Introduction

[dmui]

I'm a CCSG member (joined 2011) and a collector of WWII military and civilian censorship material with particular interests in Third Reich, British Commonwealth and US. Looking forward to reading and participating in discussions.

One of my current pursuits is the British PC 90's with Imprint Numbers. Hope to see the growth in numbers of registrants.

Best wishes Dave

[Ray Murphy]

Hi,
Your comment on the PC 90 numbers caught my eye. I'm working on Jamaican censorship, and have seen three different versions of the PC 90 used - the just numbers type, the "D" series (Jamaican censors), and the "ID"(Imperial censors in Jamaica) series. All of these were used, in addition to the terminal censor program that initially used the Orange letter tapes. Peter Flynn's book has a very interesting database of when certain numbers appeared in Bermuda. I've been able to trace some to Jamaica. Also, some of the censors moved around. I've found "Jamaican" numbers used on tapes from Antigua and Trinidad.

The main thing that appears to be a void are Condemned letters with Jamaican tapes. I have only one that was released after the war. I know they forwarded letters they found to Bermuda and/or England, but where have they gone? The only conclusion I have is that they were destroyed, or the Jamaican tapes were removed and replaced with English or Bermuda tapes. Any thoughts?

Regards,

Ray

[dmui]

Welcome Ray- Good to see more collectors joining this promising group-

In connection to Jamaica censorship- I agree that Flynn's book Intercepted in Bermuda is a marvelous resource. There was a list of Jamaican numbers in Wike's 1993 Trinidad and Tobago book and a list of numbers reported to be used in Jamaica is found in Miller's 2006/2008 update on British Empire WWIICensorship Devices for Canada and Colonies in the Caribbean and North and South America..

As noted in various places, censors moved to fill needs like opening and closing offices as well as replacement labels being sent to help out in emergencies, like the Trinidad tapes sent to British Guiana following their fire.

I don't remember seeing any Jamaican tapes on Condemned/Released covers. I haven't noticed any evidence of removal of tapes on any of my Condemned covers or ones I've inspected for possible purchase. I will have to keep an eye out in the future.

I have some duplicate covers that were censored in Jamaican if you have a list of what else you are seeking.

Best wishes Dave

[Ray Murphy]

Hi Dave,

Yes, there were a lot of odd things that happened in the Caribbean during WWII. I have a 4 frame exhibit, hoping to increase to 5 this fall on some of the oddities just involving Jamaica. I haven't seen any condemned mail at any dealers in a while. Do you know someone who has some? I'm also looking for D41, D42 or D43 on PC90's. I have some, but they aren't in the best of condition.

One area that interested me was the laboratory function at both Jamaica and Trinidad. Apparently these were 1st echelon labs able to run simple tests. I have a copy of a report that I got in the British Archives last fall that throws some light on things. The Bermuda lab was a larger one and had more capabilities. There was an article by Augustinovic on mainly what the Germans used, although some of the chemicals are unknown or forgotten. The Brit labs could detect most of the common "invisible" inks with a UV light, and IR lamp, ammonia swabs, and one or two other developers. I think the highly technical iodine vapor test, described in Kahn's "The Codebreakers" was probably limited to the UK or the UK (or maybe New York). The other thing I have seen, but not on the philatelic market are the microdots that were microfilm reduced to the size of a typewritten "O".

Another interesting area was the number of ships sunk in the Carib. one just outside New Orleans. Apparently, we sank only 8 or 9 German or Italian subs. The introduction of US Navy blimps to Jamaica made a big difference.

What particular areas do you collect?

Regards,

Ray

[dmui]

Howdy Ray-

Been checking around for my jamaica censorship items and haven't noted any D 41, 42 or 43 handstamps, but then the Jamaican covers are not in the greatest order. The parts of my WWII collections that are most organized are the GB PC 90 tapes with Printer's Imprint Numbers, Bermuda, Trinidad, Cameroons, US, and 3rd Reich Occupied areas of France and Scandinavia. There are not very many Condemned/Released covers in dealer's stocks- There was one on Ebay last week but it went past my tolerance level ( maybe I'm just too cheap).

I'm trying to recover my images of covers that I scanned and saved to CD format but so far haven't been able to convince my computer to read the files. Will keep trying.

Have a great evening Dave

[mikewhite]

Hello guys
An interesting exchange between the two of you and I agree that censorship of Cayman islands covers are difficult.
But help yourselves to a look at my web site www.mikewhiteuk.com where you will find several, five I think, WW2 Cayman Is. censored items including the illusive D 42 label.
Mike

[paulfarrimond]

Hi Dave, Ray,

I read your conversation with interest. I am a member of the British West Indies Study Circle and am currently working on updating and extending the Jamaica Military and Censor Mail volume of the Jamaica Encyclopaedia that the BWISC published about ten years ago. In it, as you both may know, is a chapter on Postal Censorship, and I would be very pleased if either or both of you would be interested to contribute information and/or images that would improve the Chapter.

I have not yet got around to this chapter (as I am currently working my way through the Army, Navy and RAF chapters), but I do hope to start on it early in the New Year. I have, however, a reasonable collection of Jamaica censor mail, and have been recording covers that I have seen with legible dates for a couple of years now.

Do please contact me if you think you are interested in helping with information for the censorship chapter. I hope to collect information from as many collectors (and dealers) as possible/practical - the aim is to extend the current listing, remove any errors, and provide more and better illustrations.

I hope you will be interested in helping,
Cheers,
Paul F.

Devon, UK.

[gmark]

Hello there
I have read your posts about the censorship in the BWI and how the censors moved around. Konrad Morenweiser compiled a database of covers with PC90 labels. I have a copy of that file which runs to something like 25,000 items. If you or any other member seeks info on where a particular censor has been recorded I am happy to look up the number for you and tell you what is known. The list is too long to print off but I will ask Konrad if he would be happy if the spreadsheet is sent to any member who asks for it.
Graham Mark (CCSG librarian)

[dmui]

Hi Graham-

Thanks for your input. I had heard that such a list had been compiled.
If you get the approval, I would love to have an electronic copy of the spreadsheet.

Dave

[dmui]

Paul- Welcome to the board. I am looking forward to learning more on these topics from all the members. if there are particular things you want me to look for in my collections, let me know. I also collect US APO's so have a decent grouping of WWII Caribbean area US military covers.


I do not have a copy of the BWISC publication that you refer to sp can't comment intelligently on any ability to improve or expand the chapter, but I am willing to help if I can.

Dave