The Egypt Study Circle

70th Anniversary, 1935-2005

February 24 2005

Members' Display to the Royal Philatelic Society, London

Frames 1-13
Frames 14-26
Frames 27 - 51

The Egypt Study Circle, which this year celebrates its 70th anniversary, was founded in March 1935 by Dr William Byam, a specialist in tropical medicine who held the early meetings in his rooms in Harley Street.

He brought together like-minded collectors and defined a study circle as

".. a group of philatelists bound together by a common interest; with a desire to study the stamps they collect; and acknowledging no order of seniority in that a circle has neither top nor bottom, ends or sides ... The common interest may be one of many kinds; the stamps of a single country, or countries allied politically or geographically; the process by which the stamps are produced; the uses to which stamps are put..."

A study circle, he said, pooled resources, both of knowledge and of material which might otherwise be lying dormant in collections.

Thus it is that we are grateful indeed for the invitation of the Royal Philatelic Society, London, to present a display selected from collections reflecting the wide-ranging interests and enthusiasms of some of our 200 members around the world. Today's display echoes the ethos of Dr Byam, who joined the Royal in 1924 and served it with distinction for very many years. Egypt, at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, of Islam and Christianity, has a vast postal history and breathtakingly enormous range of philatelic resources; this display reveals a few of them, selected to be representative but more to echo the interests of those who so strongly support the Egypt Study Circle.

We hope you find this brochure useful in helping you to enjoy it.

Frames 1-2. The internal posts before the estab-lishment of the first official public service (the Vice-Royal Posts) on January 2, 1865.

With the exception of a "pigeon post" established apparently by the Arab and Mameluk Sultans between 13th and 15th centuries, there is no trace of any organised postal service accessible to the public in Egypt until the 18th century, when visitors to the country signalled the existence of a well organised and reliable "corporation" of professional couriers, specialising in the transport of messages, money and parcels, mainly between the two main cities, Alexandria and Cairo.
The Napoleonic invasion (1799-1801) came like a bolt of lightning, bringing modernity to the country in a single gust, including a short-lived but well organised postal service, apparently open to the public. This service covered not only the Delta area, but also middle and upper Egypt.

With the repatriation of the French Expeditionary Corps, the Pashalik of Ottoman Egypt was firmly in the hands of Mohamed Ali, who founded a real dynasty under nominal Turkish rule, growing more and more independent from the Porte, and engaged into a speedy modernisation of the country. The Pasha first reorganised his own postal service using the couriers' corporation, gradually allowing various categories of people to make use of it (eg, the foreign consuls, the merchants, etc.). He then gave his consent to the establishment of a first private post, mainly for the exigencies of the foreign community, created by the initiative of an Italian typographer.

Hence, the scene in the first half of the nineteenth century was dominated by:

Initially, the activity of the professional couriers (aside from the occasional carriers, servants, friends, travellers, etc), who could also offer a faster service (in the Italian language - then the "lingua franca" of the country: CORRIERE FORZATO, or "forced courier");
Then, with a gradual overlap, by the Government Post, or POSTA DEL GOVERNO (sometimes called also The Post of the Pasha), to which some categories of people had gracious but charged access. This Post operated in the whole country, and also in the territories abroad to which for certain periods Egypt extended its domination (Sudan, Palestine);
At the same time, beginning in about 1828, an Italian, Pietro Michele Meratti (wrongly identified until now as Carlo Meratti), founded an establishment called LA POSTA EUROPEA. He initiated the first regular service between Alexandria and Cairo: the embryo of a larger, more regular and more efficient network in the Delta which gained the confidence of the public, and left the Government's Post on "the dark side of the moon". With the demise of Meratti in 1842), the company acquired the collaboration of another Italian, a man of great organisational capacities and initiative, Giacomo Muzzi, who eventually won from the Pasha in 1862 (an heir of Mohammed Ali, Said), a real monopoly for the conveyance of the correspondences in Lower Egypt.

