Month: January 2020

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Spain 1964, The Creator of the Peace, finds things not so peaceful

There are a lot of reasons not to like Franco, a claudillo who actually relished the term. Yet this stamp succinctly makes the case for him. He ended the bloody civil war and managed the not easy task of staying out of World War II. Franco understood the value of peace to the average citizen while his opponents constantly upsetting the peace through assassinations. Even in death, Franco cannot rest in peace. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

This stamp is a little more elaborate than the bulk mail Franco issue of the time. 10 Pasetas was high valuation and so we get more colors, a subdued military uniform and his best political slogan presented as a truth. Of course that on a stamp during a politician’s lifetime is a pretty good indicator of a dictatorship.

Today stamp is issue A302, a 10 Pesetas stamp issued by Spain on April Fools Day 1964. It was a 14 stamp issue, this the only one with Franco, celebrating 25 years since the end of the Spanish Civil War. We are now past the 50th and 75th anniversary of the end of the Civil War, No stamps, don’t want to talk of Franco. Trump will have this trouble after he is gone. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 55 cents unused.

Peace has to be the greatest achievement of Franco. Right after the end of the Civil War ended in 1939 World War II started. After France fell in 1940 to Franco’s German friends, Hitler had his eye on Gibraltar the British colony controlling access to the Mediterranean. Operation Felix was formulated that would have seen 2 German Corps pass through Spain. The plan assumed a British response of landing in Portugal followed by a German invasion of Portugal from Spain. Napoleon all over again for the Iberian peninsula. Refusing Hitler could not have been easy but saved Spain.

Lets give Franco a little more of his due. Franco could always point to assassinations carried out by the Left that disturbed the peace. Remember the Spanish Civil War started not when the left won the 1936 election. Jose Calvo Sotelo was the leader of the Right in opposition. He was assassinated leaving a void for Franco to fill and galvanizing the right.

The next assassination to talk about was then Prime Minister Luis Carrero Blanco in 1973. He was attempting to return from Mass when his car, a Dodge 3700, was car bombed. Franco was fading by then  and the Prime Minister was running things day to day. An aside, as car buffs might guess from the name, a Dodge 3700 was a license made Dodge Dart with a slant 6 225 engine. A fairly modest vehicle for a Prime Minister!

Dodge 3700 by now defunct Barreiros. It does look bigger in a Spanish setting

The third disturbing of the peace happened only last year. After Franco won the Civil War he created a “Valley of the Fallen”, to honor the fallen of both sides. As the left doesn’t want to remember a war they lost, it became a center of remembrance for the right side of politics. Indeed Franco himself was laid to rest there. During left wing administrations the complex was usually closed. The current lefty government decided to go further and have Franco’s tomb desecrated and moved by government action. People are more peaceful now, but how could that not galvanize the political right in Spain.

Valley of the Fallen

Well my drink is empty and Franco is too much a mixed bag to toast. I am still thirsty though so perhaps a toast to 25 years of peace. The next 25. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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East Germany 1981, Rosa Luxemburg wants you to learn to learn to deliver the mail

I don’t think much training is needed to deliver the mail. Apparently it was big business in East Germany. Enough to invoke DDR’s favorite martyr Rosa Luxemburg in the cause. Little do these young apprentices know they will soon be merged and then privatized. Ms. Luxemburg would not approve. 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 is the only stamp I have seen from anywhere invoking the training of postal workers. They show multiple specialties and the involvement of various institutions. The East German Post had wider communication tasks including telegraphs and telexes. Made it seem like the future.

Todays stamp is issue A653, a 20 Pfennig stamp issued by East Germany on February 10th, 1981, your author’s twelfth birthday. It was a five stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether used or unused.

