Month: December 2018

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Iraq 1959, Pan Arabist Socialists get rid of the King to make way for the Ba’athist

In the 50s, every Arab seemed to be a pan-Arabist. The Hashemites offered a traditional Kingdom structure. Nasser showed how to tell off the west and live to tell about it. In Iraq and Syria, a pan-Arabist, socialist and secular Ba’ath movement offered an alternative. Pan of course means come together though and how does that happen when everyone keeps getting assassinated. 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.

Here we have the new emblem of the new Republic of Iraq. It is trying to be hopeful and is somewhat in the United Nations style. Prime Minister Qasim came into office promising Pan Arabism, oil nationalization, and socialist reforms. This stamp tries to build that spirit. The King and his ministers were dead and many were happy about it. However some more ministers would soon also be dead and the same people will be happy about that as well.

Todays stamp is issue A58, a 1 Fils stamp issued by the Republic of Iraq in 1959. It was part of a 16 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used. The official overprint adds nothing to the value.

In 1958, the young King Faisal II achieved a measure of pan Arabism by entering a federation with Jordan. They were also putting pressure on Kuwait to join. Arab youth had been given hope by the collapse of colonialism and the Hashemites were just not what they had in mind. A troop movement was cover for an unopposed military coup that saw the Royal Family assassinated in the palace’s courtyard. The unloved Prime Minister tried to escape dressed as a women but with men’s shoes. He was discovered, and killed and buried. Then he was dug up, burned, hung, and then run over by a Baghdad city bus until there was nothing left. Not taking a hint, a former Coronel name Qasim declared himself Prime Minister.

Qasim’s agenda in power turned out to be more socialist the pan-Arabist. The federation with Jordan was over, oil was nationalized, women were given rights, and polygamy and early marriage was banned. Land reform was started and much low income housing was built in the cities. He was not willing to turn over sovereignty to Nasser’s Egypt and join a United Arab Republic. It is after all difficult to join an oil rich country with a poor one. It is just a formula for rich to poor wealth transfer that you can’t expect the rich one to look forward to.

Citing lack of progress in pan Arabist goals, there was another coup in 1963. This one was fought tooth and nail until Qasim offered to give in in exchange for safe passage out of the country. This was reneged upon and there was a televised show trial culminating in Qasim’s being shot. The next guy also reneged on his previous pan-Arabist goals and just to spice things up, his plane was tampered with and he died in a plane crash. He had managed to take away the new rights of women. After all this the Ba’ath party movement took power that it would hold till 2003. that does not mean the intrique ended but from now on it was within the party. Pan-Arabist ambitions would now be persused by force of arms.

Qasim is slightly better remembered in Iraq than some of the other pan-Arabist heroes. There is a new statue to him as of 2007 and when his remains were discovered in 2006 they were not desecrated.

Qasim’s statue in modern Iraq

Well my drink is empty and Iraq is just to rough a place to toast anyone. Maybe losers get the leaders they deserve. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

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Italy 1921, 600 years after Dante, Italy celebrates the rise of poetry in Italian

Italy had long struggled between two masters a Pope to guide spiritual matters and the politics around a King uniting Italy. An Italian King was now in power finding a way to live beside a Pope in the Vatican. Something that had not happened since ancient Rome. It was a great time to rediscover the middle ages poet Dante, both Catholic and Italian, who wrote  of love, political passions, chivalry and spirituality in a way all Italians could understand. 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.

Dante was a classically liberal figure. He wrote, uniquely for his time in the language of Florence, his home town. He described the language as Italian and that was a break from Latin, the language of the Church and the scholars. Yet here we have him 600 years later remember fondly by a right of center Italy and even a Pope named Benedict. This is possible for three reasons. Dante had touched a common thread in the Italian soul. He had also put forward the idea of a good universal King to insure peace on Earth. This fit into the self imagined image of a colonial era Italian King. He also included much spirituality, Catholic spirituality, so over time the Church had to embrace him. This goes some way to the reverence shown Dante at the time, and the frequency he appears on Italian stamps. The 700th anniversary of Dante’s death is coming up in 2021, it will be interesting to see if he will be remembered or will his image be succumbed to the post modern deconstruction.

