Month: May 2019

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Portugal 1870, King Luiz, a learned man, a ladies man, but not much of a King

The Portuguese Royals divided into a Portugal and a Brazil line in the 19th century. So though Portuguese still left for Brazil, less and less money came back and the empire became threadbare. Perhaps a dynamic new King could have turned it around, but not someone satisfied playing the cello and translating Shakespeare. Gosh this guy probably collected stamps. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Todays stamp is so typical of a 19th century European Empire stamp. A Royal depicted in an ageless profile along with a denomination. Great Britain started postage stamps this way in 1840, was much copied, and Queen Elizabeth II is still displayed this way. Portugal’s lesser status is seen in having to include the countries name on the stamp. Otherwise the stamp fits right in as did Portugal’s Royal House of Braganza. Luiz married Maria Pia, Princess and daughter of Italian King Victor Emanuel I.

The stamp today is issue A15, a 25 Reis stamp issued by the Kingdom of Portugal in 1870. This was a 17 stamp issue in various denominations that was issued foe many years and then reprinted on cheap paper for collectors in 1885 and again in 1905, third world money grubbing style. The quality of the printing I think suggest that this stamp is original and if I am correct the Scott catalog places it’s value at $3.75 used. An imperferate version is worth $500 mint.

I mentioned that Portugal was somewhat threadbare after Brazil became it’s own Empire. See https://the-philatelist.com/2019/04/18/brazil-1891-an-elite-overthrow-the-monarchy-to-avoid-a-haitian-outcome/ . Portugal was also faced with the end of the slave trade and the fact that many Portuguese traders in places like Macau and Goa in India had gone native. See https://the-philatelist.com/2017/11/10/remember-the-divine-duty-of-empire/  . The extent of the rot was shown by the Royal succession in 1863. Prince Luiz was a second son and a naval ship captain when he was called home as his mother the Queen was sick. He arrived home to find her and two of his brothers dead from cholera from bad water at the Palace of Necessities. One of the necessities apparently not being clean water. There was a new palace being constructed, Ajuda Palace though it was far from finished after many years work.  New King Luiz was advised to move in anyway and was soon joined by his 14 year old bride Queen Consort Maria Pia.

Luiz stayed out of politics for the most part and weak governments of the left and the right did not make much headway. The Queen attracted much consternation for her extravagance and the government often withheld money in finishing Ajuda Palace. The Queen responded that if you want a Queen you have to pay for her. The marriage with Luiz cooled after the birth of the heir and the spare as he found more understanding with his mistresses.

Our King and Queen early on at a costume ball

When Luiz suddenly died in 1889, now dowager Queen Maria Pia refused to leave Ajuda Palace and new King Carlos had to go live in the Palace of Necessities. The cholera there did not get him but assassins did. Portugal was declared a Republic and Maria Pia was sent into exile in her native Italy. The is a current pretender to the House of Braganza, Duerte Pio, but none of the political parties support a return to monarchy. The Necessities Palace now serves as Portugal’s Foreign Ministry and Ajuda Palace is a somewhat derelict museum. There is a scheme to fix it up by selling some of the grounds for development. If you want a Palace, you have to pay for her.

Well my drink is empty and I am not one to add much water to my scotch, so I am safe to have another. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Benin 1988, the chameleon Kerekou embraces old King Behanzin and his Amazons

The King of the old Dahomey would seem an odd person to celebrate for a Marxist dictator that had even changed the areas name in order to claim a fresh start. Mathieu Kerekou was all about starting anew though and that was how he stayed around from 1972-2006. Or maybe it was voodoo? Too bad none of his fresh starts was the way out of the misery. 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 really like this stamp for two reasons. One is showing the old African leader King Behanzin as part of the continuum of Benin/Dahomey  history.  The second thing is that it is not some elaborate fake looking stamp just meant for topical stamp collectors. This is a small stamp ready to serve the needs of bulk mail. The reality, or at least ambition, that there will be bulk mail implies a functioning country. Benin was not really there yet in 1986, but it is a nice piece of optimism that it could be.

Todays stamp is issue A194, a 220 Franc stamp issued by the Peoples Republic of Benin in 1988. It was a six stamp issue in various denominations issued over 2 years reflecting the rapidly depreciating currency. There were even later overprints into the 1990s. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.25 used.

