Lydia Stephen and Luis M. Noronha: Goan Cover Specialists

Once a collector decides to acquire more than mint or used single stamps of a country, region or place, a new and rewarding adventure begins. Over time, and with continued acquisition, specific individuals begin to make themselves familiar by the sheer numbers of covers they sent or received. This is certainly true of Goa during the Portuguese philatelic era from the beginning of the 20th century right up until December of 1961.

Collecting covers of Goa from the first two decades of the 20th century, names such as F. Koch of Hannover or Stephan Hellmich  of Bohemia emerge. Mr. Koch made himself familiar to collectors of Goa by having many early postal stationary cards sent to him either in the printed value of the card or by uprating them by registration. Few examples of Carlos Mouchon postal stationary cards exist used except for those he requested.

Stephan Hellmich appeared determined to have every issue from 1898 to 1911 on cover and thus today we collect his abundant  philatelic contrivances in the form of covers with six or eight times the necessary postage and as many different then current stamps as possible decorating the cover front. Cover collectors and postal historians of the British Empire will be familiar with Mr. Hellmich’s creations.

During the Goan bisect and overprint era of 1911 to 1914, literally dozens if not ultimately hundreds of covers with Carlos Mouchon bisected issues and local overprint issues were sent to the Vania brothers in Bombay. Noted philatelic author for the Philatelic Journal of India, J. Godinho maintained a correspondence with a “Mr. Hotson” for decades that produced a large number of covers. The prodigious efforts of Brother Hyacinth from about 1948 until 1961 are well known while dealer Frederico Villani is well known for having hundreds of Goan aerogrammes and letter sheets from the 1950s sent to him in Lisbon.

Having acquired Goan covers of the Portuguese era for the last 16 years, two more people residing in Goa commend themselves in a similar manner as the illustrious, or notorious, cover producers of the first half of the 20th century: Lydia Stephen of Assolna and Luis Noronha of Uccasaim.

It’s worth mentioning that until relatively recently, perhaps the last 15 years, covers described and illustrated below may have aroused interest for postmarks or origin/destination combinations, but individually and collectively they would have been considered “merely philatelic” and unworthy of serious philatelists.  The reader is encouraged to arrive at their own conclusions.

Lydia Stephen

Lydia Stephen appears to have been active as a receiver of worldwide covers and a prolific sender of covers from 1953 until April 1961. Further acquisitions may extend those dates in either direction. Lydia’s efforts are interesting more for their diversity and form rather than sheer volume. It should emphasised that Lydia was a “cover” collector, who may have had a separate stamp collection, who kept her worldwide acquisitions completely intact.

Figure 1: A cover posted from Doha, Qatar with a “Saligao” arrival postmark on the back dated the 24th of April 1957.

Figure 2: A cover posted from Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea,  with a “Saligao” arrival postmark on the back dated the 9th of July 1957.

Figure 3: A United Nations Day cover posted from Lampang Thailand on October 24th, 1959. Note the Lampang CDS with the date 24.10.2502. The “2502” corresponds to the Thai dating system beginning from the first Thai king. “2502” was 1959.

Figure 4: A commemorative cover posted from Kaosiung Taiwan with an arrival “Assolna” postmark from the 16th of April 1961. The stamps, cachet and cover depict  the National Taiwan Science Hall.

Figure 5: This cover was posted from Chicago and received an arrival postmark in “Saligao” on the 10th of July, 1957. Note the cachet on the right: “Cover Collectors Circuit Club Chicagoland Chapter #10”. This “club” of which Lydia Stephan was a member, suggests why she had such a diverse array of inbound covers.

This small sample of inbound covers to Lydia could have included Switzerland, The Netherlands, Australian Antarctic Territory, the United Kingdom and several more examples from the United States and Taiwan.  Almost all the inbound covers were backstamped on arrival with either  “Goa“, “Saligao“ or “Assolna“. Occasionally both of the latter postmarks were applied.

Figure 6: Lydia’s Goan address applied to outbound covers.

The covers Lydia received is just half the story. As a member of the Cover Collectors Circuit Club (her membership number was 10141 MG) she would have sent covers from Goa abroad. Figures 7 through 12 provide a small but representative sample of her creative inclinations.

Figure 7: Girl cutout on cover addressed to the USA

Figure 8: Flower cutout on cover addressed to the USA

Figure 9: Christmas cutout on FDC addressed to the USA

Figure 10: Flowers cutout on cover addressed to the USA

Figure 11: Palm trees image cutout on cover addressed to the USA

Figure 12: Inverted surcharge error on pair of maps issue stamp on cover

The illustrations only partially convey the effort Lydia undertook to create the presentation. Figure 10 with her collector’s club membership number is a good example. With the notable exception where the cover was printed with an image such as the photo of the palm trees in Figure 11, Lydia purchased plain envelopes that she adorned. The cluster of roses on the cover of Figure 10 was painstakingly cut out by hand from a card or magazine and pasted to the cover.

Lydia seemed to favour seasonal themes: poinsettias and snowmen in anticipation of Christmas or winter, hearts for Valentine’s Day, pumpkins near Halloween. Occasionally she placed anything that caught her fancy on the envelope, but some covers have only an arrangement of different stamps to make up the printed matter or surface rate. The pair of stamps with the inverted surcharges (Figure 12) also suggests Lydia understood something of philately, more than merely assembling pretty images on envelopes.

The serious philatelist would have either ignored Lydia’s efforts or offered the briefest of glances arousing momentary amusement. A collection of her inbound and outbound covers reveals an enthusiastic collector with a penchant for far flung places.

Luis Noronha

Even more diverse and prolific at least in terms of creating covers specifically for collectors was Luis Noronha. Beginning in the late 1930s, Luis began creating simple first day covers by applying the lowest values of the “Imperio” set up to a domestic value of 6 reis (Afinsa CE #349-350) and along with the address typed “First Day Cover September 1, 1938” in the top left corner. Thus began a long and prolific period of creating first day covers.

Figure 13: Moçambique to Goa cover addressed to Dr Luis Noronha

Luis’s efforts are conspicuously absent during the Second World War, but by 1947 he re-emerges.

Figure 14: Cover addressed to the USA

Figure 15: Scarce usage of the UPU stamp on local cover

The cover illustrated in figure 15 highlights that “Luildo M. Noronha” was by 1949 a stamp dealer. No doubt he was creating covers for clients as well and the easiest way was simply to post them to himself. The cover illustrated in figure 16 demonstrates he was also sending his modest creations abroad.

Figure 16: Another Noronha cover sent to Portugal

Figure 17: Registered cover addressed to the USA with interesting markings

Figure 18: First day cover envelope used for normal postal service

Figure 19: Scarce FDC from Portuguese India

Figure 20: High postage commemorative issue envelope posted to the UK

Figure 21: Another high postage commemorative issue envelope posted to the UK

THE END