Month: October 2018

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Saint Thomas and Prince Island, begging for aid after the colonials leave

These plantations wrecked so many places. Without slavery, they don’t work economically and without the plantations what are the people to do? 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. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Todays stamp of a cute dog and cat is a modern farm out stamp aimed at topical stamp collectors. It was sold as a souvenir sheet and the catalog does not even have a value of the stamp in the individual. I occasionally buy a bag of what is called kiloware stamps because I enjoy the sorting and a stamp like this will occasionally show up. The issue being a farm out it is nicely designed and printed but I would rather see more of the country and the country have more of a voice in how it is presented. The late colonial era stamps were better in actually showing the place. Independence saw a first issue of a local with a flag, then a token portrait of Lenin to show what road they were on, then the ever more unrelated to the place farmouts, The most recent in my catalog showing pandas.

Todays stamp is issue A182, a 1000 Dobras stamp issued by the Republic of Saint Thomas and Prince Island on August 12, 1995. It was a 2 souvenir sheet issue of dogs and cats with each sheet containing 9 individual stamps. The  Scott catalog lists the value of the whole sheet at $45, with no values given for individual stamps. I am not much of a topical collector, but am shocked at the value the catalog quoted. Do topical collectors really pay that much for something like this? The value is the same whether mint or cancelled to order, or course virtually none were used in actual mail. The excess stock of the sheets was divided and put into kiloware collections. In theory, the individual stamp is worth $5, but that valuation is dubious.

Saint Thomas and Prince Island were found unoccupied by Portuguese explorers in the 15th century. These are two volcanic archipelagoes about 75 miles apart and about 225 miles off the west African coast. The early settlers were Portuguese settlers of mainly Jewish decent. They discovered that the volcanic soil was useful for cocoa cultivation and plantations were organized. The name Prince island, on the less populated island, refers to the duties that had to be paid personally to the Portuguese Crown for the ability to operate. Operations included bringing over many slaves to work the plantations from mainly what is now Angola. Slavery ended officially late in the Portuguese Empire in 1874, but workarounds continued with contract African laborers brought in with token pay but still forced to work with no rights. Even the token pay meant the economics of the plantation system declined  and the Portuguese planters were no long getting rich out of the filthy endeavor.

The Government in Portugal went left wing in 1974 and the order of the day was to divest Portugal of it’s costly African colonies. These islands were turned over to Manuel Pinto da Costa, a Saint Thomas native who was trained in East Germany and had been in exile in Gabon. He ruled by decree for the first 15 years but since has stood for elections and won about half of them. He seized the plantations from the Portuguese most of whom fled. Instead of land reform, he attempted to continue their operation for the benefit of the state. Nobody will be surprised to learn that cocoa output collapsed and with it the ability to import all the necessities that have to be imported to small islands.

The islands have been getting by on food aid and borrowing money that they never pay back. There is the hope that oil will be discovered and/or that tourism will take off. They are now also facing rising sea levels that have begun flooding the roads built by the Portuguese that connect the island. So far only at high tide.

Well, my drink is empty and so I will open the conversation in the below comment section.One can see the depravity that these plantations wrought. Bringing in far more people than the island can support. It must be hard to keep hope alive. I wonder if a voluntary, paid resettlement of many back to Angola as part of decolonization would have lead to a better result for the island. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Cilicia 1919, not sure the Armenians are in much of a mood to celebrate 50 years of Ottoman stamps

Wartime fortunes can lead to overprints on rather incongruous stamps. 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. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

The stamp today is very attractive. It was first an Ottoman Turk issue celebrating 50 years of Ottoman postage stamps. It shows the early post office building in Constantinople. When the Turk post offices in Cilicia were captured by the French the stock of Turkish stamps was repurposed and overstampted reflecting the French occupation. The Ottomans had carried out a very deadly genocide against Armenian Christians and a goal of the French occupation was to allow some of the Armenian survivors return home. One can imagine the desperate letters of refugees in the area trying to keep in touch with now far away family. How incongruous it must have been sending those letters using stamps designed to celebrate Ottoman postal heritage.