There are two versions of old Dahomey King Behanzin’s story, one African and one French. The African story is that the French sent Porto-Nova administrator Jean-Marie Bayol to demand concessions from the inland African Kingdom of Dahomey and the King cleverly refused to meet with him and the insulted French then trumped up charges of slavery and savagery and brutally massacred his female Amazon warrior army. See https://the-philatelist.com/2019/03/07/dahomey-1941-never-mind-the-canoe-watch-out-for-the-dahomey-amazons/   . The French claim that Bayol was sent to discuss slave raids and was then held prisoner and forced to sign over rights to Porto-Novo. After escaping, Bayol was obliged to return with French troops. In both cases the reality was King Behanzin was easily defeated and went to exile in the French Caribbean.

Jean-Marie Bayol

In 1972 independent Dahomey was not doing well despite finding some oil resources. A successful coup put in military officer Mathieu Kerekou. After a few years of lackluster rule he refashioned Dahomey as Benin and himself as a Marxist. In retrospect, this allowed him to blame the lack of progress on the French and reach out to the eastern bloc for aid. Kerekou, a Catholic, in 1980 converted to Islam with a temporary new first name in an attempt to gain aid from Libya under Kaddafi. When that aid faded so did his conversion. By 1990, after surviving many attempted coups, and his Marxism looking rather dated, Kerekou appeared on tv with the local Catholic Bishop. He elaborately confessed the sins of his government and pledged to go forth and sin no more. An election was held the next year and repentance was not enough and Kerekou lost. The next fellow proved no better and Kerekou returned in 1996 for 10 more years until they managed to term limit him out. Practitioners of voodoo in Benin thought Kerekou must have had powers to survive so many twists and turns and die of old age in his country. Perhaps?

Benin President KereKou near the end of his rule in 2006

Benin has not been able to cope with the population growth of the country. The population is over 5 times what it was at independence. Thus even has the economy has showed signs of life from debt forgiveness and cotton exports, it has not kept up with the population growth.

Well, my drink is empty, and I will pour another to toast Jean-Marie Bayol for making it out of Dahomey with his head. Against all odds, there is still a plaza named for him in the capital Porto-Novo. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting

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Poland 1982, do Polish experts do better through adversity, or was it just easier when nobody knew anything?

This isn’t the first Polish scientist stamp I have covered. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/10/17/poland-1983-remembers-an-astronomer-mathemacian-from-a-time-with-so-many-changes-that-it-was-hard-to-develop-the-polish-academic-tradition/  . They all seem to have faced dramatic obstacles related to the plight of the Poles at the time, yet still moved mankind’s knowledge forward. With relative peace and prosperity not just in Poland, am I the only one to notice that progress has slowed. 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 issue from 1982 shows four prominent mathematicians. They are displayed on graph paper in a fun 80s Max Headroom style. Sierpinski died in 1969 making him the most modern figure on the stamp issue, although most of his important work was 50+ years before that. Could Poland have come up with 4 living mathematicians in 1982 or 2019 that were advancing the field enough to be worthy of being remembered? I wonder.

Todays stamp is issue A799, a 6 Zloty stamp issued by Poland on November 23rd, 1982. It was a four stamp issue displaying 4 Polish mathematicians. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether it is mint or used.

Waclaw Sierpinski was born in Warsaw in 1882. At the time the city was under Czarist Russian occupation. The city’s University taught in Russian and had a largely Russian staff. As such, it was sort of a colonial operation and Poles were reticent to attend and thereby support the Russian occupation. Sierpinski did not honor the boycott as he desired to learn from a prominent Russian mathematician on staff there. He did withhold his first major academic work from publication until it could be published in Polish instead of Russian. World War I saw him in Moscow working with Russians. Sierpinski was back in Poland for the 1919 war with the Soviet Union and worked for the Poles decoding Soviet cyphers. Bet the Soviets were glad the Czarists had invested so much in Sierpinski’s success.

Sierpinski main mathematical contribution was in the field or numbers theory and set theory. In numbers theory, Sierpinski built upon the work of Russian mathematician Vorony. His later set theory work was built on the work of German mathematician Cantor. Below is a fractal that is named for him. It is one of those visual distotions.

