Month: July 2019

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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 tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

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Taiwan 1956, General “Cash My Check” plans project national glory

Losing becomes self perpetuating. Kuomintang leader General Chiang Kai-shek had to flee to Taiwan after losing the Chinese civil war. His comrades were now in a strange land and many of the locals found the former Japanese administration more efficient. The General had an idea to return to national glory before the Americans got serious about not cashing his checks. 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 found it strange that this Taiwan stamp portrayed their leader in the guise of a General. Many if not most of the General Chiang’s battles had not gone well. Yet here he is, at nearly 70, presenting himself as a military leader ready to win back the China he had lost. To have survived so long Chiang had his fans, but this was not a convincing guise to convince anyone new.

Todays stamp is issue A124 a $2 stamp issued by the Republic of China on Taiwan on October 31st, 1956. It was a six stamp issue in various denominations displaying President Chiang Kai-shek as a military leader. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used. This was a bulk postage issue therefore unused versions are more valuable. A mint version of this stamp is up at $16.

At the end of World War II, Taiwan had been under Japanese occupation for over 50 years. Things had been peaceful and there had been economic progress. At suggestion of the Allies, Chinese Kuomintang(KMT) forces accepted the Japanese surrender.  The KMT administration proved much rougher than the Japanese. On February 28th, 1947 a local 40 year old widow lady was selling contraband cigarettes on the street when agents from the tax authority approached her. One of the agents hit her over her head with a pistol as an angry crowd formed. Soon the agents fled after shooting into the crowd. This lead to days of riots where over 5000 people were killed. Thus the KMT’s legitimacy was already suspect when their leaders arrived in defeat from the mainland.

The legitimacy of General Chiang was already under question. The KMT had been the recipient of massive amounts of American aid over many years to have nothing but Taiwan to show for it. He was still asking for and getting even more aid while making big promises. Thus the sneer in America of General Cash my Check. The Soviet Union was at the time having similar feelings about all the aid going to Red China while their great leap forward proved to be such a stumble.

Nevertheless, General Chiang had a plan to turn things around. It was modeled after Sun Yat-sen’s successful effort to bring down the Qing Dynasty in 1911. See https://the-philatelist.com/2019/04/26/china-1961-remembering-sun-tat-sen-for-trying-to-bring-peace-order-and-good-government-over-from-hong-kong/ . Small units of special forces would foment trouble while the Muslim opposition army funded from Taiwan acted as a warlord army. It sounds pretty fanciful that it could work, but Chiang had often been attracted to such schemes.

In late 1965, Project National Glory got under way when special forces were to be landed in the mainland. The Red Chinese navy caught the ships and two were sunk. Earlier a practice for an amphibious landing was botched when three landing craft overturned in high waves. General Chiang gave up on these fanciful schemes in the early 70s when many countries withdrew recognition from Taiwan as the spokesman for all of China.

Chiang Kai-shek died in 1976 at the age of 89. His son by his first wife succeeded him. His then current wife, number four and First Lady fled to the USA as she was on bad terms with the son from another mother. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/03/06/madame-chaing-efforts-to-help-warphans/  .

Well my drink is empty and I am left wondering how much the USA and the Soviet Union squandered trying to influence what happens in China. Not money well spent. Come again tomorrow for another story to be learned from stamp collecting.

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Morocco 1988, In the Age of Lead, stop firing you fools, the Tyrant is dead, or is he?

Ruling a place full of hotheads, a firm hand is required. Perhaps even an age of lead. 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 Royal portrait stamp dates from 1988. As is the tradition among Royal stamps, the portrait used is from a decade earlier. No point seeing the King age, it might imply weakness, and that wouldn’t do in a country of hotheads. This fakery worked for King Hassan II, he died of natural causes still on the throne after a long rule.

