STAMPBOARDS - Postage Stamp Chat Board and Stamp Forum

Admin note -

For those who found this thread, whilst looking for detail on the rare 1952 Australia 2/6d Aboriginal "£1 Jimmy" INVERTED Watermark postage stamp - you need to click on this -

https://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=21381


Much has been written on Stampboards and elsewhere regarding Australia’s “One Pound Jimmy” 2/6d stamp with watermark sideways inverted.

I don’t have one of those, but can show something topical which may be rarer, indeed unique?

The images below show architecturally stylized interpretation of the noble profile of old “Jimmy”, fashioned as a swimming pool with synchronised garden moat and roofline, designed by award-winning Architect, Charles Wright, in recognition of (a) Aboriginal heritage in the region in which the residence housing the pool is sited (Cape Tribulation, Far North Queensland, two hours north of Cairns), and (b) the owner’s philatelic background (further reflected in “perforated” pattern within concrete walls, some “perforations” representing light wells).

As a special offer to Stampboards members only, an unique (that word again) package has been structured.

Stay exclusively at this luxury tropical resort, with its 75 acres of World Heritage Rainforest on secluded beach with reef, hosted by the Perry’s, for a minimum 5 days, enjoying:

• Fine dining and Australian wine (that’s by Madel rather than me)
• Tutoring on how to become a more successful Philatelist and/or Trader, by Australia’s only International Grand Prix award recipient, with half a century practice in commercial philately (that would be me)
• Guidance on local tours and places of interest

Presently available from November 20 until December 20 2013 (subject to general guest bookings). Special offer is for parties of up to four guests only.

For the benefit of northern hemisphere members, Cape Tribulation has an annual average temperature of around 27 degrees Celsius, typically a balmy 30 during period under offer.

General enquiries can be raised in this thread.

Contact me via Stampboards internal email facility for serious, more confidential enquiries.

Rod

Rod ... do you have larger pix you can load? Lovely house and location. 8)

That pool outline does indeed look like "One Pound" Jimmy aboriginal stamp in profile.

"Jimmy" sadly .. died totally penniless in a dry river bed in the Northern Territory, a fate the Perry Dynasty shall be spared from, it seems clear.

I spent several days researching the life and times of Gwoya Jungarai, and it was one of the most enjoyable columns I had ever written, as what I assembled had never been in one place before -

https://www.glenstephens.com/snoctober10.html

Left click on images, Glen, and they'll come up larger.

One of my favourite stamp designs, and real Australiana story.

Rod

OK gotcha .. a quite unique Rod posting idea. Congratulations!

Better images below - and the special website on it -

https://www.alkiraresorthouse.com.au/about/#TheProperty

Rod

The house looks like a large white Bilby.

Wow... Great looking accommodation. 8)

Yet another rare version of old "Jimmy".






Rod

Rod

I thought this was as far north as one could go to have this stamp postmarked:



But then I found this one (pity about the silverfish damage):




Brad

Rod Perry wrote: The Perry's can't afford to live at that place.

Rod

I can understand that, Rod had to live for some time in this old semi abandoned building.


The top floor, where there was plenty of room for Rod to cram in his meagre collection of covers.

traralgon3844 wrote:

Rod Perry wrote: The Perry's can't afford to live at that place.

Rod

I can understand that, Rod had to live for some time in this old semi abandoned building.

Well he owned the entire building so he was able to spread out a little. Anyway, who'd want to live near Spencer Street station.

Geoff Kellow had an entire floor there for his stamp reference library.

Before that city building squat Rod had to make do at "Ravenswood" in the slums of inner city Ivanhoe.

It was so long ago, there were only black and white photos.
.

I should have known that this thread could digress.

I wouldn't want it considered by those Stampboard members who are remotely interested in the thread's original subject matter that my taste, be it for architecture or philately, is anything out of the usual.

Can we get back to "Jimmy"?