Rosa Luxemburg was a Polish Jew who was the daughter of a lumber merchant in then(1871) Russian occupied Poland. She joined hard left movements in Poland but then had a break with them. They supported Polish independence from Russia and Germany while Rosa thought the more important thing was that Germany and Russia become communist. She went into exile in Switzerland where she earned a Phd and involved herself with the Socialist Internationale. She spoke German, Polish, Hebrew and Russian. She desired to be German though it was not her heritage to be part of Berlin’s hard left scene. She had a sham marriage to a German man to obtain German citizenship. She joined the left wing German SPD party and taught Marxism. When World War I broke out, the SPD rallied to the flag and supported the war effort. Rosa was distraught by this decision. She helped form a group of former SPD members who opposed the war called the Spartacus League. Spartacus had lead a slave uprising in Roman times. The League supported dodging the draft, not following orders once in the army and labor disruptions to fight the war effort. This type of activity was of course against the law and Rosa was jailed. It also lead to the charge from the other side of politics that the war effort had been “stabbed in the back” by leftist Jews.

Rosa was released in an amnesty at the end of the war. Rosa’s former student, Fredrich Ebert was the new President of Germany. By now though Rosa had completely broke with the SPD and desired Germany to be a Soviet Republic. At the beginning of 1919 she started a putsch to destroy capitalism. The SPD opposed this violence and controlled a remnant of the German Army called the Freikorps. This deployed in the streets to fight the revolution. Rosa Luxemburg was taken in the street. After a short questioning Rosa Luxemburg was shot and her body dumped in the Landwehr Canal. She was now a martyr of the left.

Rosa Luxemburg

Many years later, Rosa Luxemburg has been very controversial. The East Germans raised her high. Most of their leaders had also been part of the Internationale movement with long exiles outside Germany. On the other hand the official position of todays German government is that idolization of Rosa Luxemburg in a tradition of far left extremism. For example East German Post’s Rosa Luxemburg School of Engineering has lost her name and is now a telecommunication university. They have left standing the statue of Rosa Luxemburg visible on the stamp. Every year on the date of her death, the German left marches in a funeral parade for Rosa. The Freikorp officer that ordered the execution was taken into custody by the Soviets in the first days of the occupation of Berlin in 1945 and executed. He claimed to be following orders and had served jail time after the execution in 1919.

Well my drink is empty. Skirting Rosa, I will pour another drink to toast the young apprentices of German Post. I hope all the changes coming to the post were positive for you. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Trengganu 1910, No tribute is forthcoming, so sell it to the British

Malaya was divided into many small Sultanates like Trengganu, on the west coast. These Sultans required protection from bigger powers so paid the bigger power a tribute. Until they fell behind on their payments. 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 the first stamp issue from Trengganu. Before the same Sultan we see was sending his tributes to King Rama of Siam. Or at least, I owe yous. It was the British great innovation to pay the Sultans to shut up and stay out of the way. A system Malaysia has continued.

Todays stamp is issue A1, a 1 Cent stamp issued by the Malayan Sultanate in 1910. This was a 19 stamp issue in various denominations featuring Sultan Zenalabidin. They say his name differently now. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $2.10 unused.

Trengganu lies on the trade routes so the local Malayans had contact very early on with both Chinese and Arab traders. According  to the Sultan, the name comes from when rich hunters from Pahang found a strange fang who they could not identify the animal from which it belonged. So the place was called the land of the fang of something. Chinese traders were a little rougher with their name. They called it the place where children are born who will be slaves. It was the first area of Malaya to become Muslim. In the 19th Century the same line of Sultans as Zenalabidin paid tribute to the Kingdom of Besut Darul Iman. That Empire was not able to cope with the level of piracy that afflicted the neighboring trade routes. As a result, Trengganu transferred it’s allegiance to King Rama of Siam. Zenalabidin took Basut with him with their Kings going into exile.

