Month: November 2017

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A long ago symbol of a Great Poland, in a new Poland, before Germany knocks it down

Welcome readers to todays offering from The Philatelist. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. We have an interesting story to tell of an old column lifting high a statue of a king of a defunct empire, now important in a new country. So important that the Nazis knocked it down.

Poland was a new country in the 1920s. Their early stamp offerings are not particularly impressive to the international collector. The paper is cheap and the drawings are undistinguished. The column on this stamp changed with a fountain and fence removed soon after the stamp but the drawing is so bad, I can’t tell the difference.

The stamp today is issue A40, a 10 Groszy stamp issued in 1925-1927 by Poland. It is part of an 11 stamp issue that show various monuments around Poland. This stamp shows the Sigismund Column in Warsaw. The stamp is worth 25 cents cancelled according to the Scott catalog.

After the reformation of Poland as a result of the Versailles Treaty there was much fighting. The Soviets wanted to dominate Poland in the hopes that Lenin could then link up with Communists in Germany as part of a worldwide revolution. Ukraine wanted to solidify independence from the Soviets and Poland wanted greater territory at the expense of Ukraine and Lithuania. The Poles had some success militarily against the Soviets and the peace treaty partitioned Ukraine and angered the Ukrainians and Lithuanians.

The victory left the Poles proud but poor and it is understandable why old symbols of an ancient and great Poland became so important. The King on the Column, Sigismund II, had ruled Poland, Lithuania, Sweden and fought wars for the Catholic Church hoping to convert the Duchy of Moscow  from Orthodox and succeeding in pushing the Ottomans from Moldavia. The statue and column were erected 1n 1644 by Sigismund’s son King Wladyslaw IV to celebrate the moving of the Polish empires capital to Warsaw from Krakow. It was cast by Italians in the style of several similar monuments in Italy. This was a time of greater travel and the Polish King had experienced the artistic explosion of Italy while studying there in his youth.

During World War II, Poland was invaded by Germany and Russia, partitioned with Warsaw under German control. The column survived the 1939 destruction around it. In 1944 as the Russian army approached Warsaw, there was a rebellion by a mostly Jewish group that was brutally repressed by the Germans. The group of rebels was not controlled by the Polish government in exile, nor the communists that the Soviets intended to install. A cynical decision was made to let the Germans crush the rebellion. During this Sigismund’s Column was destroyed and the statue at the top was heavily damaged and siting on the ground. The Poles post war had a new granite column done and the statue was repaired and stands today.

Well my drink is empty and so it is time to open the conversation in the below comment section. Lately there has been a movement to be rid of older statues as they mean nothing to the current more diverse population. Are the old statues worth keeping? I won’t surprise anyone that I think so. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Not a country long enough to get the stamp issued

Welcome readers to todays offering from The Philatelist. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage and sit back in your most comfortable chair. We have an interesting story to tell of a country that did not last long enough to get it’s first issue of stamps out, but of course that does not mean that they were not sold to collectors.

The stamp looks like a cross between a Russian and an Austrian stamp. The Russian lettering show the former and the decent quality of the lithograph the later. I suspect it was printed in Vienna. The issuer was to be the People’s Republic of the Ukraine, but the countries independence ended when Ukraine became a Soviet Republic

I can’t give you an issue number as the set this stamp was a part of was never issued officially. There were 14 stamps of various denominations printed in 1920 and the entire set in mint condition is worth $5.00. There are no cancelled copies. There are apparently a lot of printer mistakes and variations with off center or even inverted central pictures. No doubt the stamp dealers of the time got extra for these but there is no stated value to them now. Scott catalog may want to do more research on this. Now that Ukraine is independent, it may be a new market for these stamps. There also may be a market in Russia and Poland, where the instability of the early days of the 1917 revolution must be an interesting time for local history buffs and philatelists.

Ukraine petitioned the last white Russian government for self rule and this was granted and a peoples republic was declared under Ukrainian historian Hrushevsky. This was a coalition government of Communists, Poles, Jews, and White Russians. Events overtook this government when the Communists came to power and sued for peace with the Kaiser’s Germany. The peace treaty accepted Ukraine’s independence and the Germans/Austrians set up a  Hetman, head of state, royal government with a Czarist general PP Shoropadsky as the new king/ hetman. The German/Austrian surrender in November 1918 was the end of him and he went into exile in Germany.

