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Chile 1905, Examining Columbus at a time of Golden Legend instead of todays Black Legend

One hundred and fifteen years ago it was still possible to remember Christopher Columbus as a man who conquered danger and obstacles to bring freedom and opportunity for Europeans in the new world while bringing the good news of Jesus to lost and desperate natives. A Golden Legend. Throughout history and especially today, there is a competing Black Legend that recast Columbus as an incompetent set on enslavement with a demonic thirst for unearned riches. In Columbus’s own time he could and did defend his good name. When Governor of Hispaniola, He had a colonial Spanish woman stripped and paraded through the streets before cutting out her tongue for saying he was of low birth. Protecting his Golden Legend while also perhaps providing ammunition to the Black Legend crowd. Maybe everything isn’t so simple and whichever side someone is on they should be well versed in both legends. 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.

Notice something about this Chilean stamp. It did not feel the need to tell the postal user or the stamp collector who they were looking at. An Italian man who’s travels were 400 years before and never got close to Chile. Yet his image was thought self evident enough not to require identification. Golden or Black, there is no denying the legend.

Todays stamp is issue A14, a five Centavo stamp issued by Chile in 1905. It was a 10 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 70 cents unused. There is a version stamped Isla de Mas Afuera that were only for use on Juan Fernandez Islands. That version is worth $125.

The term Black Legend originates in 19th century Britain through a series of histories that cast the the Napoleonic and especially the Spanish Empires as something dark and demented as opposed to the good work of community building in the name of God, King, and family as practiced in the British Empire. To give evidence for this view, the quest for gold and the alleged enslavement of the indigenous are pointed out. These points are amplified today with everyone becoming spokesmen for the otherwise voiceless indigenous. It shouldn’t be too big a surprise that the same arguments are now turned on the British colonial efforts.

A period depiction of the Black Legend as practiced in Hispaniola. The Dutchman who created it was really annoyed that Spain was Catholic instead of Protestant

It should be remembered that Columbus’s voyage was funded by the Spanish Crown in the hope of finding a shorter route to the trading posts of Asia. Ironically Christopher Columbus sent his brother Bartholomew to pitch the idea of being a patron  of the voyages to the British Crown. It was not meant to be. On his voyage to Britain, Bartholomew’s ship was attacked by pirates. It is a misreading of history that Columbus was for the first time proposing that the world was round. Educated people of the day knew of the work of Ptolemy and Eratosthenes. The big error of Columbus was a miscalculation of the Earth’s diameter. He estimated the distance sailing west from his starting off point in the Canary Islands to Japan would be at most 5000 miles. The actual journey would be more than twice that even if the western hemisphere was not in the way.

In 1500, Columbus was removed as colonial governor of Hispaniola, arrested, and sent back to Spain in chains. Over two thirds of the Spanish colonists had died from disease and famine in the early days of colony and the remainder were in a sour mood. The removal also in the opinion of the Spanish Crown absolved them having to pay Columbus his personal 10% of new colony profits that they had agreed to when they funded the first voyage. Back in Spain in his last years Columbus wrote two books defending himself. His Book of Privileges put out what he felt he was owed. He also wrote a Book of Prophesies putting forth his discoveries in terms of God’s requirement for spreading the word of God.

After his death, Columbus’s remains were moved to Santo Domingo. An American request in 1913 was denied that the remains be allowed to be placed on the first ship to use the new Panama Canal. This proves that 1913 was still a period of Columbus’s Golden Legend.

Well my drink is empty and you can probably guess that I will side with the Legends of Gold over Legends of Blackness every time. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.

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Cayman Islands 1970, Remembering Barnaby Rudge, Dickens’ take on the Gordon Riots and the Decrees of King Mob

The great thing about the myriad islands where the British Empire’s sun never set, is we get stamps on some obscure but very British subjects. Here we have the Gordon Riots. 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 the occasion of the death century of author Charles Dickens, Cayman Islands shows us the title character of his serialized novel Barnaby Rudge. This is thought of as one of Dickens lessor works. It was written during the time Dickens was transitioning from writing shorts stories for his own magazine, that was called  Master Humphrey’s Clock, to full length stories. There were two interesting things about Barnaby Rudge. It was set in the Gordon Riots, the story of which I will tell below. It also was reviewed by Edger Alan Poe, who liked that the title simpleton carried a raven, seen on the stamp, on his shoulder. He thought the raven under utilized by Dickens, and was inspired to write his masterpiece The Raven.

