Thursday 11 September 2014

What really is the meaning of "Pergo et Perago"? I proceed I strive and I accomplish?






It is obviously in Latin and is a popular motto for quite a few educational institutions here in England. Latin can be regarded as one of the mother tongues of the western languages in common with Greek and
Sanskrit.
The English translation for "Pergo et Perago" is generally accepted as "I undertake and I achieve" but it is probably an over simplistic attempt. Each of these two words can have several slightly different meanings and the essence may get lost in translation. One educational institution has translated it as "Strive to Achieve".
For example, the different meanings for pergo include to continue, proceed, go on with, pursue, press on, make haste etc. Perago could mean accomplish, complete, carry through the end, finish, thrust through, pierce through and so on.
Initially, I prefer "I proceed and I accomplish" as the translation but somehow it does not in my mind convey the complete message. I think a better transcript would be "I proceed I strive and I accomplish".
This is a short bonus post for this week which will hopefully provoke some thought. And also I am off on my travels again to the land of my birth and probably would not submit another post for a number of weeks.
Update A cigarette card issued by Players  around 1912 interprets the motto as I advance and accomplish. You can see it here.

North Borneo 1947 "Broken Crown"


I have had this lower right part sheet for some years. It shows the varieties of flaws of the overprint fairly well and gives an indication to their position on the sheet.

The "Broken Crown" variety is seen at stamp 66 or R6/6 instead of stamp 56 in the Sarawak Journal article. It is also known on the 12c and 20c stamps. It is probably also present in the other horizontal design stamps of this set.
Also on this sheet, one can also see "broken bar" variety on the right in stamp R7/5 and "broken bar" on the left in stamp R8/8.

This is stamp R6/6 with a chunk of the crown missing on the lower left side.

There are a few like this on the sheet with an "empty crown" where the details of the crown are indistinct.

I thought it would be nice to include this recently acquired item from a stamp fair. The "Broken M" is seen on the top left stamp and was written in more detail in my post in February. You can read by clicking here.
The top right stamp shows a "tower" among the trees which is unfortunately not present on the part sheet and so could be part of a one off ink smudge during printing. I have examined a full cypher sheet and is unable to localise this flaw. If constant, it maybe only be present at a certain order and printing of this value.
The record shows the were 4 orders during the life of this issue. For this 1c the orders were 1937 1 million, Aug 1941 1.5m, Sept 1941 2m and Feb 1947 1.5m. There were 3 frame plates and 1 vignette plate used.

Reference: Sarawak Journal vol 35 page page 94-96

Thursday 4 September 2014

Some recently acquired items


I bought a small collection of mostly used stamps recently and has been pleasantly surprised by some of the contents. There is however a slight disappointment with the most expensive item.

A fine Kudat "A" cancellation surprisingly well accommodated on this small 1883 perf 12 adhesive. There are a few variations in this postmark. Here we have smaller font for the last two "88" for the year.

This is a well struck square circle Sandakan D11 cancellation on this 1904 surcharged high value. There was not any need for these surcharges and it was entirely a commercial exercise much to the dismay of dealers and collectors alike.
However, the date of 11 AUG 1905 seem recurrent for this issue. This suggests that this is a fixed date CTO for this surcharged set made for the benefit of collectors. This is similar to the Kudat A  AU 15 1899 which is often seen in the earlier surcharged issue of 1899. This is also now believed to be a CTO cds rather than a fake as suggested in the SG catalogue and by early writers in the Sarawak Journal. A similar situation also existed for the Labuan D6 16 NOV 00 cancellation on the 1899 4c surcharged set.

This 1886 perf 14 stamp has the Sandakan D3 which was used for an extended period between 1885 and 1903. It was the earliest cds from Sandakan. Early examples have this distinctive brownish red colour.

I found this rather unusual a colour for a Sandakan D14. Almost certainly not common in my experience and would desire a clearer example.


In this small collection were these two 1886 overprinted stamps which was part of my reason for buying. They are uncommon in this nicely used condition. The half cent has an indistinct fiscal cancellation, I think. The 10c is a very pleasant surprise and a bonus as it has a faint Labuan 9 bar cancel which is clearer on the back and is probably rare for this issue.
The overprint is one of 3 settings and this being the most common. More details is available in a past post by clicking here.


Both of these 1883 4c stamps are perf 12. The top has a Singapore K22 dumb cancel and should have been part of a pair to make up the 8c required for the passage to Straits Settlements. Again we have a surprise with the lower stamp which has a 17 or 19 bar type cancel which would signify late use of this 1883 stamp with the earliest possible year of 1889. We would normally see the 13 or 14 bar cancel here.

Maybe I am over critical here but the ink of this surcharge seems too dark and thick for me in comparison with the other non inverts in my collection. However the bar cancel seems to overlay it and signify postal use. But it is quite easy to forge this type of bar cancellation as well even though it compares very well with the real thing.  

It seems to fit the 14 bar cancel very well which is a big relief. So on balance maybe okay.

This is the Fournier forged surcharge on these stamps. It is very close but luckily the bottom of the two legs of the "n" seems a lot closer and the outlines of "6" is more blurred.