The Government's Post continued to operate in Upper Egypt, but in 1864 the Government decided to buy back from the Posta Europea its concession and in fact the whole company. This gave birth to the VICE ROYAL EGYPTIAN POST (January 2, 1865), the first public regular postal service in Egypt. Muzzi was appointed Postmaster-General with the title of Bey: the influence of the Italians on the Egyptian Post was to last until 1876, with a tremendous territorial and functional development, including a large network abroad.

In the meantime another important development occurred in Egypt: the necessity to organise the transport of passengers and correspondence between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea before the cutting of the Suez Canal (1868), to bypass the long circumnavigation of Africa. The British adventurer Thomas Waghorn was the first to study the "Egyptian route" of the Indian Mail, and to organise a transit service in Egypt. But he was soon imitated by other forwarders: Briggs, Regny, etc., but mainly by the Egyptian Transit Company, a joint venture between the Pasha and the P. & O. Company, which later became a full Egyptian concern, the Transit Administration, the embryo of the Egyptian Railways Organisation.

Disinfection of the mails in Egypt was initially entrusted to the consular corps, and later re-absorbed by the government.
The two frames show examples of some of the letters that travelled during this most interesting period.

Luca D Biolato, Italy (ESC 417)

Frame 3. The First Issue.

The First Issue was put on sale on January 1, 1866, and sales continued until July 1867, when the Second Issue superseded it.

The production of this issue, which took place in Italy (Fratelli Pellas), was the first experience of the firm with printing stamps; the result was remarkably complex. Six of the seven values were lithographed. The value overprints, which were an integral part of the stamps, were lithographed on five values, typographed on two (1 piastre and 2 piastres). The paper for six of the values had an asymmetric watermark, and was printed more or less indiscriminately on one side or the other. This gave rise to four different watermark orientations. The 1 piastre was unwatermarked.

Perforation was also peculiar. Whereas most of each sheet was perforated 12 ½, two vertical and two horizontal lines of perforation gauged 13. This gave rise to seven different combinations of the two gauges (furthermore, the 13-gauge machine was also used to correct an occasional missed line of perforation).

Finally, the process used to build the lithographic stones gave rise to ten transfer types and two different orientations of the background design. Although the designs were superficially symmetrical, being hand-drawn they actually differed from top to bottom in small features. This produced tête-bêche varieties.

The postal rates were constant, 1 piastre per 10 grams for letters, 1 piastre for registration, 10 paras for printed matter, and 5 paras for newspapers. However, the rates to Upper Egypt followed a different pattern, for the mail was handled by a separate entity, the so-called Post of Mohammed Ali, a previously existing service developed for administrative mail. The rates were based on the weight in dirhems and the distance; examples are very rare.

Notable in this display: a cover from the Consular Post Office at Gedda franked with a combination of the First and Second Issue, possible only during a 30-day grace period; an example of the 5 paras used on a newspaper banner head; a cover franked with 10 paras, initially charged postage due as a letter, and subsequently reassessed as printed matter.

Peter A S Smith, FRPSL, United States (ESC 74)

Frames 4-5. The Pyramid and Sphinx issue of 1867.

For almost 40 years the design of Egyptian stamps displayed the Pyramid and Sphinx as their main motif. The different Types, various Essays, Proofs, variations and varieties of the three different printings of those issues are shown in the exhibit.
1867–69 The Penasson printing. The printing of the second issue of Egyptian stamps was given to V. Penasson in Alexandria. The design, from an essay by F. Hoff, was engraved by hand four times (2x2), thus creating four different Types. Lithographic stones of 200 stamps were used for printing. Blocks of four of all values are shown.

Lack of knowledge of the Arabic script by the European employees resulted in spelling and grammar mistakes in the Arabic, which are found in the 10 paras and 1 piastre stamps. Those mistakes were corrected during the printing process. Damages to the printing stones created constant flaws. The different stages of alterations and constant flaws are shown.