Todays stamp is issue A41, a 20 Para stamp originally issued in Turkey in 1916 and overstamped in 1919 to reflect the French occupation of the Turkish region of Cilicia. The original Turkish issue had five stamps in various denominations. Only the 20 Para stamp of this issue was overprinted by Cilicia. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $4 whether mint or used. An inverted overprint would double the value. The regular unoverprinted Turkish version of the stamp is worth $1.

Cilicia is on the southeast coast or Asia minor near the Syrian border. It was the home of an independent Armenian empire into late Byzantine times. The area was absorbed by the Ottomans but still home to many Armenians into the early 20th century. The Christian Armenians, with some reason, were viewed as disloyal to the Ottoman Empire and during World War I  it was decided to force them out. Their property was seized and all were marched out toward an unwelcoming Syria. The Armenian population in Turkey dropped 80 percent and many died.

Toward the end of the military campaigns the region of Cilicia fell into French military hands. Armenians hoped for an autonomous region and plans were made to move 170, 000 Armenians back to the area. At the end of the war Ottoman higher ups fled Turkey to avoid justice for their crimes. Cilicia did not last long with the French returning it to Turkey in 1923 in exchange for Turkish recognition of their claims to Syria and Lebanon.

The Armenians were able to get revenge on who they viewed as Ottoman war criminals. The soon to be Soviet republic of Armenia started Operation Nemesis named after the Greek goddess of divine retribution. Over the next few years Armenians were sent to Berlin and Rome where many of the Ottomans were now living. After assassinating the target Turk they were to turn themselves over readily to the police. Their trials were then used to make the Armenians case, Many of the assassins were acquitted even though there was no question of their guilt. There were 7 assassinations including the Ottoman Pasha that originally ordered the Armenians into exile.

Well, my drink is empty and I will pour another not to toast all the violent politics but the stamps original purpose of celebrating Ottoman postal heritage. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Denmark 1875, Conservatives seek stability by undemocratic means while Radicals fight for change

Denmark had just come through a rough period. Having lost territory to Germany and Sweden, conservative forces tried hard to settle things down while radical socialists tried to improve the lot of the little man. 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. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

On todays stamp the denomination is front and center. This is on purpose as this was one of the great achievements of the conservative prime minister and King. New in 1875 was a monetary union of all of Scandinavia that pegged all the currencies equally to a  fixed value of gold. This made trade easier and lasted till World War I. It was hoped that this was a first step to a fuller Scandinavian  political union but this was as far as it got.

Todays stamp is issue A6, a 16 Ore stamp issued by the Kingdom of Denmark in 1875. This was a 10 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $6.50 used. There is a version where some of the arabesques in the corner are inverted. Surprisingly this lowers the value slightly. I can’t quite make out if mine is like that as the cancellation and my less than stellar eyesight hide it.

Denmark was somewhat demoralized in the late 19th Century. The King, Christian IX, was from an area just lost to Germany when the previous King died without issue. Choosing Christian, passed over several closer female prospects. He worked in close concert with conservative Prime Ministers such as Jacob Estrup. This was true even after Estrup lost an election and yet refused to leave power. The Parliament refused to work with him so he legislated himself “provisionally” with his laws being signed off by the King.

The opposition to all this was socialist and routed in the labor movement. One of it’s leaders was Louis Pio, a struggling postman and member of the First Socialist International. He organized a series of strikes that were effective in raising wages. He would only strike one industry at a time, only when over half the workers had joined the  Socialist International, and only when he had enough funds to pay the strikers during the strike. This proved effective and attracted the attention of the conservative government.

Pio was arrested and spent three years in jail for organizing an illegal meeting. Upon release he again began organizing for the Socialists. This time the government took a different tact. They hit upon Pio’s precarious personal finances and bribed him to emigrate to America. Pio had visions of establishing a Socialist utopian commune in Kansas. However the project failed. Socialism  being urban and bourgeois, there was no ability to farm among his followers. He died later in Chicago after many years of struggling doing odd jobs. He still has a legacy in Denmark in that many of the red postboxes that he designed as a postman are still in use today. Below are pictures of Pio and Estrup. I won’t label them but see if you can tell the right winger from the left winger.

