Month: October 2019

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Exiled Yugoslavia 1943, remembers a Croatian/Bosnian/German? Bishop

A fake stamp may still be interesting. They can get quite convoluted. 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.

So this stamp issue started out as a recognized issue, albeit just barely. The stamp was issued with the aim of raising revenue by the Yugoslav Royal government in exile in London. At the bottom of the stamp you can see it was printed in London. The international community, excluding of course the Axis troops then occupying Yugoslavia, still recognized the Royal government as the legitimate representative of the people. So far so good, but the stamp collecting community requires a stamp to also be useful for postage and this stamp was unavailable at Yugoslav post offices. The London Embassy developed a work around. This stamp would be valid for postage no matter how many were printed because it could be used on Yugoslav Navy ships at sea. One submarine and two torpedo boats had escaped to Egypt during the 1941 invasion and very occasionally operated with their old crews under British command. A thin string of legitimacy. That string soon broke. In 1944 the Allies began recognizing the partisans under Tito as the legitimate government. They took over the London Embassy and it’s large stock of unsold copies of this stamp issue. It was not their type of issue and the issue was cancelled. Not however thrown away. In 1950, a 1945 victory overstamp was added to remaining stocks and sold off not for postal use to stamp dealers. This stamp is one of those, so fake.

That does not mean it is not an interesting issue as it recognizes people who the Communists would have mostly found unworthy. I have already covered another stamp from this issue here, https://the-philatelist.com/2018/07/30/communist-yugoslavia-1950-sells-off-the-invalid-exile-stamps/ . On todays stamp, we have a Bosnian Croat Catholic Bishop who became a political figure promoting Croatian nationalism. He is thus an odd figure for a Yugoslav government to be honoring. Especially at a time when Croatia was given independence by the German invaders and one of the first stamp issues of Croatia literally blots out King Peter II’s face. See https://the-philatelist.com/2019/09/20/croatia-1941-crossing-out-peter-ii-is-something-we-all-can-agree-on/ .

Bishop Joseph Strossmayer was born into a German family in the Croat area of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He received Catholic clerical training in Belgrade, Budapest, and Vienna. He was ordained a priest in 1838. He was opposed to what he perceived as then Hungarian domination of Croats politically and served in the Croat Diet, a national assembly. Strossmayer was named Bishop of Diakovar in modern day Bosnia. He founded the wonderfully named Academy of South Slavs. Why don’t they still give out names like that?

As Bishop, Strossmayer ruffled a few feathers. At the Vatican Council he spoke out controversially in favor of Protestantism and reuniting the Catholic Church with the Eastern Orthadox Church. Even more controversially, perhaps even heretically, he spoke out against Papal infallibility and even Papal Primacy. He lost those fights at the Vatican Council and as Bishop was forced to yield “at least outwardly” as he put it, to the official position. He died in 1905.

Well my drink is empty and so I may pour another while I ponder why Bishop Strossmayer would be honored By Yugoslav Royalty. Were he alive, given his background, he would have probably gone along with a German influenced Croatia. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Japan 1987 remembering Goyo for using Japonism to revive Ukiyo-e

The world was becoming a smaller place in the 19th century. European impressionist painters like Van Gogh and Degas had been greatly influenced by Japanese Ukiyo-e style of woodblock print art that was fading fast in Japan. However when a new generation of Japanese artists like Goyo Hashiguci saw what the Europeans were up to, The Shin-hanga style rejuvenated the old style now with more emphasis on light, as with the impressionists. 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 Ukiyo-e style means pictures in a floating world. The revival to succeed had to be commercially viable. So the Shin-Hanga revival included a lot more geishas and even nudes. The Goyo print on this stamp is called “Woman Combing Hair”.The upside of the printing technique is that the numerous prints have more of the hand of the artisans involved. A reprint of this work done in the old way but printed from a modern woodblock is worth $500.

Todays stamp is issue A1300, a 60 yen stamp issued by Japan on April 14th 1987. This stamp and one other with a different Goyo work were issued as part of a philately week. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 30 cents used.