Stamps of this issue were perforated 15x12 ½. Some pin perforation and imperforate stamps are shown. The issue was given a false watermark, a star-and-crescent design being impressed into the reverse of each stamp.

Highlights of the exhibit include 5 paras and 10 paras together on a cover (Frame 4); 2 piastres and 5 piastres blocks of four (Frame 5); 5 piastres on cover (Frame 5).

Mordecai Kremener, Israel (ESC 291)

Frames 6-7. The Suez Canal.

A concession was granted by Mohamed Said Pasha, Khedive of Egypt, to Ferdinand de Lesseps, the French entrepreneur, on November 30, 1855, for the construction and operation of a canal from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea. Construction started on April 25, 1859, and was finished in November 1869: the massive cutting of the 101-mile Suez Canal was by far the biggest piece of construction work in the world in the middle of the nineteenth century.

In July 1860 an agreement had been signed for overseas transmission of the Suez Canal Company's mail using one of the three Posta Europea offices at Damietta, Zaqaziq and Suez (the only office in the Canal area). But when the Egyptian Government bought out the Posta Europea the Company was forced into operating its own postal system.

A set of four stamps was ordered from Paris in April 1868, but they arrived only on July 6 (Alexandria) and three days later in Ismailia - eight days after charges for postage had been introduced. In the event they were in use for only 40 days. Canal datestamps were ordered on May 30 but arrived in early August, just before the Egyptian Government suppressed the service. No datestamp is known cancelling a Company stamp; and no more than 21 covers have been recorded, mainly using pen-cancellations or the 5129 grid of French Port Said on Company stamps.

In postal history terms, the Suez Canal area is one of the most important in Egyptian philately. This exhibit is highlighted by the only known cover franked with 20-centimes and 40-centimes Suez Canal stamps, two covers from Chantier VI on the Canal and mixed franking covers from Port Said, El-Gisr, Ismailia, Serapeum and Suez, together with the only known cover from Paris to China via Alexandria, Suez and Hong Kong.

Samir Fikry, FRPSL, Egypt (ESC 305)

Frames 8-9, The Third Issue.

These stamps were Printed by The Government Printing Works, Boulac, in sheets of 200 (10 x 20) on paper watermarked with a Crescent and Star design.

First printing (January 1, 1872): Paper with slightly rough surface, of approx 0.11mm thickness and off-white in colour, perforations 12 ½ x 13 ½ and 13 ½ usually clean-cut and all values were printed by typography. The 20 paras and 1 piastre values were also printed by lithography. All sheets had a plain buffer bar on one side only.

Second printing (1874 and 1875): Paper thin, nearly always of less than 0.11mm thickness, sometimes oily in appearance, perforations 12 ½, 13 ½ x 12 ½ and 12 ½ x 13 ½, often rough, all values printed by typography. New plates were made up with stereos made from the 1872 dies. There were differences, some important (5 paras value), others small (2 piastre value). Minor damages were suffered by the 2 ½ piastre and 5 piastre values. All sheets had an ornamental border on all four sides surrounding the setting.

Provisional surcharge issue (January 1, 1879): This comprised a lithographed surcharge on the 1874 2 ½ piastre Third Issue Second Printing stamp.

The exhibit comprises, for the 1872 printing, complete typographed and lithographed sets perforated 12 ½ x 13 ½ and 13 ½; the 20 paras values in the sets are married (identification numbers L147, L147a and L147b for perforation 12 ½ x 13 ½ and L18, L18a and L18b for 13 ½ ); blocks for all values up to 2 ½ piaster, including plate varieties. Highlights include the 2 ½ piastres mint typo 13 ½, 1 piastre mint litho 13 ½, 20 paras "thunderbolt" variety typographed and lithographed (both stones "A" and "B"; the stamp from stone "A" shows the "Gilbert retouch").

For the 1874/75 printing, blocks of all values are shown, some including inverted stereos, plate and perforation varieties. Highlights include: 5 paras and 2 ½ piastres imperforate vertically between stamp and selvedge; 20 paras block of six perforated 12 ½; 1 piastre block of four imperforate between vertically forming two tête bêche pairs; 1 piastre horizontal tête-bêche pair perforated 13 ½ x 12 ½ from setting "A".