Master Humphrey’s Clock serial. Boz is a pen name for Charles Dickens

Todays stamp is issue A34, a 1 cent stamp issued by the Cayman Islands on June 17th, 1970. It was a four stamp issue in various denominations showing Dickens characters. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp was worth 25 cents unused.

The Gordon Riots happened in London in 1780. At the time the Empire found itself fighting Catholic France And Spain in an attempt to hold on to the North American colonies of Britain. The fight was not going well and the government was positively considering a change in the law to allow British Catholics to serve in the Army. A “mostly peaceful march” by Catholics was the beginning of the trouble.

the 1780 Gordon riots by artist Charles Green

Scotsman Lord George Gordon, head of the Protestant Association, was strongly opposed to the change. He thought that Catholic soldiers would change sides when sent to fight the Catholic Armies of France or Spain. He organized counter demonstrations and the level of violence increased. Newgate Prison became a center of the violence. The Protestants attempted to breach the prison to set free the prisoners inside to join the cause. When they couldn’t get in they set Newgate on fire and the prisoners were then released. On a stone wall of the prison, graffiti appeared. ” Inmates have been released on authority of His Majesty, King Mob”. The riot was put down forcibly by the Army.

Lord George was tried for treason by the House of Lords but acquitted as his aims were found not treasonous. This was not the end for him as he had stirred the hornet’s nest. Under pressure, the Archbishop of Canterbury excommunicated Lord George. He was then sentenced to jail for defamation of some prominent Catholics. Lord George responded to how his Anglican country treated him  by converting to Judaism and living the rest of his life as an Orthadox Jew. Talk about upping the victim ante!

Lord George Gordon after his Jewish conversion. Yes he was circumcized in adulthood

Perhaps there is some lesson in all of this for modern times. When the government sends out Antifa to promote unpopular ideas in the streets, they should not be surprised to find some Proud Boys.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Lord George Gordon. Not so much that I agree with everything he said, but it was nice to hear something different. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.

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Hawaiian Republic 1894, The Republic nobody wanted

The Hawaiian Islands were changing rapidly in the late 1900s. Migrant workers from Japan were rushing in. The native Hawaiians had their Royal Family but lacked good governance. There was however a large group of Hawaii born Americans who thought the answer was becoming an American territory. Something that might be agreed upon was that they should have spent more time convincing before acting. 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.

This stamp shows a view of Honolulu harbor. The image displays a sleepy backwater. It was the policy of the republic government to seek American annexation. Encountering surprise resistance from the USA might have lead to views that imply we will be no trouble for you.

Todays stamp is issue A27 a two cent stamp issued by the Republic of Hawaii in 1894. It was a six stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 60 cents used.

In 1887, Hawaii born ethnic Americans who were serving in the legislature of the Kingdom of Hawaii drafted a new constitution. The elements of it were limiting the vote to ethnic Hawaiians, Americans, and Europeans. This would prevent the large numbers of Japanese contract workers being brought in from coming into political power. Though the Constitution still recognized the Monarchy, it made it ceremonial and passed most power to the Legislature that was under the control of American businessmen. There was to be a new House of Nobles, to whom only wealthy landowners could vote, that would further consolidate power.

Hawaiians referred to this as a bayonet constitution. The Hawaiian Rifles, the Palace Guard unit was all white and thus could threaten the Royals if they did not bend. A new Queen in 1891 tried not bending and rejected the “Bayonet Constitution”. Legislatures than formed a committee of public safety that declared an end to the Monarchy and the formation of a republic. Serving as President was Sanford Dole, a Hawaii born and speaking American who had served in legal capacities. A petition was presented to the sympathetic American Ambassador seeking immediate annexation. The Queen was still in her Palace.