Todays stamp is issue A63, a 40 Centesimi stamp issued by the Kingdom of Italy on September 28th, 1921. It was part of a 3 stamp issue in various denominations remembering the 600th anniversary of the death of the Italian poet Dante Alighieri. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $32 used. There was a  grey version of the 15 cent stamp that was not formally issued but proofs got out in tiny numbers. An imperforate, used version of it is worth $6100.

Dante was born around 1265 in Florence, then a city state with a republican government. Dante received an excellent education for the day that included much knowledge of ancient Rome. The times saw him contracted into marriage to a girl at age 12. He had already become smitten with another girl and his unrequited love for her provided much impetus for his romantic poems. His wife played no part in these. His Italian poetry was lyrical and in a ryming 3 line style that was much copied later.

He was also a politician and part of the ruling class of Florence that were then known as Guelphs. As happened in much of Italy over the next centuries. The Guelphs became devided over loyalty to the Pope or to the Holy Roman Emperor. The Black Guelphs supported the Pope and gained control of Florence. Dante was a White Guelph and spent the rest of his life in exile in various other city states. This helped his writing by giving him a wider knowledge of what unites Italy and pushed along his thinking about the separate nature of a worldly King who could moderate disagreements between his different peoples and a Pope who could guide the individual in his spiritual journey toward everlasting life.

Dante’s master work written in exile was The Comedy, renamed Devine Comedy only after his death. As per usual with Dante, it came in three parts. A journey guided by the Roman Poet Virgil and his early in life unrequited love through hell, purgatory and heaven. Hell, (inferno) is the best remembered now but purgatory the most romantic and heaven the most spiritual. It must be remembered what a revelation Dante’s style of writing was in the middle ages. it was a pointing forward toward the Renaissance with a return to knowledge and culture. Ironically, Dante somewhat fell from favor during the High Renaissance when his style was considered simplistic. Similarly today Dante is less remembered as his romance and chivalry seem dated and his politics and religion not inclusive. There are also claims today that his work was derivative of earlier Persian works. I obviously don’t agree but that the stamp wouldn’t be done the same way today only makes it more interesting as it gives insights as to thinking from the stamps time and place. Why I collect.

Well my drink is empty and with the stamp being worth $32 I can afford another round to celebrate Dante. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting

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Nauru 1954, a “Pleasant Island” is ruined by phosphates and lots of money

Perhaps westerners should have just kept sailing. Sometimes stopping will change a place forever. 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.

Sometimes a stamp can be a great way to see a places best self. This is the case with the fisherman on todays stamp. Fisherman on colonial stamps can be a little bit of a cliché. The Philatelist have covered such stamps from British Guyana and South Vietnam, from when it was a virtual USA colony. Fishing though was one area that native Nauruns exceled. Without outside help, they had figured out how to transfer young ocean fish into a freshwater fishery where they could be a more stable source of food. Something worth celebrating colonial status or not.

Todays stamp is issue A3, a 1/2 Penny stamp issued by Nauru on Febuary 6th, 1954 when it was a United Nations mandate administered by Australia. It was part of a nine stamp issue in various denominations that showed views of the island. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents mint. Being used would double the value, a sure sign of a stamp issue meant for collectors rather than postage.

Nauru, east of New Guinea  was first spotted by a British whaling ship in the 18th century. Upon seeing the ship, natives came out to greet it and there was a friendly interaction. The island’s place was recorded and it was named “Pleasant Island”. Over the next century, ships would stop and trade alcohol and firearms for food and fresh water. This lead to a deadly civil war on the island that cost 25 percent of the population. Germany got a mandate of the island in 1886 and was the first colonial power. During their time, phosphate was discovered on the island and a lucrative mining operation begun. The Australians landed at the beginning of World War I and ruled through the Australian phosphate commission. During World War II, Nauru faired very badly. Early in the war German cruisers shelled and greatly damaged the phosphate mine. Revenge for the mine being taken from them? Later the Japanese landed and were quite cruel. Able bodied men were taken to another island to work as laborers and a leper colony was disbanded when the 29 sufferers were sent out to sea on a boat and sunk. The Australians finally showed up again months after the end of the war to take the Japanese surrender, get them home and retrieve the survivors from the laborers sent abroad. It was decided on a UN mandate for the island administered by Australia.