Ukiyo-e was most common in Japan in the 18th and 19th centuries. The most common subject was nature scenes. The style is very labor intensive, not just for the designing artist. The work then goes to a wood carvers who carves the woodblock that will transfer the image. The printer is then responsible for the coloring and the handmade paper on to which the image goes onto. Last but definitely not least is the job of the publisher, whose job it is to promote and distribute the work. Around 1870, Ukiyo-e prints became available in Paris. There they had much influence on the artists who were part of the impressionist movement. This influence is referred to as Japonism.

A Van Gogh portrait of a man selling Ukiyo-e prints in Paris from 1887.

Goyo initially tried his hand at the traditional style of Ukiyo-e at a Japanese art show in 1911. It was not a success. Goyo, not his real name, was then approached by a publisher to do a work more influenced by the use of light by western impressionist. This was the Shin-Hanga movement. It was also more influenced by demand in the world market. The subject was nude and the title was “Bathing”. This work was a big success and the publisher wanted to continue the collaboration. Instead Goyo supervised the artisans involved in later works personally.

Unfortunately Goyo was a sickly man suffering from beriberi and meningitis. When he died in 1921, he had only completed 14 designs. His brother and then nephew stepped in with 7 new designs allegedly taken from Goyo sketches. No doubt helping the value of the original prints, the original woodblocks for making the prints were lost in a Tokyo earthquake in 1923.

The Shin-Hanga movement faded after the war. Modern practitioners tend to do for themselves the woodblock carving and printing. When it is done all by one person, it is called Sosaku-hanga.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Goyo’s publisher of “Bathing”. a Mr. Watanabe. To bad for being shut out of the later success after suggesting the right track for “Goyo”. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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India 1931, The Royal Mail Ship Mooltan, brings the mail and a few passengers

We forget there was a time when bringing the mail was big business. The ship on the stamp was or course a cruise ship, but a big part of its service was bringing mail from Britain to Egypt through the Suez Canal then on to India, Sri lanka, Singapore and Australia. 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 showed off the British Royal Mail Sevice as practiced in British India. In this case we have a cruise ship, named after a city in the Punjab in the service of delivering the mail to far off colonies. It is interesting how many colonial issues have to do with reminding colonists that their home has not forgotten them. This issue really ran the gamut of how hard Britain worked to stay in touch. Giant ships, whose size was limited by the need to pass through the Suez Canal, planes, trucks, even to the man pushing the cart locally. What a massive operation.

The stamp today is issue A81, a 6 Anna stamp issued by British India in 1931. It was a 19 stamp issue in various denomiations showing the operations of the Royal Mail and King George VI. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 95 cents used.

A Royal Mail Steamer (RMS) is a designation that goes back to 1840. It indicates that the private ship is under contract to carry mail. In theory, if the ship is not carrying mail the name of the ship reverts to SS. The ship will fly the pennant of the Royal Mail and the Crown Emblem, The ship on todays stamp was built in Belfast Northern Ireland by the ship maker Harland and Wolff. Harland and Wolff also built the Titanic, 6 aircraft carriers, and the first supertanker built in the UK. The ship was built for the Peninsular and Oriental Shipping Line was founded originally to take mail to Spain by a Scottish sailor and a London based ship broker. The company later added mail contracts further East. The RMS Mooltan was built around 1920,  named after a city in modern day Pakistan, replacing a similar named ship that had been sunk while requisitioned to World War I troopship service. This RMS Mooltan was also requisitioned for war service in World War II but survived. There was post war less demand for worldwide ship mail service and the ship spent it’s last days taking British emigres to Australia and New Zealand. The ship was scrapped in Faslane in Scotland in 1954.

Already by the time of this stamp there was less profits in moving the mail. The Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, a competitor to P&O was the largest shipping company in the world in the 1920s.. It was operating at a loss but denied that and kept paying a dividend. A prospectus was sent out trying to attract additional investors. When the line asked for an extension on money owed the government, the government sent an auditor that found the disguised losses and the omissions from the previously publicized stock prospectus. The managing director, Owen Phillips, the First Baron Kyslant, was jailed and the company was reorganized with heavy government subsidies. The case lead to higher company auditing standards.