Rod

Alkira looks magnificent Rod

The "One Pound Jimmy" theme adds a subtle philatelic character to a unique building design.

I have seen some other examples of your architects work and they are similarly inspirational.

The concept of introducing philatelic aspects to the architecture was entirely the initiative of the Architect, Charles Wright, Tony.

A "One Pound Jimmy" pool I confess I could never have imagined.

Rod

An update on Alkira in today's paper -

https://smh.domain.com.au/real-estate-news/the-house-that-stamps-built-20140117-30zyg.html


The house that stamps built

January 18, 2014 - 12:00AM

Toby Johnstone
Property Reporter

Alkira.

Anything but a weekender: The house in the rainforest, surrounded by and reflected in the man-made lake.

From the air it resembles a lotus, from the ground it looks like a spaceship and inside it pays homage to a postal stamp. Whatever the illusion, it carries an $8 million price tag.

The Daintree Rainforest house called Alkira is the first new build that philatelist Rodney Perry has undertaken. Since the age of 14 Mr Perry has preferred to spend his time focusing on his career collecting, selling and studying stamps.

‘‘Stamp collecting became a very big thing after the war,’’ said Mr Perry.
Alkira.

Original and inspiring: The design of the indoor pool was inspired by Rodney Perry's favourite stamp, the One Pound Jimmy.

‘‘In the fifties they use to give packets of stamps out when you bought a gallon of petrol and that is how stamps became hugely popular with kids my age at the time.’’

Mr Perry started his own stamp auction centre in Melbourne and at one stage had 14 employees. He has since sold the business to a Sydney firm.

‘‘I have also made some fortuitous investments over the years,’’ he said. ‘‘I saved up and bought a house and then was able to buy other properties and some shares as well.’’

Alkira has an $8 million price tag.

But six years ago when Mr Perry decided to channel his profits into a new build near Cairns he quickly learned that property development and stamp collecting are very different beasts.

‘‘The brief we gave our architect was simple; we need some sort of water feature and just to generally surprise us,’’ said Mr Perry.

Architect Charles Wright certainly shocked Mr Perry and his wife Marider who were initially envisaging a simple weekender for the site.

The 40 hectare plot, which the couple bought for $1.725 million in 2006, is located in the only place on the planet covered by two World Heritage listings – one for the Great Barrier Reef and one for the Wet Tropics heritage area.

Obtaining permits alone took a year with the design necessitating water to be pumped from a nearby creek to a man-made lake. But Mr Perry said it was worth it.

‘‘We are essentially borrowing the water and putting it into an ecosystem that we have engineered ourselves,’’ he said.

‘‘It is now full of eels, indigenous fish, water snakes, crustaceans, turtles, you name it there are all in there. Though no crocs yet.’’

The house is designed to complement its surrounding landscape but Mr Wright also wanted to give a nod to Mr Perry’s profession.

The pool at the centre of the home is inspired by Mr Perry’s favourite stamp, the ‘One Pound Jimmy’.

Each of the property’s six fingers has perforated port holes, which at different times of the day, allow in perforated light - a look reminiscent of the edges of a stamp.

Selling agent Mark Flinn of Ray White Port Douglas said they would be marketing the property with an $8 million price tag.

‘‘That is around about what was the vendor has spent on the property,’’ he said.

‘‘The design of the house is so different to anything I’ve ever seen, I’ve certainly never seen a house surrounded by its own lake before.’’

The couple’s next move is to travel the world.

‘‘But in the meantime we are going to enjoy [the house] until it sells and then we’ll jump on the big iron bird,’’ said Mr Perry.

Just read that article and was about to Post it on here but you beat me too it.

A nice read and a very lovely looking home in a tranquil location - well done Mr Perry !

Hopefully this does more to spur on growth and interest in our hobby!

The primary reason the Fairfax press went with the story in their Sydney and Melbourne papers was the stamp connection.