Todays stamp is issue A236, a 1.2 Dirham issued by the Kingdom of Morocco in 1988. There were many versions of this stamp issued over many years as higher denominations were required due to inflation. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

King Hassan II took over from his father upon the latter’s natural death in 1961. See https://the-philatelist.com/2019/05/08/morocco-1956-the-alaouite-sultan-muhammed-v-outlasts-the-french-to-become-independant-and-king/  . The Alaoite Dynasty has ruled Morocco for centuries and claims the Prophet Mohamed as an ancestor. At first there were affectations of a modern state with a multiparty parliament. This did not go well as a traditional Royal regime is not compatible with a typical 60s style pan Arabist mob. Leaders were rounded up and disappeared and riots were dealt with harshly. Parliamentary power was stripped and the King instituted the “state of exception” where he could rule by decree. The time is remembered as the age of lead.

At first the King was militarily aggressive. He restated the old Spanish Rif War. There was a sand war with Algeria. He took Infi back from Spain see https://the-philatelist.com/2018/10/25/spanish-morocco-it-is-useful-to-have-a-second-stringer-occupy-much-of-a-large-dangerous-place/ , and the old Spanish Sahara from Mauritania see https://the-philatelist.com/2018/07/27/mauritania-1938-the-french-are-not-staying-so-someone-should-try-to-make-this-a-country/   and https://the-philatelist.com/2018/08/02/saharaui-semi-nation-on-the-other-side-of-the-wall-of-course-with-stamps/ . I know too much homework to read all that, but think of all the fun I had writing them. By the early 70s, King Hassan II got less militaristic as he no longer trusted his army as much. In 1971, he was held under house arrest  by military cadets while  Libyan backed Moroccan generals got on the radio claiming the King was dead and a republic declared. Not so fast, loyal parts of the army saved him.

In 1972 there was another coup attempt. The Royal 727 was returning to Morocco from France when 4 F5 fighter planes from the air force rose to meet it. There was much wild firing, the 727 took several 20 millimeter cannon hits but kept flying. The King ran to the cockpit and pretended to be the pilot getting on the radio and saying “Stop firing you fools, the tyrant is dead”. The fools indeed stopped firing at the 727  but strafed the dignitaries awaiting the King in Rabat. It was his birthday. The Defense Minister behind the attack later committed suicide in custody, by multiple gunshots. It was the age of lead. Aviation fans may recall that the F5 was a simple American fighter plane designed to be handed out to the third world. It was nicknamed the Freedom Fighter, but this incident is reflective of the kind of losers who too often got them.

When Hassan II died in 1999 his son took over. There was then a new round of pretend reforms, even a Royal truth commission on the crimes of the father. Meanwhile hotheaded Moroccans flood Europe. Apparently they would prefer to be ruled by the EU than a King related to the Prophet Mohamed.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to celebrate the end of the age of lead and dread the age of the hothead. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Belgium 1955, should this textile alegory be updated to reflect 30 Euro a month workers in Bangladesh?

The industrial revolution began in Britain and spread throughout Europe. Textile were a big part, first clothes and later carpets. A key skill in big European cities is hosting conventions. Thus the big exhibition in textiles was this year in Barcelona, not Dacca or Abbes Ababa where the employment has gone. 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 1950s were a great time for industry. Unions were seeing to it that workers were getting ahead and societies wealth was rising fast enough that costs could be passed on to the consumer and thus the industrialist were also prospering. In 1951, it was Paris’s turn to get the ball rolling on large post war international textile exhibition and four years later it was the turn of Brussels. The majesty of this stamp shows how serious the country took the exhibition. The facilities of the Free University of Brussels were used and 12 academic papers on field advancements from around the West were presented.

Todays stamp is issue A117, a 2 Franc stamp issued by Belgium on May 11th, 1955. It was a single stamp issue celebrating the International Textile Exhibition to be held in June that year. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

In the USA, 95 percent of textile mills closed in the 1980s and 1990s. Belgium has faired a little better. The country still employs 42,000 people in the industry, this number drops 1-2000 a year. This is a little less than one percent of the countries workforce. In the 1970s, developed nations noticed the movement of production to the third world. A multi fiber arrangement was worked out between them that temporarily put quotas on the amount of third world imports. Europe however made a special allowance for very poor countries to help them. Under this Bangladesh was allowed to export to Europe with no tariff or quota. Given that a Bangladeshi textile worker makes 30 Euros a month, no amount of industrial efficiency can match that. In the late 1980s the multi fiber arrangement broke down and the export rules were put under the jurisdiction of the World Trade Organization. China is the primary beneficiary of that and today is the worlds largest textile exporter. Somehow China has managed this while paying their workers a whopping 175 Euros a month.