Lord Kyslant. jailed head or the Royal Mail Steam Packet Line

The infrastructure that built the machine of the Royal Mail is mostly gone now. Harland and Wolff’s last ship was built in 2003. They tried to make it on ship repairs and a desperate scheme to build off shore wind energy platforms. The company closed just this last August. The parent company of Peninsular and Oriental Lines was sold to Dubai Ports World in 2006. The associated cruise line had previously been sold to Carnival and the commercial shipping arm to Danish firm Maersk. One nod to the old days is that British Airways jets regularly carrying Royal Mail, have the old pennant painted on.

Well my drink is empty and when I look at old stamps like this of the infrastructure to move the mail, I come away amazed how cheap it was to send a letter. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Germany 2000, rubbing nose so successfully in defeat, that a later nation converts

There are not many stamps displaying erotic dancing girls. Throw in one where the local girl is dancing to service someone suddenly thrust into power by defeat and it becomes one in a million. 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 mentioned in the stamp yesterday that the situation self corrected when the Stasi came in the night and removing the statue of Stalin. The situation on this stamp ended abruptly as well when the Gestapo sent Weill packing.  As of yet the fond remembrance of Weimar degeneracy has gone unchallenged in Germany. We will see if that continues.

The stamp today is issue A1000, a 3 Mark stamp issued by Germany on February 17th, 2000. The stamp honored Kurt Weill, a composer of musical plays. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth $1.75 used. The value beats yesterday’s East German stamp 5 fold but the denomination on the stamp is 15 fold higher. Perhaps Germany’s reputation for tight control of inflation is slipping.

Kurt Weill was born in Saxony in 1900. After the war in 1918 the old order was discredited and the people that had been in opposition were now in power. Their opposition was not just to militarism  but the basic rules of Church and family. People like Weill gathered in Berlin and were free to produce for each other works that broke boundaries both sexually and politically. The post war deprivations meant that many Germans like the dancing girl on the stamp had to go along with it to get by. Imagine the sadness of fathers, brothers, and potential husbands at the tawdry display.

Kurt Weill’s most famous work was on the political “3 Penny Opera” a reworking of the old English “Beggers Opera”. The play contained Weill’s most famous song “Mac the Knife”. In 1933 Weill moved to the USA to avoid arrest. He continued work in America including working with Langston Hughes, the far left black activist and composer. Weill also collaborated professionally with his frequent wife Lotte Lenye. They married and divorced in Germany and the reunited and remarried in the USA. You may remember her from her portrayal of Rosa Kleb in “From Russia with Love”

In talking of those who collaborated with Weill I have so far left out Bertoit Brecht. Remember on yesterdays stamp, the noted architect Hermann Henselmann was convinced by Brecht to stay and work in the Eastern sector of postwar Germany. Brecht collaborated with Weill both in Weimar Germany and later in the USA. Weill did not however join Brecht when he returned to Berlin, despite himself being a Communist from the Eastern sector. Weill died in the USA in 1950 as a naturalized citizen.

Well my drink is empty and I may have a few more while pondering the snearing of the East while the earlier depravity of Weimar is now celebrated. People like boundary breakers, even if it leads to alone, depraved, and purposeless people. Hope you enjoyed the two parter, you can find the first part below this article if you scroll down. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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East Germany 1957, Stalin’s Alley rubs Germany nose in it, part one

A conquering power sometimes goes too far after victory. Stalin’s Alley was to be East Germany’s show place, site of May Day parades. So care was taken, and luckily for Berlin, by Germans not Russians. 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 first of a two parter.

The small size and simple printing of the stamp lets it down or in emblematic of the façade depending on your point a view. It still is all here though, a wide boulevards, elaborately decorated with ceramic tile wedding cake style buildings in the Stalinist style. Also with the statue of Stalin, in its last years after his death before the Stasi disappeared it.