The journalist was intrigued that a living could be made from philatelic trading, for over half a century in this instance (he should speak with Mr. Max Stern!).

Would be nice to think some good for philately might come from the story.

I suspect, however, a spike in phone calls to traders and auction houses by optimists offering material might be as good as it gets.

Rod

Rod, Robert1 is Perth based, so your story might have got wider circulation than you imagined!

Good luck with it .. such unique places always sell. 8)

40 Hectares up there is a wonderful slice of Paradise ... little ¼ acre blocks in my street get over that, so a great deal for someone up there!

Glen

Yes, Glen, Fairfax must have liked the philatelic slant.

Two things wrong in the article, however; size of land and price!

Rod

Just noticed Rod's house has a pretty chi-chi website of its own -

http://www.alkiraresorthouse.com/

But all his wonderful library of STAMP COLUMNS are on an expired or dead site!

http://www.rap.com.au

C'mon Rod .. bypass your next bottle of Moët, and pay someone to activate it back into life again. 8)

HUNDREDS of your hours to type them all - silly they are not visible to anyone now?

Glen

The site's not totally "lost" Glen

I used the Internet Archive Wayback Machine (http://archive.org/web/) to find archives of Rod's website (http://www.rap.au.com).

Unfortunately the entire site wasn't archived each time but I backtracked to 2009 and found that all Rod's articles had indeed been archived then.

You might find an archive that has more recent articles by working back from the present, checking the archive for each date.

Just remember - when you click on one of the blue dots for a date - give it a bit of time to load...

Click this link to view the list of archives of this site with 2009 highlighted:
http://web.archive.org/web/20090715000000*/http://www.rap.com.au/

Click here to view the specific archive I found in 2009 that has the "Rod's Columns" tab archived:

http://web.archive.org/web/20091013161613/http://www.rap.com ... %20Columns

- Doug

Just in case anyone thought the "Wayback Machine" is a joke...

Here's a screenprint of https://www.rap.au.com as it existed in October 2009!

- Doug

Doug no-one doubts the wayback machine works - there are 100 posts here to that effect over 7 years for 100 different sites, where the owners have fallen asleep at the wheel at.

HOWEVER wayback does not show in any google searches, and of course anyone using existing links to past columns etc, get the "This site does not work" lame message -

http://www.rap.com.au/vPages.asp?vpagesid=Rods%20Columns

It is a super low tech, static site, and leaving it accessible is a diddle.

Global Administrator wrote:Doug no-one doubts the wayback machine works - there are 100 posts here to that effect over 7 years for 100 different sites, where the owners have fallen asleep at the wheel at.

HOWEVER wayback does not show in any google searches, and of course anyone using existing links to past columns etc, get the "This site does not work" lame message -

http://www.rap.com.au/vPages.asp?vpagesid=Rods%20Columns

It is a super low tech, static site, and leaving it accessible is a diddle.

Agree 100%.

Such a clunky way to access old sites.

Sad to see such a great resource not easily accessible.

This is completely off topic, but why would Rod fork out to maintain a site just for the articles?

It looks like he's looking at other avenues than his site for off-loading material, often in bulk, so it does make sense to not keep his online store running.

For what it's worth I've been checking regularly to see if it's online as there were a couple of TEAL items I would have liked to purchase.

Well....

What about asking Rod if he would mind us starting a thread here for his articles?

As long as he doesn't mind them being freely available it would be simple.

I suppose Stamp News would have to approve it also since many were published there...

The articles could be directly incorporated into the thread with one to a post.

Probably no more than several hours of work - and it could be split up between several people.

Save the images to photobucket - copy & paste the article - insert the image links & you're done.

The advantage to this is it'll be available as long as you're willing to keep stampboards up & running Glen

And it fits well with the mission of stampboards to help make information available to all stamp collectors.

- Doug

ewen s wrote:
This is completely off topic, but why would Rod fork out to maintain a site just for the articles?

