Mine for the 29th: Delayed by Enemy Action.....

[Nick Colley]

Folks, I exhumed the attached this pm from the bottom of a box awaiting public display:

The write up which came with the cover (and photo) states: First issued (?) 17th July 1941 (rep. by D.N.Muir)[i] (who is/was he?)[/i] Instructions issued on 21st May 1941 were that such h.s. were only to be used when delay exceeded 48 hours and was due to bomb damage.

The photo is claimed  to be of proof impressions of genuine handstamps ex GPO Archives.

Noted as checked against RMW reference copy. Any idea who or what RMW is/was?

The third attachment shows what is on the reverse of the photo.

chrs
N

[Michael Dobbs]

Nick

"D N Muir" could be Douglas N. Muir who is the Senior Curator of Philately at The Postal Museum and a signatory to the Book of Scottish Philatelists and the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists.

I have seen the bomb cachet before, but cannot think where at the moment!  However, upon searching online I came across this fantastic  48 page thematic display "Extracts from a Wartime Diary" 1939-45 - you will see a cover with the cachet on page 42 with the comment "... on 17 July a new "flying bomb" rubber stamps issued ..."

Despite the title the display only goes up to item 3.5 (December 1941 - Pearl Harbour) - nevertheless a very good display - well worth looking through.

[url=https://www.fipthematicphilately.org/2015/Wartime%20Diary%201.pdf]https://www.fipthematicphilately.org/2015/Wartime%20Diary%201.pdf[/url]

Other examples of the cachet can be seen here:
[url=https://www.germanpostalhistory.com/php/viewitem.php?itemid=46382&germany%20cover=search&]https://www.germanpostalhistory.com/php/viewitem.php?itemid=46382&germany%20cover=search&[/url]
[url=https://www.germanpostalhistory.com/php/viewitem.php?itemid=46379&germany%20cover=search&]https://www.germanpostalhistory.com/php/viewitem.php?itemid=46379&germany%20cover=search&[/url]

Mike  :)

[Peter Harvey]

Mike - Great link that and a nice display, thank you for sharing this. If you change some words like Johnson replacing Chamberlain and Queen replacing King, it makes you think about where we are today. The interesting bit was the paragraph [b]During the Munich Crisis of September 1938, 38 million gas masks were distributed to the civil population.[/b] mmm.

Over 40 plus years I think I had only seen about three or four covers with this cachet and yet in the last year or so I have noted maybe 10 for sale in various places, not sure why, maybe I have always missed them. The link that Mike provides shows a nice example as does this one from Nick, it would be interesting to know where such a cachet was applied, as I assume this can not have been in any general GPO use?

[Nick Colley]

Mike, brilliant work, many thanks for that. I can't think what to type into google wrt covers with 'flying' bomb cachets.... It's a nice (if short?) display. I wish vendors would not write on the covers they are selling. You wouldn't write on a postage stamp, would you?

That's an eye-watering price on the cover on that other web site. Makes mine look like a bargain......  :) Most interesting it's from the same correspondence as mine.

Thanks also for the info about Mr.Muir. Adds respectability to the cover.

Pete - yes, it would be good to know where this mark was applied. Were there multiple locations, or just the one? And for how long was the cachet in use? We need more examples - but not at $799 each ......  >:(

(Interesting analogy of the Munich crisis gas mask distribution...... most provocative  ;) )

chrs
N

[Michael Dobbs]

Thanks Nick and Peter

I did a simple search "Delayed by Enemy Action cachet" just to see what came up!

A quick search in the Journal index has come up with Query No 259 (250/297) from Andrew Pavey with an illustration of a naval cover with the cachet.  The censor has dated it 17 V 44 and Andrew states that the Bomb cachet was introuced in May 1941 - I wonder where he got that information from?
(Newsletter 250, Winter 2001)

Mike  ;)

[Alan Baker]

He is still a member, so we could ask him