Todays stamp is issue A43, a 20 Pfennig stamp issued by East Germany in 1957. This was an over twenty stamp issue in different denominations over a seven year period from 1953 to 1960. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 30 cents unused.

The street on the stamp was known as Great Frankfurter Strasse prior to 1949. At that time the area was under Soviet occupation and in need of urban renewal after the war. It was decided to make the street a showplace in the Eastern Sector of Berlin. This was before the wall was built. Naming a street after the person who just lead a large army into Germany showed the level of deference to the Soviets on the part of the East German leadership. Nevertheless the project was German. Noted architect Hermann Henselmann designed the street  that later became a favorite of post modernists. There were upscale apartments and shops and restaurant/bars that had themes based on Eastern European cities like Budapest and Bucharest. East Berlin after all was to look east. The Bucharest bar featured Romanian beer that was 18% alcohol was especially memorable. As seen on the stamp, there was a bronze statue of Stalin. It was a gift of the Soviet Communist Youth group Komsomol on the occasion of World Festival of Youth and Students held that year in the Soviet Sector of Berlin. No doubt parents were thrilled to send their children to listen how great Stalin was. I mean, who wouldn’t?

When things go too far they often self correct. In 1961, in the middle of the night, the Stasi secret Police came for the Stalin statue knocking it off it’s pedestal and trucking it away to be broken and recycled. East Germans woke the next day to find The street renamed Karl Marx Alley with all the street signs and subway stations changed. Karl Marx was still communist, but at least a German.

Fenced off hole where Stalin used to stand, as seen in more modern times.

Unlike much of the East German work after the wall fell, Karl Marx Alley was deemed worthy of preservation, even the name. Henselmann’s architecture has stood the test of time. In later years Henselmann became more of a modernist and many of his buildings still stand in Germany. He had made the conscious decision to stay in the East, taking the advise of Bertolt Brecht.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast architect  Hermann Henselmann, He operated under difficult conditions but was able to build things that survive. Come again tomorrow for part two of rubbing Germany’s nose in it from a different war that was dealt with less well, but is another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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New Zealand 1997, As we near the end, a “wacky” mailbox

I have been wanting to talk about Iceland’s decision to pull the plug on stamp issuance. When I spotted this New Zealand stamp, I had found the vehicle. 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.

It was the best of times it was the worst of times. The printing and use of color on this stamp is magnificent. In the sixties the mostly fake dune stamps from UAE and Finbar Kenny showed how far things could go, see https://the-philatelist.com/2019/04/10/sharjah-lets-you-enjoy-modern-art-thanks-to-finbar-kenny/  . Real country postal authorities took up the challenge and pushed even Mr. Kenny’s boundaries. Stamps that smell or change color, you name it. The dune stamps were aimed at child collectors and so it seems are real country stamps like this. Making this time the worst of times. Instead of presenting a countries situation, it’s past, it’s present, it’s hopes in a serious way and from their point of view so a collector can learn and perhaps think of things in a different way. Here we get wacky mailboxes. Makes you wonder if stamps deserve to die?

Todays stamp is issue A422, a 40 cent stamp issued by New Zealand on March 19th, 1997. It was a 10 stamp issue that came as either a booklet or a self adhesive sheet. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 55 cents whether used or unused. An unused booklet of 10 still together is worth $7 while the same 10 stamps as a sheet is $18.

A few weeks ago Iceland announced that they are discontinuing the issuance of new stamps and closing down their website aimed at the worldwide collector. 50 people are losing their jobs from the operation that has been in the red for a while. Post offices in Iceland believe they have adequate stocks of stamps till the last postcard is sent. To me that is the scariest statement of all.  I remember when Mozambique got independence in 1974, the new post office offered to sell collectors any stamp issued by Portugal for them in the previous 20 years with an independence overstamp. What if all post offices worldwide have such never ending stocks?

