American Philatelic Society Affiliate No . 52

EDITOR :

Robert C . Ross, 28 Kenmore Place, Glen Rock, New Jersey 07452

JANUARY NEW ISSUES FROM SWITZERLAND

JANUARY 1977

The Swiss PTT has announced the issue of seven stamps for January 27, 1977 . Thefirst set will renew the tradition of Swiss portrait stamps, depicting four Swiss avia-tion pioneers . The 40c will show Oskar Bider and a Blériot monoplane ; the 80 c . willshow Eduard Spelterini and a balloon basket ; the 100 c . will show Armand Dufaux and aDufaux biplane ; and the 150 c . will show Walter Mittelholzer and a Do-Merkur seaplane.Kurt Wirth, Bern did the designs ; Karl Bickel, Jr ., Walenstadt, did the steel engravings;the stamps are 36 x 26 mm . ; the printing is rotary line engraving by the PTT Stamp Print-ing Works, Bern ; paper will be white with luminous substance and violet mixture of fibers;and the form cylinder will be four sheets (1-4) of 25 stamps each . They will be valid forpostage for an unlimited period, but on sale at Swiss post offices only until February28, 1978, unless stocks are sooner exhausted.

A 50th anniversary of Mittelholzer's African flight from Switzerland to South Africais being planned for February or March . Swissair and the Lucerne Transport Museum wouldco-operate.

The other three stamps to be issued on January 27 will be printed inmulticolor rotogravure by Courvoisier SA, La Chaux-de-Fonds on white luminous paper without colored fibersA 20 c . will be issued depicting an alcoholic being cared for in honor of the Blue Cross.This organization was founded in Geneva in 1877 to fight alcoholism and to care for alco-holics . Design is by Claude Mohonnet, Neuchâtel.

The Swiss are honoring the cause, as well as the cure, in January . The 40 c . pub-licizes the Vintage Festival of Vevey, which will be held in the vineyard center risingfrom the Lake of Geneva from July 30 to August 14 . Tens of thousands of visitors areexpected for a series of events : music, processions, dancing and games . This will be thelast vintners' festival of this century . The design is by the Montreux art firm ofBornand, Gaeng + Monod, and features the festival's official emblem : a sun-shaped head ofBacchus surrounded by "Vintners' Festival " in French.

Finally, the 80 c . honors the international youth festival Juphilex 77 . This phil-atelic exhibition will be held in Bern from April 7 to 11, 1977 . Its aim is to promotecooperation and friendship and to draw attention to stamp collecting as a hobby . Thedesign is by 15-year old Daniel Froidevaux of St . Blaise, winner of a Fund for the Pro-motion of Philately competition .

Vol . III No . 1

Data January, 1977

WETTACH LEAVES AS AHPS OFFICER

George H . Wettach asked not to be considered for an office in AHPS in 1977 "forpersonal reasons and because of many pressures of other duties ." A review of earlyjournals of this society and its predecessors indicates that George first became amember of Helvetia in the early 1940s . He immediately offered to help duplicate ahandbook distributed to all Helvetia members.

He was Secretary of Helvetia in 1953-55, and continued the annual Christmas partyin the northern New Jersey area between 1956 and 1967 . In 1967 he was instrumental inre-activating monthly meetings and was elected president . In 1968 he became vice-pres-ident, and in 1969 he became treasurer . He has held that post ever since, the last twoyears for AHPS after Helvetia merged with SASS . In all, George has held office in Helvetiaand AHPS for 14 years . The only officer to have come close to George's record is Gustavevon Gross who was Editor for Helvetia 1938-1947 and President 1942-1947.

NEW JERSEY CHAPTER NEWS

Harlan Stone spoke on Federal imperforate stamps (1850-63) at the chapter's Octo-

ber meeting. His display included complete platings of the Rayon II and the large rap-pen Rayon III stamps . He also showed mixed frankings of the Strubels and Sitting Helvetias.

Gerry Diamond spoke on first flight covers from the 1920's at the November meeting.He showed over a hundred covers with special markings, vignettes and special registrationlabels . Especially interesting was one of 67 covers dropped from a plane to an airportin a mailbag in an effort to provide service to a small facility.

The annual Christmas party was held in Hasbrouck Heights on December 11 . The

chapter normally meets on the third Tuesday of each month at the Fair Lawn Arts Center,12-56 River Road, Fair Lawn, NJ . Any AHPS member is invited to attend.

Cite this issue as vol .

3, no . 1,wh. no .23, pages 1 - 24 ; issuedwith four page auction insert.

Swiss New Issues 1Wettach Leaves as Treasurer 2New Jersey Chapter News 2Election and By-law Changes 3A Word From Up Front 3Linn's Issue on Swiss Philately 4RPO Cancels 5Geneva before 1798 9Is Iradug a Cow Pasture? 12On The Editor's Desk 13Mountain Walks 15Book Reviews 17

2Page

3Vol . III No . 1

Page

Date January, 1977

ELECTIONS AND BY-LAW CHANGES

The final results of the balloting are not certain as of this writing . It is almost certainthat the nominating committee's slate of officers has been elected, and a message from ournewpresident, Felix Ganz, appears below . (Felix has resigned as Editor of the bulletin of the ChicagoPhilatelic Society in order to be able to devote time to AHPS .) It also appears that most of theby-law changes have been enacted . Definite word, and the addresses of the new officers, will ap-pear in the February issue of "Tell ."

