Tag: Gold Coast stamp

There is an old African tradition among the Yoruba People of communicating between villages though the use of hourglass shaped drums that can be adjusted to mimic the sounds of human speech. There was nothing like this anywhere in the world. The Gold Coast got around to displaying it on their last stamp issue before independence. 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 an earlier version of this stamp with King George VI and a later version with an overprint recognizing independence in 1957. Queen Elizabeth is still with us but when Charles or William replace wouldn’t it be great if the Commonwealth did a new version with the new King. Talk about continuity and talking drums are interesting in any time period.

Todays stamp is issue A15, a 2 Pence stamp issued by the Crown Colony of the Gold Coast in 1954. It was a twelve stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used. Check out the hand cancelation by pen on mine. The George VI version has the same value but the independence overprint adds 15 cents to the value.

Drumming holds a special significance to the Yoruba people. Those of them that still adhere to their legacy religion believe that the first Yoruba drummer was named Ayangalu. It is believed that upon his mortal death, he was deified and became an Orisha. An Orisha is a spirit sent down from higher deities to communicate with mortals, in Ayangalu’s case all future drummers.

The talking drum is hourglass shaped with drums on both ends and many cords down each side. The cords can adjust the pitch between beats. In this way a very skilled drummer can lyrically mimic human speech. The drums became tools of communication as in the right circumstances the sound can carry as far as five miles.

In the poetic verbal tradition of the griots, African verbal historians and poets, the communication is not simple and short like say Morris code, but rather long and stretched out. Go home might be drummed as go where your feet want to take you. This longer phrase is then repeated several times in the hope that it will be properly interpreted by the listener. You can hear an example here, https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=talking+drums+ghana&docid=608034306542275132&mid=1C2F896B5CBDEE7CF2611C2F896B5CBDEE7CF261&view=detail&FORM=VIRE   .

The use of the talking drum as of course declined and fewer and fewer have the skill to play it. The talking drum has showed up in western music including Fleetwood Mac and The Grateful Dead including attempts by their drummers to play live at shows. One wonders if they pray for the blessings of Ayangalu before the attempt. The talking drum also appeared on the soundtrack to the recent movie “Black Panther”. The score for that movie was written by Ludwig Goransson.

Well my drink is empty and I will listen for the drumbeats to decide if I get another. Hearing nothing, away goes the bottle. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.

Ghana as a colony was the Gold Coast. This castle was built by the Dutch under fake Swedish auspices to trade in gold. That of course will not get the moderns blood pumping as much as the slave trade and the concomitant colonial grievance porn is big business. So of course that is what is emphasized with the modern outsider accomplished restoration of Cape Coast Castle. 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.

Ghana showed some signs of progress in the 1990s. They were throwing off the failed socialism and getting the gold mining industry producing again with outside help but then still local control. Soon enough, the change in South Africa would make the later selling out to the De Beers/Anglo American/Oppenheimer organization not seem as hideous as it was. Still the 90s was a time of renewed hope and this stamp is a strong reflector of that. This stamp is not a farm out for collectors but printed locally for actual bulk postage use. The way a real country operates. Impressive for sub Saharan Africa.

Todays stamp is issue A243, a 100 Cede stamp issued by Ghana on December 12th, 1991. It was a 6 stamp issue in various denominations showing national landmarks. This not being a farm out stamp issue like most of Ghana’s offerings seems to flummox the Scott catalog, which does not declare  a value for them. This is also true on later surcharges on the issue to reflect currency depreciation. Scott admits this issue requires further examination.

Cape Coast Castle was built by Dutchman Hendrick Carloff as Carolusbrg Castle, named for Swedish King Charles X. This requires a little explanation. Carloff had risen from a ship’s cabin boy to a high executive in the for profit Dutch East India Company. The company was notoriously mismanaged and went through several bankrupsies. The company however possessed a monopoly on Dutch trade. Several executives had the idea to build a rival company, the Swedish Africa Company with Carloff suddenly claiming birth in Finland, then a Swedish Dutchy. The Swedish King played along and even Knighted Carloff under the name Carloffer. Carloff set up the castle on the Gold Coast as a rival to the Dutch. The trade was mostly gold but also timber and such curiosities as elephants teeth. There was a relationship developed with the King of the Fetu people. It was them who came to trade at the castle and offer their wares. Yes this included slaves that the Fetu captured from rivals.

Unfortunately, the Fetu had also signed a deal with the British and under the terms of the deal they had the right to seize Carloff’s “Swedish” ships. Carloff stormed off, discovered Danish heritage, and founded the Danish Africa Company. The British then paid off the Swedes and the Dutch and took over now Cape Coast Castle and Dungeon. The elaborate underground dungeon was built to safely store gold and yes slaves. Deals with the Fetu did not mean there was not trouble with other tribes. In 1824, Governor Sir Charles MacCarthy lead an expedition against the Ashanti tribe that ended in defeat. MacCarthy killed himself to avoid capture but they got his corpse. The skull was taken back to the Ashanti capital Kumasi where leaders used it as a drinking cup. I suppose we should be impressed by the Ashanti water sealing technology if not their hygiene. It became the duty of the next British Governor to finally stamp out the slave trade.