The UN had a paradox with Nauru. It was opposed to colonies and yet the phosphate mine through off 5 times what was needed to administer it. The UN understood that the excess revenue would corrode the island but yet they could not abide by continued colonial status. Independence happened in 1968 with the excess revenue of the phosphate mine automatically deposited in a sovereign wealth fund. For a brief period, Nauru was one of the richest countries in the world per capita. The wealth fund bought up much real estate around the world so to provide income when the phosphate ran out. It had been seen to that the principal capital of the trust could not be touched, but the corrupt local government got around it by having the island take out loans against the assets of the trust to fund the high living of Naurans.

In the 1990s the phosphate mining was exhausted and all the loans came due. They were not paid and the sovereign wealth fund saw it’s worldwide real estate repossessed. The country is still ruled by the same losers that threw away the wealth. They started desperate schemes to keep money coming in by trying to become a tax haven and taking in unwanted migrants headed for Australia. The migrants in the camp on Nauru were treated so badly that Australian courts ruled the migrants had to be let into Australia to save them. The latest scam is to sue Australia, New Zealand, and the UK  for environmental damage from the long ago mining. The countries all paid and of course the money was squandered. Germany has not been sued for finding the phosphate, maybe the WWII shelling made an impression.

Well my drink is empty and I may have a few more while I ponder why Nauru could not have been left a pleasant island. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting

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Luxembourg 2001, heres hoping the new currency works out

Here is something that is somewhat rare on a modern European stamp. The idea that something new is coming and it will be great. What a challenging undertaking the Euro currency was. If it failed, the old currencies would have reemerged at a much lower rate and everyone would be poorer. If it worked, Europe would have a potential rival to the United States Dollar and with it more equal status. 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.

It is said that great minds think alike. A while back we did a 1980s stamp from Saint Vincent, that promoted their then new Carribean currency union. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/10/01/saint-vincent-against-all-odds-has-a-stable-currency-even-if-joshua-gone-barbados/. This is almost the exact issue with denominations of the stamp coordinated with the new coin on the stamp. In Saint Vincent, there was controversy of political leaders galivanting around in negotiation while the people suffered. The mood was captured in the Johnny Cash song, “Joshua gone Barbadoes” see https://youtu.be/nN5ui3QOYAk. By the time of the Euro’s introduction in 2002, Johnny Cash was older so Luxembourg Prime Minister Werner’s travels went unsung. Too bad.

Todays stamp is issue A437, a 1 Euro/40 Luxembourg Franc stamp issued by the Grand Dutchy of Luxembourg on October 1st, 2001. During the last days of the old currency it was fixed to the new Euro. It was a 6 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.75 cents used.

The European Economic Community had long had a goal of a single currency. This would be difficult to achieve as the different countries often persued different monetary policies and joining a single currency would take away some of the ability to do that. In 1970, French President De Gaulle pulled out of the talks as they were not getting anywhere. Luxembourg Prime Minister Pierre Werner convinced him to return and France then convinced all the countries to charge Prime Minister Werner with putting together a proposal on how a single currency could be achieved in 10 years. Werner proposed that countries would initiate a series of economic reforms that would bring their policies more in line with West Germany. The legacy currencies would then be fixed at a rate verses the new Euro and the new currency would exist in terms of wire transactions for a few years before the actual currency hit the street.

Werner’s proposal was followed quite closely but only many years later. Time must be allotted for politicions to go to Barbadoes and stay at the big hotel. Johnny Cash had that part right. Prime Minister Werner did live to see his currency become a reality, he died in 2002 at the age of 88.

