Month: September 2019

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Soviet Union 1980, 20 years of cosmonaut training at the Yuri Gagarin Center

Sometimes it is nice to reflect on the dangerous work involving space flight. This stamp honors the Gagarin center for twenty years of training. Next year it will be 60 years and the center is still training cosmonauts, now under the auspices of Roskosmos, Russia’s civilian space corporation. 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.

When I spotted this stamp, I assumed I would be learning about Russian science fiction from the Soviet era. This mistake is reflective of the stamps design intention to inspire interest in the space program from the young. I am no longer young, but consider me inspired.

Todays stamp is issue A2302, a 6 Kopek stamp issued by the Soviet Union on September 15th, 1980. It depicts flight training. The Soviets issued 7 stamps that day, both for the Gagarin Center anniversary and also training going on at the time of potential cosmonauts from Cuba. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents unused.

The Gagarin Cosmonaut Center was set up in secret near Moscow as military unit 26266. It contained 250 personnel under a military doctor with the purpose of training military pilots for space travel. In addition to flight training, the cosmonaut candidates had to be taught to handle g forces and to operate in a weightless environment. Equipment included simulators of the mission vessels, a centrifuge to spin the cosmonaut so his body would adjust to high g forces. There were also airplanes that could replicate weighlessness, nicknamed the vomit comet.

Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit the Earth in 1961. He was made a hero of the Soviet Union and traveled the world promoting the Soviet achievement. He was young, friendly, and approachable and did much to further the Soviet Space program. President Kennedy banned Gagarin from the USA however. This snub did not extend to American Apollo astronauts who were happy to meet with him at the 1965 Paris Air Show. In 1967, Gagarin was the backup pilot for the Soyuz 1 mission. That mission was ill fated and when the rocket crashed on reentry when the parachute failed to deploy, Gagarin’s cosmonaut future was reconsidered. He was banned from future missions to space but unfortunately still allowed to fly. 4 weeks later, Gagarin was killed in a training flight of a Mig 15UTI trainer when it got in a fatal spin in bad weather.

The launch of Vostok 1, Yuri Gagarin’s first human mission to space

There have been many remembrances of Gagarin after his death. American astronaut Neil Armstrong left a satchel on the moon surface containing some of Gagarin’s medals. In 2011, on the 50th anniversary of Gagarin’s space orbit, the Russian, Italian, and American crew of the International Space Station wore T shirt’s with Gagarin’s image in honor of “Yuri’s Night”. A recently put up statue of Gagarin was taken down in Belgrade, Serbia when the carver gave him a head that was insultingly small. We just don’t do good statues anymore. Gagarin’s cremated remains are forever interred in the walls of the Kremlin.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Yuri Gagarin and all his fellow Cosmonauts that have come through Gagarin’s Space Center. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Sweden 1977, Evert Taube, a visa to the love of travel inspired musical poetry

It was very common in the 19th century for poets to put their work to music in a sing along fashion to bring their work to a wider audience. In Sweden such people were known as visas. In the 20th century, Swedes became again well traveled, and Evert Taube was able to build on the old traditions by adding a wider view of the world including the seeds of social protest that so took over the tradition. Sounds like a man who should collect postage stamps. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and plug in your guitar. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

This stamp issue is trying to do too much. Taube’s songs had romanticized views of areas that might suggest that people might want to visit. One can imagine that a stamp issue by a government may subvert Taube’s stamps to promote tourism to the places he loved, at least the ones in Sweden. Taube probably wouldn’t have minded. He should have minded the Swedish postal tradition of drab coloring and uninspired presentation.

Todays stamp was issue A337, a 95 Ore stamp issued by Sweden on May 2nd, 1977. It was a 5 stamp issue in various denominations honoring visa Evert Taube a year after his death. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 45 cents whether used or unused.

Evert Taube was born in 1890 to a wealthy noble family. His father was a ship captain and Taube himself sailed far and wide in the Mediterranean and to Ceylon and Argentina. His style of singing could be done with the accompaniment of a full orchestra or stripped down to just a guitar and accordion. The songs were several verses of poetry that invited singing along to. His time in Argentina brought Sweden it’s first taste of the tango and Taube often sung with the affectations of the Gaucho. You can watch a sample of his singing in 1966 here https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=evert+taube&view=detail&mid=1ACDC6987DC5F19E92A71ACDC6987DC5F19E92A7&FORM=VIRE.

