Introducing the APF : Stephanie Bromser

Stephanie Bromser

Philatelic Development Officer, APF

The branches are consecrated on Palm Sunday and kept by the believers under the eaves in their home to protect the house from lightning and was also cure certain Left Figure 9: 2018 Hungarian non-denom- illnesses. The inational definitive peel and stick stamp egg itself, one of shows some Easter traditions the oldest types Above Figure 10: 2019 Poland stamp of food traditionshowing decorated easter eggs ally eaten at Easter, is an archaic symbol of rebirth and life. An old folk custom connected with Easter Monday is dousing girls with water (today spraying with perfume) and in return giving painted eggs as a gift. The basis of this is the belief in water’s power of purification and to bring fertility. The egg together with the bird that hatches from it symbolises the rebirth of Christ. The Easter lamb is the prefiguration of the sacrifice of the Redeemer. The Israelites of the Old Testament were instructed by God to sacrifice a meat and preparing ‘paçoca’, a Brazilian candy. This is shown in figure 7. Germany has many Easter traditions. Easter Sunday is known as ‘Family Day’. Lots of sweet treats are eaten, including a cake shaped like a lamb, and eggs and cookies are hidden in the garden. Many Germans also have an ‘Easter Fire’ where they burn their Christmas tree to show that winter is over and spring is coming. It is also popular in Germany to have an egg tree as stylised on the postcard in figure 8. Real eggs are painted and then hung from branches of a tree or in a vase inside the house. Some people go to huge efforts to cover an entire tree in their garden with these delicate egg ornaments. The Hungarian 2018 definitive stamp shown in figure 9 has symbols associated with the celebration of Easter, such as a branch of pussy willow, a chick, eggs and brushes used for egg painting. The willow branch represents the palm branches waved by the crowd welcoming Jesus on his entry into Jerusalem. one-year-old lamb and wipe its blood on the doorpost to avoid the wrath of God. The Easter lamb, as a symbol, can both be connected to the fact that lambs come into the world in spring as well as to the religious tenet that Jesus Christ died on the cross to save humanity as a sacrificed lamb. For this reason, he is called the Lamb of God to this day. Norway celebrates Easter in a very unusual way: by reading and watching stories about crime (påskekrims). This “Easter crime” tradition is unique to Norwegians, as no other country around the world celebrates the sacred holiday by obsessing over mysteries, murders, and violence. Perhaps it’s because the holiday days off make the perfect excuse to sit down with a good book while the snowy winter continues outside, but regardless of the reason, you’ll see more crime novels displayed in bookshop windows than chocolate bunnies and Easter scenes if you visit Norway around Easter time. During the Middle Ages, people began decorating eggs and eating them as a treat following mass

Introducing the Australian Philatelic Federation

on Easter Sunday after fasting through Lent. This is something that still happens, especially in eastern European countries like Poland. Some feature very intricate and minute design, and for a stunning effect, many natural dyes are still being used. Polish Post issued commemorative stamps between 2014-2019, before Easter each year. The design of the stamps is provided by the artist Agnieszka Sancewicz. Most of the stamps are decorated eggs. The two stamps shown in figure 10 are from the most recent issue of 2019 represent two varieties of Easter eggs. The first one is an oklejanka from Łowicz, while the second one is a kraszanka from Kaszuby region.

During the nineteenth century, Russia took Easter egg decorating to a whole new level of extravagance. Born in 1846, Peter Carl Fabergé worked as a jeweller and goldsmith for the Russian Imperial Court, creating jewelled masterpieces for Russia’s royalty and nobility. Tsar Alexander III had Fabergé create an Imperial Easter Egg as a gift for the Empress each Easter. The example shown in figure 11 is the Moscow Kremlin egg made in 1906. Each egg took a year to create as they were highly decorated and made of precious stones and metals such as gold, silver, pearls, rubies and diamonds. Each egg held a surprise, some opened to reveal a beautiful pendant, a portrait or a golden hen inside.

Easter in Greece is a deeply religious time, churchFigure 11: 1995 Russia stamp showing the Moscow Kremlin Faberge Easter egg that was made for the Tsar in 1906 Figure 12: 2005 Finland shows a child dressing as a witch for Easter

es are decorated and religious processions are held. Eggs are painted red to represent the blood of Christ. Traditionally, when people meet, they knock their eggs together and say ‘Christos anesti!’ meaning ‘Christ is risen!’ Many people also view the cracking of the eggs to be symbolic of Jesus breaking out of his tomb.