For the most part, the currency has been a success. It has proved difficult to bring poorer countries in as they are more likely to be incapable of sticking to the dictates of the currency authority and the result is a shortage of money there. This is predictable and was also true with the early days of the USA Dollar in places like Appalachia. The Euro came on in 2002 at a rate of $1.16 per Euro and as of today sits at $1.11 per Euro. As a comparison, the Chinese Juan went from $.12 to $.14 cents in the same period.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Prime Minister Werner. He must have been frustrated to find his proposal took so long to implament. Perhaps getting invited to all the conferances and staying in the big hotel made up for it. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Spain 1980, honoring postal as well as Royal heritage

One of the issues facing modern stamp issues is an overabundance of issues that look backward instead of forward. This is probably related to a sense in the western world that the future will be worse than the past. Some times the look back can be making a current point. Like Spanish King Juan Carlos seeing that his unpopular grandfather King Alfonso VIII is treated respectfully on a stamp after the Royal nightmare of Franco and Republicans was over. 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 was produced to honor the 1980 EXFILNA stamp collecting exposition held that year in Barcelona. It was the 50th anniversary of the first national stamp exposition that was also in Barcelona. To mark the anniversary, it was decided to show 50 year before King Alfonso visiting the first exposition. This is where the politics entered in. King Alfonso was about to abdicate in 1930 after a long but lousy rule. Republicans had won local elections discrediting the King’s favored conservative prime minister. The army then rebelled but the civil war that followed was won by Francisco Franco who was not interested in restoring the Royals. King Alfonso and his heirs had to watch this from Italian exile. After Franco’s death, Alfonso’s grandson King Juan Carlos I was Franco’s chosen successor as head of state and restoring the Royal line. This is what is really being celebrated on this stamp. The stamp exposition is a clever way to slip unpopular grandfather back on a stamp without creating a ruckus.

The stamp today is issue A575, a 5 Peseta stamp issued by the Kingdom of Spain on July 1st, 1980. It was a single stamp issue. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether it is mint or used.

King Alfonso XIII ascended the throne upon  his birth as he was born posthumously after his fathers death. It is said he was presented as a baby naked on a silver platter to the then Prime Minister.’ Lucky for him this did not happen in one of Spain’s African colonies. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/06/05/spanish-guinea-in-the-rush-to-leave-spain-turned-it-over-to-a-witch-doctor/ During his childhood, Spain was ruled by a Regency headed by his Austrian mother. The Regency went badly as Spain lost the Spanish American War and with it the Empires last footholds in the Americas and Asia. When Alfonso was actually in power the empire calamities continued much closer to home in Morocco with the costly Rif war see.https://the-philatelist.com/2018/10/25/spanish-morocco-it-is-useful-to-have-a-second-stringer-occupy-much-of-a-large-dangerous-place/ The wars were also expensive and required large armies manned by peasants for whom the economic situation was not improving fast enough. Even the genius of staying neutral in World War I was not enough to restore his popularity. His marriage to an English Princess was unhappy since he resented that she had passed her families’ hemophilia to his sons. He fathered 5 children out of wedlock in addition to his legitimate 4 children.

Franco was not interested in reestablishing the Monarchy during his long rule. The Royals had been on the Right side of politics but many in his movement supported a rival pretender Royal line. Franco also wanted to keep the power for himself. The Royal line still formally claimed the title and continued reaching out to Franco. A Royal married Franco’s granddaughter and the young royals were allowed to be educated in Spain. As Franco aged he ignored the in place royal line and installed Alfonso’s grandson Juan Carlos as heir apparent. He hoped for loyalty to his movement but once in power the King followed a more middle of the road course. He appointed more liberal ministers to replace Franco’s people and supported pro democracy reforms. At the same time he maintained a conservative image that allowed for a certain continuity. To his credit, over time he backed away from politics and was thought by most as a positive, stabilizing influence in Spain.