Hawaiian Republic’s President Sanford Dole. In the Hawaiian language, there is slang calling Spanish moss, Dole’s beard

Unfortunately for President Dole, the American President Grover Cleveland was against colonial adventures as unAmerican and not worth it. He commissioned a study on where the proposal came from. The resulting Blount Report found those involved as conspiring against the rightful Hawaiian Royal Government. Cleveland proposed to the Hawaiian Queen that she accept the 1887 constitution and amnesty the coup plotters in return for American support of a reinstated Kingdom. The Queen was by then agreeable on the constitution but wanted the ethnic Americans serving in the Republic government tried and hung for treason.

Grover Cleveland thought her position unreasonable and washed his hands of the situation by recognizing the government of the Republic but refusing to annex. President of Hawaii Dole now had unexpectedly to serve for five years while facing many intrigues from the maybe former Queen. She eventually abdicated in exchange for ending her house arrest in the Palace. For the rest of her life she spent her time selling her story and suing people for the return of  Royal lands. The constant begging for money did not improve her standing in Hawaii. The Hawaiian territory eventually granted her a $1250 a month pension. A lot of money then but far less than she asked for. During World War I, after 5 ethnic Hawaiians died in a sunk American submarine, she for the first time flew the American flag, at half staff, from her homes flag pole.

The ex Queen, late in life

In 1898 there was a new President in the USA, William McKinley was more amenable to colonial adventures. A day before the Spanish American War was declared, Hawaiian President Dole signed the papers for annexation of Hawaii by the USA. Dole than became the first Governor of Hawaii as a US territory. The Dole Food Company was founded in Hawaii after it was a USA territory by a cousin.

Well my drink is empty. Come again soon when there will be another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2021.

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Germany 1925, Sometimes an old man should just enjoy his retirement

When you are a senior statesman and well remembered in your own circles, it is natural to think that you would be doing better than your successors. What if the people then agree to give you the chance? Will you be able to relive your past glories with current success. Or will you realize that it isn’t easy and how much you have slowed down. President Paul von Hindenburg shows how badly things can go. 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.

This stamp shows you the predicament Weimar Germany was in. Look at how poor the printing is on this issue. Germany always was a center of stamp collecting so their designers would have good ideas for issues. Instead here is a poorly printed portrait of an 80 year old man.

Todays stamp is issue A61, a five Pfennig stamp issued by Weimar Germany in 1925. It was a nineteen stamp issue in different denominations and derivatives over many years. You may notice that the denomination seems more normal that the high ones of a few years before. In 1923 the Reichbank introduced the gold backed Rentenmark  that had removed 12 zeroes from all prices. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 60 cents used. An imperforate version is worth $105.

Paul von Hindenburg was born into a noble family in Posen, Prussia (now Poznan, Poland) in 1847. He joined the Prussian Army and served with distinction in the wars with Austria and France. After the Franco-Prussian War, Hindenburg earned a spot in the Kriegs Academy in Berlin that opened the way for a future on the General Staff. After he was passed over as head of the General Staff, he retired from the Army in 1912.

The Russian invasion of Eastern Prussia at the beginning of World War I saw Hindenburg come out of retirement and take charge of the defense against the Russians. The Germans attacked the Russian flank at Tannenberg and  killing 92,000 and turning the tide of the fighting in the east. That Tannenberg was also the site of a big Prussian defeat of Slavs in 1410 captured the imagination of the German people, and Hindenburg was the new hero.

A wooden statue of Hindenburg that popped up in Berlin after the Battle of Tannenberg

Missing the chance to again retire in success Hindenburg was put in charge of the never ending trench warfare in the west. He succeeded again in the deepest penetrations into France. His army was tired and hungry however, with the average soldier down to 125 pounds, and the Allies never seemed to run out of reinforcements. After losing the Second battle of the Marne in 1918, the army fell back in defeat. His trusted deputy Eric Ludendorf, who had been with him since the beginning of the war began to have temper tantrums and crying jags. Six weeks before the end of the war Hindenburg informed the Kaiser as there was no further reserves to call on, it was time to sue for peace. Hindenburg retired from the army again in 1919, at age 72.

As a former Field Marshal, Hindenburg was given a staff and the city of Hanover gave him a luxury villa. He had a ghost written book that emphasized the positive that was later made into a movie. He was once called to the Reichstag by lefties to explain the war loss. He strode in and read a statement that the war was lost because the army was stabbed in the back by politicians and striking unions. He then marched out ignoring questions confident they wouldn’t arrest him. They didn’t, half the country agreed with him.