I am hoping that the end of new stamp issuance might finally change the supply/demand balance in favor of the supplier and result in higher stamp values. If collectors can begin to see their collection as an asset instead of just a cost it is easier to justify new acquisitions. Collector dollars also wouldn’t be syphoned off by country collectors that automatically buy all new offerings directly from the post office. We had already had several countries issues dry up or be declared fake as they no longer had a provable post system.

So how will it end? I suspect that the deciding factor of stamps will be the country that started it, Great Britain. If they are also in the hole and pull the plug, the rest of the Commonwealth will follow. Then USA and Germany, and an hour later, everyone else with perhaps total farm out issues trying to hold out a little longer.

I don’t think this is the end of the hobby. The era from 1840 to the mid 80s saw colonialization and then a plethora of new countries with different people expressing themselves with stamps. We saw ideologies rise and fall and monarchies fall or somehow stay around. All expressed as the countries themselves wanted it presented. On the stamps we also saw art, natural beauty, and technological achievement being presented. On tiny slips of gummed paper that seemingly has immense abilities to survive. I think the hobby can survive, and I intend to keep telling the stories that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Eastern Rumelia 1881, from Vilayet to Oblast and from Northern Thrace to Bulgaria

Easing European territories left over from ancient Rome(Rumelia), from the Ottomans to the native Christians was a delicate process. This was a great occupation for the great powers in the late 19th century. Hence an area known by all as Northern Thrace would go by this weird concocted name on it’s way to Bulgaria. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your Turkish coffee and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

They were sure giving the Ottoman’s their due on this stamp. The area was about 70 percent Bulgarian and 20% Muslim. The stamp with all it’s Ottoman razzmatazz showed their was still some distance to travel toward union with Bulgaria. Some thought they had gone too far already. In this period a Muslim area broke away as the Republic of Tamrash.

Todays stamp is issue A4, a one Piaster stamp issued by the Ottoman self governing Vilayet of Eastern Rumelia in 1881. It was part of a five stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $5.75 unused.

The Russians beat the Ottomans in a war in the 1870s. A great power conclave in Berlin hammered out the Treaty as to what happened next. The area we are talking about was known as Northern Thrace. The British came up with the name Rumelia to remind the Ottomans that it wasn’t traditional Turk land. That does not mean there were not a lot of Turks streaming out to an Asia Minor they hardly knew. The deal was that the area would become self governing under a Bulgarian appointed by the Ottoman Sublime Porte who would then be owed a fee paid to Constantinople.  What could go wrong with the involvement of a Sublime Porte, him being so sublime and all? Turns out he appointed an Ottoman of Bulgarian heritage Alexander Bogoridi that was acceptable to all. Except for those in the breakaway area of Tamrash, but everyone can’t win.

Two Visions, Bulgarian and Turkish, of what was going on at the time. Both True?

Turkish refugees from Eastern Rumelia
A Russian painting by Madovsky depicting the rape of Bulgarian women in a church by Turkish and African Bashi-bazouk

The rather warlike Bulgarians then got in a war with Serbia that went well. They renamed Eastern Rumelia as the Oblast of Southern Bulgaria. The Berlin treaty was sort of adhered to by paying that sublime Turk guy to name the Prince of Bulgaria as the new head of Eastern Rumelia. This place sure goes in a lot of directions. Turks no doubt were thrilled to have the Republic of Tamrash returned to them. The area either boomed or fell apart economically depending on whose historians you read.

Well my drink is empty and I would be happy to share another Turkish coffee with an Ottoman Sublime Porte. Bet he has some stories to tell. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Papua New Guinea 1973, Australia spends up to at least have something they can take a picture of

Australia did their best with PNG. After independence over half the national budget was provided by Australia. Yet the country failed to achieve. Most of the money was wasted or stolen. Hence the attraction of tangible projects that pictures can be taken of. Life expectancy was under 50, illiteracy was rampant, but check out our satellite dishes. Crazy. 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 was a big aid project, bringing modern telecommunications to PNG. It took over four years. So the stamps showing it off went all out. This stamp was one corner of a four stamp bloc. The stamps show satellite dishes, relay stations and helicopters slinging heavy loads up Mt. Tomavatur. If natives ever sent a letter, they must have thought the colonials nuts. They surely were allowed nowhere near it.