Over time the music became more political. Taub had witnessed Italian colonial wars in Africa and became an ardently anti war and anti fascist. That was no doubt a popular view in neutral Sweden. His musical poetry on the beauty of nature also appealed to the rising ecology movement. Throwing in this political stuff will tend to chase off people like me but often has the opposite effect on those into the politics. It becomes a gateway to letting them more fully explore the tradition that the music comes from. All too often, in my opinion, the artistry and poetry get pushed aside by more modern practitioners who would rather get straight to the politics. Imagine all the… yuk.

I mentioned that Taube’s work found a new audience in his old age from the new protest movement. This didn’t work well for Taube personally. In 1969, at age 79, Taube’s vacation home was burned down by a 37 year old women named Mona. She was diagnosed as a schizophrenic and institutionalized. Her story was that he promised marriage and delivered a psyche ward. Taube had been married since 1925 and remained so till his death. Mona became famous as an early celebrity stalker.

Taube’s burning vacation home

Well my drink is empty but I will always have time to pour another to toast a great troubadour er visa. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting

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UAE 1986, Arabs prove they are not all against chess, but Russia still wins

Olympics often get mired in politics. Even a Chess Olympiad. When the Olympiad was held in Israel in 1976, annoyed Arabs set up a rival “Against Chess Olympiad” in Tripoli Libya. Instead of laughing at them, the against tournament was won by not exactly chess giant El Salvador, The Olympiad leadership cucked. Hence we have an official Chess Olympiad in Dubai. 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.

When you think of Emirates stamps, you think of the fake dune stamps of Finbar Kenny. See https://the-philatelist.com/2019/04/10/sharjah-lets-you-enjoy-modern-art-thanks-to-finbar-kenny/  . These later official issues are more serious stamps. There is still a little of Kenny’s old whimsy in the depiction of the Arab players. This was a cold war chess tournament, so the actual competitive players were Russians and more Russians. Even on the American team. The USA chess melting pot was serving up Russians, if you can’t beat them….

Todays stamp issue is A53, a 2 Dirham stamp issued by the United Arab Emirates on November 14th, 1986. It was a three stamp issue in various denominations in honor of the 27th Chess Olympiad played that year in Dubai. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $4.50 used.

Chess Olympiads are held every two years. I covered the French stamp honoring the 1974 Nice Olympiad here, https://the-philatelist.com/2018/11/15/france-1974-the-chess-olympiad-mostly-comes-to-nice/  , where I covered the history. Money was hindering those games as Bobby Fischer wouldn’t play without a big paycheck. Darn those people who manage to be the greediest capitalist while thinking themselves communist. Anyway soon after politics became more important. To get the not competitive Arab teams back after the Against Chess Olympiad.  this tournament was scheduled in Dubai. Using the excuse of the official but unacted upon state of war with Israel, they were not invited. Several European teams of Russians then sat out in sympathy with Israeli Russian chess players. Not to worry, lots of third worlders sent uncompetitive teams and the Olympiad hosted a then record  107 nations.

You can guess that the Soviet Union team won. This was the period that Gary Kasparov was starting to dominate teammate and 70s champion Anatoly Karpov. There were separate ladies teams where the Russians also came in first. Their scores were 30% lower. Great Britain made a good show in their former protectorate, their team of homegrown British came in second.

Dubai came to host this tournament as part of the opening up to the world that was going on there. In 1979, the Jebel Ali Free Zone in Dubai opened up there where anyone could set up shop in a duty and tax free zone utilizing facilities built by the government. The area employs 144,000 people and provides 21% of Dubai’s GNP.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the Russians. It was quite the act of inclusion to open up their Chess tournaments not just to their diaspora but all comers. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Italy 1965, Remembering Dante as part of the Italian Centennial

Remembering Dante Alighieri was something that happen a lot under the Monarchy of the first 80 years of a united Italian state. To a large extent this dropped away after the King was forced to abdicate. At the 100 year mark, it was perhaps time to lay claim on all history as part of the whole. So here we have Dante and the same year there was a reappearance of King Victor Emanuel on a stamp cleverly couched in terms of veterans. The times they were a changing. 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.