The house given to Hindenburg by the city of Hannover out of respect for his service and for him to be comfortable in his last years. That should have been a hint.

In 1925 he ran for President, though claiming to still be a Monarchist, fronting a coalition of right and center parties. He was 78. He hoped to get Germany working again and restore German greatness. He went through Chancellor after Chancellor but never found the right strategy to get beyond Germany’s problems. At the suggestion of his son, who was handling ever more of the workload, he appointed Adolf Hitler Chancellor in 1932.

Hindenburg was however in his last years and couldn’t contain Hitler. A law was secretly passed that upon Hindenburg’s death there would be no more President just a leader who would be Hitler. You might have thought the military would have stayed loyal to the constitution. Hitler however had met, on the new German cruiser Deutschland with the head of the army and the navy and agreed in return for vague promises of disarming the SS and the brown shirts, the military would accept Hitler  as leader. Hindenburg died in 1934 at age 86 of lung cancer. He was buried at the Tannenberg war memorial until that was taken down by Poland after the war.

Well my drink is empty. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2021.

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Ghana 1957, Independence with a new name meaning warrior king on camelback, but what to do with the manganese mine?

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?

Wagadou Empire ruled by warrior kings called Ghana. Go south for the Gold Coast

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?

Gosh, our new masters are Chinese. Who voted for that?

Well my drink is empty. Come again soon when there will be a new story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2021.

 

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Philippines 1947, Getting back to the business of independence

Manila had been devastated by the fighting there near the end of the war. Yet a year later, the Philippines was finally independent and back to business. How about a stamp issue to get you in the mood for the mid century modern future? 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.

This is part of the first stamp issue of the independent Philippines. The other stamps in the issue show old monuments or pleasant landscapes. In this stamp, the country shows it’s hoped for modern future. How quickly it was put right after the war must have given hope.

Todays stamp is issue A80, a 12 Centavos stamp issued by The Philippines on June 19th, 1947. It was a seven stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used. 12 Philippine Centavos would today be worth .25 of an American penny.

In 1901, American President Theodore Roosevelt stated regarding The Philippines, “We hope to do for them what has never been done for any peoples of the tropics-To make them fit for self government in the manner of the really free nations of the world.” Fifteen years later not much progress on self government had been realized. Then Democrat Congressman William Atkinson Jones authored the Jones Law that set up an elected bicameral Philippine legislature with much actual authority and further made it the law of the USA that independence was the goal. This made Representative Jones very popular in the islands and his name is still on this bridge and a medium sized town.

Congressman William Atkinson Jones

In 1914 at a site a few blocks away from the current bridge, a historic Bridge of Spain collapsed in a rain storm. Manila had a new urban plan  drawn up by the famous Daniel Burnham and a new bridge over the Pasic River was part of it. His plan was to emphasize the rivers in Manila in the style of Paris or Venice. Funding for the urban plan came mainly from the USA but the new Philippine legislature saw that Philippinos got most of the work. The Jones Bridge opened in 1921 under the direction of local architect Juan M Arellano. the design was quite beaux arts and featured 4 female virtue statues representing the Philippine Motherland.

City planner Daniel Burnham
Architect Juan Arellano

In 1945 as Japanese forces evacuated Manila, see https://the-philatelist.com/2017/11/02/america-cellebrates-an-old-spanish-fort-a-decade-before-the-japanese-war-crime-there/   , they destroyed the original Jones Bridge. Again with American help the bridge was quickly rebuilt. In doing so the bridges structure stayed similar but it lost it’s elaborate decoration. The 3 surviving motherland statues were moved to other locations. In 1998 there was a refurbishment at the direction of then First Lady Ming Ramos. She added stone balustrades and Chinese style lamps. She also had the steel girders painted gold and backlit. She was trying to make the design less traditional and more in keeping with Asia. The design was not popular. In 2019 another refurbishment was started to return the bridge to the original 1921 appearance.

1945 Temporary bridge over the fallen span

Stamp collectors will want me to point out the impressive riverfront building in the background of this stamp. It was and is Manila’s central post office. The design was also part of Daniel Burnham’s Manila plan and also built under the direction of Juan Arrellano. The building has managed to keep it’s original style throughout it’s life.

