A section of their very well done show website page is shown nearby, with “ - - CANCELLED - - “  in a bold reverse red lettered box at the base of the home page.  The organiser of The International Stamp Fair in Essen, Germany, Jan Billion, posted this explanation below, as to why that occurred, on their show website on March 13 -

“With effect from 13 March 2020, the city of Essen decreed that all major events in the city area with more than 1000 visitors, are prohibited.  The order is not limited in time, but is valid until further notice. This means that there is no planning security for us in the last eight weeks before the stamp fair. 

“After intensive discussions with the Messe Essen venue, I have looked for alternative dates.  Since the decree is unlimited in time, and there is a great uncertainty as to whether major events will be allowed to take place at all in Spring, the general assessment is that postponing it by a few weeks to June will not help.

“After that, the summer holidays in Europe will start.  So only the second half of the year would remain, and Messe Essen can only offer me dates in August or November.  In the summer and in view of the many (also postponed or cancelled) philatelic events in autumn in Germany, and neighbouring countries, and above all because of the proximity of the Sindelfingen Stamp Fair, you will agree with me that a postponement there makes no sense.  For these reasons, the 30th Essen International Stamp Fair must unfortunately be cancelled.” Jan concluded.

The large ESSEN show in May in cancelled, but what of the global stamp MEGA show of this year - ”LONDON 2020” in London which is hopefully to be held on May 2-9 at the Business Design Centre - 157 stands.  I am a PTS London member, and their latest update pointed me here -

The London 2020 Committee say on their website –

Coronavirus / Covid-19 Bulletin - Many people have made enquiries relating to the current worldwide medical problem.

The London 2020 Organising Committee are monitoring very closely, and following the official UK Government website on this topic.  At the moment it is intended that the exhibition will proceed as planned.

The English Government have not panicked in general, and as of March 14, even after New Zealand’s highly isolationist move that day, have stated that public gatherings such as this stamp Exhibition, are generally OK in their judgement. 

Sir Patrick Vallance, the UK Government's Chief Scientific Adviser, and UK Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty, have made the judgement call that it is too soon to impose severe restrictions at this stage on such public gatherings.

They both have also advised against the suspension of mass gatherings. Their computer models indicate this would be less effective and more disruptive than the measures they have recommended - hand washing and asking people to self-isolate if they show symptoms of the disease.

“These measures, if correctly implemented, could cut the peak of cases by 20%. People are very much more likely to catch the virus from a family member or a friend somewhere in a small space rather than a big space [such as a sporting stadium],"  Sir Patrick said.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Government indicated March 14 as this was written, that they would be guided by this detailed medical advice, and act accordingly.  If that stance stays in place (and who knows, with this daily changing mess) it seems that London 2020 might well take place?

BBC reported - ”It is important to stress that this strategy has been drawn up based on evidence and input from many of the world's leading scientists and doctors, many of whom have been involved in controlling the spread of the virus in China and Singapore. And it is notable that no scientists have spoken out against the UK Government's approach.”

“We live in interesting times” as the old expression goes.  So many strange knee-jerk decisions are being made by Governments and bureaucrats all over the world, on a daily basis, so by the time you read this, 100 more will have been made.  It may be illegal to leave your home for any reason, at some stage.  Nothing is impossible.

One Federal Government bright idea here, was to hand out a fistful of money to many in the population, which our Prime Minister naively advised early March, will “do the job” of propping up the Australian economy.  It will not of course, it will not even remotely touch the sides, but no-one here targeted (most readers I’d suggest), objects to getting a handful of free money from the Government, I am sure!

The $750 “household stimulus” freebie will cost the Budget a massive $4.76 Billion, with payments to begin flowing from 31 March.  All welfare recipients and concession card holders will receive a $A750 payment, including 2.4 million pensioners, and all those with a Commonwealth Of Australia Seniors Card.  If it was all spent at retailers on new purchases, well and good.  However, a very large chunk of it clearly will not be.

Government gushingly advises us Treasury has estimated “a 150% return to the economy for every dollar spent”.  How that will occur if the $750 is banked, or paid off existing credit card bills, totally escapes me.  Prime Minister Morrison said the cash payments had a dual purpose - “to benefit those who received them, and to stimulate the economy.”  Anything to get a one-day headline - costing near $5 Billion of the surplus.