A Centennial is a good time to come together. The Monarchy had promoted Italian unity and a distinct post Roman Italian culture. That was why Dante was so promoted during the Monarchy. He provided part of the historical cultural basis for what was being done in the 19th century Yet after the war this dropped away as the Monarchy was perhaps rightly discredited by the African colonial adventures and the alliance with Germany. Yet in the 1960s there were still a lot of Italians that had participated and sacrificed in those causes while in the service of Italy. The style of the celebration was perhaps a recognition of that.

It was perhaps too early for this reversion. President Kennedy’s speech in honor of the centennial emphasized the Roman Republic and explicitly Greece as the historical basis for modern Italy. No mention of the monarchy and an American style human rights come from God and not through a King reference. America kept a close eye on Italian politics post war as they were opposed to monarchists or a communist takeover by way of the ballot box.

This pushback can be seen in the stamps as well. Another honoring veteran stamp made clear it only meant veterans that fought for the Allies, a tiny minority. Another implying the Italians were prisoners of a Nazi concentration camp. They were not referring to Italy’s few Jews.

The outreach to monarchists ended suddenly by a pretender overplaying a weak hand. The Last King Umberto II had abdicated not by choice in 1946 and lived in exile in Portugal. In 1969, his estranged first born son, Victor Emanuel, declared himself unilaterally King of Italy from Switzerland. Naturally this turned any talk of Monarchy into a joke. He then married a non Royal Swiss heiress without seeking the required permission of his father. A second cousin then claimed that put him out of the line, and second cousin in. Clearly a line to nowhere.

In 1983, the last Italian King Umberto II was ailing. The then current Italian Head of State President Sandro Pertini, a socialist, requested that the post war Italian law be changed and Umberto II be allowed to come home and die. This was refused. Umberto II died abroad and no representative of the Italian government was present at the funeral. The American view of Italian history was now the vogue.

Todays stamp is issue A489, a 40 Lira stamp issued by Italy on October 21, 1965. It was a 4 stamp issue in various denominations remembering the 700th anniversary of the birth of Dante Alighieri. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents.

Well my drink is empty and so I will consult with American authorities as to who these days I am allowed to toast. I expect they will just suggest I put the bottle away, always the safe choice. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Croatia 1941, Crossing out Peter II is something we all can agree on

Peter II, already on the stamps as a child King after his fathers assassination, was not really in charge. His Uncle Paul was regent and making some iffy decisions. So when real trouble came, the kid King flies away and gets crossed out. 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 situation had changed so an overstamp of the prewar Yugoslav stamp was called for. The big black circle over the guys face is downright rude. A few weeks before the German invasion, a coup supported by the young King was seen as against special arrangements made with Croats. So apparently the Croats were especially anxious to cross him out. The German puppet Serb government just wrote Serbia over the same stamp, so the extra hostility was not from the Serbs or even the Germans.

Todays stamp is issue A16, a one Dinar stamp issued by Croatia on May 16th, 1941, only a few weeks after the German invasion. It was a two stamp issue. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 40 cents whether mint or used.

Peter II became King in 1934 upon the assassination of his father. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/02/08/it-is-dangerous-to-rule-the-kingdom-of-serbs-croats-and-slovenes/   . He was 11 years old. His uncle Paul became regent and claimed to be trying to continue the policies of Peter’s father until he reached his majority in 1941. Instead he gave a great deal of autonomy to a greater Croatia that included much of Bosnia. This angered the Serbs. They were further angered in early 1941 when the regent signed an alliance with Germany. There was a British supported coup. Pro coup army forces approached the royal compound that was guarded by troops loyal to the regent. At this point, 17 year old King Peter slipped out of the Palace by climbing down a drainage pipe and greeted warmly the coup forces. Quickly there was a coronation and Peter was ruling. Regent Paul went into exile and house arrest in Kenya.