Todays stamp is issue A81, a seven cent stamp issued by Papua New Guinea on January 21st, 1973 ahen it was still a colony of Australia. It was  a six stamp issue, four in the block and two others. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used. Keeping the block of four stamps together would have increased the value 40% all the way up to $1.40.

Australia at it’s closest point is only 4km from the island of New Guinea. So during World War I, they cleared the area of the former German colony. In World War II, the Japanese landed and it was a much harder slog to clear the Japanese from the island. The campaign cost over 8000 Australian deaths. Natives were uninvolved in either war. Post war Australia rethought it’s defense strategy abandoning fortifications on islands like New Guinea and acquiring aircraft carriers and long range bombers for forward defense.

Still a grave mistake was made on New Guinea. Instead of leaving, Australia turned the place into a colony. Post war this was a new style colony that sought to bring the people up. The World Bank was brought in to design the program. It all this sounds expensive it was and unsuccessful. Hence the lure of silliness like satellite dishes that at least give you something to show for the money spent.

Papua New Guinea became independent in 1975, but Australian aid was still the bulk of the economy. They lucked out in acquiring the services of Prime Minister Sonome. He designed PNG’s development plan because after all driving a car gets you no where if you do not know the destination. Economic activity did not actually get going so in 2011 PNG developed a new growth roadmap. It quoted liberally the failed 1975 plan and still had Prime Minister Sonome to implement it. You can read it here, http://www.treasury.gov.pg/html/publications/files/pub_files/2011/2011.png.vision.2050.pdf   . PNG had acquired a leader for life, Africa Style. Australia has finally started scaling back the aid, now “only” 500 million a year. PNG noticed that Australian government spending on Australians have gone up recently and they are annoyed. They recently asked for 600 million in emergency aid from Australia, the new Prime Minister is apparently having trouble fulfilling his campaign promise of making PNG the richest black nation on Earth. When will leaders learn to under promise? He thinks the aid would work better if it was redirected straight to the government. Ha.

Telephones in PNG are not originally a Australian idea. The first phone lines were laid by the Germans in 1905. They connected the 18 phones in the colony. Mount Tornavatur is still home to the satellite dishes and now also hosts cell phone towers. Life expentancy now has made it to 57 and literacy to 70%.

Well my drink is empty and I may have a few more while I contemplate the Australian failure on PNG. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Sierra Leone 1972, Sierra Leone’s decent into darkness

As with The USA and Liberia, Great Britain tried to take extra care with the freed slave state of Sierra Leone. Sometimes, you can’t save people from themselves. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take tour first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Is it always a bad sign when a President shows up on a current stamp? It does seem to imply a ruler rather than elected representative. He looks to be a friendly enough sort on the stamp, but where was he when the lights went out.

Todays stamp is issue A55, a 15 cent stamp issued by independent Sierra Leone in 1972. It was a 14 stamp issue in various denominations showing then President Siaka Stevens. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents.

Sierra Leone got it’s independence in 1961. A deal had been struck with native but English trained doctor and head of government Milton Margai. Dr. Margai had gained some respect internationally by bringing modern health knowledge to African tribal midwives, which had a positive effect on infant mortality. The deal that was struck was that Sierra Leone would stay in the Commonwealth and the Army would retain a British commander. The British system of handing out spoils to the various tribes was continued. There was some argument about this, Future President Stevens believed elections had to be held before independence to be fair and that the defense forces should cut ties to Britain. He broke away from Dr. Margai’s party and started a new one with money from East Germany and China.

The Royal Sierra Leone Army had begun as the Sierra Leone Regiment of the Royal West Africa Frontier Force. The force had British Officers and local black soldiers. It fought in Burma in World War II. Around 1960, the force disbanded and the country based forces became the nucleus of the newly independent armies.

In 1964, Dr. Margai died and was replaced by his half brother Albert. The wheels started to come off. Albert began promoting only people of his Mende tribe. The army lost it’s British officers so Albert could give the posts as spoils. Albert’s attempt to make a one party state failed and Albert was not reelected in 1968 as former labor leader Siaka Stevens won.