A WORD FROM UP FRONT

Dear Fellow Philatelic American Helvetians:

In Switzerland they say "Würde mit Bürde," and in Latin similarly one may state "Otium cumdignitate," or, to wit : no honor comes without strings attached!

I thank you who have chosen to vote for me as president of this society for the confidencethus expressed; and I shall try to fulfill your trust, together with all other elected and soonto be appointed officers.

Our society has come quite a way since its birth of two since departed parents ; but we havea longer way to go before we can truly call ourselves THE specialists' and amateurs' society ofeverything philatelic and Swiss.

We have an interesting paper to hold us together and to share our interests in Helveticstamps and related subjects ; but in order to keep the paper at its current, informative level andsize we must not only continue to furnish our editor with original articles, notes and reports onwinning awards and the like, but we also must bring a moderate sacrifice in form a slightly in-creased annual membership assessment so as not to have to reduce its size and with it, content.

We have had, and now have, an obviously devoted group of officers ; but we need young blood toavoid the pitfalls of a generation suddenly growing old and perhaps listless, to carry on . Sinceall your officers serve without any compensation it should be natural that any inquiry directedtowards them should contain a stamped, addressed envelope!

We have auctions and circuits running quite smoothly ; but we must depend on the honesty andcooperation of each participant to keep these services for mutual satisfaction,

We have close to 500 members ; but in order to stay solvent we should increase our membershipto at least 600, and preferably 700 by the end of 1978, primarily because printing cost of ourbulletin decreases per piece with greater volume.

For 1977 I suggest the following:

1) Any member recruiting five new members during 1977 will have his/her 1978 AHPS membershipdues paid by me personally;2) Every member TRULY interested in our society's well-being should send at least ONE gooddonation auction lot to our auction manager, to be sold at a special donation auction next Aprilor May -- with all proceeds to benefit the depleted coffers of AHPS;3) Every member, within the next two years, should prepare at least one exhibit and show it at alocal, regional, national or yet more prestigious show, and in this way spread the word of thestamps of Switzerland and indirectly of our society.

Help keep our society healthy, growing, and in the news!!

4Pag. Vol . III No . 1

Date January, 1977

LINN ' S ISSUE ON SWISS PHILATELY (VO. 49, NO, 49, WH, NO . 2509, 12/6/76)

Karl Sharp has, for the second year in a row, produced a splendid array of articlesfor "Linn's Stamp News " . In all, Linn's carried twelve articles, all but three carryingan AHPS by-line.

Harlan Stone led off with a history of the Society : "American Helvetia PhilatelicSociety Concludes Successful Second Year " . Robert Ross wrote a topical article listingSwiss post cards, stamps and cancels relating to the telephone.

Ed Chalfant wrote "Insist on certificate for early Swiss stamps " , an excellentand readable warning . "Did you know that most early Swiss stamps, from Scott 1L1 through13, are forgeries -- in many cases as high as 90 per cent? It is true . "

Karl Sharp took issue with the press release on the new conservation publicitystamp which indicated that trilingual Swiss stamps were rare because of space limitation."Since 1850, Switzerland has issued 234 stamps and miniature sheets with some form ofGerman-French-Italian language inscription . Of these issues 104 containmultilanguageinscriptions (German+French+Italian), and 130 issues exist in one language only (Germanor French or Italian) . " Karl offers readers a complete listing for $ .1G and a SASE(1336 White Oak Drive, Verona, PA 15147) and also a challenge : what Swiss stamp is in Eng-lish? ( "Multilingual Inscriptions on Swiss Postage Stamps " , p . 38.)

Sophie Buser told the legend of our journal's name-sake : "Swiss take Tell Taleas Truth " , page 39 . Donna O'Keefe continued her series on Swiss cities with "Bernesecontent to enjoy natural life " , page 31 . She lists and describes 13 Swiss stamps witha Bern motif.

Felix Ganz set forth three "Little known facts about Swiss naval history" on page30 . (1) Army units patrolled Swiss lakes during World War II and cancelled mail . (2)Swiss merchant ships applied ship cancels to Swiss stamps ,; the Swiss PTT taxed suchmail when it arrived in Switzerland, but foreign governments recognized it . (3) Lakesteamers applied cancels (and today cachets) to mail posted in mail boxes aboard ship.

Ernest Kehr set forth reasons for collecting Swiss stamps in "Swiss stamps worthyof collector confidence . " And H.L . Katcher described "Differences of Control Marks onSwiss Stamps.

There were two pieces on the new machine labels, one ( "Experiment could spell endof Swiss Stamps " ) based on "Tell " articles by Felix Ganz and Michael Rutherfoord, andone unsigned "Reports continue on Switzerland's Vending Machine Labels . "

The special edition also updated Linn's market trends of Swiss and L'stein stamps,noted the 30th anniversary of the Amateur Collector, and reviewed the October issue of "Tell" .