Because it spreads knowledge globally in Rod's passionate field, and because it assists philately?

You do not write stamp magazine articles Ewen, so pretty easy to be so cavalier, and short sighted I am sure.

But trust me, mine each take 10-20 hours a month to source and type, and arrange photos for -

https://www.glenstephens.com/column.html

30 years of that is ~5000 hours of my life, so it makes sense to have them archived to read, for those who may be interested.

That is half a million dollars of my time, so to host them for peanuts as it costs me to do (or anyone else to do) is a total no-brainer.

Rod and I have both done very well out of this hobby, and putting something back is entirely appropriate.

As I typed in my ‘Stamp News’ column printed this week, it would cost Rod less than a bottle of Moët a year, to leave these articles visible, as they were.

https://www.glenstephens.com/snapril14.html

Rod has always been an industry visionary, and well ahead of the pack, and hopefully this is just an oversight of some kind?

Rod I am sure, also takes just as many hours each month compiling his detailed articles.

Ewen, it is a bog basic uncomplicated STATIC site, that Rod Perry column archive.

When my good friend Simon Dunkerley tragically passed a few years back, I arranged for my webmaster to copy all his detailed "Stamp News" articles and original research, before his website expired (which it did of course) and they are now all hosted by me for posterity – so all Philatelists STILL can share in the wonderful detail and painstaking research Simon was renowned for -

https://www.glenstephens.com/simondunkerleytribute.html

So if today anyone on this planet googles "simon dunkerley stamp articles" - this is what they get -

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=simon+dunkerley+stamp+art ... 8geynoHgAw

If Rod wishes, I can do the same for his columns, if he has no interest in making them available online in future, for whatever reason. Or, we can do it as a group project here – VERY simple to do for a static site as his is, as pointed out above. We just need his OK.

Then it is preserved forever, and being here, Rod’s original research and knowledgeable columns will get millions of google hits to the content of the articles. AND many new collectors will enter the field he is so passionate about.

"Stamp News" were fully supportive of the Dunkerley archive, and gave it their full blessing, as they would be of archiving Rod's past columns I am sure.

Simon Dunkerley’ s wife phoned me at length, on the 4th anniversary of his passing, to say she’d been trying to show the children WHAT their father did in life.

Simon sadly had destroyed everything – all of his paperwork entirely in his final sad months. She said the ONLY thing she could show the children about their father’s career and business success, was what was on my sites.

Not perfect, but far better than nothing, and she was most grateful the data had been saved forever, and the children now had a far better insight into their Father’s very important and highly respected role in Australian philately. And to her that was most important.

So Ewen, that is another reason WHY these things are essential to keep in public view. There are many reasons, and as the cost to do it is near ZERO, there is no excuse not to.

That is WHY I set up stampboards 8 years back – so that the usual time worn pattern of valuable philatelic research vanishing forever, when someone died or retired or got bored etc, would not keep occurring.

This week we passed the FIFTY THOUSAND different threads milestone. They have among them near 4 MILLION posts from about 12,000 members. A central and easily searched resource for all things stamp related is a large plus for the stamp hobby in my view.

It costs me a LOT more than a bottle of Moët to keep it all humming along, but we do need to give something back to the hobby where we can.

Glen

I've enjoyed Rod's articles and would love to see them archived -don't need to be a professional stamp columnist to appreciate that.

Rod's domain name is currently up for sale on Ebay for $550,000 see here:

http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/merchant/rap_com_au_W0QQ_dmdZ1QQ_ipgZ50QQ_sopZ1

Under Australian Law, the copyright for published articles rests with the author, not the publisher, and so for articles to be reprinted Rod would have to give his permission.

Rod's and Glen's articles are archived by us and are available free on our website http://www.stampnews.com.au for the issues from July 2008 to Dec. 2012 later issues will be added just as soon as our new webmaster gets other stuff up to date.