Sierpinski Square, a fractal where the dimensions of the individual are more than the whole

Sierpinski continued working at the University or Warsaw through 1967. Or course his later years were more about receiving rewards for work he had done many years before. In a way, I wonder if this is the most interesting part. Is the adversity faced by people like Sierpinski necessary to challenge him to be his best? An alternative theory is that of course the older fellows seem to do more than the moderns because people just did not know anything back then.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Poland. It is a short list of countries that could put together a list of prominent mathematicians and Poland is one of the smaller and newer countries on that list. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

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Basutoland, Would Her Majesty help a fellow King with the Boers

We have done several stamps from the former colonies of South Africa before it federated. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/04/27/natal-boers-to-the-left-zulus-to-the-right-and-stuck-in-the-middle-with-the-indians/ Most had white rule, but not all and today comes a stamp from an area that kept black rule and stayed independent even as South Africa transitioned to majority rule. 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.

Aesthetically this stamp is both quite old fashioned and yet up to date. The British policy toward the African colonies was about to change. The new policy became known as the writing is on the wall. It meant that the British were going to leave and turn over power to the majority blacks. This was most controversial in the south where there were more white settlers that couldn’t see themselves under black rule. Lots of old history now but look who is on this stamp from even earlier, the current Queen of Great Britain. It is amazing to think how long she has been guiding the ship of the Empire/Commonwealth.

Todays stamp is issue A7, a 3 Pence stamp issued by the British Crown Colony of Basutoland on October 18th, 1954. It was part of an eleven stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 40 cents used.

Basutoland was ruled by King Moshoeshoe I. He had been successful in raiding neighboring cattle herds earning him the name the razor. He sensed early on that if his empire was to survive he needed to procure a white advisor. The appearance of Christian missionaries provided that. He also was able to acquire some firearms for his warriors. His warriors therefore did surprisingly well against Zulu and British rivals. In victory, Moshoeshoe was conciliatory and so wars were just incidents not long battles and the British established friendly relations.

King Moshoeshoe I

This would prove useful when the Boers came for the land. Boers, Dutch heritage South Africans sent what they called trekkers into Basuto land from the Orange Free State. Again Moshoeshoe had early military success against them but the Boers kept coming in ever greater numbers. King Moshoeshoe appealed to Queen Victoria for help. A deal was struck with the Boers making Basutoland a British Crown Colony with new borders that ended the Boer intrusion. Moshoeshoe I was kept on has Paramount Chief with substantial powers. The area remained far less than one percent white.

As the British read their writing on the wall in the 50s and 60s, the then current Paramount Chief was named King Moshoeshoe II of the new Kingdom of Lesotho. Relations with apartheid South Africa were tense as the ANC had a presence in Lesotho, but British pressure again kept the Boers out. Lesotho decided not to join the new South Africa   in the 1990s and Moshoeshoe I’s Royal line still sits on Lesotho’s Throne. All this stability has not translated into prosperity. The GNP per person is about one sixth that of not rich South Africa, and much of that is from remittances of Lesotho citizens working in South Africa.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the Catholic missionaries that got King Moshoeshoe’s ear. You would think that advise from missionaries would just be of a spiritual nature but their good advise lead to a stability and continuity unusual in the region. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting

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Guadeloupe 1928, The island is ours not theirs, but what happens without bekes and subsidies

Here is another one of those sugar plantation islands trying to cope without the original industry. For a change Guadeloupe stayed French and as a result the poverty rate is lower. 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.

As this stamp is from 1928, it shows a unique period in the islands history. The sugar industry was big business on Guadeloupe. Without slavery, the local blacks were not willing to keep working the plantations for the meager wages provided. So here we get to see a sugar mill from the period when Indian contract workers were brought in from the also French colony in India, Pondicherry. This was also suboptimal and the sugar industry is mainly gone from the island, which now relies on tourism for employment, and import/export to employ the former planters called bekes, and inevitably massive subsidies from France to keep the whole thing going.

Todays stamp is issue A11, a 5 Centimes stamp issued by the French colony of Guadeloupe in 1928. It was part of a long running 42 stamp issue in various denominations that showed scenes from the island. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether it is mint or used.