Linn's wrote to Mr . Sharp : "Your promptness and efficiency in regard to this editionwere most appreciated . Please extend our gratitude to the members of your Society . "Karl has notified AHPS that he does not intend to assume this task in future years.His loss will be keenly felt ; not only did the special issue bring AHPS and Swiss philatelyto the attention of 90,000 American collectors, but "Tell " has received three excellentarticles for future issues which Linn's was unable to print . "Tell " joins "Linn's " inexpressing gratitude to Mr . Sharp for his efforts in putting together this splendid issue .

Vol . III No . 1

Date January 1977

The Postal MARKINGS and

CANCELLATIONS IN SWITZERLAND AND

LIECHTENSTEIN ; Part 54.

By Felix Ganz

NEWER, "NEUTRAL" RAILWAY LINE CANCELLATIONS (withBAHNPOST, AMBULANT, AMBULANTE OR BILINGUAL LEGENDS,)

Illustration 22 (Type XVID) shows the precursor of what became normal for mostSwiss RPOs after 191O : a "neutral" cancellation stating AMBULANT (most fre-quent), BAHNPOST (infrequent), AMBULANTE (only one or two lines known usingthat Italian term), BAHNPOST/AMBULANT, or AMBULANT/BAHNPOST only, plus therespective train number (traceable if one owns the official Swiss time tablethat is published every six months . .and in which the train numbers also areapt to change frequently .) after the date, in numbers varying from "1" tofive-digit numbers, plus occasional letters behind the number.

These neutral RPO markings had the advantage of being usable on ANY RPO runon any line, and therefore they are frequently encountered in use both onfederal as well as on private lines . A collection of types (as shown below)is interesting while a collection attempting to bring together all train num-bers would be a rather silly undertaking since one would need each train num-ber every six months (because of the reassigning of numbers, etc .).

In the early days of these neutral RPO markings a great number of differenttypes then still in use and showing the "No ." and the actual RPO run numberin the lower rim, were adapted to the new use by excising the "No ." and thenumber (while retaining the wheels for the train number after the date) . Atthe same time some new cancellations also must have been distributed ; butthese look identical and, for practical purposes, cannot be differentiatedfrom the recut types.

The "oldest looking" type of this group derives from Type XVIA (Fig .19) . Inits new form (Fig .28, below) it did service for a few more years . Diameterof this type is about 23 mm . It is immediately distinguished by large cross.

Closely related to this "oldest" type is its recut cousin, also with largecross, but with thicker bars (Fig .29) . Even fewer of these seem to havebeen in use in this excised form, and only through about 1918 . Let us callFig .28 and 29 Type XXIA and XXIB . In R .L .Christian's typology of these"plain" types neither XXIA nor XXIB are recorded (Helvetia/London Newsletter,August 1968, p .49-51) . There is a faint possibility that a Type XXIC couldexist in which the inscription at top would be BAHNPOST instead of AMBULANT;but to date it has not been seen by anyone collecting these postal markings.

Page 5

Page 6 Vol . III No . 1

Data January 1977

Figures 3O to 33 represent 4 subvarieties of Type XXII (a,b,c,d), with 5,6,7, and 8 bars, top and bottom semicircular segments, respectively . Allof these types, with small cross at bottom and AMBULANT at top seem to berecuts from earlier types which (as listed then) also occur with 5,6,7,and8 bars . It is quite possible that here, too, additional subtypes withother numbers of bars, or even unequal numbers such as 6 on top and 7 atbottom, may be discovered ; but all will belong to the smaller rim types(about 25 mm diameter) with continuous bridge.

The AMBULANT cancels with continuous bridge also exist in a larger size of27 mm . Since all chroniclers distinguish these from the small size items,we too shall do so and call the larger specimens Type XXIII . Figure 34 isof the less common type with 7 bars,thus XXIIIc . Six bars is common, butfive, eight, or more hatchmarks may occur in this type as well (a ; d ;)

Whether all cancellations of Type XXIII were recuts (with excised numbersat bottom) or not, cannot be ascertained . It is likely that the greaterpart of them were, but some may have been manufactured from the start inthis way . However, over the years anything classed above as Types XXII &XXIII underwent a "face-lifting" by having the bars removed . This pro-duced the new type of XXIV (diameter 24k-27 mm; no attempt made at subtypesaccording to diameter.--Of this same basic cancellation form (with continu-ous bridge) there are also in existence bilingual, "neutral" cancellersthat say BAHNPOST at top and AMBULANT at the bottom . Call it TypeXXV; oneknows this cancellation with bars in the two semicircles (Fig .36) -- usu-ally six, but other numbers of bars may be in existence -- or with barsexcised (Type XXVI) in a variety of subtypes of which two quite strikinglydifferent ones are shown above as Fig . 37 and 38 . Some of these typeswith bars excised can be further subdivided into those with a shaded andthose with an unshaded cross an almost limitless undertaking . And ifyou care to specialize in this type, then you must consider not only formof cross, form and size of letters, and diameters but you may also wishto collect all different train numbers shown after the date . . . .GOOD LUCK:

Returning to the single language types there is yet another recut type inexistences the large double ring type with enclosed bridge, fashioned fromformer type XIX, by excising the "No ." and the number . This type is scarce