Fear not fellow anti-woodchippers. I've been emailing with Rod back and forwards about the Bi-Coloured Roos database.

Anyway he has an unreliable connection at the moment (he's out bush hugging trees) and asked me just to let everyone know that Michael Eastick has been sent Rod's server and website info, and he will be hosting it for Rod - so it should be back up and running in about 2 weeks.

.

Just to clarify, Stamp News has no problem with the articles being archived and hosted elsewhere, as long as Rod does not. His call.

World Architecture Festival 2014

This picture comes from the BBC website. Entries come from more than 50 countries and the winners will be judged over the course of the three-day festival in Singapore in October. "The Stamp House, a residence in Cape Tribulation, Australia, is designed by Charles Wright Architects."

Hopefully it will win as it has many things other than architectural style going for it

KevinHedley wrote:World Architecture Festival 2014

This picture comes from the BBC website. Entries come from more than 50 countries and the winners will be judged over the course of the three-day festival in Singapore in October. "The Stamp House, a residence in Cape Tribulation, Australia, is designed by Charles Wright Architects."

That is amazing work, astonishing really.

This may be the first house with dedicated philatelic motifs to be a finalist in an international architectural competition?

For those interested in architecture, and the inherent philatelic connection for this house:

http://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-qld-cape+tribulation-117495083

Notably, it’s possible to stay at this place, and Stampboards members are afforded special offers. One offer is to be found under a cross-pollinated Stampboards thread:

Rod Perry's massive postal history lots on eBay

For other special offers relating to accommodation at the house, contact me via the Stampboards email system.

It’s not often that you get to holiday free in Paradise, and as a bonus (if required!) talk Philately with a graduate of the Philatelic University of Hard Knocks . . . genially.

Rod Perry

Stamp boarders, you'll only get one chance this good every lifetime.

Amazing looking accommodation.

It seems that Rod's house has featured in part of the latest realestate.com.au (REA) campaign with Arnold Schwarzenegger - well at least not directly.

Check out home number 5 in this list of homes that "Schwarzenegger would love" !

http://www.realestate.com.au/blog/arnold-schwarzenegger-moving-australia/

Happy House Hunting !

Arnie said it is in Vogga Vogga.

For "One Pound Jimmy" aficionados with way too much time on their hands, tune in to Better Homes & Gardens (TV Channel 7) evening of Friday, February 13 2015.

Rod

Interesting TV piece Rod, and hope it flushes out an interest party.

Doubling the asking price to $15 million is a novel sales tactic!

Global Administrator wrote:
Selling agent Mark Flinn of Ray White Port Douglas said they would be marketing the property with an $8 million price tag.

Glen

Just as valuation of a unique item in Philately can espouse quite disperse opinions amongst experts, so it can be for unique property in the Real Estate world.

Clearly, Agent 2 had a quite different opinion of the market value of the "One Pound Jimmy" house to that of Agent 1.

Yes, some will be speculating, it may be that Agent 2 is a Philatelist.

Rod

Rod, in THAT case do urge them not to add a "20% Buyer Fee" on top.

Magnificent house by the way Rod!

If you lucky to have an invert hope it will reach the same value as this "Palace in the Outback Paradise"

In the mean time accommodation rates are on special for all Philately and the croc viewing comes free to..what more can you ask for...

Greg

Rod .. a leading trade member mentioned to me at the Gray Auction dinner that your place for sale was featured in the current Qantas in flight magazine.

If correct, that will get to the right set of eyes.

Glen

Wish it were that my philatelic stock was as popular as that house, Glen.

Rod

Just cannot believe the story of this beauty!

The location, the ..well, art work, as it is normal house. Just incredible. Won't mind selling the covers from there for sure . Truly amazing.

Respect!!