Guadeloupe was home over time to several groups of Indians. When it was discovered by Christopher Columbus, it was occupied by Caribe Indians. They were not friendly to outsiders and wiped out several attempted colonies over the next 150 years. In the mid 17th century, a French private company, the Company of the Americas managed to get a settlement going. Though private, the company had important investors including Cardinal Richelieu and France had the power to appoint the colonial government. What followed was the mass importation of slaves from west Africa to work sugar cane plantations with the product exported. These planters, called bekes in the local creole dialect, were less than one percent of the population. These style companies are never the consistent moneymakers hoped for and Guadeloupe was sold to it’s governor, Charles Houel. He managed to get a fort built and banished the remaining Caribe Indians that had never been truly brought into the fold. The Caribe had replaced violently an earlier tribe of settlers and now it was their turn. Would it now be the French turn to be driven out?

France ended slavery in their empire in 1848. There was no effort either on the part of the freed slaves or from the French to see them returned to Africa. The plantations ground to a halt. In desperation, the planters brought in Indians, but few stayed beyond the short term contracts. In 1946, the new fragile French government declared colonies like Guadeloupe overseas departments and everyone on the island French citizens. You can guess what would be the next Guadeloupe export, it’s people. France responded by jumping up subsidies to the island to stem the flow of people out. The former planters found work in import businesses on a small island where most things had to be brought in. This insured their prosperity and the continued resentment of the black majority, who resent the cost of island living.

In 2009 there was a strike that turned into riots under the slogan this island is ours, not theirs, a racial reference. The rioting was so bad the airport had to close due to debris on the runway. The French gave in on salary demands and sent in 500 military police to restore order. The subsidies mean that Guadeloupe is far richer than nearby islands and so there in much inter island migration to Guadeloupe as the locals still head for France. The French have showed staying power, but the Africans are the real permanents. Unless a new indian tribe lands? Its happened before.

Well my drink is empty and so I will wait patiently until tomorow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

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Britain 1991, Remembering Michael Faraday, why advancements seem to happen in only a few places

Michael Faraday had several strikes against him. He grew up poor and his Christianity was of an obscure sect in a class conscious 19th century Britain. Yet he was able to work and his research advanced human knowledge in the fields of electricity and magnetism. How is it that such stories happen in only a few places and times in the world. 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.

Regular readers will sense that I really like this 1991 British stamp issue. A few weeks ago I covered this stamp on Charles Babbage,the proto computer inventor. See https://the-philatelist.com/2019/05/15/great-britain-1991-remembering-one-of-those-great-19th-century-polymaths/   . Being a fairly ignorant American, whose knowledge of electricity consists of visions of Ben Franklin flying a kite, I am presented with an opportunity to expand my knowledge with what Britain was up to in the field. Mr. Faraday is presented in a smoking jacket with a lightbulb going off in his head like when I figure out what a stamp is talking about. Bringing me in an expanding my mind. Stamp making at it’s best.

Todays stamp is issue A393, a 22 pence stamp issued by Great Britain on March 5th, 1991. It was a four stamp issue remembering prominent British scientists. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 50 cents.

Michael Faraday grew up poor in an outer suburb of London in a family that practiced the small Glassite offshoot of the Church of Scotland. He was able as a teenager to get an apprenticeship at a bookseller. This gave him access to books and to other people who read them. Contacts from the store got him invited to science lectures held at the Royal Institution. The RI had been founded in 1799 with the purpose of extending scientific research to benefit the masses. Hearing a lecture from chemist Humphry Davy, he sent him a 300 page report on what he heard. Impressed, Davy hired him as an assistant and his work was rewarded by an appointment of his own at the Royal Institution. In English society this did not quite make Faraday a gentleman. He was quite offended to still have to function as Davy’s valet on a European tour. A real gentleman would not have made such a production out of the perceived slight.

the first electric generator, by Faraday

Anyway. Faraday made many advancements including early insights in how magnetic fields work and how electricity is conducted. He also built the first electric generator and bunson burner. I assume Mr. Bunson may argue with that last one. He was also much rewarded. He turned down a Knighthood based on the precepts of the Glassite sect. He did accept from Prince Consort Albert a Grace and Favor country house. The house was owned by Prince Albert, but given rent and expense free as a thanks for service to the Empire. One service he was not willing to provide the Empire was work on chemical weapons during the Crimean War. He explained his religion based objections and the house nor the position at the RI was removed from him. His Glasite sect of Christianity died out in the late 20th century.

