque 1812-1813
Pierre Dubus
The author explains how a postal service developed between France and Turkey at the end of the Napoleonic period. He shows us a few very rare examples of letters bearing postmarks from this short-lived service.
24) Erreurs, surcharges et annotations de confirmation autour de septembre 1871
Francis Carcenac
The author describes the problems caused when the postage rates were increased on 1 September 1871. The similarity of the colour and the effigy led to many postage errors. The author looks at some examples and the solutions used by postal officials, in order to rectify such mistakes.
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