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