Mildred Hodson's Coronation Cachets

From first to last: Aleksander Stocki and Mildred Hodson, company advert in Philatelic Magazine, designer Jerzy 'JK' Kwiatkowski aka George K Kay, the rare 'Edinburgh' cover

Details
Mildred Hodson (1904–1961) and business partner Aleksander Stocki (1897–1960), a former Polish army officer with a chequered philatelic past, operated out of Edinburgh between 1943 and 1961 producing numerous cachets, including some under the Three Arrows brand. The letters of the logo being acronyms for First Day Covers, First Day Air Letters, and First Flight Covers.

Designs are distinctive and often have common elements which help with identification in the absence of the Three Arrows logo or Mildred Hodson address. Most produced between 1953 and 1959 were by the same designer whose initials 'JK', for Jerzy Kwiatkowski aka George K Kay (1925–2006), can often be found hidden within the imagery.

The Coronation issue, and the unprecedented demands of having to orchestrate and ferry material between 80-odd territories, brought out the best and worst of the business with output ranging from superior colour cachets to indiscriminate hand stamps and slapdash labels.

One of the smartest cachets, usually incorrectly attributed to American dealer Clyde J Sarzin (1915–1987), is the two-colour map of Great Britain issued in 11 variations. Most highlight a different location in Great Britain with corresponding first day cancel. The only anomaly being the existence of two Edinburgh covers with different colour arrangements – one being far scarcer than the other.

A similar idea was used for the Malayan states featuring a map and tiger. It's unconfirmed if covers were prepared for all states, but hopefully not given the absence of wild tigers in Singapore since the 1930s. A European version exists with an indeterminable map and galleon. Then there are palm trees and fruit basket for the Caribbean islands, cruise ship in shell for Fiji, junk boats for Hong Kong, giant tortoise and French horn for Seychelles, elephants for Africa (even countries where there are none), a leopard for Nyasaland, a penguin for the Falkland Islands Dependencies, and a camel for the Middle East. All are two-colour designs of fine quality for the period… and mostly relevant.

Probably the most widely used cachet is the ER cypher with floral arrangement. It exists in orange, red, purple or green as a hand stamp or in red or purple on a pink, blue, pale blue, yellow or green label.

Virtually all the two-colour cachets mentioned earlier also exist in label form. The label being in one of several colours and the cachet being in one of several contrasting colours. Additional designs exclusive to the label format also exist. The combinations are chaotic and dizzying. Not to mention often tenuously linked to the territory. They're certainly a collecting challenge.

With the deaths of Stocki in 1960 and Hodson the following year, and no-one to continue or inherit the business, remaining stock was dispersed between dealers Continental Stamp Supplies and London Stamp Exchange. Proceeds from the disposal went to charity.

From first to last: Three Arrows logo, Viewforth in Edinburgh, hidden initials 'JK', wholesaler advert for the 'thistle' cover

Credits
Richard Monteiro
Roy Reader
Adrian W Philbey

References
• Roy Edward Reader & George Kwiatkowski Kay, Aleksander Stocki: Enigmatic Philatelist, 2013 (2nd edition), ISBN 9780954711511
• https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

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Mildred Hodson/Aleksander Stocki covers