10 days later, the Germans invaded. The Yugoslav plan if attacked was not to resist but instead withdraw intact to the south. So instead of defending against the Germans, the Yugoslav army invaded Italian occupied Albania hoping to link up with Greece. Peter flew to Greece. This plan did not succeed and despite the Yugoslavs and the Greeks far outnumbering the Germans, the campaign was over in a few weeks and Greek and Yugoslav royals were off to London where Peter married a Greek Princess. Almost none of his army got out with him and the active resistance to the Germans were mostly Communists and/or Serb nationalist, who owed nothing to the King.

Post war Peter lived in first the USA and then France. Tito had frozen his bank accounts so Peter had to live of the generosity of Serbs abroad. He drank a lot and became famous for writing bad checks. He probably thought they were just Royal mementoes not to be cashed. He dreamed of leading an army of expats back to Yugoslavia and liking up with Serb nationalists he imagined were still fighting Tito in the mountains. He died after a failed liver transplant in 1970 and became the first European Royal buried in the USA.

Oddly in the 1980s there was revival of Royal nostalgia in Yugoslavia. The American soap opera Dynasty featuring glamorous young Catherine Oxenberg was shown on TV there. She is the granddaughter of Prince Paul, Peter II’s old regent who caused so much trouble 45 years before.  Time had healed and neither Serb nor Croat, communist nor capitalist, wanted to ex her out.

Catherine Oxenberg as Amanda Carrington on Dynasty.

Well my drink is empty and if I am lucky a Yugoslav Royal will write the check for another round. I will understand not to cash it. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Cape Verde 1980, Going it alone, first without Portugal, then without Guinea Bissau

Cape Verde was thrust into independence after the carnation revolution in Portugal. There had been no organized independence movement. That was okay, nearby Portuguese Guinea was chock full of an organized independence movement, mainly staffed by imigrants from Cape Verde. Until now independent Guinea Bissou noticed it was being run by Cape Verdeans. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

This stamp shows a small cargo ship, the Boavista, that is flagged to the merchant ship fleet of Cape Verde. At the time of this stamp the ship was less than 10 years old and so definitely useful to an archepeligo of many islands. The ship still exists, still in Cape Verde, but no longer leaves port.

Todays stamp is issue A49 a 9 Escudo stamp issued by Cape Verde on November 30th, 1980. It was part of a six stamp isue in various denominations the displayed the ships of Cape Verde. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 75 cents cancelled to order.

Cape Verde had a few prosperous periods under Portuguese rule but it never lasted. First were the sugar cane plantations founded by many Portuguese Jewish expatriots that were  no longer welcome in Portugal at the time of the inquisition. This brought in many west African slaves. As with so many other places, whatever prosperity ended with the end of the slave trade in 1867. Portugal tried without much luck to get the former slaves to move to other Portuguese African colonies to continue plantation work. The location of Cape Verde in the Atlantic sea lanes made it a useful coal refueling stop for mainly British ships. This brought dockwork jobs but also soon ended. What didn’t end were the frequent drought conditions on the desert islands with the resulting famines.

Cape Verdeans were treated better than nearby Bissau. Literacy was at 25% compared with 5% in Bissau. Cape Verdians often then took some of the better jobs open to blacks. One of these was telegraph operator Aristides Pereira. Him and other Cape Verdans became central to the independence movement. The movement started peacefully with strikes but soon got violent and the leaders like  Pereira lead the armed stuggle from exile in Conarcky , former French Guinea. Cape Verde remained quiet. Portugal had to maintain an army of 30,000 in desperately poor Bissau to maintain control. This would be 80% of Portugal’s army today. Young left wing officers of the Portuguese Army overthrew the elected government of Portugal in the Carnation Revolution in 1974 and quickly granted African colonies like Bissau and Cape Verde independence. With no independence movement Bissau resident Pereira became President at age 52. He hadn’t lived in Cape Verde since he was 23. Bissau now independent, also had a Cape Verdean expatriate as President.

