Filately event - South African Stamp Exhibition: 1913

Date: 30 June to 5 July.

Where: Durban.

Organised by: The Philatelic Society of Natal.

Venue: The Library Hall on the corner of West and Church streets.

Opened by: Lord Gladstone.

Scope: A competitive exhibition with eleven classes for collections from all over the world. More than 200 entries were received with a large number coming from outside the country.

Major winner(s): 49 awards of which 10 were gold medals. Attendance: Over 5000 visitors were attracted to this exhibition. Special postmark: A special datestamp as displayed, (3).

Commemorative Cover(s): The organisers used Natal postal stationery postcards imprinted with an 1/2d stamp, with “PHILATELIC SOCIETY OF NATAL” stamped in violet on the front. Various picture postcards with a label, “Philatelic Society of Natal, Box 588. SOUTH AFRICAN PHILA- TELIC EXHIBITION, Durban. July 1913, were also used. An exhibition catalogue was also produced.

References: SAP, August 1963, 145/6. SAP, August 1998, 100. Reisener, 14.
Notes: The first exhibition of note that put philately in Southern Africa on the map. The interesting point about the cds provided, was the reversed “N” of the word EXHIBITION.

The Philatelic Society used this special envelope to publicise the exhibition.

SAPE1913pm-1. (3).

Of special note are the special cards that were produced with various designs. They were made by a very talented lady helper, who spent days to prepare with great skill, special postcards of different designs. She made them out of pieces of postage stamps. The majority of the cards, show floral designs. These cards were numbered and sold at 1/6d at the exhibition. In Reisener, it is indicated that the highest number seen is 1305.

SAPE1913-2. One of the special postcards.