VOL. XXIV, NUMBER 2MARCH 1998

American HelvetiaPhilatelic Society

PURCHASE OF A 1919 SWISS AIRMAIL POSTAL CARD

by Richard L. Fath

At a sizable eastern stamp bourse in 1997 I' shopped various dealers for Swiss stamps on cover . I havebeen collecting Switzerland seriously for only four or five years, which leaves me very much a neophyte . Inaddition, I am language challenged in that English is my only usable language, so I am rather unsure of mysel fin this German/French world of Swiss philately .

One dealer handed me a small stack of items which included the card shown in the illustration . My firs treaction was that it was interesting in that (1) it was a postal card with a stamp added for airmail, (2) th e"Flugpost" and "Poste aerienne" were handscribed, but there was no airmail label, and (3) the stamp did no t

have the winge dpropeller overprint fo rairmail postage . Mynext thought wasthat perhaps the cardwas not flown . Then ,however, I noticed theGeneva receivin gstamp with th einscription, "POSTEAERIENNE SUISSE" .Also, the cancellationstamp is from Bern ,and I knew that citywas on one of the first1919 airmail routes .

Then I startedhaving reservations . Iremembered from mysketchy reading i n"Schweizerische sLUFTPOST -

HANDBUCH" and an old issue of the Zumstein specialty catalog that the first Swiss airmail was April 30 ,1919 and included Zürich, Bern and Lausanne . The cancellation date of June 2, 1919 appeared all right . Ithought I remembered that air service to Geneva did not start until September, so the Geneva receiving stam pbothered me . The reverse of the card is completely blank . I would have felt better, if there had been aLausanne stamp somewhere on the piece . After some mental wrangling with myself, I decided to go ahea dwith the purchase, but only because the price was well affordable . I knew that if the stamp had had th ewinged propeller overprint, I would be looking at a major thinning of my wallet .

When I got my purchase home, the first stop was my reference books. Sure enough on page RF-3 of th e"LUFTPOST-HANDBUCH" I saw immediate confirmation that the Geneva extension to the Zurich-Bern -Lausanne route did not occur until September 1, 1919 . That was discouraging, but I was still curious becaus ethe card looked real . If my interpretation of the French hand writing is correct, the writer travelled to Bern .

(Continued on page 6)

ContentsPurchase of a 1919 Swiss Airmail Postal Card- 1Profile of a Swiss Stamp Collector 2President's Musings 3Letter From the Editor 3Matterhorn Meanderings 4Book Review 6Ooops!!! 7Swiss Postal Activity in Italy-Part 2 8Long Journey 1 1Crimescope CS-16 Forensic Equipment 12Apollo With an Open Eye 13Milcopex/Helvetia 98 14Zumstein CD ROM 16Annual Auction Report 16TELL (ISSN 1042-2072) is the official journal of the America nHelvetia Philatelic Society, affiliate #52 of the American Philateli cSociety and a member of the Union of Swiss Philatelic Societies .TELL is published bimonthly (Jan/Mar/May/Jul/Sep/Nov) .

Opinions expressed in this journal are those of the authors and ar enot necessarily endorsed by AHPS or the Editor .

Letters and articles on Swiss, Liechtenstein, UN Geneva andrelated philately are welcome and should be sent to the Editor .Whenever possible, submit material on 3 .5 " PC or Macintoshcomputer diskettes . Late material may by submitted by e-mail i ntextfile format . Illustrations are encouraged and may be submitte das full size photocopies ; or, we can copy/scan your originals (pleas econtact the Editor before sending actual stamps, covers, etc .) . Pleas einclude your name, address and telephone number .

Subscriptions for 1998, include AHPS dues : North America, $20 ; byfirst class mail, $25 ; overseas air delivery, $30 . Request membershi papplications from the Secretary . Change-of-Address should b esent to the Secretary .

Profile of a Swiss Stamp Collecto rFelix Thurnheer by Rudy Schaelchl i

Today's collector lives in Kusnacht on the ZürichSee . He started out as a primary school teacher .Since 1971 he has beenemployed by the postalservice in Zürich with th ebig advantage of bein gable to cancel his ownmail . That is why all hi scovers have nice cancels .

He is a member ofmany philatelic societies ,including the APS. He isa former AHPS member .

On 7 .2 .1972 hestarted a specifi ccollection that matche sthe zip code and date . In that instance 7272 o fClavadel in the Canton Grison . He has kept hiscollection up-to-date . By the way, his birthday i s7 .2 .48 (February 7) .

Other pursuits are worldwide curiosities such a sinverted and impossible cancels, invalid postagecancelled on covers, Cinderellas with postal cancels, o rin general anything that is prohibited postally . Healso enjoys using different older stamps for postage t oplease many of his collector friends .

American Helvetia Philatelic Societ y

ELECTED OFFICERSPresidentDick Barton2800 Crestview Ct.Loveland, CO 80538-307 8Home : 970-669-813 0E-mail : cdbarton@info2000 .ne t

Past PresidentErnest L . Bergman1421 Harris St .State College PA 16803-302 4Home : 814-238-0164

Vice-PresidentJames A. Anderso n14463 E . Wagontrail Pl .Aurora, CO 8001 5Home: 303-617-783 6E-mail: clande1211@aol .com

Publicity ChairmanAwards ChairmanEditor EmeritusHarlan F . Ston eP .O. Box 770334Woodside NY 1137 7Home : 718-478-2374

Regional Director WestDonn LueckP. O . Box 1158 2Phoenix, AZ 8506 1Home : 602-841-132 2

Regional Director Central

REPRESENTATIVESRalph Soderberg

Union of Swiss PhilatelicP . O . Box 36067

Societies RepresentativeGrosse Pointe Woods, MI 48236 Ralph Soderber g

P.O . Box 36067Grosse Pointe Wood sMI 4823 6Home : 313-885-4125

American Philatelic SocietyCharles J . LaBlonde

Plan to attend/exhibit at these 2940 Underwood Point # 5AHPS Conventions and shows : Colorado Springs, CO 8092 0

719-593-597 4E-mail : clablonde@dsai .com

Liechtenstein Study GroupChm: Ralph R .Schneide rP.O . Box 23049Belleville IL 62223

Copyright 1998, The American Helvetia Philatelic Society (AHPS) .