Well, my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Scandinavians getting along and the gold standard. I am afraid none of the people in this story were particularly impressive and it is Friday and I have a thirst. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Hong Kong,1891, The British build the premier university in Asia for the Chinese but climb the hill to avoid their filth

“You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have, the facts of life.” A tv theme song about a girl’s school, but it applies also to colonial era Hong Kong. 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. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Most of the people in Hong Kong were Chinese, but there were Indians and Europeans, merchants and missionaries, selling strange to natives religion to save their souls and opium to addle them until the reckoning. Into this a stamp with a portrait of Queen Victoria, to remind the colonials of home and their higher duty.

Todays stamp is issue A1, a 10 cent stamp issued by the crown colony of Hong Kong in 1890. This was the first Hong Kong stamp issue in 1862 and many versions and denominations existed until the same basic stamp was redrawn with King Edward VII in 1903. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $2.25 used. A blue-green mint version of this 10 cent stamp is worth $2,000.

Hong Kong Island passed to Great Britain as a result of the Opium Wars after the island was used as a staging point for the British Indian Army. Great Britain had been running a huge trade deficit with China and hit upon trading mainly Indian grown opium that was legal in the British Empire for the silver needed to buy Chinese tea and other goods. The Chinese authorities understandably did not want their people addicted to opium and were enjoying the trade surplus so a series of wars were fought that were won by the British Empire. Eventually additional land on the mainland was taken to make the island more defensible.

The island at first just had a small number of Chinese fisherman but the trading post colony quickly attracted a large number of Chinese and Indians. The British set up schools for the Chinese that were founded under the guise of Christian missionary work. Sir Fredrick Lugard, the colonial governor had the idea to expand the medical school into a proper University to rival a school the Prussians had founded in Shanghai. He enlisted the help of Parsi Indian businessman Sir Hormusje Naorojee Mody. Parsis were Zoroastrian  Persians who had emigrated to India from Persia prior to the British during the Mughal time. He put up personally half the money on condition that others donated matching funds. The University was a big success with Sun Yat Sen being an early graduate and even today is one of the top universities in Asia. You may recall Lugard from his earlier work on behalf of the British East Africa Company as The Philatelist wrote about here. https://the-philatelist.com/2018/09/07/imperial-british-east-africa-company-1890-another-company-fails-to-administer-a-colony/. No mention of Lugard attempting his blood brother schtick with the Chinese in Hong Kong, for good reason.

Late 19th century southern China was beset with an outbreak of the bubonic plague. This terrified the British in Hong Kong. They viewed Chinese personal habits and sanitation as disgusting and now quite dangerous. Chinese threw their refuse into the street that was taken by the flooding rains into the water supply. To avoid this hazard  British and other Europeans kept moving ever higher up the hill on Hong Kong Island in the hopes of better water. When their settlement reached the crest of the hill, the colonial government passed a Peak District Reservation Ordinance that forbid Chinese from living near the top of the hill. This is not something that could be done today but succeeded for at least the Europeans. 24,000 Hong Kong residents got the plague. It was 90% fatal, but very few were Europeans.

Lugard is most famous rightly for the University of Hong Kong but came close to changing Hong Kong forever. He offered return of certain territories to China in return for making the 99 year lease of the new territories permanent. Remember it was the pending end of the 99 year lease that lead to Great Britain turning over Hong Kong in it’s entirety to China in 1997. Lugard’s offer was not well received in China.

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

 

 

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Spanish Morocco, it is useful to have a second stringer occupy much of a large dangerous place

Morocco was in the hands of France. That does not mean they wanted the expense and danger of occupying the whole thing. Sounds like a way for a second string empire to expand. 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. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

I like the visuals of todays stamp as it puts you back in time. The vision of a brave Arab warrior on horseback. It might seem a strange colonial stamp as wouldn’t he be presumed to be opposed to the Spanish colonials. Not always. In fact during much of the Spanish Civil War, many of Franco’s forces were just such warriors. In fact this issue of stamps contained a postal surtax that supported disabled African veterans of the Spanish Civil War.

Todays stamp is issue PT2, a 10 Centimos postal tax special delivery stamp issued by Spanish Morocco in 1941. This was a 4 stamp issue in various colors but with the same denomination and image. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used. The stamp also exists as an imperforate, and that ups the value to $15.