Siam was in a phase where it was attempting a modernization. They mostly had left the quite foreign Trengganu alone with it’s different language and religion. The Sultan was not prompt however with his annual tribute due to Siam. So when the British approached Siam King Rama about Trengganu,  he was willing to make a deal. In return for the Straights Settlements paying the debt owed  Siam and an additional loan and expertise to build railways in Siam, Terengganu passed to Britain. Zenalabidin was left in place and the British got along well with him. However when he died his sons failed to impress despite having had British educations. The first son Muhammed Shah II was forced to abdicate in favor of his little brother and the British then felt the need to install an official advisor. This then angered local religious leaders who fomented frequent uprisings. The Japanese occupation saw them try to give Trengganu back to Siam which was by now called Thailand. As the area was not Thai the change did not hold after the war.

Sultan Mohammad Shah II when he was Rajah Muda. Nobody seems to have found him impressive

Trengganu, they have since changed the English spelling, has become one of the most un diverse areas of modern Malaysia and is still heavily rural. Malaysia has a rotational system where the local Sultans become a ceremonial Monarch. When it was the current Sultan of Trengganu’s turn, his wife became the first Malaysian Queen to always wear a hijab.

Well my drink is empty and Trengganu would perhaps not approve of me having another. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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North Vietnam 1962, we have hitched our boat to someone going places

North Vietnam’s best argument during the then upcoming Vietnam war was that the conflict should be settled amongst the Vietnamese without outside influence. If you examine their stamps of the period, it was no secret that North Vietnam was a satellite of the Soviet Union. Bet the Soviets were glad they didn’t send troops. 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 was a worldwide excitement to the early space race somewhat akin to a dangerous sport. You had records falling and stories of careful training of individuals that are obviously among a countries best. With the USA and the USSR involved, there were even teams to rout for.

Todays stamp is issue A97, a 30 Xu stamp issued by the Democratic Peoples Republic of North Vietnam in December 28th. 1962. It was a three stamp issue in various denominations that honor the simultaneous flight of Soviet spacecraft Vostok 3 and Vostok 4 in August 1962. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 40 cents used. The issue also exists in imperforate form, which raises the value 10 fold.

The Soviets were hard at work on the problems of putting men in space which of course had not been done before. One unknown issue was how the human body would react to extended time in weightlessness. To find out the Vostok 3 and 4 missions were scheduled. It would be the first time that two spacecraft would be in orbit at the same time. The idea was that the two ships would orbit together with their Cosmonauts life signs carefully monitored to see if there was any variation as to how the bodies coped. The missions were scheduled to last 4 days. The two spacecraft would also be able to communicate with each other by radio, a first.

The missions were successful with both Cosmonauts surviving well. The were a few hiccups. Vostok 4’s life support system malfunctioned sending the temperature in the capsule dropping precipitously. The radio contact with Vostok 4 was garbled with ground control misunderstanding Cosmonaut Pavel Popovich as giving the code word to get me home now. Thus his mission ended early.

Cosmonaut Andriyan Nikolayev, callsign Falcon, flew on Vostok 3 and later again on Soyuz 9. When he died in 2004 the breakup and disunity of modern Russia intruded. Nikolayev was a Chuvash, an ethnic group of Turks that live near the Volga river. Nikolayev’s daughter, a prominent Moscow Doctor, wanted her father buried in a heroes cemetery in Moscow. This was not allowed as the local Chuvash leader required that he be buried in his hometown where he no longer had family. Well he did die there, so it must have meant something to him.

Cosmonaut Pavel Popovich, callsign Golden Eagle, flew on Vostok 4 and later again on Soyuz 14. He stayed on in the Soviet Air Force until 1993 rising to be a Major General. Popovitch was Ukrainian but the breaking apart did not effect him as directly. He was from the Crimea so ethnically Russian. He died in 2009.

Both of todays Cosmonauts had prominent wives. Nikolayev’s wife was Velentina Tereshkova, the first and youngest female to go to space.  Popovich’s wife was Marina Popovich, test pilot and the first Soviet woman to break the sound barrier, which she did in 1964. She was known affectionately as Madame Mig. She got some notoriety late in her life by writing a book called UFO Glasnost claiming the Soviet Air Force had many interactions with UFO and that the KGB guarded 5 UFO crash sites. Both marriages ended in divorce.

