ANNOUNCEMENTS
January 22, 2024
Menelik's Journal, Volume 39, No. 4
Editor, Ulf Lindahl mailed the October-December 2023 Menelik's Journal (MJ Volume 39, No. 2) during the week of December 18th, 2023. I emailed the digital edition of MJ to those on the list to receive it, on December 13th. If you have not received your printed copy and/or digital copy, email me and we will work to send you another printed copy or resend you the digital version. Dues are US$ 23 per year for U.S. and Canadian residents and US$ 32 for residents of other countries. Digital membership (without the printed version) is US$ 12 worldwide.
Espen Solheim's Ethiopia stamps website
Espen Solheim now has his Ethiopia stamps website back up and running again. Over a year ago his site was hacked and damaged and he had to close it down for repairs. It has been a daunting task but with the use of a modern editor the new website is open for business. He still is updating the new website and soon it will be readable on smartboards and smartphones too. Espen Solheim has been working for many years on putting together his unique Ethiopia stamp albums. His albums now number19 although several are still under construction. In his albums he describes each stamp set to include covers, history, photos and illustrations. Basically, there is a wealth of information about each Ethiopia issue that will satisfy both the collector and non-collector. Anyone, who is interested in the history of Ethiopia and the purpose for each stamp issue will have a great time "thumbing" through his pages. Of course, he still has a few holes to fill plus he is preparing new albums and/or reorganizing existing albums. In addition to the albums, Espen includes a listing of all stamp issues with cross-references between catalog numbers. He also has a section titled postcards which shows various Ethiopia scenes from the 1950-60 period on black and white postcards. Making a visit to Espen's website will be a rewarding experience. You can visit his website at https://www.here-and-there.no/stamps/ .
Daryl Reiber's "Exploring the stamps & postal history of Ethiopia" website
EPS member Daryl Reiber has created a website to display some of his exhibit pages as well as other interesting aspects of Ethiopian philately. His website is titled "Daryl Reiber's Ethiopian Postal History Web Site--Exploring the stamps & postal history of Ethiopia." The site can be accessed at http://www.postage-due.com . Some interesting items are on display and the site is well worth checking out. Daryl has recently added much new material to the site and I promise you will have a fun time scouring through all the new pages. He now illustrates and discusses regular postage, airmail, express mail, and metered mail. The biggest change is that he now includes 8 of his exhibits. These include Ethiopia: The First Seven and Then Some (1 frame of 16 pages); 1919 Animals & Rulers (4 frames); Ethiopia 1928-1931: Empress Zauditu & Ras Tafari (8 frames); 2nd Airmail Issue (1 frame); The Semi-Postal Stamps of Ethiopia (3 frames); 1942-1974: The Haile Selassie Years (10 frames); 14 Years of Glory: The 1974 Ethiopian Peoples Revolution (12 frames); and Metered Mail (1 frame). Daryl plans to continue adding to the site as time permits so keep checking in from time to time. By the way, Daryl entered his 5-frame exhibit "Ethiopia 1928-1931:Empress Zauditu and Ras Tafari" in World Stamp Show NY 2016 and won a Large Silver. A good showing at the international level.