What I do know from the last time this same erratic cash splash occurred, is that it will benefit stamp dealers!  Lots of collectors on pensions, benefits, and fixed incomes etc, will take the chance to spend some of it to fill a few holes in their collection, or grab a few catalogues or stockbooks or Hagners etc, that they have been hoping to get, but never quite had the spare monies to fund.

Last time our Government handed out money here, I ran a special offer on sealed factory cartons of six, Stanley Gibbons “Stamps of The World” catalogues for $A399 which was $100s under retail.  I must have sold 40 sets, so have just trotted out the same deal again, to hopefully assist a few collectors.  Not much profit here, but it gets money moving.  And at least a 16 kilo carton represents value for money!

And I suspect our Prime Minister would rather see the free monies spent retail on things like that, than paying it off mortgages, or reducing old Mastercard balances etc!  Indeed, a sidebar to the Covid-19 stockmarket meltdown this week has seen the $A crash to the lowest level against the greenback (and several other currencies) for 15 or 20 years or something like that.

Cleary all stamp accessories - being mostly made in Europe or USA etc will rise the same 10% our dollar has dropped.  I show a graph nearby of just one week’s fall in the AUD/USD.  The headlines about stockmarket meltdown barely touched on the collapsing dollar for some reason.  Right now an American can buy a $A100 stamp from here for $US61 that cost them 10% more in USD even a week back. They get the exact SAME goods - they just pay 10% less.

Luckily in this era of fast and easy internet buying, a lot of that sort of savvy currency arbitrage occurs, and single stamps or sets, being light to post, generally come with truly minimal shipping costs to overseas buyers - unlike mailing heavy sets of Scott Catalogues etc! 

One guy in Boston ordered a $A1,000 Mint Kangaroo on March 1 that I had on my Rarity Page.  Been super busy here, so I only charged his credit card today, and my tardiness has saved him about $100 when his Amex statement arrives!  What a strange world this is.  If I waited another week - who knows?!

Likewise when we BUY from an American source, the cost to us is suddenly 10% MORE!   I need to update my set of Scott Catalogues for the office.  As a dealer I need the current SG, Michel and Scott sets.  Scott now issue them in TWELVE large volumes.  The cost to purchase them in $A - even wholesale, is above what a 15 hour each way return flight to the USA costs.  And the shipping nearly doubles that again!  True.

All large dealers I talk to here, advise that foreign stamp orders have picked up markedly in recent months due to the ever sliding dollar - we are at near 1=1 parity with the New Zealand dollar as I type - bizarre.  Buyers in countries with high local inward VAT like Canada, UK, NZ, Europe etc, find stamps arrive with no incident or levies, as being small envelopes never look “valuable” to Customs officers, so an added bonus.

And what effect does Covid-19 have on AIRMAIL services?  Well heaps of course.  Since Trump banned near all commercial aircraft between USA and Europe - who are the ones who carry near all mail from Postal Services globally, the established systems will be in a total mess.  Few planes = little mail.  (China has been fumigating all mail from Hubei in recent months.)

Royal Mail has added a strange twist, as UK dealer Ian Billings from Norvic Philatelics reported today on stampboards.com  This curious new policy, Royal Mail has just started for signed for items, and showed what he signed today.  “Instead of a signature, the postperson will write 'COV19' on the PDA, and this is what Track and Trace shows for the special delivery item that I collected this morning” Billings said.  Here is the PO explanation -

“Signing for and receiving items -

 In order to protect both our people and customers as much as possible, we will not be handing over our hand-held devices to customers to capture signatures.  Postmen and women will instead log the name of the person accepting the item. This will apply to Special Delivery Guaranteed, Tracked 24/48 with Signature, and Signed For services.

Additionally, for all customers (including those who are self-isolating) where we need to deliver any parcel that won’t fit through your letterbox, we will place your item at your door.  We will then step aside to a safe distance while you retrieve it. This will ensure your item is delivered securely rather than being left outside.

If you are unable to come to the door at all, we will issue a ‘Something for You’ card, advising of other ways you can arrange to get your item.  For example, by getting a friend or family member to collect the parcel from our local Customer Service Point on your behalf.”

One of my VERY favourite stamp designs of all time from Australia is the 1935 2/- Silver Jubilee issue.  Not sure why, but the 2/- Violet top value shown nearby just really leaps out and really appeals to me, whenever I am flicking through albums of material from this region.