7PageVol . III No . 1

Date January 1977

in German (Type XXVII ; with bars ; Fig .39 and Type XXVIII ; bars excised; Fig.40)and very common in French (AMBULANT only) in which language it occurs in avariety of subtypes . Type XXIX (Fig .41) has seven bars, a cross at bottom, andno stars at the sides (scarce) : Type XXX (Figs .42-43) comes in at least twosubforms of eight and ten bars, respectively, cross at bottom, and two stars;and then there is an odd Type XXXI (Fig .44) in which for some reason the datebridge "floats" between the bridgeless bars -- themselves in such goodconditionthat one cannot consider this type a worn down and damaged specimen . Some ofthe French language types also were "liberated" of their semicircle bars, andsome of them partially recut as well, resulting in the new types XXXII (Fig.45), the common type with cross at bottom and two stars ; XXXIII (Fig .46) onlywith cross at bottom and without stars : XXXIV (Fig .47), with the cross trans-planted into the upper semicircle and thus featuring three stars below ; and

XXXV (Fig .48), obviously fashioned from recutting previous type XXXI (Fig .44).Finally -- probably because no one on the Centovalli railroad that runs fromDomodossola (Italy) to Locarno (Switzerland) wanted either a French or evenless a German language canceler -- that line utilized (utilizes to this day??)an Italian language-only marking, Type XXXVI (Fig .49) . From its looks theremight have existed an earlier type, with bars : but it has not been reporteduntil now and thus its existence in the earlier form is highly questionable.

Still of the same basic second form (date bridge enclosed in a double ring)one also finds the quite common bilingual Type XXXVII (Fig .50) with 12 bars inthe two semicircles and -- this is important -- with the two circles leaving aband of about 4½ to 5 mm width between them . This type also was recut, and Fig.51-52 show the resulting Type XXXVIII, one with a shaded, and the other with anunshaded cross in the upper semicircle . (Note : one may distinguish not onlydifferent shapes and sizes of crosses, but also of stars' positions)

Closely related to Type XXXVIII is Type XXXIX (Fig .53-55) . The two differ inthe width of the band between the two rings . Type XXXIX's band is only 2½ to3 mm wide, and the difference is very noticeable when one compares the two

Page Vol . III No . 1

Data January 1977

next to each other . BAHNPOST is always at the top ; AMBULANT at the bottom . Figs,53,54 and 55 differ only in the number of bars in the segments : 8 (subtype A);12 (subtype B) ; and 14 (subtype C) . Other numbers of bars may also exist.

This "thin rim" type also was recut, producing the basic Type XL (Fig .56) anda rather infrequently seen Type XLI (Fig .57), without a Swiss cross.

Occasionally the normally tidy, perfect and industrious Swiss cancel cuttersobviously did less than perfect work as Figs . 58-59 show : the bars were not ful-ly, or not deeply enough excised and thus show in part . This cannot be calleda special type (although Roy Christian lists them as "special types" in histypology of "key types") . But a partially excised type which also forms alink between the double rim types with enclosed bridge and the following typeswith "open bridge" definitely is a special form (Type XLII ; Fig.60) . With nar-row rim it looks as if not only the bars in the upper segment have been ex-cised, but the inner rim lines at both sides of the date as well.

Fig .60 is the first type with open date bridge . Of the same open bridge typeare the remaining "neutral" RPO cancellations -- many of them in use to thisday -- while the older forms and types seem to be almost retired by now.

Many of these last types also seem to be the result of recutting (and chang-ing either a type with continuous bridge OR one with enclosed bridge betweena double outer rim, by removing some inner lines near the date) . Definitelyrecut are Types XLIII (small size, made from Type XXIV) shown in Fig .61 ; andType XLIV (Fig .62, fashioned from Type XXXII) . Type XLIV probably exists intwo subtypes' with shaded and unshaded cross ; but it is sometimes very dif-ficult indeed to attribute a certain cross to either category.

Also recut is the cancel shown in Fig .63 (Type XLV ; from Type XL or XLI).

Fig .64 is a rarely seen item (Type XLVI) with "reversed" bilingualtext: AMBULANT at top and BAHNPOST at the bottom. It occurs with both shaded andunshaded cross and is used on a handful of lines only.

The two last figures, 65 and 66, are Type XLVIIA (shaded cross) and B (unshaded cross), respectively . These are currently in use on all federal rail-way lines and on all private lines not using cancellations spelling out the"railheads" of such lines . They occur in a wide variety of subtypes (wide ornarrow lettering, etc .) and with numbers from -1-- to about 27000, plus letters!

Vol . III No . 1

Page 9

Date January, 1977

GENEVA BEFORE 1798by

Chuck LaBlonde

Already in Roman times Geneva was an important center of trade and commerce.In 120 B.C. there was a bridge across the Rhone at Geneva, a bridge destroyed byCaesar in 58 B .C . Messengers from Rome crossed the Alps and changed horses atGeneva for the trip into Gaul . As power balances in Europe shifted Geneva wasoccupied by various groups until it became a free imperial city in 1034 . Mail atthat time was carried by private couriers, pilgrims or wandering merchants.