Juha Kauppinen strikes gold for the fourth time
At the World Stamp Show NY 2016 Juha won another gold. The award was for his 8-frame exhibit titled "Forwarding Mail from and inside Ethiopia from the 1840's to 1936. At Europhilex 2015 in London he won a gold medal and while pleased with the award was disappointed in that he did not receive a higher score. This time around he was quite pleased in that he received 93 points which is just 2 points below a Large Gold and puts him well within striking distance of that prestigious award. The 93 points are his highest score ever in international competition and hopefully with a few tweaks and upgrades he can achieve what no other Ethiopia collector has done and win a Large Gold at the international level. Of course, judging can be problematic as not all judges are qualified to judge Ethiopia postal history exhibits as he has found. Previously Juha won a gold medal at Portugal 2010 held in Lisbon. Juha's exhibit was titled "Ethiopian Postal History 1895-1936." At that time he joined a select crowd of only two other Ethiopia exhibitors for winning a gold in international competition. The first was Nachum Kaplan many years ago and more recently Roberto Sciaky. Winning multiple golds at this level of competition is a major achievement and one that Juha can be very proud. It does not happen everyday with Ethiopia exhibits. After the Lisbon show he exhibited at Thailand 2013 and once again received a gold for his exhibit with its slighly modified title of "Ethiopian Postal History to 1936." In 2014 he exihibited at PhilaKorea held in Seoul. Despite expanding and upgrading his exhibit he received only a vermeil medal. Obviously, he was very disappointed with these results. For the 2015 London show he renamed his exhibit to "Forwarding mail from and inside Ethiopia from the 1840s to 1936." Juha discusses his exhibiting adventures in his article titled "Exhibiting Ethiopian Postal History" included in the July-September 2013 MJ (Vol. 29, No. 3).
An article by Juha was included in Volume 31, No. 2 discussing his experiences at Europhilex 2015. An article on the World Stamp Show NY 2016 by Ulf Lindahl discusses the show and includes an illustration of Juha's award certificate. In the article Ulf also discusses his own 5-frame exhibit that was entered in the show. His exhibit "Postal History of Ethiopia 1895-1909" received a Large Vermeil which was just below Gold. He had hoped for the higher award but thinks next time when he will be allowed to enter 8 frames the results will be better. I could not agree more as his exhibit is truly world class.
Luciano Maria needs your help for
his pre-UPU cover data base project
EPS member Luciano Maria has undertaken an ambitious and very worthwhile project. For a number of years now he's been putting together a data base listing all known covers, postal cards, and postcards that were used prior to Ethiopia's entry into the UPU on November 1st, 1908. He's already published much of his data in MJ XVII, No. 4 and XVIII, No. 1 and in MJ Volume 19, No. 2 as part of a collaboration with Roberto Sciaky. Currently he is working with Ulf Lindahl on reporting the usages of mail from Ethiopia during the pre-UPU period. Part I was included in MJ Volume 31, No. 1 and it gives an overview of postal cards followed by a detailed presentation on the use of the postal cards. Part II is included in Volume 31, No. 2 and it focuses on picture postcards. Part III is in Volume 31, No. 3 and its subject is covers. Since them 4 more parts have been published with the latest (Part VII) discussing the mail of 1907 is included in Volume 34, No. 3. Luciano's is, however, an ongoing project and he is always interested in adding new information to his data base. If you haven't yet provided information to Luciano on your pre UPU covers/postal cards please do so now. What Luciano needs are the key pieces of information about each cover or card including the type and date of all cancels and postmarks, the franking used, and the sender's name (if known) and the addressee. If possible, Luciano would like a scan of both the front and back of the item (preferably at 300 dpi) and, if that is not possible, color photocopies. For more information about his project and the best way to assist, you can contact Luciano at [email protected] .
Prof. Sciaky's books
As some of you may know, Prof. Roberto Sciaky's last book was published in November 2003 by Vaccari of Italy. I have read it and can attest that it is well worth the money. If you haven't yet read it, my review of the book is in MJ Volume 19, No. 4 (October-December 2003). The book is titled "Ethiopia, Haile Selassie, The Exile, The Restoration, The Deposition." Full details of the book can be found at the publisher's website http://www.vaccari.it/ . Click on the "English" version and on the next page click on the "English" version link again and then under "Books" the "Made in Vaccari" link. Scroll down the page until you find the professor's latest book as well as his three earlier ones. You can order them directly at the Vaccari website or via email at [email protected] . Your EPS membership number is good for a 20% discount off the price. The number is shown in the upper left corner of the mailing label for your Menelik's Journal. If you don't have a label and don't know your membership number, email me and I will email the number back to you.