Children in Finland dress up as witches and go begging for chocolate eggs in the streets with madeup faces and scarves around their heads, carrying bunches of willow twigs decorated with feathers (see figure 12). In some parts of Western Finland, people burn bonfires on Easter Sunday, a Nordic tradition stemming from the belief that the flames ward off witches who fly around on brooms between Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

Easter in Australia today

Although autumn is in full swing and winter is com-

Figure 13: Australia 2019 greater bilby international post peel and stick stamp

Stephanie Bromser

Philatelic Development Officer, APF

Figure 14: Sydney Showgrounds, 17th March 1989, special cancellation from the Easter Show,

Show (see figure 14). The Stawell Gift has been held in all but five years since 1878 and is one of the world’s most famous and prestigious foot races. Every Easter thousands of runners and athletics fans from all over Australia and all points of the globe make the annual pilgrimage to Central Park, the professional running mecca, in the tiny historic gold-mining town of Stawell. Runners from far and wide have come to Stawell with a glint in their eye, all trying their luck at capturing the glory and some coin. Bookmakers have played an integral part of the rich and colourful history, the attraction of the punt adding to the magic and intrigue. For well over a century, it was a male-only competition, but the carnival now encompasses events for both men and women of all ages and abilities, across distances from 70m to 3200m. The colour, festivity and tradition of this event provide entertainment value across the entire Easter weekend but it’s the 12 seconds of the Stawell Gift 120m final which captures the attention and ing in the Southern Hemisphere, rabbits and eggs as excitement of the nation. The first Stawell Gift was symbols of spring remain part of Australian festiv- held on a sandy gravel surface at the nearby western ities. Some Australians will attend church services Botanical Reserve in 1878, not moving to its current while the majority enjoy the four-day weekend feast- location at Central Park until 1898. The inaugural ing and relaxing with family and friends. On Easter winner, farmer William Jackson Millard won by Sunday, the Easter bunny will deliver chocolate eggs inches and collected the first prize of 20 pounds. to children and there will be egg hunts in backyards The 100th running of the race was commemorated by and parks across Australia. Australia Post with a pre-paid stamped envelope and

In Australia, Easter means pancakes, hot cross special cancellation as shown in figure 15. buns, and chocolate Easter eggs. On Shrove Tuesday, many Australian communities celebrate Easter by preparing and selling pancakes and donating the proceeds to charity. Easter also means hot cross buns, which is a popular sweet, spiced bun with a white cross indentation on the top that is sold at almost every bakery in the weeks leading up to the Easter weekend. However, while it may seem similar to the UK style of celebrating Easter, a unique Australian aspect of Easter is the Easter bilby (see figure 13). It is our Australian alternative to the Easter bunny and supports the Australian bilby conservation movement. Figure 15: 1981 Australian pre-paid stamped envelope and

Events and festivals are common during special cancellation of 18th April commemorating the Stawell this period such as the Sydney Royal Easter gift that is run every Easter.

Market Matters

World’s priciest stamp AND coin for sale!

The legendary British Guiana 1856 1¢ Black on Magenta cut to shape imperforate stamp classic, is to be auctioned on June 8, 2021, by Sotheby’s in Manhattan, New York.

It last sold for a $US9.48 million invoice price, also by Sotheby’s - near exactly 7 years ago, on June 17, 2014. The seller is American women’s shoe designer Stuart Weitzman, based in New York.

In the same sale, Weitzman will also offer the unique multi-million dollar Plate Block of 4 of the USA 1918 A $10+ million plus stamp perhaps? “Inverted Jenny” 24¢ stamp, and also apparently the world’s rarest coin, the also unique in private hands 1933 $20 “Saint Gaudens” double eagle. On July 30, 2002, the USA 1933 $20 coin was sold at a Sotheby’s auction held in New York for $6.6 million, plus a 15% Buyer’s Premium, and an additional $20 needed to “monetise” the face value of the coin so it would become legal currency - in a bizarre deal the Feds struck with the seller. This brought the final invoice price to $US7,590,020 - at the time a record price for a world coin I understand. Half the bid price was to be delivered to the United States Treasury, plus the $20 to “monetize” the coin, while the vendor was entitled to the other half. It has not been offered for 19 years, and Sothebys state they expect the $20 gold coin to fetch $US1015 million hammer price, and even if it gets somewhat less than that, will make it the world’s most valuable coin item after the 20% or whatever Buyer Fees are added.

The world’s very priciest coin?

Offering together a very smart idea.

It might be a very smart move offering the two together. Some Arab sheik, or Texas oilman etc, might decide it is cool to buy both the world’s priciest coins and stamps in one hit, and an invoice price for the 2 items of about $A25 million would not surprise me at all.