Commercial advertising copy and rate inquiries should be sent t othe Treasurer . Advertising deadlines are six weeks prior t o

publication date (Jan, Mar, May, July, Sept, Nov) .

Printed by Kettle Moraine Printing, West Bend WI 53095 .

Officers 1997-1998

Secretary & LibrarianRichard T . Hal lP.O. Box 66 6Manhattan Beach, CA 90267Home : 310-546-522 6

Treasure rFrank Young412 North Main StreetHerkimer, NY 13350Home : 315-866-7822

APPOINTED OFFICER STELL Edito rDavid E . Durham, Pastor#7 Allenhurst Roa dBuffalo, NY 14214-120 1Home : 716-833-650 4

E-mail : dedur@juno .com

TELL Associate EditorSteven S . Westo nP.O. Box 86 8Del Mar CA 92014-086 8619-752-781 2

Circuit Sales ManagerEmil L . Toble rP .O . Box 2 6Bradford RI 02808Home : 401-377-2238

Auction ManagerBruce Marsden1265 Drake AvenueBurlingame, CA 9401 0

Slide ChairmanRichard W. BlaneyPO Box 1100Easton MA 02334-1100508-238-3134

Home : 313-885-412 5

Regional Director Eas tDavid E . Durham, Pasto r#7 Allenhurst RoadBuffalo, NY 14214-120 1

Home : 716-833-6504

MILCOPEX'9 8September 18-20, 199 8Milwaukee, W I

FLOREX '99November 19-21, 199 9Orlando, FL

2 TELL March 1998

President's MusingsI am writing this in January and thinking abou t

the year ahead for AHPS . .The big event will be th eannual convention at MILCOPEX i nMilwaukee,Wisconsin, September 17-20, 1998 .Harlan Stone is putting together another seminarsession on Thursday afternoon, similar to the verysuccessful one held in 1996 at ARIPEX . Friday,Saturday, and Sunday will include the normal mix ofphilatelic and social interaction as in other annualconventions. If you have never been to an annualconvention, come and find why those that do atten dreturn in following years .

There will also be another 6 issues of TELL, th emost informative English language publication o fSwiss philately in the world . Thanks to our editor ,David Durham, you are able to keep up to date on th ecritical issues in Swiss philately.

There are also the meetings and interactions o fmembers in other ways such as; the LiechtensteinStudy group, Auctions, sales circuits, slide and vide oprograms (see article elsewhere in this issue), an dnumerous personal exchanges .

What are you doing to take full advantage o fyour membership in AHPS? The officers are here t oserve you, the members . So put us to work !

In the November TELL there were two article sthat stirred members, and others, to write to me. Thefirst was my article on the RL cancel . I have heardfrom a number of members who provided me a lot o finformation on this subject, especially Ralp hSoderberg. One suggested that I contact MonsieurLouis Vuille, a Swiss specialist in Rayons . I wrote t ohim and received a nice letter and a lengthy article o nthe subject . As soon as I get the article translatedfrom French, I will submit another article on thissubject . Again I am amazed at how much knowledg eis available if you are willing to ask .

The other article was Henry Ratz's "From Heroto Goat in 50 Years" . It seems that Henry, alway swilling to stir up a hornets nest, found a few openwounds among the readers . The editor of TELL ha stotal editorial authority to print whatever -he/shedesires to print . I would have it no other way! Thesubject should be Philatelic or Swiss in nature andpreferably both. This article was definitely the latter ,with a bit of the former thrown in . There is a lot o fattention on the conduct of the Swiss nation an dpeople before, during and after WWII . This isappropriate and necessary. I have no doubt tha twhen it is all over, the Swiss nation and people willhave a stronger foundation on which to stand and tha tthe good deeds far out way the negatives .

Dick Barton

March 1998

Letter from the Editor"From Hero to Human in 50 Years" might better

have been the title of Henry Ratz ' article in the

November issue of THE TELL . As editor, I acceptresponsibility for printing this article, although, as on eperson caught, I did a double disclaimer on the

contents page. I included the article partly because ofthe philatelic element and partly for human interest .

I am sure that many of our members agree with

Vinai Grim that the article "injects the pages of th e

publication into the arena of controversial social an d

political situations" and is inappropriate . Erich Meier

on the other hand, said "With all my heart I

congratulate Mr . H . Ratz for this beautiful writing . "Even our officers were divided .

I do not want this publication to continue the

debate - the forum is not appropriate and the issues

too complicated . I believe most persons would agreethat the Swiss, surrounded by the enemy, tried har dto assist refugees but ultimately had something of acheckered history - as did the USA, incidentally . Just

this week Thomas G . Borer, Swiss Ambassador-at -

Large writing in the L .A. Times, took issue with arecent Simon Wiesenthal Center report about theSwiss refugee camps pointing out that they were

neither plush nor "slave labor" camps . Borer indicatesthat about half of all Jews who applied were admitte d

to Switzerland during the war .

Well, enough, my friends! Sorry I opene d

Pandora's box on this sensitive and emotional issue .