Beginning in the 14th century mail was carried by special bonded footmessengers who wore the colors of the city which supported them ( Basel, Bern,St . Gallen, etc . ) . They made all of their trips on foot, often over greatdistances, and they enjoyed a sort of diplomatic immunity. There were alsospecial messengers employed by merchant's organizations, especially those ofZurich and St. Gallen. Their purpose was to facilitate commerce by providing ameans of correspondence . All of these various messengers called at Geneva; by1575 regular postal service linked Geneva with Lyon and cities in northernSwitzerland.

As early as 1640 one began to note written markings on some letters, numbersprobably indicating the amount of postage to be collected from the recipient ofthe letter . Avery few letters indicated the city of origin . The postal rates ofthe period were very unstable and complicated, varying from city to city, yearto year, route to route and even messenger to messenger . By 1666 mountedmessengers were carrying the mail between Basel, Bern, Konstanz, Chur, Geneva,Glarus, Schaffhausen, Zurich, Bergamo, etc ..

In 1669 when the French Postal System was created by Louis XIV a Frenchpost office was opened in Geneva at the corner of the Rue Verdaine and the Ruede Vallee . It handled mail between Geneva and France only . In 1670 both theZurich and St. Gallen merchant postal systems opened offices in Geneva followedin 1675 by the Fischer system of Bern and in 1703 by the Sardinian postal system.The latter four were grouped in the Place du Molard and handled all mail exceptthat for France . The French post office paid the city of Geneva an annual fee of50 pistols for the privilege of having an office in the city.

Around 1695 all French post offices received markingdevices which showed the name of the city . The one usedin Geneva bore the inscription "De Geneve" or "from Geneva.It is generally regarded as the first Swiss postmark eventhough it was really manufactured and used by the French post office . After a fewyears it was changed to indicate only "Geneve." The marking devices themselves weremade either of wood or very soft metal which meant that they wore out rapidly . Alarge variety of postmarks thus exists for the 18th century since each replacementdevice seems to have differed from its predecessor. Indications of worn devicescan also be seen on many letters in the form of a frame around the name of thecity. There is no evidence of Geneva postmarks having been used by any of the otherfour postal systems which had offices in the city .

Page10

Vol . III No . 1

Data January, 1977

Folded letter from Genevato Grenoble, 4 November1750 . Worn postmark withframe line showing aroundthe name of the city.Postage of 7 decimes.

Folded letter toLyon, 19 June 1776.Geneva straight linepostmark used by theFrench post office.Postage of 8 decimes .

Vol . III No . 1 Page 11

Date January, 1977

On 1 July 1768, due to some differences between the governments of Franceand Geneva, the French post office was moved to Versoix, then a French city . Onthe same day Geneva opened the first post office of its own to handle mailbetween the city and Versoix, the new official transit point for mail to andfrom France . The French post office returned to Geneva in December 1774 andremained until 1813 . There is some controversy over whether the Geneva postoffice ever used a postmark during its short life 1768-1774 . A letter has beendiscovered bearing two straightline Geneva postmarks and some interpret this tobe one from the Geneva post office and one from the French post office at Versoix.

It should be noted that only letters from Geneva toFrance bore postmarks ; letters to the rest of Switzerland boreonly handwritten markings . Towards the end of the 18thcentury two interesting postmarks appeared, one of which wasthe first postage paid postmark to be used in Switzerland.The other was a normal city postmark surrounded by two frame lines, the outer oneof which is dotted. Examples of both are shown here .

Folded letter, Genevato Turin, date unknown.Geneva cancel with twoframe lines, used 1793and 1794. Postage of15 decimes .

Page 12 Vol . III No . 1

Date January, 1977

IS IRADUG A COW PASTURE?

Our Swiss war correspondent, C . W. Slaybaugh, has filed a report that Iradugmay be a cow pasture : He writes : "Upon receipt of the October issue of "Tell " I wroteto the Tourist Agency in Vaduz about the Swiss invasion of Liechtenstein and received theenclosed answer;

'Iradug is the name of a pasture near the Swiss border and belongs to Balzers,the village situated in the very south of Liechtenstein . On the enclosed map you willfind the name of the street Iradug and southern of that street you will find the littlecorner of Iradug where the Swiss soldiers just slightly touched Liechtenstein territoryby error during an exercise.

'However, we also have to tell you that we Liechtensteiners did not know aboutit until it was mentioned in our local newspapers and until somebody worked out such a'famous story' as it has become now .'

"This answer should settle once and for all that there is such a place as Iradug.Although I have been unable to actually visit the spot of the invasion, anyone who hasdriven from Zürich through or to the San Bernadino Pass couldn't have missed the

impressive castle on the left side of the autobahn, about 25 km . before reaching Chur.Gutenberg Castle, "G" on the following map, is in Balzers and is close to the IradugPasture . "

Dear Members,After a months absence, I was able to receive some very nice

lots from our membership to offer to you.I trust that my descriptions of all lots are accurate and objective

so that you as bidders will be able to place intelligent bids for thestamps you need . By doing it this way, both buyer and seller arepleased which after all is the primary purpose for these auctions.

For this auction 1 SFr = .41i U .S.Best of luck to all in this January auction # 18 . The closing

date will be February 20, 1977 .