One can understand what good a properly functioning Royal Institution can do for a nation. It still exists in it’s original and now quite valuable building in London. It still exists but had a brush with modernity recently. The leader was a female descendant of an Austrian electrician and an exotic dancer. Her idea to advance the institution was to spend 25 million pounds to renovate the building so an upscale public nightclub for the glitterati was a part of it. It bombed and the institution was left in debt. An anonymous donation prevented the building from having to be sold. When she was removed, the lady, a Countess, sued, claiming she was discriminated against. Well the people that appointed her should have used more discretion. Any way the woman’s science work is in the field of dementia. So perhaps we can all forget. No wonder the last Nobel Laureate from the RI was born way back in 1933.

Well my drink is empty and I am left wondering what modern institutions that actually advance knowledge look like today. The RI seems moribund, China is littered with scientific institutions with no decernable output, and silcon valley in the USA hasn’t been heard much from lately. Wonder what that Tesla guy is up to? Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

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Spain 1962, can the winged helmit of Mercury stop us from falling behind

Ah, the troubles of the life ruler. Eventually you have tried all your ideas and without fresh blood to keep things moving, things can stagnate. However knowing how smart and right you are, and as a student of history, there is the hope that the Gods will smile and the old dictator vindicated. In Mercury we pray. 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.

You may join me in admiring the aesthetics of this stamp. Spain printed their own stamps and so they were a little behind most of Western Europe in adding elaborate color to the issues. There was somewhat an exception for the frequent religious issues. Nobody was worshiping the Roman God Mercury in Franco’s Spain, but he does seem to get the extra care given Catholic symbols. This stamp celebrated a stamp day, and the perforations pictured imply that Mercury was on an older stamp. He wasn’t, early Spanish stamp issues usually featured their Royals. Perhaps Franco would have preferred a Mercury issue.

Todays stamp is issue A274, a 25 Centimo stamp issued by Spain on May 7th, 1962. It was part of a four stamp issue in various denominations displaying the Roman God of Commerce, Mercury. Spain usually had a stamp issue to present at the big annual stamp exhibition in Barcelona to go with International Stamp day. We covered the 1980 issue here, https://the-philatelist.com/2018/12/24/spain-1980-honoring-postal-as-well-as-royal-heritage/ , that allowed then King Juan Carlos to honor his not well remembered grandfather. Franco had you go back all the way to the ancients. Well stamp collectors can be accused of spending to much time looking back instead of forward. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether it is mint or used.

By the 1960s, Spain was failing to catch up with the economic success of Western Europe. Avoiding participation in World War II was not the big economic driver it was in Switzerland or Sweden. The 1930s had seen  a devastating civil war and with the ostracism of Franco from much of Europe recovery was slow. Spain was doing better however than communist Eastern Europe, that had the same issue of tired old dictators ruling for life. On their stamps you would have more likely seen the prophet Marx than Roman God Mercury, but I guess you have to pray to someone for new blood. The Spanish Civil War with the choice of Marxist or Fascist was suboptimal.

Mercury is the Roman God of Commerce, Mercury is a bringing over from Greece of their God Hermes. In bringing over Hermes, the earlier Roman God Dei Lucrii was merged into the idea of Mercury. This taking over can be seen in how later Catholic Saints were appealed to in similar ways as were the pre Christian Roman Gods. In Roman times, the Roman Historian Tacitus saw other peoples Gods as being representations of Mercury. He saw this as true for the Germanic God Wotan, and the Celtic God Lugus. None of those had Mercury’s cool helmet. Tacitus was perhaps right about Mercury being absorbed by not just Romans. We see him here on a Spanish stamp, he also was the inspiration for Ford’s Mercury automobile. The American Mercury dime coin, in use until 1946, was not actually Mercury. It was really Lady Liberty, but her head gear on the coin was thought to resemble Mercury’s famous winged helmet.

Well my drink is empty and so I will patiently await tomorrow when there is a new story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

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Barbuda 1979, think of how great it will be to be independant or at least dependant on Antiqua

Barbuda is a small island in the Caribbean. When Antigua achieved independence in 1981, Barbuda was declared a dependent. A well known writer from Antigua, who calls herself Jamaica Kincaid, writes that because of the nature of slavery, the descendants are not responsible for their current situation. Imagine having to rely on that. 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 sort of a fantasy of air travel to Barbuda. In real life Codrington  Airport has a very short runway and the most common plane serving it is the 9 passenger twin prop Islander. In fact even this capability is closed as the airport was damaged by Hurricane Irma in 2017. Yet here we have a four jet Convair 880 airliner ready to park. Is it the Lisa Marie, Elvis’s plane? Total fantasy. The fantasies get even larger elsewhere in the stamp issue, showing a British Airways 747. There was a theory that tourism was being held back by the British administration. So perhaps the stamp is a vision of how the future may be. If the British would just leave.

