Canal Zone Anybody?

PPC from the Canal to Devonport England.
The addressee c/o Boolds.
Boolds was opened in 1838 as a small haberdashery shop in Plymouth
(where Stanley Gibbons began)
and closed in 1985 after 147 years as a drapery business.

The stamp that decided the route of the Panama Canal

The CZ perfin P
(formerly a railroad perforator "rPr", modified to "P")

I think this may be a "Paquebot" strike.
(philatelically inspired methinks)

Welcome back, Rod! Hope this mini-flurry means you have everything back in order.

First time I'd heard about the modified railroad perforator. Do you know if every (real) perf-P was done by the same perforator, or whether there were others in use?

Collin

Canal Zone Early Counterfeits

In the first issue of Canal Zone, the three
stamps overprinted with a handstamp, "Canal
Zone," Scott's Nos. 1, 2 and 3, there are
many counterfeits.

Some of them are very deceptive and one
brand in particular is frequently seen
cancelled and many of these are on covers.

The cancellations are the towns where the
stamps were used, and a standard type of
long horizontal bars used in the Zone at
the time.

In these, I could always detect the fraudulent
Canal Zone overprint but the cancellations
had me baffled because they matched so
perfectly the known originals, --
until I discovered that the faked overprints
were made while the stamps were in current
use (about three weeks during June and July,
1904), and then placed on covers and sent
through the mails.

The stock of the genuine issue was limited and
sales at the post offices were restricted to
small quantities hence the incentive to fakery.
The fakes on cover are usually postmarked at
Ancon, and addressed to "Eisemann & Eleta," or
"G. Sopardo," at Panama, and the covers back-
stamped at Panama.

Quite a number of them were used during the
period. In the case of the 2¢ rose, many
of the stamps are on the wrong basic Panama
issue, the stamp having the large "Panama"
where in the originals only the small
"Panama" was used. So we have interesting
fakes, postally used on covers.

- George B. Sloane
Sloane's Column
Stamps
March 27, 1948

Note:

1904, 2c Rose, "Panama" Reading Down and
Up, "Canal Zone" Inverted (Scott 1e).
Position 1, neat strike of "Culebra,
Canal Zone, Jun. 25, 1904" circular
datestamp, rich color

FINE. THE UNIQUE USED EXAMPLE OF CANAL
ZONE NUMBER ONE WITH "CANAL ZONE" INVERTED
AND "PANAMA" READING DOWN AND UP. ONE OF
THE GREAT RARITIES OF CANAL ZONE PHILATELY.


One pane of 100 was printed with "Canal
Zone" inverted. There were two positions
on the pane with "Panama" reading down
and up: Positions 1 and 100. The example
shown here was used on the first day of
use of the cancel at Culebra.
http://www.siegelauctions.com/2003/856/507.jpg

-------------------------------------------

1904, 5c Blue (Scott 2). Left margin block
of four, Positions 21-22/31-32, bottom left
stamp "Panama" 2-1/4mm below bar, traces of
tropicalized original gum, bright colors,
light creases in top left sheet margin only,
otherwise fresh and Fine, only 156 examples
of this variety were printed, with 1968 P.F.
certificate
http://www.siegelauctions.com/2003/856/511.jpg

-----------------------------------------

1904, 10c Yellow, Left "Panama" 2-1/4mm
Below Bar (Scott 3-var). Tied by "La Boca *
Canal Zone * Jul. 12, 1904" handstamp on
cover to Panama City, Ancon (Jul. 13 with
"13" inverted) and Panama Agency (Jul. 13)
backstamps, rich color, Very Fine and
choice, only 100 were printed, of these
only two unused and five used are known,
ex Plass, with 1969 A.P.S. certificate.
http://www.siegelauctions.com/2003/856/515.jpg

Thanks Collin
No, nothing is back in order, I am getting used to
a little disharmony, I opted to continue with XP
and nothing is set up as I would like.
Windows explorer is ornery, I am trying to work from "My Documents"
but the explorer pane keeps opening a mirror image in the C:\ directory.

The P perforator info was taken from askphil:

Collin,

The perforated "P" was applied by the General Storekeeper and all were transferred to the Administration Building and released via requisition to various offices. They were all done on the same punch, an old Panama Railroad Company ticket punch, which read "rPr" The small "r"s were burnished off, and stamp sheets were folded along the perforations and punched through several layers simultaneously. This is the reason they are all oriented differently, as they were not done a whole sheet at once, but a few stamps at a time.

As for the possibility of counterfeits, in my sources, I did not come across any mention of these. This does not preclude the possibility of fakery, but these stamps are common enough not to be worthwhile to the forger. They usually went after the first issues (see previous post) or unusual varieties of overprinted Panama stamps.

I would be happy to compare scans of your stamps with the ones I have, a few of which are certified.

Dave

Rod

I love that story. The partisan mentioned was a US Congressman who sent copies of this stamp to interested parties in Congress demonstrating the danger of volcanic activity in Nicaragua. I have always wanted to find one of these stamps and make a special page for my CZ album! Maybe along with a relevant Congressional Record or a contemporary newspaper clipping.

Thank you Dave,
here is the stamp in question, albeit a little hazy example, but you can see the smoking volcano, and what appears to be a rail locomotive and wharf?

The artwork of the clipping by the way is the Aussie cartoonist/caricaturist
Mr. Monty Wedd

I bow to your greater knowledge of CZ Dave,

this is an article I have on the stamp and volcano,
I am unable to quote the author, who remains unknown at this point.

The Panama Canal would have been built 500 miles to the north,and would probably
be called today the "Nicaragua Canal" were it not for a stamp.
When a plan for building the canal was discussed by American and french finaciers,
there were two groups, one in favour of building it through the isthmus of Panama,
another supporting the idea to cut it through Nicaraguan territory.

In 1896 Nicaragua even issued special stamps, depicting a map and showing how the
canal passing through it's territory would have the natural advantage of the San Juan
River and the great lake of Nicaragua.

For several years the merits of the routes were weighed up by the United States
Government and senate.
Then, in 1900 the Nicaraguan Post Office had the unfortunate idea of issuing a set of
stamps depicting the volcano of Momotombo.
The volcano was extinct for centuries, but the artist, with mistaken pride, drew it with
smoke belching from it's crater.
One of the French businessmen who supported the Panama project, Colonel
Bunaux-Varille, happened a stamp collector. He examined the new stamp and had a
brainwave. He bought up a large number of the and sent a copy, nicely mounted on a
piece of card with the inscription: "A Postage Stamp of Nicaragua showing the
activity of the Volcano Momotombo; official witness of the volcanic danger in
Nicaragu" to every United States senator and other influential concerned with the
canal project.
This was to discourage the authorities from cutting the canal in Nicaragua
He fully achieved his purpose. One senator after another stood up at the decisive
session of the Canal Comittee and, waving the card with the stamp, declared that it be
far too risky and a waste of the American tax money to build the canal through
Nicaragua and expose it to destruction by a volcanic eruption. Some senators had
studied the Nicaraguan stamp closely and poini that in the foreground of the design it
showed "the terrible realism of disaster, with people fleeing on to a pier to escape by
ship"

Thanks for posting that story. I had read it a while ago and your post refreshed my memory. Any idea where you found that?

I wonder if any other stamp has had a direct impact on world history. Interesting idea for a thread.

Dave

Author unknown Dave, with the old Usegroup postings
people rarely named their source, unless I OCR'd this from
Australian Stamp News, but I don't think so.

A paquebot from the ship MV Taybank of the Bank Line of ships.



Here she is:


A cargo ship, registered at the port of Panama.
The cover is signed by the ship's captain.