Dick Hall has given me some web sites which

may be of use to you. U.S. State Department, which

has the Eizenstadt Report :

www.state.gov/www/regions/eur/holocausthp.html

The Swiss government page :

www.eda-tf.ethz.ch/homef_e.htm

Other references :

www.giussani.com/holocaust-assets/ an d

www.webdo.ch/39-45/cover.html

Also of interest are the movie "The Boat Is Full "and a 1997 book by Mitya New entitled "Switzerland

Unwrapped: Exposing the Myths . "

3 TELL

Matterhorn Meanderingsby Dick Hall

Lots to cover in this issue's column . You al lhave been very good about providing me with answer sto our questions, and with providing me with morequestions. I hope you all will agree with me that, one ,there are no stupid or too elementary questions, andtwo, we all have some knowledge to share with ou rfellow members .

First, let me acknowledge an omission, consciou sas it was, from my discussion of Swiss internet websites . I specifically tried to stay away from philateli csites but this may have been an error on my part .Anyway, I got an e-mail from Christian Hertsch a twhat probably most American collectors woul dconsider the Valhalla of Swiss philately, Zumstein &Cie in Bern. Zumstein has a very interesting web sit ewhich I invite all of you to visit at :

www .stamp .chor contact them by e-mail at :

post_zumstein@briefmarken . chFor any other of our Swiss friends who woul d

like their web site noted in my column, drop me an e -mail at the address given at the end of this column .

This next item is for all you chocoholics outthere ; I don 't mean the Lindt or Godiva type, I meanthose of you who collect the Chocolat Suchard cardsissued between 1875 and 1912 . Our French member ,Dr . Fabien Barnier, has written a book entitled :

Les Cartes SuchardLes cartes officielles avec repiquages vendues à prixréduit par la maison SUCHARD de 1875 à 1912

Dr. Barnier has donated a copy of this 87 pag erichly illustrated volume to the Society . It will bedeposited in the APRL, as are all literature donation sto the Society. Dr. Barnier has also offered to suppl ythe volume to any interested member for $15 plu spostage . I think if you sent him a $20 bill, you woul dreceive the book promptly . His address is :

Dr . Fabien Barnier336, allée Chantecler cF-83600 FréjusFrance

I can highly recommend the book even to those whos eknowledge of French is limited to RSVP. Theillustrations make the subject very clear .

Now on to some answers to some of our previousquestions . Our Scottish member, Stuart MacKenzie ,has provided the answer to Richard Fath's questio nabout the PD marking on two 1862 covers . Let mequote MacKenzie's answer . "All covers going out ofSwitzerland would be struck PD - Paid Destination .The red SUISSE date stamps are the French entryoffices where mail in transit would be dealt with .Further handstruck and manuscript markings wouldbe the monies owed to the French Post Office

(proportion of the original charge). The manuscriptcharges are usually in red-brown crayon for the Frenchaccountancy . " Stuart also recommends a catalog t othose of you interested in French entry offices . Thecatalog was published in 1965 by the Academie d ePhilatelie and is entitled "Catalogue des Marques etCachets d 'Entree en France 1800-1881 (Provenance sd'Europe)" by Gilbert Noel . I would be willing to betthat the APRL might have a copy of this book which i sobviously long out of print . Thanks Stuart for theinformation .

Next I received a very interesting letter from ou rBasel member, Walter Abt, about the Swiss Germancancels I discussed in the January TELL . Walterstarts off by saying that our much-missed Felix Ganzcould have written 3 full issues of TELL on thesubject. We really miss Felix . I will quote fromWalter's letter paraphrasing only where necessary fo rclarity .

"First a general view. There are more SwissGerman dialects than cantons and some are ver yhard to understand, even for a native-born Swiss ,for example the Walliser, Berner Oberländer orInnerschwyzer dialects . Even in a city like Baselwhere I live and was born, I can tell if someone i sfrom Klein- or Gross-Basel (right or left side of th eRhine) . Now to your questions .

"Cancel 2 .2 .145 is in a generalized Swis sdialect which is called `Oltener Bahnhofdütsch 'which is taught to French-speaking Swiss an dGerman and Swedish businessmen so that theycan speak with their Zürich counterparts . Thereis a certain proudness, especially among the to pechelons in business to speak `Schwyzerdütsc h' todistinguish themselves from Germans . The text`Bliib uf Kurs . . . chumm in Kurs ' is written intextbook German as 'Bleibe auf Kurs . . . besucheeinen Kurs' which means `Stay on course . . . takea course . '

"Cancel 4 .1 .793 is in Bärndütsch [fro m

Bern] : `Mir gseh üs ar BEA,' in German 'Wir sehen

uns an der BEA,' and in English `We will see eachother at the BEA . '

"Cancel 4 .1 .908 is in Baseldütsch [fro mBasel] : `z'Basel isch Herbschtmässe vom . . .d'Waremäss in der Muba vom . . .,' in German `I nBasel ist Herbstmesse vom . . . die Warenmessein der Muba vom . . .,' and in English `In Base lwill be the Autumn Fair from . . . the MerchandiseFair at the Muba from . . ." '

Thank you Walter for a most enlightening answer .Finally, let me end this issue's column with a

new question from member Dick Blaney wh ospecializes in the 20c San Salvatore definitiv e

(Zumstein 215) . Let me quote Dick's letter having to

do with diplomatic pouch mail ."Here 's a post card that was sent fro m

Switzerland via Diplomatic Pouch to the US . Itbears the standard two line handstamp, i n

magenta .

4 TELL

March 1998

`This article originally mailed in country indicated by postage '"This handstamp was applied either at the US Department of State in Washington or at the

Washington post office where the mail would have been deposited for forwarding to its destination . It ispostmarked WASHINGTON, DC - APR 9 - 5 :30 PM - 1943 .

"There is a supplementary boxed handstamp in black, measuring 22 mm wide by 17-1/2 to 18 m m

high with the letters reading `AM-M from FC.' What do the letters stand for and where was this markingapplied?