Well my drink is empty. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2021.

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Czech Republic 1996, Losing the hyphen war

Czechoslovakia were two peoples with two languages held together by an authoritarian government post World War II. When the communist regime ended, those that replaced them were an informal group of Czech intelectuals that had put fourth an anti government manifesto. Notice the lack of Slovak involvement, the Slovaks sure did. 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 remaining Czechia apparently could not achieve European integration fast enough. Here we have a stamp issue of various styles of doors. The styles are generic  and not an actual door located in the country. Isn’t that strange for a new country that might be expected to want to show the world what they had. The European Union often shows generic styles like that. It is away to avoid people keeping count of whose things are represented.

Todays stamp is issue A1093, a 4 Koruna stamp issued by Czechia on June 12th, 1996. It was a six stamp issue in various denominations displaying styles of portals, this one classic. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

Czechoslovakia got more repressive after the Soviet invasion of 1968. In 1976 they arrested members of the local rock band “Plastic People of the Universe”. The crimes were long hair, rude lyrics and involvement with the underground. What rock band wouldn’t be guilty of that? In any case a group of higher art folks from Prague attended their trial and then put out a manifesto called Charter 77. It made the point that hassling the rock band violated human rights treaties that Czechoslovakia had signed. It was only the type thing that fancy people would read but fancy people from all over read it. One of the writers of it was playwright Vaclav Havel.

When the communist regime was falling apart it was the Charter 77 people appointed to replace them. A Czech group. As artists they made some freshmen mistakes playing politicians. A prison amnesty meant to release political prisoners instead released almost everyone in prison. The crime rate tripled and with that took away much of the new government’s popularity. The new government also tried to get away with just removing the Socialist from the countries title.

The Slovaks wanted more. In 1919 the country had been founded as the Czech and Slovak Republic. By the late 1930s the dominant Czechs had contracted that with a lower case S. In the divisions that came with German pressure, Slovakia asserted its independance. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/09/21/slovakia-1942-right-wing-priests-try-to-achieve-a-seperate-slovak-state/  . After the war it was back to 1937 and now without Germans. Slovak deputies in 1991 asked for a hyphen and a capitalized S in the new name for the country. This was summarily refused but the Czechs offered to allow a dash instead of a hyphen that kept the S lower case, and only when writing the countries’ name in Slovak. They also offered to add federative to the republic title indicating the federation of states. They also took great offense at the whole discussion, reminding of the Munich Conference of 1938 with all of those inferences including by extension Slovak disloyalty.

Vaclav Havel was a lot more popular around  the world as a urbane communist resister than in Slovakia where he was the Czech guy who let all the crooks out of jail. So when Slovak demands moved past names and toward independence, Havel threatened to resign. He was not going to be the guy presiding over the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. . This threat only offended has what had he done for Slovakia and notice he still wasn’t spelling the country as if he was representing both Czechs and Slovaks. Havel resigned, the two countries separated and Havel then put himself forward again to be elected as a less powerful Czech President.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another for the Plastic People of the Universe. Assuming suspended sentences, what rock band wouldn’t want the credibility of the “Man” being after them? They sung in English, weren’t political, and their name and style were rip offs, excuse me, homages, to Frank Zappa, but he never got his country to come after him. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019

 

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Australia 1990, not remembering correctly the ANZAC spirit

This stamp seems badly put together. It combines women filling in for men in a factory while showing British made Spitfire fighters in British RAF markings. No wonder the Queen looks so confused in the corner. 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.

Australia along with New Zealand again sent out a large contingent of forces in World War II. This spirit and service is worth remembering and I strongly recommend viewing the ANZAC memorial in Sydney that remembers Australia’s overseas deployments from World War I till the present day. There are often veterans on hand that add much color and poignance to what you are viewing.

Todays stamp is issue A417 a 41 cent stamp issued by Australia on April 12th, 1990. It was a five stamp issue that tries to show how the ANZAC spirit carried on into World War II. One of the stamps does even worse that this one by showing a not time appropriate helicopter. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 35 cents used.