Well my drink is empty and I will join with our now North Vietnamese friends in toasting the Soviet Cosmonauts. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Gibraltar 2009, Why are they still talking about Anne Boleyn?

Gibraltar has been an important British Naval Base since the War of Spanish Succession. Gibraltar proved important in the Napoleonic wars, the Crimean War, and World War II. Britannia no longer rules the seas however and other formerly important bases such as Singapore and Malta were freely allowed to pass from Britain. Some times there is vote after vote and to their credit Britain respects the wishes of her subjects to remain so. 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 issue honoured the 500th anniversary of the Accession to the British Throne of King Henry VIII. Well not really. He only appears on one of the eight stamps. 6 of them are for his wives. It may be prove that those that put together farm out Commonwealth stamp issues are slightly more female than the hobby itself.

Todays stamp is issue A263, a 10 Pence stamp issued by the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar on January 10th, 2009. Henry’s Accession was in May of 1509. It was an eight stamp issue usually seen intact as a souvenir sheet. As with many such modern stamps not really intended for mailing, the catalog has no value listed for this stamp in the individual. So I will surmise that it is fair to assume that the a $16 sheet means that each of the individual stamps is worth $2. You will notice that my copy is unused. I suspect that excess inventory of such issues is sold off as individual kiloware to dealers. In the individual there might be less effect from this act on the value of the sheet.

Gibraltar is of course the stone hill at the southern tip of Spain. The southern tip of Gibraltar is only 8.9 miles from Morocco so it is an ideal spot to control entry into the Mediterranean Sea. It’s sense of separateness predated the British. After being conquered by the Spanish from the Moorish Emirate of Granada, it was sold to a group of Jews that had been forcibly converted to Christianity. The British soon landed there on the Austrian side of the War of Spanish Succession and the Treaty of Utrecht gave Gibraltar permanently to Britain in 1713. The conquest saw the removal of Spaniards from the place but they were not replaced by British settlers. Most instead came from Italy and Malta. Spain attempted several unsuccessful sieges of Gibraltar in the eighteenth century. During World War II, Germany had a plan to seize Gibraltar from Britain called Operation Felix. The plan required German troops to pass through neutral Spain however and Franco denied the Germans permission. The German force would have been quite large (2 Corps) as it contemplated an invasion of Portugal if the British response included landings in Portugal.

In the 1950s Franco began reasserting Spanish claims on Gibraltar. The British then started negotiations toward some sort of joint administration. Remember the people there are not Spanish and in 1967 a referendum was organized that overwhelmingly showed the peoples desire to remain British. In the early 2000s Britain was again reviewing the status of it’s remaining processions and began again talks with Spain over Gibraltar’s future. Again locals organized a referendum in 2002 and 98 percent voted to stay British. Less than 15 percent of the people are of British heritage.

Naturally the local employment derived from the British garrison has shrunk over time. This does not mean the place is struggling economically. The rock has become a hub of online gambling. In fact 40% of those employed on Gibraltar are Spaniards that reside over the border and commute. During earlier times the border with Spain was closed but Britain and Spain are now NATO and EU? allies.

Well my drink is empty and so I am forced to wait until tomorrow when there will be another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Haiti 1954, Honor Madame Magloire before she catches the last plane out

When we these dictators learn to stop flashing money in these desperately poor countries? This dark skinned First Family fronted for the Creole elite of Haiti. So perhaps living and fronting just like a Creole is not going to get the job done. 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 is the old conundrum. The first couple did not lack for style. Madame Magliore was glamorous, her children were photogenic and the President was at the ready with an over the top Napoleon style uniform to remind of his military service. This all plays well on stamps but can’t survive the basic question of who pays for this when we are all so poor.

