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Good evening, here is an interesting article: THE MEIHANA A.P.BERRY AND J.W.BRODIE MYSTERY In New Zealand about two years ago, one of us (A.P.B.) noticed an oddity in the collection of a Hamilton friend that he had never seen before. This is an imitation of the definitive 2 centimes of France issued in 1870 - the Head of Cérès, S.G.187 - printed in yellow-orange rather than issued red-brown, on a coarse vertical mesh paper, and slightly smaller in size than the original. The perforations are coarse, irregular and approximately 11 gauge. The imitation is overloaded with two inscriptions in black. One of them, originally set in small caps, reads "SPECIALLY / PREPARED / IN NEW ZEALAND / BY / MEIHANA & CIE". Interlined with this inscription there is another which surrounds the first but nowhere overlaps it ~ it is in cryptic fragmented letters, the original very roughly done, as if with poor pen and India ink. The 'stamp' has already been found. Donald White of Dunedin published a short note in 'Captain Coqk' December 1982, volume 10, page 114, illustrating a copy and asking if they had any more information. Nothing more seems to have been revealed. On what is clearly a second copy found, investigations have been carried out in New Zealand (J.W.B.) in an attempt to identify the "MEIHANA & CIE" of the inscription. Maihana is a Maori surname, and a search of all telephone directories nationwide revealed that there were fourteen Meihana families listed. With the exception of three in Canterbury and one in Lower Hutt, all lived in Rotorua, the Waikato Basin, Gisborne or the Auckland area. A letter of inquiry addressed to each brought a response 57 - Mr. Charles Meihana responded but had no positive information. Thus, we can only guess in the hope that one of the possibilities will strike a chord and lead to additional information. The typographic inscription. "SPECIALLY PREPARED IN NEW ZEALAND" - does this apply to the label itself? It seems unlikely. Does it apply, for example, to a packet of New Zealand stamps, on which the label was affixed, on sale from a French-speaking source, as the use of Meihana & Cie suggests? The cryptic inscription. Donald White interpreted this as reading 'ERGATLISE / BLOQUES /GOURTANS / UDEIU / 18--96 / POST TEINER TIVOISO'. The words have either been recklessly or deliberately rendered impenetrable, but we agree that 'BLOCKED', '18--96' and 'POST' are reasonably clear; however, the other words have been mixed up to such an extent that the first word is just as likely to have been derived from "FRANCAISE" and the word above "18--96" from "MOENS". J.B.Moens was the Belgian stamp dealer, with a very large business in Brussels, well known at the end of the 19th century. The various French words and the name Moens further indicate a French - or Belgian - connection. The origin of our label may therefore have been a packet label, an adaptation of someone else's packet or advertising label, or simply an anonymous invention. If anyone has any leads, please let us know or better, send a contribution to this journal.
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Posted 03/10/2023 05:05 am
