A short and striking or memorable phrase used in advertising. This is the definition of a slogan. The word 'slogan' actually derives from Scottish Gaelic, way back in the 16th Century. It is a combination of sluagh, meaning ‘army’ and gairm, meaning ‘shout’. So, basically a War Cry.
The use of the term has evolved somewhat since the 16th Century. And today we see slogans for advertising everywhere! Radio, TV, Internet, you name it! Even on mail. In philatelic terminology mail with slogans are called "Postmark Slogans" and the envelopes on which they are placed are called "Covers". Collecting covers with postmark slogans can actually be a lot of fun. I especially like KGV ones from Australia and Great Britain.
I thought it might be a bit of fun to look at some Australian postmark slogans. I'm not 100% certain when postmark slogans first came into use in Australia, but I have found three books on the subject and all of them begin in 1917, so it is probably safe to say 1917 is the year.
The first cover, dated 18 June 1918, bears a 1d red stamp tied to the cover with machine slogan cancel. The slogan is a bit indecipherable in this example unfortunately.
This is a facsimile of the slogan:
This cover, dated 23 October 1923, bears a ½d green and 1d purple tied to the cover with another machine slogan cancel. I really like this slogan. It is promoting the British Empire Exhibition in 1924.
The use of the term has evolved somewhat since the 16th Century. And today we see slogans for advertising everywhere! Radio, TV, Internet, you name it! Even on mail. In philatelic terminology mail with slogans are called "Postmark Slogans" and the envelopes on which they are placed are called "Covers". Collecting covers with postmark slogans can actually be a lot of fun. I especially like KGV ones from Australia and Great Britain.
I thought it might be a bit of fun to look at some Australian postmark slogans. I'm not 100% certain when postmark slogans first came into use in Australia, but I have found three books on the subject and all of them begin in 1917, so it is probably safe to say 1917 is the year.
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The first cover, dated 18 June 1918, bears a 1d red stamp tied to the cover with machine slogan cancel. The slogan is a bit indecipherable in this example unfortunately.
This is a facsimile of the slogan:
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This cover, dated 23 October 1923, bears a ½d green and 1d purple tied to the cover with another machine slogan cancel. I really like this slogan. It is promoting the British Empire Exhibition in 1924.
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This next slogan is on piece, bearing a 1d red. It is another machine cancel, dated 5 September 1919. It cries out for people to help those having returned from the atrocities of World War I.
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Next we have a really cool slogan, promoting the use of that new-fangled device called a "Telephone". This commercial cover, dated 22 June 1937 bears a 1d green tied to cover with a stamped slogan postmark.
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This next commercial cover, dated 6 July 1937, bears a 1d green tied to cover with a rather cool slogan postmark advertising the fact that 1938 (the next year) will be the 150th anniversary of the first landing at Sydney Cove in 1788.
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And here's one more for the road. It is another commercial cover, dated 12 August 1937, promotes the use of the Telegraph system for sending birthday wishes.It bears another 1d green.
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To ensure you don't go into "slogan overload", I'll leave it at that for now. I'll post some more up in the near future. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Roos Philately for the use of the commercial covers.
Until next time...
You made some really good points there. I checked on the internet to find out more about the issue and found most individuals
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