The Cape Coast Castle and Dungeon was restored by the British Department of Public Works in the 1920s for use as an administrative center. Post independence for now Ghana, the castle deteriorated. USA/UN aid came in to restore the castle in the 1990s under the auspices of the Smithsonian with the view of creating an interactive display from the point of view of the slave passing through the castle on the way to the New World in bondage. No doubt a powerful display. A more realistic and happened much longer true interactive display would be of Fetu tribesman coming to the Castle to sell gold dust their women had panned for and then drinking and whoring their way through the profits. I would pay to see that. I know, it doesn’t fit the approved narrative required by big business grievance porn.

Well my drink is empty. The Fetu sure seem shifty and the Ashanti scary so I think I will pass on travel to Ghana. Come again  for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

When the Gold Coast became independent Ghana, still with lots of gold, hopes were high. President Kwame Nkrumah had style, copied directly by President Obama, and big plans. When neither him nor his rivals could deliver, it was time for the army to try to get back to basics. What is more basic than a feed yourself campaign? 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 laughed when I examined this stamp. Is Ghana suggesting feeding yourself by way of wet nurses. Did the junta want to celebrate the glorious anniversary of their majestic coup by deploying wet nurses to hungry areas. On closer look she is proposing to feed you by selling you a banana. All in all pretty pathetic for the freaking Gold Coast.

Todays stamp is issue A113, a five penny stamp issued by independent Ghana in April 1973. It was an 8 stamp issue that was also available as a souvenir sheet that promoted the new feed yourself campaign. According to the Scott catalog , the stamp is worth 25 cents whether mint or used.

In 1972 Ashanti Catholic Ghana Army Coronel Ignatius Kutu Acheanpong was dissatisfied by the economic progress of the elected government. In the over a decade since independence, the country under both the left and the right wing governments had performed poorly and still relied on foreign charity for food. The Coronel believed that by promoting agriculture the country would no long feel the humiliation of constantly begging from people you hate. The USA provided the lions share of the worlds food aid at the time. Ghana still had gold, the mine had opened in 1897, but maintaining output under government control was difficult and the crude methods ecologically destructive. Coronal Acheanpong was not able to get the results he wanted. Ghana is still today a large recipient of food aid, theirs now comes from Japan. In 1978 it was time for a General, Fred Akuffo to try his hand. and there was another coup. In 1979, Ghana took a different tact. A Flight Lieutenant from the Air force, Jerry Rawlings, had a third coup and blamed the problems on higher ups in the military and tribal system. He was an outsider to that as he was the illegitimate son of an Englishman with a wife at home and a local female. He had never been trained abroad and had no important tribal connections. To clear the decks, he had both Coronel Acheanpong and General Akuffo shot. The earlier failed politicians had sensibly gone into exile after their failures.

This actually went a little better with Rawlings transitioning to an elected President. The gold mining situation improved with the government selling off a share in the gold mine Ashanti Goldfields. The outside investment allowed for modernized mining methods and proving additional reserves. It also lead into falling back into foreign control of the wealth. Ashanti Goldfields was merged into Anglo-American Gold, of South Africa. You can probably guess that something that calls itself Anglo-American is neither Anglo nor American and you would be correct. It was an old South African front outfit for the German Jews that took over Cecil Rhodes’ mineral empire when he died without heirs. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/12/21/south-africa-1966-a-tiny-minority-can-go-it-alone-because-they-have-diamonds-but-do-they/   . Ghana still generates over $6 billion a year in gold but still had to rely on food aid. The food aid is mainly wheat, so perhaps the bananas and wet nurses are still local.

Well my dink is empty and I am left wondering how Ghana recruits it’s army officers. Seems like not a good place to rise to the top. Come again  for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

As trade developed along the African coasts, forts and castles were built along the coast to protect the traders. Eventually a Danish one became the seat of government of independent Ghana. So slip on your amoking 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 another of the late colonial period stamps that I call the victory lap stamp. They feature the British Monarch and views of the colony. This one is a little different. Christianborg Castle was not built by the British, instead it was bought from the Danes who first built it. It still does celebrate the shift in power toward the coast and the building of a distinct nation separate from old tribal rivalries.

Todays stamp is issue A10, a 2 penny stamp issued by the then British Crown Colony of the Gold Coast in 1938. It was part of a thirteen stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used. A mint 5 Shilling stamp from this issue is worth $65.