France acquired Morocco in 1905. There was a measure of self government through a local sultan. There had long been Spanish enclaves to the North near Gibraltar and Tangier and to the south near the bordering Spanish Sahara. France maintained ultimate sovereignty over these areas but felt right to divest administration to the Spanish. This was also favored by Great Britain who had interests in Gibraltar and Tangier and by Imperial Germany that also had economic interests. A lessor European power to police the area but not be a military threat to anyone was advantageous to all Europeans.

Well perhaps not so beneficial to Spain. There was a rebellion of Moroccans that attempted to break away from Spain by attempting to form the Republic of Rif. This was put down but at the cost of over 10,000 Spanish troops killed, most locally recruited. This was a discrediting factor of Spain’s home government that lead to the Spanish Civil War. General Franco made much use of Spanish Moroccan soldiers during the Spanish Civil War. The Republican Socialist side offered Spanish Morocco independence if they won  in the hope of Franco’s Moroccans changing sides. They later backed off this offer at the demand of their ally the French.

In 1956 most of French and Spanish Morocco united to form a united independent Morocco under the old Sultan who now becoming King. Over the objections of Morocco, Spain tried to hold on to the Spanish Enclave of Ifni. The Moroccan army attacked but was beaten back by the Spaniards in 1958. These battles saw the last combat use of German World War II era Heinkel He-111 bombers that had been made in Spain post war and many built with Rolls Royce Merlin engines. With the Heinkels bombing and Junker Ju 52s dropping paratroopers, it must have seemed to the Moroccans like the German Africa Corps last battle. The war ended with Spain still in Ifni but it was eventually turned it over to Morocco after a UN resolution in 1969. They gave up the Spanish Sahara to the south after Franco died in 1976.

Heinkel He 111 in Spanish post war markings

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the British pilots who downed so many Heinkel He 111s during the Battle of Britain and the Blitz. I bet they would have never guessed the Heinkel would eventually acquire Rolls Royce Merlin engines. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Togo, the only colony working thereby creating a long list of people who want to steal it

Togo managed to turn a profit, unique to the German overseas empire. Infrastructure was built and the slave trade was clamped down on. Part of that was a small operation with few Germans. No wonder the French and the British and even the Czechs came sniffing around. 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. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

The stamp has a rather bad picture of a coconut grove. They probably didn’t want to show too much detail because it was not really a colony but a mandate area from the League of Nations. The successful farming operations were German and therefore not something for the French to showcase, but here you are.

Todays stamp is issue A6 a one centime stamp issued by the French mandate of Togoland in 1924. It was part of a 37 stamp issue in various denominations that lasted many years in Togo. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents mint.

German interest in the area began when famed German Africa explorer Gustav Nachtigal signed a treaty with local chief Mlapa III that allowed for the trading post at Lomé. It was the first time the German flag had been raised on the African continent. There was a big German interest in farming, but economics were cloaked in the “white man’s burdens” of stamping out slave drives and trading among Africans and Christianizing the area. There were never more than a thousand Germans in Togo but cultivation of cocoa. coffee, and cotton was begun. Roads and even a railroad were completed. The Conference in Berlin settled European claims in the area and there was no German Army presence at all. Given some of the money pit colonies going on around Africa it was quite an accomplishment.

This does not mean that jealousy did not arise. France and Britain marched in at the beginning of WW I. Germans in the colony did not resist. After the war, the German Weimar government argued that the occupation violated the Treaty of Versailles and that Togo should be returned to it. It was not but France and Britain applied to the League of Nations for a mandate to continue the occupation. Interestingly, new nation Czechoslovakia also made an application for a mandate of Togo, but was rejected. The colony went Vichy during World War II and jailed local leader and later President Sylvanus Olympio because as a prominent Afro- Brazilian businessman, he had many ties to British traders. This soured him on the French and even filed the first list of grievances received by the UN about one of it’s mandates.

Post WWII Togo moved toward independence. There had been hope in Togo that the part of Togo mandated to the British would again be part of Togo. This was not to be as Britain incorporated the area into their Gold Coast colony. Olympio was not popular with the French but that did not stop him from being elected the first President. Olympio was on very good terms with West Germany and he wanted to go by their example of not having an army to save precious resources for development. The last German Governor from 1914 was President Olympio’s guest at Togo’s independence ceremonies in 1960.