China and Bangladesh should keep an eye out behind them. Recently Calvin Klein and H&M have moved some factories to Ethiopia. There a textile worker makes just 26 Euros a month. It has not been an easy go in Ethiopia. There has been much labor strife and turnover as it is not possible to support a family on 26 Euros a month, even in Ethiopia. Ethiopia was the last country on earth to officially ban slavery in 1942. Or did they?

Luckily for Europe, nobody is interested in having conventions in Dacca or Abbes Ababa. This year the Exposition was held in Barcelona and in 2023 there will be another one in Milan. There is no doubt that Europe knows how to put on a show, but it is too bad the act of making the textiles we use has been taken away.

Well my drink is empty and I am left wondering what the Brussels exposition was like. Were they still musing about technological and design advancements, or was there already a sense of doom over what was about to happen? Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Thailand 1989 King Rama IX manages to outlast them all, military and civilian

Talking about a Thai King is difficult. It is illegal to criticize a Royal in Thailand. It is the Thais who know him best so it makes an outsider piecing together his story iffy. Yet Rama IX was one of the worlds longest serving monarchs and appears on many stamps. Sounds like a job for 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. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

The King looks a little out of sorts on this stamp. He is short and bespectacled and so a tall old style Army had looks a little out of place. It does reflect the relationship with the Army from whom the King demands deference. Since the Army is not shy about sticking it’s nose into politics, there have been more than 10 coups during the King’s long reign, it is probably useful to remind them who is in charge.

Todays stamp is issue A372, a 10 Baht stamp issued by the Kingdom of Thailand on July 1st, 1989. It was part of a twelve stamp issue over several years in ever higher denominations as Thailand was experiencing inflation. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents.

By the 1920s when the King was born, it was the tradition of a young male Royal to spend an extended period overseas studying. A cadre of appropriate and attractive young Thai ladies were dispatched in the hope of the Royal finding an appropriate match. It was considered a Royal duty to host weekly meals for local Thai students. This happened and future King Rama IX was born just off campus of Harvard University in the USA in 1928. Upon return to then Siam, the young King died of a pendesites and the still young Queen Mother and the children departed for Switzerland, where Rama was raised. An uncle Regent represented Royal interest in Siam but it was a time of much debate as to the future of the Royalty as  the conservative military clashed with a left wing urban elite and always lefty students.

After World War II, Rama IX’s older brother reached majority and was scheduled to return to now Thailand after 15 years in Switzerland and rule. In 1946 he was fatally shot. There are three theories of this, that he was killed by accidental discharge, that he was shot by members of his court(two members were hung for it), or that Rama IX accidently shot Rama VIII while the two played with their pistols. There is little evidence that Rama IX was anxious for the Throne, he spent another 3 years in Switzerland. The Queen Mother indeed lived in Switzerland for the rest of her life.

Rama IX eventually made it back to Thailand in the early 1950s with his new bride Sirkit a Thai student studying in Switzerland. At the time there was a military dictatorship and his only role was ceremonial. He did host a radio show and play the saxophone. In 1957 there was a counter coup with a new field marshal that gave him a lot more to do around the country. Military rule was not popular among students and the foreign educated middle class. This old rivalry flared up in the early seventies with large student protests, see https://the-philatelist.com/2018/02/15/thailand-an-elite-demand-power-from-the-king-and-call-it-democracy/   . The King ordered the protestors to disperse and when they didn’t the military harshly cleared Freedom Square. This type of thing had been going on forever in Siam see https://the-philatelist.com/2018/11/01/siam-1917-a-young-king-modernizes-the-royal-court-and-adds-gay-drama-and-a-wild-tiger-corps/  . In the early 1990s the King took a new tack to the old rivalry. There was a televised audience with the King with the military leader and the leftist leader made their cases to him and the King questioned each of them harshly. As with formal Thai protocol, the King was seated on the Throne and the two politicians were on their knees. At the end, The King told the General to resign. The country had never seen anything like that and Rama’s popularity increased, especially among peasants who were not being represented much by either side of the haves.