Todays stamp is issue B33, a $1.25  stamp issued by the West Indies British colony of Barbuda on May 24th, 1979. It was a four stamp issue celebrating the 30th year of the West Indies Civil Aviation organization. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 50 cents unused. Barbuda did a few stamps after independence but most now stated as Antigua and Barbuda

Barbuda was first spotted by Columbus but proved difficult to settle  because of the Caribe Indians were not welcoming. Eventually the British got established on the islands. With them they brought Irish indentured servents and many slaves from West Africa to work sugar cane plantations. The Irish often functioned as slave oversears and intermarried with them. As was typical in the British Empire, others from Portugal and Syria were attracted to the towns to function as merchants. They were again mostly male and intermarried with the slaves. This diversity went away after the plantation economy tanked and the island is now near 100% black.

Barbuda put off independence as long as possible. You weren’t still a colony in 1981 because it had not been offered to you. The economy had dried up after slavery and they came upon naming Barbuda a dependency of  the nearby slightly larger island of Antigua. In Antiqua a labour leader named Bvrd had been recruited to serve in the colonial administration and went on to serve as Prime Minister. So did his son. In fact the main political rivalry was between Byrd’s two sons. One was accused of corruption for being a silent partner in a new hotel. The other was accused of smuggling arms to a Columbian drug cartel. No doubt people from Antiqua and Barbuda rejoiced when daddy Byrd picked the hotel guy. The slightly bigger airport on Antigua was built by the Americans during World War II  but was recently renamed for daddy Byrd. This was in celebration of Byrd’s contribution to the islands, none greater than his two charming sons.

The writer who calls herself Jamaica Kinkaid is from Antiqua. At 16 her mother sent her to Scarsdale, NY as an au pair. She was supposed to send money home to help support her large family but didn’t. Her host family let her attend community college and then she was offered a full scholarship to a college in Vermont. She moved to New York City and began writing angry anti colonial Caribbean based youth fiction that some describe as half séance half ambush. When she began dating the Editors son, she began writing for the New Yorker magazine. She married him, converted to Judism, and moved to Vermont. She quit the New Yorker in 1996  when an issue was dedicated to Roseanne Barr, who Kinkaid felt was beneath her. Asked why an Antiquan and Barbudan would refashion herself Jamaica Kincaid, I come from nowhere and have no credentials. Well yea.

Well my drink is empty and so we are at an end. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

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Great Britain 1991, remembering one of those great 19th century polymaths

Mistakes in human calculated math tables. Maddening for engineers, insurance people, and astronomer. What if a mechanical machine could be built and a logorithim written that could make and record tables more acturately. 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.

You all know I am going to love a stamp about a 19th century genious in a smoking jacket. The stamp designers had a little perceptive fun with Charles Babbage by having numbers popping out of his head. They kind of were though and through it you can see the luck that accrues when the best education system since Aristotle is utilized to full effect by a real genious. Makes me wonder if after I am gone and stamp designers having run out of worthy candidates, decide to give me a stamp. How to portray the stories that can be learned from stamp collecting emanating from me.

Todays stamp is issue A393, a 22 pence stamp issued by Great Britain on March 5th, 1991. It was a 4 stamp issue showing scientists and their technology, in this case Charles Babbage, whose mechanical analytical engine was an important forerunner of the computer. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 50 cents used.

Charles Babbage was born in 1791 to a wealthy family in London. His extensive education included self study of mathematics but he required tutoring in the Classics to meet the standard of Cambridge University. Nice when there was a standard instead of people just sent there from the colonies with no background as we have seen with so many stamps. See https://the-philatelist.com/2017/12/12/parliament-house-designed-by-the-guy-who-named-himself-president-for-life/ . Once at Cambridge, he found the mathematics teaching below par and so formed an Analytical Society with some fellow math nerds, connections that would serve him well later in life. He was also a member of the extractors club. That sought to extract any of its members if they are committed to a madhouse. That seems to me the one to join. Academia was not compatible with Babbage as he was more interested in research than in teaching.

