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Paying extra to celebrate the art of stamp designing.

Welcome readers to todays offering from The Philatelist. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take the first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. We have an interesting story to tell where we wrestle where the line is about when a country has gone too far in the quest to sell stamps to overseas stamp collectors.

The stamp is really quite large for when it was issued in 1950. This is a definite sign that the purpose is not to mail a letter. The colors are much bolder than a regular stamp issue from 1950 Argentina. When you see that the stamp is issued in connection with an international “filatelica” exposition. Then you notice that the stamp is both cancelled with a picture perfect cancellation and yet is still fully gummed on the back. And finally the audacity of it being a semi postal issue with a doubling of the face value of the stamp. With all this it is not hard to come to the conclusion that this is just not a real postage stamp.

The stamp today is issue B12, a 10 centavo + 10 centavo semi postal stamp issued on August 26th, 1950 to honor the 1950 Argentine International Philatelic Exposition. It was part of a 6 stamp issue, the others of which are also airmail stamps. This to make them easier to mail home for those that had traveled to Buenos Aires for the show. The stamp depicts the art of stamp designing. The stamp artist on the stamp is laboring over an older Argentine stamp featuring General San Martin. According to the Scott catalog, it is worth 25 cents whether it is mint or cancelled. If there was a hot market for this stamp, a real cancelation from actually being mailed should extract a large premium on to the value.

I want to like this stamp. It really is very attractive. Mrs. The Philatelist, who does my website’s photography, found it to be a very attractive and easy to photograph stamp. I also enjoy stamp shows and have no problem with the local postal authority being a sponsor and important participant. I also see every day what artistry is involved in putting together a new stamp issue. So of course I am also for celebrating that artist for whom we will usually not know.

Where this stamp lost me is in the fact that it is a semi postal stamp issue. For those who do not know what that means, a semi postal stamp has an extra fee built in over and above the usual cost of postage. Argentina had many semi postal issues at the time. Most were in support of Eva Peron’s foundation for the support of the poor. This was not that, it was just to extract extra money out of the stamp collectors at the exposition. In my mind, that crossed the line.

Well my drink is empty and so it is time to open the conversation in the below comment section. It would be nice if the stamp collecting hobby were to regrow enough to make stamp issues like todays be lucrative. The Philatelist is doing his part to make that happen. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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America cellebrates an old Spanish fort, a decade before the Japanese war crime there

Welcome readers to todays offering from The Philatelist. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, have your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. We have an interesting story to tell of trying to get away from a mistake without causing a new one.

The stamp today includes an overprint. Such things happen when government changes but there has not been time to properly reflect that on the stamps. It this case the status of the then American colony of the Philippine States had become a self governing commonwealth on a 10 year track to independence.

The stamp today is issue A57b a 10 centavo stamp issued in 1939. The b refers to the version with the commonwealth overprint. A version of the same stamp was issued in 1935 without the overprint. It was part of a 14 stamp issue that was the last issue before commonwealth status was granted. The stamp depicts Fort Santiago in Manila. It is worth 25 cents in it’s cancelled state according to the Scott catalog.

Fort Santiago has had an interesting history that was far from over in 1939. Fort Santiago was a stone structure built by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, the Spanish conquistador who conquered the Philippines. It was built in 1571 on the site of a log fort that belonged to the Muslim Rajah who was the previous ruler. The Rajah was a vassal of the Sultan of Brunei so the Philippines was not independent even before the arrival of the Europeans. Santiago is the Spanish form of the Catholic Saint James, the patron Saint of Spain.

The fort was out of date militarily by the beginning of American rule in 1898. The American military did use it’s ornate facilities as a headquarters. They even drained the moat and installed a golf course on the grounds. The darkest era of the fort was ahead of it. Left over from the Spanish period was underground prison facilities. In early 1945 the American and Philippine Army were closing in on Japanese occupied Manila. The Japanese Army commander ordered Manila abandoned in order to preserve the fighting force for future fights. A Japanese Marine force refused the order and set out to defend Manila and take out revenge on the people of the Philippines for the defeat. Thousands of men were sent to detention in Fort Santiago and later executed in the underground dungeon. 400 women and girls were rounded up from the exclusive area of Manila and the 25 judged best looking were sent to a hotel where they were raped by Japanese officers and then enlisted men. Many areas of Manila were burned. This post war was deemed a war crime and the Japanese commander and his deputy were hung.