Todays stamp is issue C77 a 1 Gourde airmail stamp issued by Haiti on January 1st, 1954. There were airmail and regular postage versions of this stamp. The tiny airplane in the top right corner and higher denomination denote airmail. The check mark is not an official overstamp but probably applied by the postmaster as part of the cancelation. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 60 cents used.

Yolette Leconte was born to a rich family in Haiti in 1919. At age 17 she married Paul Magloire, a fast rising Army officer 12 years her senior. They had four children. Paul Magloire’s rise was fast because he was corrupt. By 1944 he was head of the military police in Port-au-Prince. In 1946 he participated in a successful coup against President Elie Lescot. Lescot was a member of the small minority of Creoles that are the economic elite. He was close with the USA and Trujillo’s Dominican Republic. This coup was considered hopeful by many in Haiti as it brought a Haitian with dark skin to power. Magloire began to enjoy spoils from both sides of the Haitian racial divide. In 1950 the Creole elite was ready to come back to power but this time they were clever and dashing black officer Paul Magloire was the face of their coup.

The elite being in power stably can lead to some progress. Haiti’s first dam and a new Catholic Cathedral were constructed. Both of course were with outside money but a Haiti that was stable never lacked for outside help. Haiti even began to attract Western tourists including Truman Capote, Irving Berlin, and Noel Cowart. One can image what they were doing in Haiti. Yolette busied herself with shopping trips and the occasional charity photo op. President Paul Magloire had two nicknames either Bon Papa or Old Iron Pants.

The wheels came off the regime due to a woman. No not Yolette but Hazel, Hurricane Hazel. The deadly hurricane was followed by an outpouring of aid from the USA and elsewhere. When that aid did not arrive to those in need, questions were asked. The Magloires did not have good answers to these questions as they stole the money. As the questions turned into riots, the Magloires flew off into exile in New York. After a few years of chaos the Duvalier dictatorship took over and stripped the Magloires of their Haitian citizenship. The exile would be permanent but a comfortable one with their riches intact. Yolette died at age 62 in New York in 1981.

In 1986 the Duvalier line fell in Haiti. Two years later now old man Paul Magloire returned to Haiti. He tried to market his era in Haiti as a golden age. That of course greatly devalues the term golden age but it is Haiti we are talking about. With Haiti’s young population and short life expectancy there were few people who were buying his talk of long ago. Paul Magloire died in Port-au-Prince in 2001 at age 93 in obscurity. The next golden age of Haiti will not be recognized with postage stamps. Their last official issue was in 2003 though there have since been fakes. Haiti can no longer prove a postal service.

Well my drink is empty and I may have a few more while I contemplate the plight of the Haitians. Part of me wants to say you get the leaders you deserve but that just condemns so many to misery. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Hungary 1986, Remembering the retaking of Buda Castle from the Ottomans 300 years before

History buffs may remember that the Ottomans were stopped at the gates of Vienna. They did occupy sometimes empire sister city Budapest for 200 years ending in 1686. Yes that did make a difference. 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 palace was built in a grand Gothic style for Hungarian Kings. The Ottomans used the complex as a fortification and armory with it’s finery long gone. Thus the return of the Hungarians must have seemed a restoration of civilization. This is captured well on the stamp by using Gyula Bencur’ s much later painting.

Todays stamp is issue A806, a 4 Forint stamp issued by the People’s Republic of Hungary on September 2nd, 1986.  This was a single stamp issue. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 30 cents used.

Buda castle is located on the high ground facing the Danube River. The first Royal Residence there was built for Hungarian King Bela IV around 1250 AD. The last Royal occupant was Hapsburg Regent Admiral Miklos Horthy until 1944. The palace was greatly expanded in the Gothic style to serve as the main residence of Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund around 1400. Hungary evacuated the town before the arrival of the Ottomans in 1526. The town was looted and burned but the castle left intact. The treasures were carted back to Constantinople by Sultan Sulieman the Magnificent. He was not magnificent enough to preserve what he liberated as most was destroyed in rebellions there a few years later.

