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The Danzig Philatelist

The Danzig Study Group of the UK – founded January 2007

Some thirty years ago I resumed my interest in philately but decided to concentrate on a smaller collecting field. It was by pure chance that the Arms of Danzig, the two Teutonic crosses surmounted by the Polish crown, caught my eye in a packet of stamps. A look in the catalogue at the comparatively slender ‘Free City of Danzig’ section, persuaded me that I had found a collecting area with both an interesting history and attractive stamps which would not put undue demands on my time or pocket.

Little did I realise what I was letting myself, and my long-suffering wife, in for. I did not then appreciate the wealth of interest I would find in my collection and in the city itself. My collection steadily grew from both ends, as it were, to take in postal history from the centuries before the inter-war, stamp-issuing years of The Free City of Danzig as well as from the turbulent days of 1939 up to present day Gdańsk. My membership of specialist philatelic Societies, regular visits to Gdańsk and historical research have proved invaluable in my study of the area. I have made many friends and acquaintances through the hobby and derived great enjoyment in sharing it with them.

As I have learned so much about Danzig philately over the years, and still wish to learn more, I decided to found the DSG (UK) and issue a quarterly journal, in the English language, as an additional vehicle for the exchange of knowledge and enjoyment in the hobby. ‘The Danzig Philatelist’ is my attempt at fulfilling these aims and it is pleasing that readers have made positive contributions to it already and have given me such positive and encouraging feedback. I welcome letters, queries, answers and articles, even if just snippets, about any aspect of Danzig/Gdańsk philately encompassing postage or revenue stamps and postal history including postcards, postal stationery, documents and relevant ephemera of any period.

Some DSG (UK) members already meet and correspond as friends – in time such activities may expand. I hope so.

Giles du Boulay

Membership of the DSG (UK) is by annual subscription:
U.K. : £12.50 – cash or sterling cheques payable to ‘P.G.H. du Boulay’
Non-UK: cash only: Europe £16.00
Rest of World £18.00 or equivalent in Euros, Złotys, US dollars.

Giles du Boulay, 8 Malvern Road, Aylesbury, Bucks., HP20 1QF, UK.
Tel: [0044] (0)1296 488703

Danzig