King Rama IX’s image projected onto the Thai Military Bank building in 2006

The King worked hard on countryside projects especially involving irrigation. As his rule extended into the 21st century, he was revered as a link to the past where Kings of Siam avoided the colonial domination faced by most neighbors. In his last years his health declined and Rama IX died at age 88 in 2016 have ruled as an adult for 70 years, a record that has not yet been surpassed by Queen Elizabeth II. Queen Sirkit had a stroke during the King’s last days and hasn’t been seen in public as her son Rama X took over. Thai Kings are often refered to by their given names instead of their ceremonial name Rama, but it is too much to ask of this simple philatelist to spell them. Rama IX is Bhumibol Adulyadej. Easy for them to say?

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast long serving King Rama IX. It must have been a leap of faith to go back to Thailand to serve from the comfortable safety of Switzerland. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Bechuanaland Protectorate 1888, The British side with Christian Chief Khama to keep the Pioneers at Bay

With the colonial land grab for Africa of the late 19th century, some African chiefs sought a protectorate relationship with a colonial power to keep the others at bay and better serve his tribe. The most successful of these was the Bechuanaland Protectorate that became modern Botswana. 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 with a simple profile of Queen Victoria may not seem to emphasize the Britain was allowing the Chief Khama III to rule while they were merely the protector. In fact the chief was nowhere on any of the stamps of the Protectorate. Lets face it though, a postal service was mainly to do with colonial not local business. When you realize then that the protectorate was run from outside the land area of Bechuanaland, it is easier to see how the arrangement could be unobtrusive to the Tswana people.

Todays stamp is issue A1, a one Penny stamp issued by the Bechuanaland Protectorate in 1888. It was part of a 5 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $20. If the 1 in the 1 penny overprint was misprinted short, the stamp’s value would rise to $475.

The Tswana people occupied thinly the area between German South West Africa, now Namibia, and Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. The tribe was facing intrusions from Boers, British Rhodesians, and African Zulu and Matabele tribesman. The new young chief Khama III had been converted to Christianity by Scottish missionaries. Many of the leaders of the tribe had also converted. The tribe was becoming better off by organizing wildlife hunting and viewing expeditions. He also banned the importation of alcohol into his territory. With the area dealing with the kind of Pioneer columns that conquered Matabeleland see https://the-philatelist.com/2019/06/28/southern-rhodesia-1943-remembering-the-pioneers-that-conquered-matabeleland/  , the missionaries took Chief Khama’s case to Queen Victoria. A military expedition mapped and claimed territory on behalf of Chief Khama. The protection guarantee left Khama’s own warrior regiments available for civilian development and fairly uniquely they were often called up for civilian projects. Tswana people to the south were initially separately governed as a crown colony of Britain but later incorporated into South Africa. In the 1980s it was again made semi independent as the black homeland Baphuthatswana, see https://the-philatelist.com/2019/02/20/bophuthatswana-1985-the-tswana-people-get-industrious-in-the-bop/   , but this did not last.

The Protectorate status saw the Chief’s sons and grandsons educated in Great Britain. This became very controversial when the future would be chief Seretse decided to marry a white woman named Ruth Williams he met during his studies. Some among the tribe thought that his position meant it was not up to him who he married. There were also sons of Khama by later wives who had ambitions of being Chief themselves. Instead Seretse did not claim the chiefdom after he married Ruth but instead competed as a politician and ended up the first President of independent Botswana with Ruth as his First Lady. Their mixed raced son Ian later served as Botswana President from 2008 till 2018. Now in retirement from that job, some wonder if he might claim the Chiefdom of the Tswana.

Ruth Williams Khama and Seretse Khama

Bechuanaland got full independence in 1966 and took the name Botswana. The administration moved in country to the new capital Gabarone. It is one of the most prosperous countries in sub Sahara Africa with much stability of government.