Both were left wing and both intended at some point for the two countries to join. Native Cape Verdeans were lighter colored reflecting their more mixed heritage. This soon became a problem in Bissau as the people wondered how there could be one party rule when all the higher ups were of lighter skin. In 1981 there was a coup where the Cape Verdeans were removed from power. Suddenly Pereira would be going it alone as President on Cape Verde. What else could he do, there was no longer any need for telegraph operators in Bissau. Eventually the international community forced multi party elections and the opposition won. They had no success either and the next election was decided by 12 votes. Better not add the option of none of the above. The famines are at least over as both Cape Verde and Bissau are totally dependant on world food aid. The main export is the people, with 500,000 in the USA, 150,000 in Portugal. and 30,000 in Holland. The islands themselves still contain 500,000. Unless they can get the Boavista back to sea?

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

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Brazil 1932, 400 years since Portugal sent de Souza to keep people away from their brazil trees

Forestry in Brazil is almost a dirty work. It brings to mind slash and burn types destroying the Amazon rain forest and by extension contributing to climate change. This image may trace back all the way back to the founding of Brazil around 1600. 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 series recognizes the 400th anniversary of the voyage of Martim Afonso de Souza who sailed from Portugal with 400 to get a more formal colony going in the previously discovered and claimed for Portugal territory of Brazil. The need to get things more formal was not a gold rush but a textile dye rush. The name Brazil should of course have given that away if I was more literate. The stamp issue shows it’s modernity in one of the stamp showing a native guide that helped the Portuguese. This was before political correctness meant that the native counts more than the explorer. A student today will hear more about Sacagawea than Lewis and Clark. She was the native wife of the cook of that expedition. I guess the discussion of indigenous people’s great explorers would be embarrassingly short. Such is life.

The stamp today is issue A102, a 200 Reis stamp issued by independent Brazil on June 3rd, 1932. It was a 5 stamp issue in various denominations displaying various aspects of the 1632 expedition. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 40 cents used.

Brazil was spotted by Portuguese explorers quite early but in 1600 the Portuguese landed and claimed the area for the King of Portugal. The first Portuguese did not establish colonial settlements but lived with and integrated with the indigenous people. This was a persistent problem for Portugal and one they eventually enlisted the Jesuits to help solve. See https://the-philatelist.com/2017/11/10/remember-the-divine-duty-of-empire/ . There was however a rush on for a dye to use in textiles. Sappanwood is common in South East Asia and was imported very expensively to Europe to make red and pink dyes. When a similar brazilwood tree was discovered by the Portuguese there was a rush on. Not all the participants in the rush were Portuguese, so the decision was taken to send a new expedition to formalize settlement and the colony. The work extracting the brazilwood extract was done by natives who then traded it to the Portuguese in exchange for things like axes and mirrors.

Brazilwood tree. Endangered, but good for red dye and violin bows. Amazing what people will rush for

Martim Afonso de Souza had 400 men and set up shop in what now is Sao Paulo. He became the first colonial governor and Brazil became the name of the colony after the tree. De Souza already held the Portuguese title of Fidalgo, a great title that means literally the Son of Someone. Bet that made him stand out. The expedition ran out of steam at the river Plate, when they suffered a ship wreck and so Argentina is not a province of Brazil. It made a difference, notice the Portuguese colonies stuck together while Spanish ones splintered. Imagine all Latin America one country, a super power or giant ….hole? Perhaps both? Hmmm.

Fidalgo de Souza was not finished going far and wide for Portugal. He later went to India where he founded the city of Diu. He was named again colonial governor of Portuguese India. and the fort at Dui fought off successfully Persians and Mughals, Arabs and even Dutch. Diu eventually declined in importance relative to Bombay but the Portuguese managed to hold on to it until 1961. India then attacked it, can’t have an Indian Macau.

Forestry is still big business in Brazil but not the brazil tree, which is endangered. Now it is mainly pine. Brazil still has ample forests and most forestry is now done with sustainability in mind.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the colonial expedition. No more of those, except maybe to Mars. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Prussia 1861, Taking over Germany until Prussia gets taken over by Germany

Prussia was the German state most in charge of bringing together Germany. You see the overprint regarding decimalization of the currency for the upcoming North German Confederation. What you might not know is how Prussia was later coopted by Germany later using that old tradition of the political putsch. 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.

