 |
||||||||
|
|
The AFRAN Stamp Company |
|||||||
|
From what I can discover the Afran Stamp
Company of Manila operated from the mid 1930's until the early
1950's. In 1945 they produced a combined album and catalogue of
stamps from the Philippines. The owner was Mr Antonio
Martinez Franco, a lawyer
practicing in Manilla and originally from the island of Cebu. The
name AFRAN takes the "A" from Antonio and combines it with the
"Fran" from Franco.
While the 1945 combined album and catalogue concentrated on stamps from the Philippines a section at the back listed some nearby Japanese occupied territories including Manchukuo. Stamps of Manchukuo listed run from the 1942 Fall of Singapore issue to the 1943 Campaign to Increase Industrial Production. A copy of this section appears below.
The most common items to appear in collections are first day covers produced for the 1943 Anniversary of the Red Cross issue and the 1943 Campaign to Increase Industrial Production issue. These were mostly sold to American service personnel stationed in the Philippines in 1945 when the catalogue was produced, this can be deduced from the map and Servicemen's Guide which accompanied the catalogue.
|
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