Blocks of both values of the provisional surcharges are shown, with plate varieties, and highlights include: 5 paras/2 ½ piastres imperforate vertically between stamp and selvedge; 10 paras/2 ½ piastres vertical tête-bêche pair.

The postal history section has stamps from the 1872 and 1874-75 printings on covers used for different rates, including (1872): 10para block of four paying 1 piastre rate, 20 paras typo on "money order" printed form, 20 paras litho pair paying 1 piastre rate, 1 piastre typo and 1 piastre litho for double weight rate, 2 x 2 ½ piastre on cover to US; (1874): 10 paras strip of six for 1 piastre 20 paras rate; (1875): 5 paras on wrapping paper for newspaper rate, 1 piastre imperforate on mourning cover, 5 paras block of eight (four vertical tête-bêche pairs) paying 1 piastre rate.

Constantin Kelemenis, Greece (ESC 249)

Frame 10. Postal Rates of the Vice-Regal Post and its successor administration.

This display reviews the general features of the history of the rate structure as it applied within Egypt. The weight stage for letters began at 7.5 grams when the Government bought out the Posta Europea, but in a few months, when the first stamps were issued on January 1, 1866, it was raised to 10 grams. An increase to 15 grams took place in 1878, and a further increase to 30 grams was made in 1898 as shown in the following table, though by then the letter rate had been cut to 5 millièmes (half a piastre):

Date	Letter rate	Printed matter	Periodicals	Samples	Registered
Jan 1 1866	1 piastre/10g	10 paras/40g	5 paras/40g	1 piastre/50g	2 piastres
Apr 1 1878	1 piastre/15g (local 20pa/15g)	10 paras/50g	5 paras/50g	1 piastre/50g	1 piastre
May 1 1879	1 piastre/15g	10 paras/50g	5 paras/50g	1 piastre/50g	1 piastre
? ? 1898	5 mills/30g (local 3m/30g)	2 mills/50g (local 1m/50g)	1 mill/150g (local 1m/300g)	2 mills/50g (local 1m/50g)	1 piastre

This exhibit illustrates the development of Egyptian postal history through the following different rates: Domestic, Foreign, Registered, Official, Port to Port and Printed Matter Rates as shown by examples from the First Issue of Egypt, and following issues.

The display is highlighted by a first-date cover of the First Issue, together with the highest rates recorded on covers through the First Issue (1866) and Second Issue (1867) of postage stamps.

Also included are the only known covers showing the elusive star & crescent circular datestamp of Kafr El Dawar and/or franked with the overprinted provisional 5 paras and 10 paras stamps of the 1879 issue and the 20 paras provisional of the 1874 issue.

Samir Fikry, FRPSL, Egypt (ESC 305)

Frame 11. The Fifth Viceroy and Egyptian Offices Abroad.

From about 1865, and continuing throughout the 16-year reign of Ismail Pasha, at first Viceroy and later Khedive, trade between Egypt and the rest of the world increased tremendously. So delivery of mails between Egypt and its foreign interests became more and more essential because of the sheer volume of traffic and the slow pace of the European posts and comparative efficiency of the Egyptian postal administration. Many Egyptian post offices were opened in different parts of the Middle East, and especially in Turkey, since Egypt was nominally no more than a province of the vast Ottoman Empire. It is one of the few occasions in which a nation officially under another's control has set up branches of its national postal service within the confines of the "sovereign" nation.

The expansion in Egyptian postal facilities overseas can be divided into: a) Egyptian consular post offices in the Ottoman Empire, served via the Mediterranean and Red Sea ports; and b) Egyptian territorial post offices (in territories governed by Egypt), served by the Nile in Sudan, and by the Red Sea in what is today Eritrea and the coast of Somalia.

