THEMATICS
Railways on Stamps
The first philatelists, in the 1850s and 1860s, collected
from every stamp issuing country in the world. Why should
they do otherwise? The total number of stamps was not great
and, apart from a few great rarities, completion for the
whole world was not seen as an impossible goal.
Slowly at first and then at an ever-increasing rate the
number of issued stamps began to increase. The task of
completion began to seem less and less possible.
Philatelists reacted by narrowing their interests to a
group of countries (the British Empire for example), or a
single country or even a period of a single country.
Towards the end of the 19th Century pictorial stamps began
to make their appearance. One of the first stamps to show a
steam locomotive was this local letter fee stamp issued by
Peru to pay postage on letters carried on the railway
between Lima, Chorrillos and Callao.
In spite of the fact that pictorial stamps had been issued at least since the closing years of the 19th Century, it was not until after World War II that philatelists began to collect stamps according to the design rather than the country of origin. In the United States this method of collecting is usually called Topical and in this country Thematic. The term is used loosely because strictly speaking the term thematic should be reserved for a collection or display of stamps, which tells a story through the medium of the stamps and other philatelic items.
Birds and animals and space are obvious topics for a thematic collection but transport themes such as ships, aeroplanes and railways offer enormously greater scope because transport is used to convey the mail. It could be argued that railway postmarks and cinderellas all form part of the railway theme, but here we shall use the term strictly to refer to stamps and other philatelic items which show railways.
Railways on other Philatelic Items
Meter Marks
The thematic collector will use his ingenuity in order to
illustrate his theme. There are plenty of stamps showing
portraits of George Stephenson, sometimes referred to as
‘The Father of Railways.’ His famous ‘Rocket’ probably
features even more widely. However a collection which
includes this meter mark used in 1948 by the Borough of
Chesterfield to mark the Centenary of the great man’s
death, will immediately be recognized as being out of the
ordinary. Such meter marks are good examples of the maxim,
‘Today’s rubbish is tomorrow’s rarity’.
From time to time slogan postmarks are sponsored to
celebrate events or to promote activities. This one, which
is advertising industrial sites in Stockton-on-Tees, shows
the locomotive ‘Locomotive No.1’ now preserved at
Darlington Station. This slogan postmark, used in 1964, is
said to be ‘transposed.’ The datestamp covers the adhesive
stamp, leaving the pictorial part visible. This arrangement
is greatly to be preferred from the collecting point of
view, although not so convenient for the Post Office.
Special Handstamps
Booklet Covers