Vol . III No . 1

Page 13

Date January, 1977

ON THE EDITORS DESK

The October issue of HNL (No . 10, 30th Year) carried a lead article (pps . 73-74) byTim Hargreave entitled "Notes on the 1973 Definitives" (Z . 523-531, S . 558-68) . The art-icle describes four types of misalignments of colors, stating that 40% of Hargreave'sstamps show some sort of misalignment.

Ritchie's series on labels, part III (pps . 75-76) lists two new "Refused" , three new"Deceased " , and five new "Unclaimed " labels . He also lists and illustrates six "Unpaid " ,five "Firm Closed " , five "Gone Away " , and four "Gone Away Without Leaving an Address " labels.

The October issue also contains part XIX of Dutton's Swiss/UK WWII mail series (pp.77-78), and a forecast of 1977 new issues and special flights (p. 79).

M . Rutherfoord reports at page 79 that the three Reubens stamps issued by L'stein onSeptember 9 were sold out days before the first day . Speculation, topical interest fromHolland, and the appeal of the sheetlets all may have contributed . As a result, L'steinwill no longer sell stamps before the first day, but as in the past orders for FDC's willbe continue to be accepted for two days after the first day . Rutherfoord warns againstpaying high prices for the sheetlets (and I would ask you to consider what the phrase"first day " means in the L'stein context).

The October issue of BBZ carried a spoof on the new private labels printed by stampmachines . 2000 labels are available from each machine ; BBZ says 1,999, but "Tell " under-stands that a 0 .00 value is possible . The face value of the complete set from a singlemachine would be about $45,000 . Since each machine incorporates its own code number andletter into a label, there are different labels from each machine ; a complete run of 8,000from the present machines would cost $180,000 (not counting varieties) . However, the PTTpresently has about 3,600 machines . If all of these were replaced by the new vendingmachines, there might be as many as 7,200,000 labels eventually . A complete collectionwould run about $162,000,000 at face : The writer also computes that a mounted collectionmight weigh seven tons, unless you use interleaving, which would add another 1 .2 tons.

"After careful investigation Zumstein + Cie . . . had to delete from its 1975 PostalStationery Catalog of Switzerland, in the section on essays, a just inserted new categoryon essays of the address/postage sides of a number of National Fête Cards because itturned out that such pieces could be produced (they DO exist as true essays, by the way)by soaking a finished product card in water or over steam until the layers of the finishedcard could be pulled apart . Sad, the true items were worth $50 to $75 each . Now every-thing is valueless . "The Ugly Business of Fakers, etc . " , Felix Ganz, CPS News-Bulletin,90th Yr ., Jan/Feb, 1976, No . 1, p. 12 (P.O. Box A-3953, Chicago IL 60609).

P . Rapp has announced the results of his auction in Zürich September 27-October 2.98.6% of the lots were sold, 8,942 in all . The auction realized $4,440,000 (plus theauctioneer's 10% commission), 73 .9% over estimates . 1,140 philatelists were said to haveviewed lots and to take part in the auction.

Frank Geiger-SLA has published its 16 page 1976-77 price list covering Switzerland,L'stein and Austria . Free : Box 6215, Rohrerstown, PA 17603.

The September issue of "Tell " was noted in the November 6 issue of "Stamps " . Thepress release on which the note was based instituted a new policy of $ .50 for sample copies.

The Swiss telephone commemorative showed Bell's 1876 instrument and a modern push-button telephone, the design recommended by the International Telecommunications Union .

Vol . III No.

Data January, 1977

Page 14

This was the most popular design for the centenary, being used also by Bulgaria, Iran,Tunisia, France, Qatar, Kuwait, India, Indonesia and Congo Republic.

"To our certain knowledge for more than a decade, Mrs . E. J . Rawnsley has held thedouble office of Hon . Secretary to the Helvetia Philatelic Society and the Editorship (wesuspect the typing and arrangement as well) of "Helvetia News Letter " . Both of thesejobs are generally taken for granted and it is therefore with very great pleasure thatwe note that Mrs . Rawnsley pulled off a 'double first' in the recent Annual Competition.One has also to remember that she was competing with other specialists in the same fieldand judging by the entries of the runners-up, it really was quite a feat.

"As she is, no doubt, a busy housewife as well we are glad to know that she is ableto relax into stamps from time to time . If it is not impertinent to do so, we offer oursincere congratulations to Mrs . Rawnsley on her double . Such person are the vertebralcolumn upon which the members and the rest of the body hang . " Philatelist, October, 1976,Vo . 43, No . 1, p . 24.

Matterhorn Stamp Co ., Box 71, Chelmsford MA 01824 has issued a new, free price list.

Members of the SGSV (Swiss Postal Stationery Society) are seeking members for a studygroup on Swiss fiscals . Aims include : compilation of information; publishing a completelisting including municipals ; revising Schaufelberger as to Federals and cantonals ; estab-lishing a library ; publishing a newsletter ; etc . Contact R . Hürlimann, Grünweg 2, CH-2502Biel/Bienne, Switz . or E. Lienhard, 9 Essex Ave., Chelmsford, Essex CM1 4AQ, England.(How does this mesh with the efforts of the American Revenue Association and The AmateurCollector?)