The stamp expositions are still an annual event in Spain. There is often a unique stamp issue that is available to buy only within the Exposition. The issues are often more valuable than regular issues but the fact of stamp collecting is that it is impossible to buy a stamp when issued and have it be life changingly valuable in your lifetime. If you are lucky though the value might keep up with inflation. Todays stamp did even worse that that. No love for King Alfonso outside the family?

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to celebrate the annual EXFILNA stamp shows in Spain. Long may they continue. Come again after Christmas for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. Happy Holidays.

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South Africa 1966, A tiny minority can go it alone because they have diamonds, but do they?

Apartheid South Africa thought they could  break off from Britain and the whole world because of the wealth created by diamonds. How well though did they really control it? 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 aesthetics of the stamp tell a powerful story with a simple rendering of a diamond. There is a version of the stamp with the country name in English so as not to crowd out the image with superfluous text as with some bilingual Canadian stamps. This stamp recognized the 5th anniversary of the formal declaring of a white republic and the end of British Commonwealth and Dominion status. The issue included a view of Table Mountain, to show beauty, corn to show self sufficiency, a flying bird to show the freedoms enjoyed by the white minority, but the most interesting one to me is the majestic view given to the diamond. To have the view that rule by a small minority was sustainable, what better than show a source of unending wealth. How well though was the diamond resource controlled? Perhaps less directly than the stamp implies.

Todays stamp is issue A126 a one cent stamp issued by the Republic of South Africa on May 31st, 1966. It was part 8 stamp issue in vaious denominations celebrating the 5th anniversary of the unilateral declaration of republic status. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents.

Diamonds were first mined in South Africa in the colonial period after being discovered by Cecil Rhodes. Rhodes was a homosexual and therefore lacked heirs who could run the operation after his death. Into the void came a mining engineer named Oppenheimer that had emigrated from Germany and invested in the De Beers operation. He converted to Anglican and started the Anglo- American mining that merged with de Beers. By then the de Beers operation controlled 90 percent of the worlds diamond mining. In addition to Southern African production, they bought the output of other producers and routed the output through a system of diamond cutters in Israel. The spread out structure of the operation allowed de Beers to get around sanctions. To the Israelis it was a Jewish concern, opposed to Apartheid and employing many blacks. To London operations, the diamonds were coming from Israel. De Beers was 10 percent of the GNP of South Africa and 40 percent of the exports. All the middlemen meant that South Africa was not getting as rich as it might have had the operation been more purely South African. Yet that would have subject to the sanctions that fell on South Africa after breaking the ties to Britain.

In the 1950s, the British saw the writing on the wall and were preparing to turn over the African colonies to local African leaders. To a place like South Africa, with a relatively large number of white residents this was threatening as they did not see black rule as realistic. Unilaterally, South Africa ended Dominion status and declared itself an independent Republic. Only whites voted on this and the measure only carried 52-48. Over time, ever greater international sanctions fell on South Africa in order to pressure them to face the inevitable. South Africa however was by far the richest country in Africa and even their repressed black residents enjoyed a much higher standard of living than black run former colonies to the north. This attracted ever more black Africans to move to South Africa while there was a steady stream of whites out. Eventually a deal was struck and white rule ended.

Ever resourceful de Beers goes on. It had always maintained an official position against white rule and has been generous with new black governments in the area. A new trick is the blood diamond. de Beers announced in 1999 that no diamonds would be sourced from countries in Africa with long running civil wars. This helped delegitimize alternate to de Beers sources of diamonds. The diamonds were supporting long running civil wars in places like Sierra Leonne and Angola but it does seem to be throwing rocks from a glass house.

Well my drink is empty and I am left staring at the majestic diamond on todays stamp. The decision to break with Britain and try to continue alone could not have been easy. They must have been heavily counted on wealth from de Beers, so much of which was syphoned off. The original blood diamond? Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Senegal 1935, A bridge connecting a trading post becomes a symbol of a city

I have covered many colonial stamps, and the record of colonialism is at best mixed. Yet it is hard to argue with making connections. Here we have a bridge that has been doing that for over 100 years. 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.