I might add that there is an addendum to the Professor's book that you can download when you get to Vaccari's web page providing the details of the Professor's book. You will need Adobe Reader or similar software to read and download the file. Professor Sciaky has added new information to his addendum on the airmail rates for the period 1942-1948. In addition to the postal rates, the file has several updates and a few corrections to the book.
And, as noted on the main page (our home page) of this website, two of Professor Sciaky's Ethiopia collections are available for viewing at the website for the AICPM in Italy. Click on the home link at the bottom of this page to go back to our main page. Once there click on the designated link for the AICPM website.
For those of you who are interested in the 1868 Napier Expedition to Abyssinia, Roberto wrote a very interesting article on the subject for the June 2003 "London Philatelist" which is published by the prestigious Royal Philatelic Society of London. The article titled "Postal History of the Napier Expedition" includes a host of new discoveries and it is a "must read" for anyone interested in the expedition. The article includes a list of all known covers from the campaign.
Doig's Ethiopia Stamp Catalogue website
EPS member Ken Doig's Ethiopia website should be of interest to all EPS members. The title of his site is "Doig's Ethiopia Stamp Catalogue." Ken had been concerned with the number of fake stamps that started appearing on eBay internet auctions as well as elsewhere in the stamp market. Hence, to help better inform both buyers and sellers of Ethiopian material he created his site. He provides details about each issue including illustrations of the stamps (and overprints) and where appropriate how to differentiate between the original stamp and any fake or reprint. He also provides details of the cancellations of Ethiopia both before the Italian Occupation and postwar. Diagrams of the cancels are provided as well as scans of actual usage's on cover. The address for his site is http://doigsden.com/EthiHome.html (case sensitive). Ken can be contacted by email at [email protected] .
_____________________
As specifics develop on any of the above items or we learn of breaking stories, they will be posted at this site. If you have any questions contact me at my email address listed below.
Secretary-Treasurer and webmaster
Floyd Heiser
email: [email protected]
Menelik's Journal, Volume 39, No. 4
Editor, Ulf Lindahl mailed the October-December 2023 Menelik's Journal (MJ Volume 39, No. 2) during the week of December 18th, 2023. I emailed the digital edition of MJ to those on the list to receive it, on December 13th. If you have not received your printed copy and/or digital copy, email me and we will work to send you another printed copy or resend you the digital version. Dues are US$ 23 per year for U.S. and Canadian residents and US$ 32 for residents of other countries. Digital membership (without the printed version) is US$ 12 worldwide.
Espen Solheim's Ethiopia stamps website
Espen Solheim now has his Ethiopia stamps website back up and running again. Over a year ago his site was hacked and damaged and he had to close it down for repairs. It has been a daunting task but with the use of a modern editor the new website is open for business. He still is updating the new website and soon it will be readable on smartboards and smartphones too. Espen Solheim has been working for many years on putting together his unique Ethiopia stamp albums. His albums now number19 although several are still under construction. In his albums he describes each stamp set to include covers, history, photos and illustrations. Basically, there is a wealth of information about each Ethiopia issue that will satisfy both the collector and non-collector. Anyone, who is interested in the history of Ethiopia and the purpose for each stamp issue will have a great time "thumbing" through his pages. Of course, he still has a few holes to fill plus he is preparing new albums and/or reorganizing existing albums. In addition to the albums, Espen includes a listing of all stamp issues with cross-references between catalog numbers. He also has a section titled postcards which shows various Ethiopia scenes from the 1950-60 period on black and white postcards. Making a visit to Espen's website will be a rewarding experience. You can visit his website at https://www.here-and-there.no/stamps/ .