Felix Ganz and I have had articles published in the "SPA Journal " (vol . 39, No. 2,Oct 1976, pp . 81-90) under the heading "More on the Swiss Soldier Stamps " . Both articlesreview the background of these issues and their lack of postal purpose.

Also of interest on the Soldier Stamp front is an article by Sonja Daeniker on page6 of the November 10 issue of "SAR" . She describes the domestic effect of "WK" or repe-tition courses taken by Swiss soldiers every two or three years . She also notes that themilitary atmosphere seems to have become less formal over the past 20 years.

An off-beat addition to a Swiss collection are cacheted covers prepared for the U .S.Air Force Bicentennial project, the "William Tell Weapons Meet " , held October 31-November 21 at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida . Eleven fighter interceptor teams fromthe US, Canada, Germany and Iceland took part . Covers are $1 .00 from KevCo, Box 2423,Panama City, FL 32401.

AHPS member Ronald D . Lowden, Jr . has published a challenging article entitled"The Swiss Bern Bears Dated Leaves : Some Notes" in the "American Revenuer " , vol . 30.no . 11, wh. no . 290, Dec . 1976 . Mr . Lowden has examined over 600 copies of this revenue,and has discovered several heretofore unexplained varieties.

"Tell" won a silver medal in the literature competition at the recent ChicagoPhilatelic Society Show . The award was based on 16 issues under Bob Clarke's editorship,and four issues under mine (half of the material in which Bob had passed on to me) .

Vol . III No . 1

Page 15

Date January 1977

MOUNTAIN WALKS, ALPINE LAKES AND LIDOS, BY I . TILLEN

(CONTINUED)

Again I have digressed from the Bernese Oberland region . At Brienz I was surprised tofind on my second visit there quite a nice indoor heated pool and I think that most of thepopular Swiss holiday resorts probably now have them . The largest I have been in way nearLeukerbad. I took the open air mud bath here and afterwards went to the luxurious indoorMedicinal Water Bath, a huge place, into which one could put the Derby Baths of Blackpooltwice over and still have room to spare.

Whilst on the subject of indoor pools, the best and most expensive I have been to was atthe hotel at Crans (I wasn't staying there but in a hotel at Sion) . This magnificent heatedpool is constructed so that half of its is underneath the hotel and half outside . I have seenpictures of people swimming in the outside portion with snow two feet high all round . Probablythis is for publicity as apparently in very bad weather the pool can be divided into two, thusmaking use only of the indoor portion . Just how it is done I don't know, maybe a partition comesdown, for surely it must be too cold to keep all the pool open through the winter.

There are also new heated indoor pools at Davos and Lenk . Earlier the former had no swim-ming facilities other than the lake - the Davosersee - the names of all Swiss lakes end in thework 'See', the German for 'lake .' I remember how cold it was in the Davosersee as when I re-visited Davos for the third time . The hotel I had stayed at previously no longer existed, havingbeen destroyed by a landslide - just as well as I recollect how hard the beds were! On my lastvisit (in September) I stayed at the Post Hotel, Davos Platz . This hotel has its own indoorheated pool and in the park at Davos they had built a new and very nice indoor heated pool aswell as an outdoor one, but I could not swim in this as there was no water in it! Apparently,they close it down at the end of August, so I had to be content with the indoor pool and sun-bathing outside on the lawns.

I seem to have drifted to the Graubünden region of Switzerland, so while here I will men-tion the nice open air heated pool at Klosters which was there 25 or more years ago and is stillnice . On my six visits to Arosa, every time I passed through Chur, I would visit this ; finallyI had a holiday at Chur and then found I had no time to go to it! However, the hotel I stayed at,the 'Duc de Rohan', had a fine indoor pool with space for sunbathing on top of the glass roof.The indoor pool at Lenk was new and also good but there, for some curious reason, I had to weara bathing hat before being allowed to swim, the first time I have ever met with such a request!

About 25 years ago, when staying in a chalet (with only a tin bath for ablutions!) andvegetables from the garden, I remember walking to the Grindelwald chair lift and asking the manon duty for a round ticket to take me up to Grindelwald First (7,700 ft), as I intended fromthere to do one of the classic walks of Switzerland : from the First past the Bachalpsee, up theFaulhorn and then down to the Schynige-Platte and back from there on the mountain train down toWilderswil and up the line to Grindelwald . The man, apparently astonished, said : 'It's a sixhour walk you know?' I said yes, I did know and I did it . Whilst passing the Bachalpsee I hada delightful swim (there was no one about so, if I remember aright, I had a quick swim in thenude - not for the first time .) The Bachalpsee in those days was beautifully clear blue waterwith no snow anywhere . Nowadays one would not even consider swimming in it, as there alwaysseems to be some snow around it, even in July, and one year when I passed it, while doing thisfamous walk in the reverse direction, i .e . from the Schynige-Platte up the Faulhorn and down tothe lake it was frozen half-way across, just as in some years the Oberalpsee at the summit ofthe Oberalp Pass from Andermatt to Disentis, and also in 1975 the LacBianco on the Bernina Passwere completely frozen over and covered with snow even in June . I was staying at Pontresina forthe first time and had never seen this lake frozen before when I had stayed at St . Moritz andSils Maria .