A new peoples republic was declared but by now chaos and foreign intervention was the rule of the day. Soviets were invading to bring Ukraine into the Soviet Union. organized anarchists were mostly on there side. There was a Ukraine army which fought to stay independent aided by White Russians, French, and Americans. The American interest was in a weaker Soviet Union and in the plight of the Jews in the Ukraine. Also newly independent Poland invaded to try to bring Ukraine into Poland so a bigger country could better withstand being between Soviet Union and Germany. Kiev, the capital of the Ukraine, changed hands 5 times during a one year period. The chaos became so great that people left the cities for the countryside looking for food.

The Soviets had won this war by late 1920 and signed a treaty with Poland dividing Ukraine with Poland. The Soviet part becoming The Soviet republic of Ukraine. This lasted till 1992. Interestingly though this stamp was not issued the former Ukraine government went into exile in Warsaw, Poland and planned to reinvade. Part of that planning was a new stamp issue to issue once back in Ukraine. The invasion plans amounted to nothing, but this issue of stamps from 1923 also of course made it to collectors. Amazing how that works.

Well my drink is empty and so it is time to open up the conversation in the below comment section. Does anybody recognize the statue on the stamp? It does not appear to be the famous Ukrainian statue with the swords or the later Cubist statue of the early Communist that was also on a hillside. I am stumpted. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Hey this is a historic site, when we get around to it, we should fix it up

Welcome readers to todays offering from The Philatelist. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. We have an interesting story to tell of when a country, through it’s stamps, signals a future desire.

The stamp today is from Latin America and it shows very strongly on this stamp. Dominican Republic after all sits on Hispaniola, Spain’s Island. Christopher Columbus himself gave it that name. But there is more to the country than Spain and perhaps that explains why the historic site on the stamp was in ruins.

The stamp today is issue A29, a one half centavo stamp issued in 1928. It displays the ruins of the Alcazar de Colon. This was an 8 stamp issue in various denominations and colors all displaying the same view. The stamp is worth 35 cents used. The stamp in this issue to look out for is the mint 1 peso, which is worth $35.

Christopher Columbus landed on Hispaniola in 1492 claiming the island for Spain. There were some Indians already there but life was very difficult in the new colony and few Indians survived the early days. The tobacco and sugar production required much labor and the King of Spain authorized the importation of large numbers of black slaves to be imported from Africa. This was also being done by the French settlements on the western half of the island. Soon Blacks and those of mixed race were the majority in the whole island. The decline of empire lead to Spain and France to give up trying to hold on to colonies in Hispaniola in the early 19th century. The newly freed French speaking back Haitians conquered the Spanish settlements and for 20 years ruled the whole island. This did not work well, the Haitian constitution did not allow white people to own land and the government tried to force the growing of only export cash crops that tanked the economy. Spanish settlers rebelled and were able to regain the eastern half of the island then known mainly as Santo Domingo. They tried to obtain protectorate status from the USA, Spain, Great Britain, and France. They were offering a natural port in return for the protection.

Spain agreed to this in the 1860s during the American civil war but this did not go well either. They announced the intention to reintroduce slavery which to say the least did not go over well with the majority black population. The rejuvenated Catholic Church also tried to stamp out the rampant out of wedlock relationships. Spanish rule was short lived. What followed were a string of strongman leaders,  most of Spanish decent that ruled with increasing help of the USA. The white population grew as new arrivals from Cuba and the Canary Islands came in. The blacks and the mixed race peoples are divided by those of Spanish, French, and English, with some of the latter arriving from British islands nearby to work on ships, railroads and sugar mills. The economy today is mainly tourism and remittances from the many Dominicans in the USA.

The ruins on the stamp, Alcazar de Colon, are quite historic. It was constructed under the son of Christopher Columbus as the colonial governor’s mansion. The architecture of Spain at that time had a strong flavor of the Moors in Spain and that was reflected in the stone structure. The mansion was sacked by Francis Drake in 1586 and the place was under slow decline until by the early 20th century it was a ruin. This is what is depicted on the stamp. In the late 1950s, a particularly long lasting strong man named Trujillo, got to work restoring the site. The reconstruction was only about half the size of the original but a collection of European art and tapestries were acquired to display in it. It is now a UNESCO historic site and the busiest museum in Santo Domingo.

