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.