Not so fast though. Minutes after taking the oath of office there was a coup that left Prime Minister Stevens under house arrest. The army, no longer Royal, now had many ambitious leaders and there were a total of three coups before Stevens was allowed to take office. Even after there were many further coup plots and many Generals were tried and hung for treason, including the General that handed power belatedly to Stevens. Prime Minister Stevens, surprising only those who didn’t expect him to be a hypocrite, then passed a new constitution making him President in a one party state. Remember this was what he was fighting before independence. He had since come to the feeling that a one political party state was traditionally African.

Stevens ruled ever more despotically for 17 years until 1985. Late in his term the public education system shut and Freetown suffered a months long electricity blackout because nobody had bothered to import any fuel oil. Somehow such incompetence did not stop President Stevens to be named the Chairman of the Organization of African Unity. In terms of African unity he did manage to form an economic union with Liberia, and later Guinea and the Ivory Coast. This was called the group of total losers, excuse me, the Manu River Union. In 2016 the group announced a multi nation parliament to coordinate law making. Watch out EU!

Well my drink is empty and I think I will have another to celebrate that I live nowhere near the Manu River. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting

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Peru 1961, Peru looks east and returns to Japan their last Samarai

During Spanish colonial times, trade with Spain had to pass through Lima. By the mid 20th century, Peru had acquired a large Japanese community and was looking to Japan to now export their economic miracle. That didn’t happen but Peru did manage to export it’s first Japanese President, the “Last Samarai”, back to Japan. 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 celebrates the 2nd International Pacific Fair held in Lima in 1961. Both Japan and the USA had large displays to promote closer economic ties with a then growing Peru. It must have been nice to be the object of so much competition.

Todays stamp is issue C174, a 1 Sol airmail stamp issued by Peru in January 1962, three months or 90 manianas after the Fair. It was a single stamp issue. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents.

The first Japanese immigrants came to Peru in 1899. They were virtually all male and were to work in agriculture for a usually 3 year period. Their contact salary was twice what a similar worker made in Japan. Most did not stay in agriculture and moved to Lima to start shops. The numbers went up fast after the USA banned immigration from Japan in 1924. Early on there was some resentment toward the new arrivals. A law was passed that required shops to have a percentage of native Peruvian employees. In 1938, Peru also stopped accepting new Japanese immigrants. After an earthquake in Peru in 1940, the Japanese were especially targeted in the third world style looting that followed. During the war about 10% of the Japanese Peruvian community was sent to internment in the USA. Peru had stated none could return post war, but some did. Most stayed in the USA.

This might have chased off the Japanese in Peru but instead the opposite happened. The economic power of Peruvian Japanese grew and ties with post war Japan grew ever closer. In 1990, Alberto Fujimori was elected as the first Asian leader of a country outside Asia. He opened up much of the economy and sold off many state owned enterprises. You can guess who was doing the buying. The influx of investment did get the economy moving again. However there was also corruption. When a corruption scandal was about to break in 1996, Fujimori escaped to Japan. From there he faxed his resignation from the Peruvian Presidency, a first. I wonder which corrupt politician will be the first to text a resignation?

President Fujimori when he still wore the Peruvian sash

Peru wanted Fujimori to face criminal charges but Japan found enough red tape to prevent extradition. Fujimori in 2005 traveled to Chile to plot a Peruvian comeback. The Chileans put him under house arrest  and started the long process of extradition. From Chile, Fujimori tried to boost his position in Japan by running for a seat in the upper house of the Japanese Diet. He ran on a populist message as the “Last Samurai” He lost that election and was soon in jail in Peru. He was later pardoned for old age and ill health. When he didn’t die fast enough the pardon was overturned and this year, at age 80, Fujimori returned to jail. Peru sounds fun.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the native Peruvians who got jobs at Japanese owned enterprises. The many?, some?, anybody?. Anyway, come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.