This exhibit Illustrates examples of the Egyptian Post Offices used abroad, in the Mediterranean, the Aegean and the Red Sea, highlighted by mixed franking covers with Greek stamps from Scio, struck with its negative seal (two covers are recorded), and from Smirne and Volo.

Samir Fikry, FRPSL, Egypt (ESC 305)

Frames 12-13. The End of the Classics.

Our story covers a turning point in Egyptian philately, the decade in which the UPU in 1875 changes the postal traditions and brings Egypt (and the world) out of the classical philatelic era.

The Third Issue, the last set in Egypt's classical period, dominates this story, with flashbacks to previous issues, as well as to the pre-philatelic period and the archaic postal usage of that time. What follows is part of an extended study, the sheets shown are an "anecdotal" selection of the work. They contain: the pre-philatelic period (sheets 1-4), the stamps (sheets 5-18), and the usage (sheets 19-24).

Sheet 1. Napoleon was first to maintain an organised post in Egypt. He is, however, quite "bored" with the contents of this letter and "passes the buck" to his assistant, General Menou.

Sheet 2. With the French surrendering to the British Army, there was great turmoil in Egypt, Major Mipett writes about "murder and mayhem".

Sheet 3. The lull that followed the advent of Mohamed Ali as Pasha of Egypt made possible the creation of a rudimentary post operated by a Sheikh el Bahidi, the Egyptian version of the "pony (camel) express".

Sheet 4. An enterprising young Italian, Signor Meratti, ably assisted by Signor Muzzi, actually operated a private post, 19th century version of Fedex.

Sheet 5. The success of the enterprise prompted the Egyptian Government into buying it out. Signor Muzzi would be director of posts and the Italian language, not Arabic, would be its official language. The "Arabic" script on the First Issue, which was printed in Italy, was in fact Turkish.

Sheet 6. The Second Issue, more appropriately printed in Alexandria, looked and read more Egyptian, a great passion for collectors with its four types.

Sheet 7. The opening of the Suez Canal created a postal country within a country. Rejected by the government, used Company stamps, used only for a short period, are much sought after.

Sheet 8. In 1872 the Third Issue comes into being, illustrated here by the 5 piastres high value, with the largest known block x 8.

Sheets 9-11. This four-colour cover shows that the rate to USA is 3 piastres and 35 paras: was the sender of the subsequent cover being over-generous? Notice the unique pair of 5 piastres compound perforation, on fragment.

Sheet 12. The UPU was the reason for this "phantom" issue: the idea was probably to create a unifying stamp design for every member country. It was never to be - the whole stock was burnt while still at the printer's.

Sheets 13-18. In 1874-75 there must have been a hurried effort to reprint the Third Issue set. Hurried indeed, as the quality of printing was very bad, and the stereos were placed haphazardly, creating the famous tête-bêche varieties of this issue.

Sheet 19. Showing the archaic form of registration, registered or not the superstitious sender still writes the cabalistic sign of safe arrival (just in case).

Sheet 20. Cover showing an early Station marking. The sender probably did not have the time to frank the cover, so an 80 paras (2 digit variety) postage due marking was affixed.

Sheet 21. Examples of single-digit postage dues, (oops) the stamp must have fallen off, well the 2 piastres was reduced to 1 piastre, and later reduced to "gratis": it's good to know people in high places!

Sheet 22. Before UPU, Egyptian stamps were valid within the country only, so a letter sent abroad would be additionally franked from the port of exit with the national stamps of the shipping agency. This cover not only went to Paris but was unclaimed and returned to Egypt. Among the 16 cancellations, the "Rifiuti" is the only known complete example.

Sheets 23-24. To conclude what must have been a bad job, the remaining 2 ½ piastres stamps were overprinted (grotesquely) with the usual famous tête-bêches. People must have been ashamed to use them, as very few covers have survived.

In 1879, De La Rue of London took over the printing of Egyptian stamps, and together with the UPU, brought to an end Egypt's classical era in philately.

Leon Balian, Egypt (ESC 251)