Well my drink is empty and so it is time to open up the conversation in the below comment section. The struggle between the peoples of various ethnic heritages over centuries in the Dominican Republic shows the banality of the original decision by the Spanish King Ferdinand to import slaves into the colonies. I doubt he considered it a big decision at the time. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Queen Victoria, India, philatelic definately, stamp not exactly

Welcome readers to todays offering from The Philatelist. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage and sit back in your most comfortable chair We have an interesting story to tell of excitement, disappointment, and redemption when we consider the definition of philatelic.

I was very excited when I spotted this stamp. Queen Victoria is such a long ago figure that to see her on a stamp raises my interest. On the throne for so many years and at the height of Empire. I may get some push back on that with the American colonies breaking away 1776-1781. In 1857, however there was a rebellion among the soldiers hired by the British East India Company that caused present day India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh to be brought more directly under British rule, the Raj. The population and economic clout that this brought in was beyond the relative few Colonials and Native Americans lost in North America.

During the period of the British Raj, there was a lot of institution building. Educational, judicial, economic, and military institutions were constructed closely following the British model. These were lead by British appointees, but over time  local Indians began to fill out the ranks of the systems. A large railway system and public works projects were also funded.

As you can imagine, this worked well for people with connections, but the vast majority of the large peasant population was still very poor. There were periodic deadly famines as late as 1943 only a few years before independence.  The taxes imposed by colonial masters required forced labor to satisfy.

There became a feeling in the population of what they called swaraj. The desire for self rule. There were divisions as to whether the British founded institutions should be continued or whether anything not local should be discarded. There was also divisions between the Hindu majority, and the Muslim minority. For the most part, the British institutions were retained but with less and then no British involvement and Pakistan broke away taking many of the Muslims. Today India is the worlds largest democracy and is very close to the worlds largest population with well over a billion people.

That brings us back to this stamp. I was excited by the high denomination in the hopes that it would be an expensive stamp. 2 Rupees 8 annas was quite a bit of money under Victoria, much more than to mail a letter. On closer inspection, this stamp does not appear to involve postage in India. Rather I believe it signifies the paying of a government fee. Perhaps on a legal document or even on a bottle of alcohol. Probably not worth much. But still philately. Remember the root of the word that was taken to mean stamp collecting in the 19th century. Going back to the ancient Greek, they constructed a word that means the lover of prepaid government fees. Well I count myself as such a lover, so how can I resist Queen Victoria and the chance to debate the merits of the British Raj.

Post script. I reached out to Mr. Sandeep Jaiswal from stampsinc.com to see if he had any idea what I was looking at. He proved his expertise by quickly identifying the stamp as a telegraph stamp Stanley Gibbons Type T19 or T25 depending on watermark. The straight cut line at the bottom is because the stamp is placed on the telegram so the top half stays with the sender and the bottom half goes to the receiver. The high cost of sending a telegram is reflected in the denomination which in this issue could go as high as 50 rupees. The issue dated from 1868-1882 and as such is the oldest stamp I have covered to date. Alas it is not uncommon, people hold on to telegrams. The Stanley Gibbons catalog puts the value between 1.75 and 2.00 pounds depending on the watermark. Thanks again Sandeep!

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

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Well we think we are independent, we have a constitution, a flag, and Austrian stamps

Welcome readers to todays offering from The Philatelist. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. We have an interesting story to tell of locals seizing an opportunity and holding out just long enough for world opinion to force the hand of the colonial power.

The stamp today is a very well done virtually real stamp from 1949. An American stamp from the same year would not be nearly so well printed. While the stamp says Republik Indonesia, as of the day of issue the area was still officially the Dutch East Indies. The rebellion had contracted with printers in Vienna, note Wein in small letters on the bottom, to print stamps. They were to be mainly marketed by an American stamp dealer named Proofs. A few of the stamps made it to Indonesia and were sold for postage but cancelled copies are so rare that the Scott catalog has not enough data to set a value.

The stamp is issue C24, a 75 sen air mail stamp issued by the rebel forces in Dutch East Indies on August 17th, 1949. It is part of a 13 stamp issue in various denominations celebrating the Indian flown airplanes that were ignoring the Dutch blockade and bringing supplies to rebel held areas. The stamp shows a rebel sentry and a DC4 airliner over Lake Toba in Sumatra. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 95 cents. There are later overprints of these stamps celebrating actual independence and these are worth less.