Daryl Reiber's "Exploring the stamps & postal history of Ethiopia" website
EPS member Daryl Reiber has created a website to display some of his exhibit pages as well as other interesting aspects of Ethiopian philately. His website is titled "Daryl Reiber's Ethiopian Postal History Web Site--Exploring the stamps & postal history of Ethiopia." The site can be accessed at http://www.postage-due.com . Some interesting items are on display and the site is well worth checking out. Daryl has recently added much new material to the site and I promise you will have a fun time scouring through all the new pages. He now illustrates and discusses regular postage, airmail, express mail, and metered mail. The biggest change is that he now includes 8 of his exhibits. These include Ethiopia: The First Seven and Then Some (1 frame of 16 pages); 1919 Animals & Rulers (4 frames); Ethiopia 1928-1931: Empress Zauditu & Ras Tafari (8 frames); 2nd Airmail Issue (1 frame); The Semi-Postal Stamps of Ethiopia (3 frames); 1942-1974: The Haile Selassie Years (10 frames); 14 Years of Glory: The 1974 Ethiopian Peoples Revolution (12 frames); and Metered Mail (1 frame). Daryl plans to continue adding to the site as time permits so keep checking in from time to time. By the way, Daryl entered his 5-frame exhibit "Ethiopia 1928-1931:Empress Zauditu and Ras Tafari" in World Stamp Show NY 2016 and won a Large Silver. A good showing at the international level.
Juha Kauppinen strikes gold for the fourth time
At the World Stamp Show NY 2016 Juha won another gold. The award was for his 8-frame exhibit titled "Forwarding Mail from and inside Ethiopia from the 1840's to 1936. At Europhilex 2015 in London he won a gold medal and while pleased with the award was disappointed in that he did not receive a higher score. This time around he was quite pleased in that he received 93 points which is just 2 points below a Large Gold and puts him well within striking distance of that prestigious award. The 93 points are his highest score ever in international competition and hopefully with a few tweaks and upgrades he can achieve what no other Ethiopia collector has done and win a Large Gold at the international level. Of course, judging can be problematic as not all judges are qualified to judge Ethiopia postal history exhibits as he has found. Previously Juha won a gold medal at Portugal 2010 held in Lisbon. Juha's exhibit was titled "Ethiopian Postal History 1895-1936." At that time he joined a select crowd of only two other Ethiopia exhibitors for winning a gold in international competition. The first was Nachum Kaplan many years ago and more recently Roberto Sciaky. Winning multiple golds at this level of competition is a major achievement and one that Juha can be very proud. It does not happen everyday with Ethiopia exhibits. After the Lisbon show he exhibited at Thailand 2013 and once again received a gold for his exhibit with its slighly modified title of "Ethiopian Postal History to 1936." In 2014 he exihibited at PhilaKorea held in Seoul. Despite expanding and upgrading his exhibit he received only a vermeil medal. Obviously, he was very disappointed with these results. For the 2015 London show he renamed his exhibit to "Forwarding mail from and inside Ethiopia from the 1840s to 1936." Juha discusses his exhibiting adventures in his article titled "Exhibiting Ethiopian Postal History" included in the July-September 2013 MJ (Vol. 29, No. 3).
An article by Juha was included in Volume 31, No. 2 discussing his experiences at Europhilex 2015. An article on the World Stamp Show NY 2016 by Ulf Lindahl discusses the show and includes an illustration of Juha's award certificate. In the article Ulf also discusses his own 5-frame exhibit that was entered in the show. His exhibit "Postal History of Ethiopia 1895-1909" received a Large Vermeil which was just below Gold. He had hoped for the higher award but thinks next time when he will be allowed to enter 8 frames the results will be better. I could not agree more as his exhibit is truly world class.