Prussia was not grandiose on their stamps like say Bavaria. Instead a generic German eagle. The North German Confederation replaced the Prussian stamps and dispensed with the eagle. They had several currencies on the same stamp and so their design tried to highlight which currency the stamp was in. Well at least they modernized with perforations The mechanics of coming together are often inelegant, as the EU would itself discover.

Todays stamp is issue A7, a 3 Silbergroshen stamp issued by Prussia in 1861. It was a 6 stamp issue in varios denominations and currencies. This is the early currency overprinted for use with the decimilized currency introduced in 1867. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $8.75 unused. The catalog is silent on what the overprint adds to the value, but I am going out on a limb and say not enough.

Prussia managed Germany coming together pretty fast in the 1860s. There was a war with Austria that victory allowed the coming together of the North German Confederation. The Confederation was 80% Prussian but allowed outsized representation of the smaller states in the Bundesrat in exchange for recognition of the Prussian Monarch as head of state. Southern Germany joined after success in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and the prospect of all the French reparations due afterwards. Key to the early success was Chancellor Bismarck, who managed to be seen as a conservative figure  who still did so much to improve the lot of the average German.

Prussia did not in fact do so well under the German state. Much land was lost to allow for the recreation of Poland after World War I. The military loss discredited the Prussian military/aristocratic system that was such a foundation  of Prussian strength. The Kaiser was in exile in Holland. Prussia was now run  by leftist Otto Braun. He had worked a strong coalition of center parties that kept communists and nazis marginalized. What he was not able to do was bring the Prussian part of Germany out of the economic hole it was in. Without that, how do you restore a sense of pride or purpose.

Otto Braun

So the system was rigged to keep Braun in but without success. The end came for Prussia came much faster than Germany coming together 70 years before. Their was a bloody Sunday in Altona in Prussia were Communists and Nazis thugs fought in the street. Prussian police shot and killed 18 of them on both sides. German Chancellor Franz von Papen then used emergency powers to have Braun removed from office and von Papen himself given the extra title of head of Prussia. This then went to court which decided that von Papen had to leave Braun’s cabinet in place but was correct to throw out Braun. Braun went off to exile in Switzerland and barely a year later von Papen was essentially exiled by the Nazis when they made him Ambassador to first Austria and then Turkey. Hermann Goring was named head or Prussia, now completely ceremonial.

Franz von Papen in his old age when he was always ready to defend his actions from all comers

Braun offered himself up to the Russians post war to restart a Prussian German state, the small sliver of old Prussia still in Germany. Braun was denied, there was to be no more Prussian state.

Well my drink is empty and I am left wondering what would have became of Prussia had it not put Germany over all. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

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Soviet Union 1941, Remembering our favorite Don Cossack, Vasily Surikov

As Russians became Soviets, there was an always changing list of what parts of history do we deemphasize. One group on the outs with the new order were Cossacks who lived near the Don River. Artist Vasily Surikov flourished under the Czar and created famous paintings. Yet dying in 1916 meant not taking sides in the upcoming civil war. This quirk of fate saved his reputation in Soviet Russia. 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 Painting shows Czarist Generalissimo Alexander Suvorov, crossing the Alps with Russian and Austrian troops escaping Napoleon. The artist Surikov painted it in on a European tour including Switzerland made possible by selling a painting to a Czarist aristocrat. The painting itself was then sold to the personal collection or Czar Nicholas II. This painting must have had many strikes against it to Soviet eyes, but talent won through.

Todays stamp is issue A422, a 20 Kopek stamp issued by the Soviet Union in June 1941. It was part of a five stamp issue in various denominations that noted the 25th death anniversary of painter Vasily Surikov. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.25.

Vasily Surikov was born poor in the semi autonomous area set aside for Cassocks, a people that tended to roam on horseback so didn’t fit easily into the feudal system. In school, Vasily was encouraged in his drawing by a local art teacher. After school he accepted work as a clerk in a government office. He was still drawing and the local governor was impressed and found him a patron. The Patron then arraigned for Surikov to travel to Saint Petersburg to study at the Imperial Academy of Arts. At the Academy, he was known as the composer for his great attention to a paintings composition. After his studies, it was off to Moscow to work on murals for the then under construction Cathedral of Christ the Savior and marry a local woman of French heritage. Selling paintings to rich patrons allowed Surikov several European tours and also a journey to Siberia where he painted his most famous painting, “Conquest of Siberia by Yermak Feyevich” Surikov believed he had Cossack ancestors in the battle fighting for the Russians and the painting earned him a membership in the Imperial Academy.