Budapest, it was three separate towns then, went into a decline during the Ottoman years. Those of Hungarian or German heritage mostly departed for the still Hapsburg ruled Royal Hungary. The population and importance of Budapest declined and in addition to Ottomans numbers of Gypsies and Jews increased. With no local Royals to house, Buda Castle became an Armory. In 1686 troops of 13 Christian European nations fought to retake Budapest from the Ottomans. During the fighting the armory that was Buda Castle exploded. The force was so great that a wave on the Danube wiped out artillery batteries on both sides of the river. The Castle was a ruin but was later rebuilt in even a grander style by Hapsburg Queen Marie Theresa as thanks for Hungarian support of her during the War of Austrian succession. The elaborate grounds were the center of Hungarian political life.

During World War II, Buda Castle was again destroyed. The Germans in defeat had hoped for a Stalingrad like turnaround in Budapest. It was hoped to bog down the Soviets in winter house to house fighting in Budapest while German tank units encircle them. The Germans were not able to encircle the Soviets, they got within 20 miles of it. There was however much house to house fighting with the last holdouts being on the grounds of Buda Castle.

Interestingly the post war Red government decided to rebuild Buda Castle not in the Hapsburg style but more as it was at the time before the Ottomans. Medieval Castles were  also of course fortifications and the war had showed that what happened before could always happen again.

Destruction after World War II
Modern aerial view of Buda Castle

 

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the residents of modern Budapest. In October, I enjoyed a great trip there were I was able to wonder the grounds of Buda Castle as well as enjoy the excellent food and drink and yes tour their stamp museum. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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USA 1948, Remembering the four Chaplains from the SS Dorchester after meeting U-223

The SS Dorchester was a cruise/transport ship that was converted to a troopship for war service. In 1943 it was headed for Greenland with 900 aboard, twice the cruising complement. It met it’s fate from a torpedo delivered by German U boat U223. About a quarter of the people aboard were saved by nearby coast guard cutters. A horrible loss for the USA. To lessen the blow, The USA made a big deal of four Chaplains, each of a different sect, who voluntarily gave up their life vests and perished. 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 idea that the leadership is the last to leave a distressed ship was the standard of seamanship. Remember the 3rd class females on the Titanic more likely to survive than higher deck first class men. Apparently such thoughts were slipping as the government decided to reinforce the former standard with the wonderfully politically correct act by the four chaplains of different faiths on the Dorchester. Sometimes an old standard needs reinforcement, as was shown by the recent Italian cruise ship disaster. Interestingly, the stamp design had to be modified before coming out, The four chaplains had not been dead for the required 10 years before a stamp can be issued. Thus their names were removed. Another rule that has since dropped away.

Todays stamp is issue A403, a 3 cent stamp issued by the USA on May 28rh, 1948. It was a single stamp issue. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether used or unused.

The SS Dorchester was built in 1926 and operated as a cruise and transport ship along the eastern coast of the USA between Miami and Boston. There were 300 passengers and 90 crew with a small capability to carry some freight. In early 1942 the ship began it’s war service with most of the same crew and still in private ownership. In 1943 there was a convoy headed for Greenland with 2 other cargo ships and three escorting Coast Guard cutters. The early morning torpedo hit came without warning and killed power to the steam engine. Thus the ship was not able to communicate it’s distress to escorts or even blow the abandon ship whistle. The water was so cold that it killed more than drowning but two of the coast guard cutters managed to save 230 of the 904 on board. The escorts were not attacked by the submarine U-223. The four chaplains who gave up their life vests and parrished were Rabbi Alexander Goode, Father John Washington, and Protestant ministers George Fox and Clark Poling. The ship sank in 20 minutes bow first, the opposite of what the stamp imagines.