.
Was flying back from Adelaide yesterday, and reading papers on the plane, and noted the front page lead story in the "Financial Review" was on price drops in Port Douglass housing, and it focused in large extent on "Alkira" listed above.



https://www.afr.com/real-estate/mansion-prices-tumble-in-port-douglas-20160505-goncc1

https://www.afr.com/real-estate/mansion-prices-tumble-in-port ... z48Io6IXDb




Mansion prices tumble in Port Douglas

by Larry Schlesinger

Vendors have slashed millions from the asking prices of some of the most expensive and extravagant mansions in Port Douglas and the nearby Daintree in tropical north Queensland.

Unrealistic expectations combined with a pullback from offshore buyers of trophy homes as the government clamps down on illegal purchases, have combined to force down asking prices.

The biggest price reduction – a whopping 37 per cent – has been cut from the asking price of futuristic Alkira near Cape Tribulation, owned by stamp collector Rod Perry and his wife Marider.

The UFO-shaped concrete house sprawling out over its own man-made lake and designed by noted architect Charles Wright was listed for $14 million throughout the second half of 2014, but now has an asking price of $8.8.million.

Another Charles Wright-designed, award-winning home, The Edge set within a secluded hillside on Point Island Road and offering 180-degree ocean views was listed for sale with a $7.4 million price tag in May last year. This has been cut back to "offers over $5 million".

The concrete, bunker-like two-bedroom house was designed and built for the late Sydney industrialist Peter Graham and his wife Claire and includes a 10-metre wet-edge swimming pool.

Also reducing their price expectations are Just Jeans founders Craig and Connie Kimberley, who are selling the sprawling hilltop retreat Kalimna. The nine-pavilion mansion was listed at just under $9 million in late 2013. This was cut back to $7.5 million last year. It now has an asking price of $6.5 million.

These listings are part of a string of ultra-luxury homes put up for sale in the last few years, including a $22 million portfolio offered by wealthy property developers David and Jane Lucas comprising Villa Hemingway and the Cottonwood Estate, as owners seek to tap into a recovery in demand for holiday homes in the resort town near Cairns.

Port Douglas took a hammering after the global financial crisis, as well as being hit by the surging Australian dollar and natural disasters, with prices falling 30-40 per cent.

House sales fell to just 27 in 2010 - half the number that were sold pre-GFC - but then began picking up in 2012 when 42 sales were recorded, peaking at 53 in 2013, according to CoreLogic RP Data.

But the market appears to have slowed since then with 41 and 44 sales recorded in 2014 and 2015.

There were just seven sales in the first three months of the year, according to CoreLogic RP Data.

Mark Flinn of Ray White Port Douglas, who offered Alkira for sale in 2014 when the asking price was bumped up from $8.5 million to $14 million, said sales at the very top of the market were limited to one or two a year.

"There's been a three-year upward trend in Port Douglas since the market bottomed out following the GFC. There's good growth again and plenty of activity in the $1 million to $3 million range," Mr Flinn said.

But, he said, the top end was a "complete niche market".

"We get a lot of buyers from Sydney and Melbourne, but don't see a lot of overseas interest."

Port Douglas Mossman Raine Horne director David Cotton, who is now offering Alkira at $8.8 million, said there was "enough interest" in the house, but "not a dozen buyers jumping over me to get to the front door".

"We don't expect it to sell overnight. There's still interest, the phones are ringing. We've had people from Sydney and Melbourne come through and a Perth-based Malaysian buyer, who is waiting on a visa," he said.

Mr Cotton said affordable homes in Port Douglas priced around the average of $540,000 were "selling like no tomorrow".

Rod Perry wrote:For "One Pound Jimmy" aficionados with way too much time on their hands, tune in to Better Homes & Gardens (TV Channel 7) evening of Friday, February 13 2015.

Rod

This show was repeated on Foxtel Lifestyle this afternoon. I wasn't taking a whole lot of notice, then I thought "where have I seen that before" Fascinating.

Norm

About as overexposed as my philatelic stock, Norm.

Rod

Rod,

Good luck with the auction of this extraordinary property on 30th November.