Jersey: WWII Occupation Stamps
Sept 20, 2018 4:25:26 GMT
Londonbus1, tomiseksj, and 11 more like this
Post by stevew on Sept 20, 2018 4:25:26 GMT
First, a personal note, the following stamps and cover are my favorites. After inheriting half of my uncle's stamp collection, I stored them away, not sure just what to do with them. I had collected stamps as a kid, but had given it up long ago. They sat in those boxes for nearly 20 years. I finally decided I should go through them and figure out what was worth selling, and what had so little value it should just be given away. I had looked into general values enough to know that prices had been on a long decline, and there was likely no bonanza in those boxes. As I went through them, I stumbled on a glassine envelope that said Occupation Stamps. I'm a history buff, and was curious, so I started researching them. The story that unfolded was completely unexpected. I had thought of stamps as just pictures with endless minor esoteric variations. I discovered that behind some of those stamps were stories. Interesting stories. It rekindled an interest that had disappeared long ago. I decided that rather than dumping them all, I wanted to keep the two major parts of his collection; Canal Zone and Channel Islands, and fill in the holes he couldn't afford (but which are now affordable).
During WWII, the British Channel Islands were deemed too difficult to defend, they being very close to the French coast. As a result, they were occupied by German forces without any organized defense. They remained under occupation for much of the war. The Islands had been using British stamps for postage, but this was not acceptable to the German occupiers. So, they allowed Jersey and Guernsey to design and produced their own stamps. After a time, they ran out of paper, and printed some on newsprint, and some on bluish bank note paper from France. Below are the first stamps produced by Jersey.
According to Bob Ingraham, the designer of the stamps embedded a small, but risky gesture of defiance by placing the letters AABB (for "Atrocious Adolf Bloody Benito") in the corners of one design, and AAAA (for "Ad Avernum, Adolphe Atrox" - Latin for "to Hell, Atrocious Adolf") in the corners of the other.
Those stamps were followed by new designs of Jersey landscapes. The last one in the group is printed on newsprint.
Although the purpose of the occupation stamps was to avoid any reference to the British monarchy, the designer of the stamps seems to have slipped in a stylized monogram for King George (Georgivs Rex) onto the highest denomination stamp. Too bad there wasn't a 6d stamp to put that on.
During WWII, the British Channel Islands were deemed too difficult to defend, they being very close to the French coast. As a result, they were occupied by German forces without any organized defense. They remained under occupation for much of the war. The Islands had been using British stamps for postage, but this was not acceptable to the German occupiers. So, they allowed Jersey and Guernsey to design and produced their own stamps. After a time, they ran out of paper, and printed some on newsprint, and some on bluish bank note paper from France. Below are the first stamps produced by Jersey.
According to Bob Ingraham, the designer of the stamps embedded a small, but risky gesture of defiance by placing the letters AABB (for "Atrocious Adolf Bloody Benito") in the corners of one design, and AAAA (for "Ad Avernum, Adolphe Atrox" - Latin for "to Hell, Atrocious Adolf") in the corners of the other.
Those stamps were followed by new designs of Jersey landscapes. The last one in the group is printed on newsprint.
Although the purpose of the occupation stamps was to avoid any reference to the British monarchy, the designer of the stamps seems to have slipped in a stylized monogram for King George (Georgivs Rex) onto the highest denomination stamp. Too bad there wasn't a 6d stamp to put that on.