Luciano Maria needs your help for
his pre-UPU cover data base project
EPS member Luciano Maria has undertaken an ambitious and very worthwhile project. For a number of years now he's been putting together a data base listing all known covers, postal cards, and postcards that were used prior to Ethiopia's entry into the UPU on November 1st, 1908. He's already published much of his data in MJ XVII, No. 4 and XVIII, No. 1 and in MJ Volume 19, No. 2 as part of a collaboration with Roberto Sciaky. Currently he is working with Ulf Lindahl on reporting the usages of mail from Ethiopia during the pre-UPU period. Part I was included in MJ Volume 31, No. 1 and it gives an overview of postal cards followed by a detailed presentation on the use of the postal cards. Part II is included in Volume 31, No. 2 and it focuses on picture postcards. Part III is in Volume 31, No. 3 and its subject is covers. Since them 4 more parts have been published with the latest (Part VII) discussing the mail of 1907 is included in Volume 34, No. 3. Luciano's is, however, an ongoing project and he is always interested in adding new information to his data base. If you haven't yet provided information to Luciano on your pre UPU covers/postal cards please do so now. What Luciano needs are the key pieces of information about each cover or card including the type and date of all cancels and postmarks, the franking used, and the sender's name (if known) and the addressee. If possible, Luciano would like a scan of both the front and back of the item (preferably at 300 dpi) and, if that is not possible, color photocopies. For more information about his project and the best way to assist, you can contact Luciano at [email protected] .
Prof. Sciaky's books
As some of you may know, Prof. Roberto Sciaky's last book was published in November 2003 by Vaccari of Italy. I have read it and can attest that it is well worth the money. If you haven't yet read it, my review of the book is in MJ Volume 19, No. 4 (October-December 2003). The book is titled "Ethiopia, Haile Selassie, The Exile, The Restoration, The Deposition." Full details of the book can be found at the publisher's website http://www.vaccari.it/ . Click on the "English" version and on the next page click on the "English" version link again and then under "Books" the "Made in Vaccari" link. Scroll down the page until you find the professor's latest book as well as his three earlier ones. You can order them directly at the Vaccari website or via email at [email protected] . Your EPS membership number is good for a 20% discount off the price. The number is shown in the upper left corner of the mailing label for your Menelik's Journal. If you don't have a label and don't know your membership number, email me and I will email the number back to you.
I might add that there is an addendum to the Professor's book that you can download when you get to Vaccari's web page providing the details of the Professor's book. You will need Adobe Reader or similar software to read and download the file. Professor Sciaky has added new information to his addendum on the airmail rates for the period 1942-1948. In addition to the postal rates, the file has several updates and a few corrections to the book.
And, as noted on the main page (our home page) of this website, two of Professor Sciaky's Ethiopia collections are available for viewing at the website for the AICPM in Italy. Click on the home link at the bottom of this page to go back to our main page. Once there click on the designated link for the AICPM website.
For those of you who are interested in the 1868 Napier Expedition to Abyssinia, Roberto wrote a very interesting article on the subject for the June 2003 "London Philatelist" which is published by the prestigious Royal Philatelic Society of London. The article titled "Postal History of the Napier Expedition" includes a host of new discoveries and it is a "must read" for anyone interested in the expedition. The article includes a list of all known covers from the campaign.
Doig's Ethiopia Stamp Catalogue website
EPS member Ken Doig's Ethiopia website should be of interest to all EPS members. The title of his site is "Doig's Ethiopia Stamp Catalogue." Ken had been concerned with the number of fake stamps that started appearing on eBay internet auctions as well as elsewhere in the stamp market. Hence, to help better inform both buyers and sellers of Ethiopian material he created his site. He provides details about each issue including illustrations of the stamps (and overprints) and where appropriate how to differentiate between the original stamp and any fake or reprint. He also provides details of the cancellations of Ethiopia both before the Italian Occupation and postwar. Diagrams of the cancels are provided as well as scans of actual usage's on cover. The address for his site is http://doigsden.com/EthiHome.html (case sensitive). Ken can be contacted by email at [email protected] .
_____________________
As specifics develop on any of the above items or we learn of breaking stories, they will be posted at this site. If you have any questions contact me at my email address listed below.
Secretary-Treasurer and webmaster
Floyd Heiser
email: [email protected]