East African APOs in Ethiopia by Rory Ryan & Jim Findlay

EPS member Rory Ryan with fellow South African Army Military Study Group member Jim Findlay has produced a 103 page study of the East African Army Post offices in Ethiopia and Somalia (March 2012).   The period covered is from 1941-1945 during the East African Campaign.  Ryan and Findlay authored an earlier article on the operations of the South African APOs in Abyssinia and Italian Somaliland which appeared in MJ 23/4 (October-December 2007).   That article discussed only the 1940-41 period and just the South African APOs.   The East African Force had its own postal services system.  Coordination of the two systems was not working as smoothly as had been hoped and it became clear that an amalgamation of the two services was needed.  By August 11, 1941 all South African APOs for the East African Campaign were phased out and replaced by East African APOs.   Ryan's and Findlay's new article continues on from their previous MJ article.   The article is very detailed and should be a great reference work for both the specialist as well as those with a more casual interest in the subject of APOs.    The article is too long to be printed in MJ in its entirety so out of necessity to make this important work readily available it can be accessed here on the EPS' website.   The article has been broken down in chronological order into 7 parts.  Part 1--introduction, censor stamps and APO 51-57; Part 2--APO 57-60; Part 3--APO 60-62; Part 4--APO 62-70; Part 5--APO 70-74; Part 6--APO 74-77; and Part 7--APO 77 + other related postal items.  Start by clicking on '1' below and once done use the back arrow to return here to the main page and continue by clicking on part 2 and then so on.  Rory Ryan's email address is rryan@uj.ac.za.

Parts   1     2     3     4     5     6    7   

Ulf Lindahl's early Ethiopia Exhibit

EPS President and Editor of Menelik's Journal, Ulf Lindahl,  developed a 3-frame exhibit titled, "ETHIOPIA--The First Issue and its Overprints on Commercial Covers: 1895-1911."  The exhibit provides an informative history of the development of the Ethiopian Posts including many not well known details of the printing of the original issue and the subsequent overprinting of these stamps.  His pages are filled with fascinating postal history items that are rarely seen and which many of  us wish we had in our collection.   Click on the link for frame 1 below to go to the first frame.  Once there, click on each thumbnail image for an enlarged view of each exhibit page.  A second click may be necessary to see the image at its full size.   Once finished viewing the image, use your "go back to the previous screen" arrow at the top of your browser to return to the thumbnail page for the frame.  The pages are in exhibit order going from left to right starting with the left image in the top row and then continuing left to right as you drop down to the next row (follow the page numbers).  Once you are through viewing Frame 1, click on the link to Frame 2 to see the next frame.

Frames   1      2       3  

PROFESSOR SCIAKY'S EXHIBITS AVAILABLE FOR VIEWING

EPS's former Vice President Roberto Sciaky (now deceased) was a member of the prestigious AICPM (Associazione Italian Collezionisti Posta Militare) which issues the most important journal of postal history in Italy.  The Society has its own website and as a feature of the site, collections/exhibits are available for viewing.  The Association's President asked the Professor to submit two of his Ethiopia collections which include "Ethiopia 1909-1936" and "Ethiopia 1941-1952."   At the Association's website you will have the opportunity to see some beautiful as well as very rare Ethiopia postal history items (all in color).  Professor Sciaky did a masterful job of writing up the pages and they provide a wealth information on the postal history for those two time periods.  If you are an exhibitor or have the desire to become one here is is your chance to visually see how to lay out an exhibit.  Roberto's success in exhibiting at the international level is a testament to his skills in writing up and presenting a collection.  The AICPM's website address is www.aicpm.net and once there click on the "Collezioni" link to view the collections.  The introductory pages are in Italian but the rest of the collections are in English.  Professor Sciaky's bibliography can also be viewed at the site.  Click on the "Bibilioteca" link.  While in Italian it is fairly easy to decipher.