Pitcairn Island 1947 Upu Congress Presentation Booklet Rare!

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Seller: honasty4 ✉️ (3,288) 100%, Location: TONBRIDGE KENT , GB, Ships to: WORLDWIDE, Item: 204709555065 PITCAIRN ISLAND 1947 UPU CONGRESS PRESENTATION BOOKLET RARE!.

PITCAIRN ISLANDS PRESENTATION FOLDER 1947



There is one publication which interests collectors of Pitcairn Island philately that has very little available research.The 1940 green booklet has many references available,but the Presentation Folder issued for the 12th U.P.U.conference,held in Paris in 1947 has very little.

Researching this has been very difficult but very enjoyable.Even in this day and age of the search engine and more information from government sources it can be very frustrating.

However,I thought fellow Pitcairn Island collectors may be interested in what I have discovered.The Universal Postal Union conferences were initiated in 1874   in the United Kingdom, the first being held in London.Every four - six years the conference was held in a different country, the last before the war in 1939, but no meetings were held until the one I was interested in,in 1947.

This 1947 conference, the twelfth, was held in Paris France between the 3rd and 7th July.There were 84 delegates from all over the world, including Germany and Japan.This was a fascinating social event considering the recent conflict.One delegate represented the British Overseas Territories, affiliated to the United Nations.The signatories were Mr.DJ Lidbury and Mr EP Bell .These territories were 14 British Dependencies, including the Pitcairn Islands.Collectively they encompass a population of about 230,000 and a land area of 667,018 square miles.The vast majority, 560,000 square miles, consists of the British Antarctic Territory which is almost uninhabited.The largest inhabited is Bermuda with about 59,000 and the smallest Pitcairn with approximately 70. Interestedly the Pitcairn Islands was not the smallest by area, that was held by Gibraltar.

The 84 delegates each produced over 300 country presentation folders of which each delegate received at least one.Some countries printed over 350 units and some ,Pitcairn included, printed just 200.The Pitcairn Islands Specialist Stamp Catalog compiled by  Vernon N  Kisling quotes about 250 but the records from the Crown Agencies state that 200 were printed.Therefore, whichever is correct,the number is very low, taking into account that at least 84 were exchanged and very few got onto the public market.

The presentation packs were all printed in the French language and had the same title on the front cover.(see fig 1)

  CONGRES POSTAL UNIVERSAL/ PARIS-1947/ then the crown emblem of the country( the Pitcairns had Crown G R I and below TIMBRES-POSTE and the country was printed in French,ILES  PITCAIRN.

The folders were made with blue leatherette and were printed by the British Government Printers from a template issued by the Crown Office.Other countries folders were in red or green and they differ slightly by being wider than the  British/ Pitcairn ones.Inside the double sided folders was a matt black paper lining.The inside cover was adorned with an off white label with the same Crown GRI monogram as the front.Then AVEC LES COMPIMENTS / DE/ M.LE SECRETAIRE D'ETAT/ POUR LES COLONIES/ A L'OCCASION DU/ XIIE CONGRES POSTAL UNIVERSAL/ PARIS 1947.

The interesting point of these booklets/ presentation folders were the stamps included on the inside right page, were all fastened by the top 4mm.of gum that had been moistened.Because of this, hardly any have been found without foxing.The stamps were from the 4th and 5th   printing and consisted of the first 1940 issue nos.1-8, plus the two 1945 victory issues.The folders were put together by the Crown agents in London who had been responsible for printing and distributing the stamps to the Pitcairns via Fiji,and also supplying stamp dealers and other philatelic outlets.It seems quite sad that these stamps never saw the Pitcairn Islands and as there was no delegation directly from the Island, no official folder ever went there.

The reason for the postage stamps were that every country in the Postal Union had sight of the stamps that were issued by each other and could vet misuse of revenue.The committee members made sure the equivalent value of the numerous currency the stamps were issued was fixed exactly as possible to the value of the gold franc of 100 centimes weighing 10/31 of a gram.This ensured the correct value was put on the envelopes and packages when posted across the world.All forms of administration were drawn up in French.

As far as I can ascertain the Pitcairn Islands were the only country that had their very first stamps in that years folder.All the commonwealth countries had their victory issues included in a common design.Some outside the commonwealth also included their victory stamps as part of their issues. This seemed a very unusual action considering the stamps were presented to countries such as Germany, Japan and others involved in World War Two.

There are very few available on the market, and there are no mint examples.Most were overprinted with specimen, but not the ones from Pitcairn.




Stockmarkets have wobbled globally. Large Banks have failed in the USA and Europe. And oil and commodity markets, Gold prices, and currency markets have been WILDLY erratic due to the Ukraine tragedy etc -so good stamps just keep sneaking up in value, despite all this turmoil. NEVER been a wiser time to buy.

  • Type: Presentation Booklet
  • Year of Issue: 1947
  • Country/Region of Origin: Pitcairn Island
  • Era: George VI (1936-1952)
  • Currency: Pre-Decimal
  • Grade: XF (Extremely Fine)
  • Topic: UPU
  • Colour: Multi-Coloured
  • Regional Status: Territory

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