"Richard Graham's article in Linn's Stamp News, May 6, 1996, page 36, state sthat there are two other similar marking noted, `MA from FC' and 'DC/M fro mFC.' He had no explanation for the meaning either or where they were applied .One can only guess what they stand for . Here's a couple of mine : AM-M from FC ,could be American Mail from Foreign Country ; MA from FC, could be Mailed fromForeign Country and DC/M from FC, could be District of Columbia/Mail fro mForeign Country . Now where was this marking applied? In country of origin ordestination?

"Who out there might have an answer ?`By-the-way the note on the post card reads : `Dear Amey: We are here a week and Charles got a fine sun -burn. He is well but needs a rest, but there is no time until the war ends . Love and good wishes . . .' Thisdoesn't sound like someone on vacation but someone probably connected with the Embassy and a famil y

member(s) visiting? These messages are always an intriguing look into the past . "

Now let's see if technology will triumph. "I got a scanner for Christmas and have scanned the xeroxes o fthe cover and cancel Dick sent . Let's see if I can transmit them to the Editor and he can convert them into aform appropriate for our printer .

Keep the questions and answers coming .Contact me at : Post Office Box 666, Manhattan Beach CA 90267-066 6or by e-mail at: rtravish@pacbell .net

Members ReportDick Hall has let us know that AHPS members George Wettach and Franz Hofer have died .

Our symphathies go to their families . Hulda Hofer has assumed her husband's membership .

March 1998

5 TELL

Swiss Airmail Postal Card (Continued from page 1 )

He wrote the card to let his family know he had arrived safely . He sent the card airmail to his son, so that th e

family would hear from him quickly and so that the son would have an interesting souvenir of the new airmail

service . Maybe I was over romanticizing, but it made a nice story for my enjoyment .

I browsed a little further in the handbook . That can be difficult when you do not understand th e

language, but sometimes you can see a key word and then work on interpreting that section . Toward the

bottom of page RF-3 there is some fine print . If I translate correctly, it informs that in 1919 it was permissibl e

to address airmail to Geneva before September 1 . The mail was flown to Lausanne, but was given no receivin g

stamp there . Instead, in Geneva an airmail receiving stamp was applied . So that bit of research made me fee l

satisfied with my enjoyable little card .

Recently, I was doing some reading of past issues of "TELL" . I had purchased all available back issues

after I joined AHPS a couple years ago . The March 2, 1992 issue has an article on Swiss airmail by Roland F .

Kohl translated by Henry Alsberg . In the article Mr . Kohl stated both that the 50c propeller overprint stamp

could be used only for airmail and that ordinary stamps were not permitted for the airmail surtax . So once

again I am left wondering about my card, as seems to happen so frequently in this hobby, but I'm still glad I

made this purchase .

a Book Review by Roland F. Kohl

116 pages, horizontal format, in German, containing 70 illustrations with postage annotations .

Published by Postgeschichte Verlag, Zürich, Switzerland .

A longstanding AHPS member and judge in aerophilately, I have combined in book form the serialize d

articles published in the "Postgeschichte" pertaining to these surtaxes from 1980 to 1996 .

What so simply started in 1919, namely 50 centimes surcharge per consignment up to 250 Gr ., developed

itself into a science which for the sender, and also for the Postal clerk, became a complicated calculation eve r

since. Publications of the PTT formed the basis for the compilation of these tariff tables . The tariff rates are

listed chronologically by year to countries of destination, with additional description of the carrier and th e

duration of these operations .

Only the surcharges arementioned in this book, as the bas erate for postcards, letters, printe dmatters, registered and express mailcan be found either in "ZACK" or invarious stamp catalogues and th eSwiss Airmail Handbook .

For every Airmail collector wh owishes to know whether his Airmai lcover is franked with the correcttariff rate, and especially for thos ecollectors that exhibit Aerophilately ,this book is an absolute must .

If any AHPS member i sinterested in obtaining this work, itcan be acquired at a special price o f$49.25 ppd. through :

STYNE COMPANY LTD .P.O. Box 65664 7Fresh Meadows, NY 11365-664 7

Die Schweizerischen Flugpost-Zuschlagstaxen Ab 1919(Swiss Airmail Surtax Charge s

beginning with 1919 )

6 TELL March 1998

OOOPS!!!!by Charles J. LaBlonde

Every now and then one finds an interesting cover that just cannot be explained in any manner other tha n

human error . The letter shown was intended to travel the short distance from Zürich 12 Neumünster to thePolytechnic Institute, a distance of less than 5 kilometers at most . The postmark date is 1 February 1909 at 3PM .

But instead of a short journey acros stown the letter ended up in Bulgaria . NoteBulgarian stamp (not postage due, Ibelieve) and postmark, Sofia 8 February1909 . Someone in Sofia probablywondered what had happened, thus th eletter sat for several days before bein greturned . Someone in Bulgaria wrote"Suisse" on the letter and sent it on itsway home . Who "bought" the stamp forthe return trip? Why not just refuse th eletter and send it back?

From the Zürich backstamp we learnthat the letter arrived home on 1 0February 1909 .

The letter turned up in the stock of aColorado Springs dealer at SESCAL . Anyother thoughts or insights on the cover? O ris it just a case of being tossed in th ewrong bag?

Cover, front

Cover, back Charles J . LaBlonde

Got a Red Sticker???If you have a red sticker on the address label of this issue of TELL, it means that you will not get

a next issue!! We have just a handful of persons who have not sent in their dues for 1998 . Howis the time, folks . Dick Hall awaits your check !

March 1998

7 TELL

Swiss Postal Activity in Italy - Part 2

by Michael Rutherfoord & Charles J. LaBlonde

Research by Ann F . O'Donnell & Michael Rutherfoord

This is a follow-up to the article in the November Tell that first reported on this incredible development .As things turn out, it is not so incredible after all . . .it seems other countries are also in the game. But more onthat later .

