Re: Fw: Kemrese Philately

[Padraic Brown <pbrown@nova.umuc.edu>]

On Sun, 19 Jul 1998, I. R. Joll wrote:

> Hi Padraic, you seem to have taken an interest in a minor brainstorming
> session
> I had with Andrew a couple of days ago (which I almost remember as I was
> a little too much taken up helping out with my sister's wedding...) I have
> taken
> a few of your comments and am typing a few quick ideas of my own.

Felicitations to her!  Is she one of the blood relations, or one of the
'others'?

>
> BTW I was planning on doing a mock-up Kemr (or however Andrew spells
> it) new issues page in the same style as my worldwide new issue site at
> http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~jollian in case you want to see what it would
> look like.

I'll take a peek.

[snip]
> >>
> >>Notes make up the higher ranges: L2, L5, L10; and the rarely seen L20,
> >>L50, L100, L200, L500, L1000, L2000, L5000, L10000, L50000, L100000.  If
> >>you ever see a man in a train headed for Dun Edain from Castreleon wearing
> >>a dark suit and trying to look inconspicuous; he's probably a Bank of
> >>Cambria officer making a transfer to the Royal Bank of Scotland.  He's
> >>probably loaded with L50000 notes; but don't try anything stupid, because
> >>they shoot to kill. ;-)
>
> Who issues the bank notes? I would suspect that any notes of a
> denomination greater than £100 would be used more for bank
> accounting than for paying for cups of coffee... are there Reserve
> Bank (or whatever it is called) notes printed by the Govt. or bank
> notes backed solely by the reserves of the bank in question?

The issuance would depend upon how power hungry the Central Govt. is.  If
they are all Power-Grabbing-Jack-a-Dandys then the Bank of Cambria is the
sole issuing authority.  If the rules are slightly different, then others
can join in the game (Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclay's Bank, Royal Bank
of Kernow, etc.).  Indeed larger notes are for bank accounting; although I
suppose one could buy a _lot_ of coffee and use a L500 note! ;-)  As to
who prints them; that depends also on how centralised govt. operations
are.  They may mauafacture the paper and print the notes at a central
location; or they may contract out to private firms.  The backing of the
paper will depend largely on whether precious metals are still in use for
the coins.  If the coins are silver, then like as not the notes will be
backed by silver reserves.  If the coins are nickel, then they _could_
still be backed by the silver reserve; or they may not.

>
[snip]
>
> Most current British stamps show an embossed, often gold or silver,
> medallion
> portrait of the Queen tucked discreetly into a corner. Perhaps the most
> useful
> line of enquiry would be to work out what the contemporary fashion was with
> regards to face fungus.

I should think regular washes will take care of fungal growths on the
face.  Or am I missing something?

>
> If the Kemr £ = 10 GBP, the postal rate (assuming the reforms of Rowland
> Hill have taken place) should be about 6d - 6½d. But comparison of wage
> rates and transportation would be necessary as well. (Transportation in
> particular would have a marked effect on international postal rates - most
> British commemorative series have stamps for European and intercontinental
> mail as well, not like the US where the ubiquitous 32c stamps predominate).

It turns out that the gwleskin is 2 1/2 shillings; so it is either _very_
expensive to send a letter, or the wrong name was given to the right coin.

I don't know what the international rate is, but I know the US has a stamp
for it.

>
> >>Who is this new person?  In time, I suppose he could collect Cambrian
> >>stamps. :-)
>
> It is I, Count Homogenized.... sorry, wrong show... my

Ah, well; pleased to meet you, your eminence.

> name is Dave Joll and, while not computerizing small town
> cemetery records or bashing in steel posts (RAPID rural

Do you take note of the interesting snips of poetry and such people put on
their headstones; or do they not do that sort of thing out your way?

On the headstone of an adulterer, commisioned by his loving wife:
        In Heaven may he find his peace;
        Until I arrive.

> house numbers for the use of) I collect stamps, read books
> (mainly SF or NZ history), read comics (don't ask why),
> try to avoid the hazards of being 30 years old and occasionally
> let real life intrude, in the form of my incredibly complicated
> family (incredibly complicated because many of them are not
> actually blood relations)...

Dare I ask how that works out?

>
> But Wait! There's More!
>

There's always more!  Especially since I forgot to say it the first time
around. :-)

>
> >Castreleon (first class, extra).  Pretentious city folk who simply _must_
> >have a motor car should be prepared to spend around L320.  Only don't
> >expect to do much driving west of Esca as it's all dirt roads except for
> >the Royal Highway (stone paved).  [Prices not exact.]
>
> That would give me a bit of an incentive to get the infamous chook
> chaser (trail bike sitting in the garage, in bits) running again...

Indeed.  I am assuming that the world Kemr inhabits is not the car-crazy
place the US has made out of this one.

>
> During the "brainstorming" I came up with a cruel and unusual idea:
> what if the EEC "persuaded" Kemr to start using European style
> notation on its stamps - £0,05 or suchlike?

You'd probably get "Down With Decimal" protests in the streets.  You'd
probably also get "Down with the EEC" protests as well.  Then we'd all
head for the pub, where we could spend _proper money_ on a long pint of
stout, as it's hard work protesting the ills of society. ;^)

>
> >I didn't take into account any sales taxes that may be charged; nor
> >whether they may be included in the price or added in at the cashier.
>
> I'm not particularly familiar with Kemr, but if it is significantly less
> "modern" then property and sales taxation would be more important
> than income taxation.

I think it would have to be.  Certainly there are areas where it would be
equally modern; there are also areas where it would not be so modern.  One
particular area I can think of, besides motor cars, is air travel.
Without the world wars to spur on development of aeroplanes; they would
probably remain something of an oddity.  Most air travel would probably be
accomplished via dirigibles (helium, not hydrogen filled!!): Castreleon to
Berlin aboard AirZeppelin, can't beat it!

>
> Andrew is now thinking about the Brithenig for "value added tax"...

Can't wait :-S

>
> Regards
>
> Dave Joll
>
>

Padraic.