Page 16

Vol . III No . 1

Date January 1977

Many of the lakes are well known, such as the Silsersee on the Maloja Pass, the Silvaplaner-see and the Champfersee (I have swum in the last two), but at St . Moritz swimming was not allowedin the main lake, instead there was a special lake for bathing among the trees between St . Moritzand Pontresina and I remember swimming there, but I had walked to the lake in football shorts,white and on the way back it poured with rain so that I was drenched long before reaching myhotel in St . Moritz . Worse still these white shorts tend to become transparent when very wet,and I must have looked a sight when I approached the hotel . Above St. Moritz there is a lovelymountain tarn or lake and after taking the waters, both peat and mineral and then a massage Ihad sufficient energy to climb up to the pretty little Hahnensee, in fact I have an excellentcolored slide of it when I did the walk from the Val Roseg hut over the Fuorcla Surlez and downto Sils Maria, or perhaps it was when I came down from the Fuorcla Surlez to Champfer on anotheroccasion . Nowadays there is a cable car or Luftseilbahn to take one up to the Fuorcla Surlez andCorvatsch . I remember a man once telling me : 'In a few years' time you will no longer be ableto do the walk as a cable car is to be built', and his words did come true . In fact they evenhave one at Sils Maria, although they did not when I stayed there and there is also a new one atSt . Moritz Bad.

Whilst talking about the Engadine I must not omit to mention the excellent open-air pool(heated I believe) at Vulperra and the even better and far larger one at Scuol/Schuls . This hasa wonderful outdoor lido but such a small indoor one, which is a pity as at Davos both pools arelarge. Coming over by bus from Silvaplana to Chur one passes Lenzerheide-Lai where there is niceswimming in this lake as I know from having done so one year before going up the new cable car tothe Parpaner-Rothorn and then walking down to Arosa past the two lakes of Aelplisee and Schwelli-see .

I think I have just about mentioned all the mountain lakes of the Engadine, except the twonice ones at Flims near Chur, the Caumasee, where the water is always warm as it comes from aspring and although it is about 4,000 ft . up it is the only lake in Switzerland that I have beenable to swim in, row on and walk right round in a wet costume without feeling cold. At mostlidos or outdoor pools I swim in one costume and then change into a dry one to sunbathe or walkabout. Flims also has another little lake lower down the valley towards Chur, but it is not sonice as the Caumasee - I even forget its name, I only tried it once, but I have been many timesto the Caumasee at Flims when staying at Arosa, Cur and on one holiday at Flims.

I have not yet mentioned the region of Neuchatel where naturally one does the tour of thethree lakes by boat, the others being the Murtensee and Bielersee and think I have swum in allof them. I only had one holiday in that region, namely at Neuchatel itself, where I did notswim in the lido but further round the lake at a tiny village with a small railway station -I remember getting coil stamps from the machine and they were perforated through the middle, soI got a station cancellation on them before walking to the lakeside for my swim . I think thename of the station was Marin-Epagnier.

Among the 48 lakes mentioned so far I seem to have omitted one of the largest, i .e . Zürichin which I have swum, also in the Greifensee, which is quite near, if one takes a tram to Forchand then walks down to the lake ; it is a very lovely lake but not much visited, however I wasfortunate enough to find one passer-by to photograph me in bathing costume with the lake as abackground.

At Zürich there is a truly magnificent and unusual heated outdoor pool up near the Zoo,called the Dolder, and there they make artificial waves at times when they turn on the electricityand the water was splashing as high as six to nine feet above the shallow end, much to the kiddiesdelight . The Lido at Zürich is the only one of that type I have seen in Switzerland with artifi-cial waves and when it is switched on, everyone made a dash to get in the pool while it was likethe true sea and not See, the Swiss word for lake . I shall never forget my one and only visitto this lido.

TO BE CONTINUED .

Vol . III No . 1

Date January, 1977

17Page

BOOK REVIEWS

Switzerland, Image of a People, 1971, Benteli, Cinc ., 3018 Berne, Switzerland, inEnglish, 144 pages, hard cover, 6 ' x 9 " , profusely illustrated with black and white photo-

graphs ands magnificent color photographic panorama of the Alps, 85 cm . long . " A selectionof articles by well-known Swiss authors on basic aspects and the Swiss, published in theSwissair Gazette and chosen by the editor of the Gazette, Alfred Vetter . "

The book covers a wide range of Swiss subjects in a journalistic fashion : WilliamTell's legend, neutrality, the Matterhorn, art, industry, peasant millionaires, emmen-taler, folk masks, etc . Available for $8 .00 from Swiss American Review, 608 Fifth Ave .,

Room 609, New York, NY 10020.

1977 KatalogSchweiz/Liechtensteinund Campione, Zumstein + Cie, Postfach 2585,3001 Bern 1, Switzerland . 328 pages, in German and French, 5 SFr . New in this annual

"small " Zumstein is a twelve page conversion table showing equivalent Zumstein, Michel,Stanley Gibbons, Scott and Yvert numbers . The usual price increases .