Today is a bridge in Senegal. One can understand that the level of engineering involved was beyond anything that could have been achieved locally by the natives in 1898. As such, it is one of those rare instances of doing something worth doing and not merely exploitive. Today this bridge still stands and understandably is a symbol of Saint Louis, Senegal. No wonder such an achievement is honored with a stamp. I was hoping to find an indepent Senegal stamp with the bridge, perhaps on the bridges 100th anniversary, but no the postal authorites now seem more into the Paris Dakar Rally.

The stamp today is issue A29, a one cent stamp issued by the French colony of Senegal in 1935. The stamp was part of a 30 stamp issue in various denominations and were issued for many years. If you see a version without the RF that means it was issued by the Vichy French puppet state during World War II and are fake as they were not sold for postage in Senegal. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether mint or used.

The city of Saint Louis is at the mouth of the Senegal River on the island of Nadr. Upon arrival of French traders, the island was unoccupied. The French built  first a fortress called Saint Louis and the city grew up around it. It became the capital of the colony when France annexed the mainland. At first there was a ferry system to the island but the colony saw the need for a proper bridge and the colony took out a loan to get the bridge built. Faideherbe Bridge was named after French General and colonial administrator Louis Faideherbe. There is an urban legend that the bridge was designed by Gustave Eifel and used steel sections intended for a bridge in Romania he lost the contract for. The truth is that Eifel’s firm bid on the project but did not win the contract. The bridge has a moveable section to let large ships pass or to deny access to the island.

Saint Louis developed a fairly unique culture as a multi race trading post that was dominated by Creole traders known as Metis. They had an unusually high proportion of females among their ranks. Much of the trading however was dealing in slavery, that went on for several decades after the French had officially abolished it.

Over time the fortunes of Saint Louis declined. The port facilities were inadequate for the then new steamships, and new traders from Bordeaux in France st up rival trade routes out of Dakar, another city further south that also started as an offshore island trade post. In 1902, the capital of French West Africa moved from Saint Louis to Dakar, although the capital of Senegal itself stayed in Saint Louis for a few more years until independence in 1960.

The decline continued post independence. By 2010 the Faidherbe bridge required urgent repairs. The French and Creoles are long gone from Saint Louis, but nevertheless it was up to France to see that the city did not lose the connection to the mainland. France financed the repairs as it had the original construction. How independent is Senegal really if it can not do anything for itself.

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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Tristan da Cunha, thanks for stopping, have a potato, do you have any women?

These hardy souls that build a life for themselves on a desolate island. how do they make it. So slip on tour 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 must confess that I do not have the Tristan stamp I really want. It was more a label and the catalog does not even recognize it. The unit of currency on Tristan was once the potato and there was a stamp with a view of local penguins and denominated in potatoes. The stamps could only go down hill from that. Not for these tiny islands though that can now make some revenue for themselves by selling to the world  a view of their exotic islands. One of the best aspects of the British Commonwealth are these stamp issues. A genuine common wealth as the issues are both the same and different.

Todays stamp is issue A45, a 5 Penny stamp issued by Tristan da Cunha, then a Dependency of the British Crown Colony of St. Helena, on May 22nd, 1981. The stamp displays early maps and charts of Tristan, in this case done by a Captain Denham from 1853, According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether mint of cancelled to order. Too low for such a nice stamp!

Tristan da Cunha is named after the Anglicized version of a Portuguese Admiral who first spotted it. It is a small group of volcanic islands in the south Atlantic a thousand miles off of Cape Town, South Africa. The island was a regular stopping point for sailing ships on the India trade. Though far out to sea the islands lay in the currents and had ample fresh water and seals and penguins for food. During the War of 1812, American navy ships used Tristan as a staging point for attacking British shipping. The British were also worried that the French might used Tristan as a staging point to liberate Napoleon who was on somewhat nearby St. Helena. So for a few years there was a detachment of British Royal Marines. After the threat passed, the Marines left but a Corporal, his wife and two children and two stone masons elected to stay. Ships would often stop and in ones and twos, sailors elected to stay. There were occasional voyages to Cape Town to trade and try to recruit wives for the often woman short island. There were no laws and no alchohol but Christianity was practiced and the area became truly multiethnic through the wives recruited. At its peak the island contained 300 people and wheat and potatoes were cultivated. A visit from the Duke of Edinburgh in 1867 saw the main settlement renamed Edinburgh of the Seven Seas in his honor.