Well my drink is empty and I am left thinking about the stamp we did recently where the British Empire remembered fondly the Pioneer Columns that conquered Matabeleland while here the same British Empire celebrates preventing the Pioneer Columns from taking Botswana around the same time. Somewhat contradictory perhaps but celebrating Empire is what Commonwealth stamp issues are all about. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Poland 2008, Poland displays European capitals while the EU shows Poland the money

Poland is a proud nation. Given that it might be strange to see other European capitals on their stamps. The European Union was laying out big money to integrate Poland, and that buys something. 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.

Between 2005 and 2010 there were 27 stamps issued showing landmarks in the capitals of European Union members. All of the landmarks predate the formation of the union but display EU style stars to claim them. The way this type of stamp petered out might make you wonder though. Integration as yet to mean common stamps, except for a few specials. Will integration ever get that far, or will stamp issuance or the EU itself end?

Todays stamp is issue A1323, a 3 Zloty stamp issued by Poland on October 24th, 2008. Five of the stamps were issued that year and this one displays the Charles Bridge in Prague, Czechia. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 60 cents used.

Poland was very interested in European integration from the earliest days of the post communist government. Poland formally requested admittance into the European Union in 1993. The process of integration was quite complicated as laws had to be changed to conform to EU dictates. The EU sent 37 task forces to work with the Poles on what would be required in each of the areas. There were frequent changes in Polish governments but all shared the desire to integrate. Naturally the enthusiasm for it though was more on the left. At the beginning of May 2004, Poland, seven other eastern European nations, Cyprus, and Malta joined the EU.

It was originally planned that Poland was to replace the Zloty with the Euro beginning in 2009 but this has been indefinitely delayed. The opening up of borders saw over 600,000 Poles move to Great Britain, more than tripling the already large Polish community there. The EU is also spending lavishly  in Poland. In 2016, Poland paid in about 3 billion Euros in dues but received over 17 billion Euros in spending from them. The benefits Poland has received keep membership popular in Poland and the Poles have been big advocates for EU expansion into the former Soviet Union, Turkey, and Albania.

There have been of course some areas of disagreement. Poland, like the USA is more skeptical or Russia’s intentions regarding energy supply westward through the old COMECON gas pipelines. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/09/25/hungary-builds-on-soviet-friendship-to-power-itself/   . This is more popular in Germany because of the relative cleanliness of natural gas and the cheap price Russia offers. Poland is also reticent of taking in refugees from outside the EU though it recently took many from the Ukraine.

The Charles Bridge in Prague was built by Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV starting in 1357. It crosses the Vltava River. Over the years it has been damaged by wars and floods. In the early 20th century buses and trams used the bridge but there was a large reconstruction between 1955 and 1975 that left it a pedestrian bridge with the original decorative statues replaced by replicas. This restoration and a further one in 2008-2010 were done some felt ham handedly. So this year, the bridge is again closed for reconstruction. I can smell additional ham.

Well my drink is empty and you have to give it too the Poles. So far at least, that is what the EU thinks. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Gerrman Austria 1919, the rump state no one wanted

Austria paid dearly for involvement in World War I. Given that the war started with the assassination of an Austrian Royal and the last Emperor Karl had offered an early, gentlemanly end to the war for which he was Sainted, this was quite harsh. Yet here we have an early stamp from the treaty created rump state based on ethnicicity. Notice the German identity popping up, hmmm…. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Here we have the Roman God Mercury. He shows up in a fair number of stamps of Catholic countries, see https://the-philatelist.com/2019/05/22/spain-1962-can-the-winged-helmit-of-mercury-stop-us-from-falling-behind/   , Just a way to call for heavenly blessings without being overtly religious. Notice the overprint denoting the new German Austrian Republic. With the Hapsburg’s gone, there were three political parties. The communists, the  socialists, and the conservatives. The two left parties were in favor of joining the new left wing Weimar Germany. The conservatives didn’t, they probably harbored some royalist loyalty. The World War I victors were not going to have that, whatever the will of the Austrians and the German title of the Austrian Republic was quickly removed.