World War II started in Europe two years before Japan’s aggressive moves in the Pacific Islands. As such many Australians volunteered for service in Europe. Among them were air force personnel that manned three squadrons of Spitfire fighter planes in Britain starting in mid 1941, after the Battle of Britain. When The Japanese began their attacks, Australia was almost completely devoid of fighter planes and pilots. By January 1942, Japanese bombers began bombing the northern Australian city of Darwin. Australia made an urgent demand that their pilots be returned to Australia. After some equivocation, Churchill agreed and also sent Spitfire fighters  with them to join the fight and show Britain was with them.

The Spitfire was slow to arrive in Australia. It had to be shipped by sea in an unassembled state and then repainted to local appropriate camouflage. The pilots returning had remember been late for the Battle of Britain and did not have much experience in combat. They did get to Darwin in early 1943 and did their best. America had responded much more quickly and the vast bulk of the Royal Australian Air Force RAAF fighter force were American made P40s.

RAAF Spitfire with sharksteeth decoration, personnel and Boomer the dog. Hope Boomer got a ride

The Spitfire did not prove as useful in the Pacific War as it had over Europe. The plane had a short range which was a big hamper in the island hopping campaigns. The supercharged Merlin engines seemed to have a lot more trouble related to the hot moist climate. It took a long time to get enough airplanes to form a proper Spitfire training unit. The plane was also ill adept at dropping bombs which became ever more important as the war went along with fewer Japanese in the air to fight. The Australian armed forces were also not being assigned to many of the later retakings of islands such as the invasion of The Philippines in 1944.

In all Britain shipped 258 British made Spitfires to Australia. In October 1945, one month after the end of the war, all RAAF Spitfire flight operations ended. The plane must have made some impression in Australia. In the 2000s, an Australian kit plane maker fashioning itself as Supermarine, the company that designed the real Spitfire, built 100 flying kits the resembled Spitfires on a 75% scale.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour perhaps several more to toast the ANZAC spirit. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

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Sarawak, When the Last white Rajah won’t write the check, Britain bails out again

Profit seeking companies have a pretty poor track record running colonies. See here https://the-philatelist.com/2018/09/07/imperial-british-east-africa-company-1890-another-company-fails-to-administer-a-colony/   or here https://the-philatelist.com/2019/02/28/mozambique-company-1937-taking-credit-where-none-was-due/    . This one is a little different as the descendants of a white adventurer were ruling Malayans after being given the land by the Sultan of Brunei. Until it was time to write a big check and the White Rajah instead puts in a call to the colonial office. 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.

This stamp is from after the bailout but before the area passed to independent Malaysia. These type stamps often show the local industry and this issue does show local basket weavers. No oil industry stamp though, instead exotic animals and plants. Britain had been accused of colonizing Sarawak post war to get their hands on the oil resources. So no stamp of the industry to make the locals point.

Todays stamp is issue A23, a two cent stamp issued by the British Crown Colony of Sarawak in 1955. It was part of a 15 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 35 cents.

Charles Viner Brooke was the last in the line of 3 Brookes that had been  white rulers of Sarawak. During their time the area was not a British colony. The people of Sarawak were Malayan. Brooke had taken over in 1917. Over time the area became more prosperous as oil was discovered. Brooke had followed the common British practice in colonial areas in turning over much of the interactions with locals to a council of tribesman. Brooke agreed to their request of banning Christian missionaries and in turn the tribesman had banned the local practice of cannibalism. In 1941, a new constitution was passed for Sarawak that would gradually shift more power to locals while leaving the Brookes in ceremonially as the Rajah. In return for signing off on this, the Sarawak treasury paid Brooke $200,000 that funded his exile in Sydney. The Japanese then invaded and the new constitution was not implemented. The Japanese held on to Sarawak till the end of the war and left most of the oil fields in wreckage.

Brooke returned to Sarawak in 1945 and was received in a friendly manner. He then informed the locals that he did not have the money needed to get the oil fields back into production and he contacted the British regarding a loan to Sarawak. The only way a British loan was possible was if Britain was named the colonial administrator. As part of the deal, Brooke would personally receive 1 million pounds, over 30 million dollars today. Many local tribesmen viewed this as a sellout as it would mean again that their constitution would not be implemented. They pointed out that Britain had done nothing to defend Sarawak from the Japanese. Neither or course had the tribesmen and how else could Britain guarantee repayment of the loan. It is worth pointing out that it was the British that had discovered the oil in Sarawak and neighboring Brunei and done the work of bringing it to market. It would not be them however to get rich from it. Britain readily passed Sarawak and it’s oil on to independent Malaysia.