The Gold Coast, as the name implies, started along the coasts and slowly moved inland. It was first found by the Portuguese in 1471 but later Danes, British and Germans were involving themselves with the gold and slave trade. The Ashanti tribe was heavily involved in both and retained control of inland areas. Eventually The British bought out the Danes and made an alliance with the Fente and Ga tribes in opposition to the Ashanti. There were four Anglo-Ashanti wars that ended the slave trade and raiding and allowed for more advanced gold mining. The Ashanti had just panned for gold.

The colony went along pretty well. Cocoa trees were brought in and became the areas main cash crop. The British were ruling indirectly with many aspects left to tribal councils. There was also much infrastructure including roads, railroads, schools and hospitals. Unlike so many colonies, promising locals were given English educations at no cost to them. A British lead Gold Coast military served in both world wars.

This work did much to build a country but also lead toward independence. The newly educated and veterans were not part of the tribal system that British had coopted. Urban centers like Accra outside this Castle built up with such people and they wanted change, both away from the tribal councils and the British. It was perhaps a mistake to turn over power to this new elite instead of through the more traditional African tribal system as the result after independence was a theoretical republic but in reality a strongman who changes more often with coups and less with voters. We can’t know how it would have worked if the tribal system had been retained post independence but Gold Coast grew much faster in the first half of the 20th century than Ghana did in the second half.

Christianborg Castle was built by the Danes in 1661 and named after King Christian. It was later sold to the Portuguese and at one point conquered by the Ashanti before being resold to Denmark. In 1860 the Danish sold the castle and other Gold Coast interests to the British. In the late nineteenth and early 20 century the castle was rebuilt with wood upper floors to operate better as an administrative center for the Gold Coast Colony. After independence, the castle was the seat of the new government and was renamed Osu Castle after the Accra township. About 10 years ago, Ghana took out a 50 million dollar loan from India to construct a new Palace called Jubilee House. The old castle is to be opened to tourists who will want to see the reminders of the old slave and gold trade that make up the castle’s long history.

Well my drink is empty. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.

It would have been difficult to retain the name Gold Coast after independence in 1957. You would expect a place named that to be prosperous. If it wasn’t, you might wonder where the money/gold/ in this case manganese went. Shipped out by camel? 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 this stamp with the later independence overprint, even though the stamp’s value drops 20 cents. What I like is including the name change to Ghana without the crossing out that usually happened in say Yugoslavia on old stamps when the rulers changed. The inclusion of the date was enough to announce the change in a forward looking, optimistic way.

Todays stamp was the old 1952 A14 Gold Coast 3 penny issue. The Ghana post independence overprint was still valid for postage in independent Ghana. There were independence overprints on nine of the original 12 stamp issue. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether used or unused.

The name Gold Coast made sense for the colony. Coastal colony administered cities grew up around trading posta where Africans traded gold and slaves to the European outposts. The biggest trading was in gold that Africans panned for.

With a new name needed for independence. Ghana was chosen as it was the title given the warrior kings of the old Wagadou Empire that existed from 300-1100 AD. The story put forward was that Wagadou became very rich when camels were introduced into the area and then used on trade routes trading salt and gold with Morocco. There are of course two problems with this in relation to a country  with the Gold Coast borders. Wagadou lied inland in modern Mali and Mauritania with no overlap with Ghana/Gold Coast. Also the main beneficiaries of old camel trade would have been Arabs and Sephardic Jews, not black Africans. The Wagadou Empire was eventually made a vassal state of the neighboring Mali Empire. Wonder what the African term is for camel mounted warrior vassals?

Manganese was discovered near Nsuta in 1914. Manganese is mainly used in a cheaper grade of stainless steel where manganese substitutes  for nickel in higher grades of stainless steel. The mine during the colonial period got a road, trainline to dedicated port facilities in Takoradi, the old Dutch trade station Fort Witsen. With the mine being online so long, it is still believed that only three percent of reserves have been mined.

The mine went though changes post independence, though not as quickly as might be expected. 16 years after independence, Ghana nationalized the mine. In 1995, the mine was partially privatized as the Ghana Manganese Company GMC. To make it more attractive to investors, in 2001 GMC was granted an exclusive 30 year lease on all manganese mining within 100 miles of the Nsulta mine. In 2007-2008 Consolidated Minerals, a Jersey based holding company, bought 90 percent of GMC with the government of Ghana still holding 10 percent. In 2017 Consolidated Minerals, having unfortunately modernized their name to Consmin was acquired by a Chinese company Tian Yuan Meng Ye. They still operate out of tax haven Jersey and use the Consmin name to actively raise money in British markets. Perhaps the governments of Ghana and Great Britain should join forces to renationalize it as Gold Coast mining and get back to square one?

Well my drink is empty. Come again tomorrow when there will be a new story that can be learned from stamp collecting.