Page 55 - 148 Years of the Royal Philatelic Society London
P. 55
In 1921: U.S. declares WWl ended (late to start, late to finish !); Vitamins D & E discovered;
Rudolf Valentino in The Sheik released; Ravi Shankar, Mickey Rooney, Pope John Paul II born.
At the RPSL: Captain Crawford becomes joint Librarian with Fulcher. Yardley very active with
two displays and an LP monograph 'A list of stamps of Victoria available as Postage Dues'.
RPSL President was E. D. Bacon M.V.O. Patron H.M. King George V. Membership 378.
THE 'INVERTED SAN MARTIN'
FROM PERU
From t he collection of Willem de Gelder.
M ember since 2015. Lives in Peru.
In 1921, Peru was celebrating the centennial of its independence. What better than issuing a series of
postage stamps for the occasion (apart from the usual whining, which goes without saying)? The let
stamp depicted the liberator of Peru: General Jose de San Martin. Inadvertently three sheets of one
hundred stamps each slipped through all controls, with what would become overtime the 'classic'
error of twentieth century Peruvian philately: the 'inverted San Martin'. Multiples of these errors are
very rare. Forgeries, not surprisingly, are plentiful. When looking at these stamps it is hard not to say:
"Heads up, General!"
