A selection of visas by a PCO

 

A British officials’ visas throughout the years.

 

The article will be short and sweet as they say.

 

When collecting old travel documents, one can focus on a specific topic or subject or several. Collecting, as we collectors understand and can admit, if one dares to, is not only a passion, a hobby, but an emotional addiction. Please let me explain.

 

As a collector of old documents & papers for close to 30 years already, one tends to either keep to a certain criterion or one can shift from topic to topic, changing every few years the subject we are interested to research and collect. For me, for example, I use to collect fossils, old books, stamps, old currency and for the past plus 16 years have been focusing on old travel documents in general and recently concentrating on WW2 & Holocaust related items and now also IDs (due to a family connection to the latter, this subject has always fascinated me, ever since school days).

 

As mentioned above, collecting is an addiction. I admit it and do not run away from what it really is: a strong passion, and if not controlled properly and carefully, can become an obsession that can ruin one’s life and even family. I confess, it nearly came to that with me 7 years ago, when I had maxed out over 4 CC cards and have had issues with my bank account, this, eventually would affect my family as well and I was standing at the edge of the abyss. Do I leap into it or do I put a hold, and take a step back? I am being very forward here, and did not plan to write about this, but, as I am typing my words, it is coming out. I presume others can understand what I am trying to tell and may even have been at some point in the same position. At the end, I took the right choice I believe: I cancelled ALL the cards I had, started using cash only, and today, my account is balanced, and I DO NOT dare cross that threshold again.

 

Back to the article. After locating two visas with the same signature by the same PCO (passport control officer), I decided to try and locate several more from different consulates that he served in. The individual was G.W.Berry, and by examining the dates & locations, I was able to find out that he served before the war at Riga, then Vienna, followed by Moscow (wartime) then back to Vienna after the war.

 

 

Have added several examples.

 

 

Thank you for reading “Our Passports”.