Holland expended a great deal of effort in a failed bid to hold on to their Dutch East India colony. While the rule had become slightly less repressive with less peasant forced labor and more educational opportunities, independence movements were dealt with harshly and rebellious leaders like future president Sukarno spent much time in jail. At the time World War II broke out there were three active rebellions against the Dutch. One centered on Islam, one Communist, one centered on Indonesian nationalism lead by Sukarno. Sukarno was charismatic and spoke many indies dialects as well as Dutch, English, French, and Japanese. He had been well educated in Dutch schools When Japan invaded the Dutch East Indies they released Sukarno from jail and encouraged him to rally the people in favor of the Japanese war effort. He did so and during Japanese occupation he was allowed to head a group of Indonesians to work on the formation of an independent Indonesia. This group wrote a constitution and Japan was preparing to recognize Indonesian independence when the atomic bomb was dropped on Japan and they surrendered. Sukarno then got to work, he personally proclaimed independence and got most of the Japanese occupiers to turn over their arms to the new Indonesia. Quickly the Dutch administration reappeared from exile with a brigade of the British Indian army and took the biggest city Jakarta. They rearmed Dutch POWs held by the Japanese.

At first there was no fighting and the Indonesians helped the British and the Dutch get the surrendered Japanese soldiers home. Sukarno was at the time wooing the west. He understood there was much anticolonial sentiment in the west and he had ingratiated himself somewhat by respecting all religions in the 1945 constitution, excluding sharia law. He also without western help put down communist rebels within  his movement. The Dutch sent more troops and fighting broke out with Sukarno’s forces being pushed from much of the country. The Dutch  had many casualties however and America was against them, threatening to cut off Marshall Plan aid if independence was not granted. The Dutch yielded late in 1949 and independent Indonesia was recognized with Sukarno the first President.

I know this stamp seemed a little fake at the time of issue. This stamp so well reflects the history of the time that any resurgence of stamp collecting in Indonesia  could see a big  run up in the value of the stamp. The stamps printed in Vienna were very attractive and did a great job showing off the birth of the nation. Indonesia is a populous nation with many well off people. How could any patriotic Indonesian stamp collector not have these stamps in their collection. Get them while they are still cheap!

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

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Happy Thanksgiving!

I wanted to wish everybody the best on Thanksgiving. I could not find a turkey, the animal, stamp but I thought this one fit nicely. It is issue A663 and reminds us that on Thanksgiving and every day we should be thankful of God’s bounty while remembering those less fortunate.

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Building a University to try to turn Germans French

Welcome readers to todays offering from The Philatelist. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. We have an interesting story to tell about how France tried gently to build a barrier with Germany.

The stamp today looks like what it is. A German stamp that is under a large amount of French influence. So you see German language on a stamp with paper and currency resembling the French. The library building, in the modern mid century Euro style even gives a sense of the coming Euro integration.

This is issue A72, a 30 Saar Franc stamp issued by the Saar, now the German state of Saarland, in 1953. It is part of a 14 stamp issue depicting local architecture. This stamp features the University Library of Saarland University. According to the Scott catalog it is worth 95 cents used. The 500 franc stamp from this issue is worth $65 used, so that is one to look out for.

The Saar is most famous for being taken from Germany after World War I. France was desirous of a barrier with Germany and the area contained rich deposits of coal from which to pay reparations. A plebiscite in the Saar was won by the side favoring reunification with Germany and this was achieved in 1935.

After World War II, again France desired the Saar. The USA stated that after being invaded by Germany three times in 70 years they could not deny France it’s ambitions in the Saar. The area was considered separate from the French occupied zone of post war West Germany.

France set out to turn Saar French despite the people being ethnic German. French was taught in the schools and a Saar version of the French Franc replaced the German Mark. Relating directly to this stamp, a new university was founded under French leadership that would teach in both French and German. This sounds like mild stuff and West Germany agreed in 1952 that Saar could remain outside of West Germany easing toward independence and part of Franco-German industrial cooperation that was the beginning of the long project of European integration. Indeed a early version of the twelve star Euro flag had 15 stars with one representing an independent Saar.