Colonial politics were still at work. Gold Coast was now independent Ghana and had no interest in returning the old British Togo to Togo. Instead Ghana suggested taking the rest of Togo into Ghana. Things got quite hostile and Olympio finally acquiesced in establishing a 200 man Togo army. This was not enough though. Many Togolese had served in the French Army and has their enlistment terms ended post independence they returned to Togo seeking employment in the Togo Army. This was denied and then in 1962 a group of disgruntled ex French soldiers broke into the Presidential Residence and murdered Olympio. The Ex French sergeant who shot Olympio later himself served as President of Togo from 1967-2005. Olympio’s son tried to return to Togo in 1979 and was quickly attacked and severely injured by the son of his father’s murderer. Quite the blood feud.

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

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Italy 1889, Without Umberto I there will be anarchy, with him, he will face anarchy alone

When the price for expanding empire gets too high, there is a price to pay. It was the King’s duty to look out for his people. Though his powers were limited, his liabilities for failure were unlimited. 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. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

There is a good deal of family resemblance in the House of Savoy the Sardinian and then Italian Royal House. With King Unberto’s resemblance to his son later King Victor Emanuell III a stamp can become more interesting. The son looks the same only with thinner hair and a slightly trimmed mustache. With research then this stamp turns out to be much older and more valuable. Well the Savoys usually go for Austrian wives and Royal bloodlines narrow, and so the stamp collector benefits.

Todays stamp is issue A25, a 60 Centesimi stamp issued by the Kingdom of Italy in 1889. It featured King Umberto I and was part of a 6 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $42.50 used. The used version of the 2 Lire stamp of this issue is worth $1075.

King Umberto I succeeded his father in 1878. The House of Savoy had previously ruled the Kingdom of Sardinia until Italy united in 1870. In doing so, Rome was taken from Papal control and named the capital. This created a deep division in Catholic Italy, indeed Umberto’s father had been excommunicated and only restored to the communion of Christ on his deathbed. Umberto, a political conservative did not have an ally in the Church as he might have hoped. Instead he made friends where he could, with the Austrians and the Germans. This made sense from his genealogy, but Austria possessed land that Italy claimed. This did not put him as one with his people. He did have colonial dreams in North and East Africa, but this required expensive draftee armies that had to deploy and fight in a far away desert.

It is easy to see how the King might have found some opposition and a group of socialists aligned with the Church is what he faced, At the vanguard of this opposition were a group of left wing anarchists that plagued the advanced world at the time. Umberto’s first run in with an anarchist was during a parade in Naples the year he ascended the throne. A dagger was thrust at him but he was able to divert it with a quick move from his sabre. The Prime Minister nearby was hit. In 1897, he was again the recipient of an attempted stabbing in Rome.

Anarchy was spreading. The costs of war in Africa were adding up and the socialists were able to tie it to an increase in the cost of bread. A strike in Milan at a Pirelli tire factory spread and the area was declared under marshal law. Troops were brought in and when the crowd did not disperse the Army fired on and perused the crowd. Hundreds died and many more participants were jailed in the following military tribunals. The commanding general did restore order but was condemned on the left for his harsh tactics. When King Umberto decorated the General he angered the left further, and indirectly signed his own death warrant.

An Italian immigrant in the USA was outraged by the events in Milan and traveled back to Italy to exact his revenge. He shot and killed the King in Monza in 1900. The murder of Umberto inspired the American anarchist who assassinated President McKinley the next year. Interestingly, while all the attackers of  King Umberto were caught, none were put to death. Italy had banned the death penalty.

Well, my drink is empty and while I pour another I have a modest proposition. Anarchists should consider banning the death penalty. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Estonia 1920, Help the Vets, but keep them from power

The Philatelist has done several stamps of countries trying to break away from Russia after the 1917 revolutions. They usually failed when the Red Army showed up. Uniquely though, the Estonians beat the Red Army and this gave veterans a surprising power in independent Estonia. 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. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

The stamp is really poorly printed. As Estonia was a new state, there was a rush to get out stamps. Not for postal use, but as a source of revenue from stamp collectors.  There is a legend that a strange version of the first Estonian issue that was only half perforated being shipped to German stamp dealers by way of Helsinki. The shipment was marketed as lost so the few that show up have much value. By this issue, whatever the voracity of the above, the badly printed stamps were getting to collectors in large numbers and have little value. As artifacts though, interests increases, I hope, so please keep reading.