Todays stamp is issue SH2, a 5 Heller special handling stamp issued by the German-Austrian Republic in 1919. It was an overprint of the earlier Austrian Empire stamp of 1917. There are later overprints that take into account the inflation that was about to grip Austria. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 35 cents unused.

Austria was in a lot of flux at the end of the war despite defeating Serbia and having much military success against Italy. The sacrifice asked of the many nationalities was too high and first Hungary broke away then all the nationalities were forming separate nation states. This left the question of what to do with the German speakers of Austria. It was thought at the time that Austria itself was not economically viable without the industry of Bohemia or the farmland of Hungary. With the Hapsburgs gone, there was no other reason not to join Germany. The new Austrian Parliament passed a resolution in 1919 in support.

Austrian territorial claims based om locations of German speakers circa 1919

Request denied. New treaties even forced the removal of the German title from the Austrian republic. Austria did it’s part to try to stand up for German speakers as one might expect of an ethnostate. Austria issued claims for the return of large areas of land that contained majority German speakers. See map above.

These demands were ignored. The left of center government under Chancellor Karl Renner passed many reforms to help the common person but the government was perhaps not left wing enough for the capital Vienna and yet far to liberal for the rest of the country. Interestingly he was in favor of the union with Germany as it occurred under the Nazis in 1938. He thought the Nazis were just a fad like other right wing governments he had witnessed. With the experience of World War I, Renner was ready when the German war effort flagged in 1945. He put together a provisional government of the three parties from before and declared the 1938 union with Germany null. Knowing Renner was far more left wing than who the Americans would have put in charge, Stalin quickly recognized Renner’s government. This got Austria much better treatment post war as it was classified as being liberated from Germany instead of being a part of it. Impressive flexibility on Renner’s part and he was again Chancellor until his death in 1950. Typical of Austria, he died in Vienna, but Renner’s home town and former family land were now in Czechislovakia.

Well my drink is empty and I am left wondering if the overprint of German-Austria looks as bizarre to modern Austrians and Germans as it does for me. Then again I don’t understand why the Austrian Republic still has Empire(Reich) in it’s title? Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

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Haiti 1904, The angels revere an old man who proclaims himself President for life

Haiti has forever been one of the poorest places on earth. What to make then  of an 84 year old President surrounded by white angels. Don’t worry, heaven wasn’t his destination, New Orleans was. 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.

Haiti’s older stamps were usually printed by the American Bank Note Company in New York City. These were as well. It is a safe bet they were not printed in the American South. Not with the way the white angels on the stamp revere the black President of Haiti. Reminiscent of reconstruction when ex slaves were put into political power by vengeful northern forces. A Haiti redux could easily have been the outcome.

Todays stamp is issue A18, a 20 Centime stamp issued by the Republic of Haiti in 1904. It was a six stamp issue in various denominations displaying then President Pierre Nord Alexis. There are many later overprints of this stamp. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 35 cents unused. A rare example that was used for actual postage is worth more. As with many stamps printed to raise revenue rather than serve postage needs, there are many fakes. I believe my copy may be that. The catalog mentions bright colors on very white paper combined with uneven perforations as a sign of being from a later printing of fakes. Imagine the sad life of a forger who choses to waste his life recreating Haitian stamps with no value.

President Nord Alexis was from north Haiti whose parents were a high official for North Haitian King Henry Christophe and the King’s illegitimate daughter. In Haiti, this makes him an aristocrat or what passes for one. As with European aristocrats of the more threadbare variety, Alexis served a long career in the Haitian Army. He married a niece Ce Ce of the former King. Ce Ce was active in the occult and tried to work her magic and her own bloodlines in favor of her husband. Her ministrations worked slowly and there were many diversions into jail and exile along the way in turbulent Haiti.

