Three days of philately in Gibraltar: Morocco day

The exhibitions to be held on 18 September at the Garrison Library will feature, as one of a number of aspects, Gibraltar philately with a difference. The emphasis will be on the period when the Gibraltar post office ran the British postal service in Morocco. It was bizarre that a colony, at its own expense, should run a British postal service in another country for the benefit of the Imperial power, Britain. This was the case until 31 December 1906.

The displays on Morocco Day, 18 September, will extend beyond the philately of the Gibraltar postal service in Morocco, and will encompass the philately of some of the other foreign powers that operated postal services in Morocco in the 19th and 20th centuries and the Sultan’s own post. Members of the GB Overprints Society from the UK and France, visiting Gibraltar expressly to attend the Three Days of Philately, will be actively participating in the day’s events and joining Gibraltar philatelists in displaying material.

The morning session, as from from 10 a.m., will include displays of postal history from Morocco, while under Gibraltar control, in the period before the first postage stamps were issued and also envelopes and postal stationery bearing the stamps of Great Britain of Queen Victoria used in Morocco.

To place these in context, Maurice Hadida of Paris will be displaying part of his collection of Morocco that has been awarded Large Gold medals at international exhibitions. The display will include the forerunners of the Sherifien Post, when the Sultan of Morocco, Hassan I, carried out a trial postal service under Moroccan control. These forerunners are exceedingly rare. The experiment proved a success, and so Sherifien stamps were produced in an attempt to make the Moroccan post a viable competitor of the foreign Imperial posts. For a number of years, up to 1913, these stamps were not adhesive postage stamps but rather strikes of an octagonal or round stamp in one of six colours. They make for attractive envelopes, particularly when they bear more than one strike and in different colours.

A further display by Maurice Hadida will feature combination usage in Morocco of stamps of the Imperial powers and those issued by entrepreneurs in Morocco who ran private local posts mainly to cities that were not serviced by the Imperial powers. Many of the merchants who ran private posts were Jewish subjects of the Sultan who enjoyed foreign protection granted by one of the Imperial powers. They showed how private enterprise operated alongside the post offices. Some of the local posts operated for a number of years, others were of very short duration, and only lasted a few months.

After Gibraltar relinquished control of the British postal service in Morocco, as from 1 January 1907, the main foreign power operating a postal service there was France. A display by Ian Ramognin in the afternoon session, starting at 2.00 p.m., will showcase the philately of French Morocco. Alongside this display, Richard Garcia will be showing stamps of Queen Victoria of Gibraltar used in Morocco.

Visitors to Gibraltar for this three day event will also show material relating to Morocco philately. In the morning session, Julian Bagwell will exhibit items from World War I used in Morocco, Steve Smith will display stamps relating to the silver jubilee of King George V from 1935 and Tony Stanford will show items relating to the issue of King George VI for Morocco for the Olympic Games in 1948.

The afternoon session will also include letters from Tangier sent by sea and which bore a special marking that read Tangier Ship Letter. They will be shown by Tony Stanford.
As usual during the Three Days of Philately, at the start of each session, the persons exhibiting material will briefly introduce their exhibits, pointing out items of particular interest and answering questions. The public will then be invited to view the material in the display cabinets loaned by the Gibraltar Museum. Other sponsors of the event are Saccone & Speed, the Ministry for Culture and the Gibraltar Philatelic Bureau.