Conquest of Siberia by Yermak Timofeyevich

Surikov achieved greatly under the Czarist government but things went bad for his fellow Cossacks after the 1917 Revolutions. Though Cossacks had been slow to rally to the Czar during his last days, many joined the White Armies during the Civil War. Revenge  was extracted after the White defeat. Over half of the Cossacks were killed or forced into exile and their semi autonomous region was abolished. The Cossacks then got their own revenge when many fought with the Germans after the 1941 invasion. Most were deployed to Yugoslavia where their style of fighting on horseback was still useful against partisans. The Cossack divisions of the German Army surrendered to the British in Austria, see https://the-philatelist.com/2019/01/03/croatia-1942-croatia-achieves-independence-by-aligning-with-bad-people-and-then-pays-a-huge-price/  . The British broke their promise to the Cossacks and turned over the prisoners to the Soviets to meet their fate. Russia in 2002 officially rehabilitated the Cossacks.

Dying in 1916 or natural causes in old age was good for Surikov in the Soviet period. His style of painting was in vogue. His estate in his home town became a museum to him. He also had a biopic picture, “Vasily Surikov” made by the prestigious Mosfilm studio in 1959 where he was portrayed by Eugene Lazarev.

Well my drink is empty so I will pour another to toast Vasily Surikov. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Egypt 1967, International Tourism Year, but perhaps not the time for a Red Sea fishing trip

Stamp issuance is planned months or even years in advance. This stamp set was carefully planned showing not the ancient sites but things a prospective tourist might not know was possible in Egypt. In this case, a fishing trip in the Red Sea while staying at a modern, upscale, beachfront hotel. Then two days before the long planned date of issue……. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

There is a lot going on this stamp but I think it works. In the sixties people had a lot of confidence that rulers like Egypt’s Nasser would make things better. Modernity was coming to Egypt and the spoils were not just going to go to the connected. So not just the ancient, just a token hat tip to old style fishing. What Nasser was promoting on this stamp happened, just too late for him.

Todays stamp is issue AP18, a 1.1 Pound airmail stamp issued by Egypt when it was marketing itself as The United Arab Republic on June 7th, 1967. It was a three stamp issue in various denominations celebrating the UN declared international tourism year. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $2.25 used. The value doubles if unused showing people were actually mailing this stamp. That is a differentiator from most stamps of this style.

Former General Nasser had overthrown King Farouk 15 years before this stamp. He had survived an attack in 1956 from the old colonial powers and now he was an important leader in the third world non aligned movement. Central to people hopes at the time was that the cutting of old colonial bonds would allow a flowering of progress from newly freed people. Colonies were of the past and that included Israel, an enclave of European Jews in the Muslim fertile crescent. Surely they would be gone soon the way Nasser banished the Jews of Egypt, with all their connections with the old monied royal elite.

On June 5th, 1967, two days before this stamp was issued, Israel, expecting an attack on itself stuck out on three fronts against Arab neighbors. In five days, the Sinai including the Red Sea Beach resorts were in Israeli hands. The Israeli occupation would last a decade and included new Jewish settlements that implied permanence. Nasser offered his resignation, but it was his eventual successor Sadat who finally got back the Sinai in return for recognition of the Israeli state. Many Arabs thought the deal a sellout and four years later Sadat was assassinated.

It was only under Sadat that tourism got moving in Egypt. In 1951 100,000 tourist visited Egypt. In 2017, it was 17 million and tourism is the biggest industry and employs one quarter of the Egyptian workforce. Sadat lightened up on visa restrictions from Europe, North America, and even Israel. His late 70s five year plan, gosh that sure sounds more communist then non-aligned,, allocated 12 percent of the national budget for tourist infrastructure. The Turks were invited in to help establish colleges to train in hospitality management. Build it and they will come.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast todays stamp designer. He believed in the future even if sometimes reality got in the way. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.