The Brooke family was also not happy with the decision to turn the area over to the British ending the white Rajah. Anthony Brooke, the nephew and heir, actively opposed the turnover and was banned by the British from the now colony. Even Charles’s wife Sylvia opposed the turnover. She had ambitions that her daughter Lenora would be able to put Islamic law and rules of succession aside and become the next white Rajah. After Charles died, Sylvia wrote a book about her time as Queen Consort title “Sylvia of Sarawak, Queen of the Headhunters”.

Sylvia Brooke, last Queen consort of Sarawak, and self proclaimed queen of the head-hunters

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Sylvia. She looks to be an expensive woman to keep happy, it is no wonder Charles felt the need to sell out Sarawak. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

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French Occidental Africa 1906, General Faidherbe can’t give Maurel & Prom what they want

If a coastal trading post is successful as was Saint Louis in modern day Senegal, there will be a push from the trading houses to push inland. This potentially cuts out the middleman. General Faidherbe imagined a French African Empire stretching from the west coast of Africa to the Red Sea in the east. Therefore he did his best for the French trading house Maurel & Prom. 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 is from one of the periods where wildly spread out colonies were jointly administered. Hence a French General whose activities were in Senegal on a stamp meant for the Ivory Coast. Around the time of independence there was a pan African hope that many of the nations could come together in large groupings as the French had done. It had not worked for France and the Africans themselves could not pull it off.

Todays stamp is issue A2, a 2 Centimes stamp issued for the French colony of Ivory Coast when it was part of French Occidental Africa in 1906. It was part of a 15 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $2 whether used or unused. There are versions of this stamp issue where the Cote de Ivorie printing is doubled or omitted due to printing mistakes. This pushes the value up to $400.

The Saint Louis trading post in Senegal was quite successful. We covered a Senegal stamp telling the story of the bridge to Saint Louis herehttps://the-philatelist.com/2018/12/20/senegal-1935-a-bridge-connecting-a-trading-post-becomes-a-symbol-of-a-city/  . By this period, the slave trade was over but there was still lucrative trading in cattle and peanuts raised by Africans and then sold in Saint Louis to the trading house Maurel & Prom. The trading was going on with both the Serer people of the African Empire of Sine and with nomadic Arabs from further north.

The trading house had the idea to push French inland. General Fadeherbe lead the expedition of about 300 French. He had taken a 15 year old native girl named Sidibe who bore him a son and taught General Fadeherbe the local dialects. Moving inland brought conflict with the Empire of Sine. The Sine Army was defeated at the Battle of Logandeme in a few minutes. General Fadeherbe burned nearby villages as a warning and took over major areas. The King of Sine pleaded and threatened in an attempt to not lose the contested area. To loose the area would cut off access to British arms markets in Gambia, their only source of weapons. The King threatened to kill all white people in Senegal and all cattle headed to market in Saint Louis. The French kept the land.

The Sine Empire did manage to make the French pay a heavy price. No they did not kill all the white people but they destroyed many of the peanut fields, killed much cattle, and harassed French outposts. This of course ate enough of the profits that the expedition failed in it’s profit motive. France eventually began paying tribute to the Sine King in order to be left alone. This arrangement was in affect till 1969 when independent Senegal pulled recognition of the title.

The French defeat in the Franco-Prussian war saw many French Generals killed, captured or dismissed. A call went out for colonial officers to return to France. He took with him his son but left behind Sidibe. Once home the 40 year old General was promoted and married his 18 year old niece by his deceased older brother. She helped raise his son and bore him 4 more children. The General did not have as much luck with Prussia as with Sine and his army was destroyed at the Battle of St. Quentin. He retired from the Army and became a politician and author. Maurel & Prom still exist but now mainly do oil exploration.

Well my drink is empty and I have nobody to toast, the trading house was greedy, the General’s expedition foolhardy, and the Sine wanted to kill all the white people, of which I am one. Perhaps just this once I will toast myself for finishing another article. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.