We have learned much more, but numerous questions remain for further research . Our new knowledgecomes from four sources : 1) Additional mailings made by Ann from Baveno, Italy . 2) Questions asked by Ann atthe Hotel Dino in Baveno . 3) An extensive article found by Michael in the Swiss PTT Review . 4) Ann an dMichael meeting in Baveno on 19 November 1997 for a visit to the Baveno office of Swiss Post Internationa l(abbreviated SPI throughout this article to save space) . (See Figure 1, our researchers on the job in Baveno . )

First, additional background information . About25 years ago Michael had a conversation with a man i nthe Chur main post office about the troubles they hadwith summer postcards . It seems summer tourists sentthousands of cards every day . Only by taking i nstudents during the holiday period could the post offic ecope with the increased workload .

Now, Italy has been notorious for slow handling o ftourist postcards, thus it seemed a natural first targetfor the Swiss PTT venture into the mail system o fanother country . As bizarre as this may sound, perhapsthe Italians were happy to have the postcard proble mtaken off their hands .

Also, the climate today is ripe for so-called privat eenterprises to offer international postal services of al ltypes (FEDEX and UPS for example) . The practice ofsending bags full of advertising matter or periodicals ata cheap rate to another country from which they can be posted at a large savings has been around for decade sand is called "remailing . " So we have many curious situations such as it being cheaper to send a letter fromAustria to Switzerland via Copenhagen, if sent in bulk.

In this context, the Swiss PTT went one step further and began actually collecting mail in anothe r

country, Italy in 1995, around Milan. Higher prices were justified by rapid delivery times . But the PTT wenteven another step further with the tourist postcard problem by issuing "stamps" for the cards . They printedbooklets of 8 self-adhesive "stamps" having exactly the same dimensions (36 x 25 mm) as the regular Swiss 90centime stamps of 1996. The difference is 13 teeth instead of the 8 on the 1996 stamps .

The "stamps" were designed by an Italian and printed in Switzerland (but not by the same company tha tprinted the 1996 self-adhesive stamps) . The design shows a summer breeze, apropos for the tourists in Italy .

The overprint on the "stamps" reads P.P .CH-6830 Chiasso 1 . The booklet has three pages and include sthe conditions of use in 4 languages (see Figure 2) .

From Michae l 's article we get additional insight into what is going on . Due to the length of the article, onlythe highlights are noted here instead of an entire translation . The article is entitled, "Expansion to Newmarkets . "

• The Swiss Post Office is looking for new sources of income, now that traditional postal rules an dregulations are relaxing. Operations are underway in Italy, Great Britain and shortly in France .

• The initial business operations had many names, but now all have been changed to involve th e

Swiss name, to emphasize Swiss quality . "Products called Swiss are easier to sell . "

8 TELL

March 1998

Fig. 2 (in two parts) Inside and outside of booklet containin g8 "stamps" issued by Swiss Post International .

• SPI operations in GB began on 1 January 1997 . Expected workload is 25 - 30 tons of mail yearly .

First customer is Readers Digest .

• SPI Italy has their main office at the airport Milan-Liscate, sharing quarters with Swissair cargo .

• The Italy operation is the largest for SPI . Italy is a growth market. SPI already carrying 40-60 ton s

of mail per month from Italy .

• As noted above the initial target was postcards, since many tourists arrived home before their cards .SPI concentrated on three major tourist areas : The hotels on Lago Maggiore, the hotels on theAdriatic Coast and Sicily .

• Hotels are provided with special boxes ("Cartolina") for the postcards . By the end of summer there

were 200 such boxes in place . The boxes are emptied once or twice daily .

• Postcards get 1 day delivery within Switzerland, 2-3 days to the rest of Europe and other countrie s

within 4-7 days (cards from Baveno to Colorado Springs seem to take a week) .

• The Swiss are not the only ones providing this service . Also in the act are Denmark, Germany ,

France, Netherlands as well as the private services such as FEDEX .

• Right now 18 people work in Milan and Baveno for SPI . SPI has 11 agencies, 3 branches and 3

regional collection points currently in operation in Italy .

• SPI handles private and commercial mail, from 15 grams to 15 tons .

• Services offered by SPI are as follows :

• BusinessMAIL: For time-critical items such as invoices, other business mail . Delivery in

Switzerland guaranteed within 48 hours .

• PeriodicMAIL : For items such as catalogs . Delivery in Europe 4-6 days, 7-12 days in the res tof the world.

March 1998

9 TELL

• ExpressDOC : Delivery anywhere in Europe 24 hours, 24 to 72 hours rest of the world .

• PowairPAC : Delivery 2-4 days in Europe and USA, 5-8 days rest of the world .

• ExpressPAC : Delivery within Europe 24 hours, 48-72 hours rest of the world .

A summary of the current rules and regulations, based upon what we know today, follows :

• SPI charges the hotel 1000 lira per "stamp ." The hotel makes a profit by selling the "stamp" to th etourist for 1200 lira . Whether letter or postcard, the cost is 1200 lire, but only the postcard gets th e"stamp." This is the same for any destination and seemingly for any weight of letter (we ar echecking on this latter piece of information by posting some absurdly heavy letters at the hotel) .

• Internal mail (to destinations within Italy) can be sent via SPI . Cost is the same . The "stamps" arenot valid in Switzerland .

• Mail from the hotel via SPI is all called "airmail . "

• The hotel pays SPI weekly for the service .

• Special services may be available via SPI, but we have not tried this yet . Michael and Ann saw"registration labels" on the counter at the SPI offices, also recorded delivery labels .

• There is no rate table for the SPI service . . .every destination seems to cost the same .

• The hotel will not accept packages at this time .

• Other hotels in/near Baveno would not accept mail for SPI . Either they do not have the SPI serviceor they are not interested in helping guests from other hotels .