The late 19th century saw a string of bad luck. The Suez canal ended ships sailing by Tristan so many fewer stopped. One nearby shipwreck blighted the island with rats that ended the cultivation of wheat. A small boat sent out to greet a passing ship sank at the loss of 15 men. The Cape Colony offered to evacuate the island and give land in the colony but the residents voted to stay. In 1961, the volcano on the island blew and the residents were evacuated to Britain where they were kept together on a military base. A few years later the island was surveyed and Edinburgh of the Seven Seas had survived and again residents voted to return. The island currently has about 250 people and is now administered jointly with St. Helena and Ascension. Britain recently awarded Tristan a British postal code to make it easier for them to order things online. I know you must be thinking that it must be hard to buy things online with potatoes, but they switched to British money after World War II. There is no airport and everything is brought in by sea. In 1967 The Royal yacht Britannia stopped at Tristan allowing the Royal family to see one of the most far flung outposts of Empire.

Tristan da Cuna as seen from the International Space Station

Well my drink is empty and I will salute Tristan islanders as there is no drinks on the island. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Newfoundland 1911, Trying and failing at Dominion status

Newfoundland is a large land mass with a small population that was for centuries dependent on fishing. Trying to figure out how to govern itself or who to affiliate with is a never fully resolved question. 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 features Queen Mary The new Queen Consort of British King George V at the time of his coronation in 1911. The coronation was not nearly the postage stamp event that was his Silver Jubilee 25 years later, of which I have covered many issues. Here we have a look at the new Royal Family including even child Prince and Princesses, including two future Kings. It can’t be a coincidence that these type of issues emanate from colonies that are debating their future status. I am not sure if the intent of showing families is to be less political or whether the intent is to increase personal affinity for the Royals that may subtly influence political decision making. It may also be that the Royal Family itself may be more interested in a far off colonies continued affiliation than the Home Office of Britain that must write the checks.

Todays stamp is issue A56, a one Cent stamp issued by the British Dominion of Newfoundland on June 19th, 1911. The Coronation of King George V issue comprised 11 stamps of various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is only worth 25 cents used, by far the lowest value among the issue.

Newfoundland was first spotted by the Vikings but their attempt at a colony did not last. In the 17th and 18th century the area was contested by Britain and France mainly with an eye toward fishing rights. There were at the time vast resources of cod. Eventually a permanent colony got going on shore and the French were content with fishing rights off the North shore during certain seasons. The inhabitants came mainly from Ireland with the then expected rivalries between Catholic and Anglican. Farming was attempted but only minimally successful due to the harsh climate.

The vote to join the Canadian federation failed in 1859. By then Britain wanted to transition their ethnically British colonies to self governing dominions and this status was granted to Newfoundland in 1907, the same year as New Zealand and soon after Australia and South Africa. Dominion status did not go well for Newfoundland. The local government borrowed large amounts of money to invest in railway projects that they hoped would make possible mining and industrialization. Instead it only added a large debt burden. The industrialization was predicated on a hoped for free trade deal with the USA. Teddy Roosevelt was in favor of it but Canada, at Canada’s insistence Britain, and powerful American Senator Henry Cabot Lodge were opposed so the deal never happened.

This left Newfoundland still dependent on fishing and when the market price for cod tanked during the Depression, Newfoundland was bankrupt. Newfoundland petitioned to return to colony status which was granted and British monetary help followed. Newfoundland was the only Dominion to return to British Colony status.