Interest and Bond rate returns globally are near

Glen Stephens

Value over $US350 BILLION per kilo.

(or below!) zero, stockmarkets are pretty jittery, and in that kind of climate there are many wellheeled folks looking for something with kudos and provenance to park some funds in, AND have at the same time own a couple of unique and famous items as well. This is why Picassos always sell well!

Stampboards.com was literally the first outlet on earth to publish the price of the 2014 Guiana sale, and had several members in the saleroom with smartphones and videos, and they added a posted first hand live commentary, and video of the sale taking place - tinyurl.com/1856BG1c

The stamp weight has been estimated to be nearly the same as the Sweden 3sk “Tre Skilling Yellow” which we know weighs exactly 0.02675 grams (0.0009 ounces). This gave the British Guiana stamp the staggering value of over $US350 Billion per kilogram - $US354,392,523,364.49 to be exact! The most valuable object in the world by weight or volume - no contest.

The stamp is defective, cut-to-shape, very heavily faded, has been “painted in”, over past surface scuffing, and now has been signature vandalised with a sharp pen/pencil by owner Weitzman, but it wil still sell for millions despite this COVID cloud we are all living under.

World’s most valuable object by weight.

The last sale really spoke volumes about the health of the stamp hobby globally. The 2014 auction yielded superb and positive global publicity for stamps, and that is always most welcome. “The world’s most valuable object by weight” etc. Weitzman purchased it from the estate of John E. du Pont, an heir to the du Pont chemicals fortune, who had acquired it in 1980, before he died in prison for the murder of the Olympic wrestler and coach Dave Schultz. The killing served as the basis for the 2014 film “Foxcatcher.” The 2014 price was about TEN times what du Pont purchased it for in 1980. Many at that time in 1980 speculated the price paid was quite absurd, and the buyer would certainly lose money on it when re-sold.

In fact, du Pont paid 3 or 4 times what Weinberg paid only 10 years earlier. And Weinburg paid 5 or 6 times what Australian Gallipoli war hero Frederick Small paid. Which in turn was more than Arthur Hind paid etc!

Stampboards.com had a maths whizz compute that since John du Pont purchased the stamp in 1980, it had appreciated at 6.25% p.a. - pretty amazing in a USA economy, where annual real interest rates had been negligible in that same period.

Mainstream and POSITIVE media for stamps is very scarce these days. I had many media calls, and this long interview was on National primetime ABC radio here - tinyurl.com/GlenBG The record price actually paid, after the cheeky 20% auction house “Buyer Fee” was added, was $US9.48 million.

As I said in that interview it is the ONE major Commonwealth stamp rarity the Royal Collection does not possess. KGV was underbidder to Arthur Hind, and who knows, there may still be some interest in it going there. It was strongly thought by

Market Matters

many the Queen was the buyer last time it was auctioned, as buyer was “anonymous” for quite a while.

Money cannot buy wisdom.

One of the more fascinating aspects of the famed British Guiana 1856 1¢ Black on Magenta stamp is the reverse side, which shows the personal owner marks of several of its famous (and infamous) owners over the past Century. Few stamps exhibit so many owner marks. No stamp in history has ever COST this much of course!

The new owner of the mega million British Guiana stamp Just SO subtle, Mr. Weitzman. decided recently to flamboyantly add his initials to the reverse of it. Nothing really unusual even a metallic ink ball pen. See photo of it nearby. about that, as many past owners have done that just Watching him clumsily sign it on the video was that - see photo nearby and index of those markings. disturbing. He seemed there to have zero clue about Stampboards has videos of this pen vandalism the history of the stamp. taking place - tinyurl.com/1cVandal The final leg of the “W” he has used such

Stuart Weitzman does not really collect stamps. pressure the stamp paper looks to have nearly been He designed expensive women’s shoes. So his punctured. I have grave fears the next time this brainstorm was not just to initial the back of the stamp is scanned, this heavy graffiti will show stamp at far left with “SW”, but to also add a large through on the face, on this very thin paper. Very stylised woman’s Stiletto shoe under and beside clever behaviour. Hopefully will have cost him a his SW initials. Brilliant stuff. Both he and his million dollars deducted from bids. off-siders in the videos, handled this unique stamp We are all but temporary custodians of any without tweezers or cotton gloves. stamp or cover or coin we own, and this kind of

Having apparently far more money than sense, dopey stuff is infuriating - to me anyway. Sure, he Weitzman appears to have executed this vandalism can slice it all into little pieces if he really wishes, using heavy pressure, with a sharp HB pencil or as it is right NOW his plaything, but such an over-