• Letters/cards to Switzerland are canceled in Locarno, then sent to Bellinzona for sorting and coding(Swiss addresses only) . Letters and cards to the USA do not get Swiss coding .

To check the efficiency of the competing services Ann posted letters at the Hotel Dino and the Italian Pos tOffice in Baveno on the same day (Figure 3) . The post office letter cost 1300 lire (900 lire to Switzerland) .

16 Oct 97 Bareno Po - 21 Oct 97 COS - 1300 Lira

16 Oct 97 Hotel Bino, Bareno - 22 Oct 97 COS - 1200 LiraFig. 3 - Letters posted same day at Hotel Dino and Italian PO in Bareno .

The letters arrived in Colorado Springs within a day of each other (the Italian PO letter came first) . Thisdifference is obviously too small to form the basis for any major conclusions . Later postings showed much fastertransit times via SPI than the PO .

Regarding handling and marking, letters and postcards are different . The reason for this is still no t

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March 1998

totally clear unless tourists really want to see a"stamp" on their postcards!! Letters get several kind sof rubber stamps. One is simply a boxed P .P. CH -6600 Locarno 1 in black (Figure 4) . The other marking(letters only) is the double mark, in black and blue ,with P.P . - A CH-6600 Locarno 1 upper andPRIORITY lower shown above. There seems to be noparticular pattern in the use of the two lette rmarkings .

Recent postcards seem to indicate sloppierhandling than earlier ones . . .labels are upside dow nand some cards are not canceled (Figure 5) .

Fig. 5 Later postcard, label upsid edown, no cancel .

A Long Journey for Nothingby Charles J. LaBlonde

I guess postal history has gotten so popular because covers generally tell a story and many of the storie sare very interesting . Note the letter shown here, from Geneva to Hong Kong, postmarked 28 November 1941 .

The letter was underway when the attack on Pearl Harbor took place . Based upon the US Censor Label 147 0we can see that the letter made it all the way to San Francisco before events in the Pacific stopped its journey .The letter was sent back with the notation "RETURNED TO SENDER SERVICE SUSPENDED ." What greatstories these covers tell! !

Fig. 4 Two part (black & blue postmarkused on letters handled by SPI

So we see that Swiss Post International is a full -service organization, prepared to operate anywhere i nthe world. More information to follow as it become savailable . The authors plan to be in Baveno late i nMarch 1998. Anyone who wants a postcard or coverfrom there please advise .

March 1998

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The Crimescope CS-16 ForensicEquipment for Philatelic

Expertizing

by Ken Lawrenc e

In the spring of 1997, the American PhilatelicExpertizing Service (APEX) acquired state-of-the-artforensic equipment, of the type used by scientists ofthe U.S. Postal Inspection Service to evaluateevidence in criminal investigations, as a tool t oenhance the APS Expert Committee's ability to detec taltered and counterfeited stamps and covers, and t odetermine whether or not questioned material isgenuine and in its original state .

The system consists of a Crimescope CS-16 forensiclight source, a monochromator, an imaging devic e(video camera and monitor) and two recording device s(video tape recorder and paper printer) . Light fromthe quartz CS-16 is infinitely tunable throughout theultraviolet, visible, and infrared spectra, allowing th eoperator to select specific frequencies for viewing .Even though UV and IR light spectra are invisible t ohuman sight, the camera's receptor can see them, an dwe can watch what the camera sees on the vide omonitor .

Light from the CS-16 is directed from one of three(UV, IR, and visible) output ports through liquid o rfiber-optic cables onto the subject being examined . Asthe selected portion of the spectrum illuminates th esubject, light is manipulated to test first forluminescence, afterward for reflection, absorption ,and transmission .

Manipulation is achieved in three ways :1 . While passing light through tunable dichroi c

filters (beamsplitters that transmit some colors whil ereflecting others, varying according to the angle ofincidence), controls that rotate those filters ar ecalibrated to denote the frequencies that are bein gpassed at any given setting. (Intensity is regulate dwith a diaphragm.) Dichroic filters are built into th eCrimescope CS-16 case that houses the quartz bul band power supply. They direct the light to the thre eports, into which liquid or fiber light pipes ar eplugged to direct the output .

2. Passing light though blocking filters of two type sis another way to vary the spectra. Long-pass filterstransmit all frequencies above or below a selectedlevel . Band-pass filters transmit only a narrowsegment of the spectrum . Sets of these filters aremounted on turrets, both inside the CS-16 case an dbehind the camera lens . The camera's iris diaphragmalso can be used to adjust the intensity of the scree nimage .

3. A diffraction grating monochromator separate slight being passed through it into a rainbow . Using acalibrated dial to rotate the grating so that a narrowband of rainbow passes through a slit while the res tis blocked, a pure frequency of light can be selected .

The degree of purity is determined by the aperture ofthe slit . Light from the CS-16 is piped through a fiber -optic cable into one side of the monochromator, an dout the other side onto the subject by a second fibercable .

The first test is for luminescence . This occurs whenan object illuminated at one wavelength radiate slight at a longer wavelength . Stamp collectors employthis technique when they use UV lamps to se etagging -- invisible UV light directed onto invisibl etagging phosphors causes them to glow, radiatin gvisible colors that people can see . With the CS-16 ,this principle can be used throughout all thre espectra . Any band of UV, visible, or IR illuminationcan be cast onto the subject , and (through filters) theresulting luminescence can be viewed at whateve rlonger wavelength it occurs .

After testing for luminescence, the same object i sexamined to see which frequencies are reflected ,transmitted, or absorbed. In some instances thesystem 's sensitivity to absorption is sufficiently acuteto read back printing (such as on U .S. federal duc kstamps) from the front, or to detect the watermarks ofstamps on cover . The equipment excels in revealingcleaned cancellations, altered or enhanced postmarks ,

and counterfeit overprints .

