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Interesting Extracts from the Weekly Philatelic Gossip 1940.
Articles are extracted, revised, and/or copied

1 GERMANY
"There Were 160 varieties of overprints on German Issues prior to 1940. At least four of the Warsaw items are extremely scarce or else are actually rare." Sidney Bird, July 20, 1940, p518.

2 TUSCANY STAMPS
The First Stamps of Tuscany were engraved and electrotypes made by M Alessandri of Florence, Italy, and were printed at the Grand Ducal Printing Office, Florence. March 30, 1940, p73.

3 INDIAN TERRITORY
Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory were two entirely separate territories, although they were joined together to form the present state of Oklahoma. August 3, 1940, p587.

4 DENMARK
The Danish 5 Kroner stamp of September 16, 1912 was engraved and printed at the Imperial Printing Office, Berlin, Germany. April 6, 1940, p101.

5 NEW DESIGN FOR FIFTH BUREAU STAMPS
Miss Elaine Rawlinson, popular New York artist, winner of the 1938 Presidential Series stamp contest held by the U.S. Post Office Department, and whose basic design was used for the entire issue, with modifications, is reported to have entered the Philippine stamp contest. March 30, 1940, p65.

6 FRENCH GUIANA
R. Tillet designed the French Guiana stamps of 1929, showing the Carib archer, natives shooting the rapids and the Government Building at Cayenne. June 29,1940, p454.

7 SE-TENANT
The French term, se-tenant, means joined together. It is spelled aneinander-hangend in German; samen-hangend in Dutch; sammen-haengende in Danish; samman-hangande in Swedish; and sammen-haengende in Norwegian. July 20, 1940, p538. July 13, 1940

8 COLLECT SPECIAL GROUPS
In His Column in Mekeel's, R W H Poole advises collectors to confine their efforts to special groups. He says, "The majority of collectors who really like stamps have a catholic taste that covers the issues of the entire world. The task of attempting a reasonably complete collection is beyond most of us, but anyone can have a collection confined to some special group such as commemoratives, charity, railway, map, ship and floral designs, stamps showing children, etc." Mr Poole's observations always show mature study of the problems confronting stamp collectors of today. (Don't forget stamp books and leaflets of the flat plate printing era or booklet panes of today. JPMcG.) R W H Poole, June 29, 1940, p454.

9 NO COVERS
M. S. Queen Elizabeth made her Maiden Voyage a record, but without a souvenir of the event for cover collectors. March 30, 1940, p72.

10 NORFOLK ISLAND
Nearly Everybody has heard about Pitcairn Island but few people have heard of Norfolk Island, to which the inhabitants of Pitcairn, at their own solicitation, were removed in 1856. This was because Pitcairn was becoming overpopulated. Norfolk, with 10 square miles, is five times as big as Pitcairn. Norfolk is the home of an exceedingly handsome conifer, Araucaria excelsa, which has been introduced extensively in Southern California, some of the best examples being at Santa Barbara, where this very symmetrical pine is a conspicious feature of the landscape. Sidney Bird, July 27, 1940, p546.

11 PERFORATION GAUGE
It Is A Matter of record that the perforation gauge was invented in France by Dr. Jacques Amable Legrand in 1866. His "odontometre" was described and illustrated in the October, 1866 issue of Le Timbre Ponte. His calculations were based upon the number of holes in a distance of two centimetres. June 29, 1940, p454.

12 PAN AMERICAN AIRWAYS
Pan American Airways has announced that the American Clipper, trail-blazing along a new route over the South Pacific, arrived at Auckland, New Zealand, July 17. The total elapsed flying time was 54 hours 11 minutes, for the 8,000-mile flight from California by way of Honolulu. August 3, 1940, p587.

13 PHILATELIC PARAGRAPHS
That Boy And Girl shown on the Arbor Day stamp of 1932 are Alvin W Hall, Jr and Ruth Hall, youngsters of Alvin W Hall, Director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing...while Elaine Rawlinson of 390 Riverside Drive is the young lady responsible for the Presidential set of 1938. Walter Kaner, July 20, 1940, p533.

14 GERMANY
The State Printing Works in Vienna produced the German Horticultural stamp of April, 1939. April 6, 1940, p94.

15 SURCHARGE
French word surcharge is pronounced surcharge; but it is aufdruck in German; in Dutch it is opdruck; paatryck in Danish and Norwegian; and patryck in Swedish. July 13, 1940, p496.

16 WATERLOW PERFORATIONS
Around the turn of the 19th century and for at least 12 or 15 years afterward, the firm of Waterlow & Sons, Ltd., stamp printers of Great Britain, had six perforating machines that they used indiscriminately on the stamps they printed for various nations, including Chile, Costa Rica, Equador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Uruguay. These machines gauged 13 1/2, 14, 14 1/2, 15, 16, and an irregular 14 with about 40 holes gauging 12 1/2 and 13 1/2. So those who collect perforations should not place too much importance on them if they were Waterlow printed. July 20, 1940, p526.

17 FRANKING PRIVILEGE
Congressmen back in 1911 abused the franking privilege so much that Postmaster Hitchcock proposed to issue official stamps and envelopes, as a check to such abuses. July 6, 1949, p482.

18 MAIL LOST
President Queson the sea going liner, sank off the coast of southern Japan a couple of months ago, with 614 bags of U.S. mail aboard her. Their destinations were either Shanghai or Hong Kong, but none for Manila. March 30, 1940, p79.

19 ON COVER
In French on cover is sur lettre; op brief in Dutch; auf ganzem brief in German; paa hele Brevet in Danish; pa helt brev in Swedish; and paa helt brev in Norwegian. July 13, 1940, p501.

20 BAVARIA
The Bavarian stamps of 1911, honoring the 90th birthday of Prince Regent Luitpold, were produced by a photo-lithographic process by Oskar Consee of Munich, but early supplies of the 30, 40, 50, and 80 pf. were produced by the Topographical Institute of the Ministry of War. The portraits of Luitpold were taken from drawings by the Academy director, Fritz August v. Kaulbach. July 6, 1940, p469.

21 SHADE
In French shade is nuance. In Danish it is also nuance; schakeering in Dutch; abtonung in German; nyans in Swedish; and farvenuance in Norwegian. July 13, 1940, p491.

22 DAMAGED STAMP
If You Wish to say a stamp is damaged in French, the word is abime; beschadigt in German; beschadigd in Dutch; beskadiget in Danish; beskadiget in Norwegian; but the Swedes just say skadad. July 13, 1940, p492.

23 NIPPED IN THE BUD
Back in 1911, when the Crown Agents for the British Colonies submitted designs to Canada for new King George stamps, Postmaster General Lemieux, who desired the land of the Maple Leaf to have her own designs, politely informed the Crown Agents that the designs submitted did not meet with the approval of Canada. Canada, being a Dominion and not a crown colony, had her way and her 1912 issue bears little resemblance to other British possession sets of the time. July 6, 1940, p461.

24 VARIETY
Variety in French is variete; Dutch is afwijking; German is abart; Danish is afart; Swedish and Norwegian is avart for that term. July 13, 1940, p494.