‘Specializing in Tokelau’ is the focus of the British Empire Study Group’s next free webinar on Thursday, Dec. 8.
Where is Tokelau? Well, it is close to Christmas Island. Tokelau has a population of 1,500 people, making it the fourth-smallest population of any sovereign state or dependency in the world. A quick look at a stamp catalogue might suggest there is nothing special about Tokelau, nothing to specialise in. Nothing could be further from the truth, according to presenter Rufus Barnes.
The seminar is open to all philatelists. To register, click below.
“Gilbert and Ellice Islands stamps used in Tokelau are scarce, Western Samoa used in Tokelau are uncommon, and there are plenty of more modern items that add that little extra to a basic stamp collection,” said Barnes. “This display will show how it is possible to put together something out of the ordinary from what looks very ordinary.”
Barnes has been collecting Tokelau for over 50 years. His extensive collection covers the times when stamps from the Gilbert & Ellice Islands and Western Samoa were used on the islands through to the ‘modern’ period, post 1948, when the islands started issuing their own stamps.
Rufus is a past chair of the Pacific Islands Study Circle and a past chair of the Philatelic Congress of Great Britain. He is also currently chair of the Burma (Myanmar) Philatelic Study Circle and is an active member of his local society, the Cambridge Philatelic Society.
The seminar is open to all collectors. To register, click here.