A Crimescope DemonstrationReveals Hidden Facts

by Ernest L Bergman

For many years I had in my collection an airmai lcover, addressed to Lisbon, Portugal, which wasreturned to sender with a red hand stamp on the fron t

Retour - ZurückService postal suspenduPostverkehr eingestell t

a frequent occurrence during W .W.II . However, thiscover was cancelled on 12-3-1944 in Lugano, a ver ylate date for mail stoppage out of Switzerland .Knowing that Bordeaux was liberated on 8-24-1944 ,Paris on 8-25, and Lyon on 9-4, on 12-7 of that yea rthe final offensive began along the Swiss border inFrance towards Belfort and the Colmar pocket . Hence ,in the opinion of many something didn't add up .

Then last year, a postcard addressed to Barcelona ,Spain (Fig. 1) was secured from an auction sale. Ithad hand stamp censor marks from Germany, U .K .and Spain on it and was cancelled 12-16-1944 inZürich . Only later the text was realized to contain animportant answer. It said: December 15, 1944 - "M ydear uncle; today I read in the newspaper that mai lcan be sent to Spain again " This proved without adoubt that there had been a mail embargo at thattime .

The card was shipped via Berlin (b) . Here it wascensored, the "last " German inspection stamp"Zensurstelle " applied (in use 10, 1944 to 3 .1945) and

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Fig. 1 . Postcard sent from Zürich to Barcelona with Berlin, U .K, and Spanish censor marks . Note the

date "7 .III .45" is inscribed in the square below "Censura" and above "Conrad" left of "196" .

also blue fluid to detect secret writings . Where and when the U .K. censor mark "P 148" was added, cannot b e

ascertained . It was also impossible to know when the "CENSURA" Spanish censor mark (47 x 35 mm) was

applied or when the card arrived in Barcelona, since there was no arrival cancel .This card was used in a demonstration of the new crimescope (described in a separate write-up) jus t

acquired by APS to be used by the Expertizing Service . To everybody's big surprise, a date was detected in the

center square of the "CENSURA" stamp which not even with a microscope could have been read - "7 .III .45" .was

this date . Now we know it, and what has been for a longtime a big guessing game was finally solve d

completely thanks to modern techniques .

Apollo With an Open Eye(Which Eye?)

by C.R. Grosso

For longer than I can

remember, I had a block of four o fthe 30¢ Apollo Zum No . 261. Theleft eye of the lower left stam p(Fig. 1) has a dot resembling thepupil. I attributed this as a flukesince I did not see it as a listedvariety .

Recently, I acquired anothe rblock of four of the same stam pbut the right eye has the pupil .See the top left stamp (Fig. 2) .This stamp does coincide with th elisted variety 261 .W3 .01 . Hasanyone else found what appears t obe a pupil in the left eye ?

Note: The dot in the left ey e(Fig . 1) does not zerox as clearly asthat in Fig . 2 .Fig . 1 Fig. 2

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MILCOPEX/HELVETIA 98

by Charles L. LaBlonde

Plans for the 1998 convention of the American Helvetia Philatelic Society in Milwaukee are progressing ver ywell . It's time to make your travel plans for a great weekend of Swiss philately, culture and friendship .Southern Wisconsin is beautiful in the fall . The Milwaukee Airport is still small enough to be friendly . NewGlarus, the world famous Swiss village in Wisconsin, is an easy drive from Milwaukee . All in all, the weeken dpromises to be relaxing and rewarding in many ways .

We have secured a block of rooms for AHPS members at the Ramada Inn, cost is only $60 per night . The hote lis located at 201 North Mayfair Road, Milwaukee, WI 53226 . To reserve a room please contact the hote ldirectly at (414) 771-4400 or (800) 531-3965 and mention the stamp show .

Our AHPS activities will kick off with an afternoon of Swiss philately and postal history at the Ramada In nfrom 1 to 5 PM on Thursday, 17 September . Harlan is organizing the event and there will be something for al llevels of collector and every collecting interest . Following the seminar we will have an evening social with th eSwiss Clubs of Greater Milwaukee, featuring food, drink, singing, dancing and maybe even some gymnastics .

The show has reserved at least 75 frames for our exhibitors . If you would like to exhibit, please contact Gaylor dYost, P .O. Box 1013, Milwaukee, WI 53201 (Phone : 414-354-8987) as soon as possible to secure your frames .Also, please notify Chuck LaBlonde of your intentions .

Friday evening we will have an AHPS no-host dinner at Maders in downtown Milwaukee . Some call Maders thebest German restaurant in North America (I agree, but I have not been to them all yet) . Depending upon th enumber of attendees, we may be able to order from the entire menu . If not, there will be selected, traditiona litems from the menu available . And of course, Maders is just across the street from Usingers, one of the world' sgreat sausage makers . You'll want to take some home !

The AHPS will have its regular business meeting Saturday afternoon and swap meet on Sunday morning .

We do not plan to have a separate AHPS cacheted cover from the show. But the MILCOPEX cachet itself willhave a Swiss theme . We will provide ordering information as soon as possible .

For the various events it would be very helpful to have a count of those planning to attend (for transportatio n

purposes, etc .) . If you will be in Milwaukee for the show, please contact Ron Buege, 2909 South 101 st Street ,West Allis, WI 53227-3501 as soon as possible and advise him of your travel plans and whether you will hav ea car .

See you at HELVETIA 98! !

Circuit Sales Notesby Emil Tobler

1997 in ReviewOne general and 10 specialized circuits were posted in 1997 . The specialized categories included soldier

stamps and covers, Campione and airpost, se-tenant and tete-beche pairs and strips and standing Helvetia smint and used. All the circuits contained exotic material as well as more common stamps .