Babbage ended up writing influential works on actuarial studies and industrial design. In industry he was in favor of breaking up tasks so that the master had more time on what he alone could do. Over time Babbage though automation could take over the rest. That of course works out well for the master but perhaps less so for the rest of us. Indeed Babbage despised the regular person and indeed the manners of the aristocracy, turning down a Barony.

He began studying tables used in engineering, astronomy and insurance, and found a surprising to him number of human calculation mistakes. He conceived of a mechanical machine that would use algorithms and punch cards to make the calculations more accurately. To compose the algorithm, he worked with female mathematician, Ada King, the Countess of Lovelace. He was never quite got his Analytical Engine working, but Babbage’s son sent out copies of the prototypes to prominent people in the field and they were influential on later computers. There is currently a project in Britain to finally build a working copy of his machine, that might be done by 2021. It is sometimes thought of as Babbage’s last laugh that mechanical computation is again being investigated for areas of high radiation or temperature where electronics are not possible. One thing that perhaps would not make him laugh is that two different museums have preserved pieces of his brain on display.

A part prototype built by Babbage of his proposed Analytical Machine

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Charles Babbage. It will have to be a short one as Babbage abhorred commoners and their drunkenness. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Italy 1926, Remembering Saint Francis, before his modern conversions

Saint Francis is today remembered as the saint who cared for animals and the environment. This is of course a Godly thing to promote, and Saint Francis is a good vessel for such beliefs. As recently as 1926, he was remembered still as the Patron Saint of the Italian nation state, and his persona was one who lived as Jesus. So slip on your simple tied robe get on your feet and walk the Holy Italian path. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Imagine a six stamp issue remembering Saint Francis of Assisi with no animals. Unthinkable today. Yet here we have Saint Francis with monasteries as he was a physical builder for the church. They also display his visions of Christ and on this stamp, the scene around his death. As Patron Saint of Italy the stamp makers could have had him with later flags or represent his time as a soldier. They wisely restrained from such modern repurposing. That would come in later years.

Todays stamp is issue A82, a 1.25 Lira stamp issued by the Kingdom of Italy on January 30th, 1926. It was a 6 stamp issue in various denominations honoring the 700th anniversary of the death or Saint Francis of Assisi. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 90 cents used.

Saint Francis was born into a wealthy merchant family around 1180 AD. His father was away in France at the time of his birth on business. That business was successful and upon his return to Assisi, he renamed his son Francesco, which means the Frenchman in Italian. As a young man he was a soldier and worked in his fathers fabrics business. While praying in a dilapidated church, An icon of Jesus came to life and instructed him to rebuild his church which was falling down. He then took merchandise from his fathers business and tried to give it to the church which refused the stolen money. His father then brought him up on charges and he abandoned his birthright in exchange for clemency. Saint Francis now took on his modest clothes for which he was famous and began traveling around preaching to the poor and seeking help in renovating churches. In his travel he was gradually joined by his own 12 disciples. He traveled to Rome and the Pope gave him permission to form an Order of minor Friars. He later opened a second for Nuns and a third order open to church laity. All of which were successful. He attempted to take his message abroad, but here he was less successful. Trips to Morocco and Jerusalem had to be called off because of ship issues. There was also a trip to Egypt to try to convert the Sultan in order to influence the Crusades. The Sultan did not convert but also did not have Saint Francis killed as he expected if he fell short.

In his later years he stepped back from the orders but continued to travel and preach. During one trip he had a vision of experiencing the Crucifixion of Christ and became only the second Christian after Saint Paul to have stigmata from the vision. Stigmata were wounds corresponding to what Jesus experienced on the cross. He died shortly after and the Pope made him a Saint two years after death.

In 1979, Pope John Paul declared Saint Francis Patron Saint of Ecology, his teaching on kindness to animals was already well known. The current Pope is the first to take the name Francis, in this case in honor of the simple life in service of the poor. Saint Francis seems to lend himself to many repurposing to what the current generation wants to talk about. Perhaps this is okay. He tried to model his life and those of his orders to follow as close as possible the life of Jesus. Jesus had transcending teachings on many subjects.

Unfortunately, I am one of the many who fall short of this ideal so I will close. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.