U995, the only surviving Type VII U boat, at a Naval Memorial near Keil, Germany

U-223 was a Type VII German U-Boat constructed at Keil in 1942. The Type VII was the most common type of U-boat. It’s 1943 patrols in the North Atlantic saw it participate in 8 Wolfpacks. A Wolfpack was a tactic of mass attack by multiple subs on a convoy. The Sub would often try to avoid return fire by escorts after the attack by hiding underwater directly under the survivors in the water. U-223 sunk three ships of comparable size to the Dorchester. In another encounter  nearby depth charges forced the damaged sub to the surface and then it was shelled by British destroyer HMS Hesperus. It barely escaped badly damaged. The sub then transferred to the Mediterranean based at Toulon in occupied France. On March 29th, 1944 it was caught by three British destroyers off Palermo and sunk. In it’s last battle it sunk the British destroyer HMS Laforey. 23 of the submarine’s crew of 50 had lost their lives. The sub commander during the North Atlantic battles was Captain Lieutenant  Karl-Jurg Wachter. See also, https://the-philatelist.com/2019/09/09/germany-1943-u-boat-wolfpacks-bring-the-war-across-the-sea/     .

A later famous person was scheduled to be on SS Dorchester but missed the boat. Beat author Jack Kerouac was a merchant seaman and radioman on the ship. Right before sailing he received a telegram offering for Kerouac to play football at Columbia University. Later in the war the US Navy dismissed him from service after 7 days for being of indifferent character and processing a schizoid personality. Leave the fighting to real men I guess. They wouldn’t make decent beat authors anyway.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another for all those that died in the Battle of the Atlantic. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Netherlands 1980, reminding new Queen Beatrix that some Queens face challenges

Churchill described Queen Wilhelmina as the only “real man” among the many governments in exile in London. Perhaps because it wasn’t her first war. Quite a lesson for granddaughter and new Queen Beatrix. Things looked bright for Beatrix’s Reign, but one can never be sure. 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 was issued on the fortieth anniversary of the Netherlands being conquered by Germany. Given that there was a new Queen that year the presentation comes across as a plea that the new Queen be more serious in the mold of Wilhelmina and less of the flightiness and corruption of recently abdicated Queen Julianna. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/08/30/netherlands-1971-prince-bernhard-is-honored-for-his-part-in-dutch-aviation-before-his-reputation-tarnishes/    .

Todays stamp is issue A198, a 60 cent stamp issued by the Netherlands on September 23rd, 1980. There was one other stamp in the issue that featured Churchill and the British flag in thanks for hosting the government in exile. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

There were 3 Queens in a row that served between 1890 and 2013.The Dutch House of Orange did have rules favoring male heirs but if their are no male offspring…. Wilhelmina assumed the throne after the death of her elderly father. He had 4 sons by his first wife but they had all died. The King remarried in old age in hope of a new heir but the only issue was Wilhelmina who in her early years had her mother serve as regent. Wilhelmina faced many wars that challenged her deeply. The first was the Boer war that saw Boer settlers of Dutch heritage fighting a losing battle with the British in South Africa. She risked war with the British when she ordered Dutch naval ships to South Africa to evacuate leaders of the Orange Free State. This gave her a loathing of the British.

Germany was threatening as World War I approached. Kaiser Wilhelm threatened her by pointing out that his bodyguards were 7 feet tall while hers were a foot shorter. She responded “That is true your Majesty, but if we release the dykes the water will be 10 feet deep.” Holland was not attacked in the war but faced the same blockaide as the Germans as they were perceived as allies of them. Kaiser Wilhelm was welcomed in Holland when he was exiled from defeated Germany. The fall of the Czar in Russia also left her personal fortune much diminished. She had been the first female billionaire. She was also facing a strong communist labor movement  at home that sought to remove her. The relative prosperity of the country at the time saved the Dutch Monarchy.