We had a serious loss in the mail of one of the most valuable circuits ever posted . It contained all sorts ofcovers plus K cancels, booklets, better FDC's and related material . At the time of loss the remaining net salevalue was about $8600-after more than $1000 had been picked out . The member who forwarded the circuitcarefully followed mailing directions thus insurance payments by the Post Office and what is now th eCollectibles Insurance Agency covered the loss .

Sales from all the circuits were good. The postage due, Campione, official and se-tenant circuits had saleswhich were excellent . Purchases by present circuit participants ranging in amount from just a few dollars t o$450--with sales of $50 to $300 not uncommon, speak to the quality, reasonable price and variety of materia loffered .

A few of the 15-20 circuits planned for 1998 include imperf and perforated sitting Helvetias, se tenan tand tete-beche pairs and strips, postage due and franchise, cross and numeral, miniature and souvenir sheets ,

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a cover circuit including censored regular and air usages, better FDC's K and special cancels on cover and PTTfolders, and more . For collectors interested in circuits containing a large variety of categories there will be a tleast one general circuit .

We Want New BuyersIf you are a buyer of Swiss or Liechtenstein philatelic material you are missing an opportunity to obtain

quality stamps and covers at prices more reasonable than you can find at bourses or by mail order . You canpick through circuits in the comfort of your home with all your philatelic tools handy .

AHPS circuits are usually specialized . They contain material from only one or two of forty liste dcategories . When a member indicates interest in a category he or she will receive a circuit containing usually 2to 6 books with stamps mostly from that category or one closely related . Specialized circuits sometimes contai nconsiderable duplication which allows for a wide choice of price and quality . Most circuits are appropriate fornovice collectors or specialists and everyone in between . An SASE to the circuit manager will obtain for yo ucomplete details on circuit participation .

Information for Sellers

Our contract with the Collectibles Insurance Agency (formerly APS insurance plant) has been amended asfollows :

1. Sales books may contain no more than $1500 in net sale value .2. Sales books may not

contain individual items with anet sale value of $500 or more .

3. The maximum net salevalue of a circuit may not excee d$10,000 .The premium structure isunchanged. Sellers who haveitems valued at $500 or more, o ritems too large for circuit books ,may describe such items in thei rcircuit book indicating the price ,postage charges and any otherconditions of sale, and name andaddress of owner, and invit einquiries so as to deal direct wit hthe buyer. There will be noAHPS commission on directdeals .

We have a substantia linventory of most categories bu tcan use books of the following :Fakes, errors and varieties ,soldier stamps, bette rcommercial covers and FDC' s(none after 1959), stampless andcensored covers, better airmails ,K cancels, and railroad stamps .Books of other categories will b eaccepted but it will probably b esome time before they can b ecirculated .

Questions or comments oncircuit operations should b edirected to the circuit manager byphone or fax at 401-377-2238 orby E-mail at :swissboy@edgenet .net .

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The New Zumstein 1998 CD-ROM has Arrive dReviewed by John Steinberg

A new software product produced by Messrs . Zumstein & Cie . has come into the market . It's much morethan just a catalogue . It is bilingual, German and French. It encompasses stamps of Switzerland ,Liechtenstein, UNO Geneva, as well as Campione (Italy), with latest prices as well as an addendum . Newlyincorporated were the categories of stampbooklets, Pro-Juventute, Pro-Patria, Semi-Postal stamps and Tickets .On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the railroad, Zumstein expanded CD-98 to include Railroa dstamps. Due to manifold requests by philatelists, a small chapter about forgeries concerning the classi cstamps was also added, which shows the Aperati, Fournier, etc . It has a magnifying function for enlargement ,complete wording research, as well as a simple inventory for print out, or a want list, together with evaluations .

You are able to create an inventory of stamps in your collection, print them out, and have it at you rdisposal together with the catalogue value . The list will show the value of your collection, which becomes usefu lin case of insurance, exhibits, etc . Furthermore one can produce printouts that list the missing stamps in acollection .

Available as a HYBRID-CD for the PC as well as the MACINTOSH World :

System

IBM compatible

MACRecommendations :

Pentium, 16 MB RAM

68030, 16 MB RA MWindows 95 or NT

beginning with Mac 7 . x

Styne Company Ltd . of Fresh Meadows, NY, the distributor of the software, offers it for $69 .00 postpaid .Their address is : P.O. Box 656647, Fresh Meadows, NY 11365-6647 . In 1999 you can exchange the 1998 CDwith a 30% discount .

AHPS AUCTION

Report Covering December 1996 through November 1997by George Struble

Gross Proceeds AHPS Commission Donation Lots SoldAuction 108 $1,302 .00 $195 .3 0Auction 109 791 .00 99 .30 $129 .00Auction 110 2 .261 .00 331 .95 48 .00

Totals $4354 .00 $626 .55 $177 .00

Balance Income Expenditures

Beginning cash $794 .9 8AHPS commissions $626 .5 5Donation lots sold 177 .0 0Expenses $121 .2 2Check to AHPS treasury 650 .0 0

Balance, 2 Dec 97 $827 .31

The percentage of lots sold this year were -29%, 21% and 52%, compared to last yea r's auctions of 32%,41% and 23%. As you can see, the first two auctions of the year continued a downward spiral ; I wasdiscouraged .

Putting the lots in auction 110 on the World Wide Web made an enormous difference . Not all membershave access to the Web, but many do, and we got bidding activity from several members I had not heard fro mbefore . Because of the scanner's ability to enlarge the image, we actually can see details of stamps on the Webthat I cannot see on the stamps themselves with a magnifier! Colors are pretty good, but not precise, so peopl einterested in shades should not trust what they see on the Web . I offered members back-and-white prints fro mthe Web pages if they do not have Web access themselves .

I am delighted that Bruce Marsden - who gave me the idea of putting the auctions on the web - will be ourfuture auction manager . I thank you all for your support and for the opportunity to learn more about Swis sphilately.

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