The will of the people was again allowed to hold sway. Another election favored integration with Germany and this was accomplished in 1959. With that came the end of the Saar version of the French Franc and the end of stamps from the Saar. Saarland today is one of the smaller German states but also one of the most conservative and religious.

The Saarland University still exists and the international character of the institution has served it very well in attracting a large international student community. The library building on the stamp is still in use.

Well my drink is empty and so it is time to open up the conversation in the below comment section. Compared to some of the ethnic cleansing that seems so common in the Balkans and elsewhere, the failed French effort in the Saar seem mild and almost friendly. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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The King is back, lets buy him a yacht!

Welcome readers to todays offering from The Philatelist. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. We have an interesting story to tell of an elected King of a new country who then has to figure out how to come back after 5 years in exile while his adopted country suffered under the Nazis.

The stamp today is Scandinavian from the 1940s. has such the picture on the stamp is formal and the green color is muted. A closer look will reveal filigree and a coat of arms. Overall not an impressive effort, but perhaps the intent was to establish presence but be inoffensive.

Today’s stamp is issue A54, a 1 Krone stamp issued on June 7th, 1946 by Norway. The stamp honors King Haakon VII. It was part of a four stamp issue in various colors and denominations. The Scott catalog lists the value of the stamp as 25 cents in it’s cancelled state. In this issue the stamp to look for is a mint copy of the henna brown 2 Krone. It is worth $60.

In 1905 Norway ended it’s union with Sweden and set out among European royals to start a new royal family of the new country. Prince Carl, the second son of the King of Denmark was approached, as his family had some ties to Norway. He also already had a male heir and his wife Maud was the youngest daughter of British King Edward VII. Before Carl agreed to take the throne, he requested an election to make sure that Norway truly wanted to be a kingdom. He easily won the election making him an unusual elected King. He took the old Norwegian name Haakon. In the 30s, he proved himself above politics by rejecting advise not to allow a communist prime minister to form a government after winning an election. He stated he was also the King of the communists.

World War II came to Norway and the Germans demanded that the King recognize Quisling, the Norwegian national socialist as prime minister. King Haakon’s brother, the King of Denmark had made a similar agreement with the Germans.  The existing government and gold supply had escaped and met to discuss what to do. The King advised that Quisling not be recognized and the government agreed. He stated that if they chose Quisling he would have abdicated. After a few months resistance and neutral Sweden refusing to take him. The British government evacuated the Norwegian government to Britain at a steep price. The aircraft carrier HMS Glorious and 2 destroyers were sunk at the loss of over 1500 British officers and men. King Haakon made speeches broadcast to Norway from exile. The Quisling government demanded the King abdicate but he refused citing the request had come from a government in distress.

King Haakon VII returned to Norway in victory soon after VE Day and reigned until his death in 1957. In celebration a voluntary subscription was taken up to purchase a new yacht for the King, an avid sailor. A British yacht was purchased, upgraded, and given the name Norge. The yacht still serves Haakon’s grandson, Harald the current King of Norway. In 2007 the Norge sailed the southern coast of Norway in company with the Danish royal yacht Dannebrog to celebrate the seventieth birthdays of the Queen of Denmark, the King of Norway and the seventieth birthday of the ship itself.

Well my drink is empty and so it is time to 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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Remembering Whitney Young

Welcome readers to todays offering from The Philatelist. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. We have an interesting story to tell where we remember a civil rights leader from an important time in United States history.

The stamp today is from the Black Heritage series of USA stamps. There has been one a year of them since the late seventies. They are usually issued in January to be available in post offices during Black History month which is February. I especially like the early issues of the series as the often showed the subject looking up from his papers in a study. As if perhaps he is ready to discuss a stamp with The Philatelist.

The stamp is issue A1262, a 15 cent stamp issued on January 30th, 1981. As stated above it is the 1981 issue of the long running Black Heritage series of USA stamps. According to the Scott catalog, it is worth 25 cents in it’s used condition.

Whitney Young was the son of a black boarding school president and a postmistress in Kentucky. The school, Lincoln Institute, was formed by integrated Berea College as a way around mandated segregation laws in Kentucky that existed at the time. Whitney Young was also a graduate of the school. The school closed in 1966 after the desegregation laws then in effect was felt to leave the institution obsolete. The campus is now used as a government job corps center.