This stamp was issued in the Great Depression where the Australian economy had collapsed, and unemployment here reached a peak of 32% - the world’s highest rate actually.  Few think of it now, but this 4/- was a LOT of money, and few had it to spend on 2 mint stamps - and 99.99% did not buy them, so they are most uncommon 85 year on, especially in unmounted mint.

The low value 2d and 3d John Ash Imprints of this set are not really scarce, as face value was modest.  This one was perfect centred MUH, with great perfs and colour too, and at $A225 is not much more than I sell last year’s Post Office Annual Album for - strange hobby.  ACSC catalogue for an Ash Imprint block 4 is $6,325, which I assume is a typo!  

Few know that King George V’s favourite horse - shown here on these stamps, was called “ANZAC” and was of a very hardy local breed called a “Waler”.  This breed was preferred by the Military - and Australian bush stockmen, for their hardiness and endurance. This horse was a gift to KGV from the Australian people, and was bred at Governor Downs Station, near Nebo, in Queensland.

Horses usually need to drink about 30 litres of water a day.  However, during the WWI campaigns they went for up to 2 days without water in the hot sun, while carrying a load of 130 kilograms, comprising rider, heavy saddle, rifle and 90 rounds of .303 ammunition, equipment, and food and supplies etc.

Shown nearby is an actual gelatin silver photographic print showing King George V (1865-1936) riding “Anzac” during an inspection of Horse Guards and Life Guards in June 1927, after presenting the regiments with New Colours. The King is dressed in full military uniform, including insignia, medals, and a cocked hat with plumes.  It was used to design the stamp set, with small changes made, as you can see. 

The Australia dollar sinking about 10% in a week against the USD is nothing, compared to 1923 Germany!  In many foreign countries used examples of a stamp are often worth many $100s, even $1,000s whilst the mint version sells literally for pennies.  The Germany 1920s “Inflation” series offers some striking examples of this.  They were initially overprinting older issues like crazy.

One that quickly springs to mind is the Germany 1923 800T on 500M green. SG #300.  Mint it is catalogued 25p by Stanley Gibbons, but used it is £2,500 = $A5,000.  Michel rates it as 2000 Euros Mint used, and only  cents in mint!   Naturally you only buy expertised examples of used.  A genuine one is shown nearby with Hamburg part cancel.  Near everything on ebay etc has fake cancels of course. 

We have all heard of the insane inflation in Germany in late 1923.  This Weimar Republic era saw folks literally paying for a loaf of bread with a barrow load of Mark notes, as the currency was devaluing rapidly by the day - or by the hour even.  This mad situation posed enormous logistical problems for the Post Office, as can be imagined.

The German mark was finally revalued on Dec 1, 1923 at the conversion rate of 1,000,000,000,000 old Marks to 1 new Mark, or one Trillion to one.  Herein lies a common point of nomenclature confusion.  After one hundred million, the European and North American conventions for naming the numbers differs.  The European billion has 12 zeros, which is a North American - or Australian and British, Trillion. 

On December 1, 1923, the new Rentenmark (or Reichsmark) was deemed as being equivalent to 10 to the 12th power old Marks, i.e. 1,000,000,000,000 Marks.  That's one Billion if you are a German, but one Trillion if you're British or American or Australian.  The old paper currency was generally not worth bothering with changing over, and ended up as scrap paper or loo paper - literally! 

A collector friend, Peter Lehmann popped in for a coffee last week, on his way to a stamp club meeting at the Northern Beaches Society, where the members were all invited to bring along things from their collection starting with the letter “I” for local display.   Peter chose “I” for INFLATION, as he has a nice range of these German Inflation covers.

He kindly loaned me the postcard to scan, shown nearby, as an example of the massive cost just for local mail.  It was sent from an official at the Railway Station on the outskirts of Berlin, to the large and well-known Industrial Corporation BASF in Stettin Germany, only 70 or 80 kms away. (Was ceded to Poland post-war, and was re-named Szczecin.)

As can be seen, it was mailed November 28, 1923, and postage on here was 40 BILLION Marks!  A few days later the currency was reformed, and these stamps became near worthless in Mint condition, hence their low value even near 100 years on, in Mint condition.  But a genuine commercial postcard like this, paying the correct 40 Billion Mark domestic rate, was quite something to see.