Philas Restricted Collections
The collections shown on this page are not available for display at Club Meetings and can only be viewed at Philas House and under supervised conditions as they are individually very significant and of great value, hence the restriction
At first it was hard to identify what this collection was as it seemed to be another collection of Cancels and Postmarks, but on closer inspection it seemed the person collecting the postmarks had been travelling at the speed of light to have collected the postmarks from various locations on the same day! Then the penny dropped Mr McNeil had created the Cancels and postmark dies and this was his proof book.
Norman Colin Hopson was born on 9th December, 1929 at Broken Hill, N.S.W. and was educated at Condobolin, where his father was a telegraphist. He started work as a telegram messenger in 1946 and transferred to Sydney where he was accepted in the Postmaster General’s (PMG) training school, and became a permanent officer of the P.M.G. department, serving in 4 N.S.W. towns. In 1965 he was promoted to postmaster at Tamworth, and he moved to a similar position at Clarence Street post office Sydney in 1971, until his retirement in 1984. From the 1930's he was to become a lifelong philatelist.
© http://www.auspostalhistory.com/articles/401
The collections below are unfortunately not complete the Old Post Office photos and histories are intact as received as well as the 1d Kangaroo collection of NSW Postmarks.
Hidden away in the compactus in the print room I found six leather bound folders, all of which contained a complete set of "Specimen" NSW Postal Notes. Unfortunately some had suffered water damage to the leather covers but inside the "Specimens" were in mint condition
Also hidden away in the vault and compactus area are a number of original art works for stamp designs some of which were small enough to scan and I have also included a list of the other artwork that I have not as yet had time to scan, some of which were too large to scan
S McNeil Postmark Proof Collection
Old NSW Post Office Photographs & Histories
Norm Hopson 1d Kangaroo Collection
Mounted NSW Postmarks
Newcastle & District
Various NSW Postmarks
NSW Specimint Postal Notes
Original Artwork Scans
List of Other Artwork