The Queen pulled an about face when Germany attacked in 1940. The government boarded British ships and was evacuated to London. The Prime Minister sought accommodation with the German invadors but Wilhelmina was now adamant about the Allied cause and had him removed from the government in exile. She became a symbol of resistance. Her home in Britain was even heavily damaged by a late in the war mini Blitz by Germany on Britain in early 1944. She returned after the war but by this point she was elderly herself. She began the tradition of abdicating to allow the next generation a long rule. That tradition continued through Beatrix abdicating in 2013 in favor of her son.

Beatrix reign was for less eventful than Wilhelmina. The power that she had was gradually disapated. She also avoided controversy by making it against the rules to quote her directly. Her son abandoned this but it seems a sensible precaution if someone is adept at putting their foot in their mouth.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the Royal House of Orange. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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China 1959, check out the perhaps new natural history museum, it claims dragon fossils

There are no such thing as dragons. That of course is not what Chinese kids want to hear and after all that is what natural history museums are trying to attract and inspire. Well them and maybe a plutocrat or two from the Chinese diaspora. So slip in 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 printing on the stamp lets down the new building for the natural history museum. It is a pretty good example of the Chinese take on Brutalist architecture. In 1959, the Chinese inked a deal with the Czechs on postal design cooperation. Anyone who remembers cold war era Czech stamps will grasp that this meant Chinese stamps were going to get larger and more colorful.

Todays stamp is issue A107, an 8 Fen stamp issued by the People’s Republic of China on April 1st, 1959. It was a two stamp issue in different denominations celebrating the opening in Peking of the Museum of Natural History. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 75 cents cancelled.

This stamp places the opening of the museum in 1959. The current itineration of the museum list the opening date as 1951 and the taking of the present name as 1962. The stamp from 1959 uses the 1962 and later name. I suspect the intention of having a natural history museum was announced in 1951 with the building and permanent collection ready in 1959. The museum employs teams of scientists in paleontology, botony, and zoology.

The displays of early life on earth are grouped in chronological order and include dinosoars and early examples of elephants. The star of the show is the 78 meter fossil they claim is a dragon. No word if they have managed to show how it used to breath fire.

The museum is an accomplishment of the early days of the Communist regime, but that was a long time ago. The modern museum owes a great deal to the late in life donations from diaspora philanthropist Tian Jiabing. Apparently greedy for handouts Chinese institutions kneel before robber barons now just as in the west.

Tian was from Dabu in China but quickly moved on to Vietnam to which he exported Dabu made porcelain. When the war made this trade impossible he moved on to the Dutch Indies and got involved in the rubber industry. He amassed 3 factories in Indonesia but felt that Chinese were persecuted in independent Indonesia. Maybe if they had allowed him a fourth factory? In 1959 China was in the middle of their industrial “Great Leap Forward” and so could readily make use of the skill and capital of a rich Chinese industrialist. Instead Tian moved to Hong Kong. He wasn’t finished making the world better. He used his expertise in rubber to become a leader in the production of leatherette. He marketed himself as the leather king of Hong Kong. Well maybe the leatherette Majoor de Chinezen, as they said in the Dutch Indies.

Leatherette King and museum donator Tian Jiabing

As Tian aged in the 1980s he shielded his assets from taxes in a charitable foundation that doled out donations to institutions that would attach his name to things. This included schools in every province of China and Taiwan. Now he marketed himself in China as the “Father of a 100 schools”. Well maybe the Dutch (Indies) Uncle of 100 schools. The 1998 financial crises wiped out Tian’s industrial assets but Tian was not through virtue signaling. He sold his 40 million HK dollar house to recapitalize his foundation. Obviously stealing the money from his creditors. Before dying in 2018 he traveled China to allow the people to shower him with rewards. He showed his virtue by refusing Soda and bringing soap with him to hotels for the environment. Pretty obnoxious for a rubber and plastics guy. Sorry the stories of guys like this really get my goat. End Rant.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Chairman Mao for seeing the need for the museum and getting it built. Waiting for robber barons would have taken forever. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.