Todays stamp is issue SP2, a 70 Penni +15 Penni semi postal stamp issued by Estonia in 1920. The 15 Penni extra was to help veterans of the recently concluded war of independence and that is what the two stamps of the issue display. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 50 cents. The overstamp of 2 Marks represents the inflation of the time and slightly lowers the value of the stamps.

Estonia has a Scandinavian heritage especially in it’s northern part and for many years was affiliated with Sweden. Russia then took it over and made efforts to Russify the area. With the chaos of 1917, Estonia sought independence. The leaders played lip service to the idea of a Scandinavian super state including Estonia but there was much infighting amongst the leaders. The forces fighting for Estonia were an interesting mix. In addition to local volunteers, there was an intact force of the old Imperial German Army, there was an alliance with the White Russian forces still fighting the Bolsheviks, and a large group of volunteers from Denmark and especially Finland. Arms and naval power was being provided by Great Britain.

The war with the Red Army went well and much use was made of Armored trains that lead advances that were especially effective. Soon the force was pushing into Russia and the Soviets were willing to sign a treaty granting Estonia independence. The German and White Russian forces continued fighting the Red Army in Russia until finally defeated.

The veterans of the conflict became a powerful political force in Estonia afterwards. The makeup of the force might lead you to believe them right wing politically and that would be correct. The many outside volunteer soldiers had expected much more in the way of war booty that what was offered by the economically struggling new country. Veterans formed the Vaps movement that sought a strong presidency an weak legislature and adopted many of the affectations of the fascists. This alarmed regular Estonians who both valued their freedom and understood that the Soviet Union would not tolerate a fascist state in the Baltics. Remember there was no longer an intact German army present to make the Soviets think twice. A center right politician named Konstantin Pats lead a coup  that made Estonia more authoritarian but kept the Vaps out of power.

President Pats offered no resistance when the Soviets invaded in 1940. For that, some Estonians labeled him a collaborator and he stayed in power for a short period as the country became a Soviet Socialist Republic. The Soviets did not trust him either and sent him into exile in a remote part of Asian Soviet Union. There he was jailed and eventually died in a Soviet mental hospital for never giving up his claim to being the legitimate President of Estonia.

President Pats’ Soviet mug shot

Well my drink is empty and I may have a few more while I ponder a Scandinavian super state. Perhaps a little to super for it’s own good? Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Cape of Good Hope 1875, don’t tell us how to run our colony

Colonists are a long way from home, but that does not mean they want the home country telling them what to do. This is especially true if the instructions will complicate their life. 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. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

The stamp today features Hope, the Latin female embodiment of the English colony. Such visualizations were much more common in the 19th century. It is worth noting that the first British monarch did not appear on a Cape of Good Hope stamp till 1902. This is reflective of the poor relations between Britain and the colony.

The stamp today is issue A6, a half penny stamp issued by the Cape of Good Hope Colony in 1875. It is part of a 12 stamp issue in various denominations issued over many years. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth $16 used.

The Cape of Good Hope is on the coast of Southern Africa about 90 miles west of the division between the Indian and Atlantic oceans. There is a legend that an Indian junk landed around 1000 AD but the Portuguese arrived in the 1490s. Local African Hottentots in the area were nomadic hunter/gatherers with no fixed settlements. The first settlements were Dutch under the auspices of the Dutch East India Company, as a natural stop on the India trade. The Dutch settlers, called Boers, many of whom were German or French Huguenots, often trekked far inland in search of prime farmland. The Colony fell to the British during the Napoleonic Wars. In 1834, the British banned slavery and this sent many of the remaining Boers to Transvaal and the Orange Free State. There had been trouble with the native Xhosa tribe. This trouble dropped away when the Xhosa chief was convinced that if the tribe killed it’s own cattle and burned its crops and clothes that their ancestors who rise up from the dead and kill all the white settlers. The British settlers seeing what was happening, left food out for them, but the tribe decimated itself. This tragedy had the silver lining that the Cape colony became unusually peaceful and prosperous with it’s place on the India trade route.