Whitney Young served in the wartime Army, married, and pursued academic opportunities. Soon he was dean of the Social Work department of traditionally black Atlanta University. Through this post he worked to bring more blacks in to the social work profession. To accomplish this goal he boycotted the professional organization of social workers in Georgia to pressure them to be more open to blacks.

At age 40 Mr. Young was made head of the National Urban League. During his tenure he greatly expanded the work of the organization. It went from 45 paid staffers to 1600. He worked hard through the institutions to open up opportunities for blacks.

In doing so, he somewhat became rather an institutional figure. He became close with higher ups of corporations, unions, and politicians. He was a major advocate for President Johnson’s expensive and failed war on poverty. He also controversially adhered to President Johnson’s pro Vietnam War policy, only to reverse course suddenly on the war when Nixon entered office. This can be a problem when you become a tool for one political party and forget who you are working for. Blacks were over represented in the conscripts sent to Vietnam and for the most part opposed it.

The esteem with which he was held by the establishment was shown when he died of a heart attack in Nigeria in 1971 while attending a conference there. President Nixon sent a government plane to pick up his remains and then gave a eulogy at his funeral. He has many monuments and schools named after him around the country which at least so far have not been attacked or threatened.

Well, my drink is empty on so it is time to open up the conversation in the below comment section. Leaders like Mr. Young are not in fashion right now. Before they are condemned though, one should consider the real world help he gave individuals that were facing many barriers at the time. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Pretty Asian cat but no longer populaire and ashamed to show the African country

Welcome readers to todays offering from The Philatelist. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. We have an interesting story to tell of when the initial optimism of independence seeps away and you are left selling pretty pictures of cats from another continent.

The stamp today is quite pretty. It is labeled Congo. That seems straight forward but there are two nations named Congo and I initially guessed wrong which it was because it lacked the populaire republic that usually identified the former French, communist part. Belgium Congo called itself Zaire in the 70s-90s and then reverted to Congo. Stamp issues are getting far between in Africa these days but the Scott catalog will continue the stamp issues under Zaire until they have more clarity. This may be short sighted as stamp collectors may be more excited by the idea or researching their way through confusion. This stamp is from Congo,the former French Congo.

The stamp today is issue A319, a 60 franc stamp issued by Congo on November 21, 1992. It depicts a tiger. It was part of a four stamp issue of wild cats that could also be had in the form of a souvenir sheet. The Scott catalog lists it’s value at 60 cents whether it is mint or used.

The former French Congo has had a somewhat troubled history since independence. The first President was a defrocked former priest who had four official wives and was promoted as a mystic comparable to Jesus Christ. It was said that he could bathe in the river clothed and God would see that his clothes stayed dry. What he proved unable to do was maintain good relations with France or another country so to get an important hydroelectric project financed. He was deposed and France refused to take him because Mrs. de Gaulle was incensed by his lifestyle, she was a devout Catholic. The country was then ruled by Presidents for life that came from the military and declared Congo a peoples republic. They ruled still has cleptocrats but perhaps thought they could get aid from the Eastern Bloc. The Mystic priest former president wrote a book from exile in Spain titled, “I blame China!” Well okay then.

There is some oil that was developed by the French and Americans along the way and some diamonds that are smuggled out of the country as blood diamonds. The country did have a unsuccessful fling with democracy in the nineties when populaire republic was removed from the stamps. The status quo was returned when Angola invaded in 1997 and returned President Sassou to power. President Sassou still rules but fear not, his son is a top executive in the oil company and doesn’t feel that his name should disqualify him from office. So there is that to look forward to.

The tiger does not exist in Africa. It is an Asian animal and most of the examples still in the wild exist in India. The tiger is considered threatened but many of the nations that have them are doing more to protect them.

So what is it doing on a stamp from the Congo. That is a hard question. The stamps from Congo that year included a stamp with Bo Jackson, the American baseball player, and a stamp with an antique Aston Martin automobile. Nothing with the sights or personalities of the Congo. Just to milk a few francs from specialized stamp collectors.

Well my drink is empty and so it is time to open up the conversation in the below comment section. I notice that this stamp is more valuable than many stamps I have written about with more historic implications. Are the specialists really so much of what is left of our hobby? Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.