The end of colonial status did not totally arise from the people of the Philippines, although that was the official position of the local political party. Conquering the islands had proved quite bloody and expensive. The colony that then required governing still featured slavery, headhunting, and piracy that had to be ended. An increase in trade of low cost agricultural products that happened was troubling to American agricultural interest. A bill, backed by American agricultural interests, was passed over the veto of President Hoover setting Philippines on a 10 year path to independence. The Philippines was opposed to the bill but it was slightly modified and then rubber stamped. Manuel Quezon became the President of the Philippines during the commonwealth status until he went into exile when Japanese invasion was imminent during World War II. Full independence came immediately after World War II. Fort Santiago still stands.

Well, my drink is empty and so it is time to open up the conversation in the below comment section. There is an argument that the cost of the USA’s Philippine involvement sapped American lust for empire building and thus saved the country much. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

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Don’t trump Tromp even if you are the Bestevaer

Welcome readers to todays offering from The Philatelist. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. We have an interesting story of rival Dutch Admirals who have now mellowed into history until they can be sister(ships).

The stamp today is from an interesting time. The stamp is from the Netherlands, from the time during World War II when it was under German occupation. The stamp shows no markings to indicate German control, and the figure on the stamp was a long ago figure from Dutch history. From the situation on the ground in 1943, it might have seemed the war was over for the Dutch.

The stamp is issue A54, a 7 and a half cent stamp issued in German occupied Holland in 1943. It is part of a seventeen stamp issue. The stamp depicts Admiral M. A. de Ruyter, a Dutch Admiral from the 17th century. The Scott catalog lists it’s value as 25 cents cancelled.

Admiral de Ruyter was born into a modest background and began serving as a sailor at age 11. His maritime service was not stricktly naval. The Dutch were on the high seas mainly for trading and this was true of de Ruyter as well. He was involved with trade with the Irish and in the Mediterranean. The issue for the Dutch was that since there trade was so lucrative it often drew the hostile attention of the British, the French, the Swedes, the Barbary pirates and privateers from Dunkirk.

De Ruyter had proven very adept when called in to the situations described above. Even in his civilian work, he had done much to free Christians held as slaves by the Barbary pirates, often by paying the ransom out of his own pocket. A statue of de Ruyter stands in Hungary today honoring him for saving some Hungarians that had fallen to the Muslim pirates. His help in freeing the German/Polish city of Danzig from the Swedes may be directly linked to why the German occupiers of 1943 Holland thought him worth, and safe to remember.

As I stated though, he was not a man of noble background. Many of his rivals in the Dutch Navy were. There was much pushback when it was attempted to promote de Ruyter above more prominent people with more seniority. de Ruyter did not seem much interested in these political squabbles and often turned down assignments.

Things came to somewhat of a head when a Dutch Admiral named Tromp was killed in battle. His son, Cornelis felt he was deserving of inheriting his father’s position. The Dutch Navy thought otherwise and de Ruyter was appointed to a special rank that only he ever held and moved to Amsterdam. This was okay because at sea de Ruyter was referred to as the Commodore, a rank that does not even exist in the Dutch Navy. Regular sailors referred to him has the bestevear, which does not mean the best ever but is an old Dutch way of saying grandfather.

The trumping of Tromp junior proved only temporary. First came a non-fatal stabbing at the front door of his house. This crime was committed by a disaffected Tromp supporter. Later when de Ruyter was killed in battle leading a Dutch/Spanish fleet against a French/Italian fleet, he was succeeded by Cornelis Tromp. The Dutch navy today still ties together de Ruyter and Tromp by having sister ships named after them. As is usual, the Tromp is the flagship.

Well, my drink is empty and so it is time to open up the conversation in the below comment section. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.