Into this success came the colony masters from London. They had the idea to federate the multiple colonies of southern Africa into a federation modeled on what had recently been done with Canada. This did not take into account the different ethnicities of the white settlers and the still African ruled homelands in the area. The Cape Governor John Molteno fought the British intrusion as best he could, understanding that other areas of South Africa were much less stable and plagued with wars. He was British, but of half Italian decent and his first wife and child were mixed race. He was a trader and farmer and a rougher character than the British were used to. The British deposed Molteno and sent a new governor from Britain to try to pull off the home country’s federation idea. This did not go well with the outside governor leading a disastrous war with the Zulus and he was eventually sent back to London under charges. South Africa did not unite for another 30 years.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to the toast the white settlers of the Cape that left out food for the suiciding Xhosa tribe. The Xhosa’s hatred must have been very strong to do what they did. It was a touching act of Christian grace to reach out and try to save them from themselves. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collected.

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East Germany 1956, we have an airline, that goes to Berlin, but we don’t deserve the Lufthansa name

A country needs a national air line. With Germany divided, there was a race as to who gets to use the famed Luft Hansa name. 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. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

The plane on the stamp is the Soviet Ilyushin Il-14. The airplane bears a close resemblance to the American Convair CV-240 that was the first airplane operated by the West German Lufthansa. Both airlines used the same livery and the “Deutsche” on the East German does not stand out because Lufthansa is the German flag carrier. When you look past the picture the equality falls apart. The Il-14 airliner is smaller, shorter ranged and came later than the CV-240. It also lacked the pressurization of the Convair, so was less comfortable to fly in. The East German Lufthansa even started off with Soviet flight crews, while West German Lufthansa had a core of veterans of the prewar Luft Hansa. West Germany for the win.

Todays stamp is issue A80, a 10 Pfennig stamp issued by East Germany on February 1st, 1956. It was part of a four stamp issue in various denominations that celebrated the inauguration of passenger air service of the then East German flag carrier Deutsche Lufthansa. The first flight was from Berlin to Warsaw. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 35 cents used.

Both East and West Germany faced many challenges getting a new Lufthansa going. The pre war Luft Hansa had formed in 1926 upon a merger between an airline associated with the Lloyd shipping company and an airline associated with the Junkers aircraft manufacturer. The airline was dissolved at the end of World War II. In West Germany, a company was formed by Luft Hansa veterans bought the rights to the name and ordered a small number of new build Convair CV-240 short range airliners and Lockheed Constellation long range airliners. The lead time to build the airliners gave Lufthansa time to get permission to operate and membership in the International Air Transport Association, the first German carrier to join. Under the post war four power agreement, no German, East or West, airline was allowed to fly to Berlin.

The East Germans had even slower going getting an airline going, but they had one huge advantage. There was a 1930s built airport in the village of Schonefeld. It had been built to serve a Henschel aircraft factory there. Post war it had been used by the Soviet Air Force. The Soviets signed it over in 1955 allowing East Germany to start an airline, and base it just outside of Berlin. The government chose the name Deutsche Lufthansa and livery close to the prewar airline. This attracted court action from new West German Lufthansa and more importantly, denied the carrier membership in the International Air Transport Association. They were not going to allow two airlines with the same name. No membership meant the East German Lufthansa could not fly to the west.

East Germany attacked the problem by starting a second airline named Interflug. It also started with Ilyushin Il-14 airliners that were by now license made in Dresden by Elbe Flugzeugwerk. Deutsche Lufthansa was shut down in the early 60s with the fleet taken over by Interflug, which became the East German flag carrier until liquidated in 1991. The Schonefeld Airport became a home for low cost airlines. This fits into the legacy of Interflug, that raised foreign currency by offering low cost vacation charters to Westerners. A bus service from then West Berlin avoided the need to go through East German customs to get on the flights.

Soon after this article publishes, I will go on vacation in Berlin for the first time. My flights are on the low cost carrier Wow out of Iceland and through Schonefeld airport. It is now being expanded but I will be on the lookout for old Russian airliners parked in some out of the way corner. I will also hit the postal museam while there. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.