The Lend Lease Act of 1940 granted USA access to British bases including on Newfoundland. The resulting construction was a big boom on Newfoundland. This made Canada very nervous as they worried that the Colony might change it’s alliegience to the USA. In the late 40s, Newfoundland was allowed to vote on independence or joining Canada, the choice of closer ties to the USA was not offered. Canada won the vote 52-48. The relationship with Canada is far from smooth. Canada banned fishing over environmental concerns  while also allowing offshore drilling of oil as that revenue goes 70 percent to the federal government. In addition hydroelectric facilities that mainly benefit Quebec have been exploited in Labrador. Meanwhile Newfoundland remains Canada’s poorest province and still faces the ever present issue of out migration that has plagued Newfoundland since the Vikings.

Queen Mary was the only British Princess of her era not to be from Queen Victoria’s direct line. as such she was obvious mairrage material for the male Royal line. She first announced engagement to George V’s older brother Albert, who died a few months later from the flu. A year later she became engaged to future King George V. She outlived him becoming Queen Mother. She outlived George VI and died at 85 a few weeks before Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation in 1953.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour perhaps several more to toast the hardy residents of Newfoundland. I enjoyed a trip to Newfoundland in 2001 and found them quite friendly. I had some trouble understanding them as their accent owes much to Gallic, something I have never noticed in Ireland itself. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Norway 1939, An old church stamp that both sides can live with

A church from the middle ages does not engender controversy. Even from governments as far apart as Norway’s two governments of 1940. 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.

Germany invaded Norway in 1940. Norway resisted and the Prime Minister and King fled Oslo to avoid falling into German hands. They escaped to Britain and continued to issue stamps, now mainly to raise revenue. The Quisling government than canceled all earlier stamps except this issue and began issuing their own. In 1945, after the war the old government came back and in turn declared the Quisling stamp issues invalid. In 1981, the postal service revisited the issue and declared all the issues of whatever government to be official Norway stamps. This church stamp and the others of the issue retained their legitimacy, but by avoiding politics they were perhaps all the stamps Norway needed during that troubled period.

Todays stamp is issue A26, a 20 Ore stamp issued by Norway on January 16th, 1939. It displayed ancient Borgund Stave Church, and was part of a three stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

The time between the wars saw many coalition governments with no single party achieving a majority. Eventually in 1935, the less radical offshoot of the Socialists was able to form a coalition government with the Center Agrarian party that allowed the Socialists to get their agenda moving. In the late thirties the country was able to enact unemployment insurance and old age pensions. What it left undone was to prepare the country’s military forces for the coming World War. After all, Norway intended neutrality in any war.

Opposing the Socialist among others was former military man and diplomat Vidkun Quisling. He had gained some fame working with famous Norwegian Artic explorer Nansen exposing 1920s calamities such as the plight of the Armenians in Turkey and famines in the Soviet Union. Quisling had not however been able to attract many votes to his far right political party. He had come to the attention of Hitler however and Hitler had hoped to force King Haakon to appoint Quisling Prime Minister after Norway was occupied peacefully. Instead Norway resisted, the King fled and Quisling was left to announce his coup over the radio. He was ignored by the Norway Army and even the Germans at first but ended up forming a German puppet government. Resistance soon collapsed and the government was in London. Norway was fairly peaceful during the war with the Allies never seriously undermining German rule and Quisling never able to form the Norwegian Legion he hoped could fight beside Germany and make Norway more an ally and less a puppet. After the wars end, the King returned and appointed a new coalition government that included all parties except Quisling. Quisling understood he was going to be shot by the old government but thought over time he would be seen as a patriot  and another Saint Olav. He was right about being shot after a trial in 1945, but instead his name has become synonymous all over the world with scheming and traitorous collaboration.

The Borgund stave church was built around 1200AD. It had a stone foundation that helped it last and tall staves(wooden posts) that allowed for it’s unique appearance. The appearance was copied much later by other churches in Norway, Germany, and two replicas in the USA. At first the church was Catholic but with the rest of Norway became Lutheran. In 1868, Borgund built a larger church next door and the old church was preserved as a museum. It no longer hosts services. The church was honored with another stamp in 1978.

Well my drink is nearly empty and I will use the last sip to toast the long history of Borgund stave Church. Norwegians must love it, whatever their politics. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.