In 1902 at the age of 82, Alexis lead troops into the Parliament and forced them to declare him President. His stature was mainly among northern Haitians and there was soon a revolt in the south. Alexis than declared himself an avid supporter of American interests and that he would see Haitian debts repaid. The USA responded by blockading rebel enclaves in the south of Haiti. What the USA nor President Alexis could solve was the famine gripping the south of Haiti. Food riots were spreading north including the capital. In 1908 Alexis proclaimed himself President for life. He was 88. Later that year Ce Ce passed away and without her ministrations of the occult Alexis was doomed. He was succeeded by an illiterate southern Haitian who yet somehow was still a General. He was most famous for giving an elaborate state funeral for his pet goat Simalo. Haiti is that type of place. When President Alexis fled Haiti, he spent his last years in New Orleans. How lucky for Louisiana. Alexis’s great grandson recently served twice as Prime Minister of Haiti. He was removed from office for incompetence and corruption. No doubt he is perusing New Orleans real estate, at least the picture books.

Well my drink is empty and I will forgo any séance to communicate with failed Haitian Presidents. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting

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Iraq 1932, King Faisal brought down by arsenic and old Chaim

A young adventurer wants an Empire for himself not just to expand the empire of his father. To get it he double and triple deals with Ottomans, British, and Jews. Awarded an empire in Iraq, where he was a stranger, could the adventurer become a statesman? 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 show the period after Iraq became a self governing Kingdom. However notice that the state service overprint is in English. Notice that the King to whom loyalty was due was not Iraqi, but rather one of Lawrence of Arabia cronies, the one played by Alec Guinness in the movie. Not shown is Gertrude Bell, a British women who pulled his strings only to die mysteriously. Or Chaim Weizmann, the Zionist leader with whom he made deals. Who was this man working for. Iraq was too rough a place to leave open questions like this.

Todays stamp was issue A12 a 2 Fills, new currency that year, stamp issued by the Kingdom of Iraq on May 9th, 1932. It was part of a 17 stamp issue displaying King Faisal I. There are earlier versions of this stamp with the earlier Indian currency. The overprint means the stamp was meant for government service. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

King Faisal was the son of the Sharif of Mecca who was later the King of Hejaz after leading a rebellion against the Ottomans. The Sharif is to be the protector of the Islamic holy cities but Medina was looted after being taken from the Ottomans. The British then recruited an Arab Legion including Faisal to rid the middle east of the Ottomans. The British were conflicted because at the same time they were trying to stake out a Jewish homeland in then Palestine. Very complex and the deals made would forever haunt the Arabs participating. Arabs like Faisal foresaw a large Arab Empire of the whole Fertile Crescent with the sons of the Shariff of Mecca ruling. Oil would fund it, the British would protect it and the new Jews in Palestine would get some autonomy in return for payments and accepting Arab sovereignty. Probably not the best of a bad list of alternatives but what they were going with.

Faisal on right with future Israeli President Chaim Weizmann

Faisal himself was iffy on these goals and early in 1918 offered to change sides if the Turks would name him ruler of Syria. They refused but soon lost the war. Faisal declared himself King of Syria but the French weren’t going to have that and threw him out militarily a month later. In consolation, the British then gave Faisal Iraq. A quick, violent uprising had convinced them that direct rule in Iraq was a bad idea. The had adventuress and archeologist Gertrude Bell move to Baghdad to keep Faisal on the path of right.

Gertrude Bell at a dig in Babylon

Faisal found the Iraqi people less than worthy of him. The Shiites hated him. Most of his fellow Sunnis were backward. The Kurds to the north were both backward and of a different ethnicity, so their hatred was also racial. The dealings that the King made to get where he was meant that no one could ever trust him. Gertrude Bell died mysteriously in a death labeled an overdose. After that the King spent more time in Switzerland. That may have seemed a safer idea and of course allowed the leader to be closer to his money where he could enjoy it. It was in Bern in 1933 where his deals caught up to him in the form of fatal arsenic poisoning. His death was labeled a heart attack. This doomed the Kingdom as for the next 25 years there was a series of child Kings that did not live into maturity when they might have built a coherent country.

Well my drink is empty and every time I write a stamp from Iraq the image of what a sad place it is comes through. Perhaps people will eventually learn to leave them alone to their misery, Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.