Yesterday we did a fake stamp from the then Trucial State of Ajman. A stamp huckster thought to designing stamps not related to where they allegedly from but subjects kids might better relate to. Here we have a stamp to bring kids into the hobby from a different perspective. 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.
If you scroll down below this article, you can take a look at the stamp we did yesterday from Ajman. It is hard to believe the two stamps are from the same century, never mind the same decade. Yet what a great way to show graphically the two methods to get kids interested in stamp collecting. Notice on todays stamp and the thankfully still present tag, (not many left those attached for mailing), all the little hints at the great tradition. The Crown representing the blessing of the King, the old fashioned horn emblem of the post entwined with the patriotic adventure promised by the Belgian lion. Notice that the children look more intelligent than cool. Also notice the presence of the globe, showing the promise of what can be learned in terms of geography and peoples and different time periods. It is what drew me into the hobby at age 10. Stamp huckster Finbar Kenny might however respond that those kids are just scouring that globe looking for Ajman. Today I will admit a bias toward adult collectors as perhaps they can bring their experience and memories of far of places and different times into the hobby so suited to it.
Todays stamp is issue A152, a 40 Centimes stamp issued by Belgium on October 1st, 1960. It was a single stamp issue. The engraver of this stamp was a man I wrote about here, https://the-philatelist.com/2018/03/26/belgium-honors-a-stamp-engraver/ . According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether used or unused. The catalog makes a point that the tag should still be attached for that only token value to apply. To me this is a little disrespectful of a nice stamp that has now made it 60 years with that tag still attached.
You can gather from this stamp issue that the Belgium of the day had a traditional, conservative government. This is perhaps a little misleading. The country was divided by language and tradition with the Walloons being much more Socialist, anti religion, and a good deal poorer than the Flemish area that was more Dutch. The King of the day Baudouin tried his best to be King of all the people but his sympathies were with the Flemish. This came to a head in 1990 when the lefty government passed a law making abortion more available. A new law has to be signed by the King but this is usually a rubber stamp. The King announced that his Catholic religious principles would simply not allow him to sign it. It was suggested that he do what many religious left center politicians do. Vote for the law as public policy but then openly state that his personal convictions are opposed. That was not going to work and the Cabinet voted instead that the King was unfit to serve as of that date and the cabinet would have to sign off on the new law in his absence. There must have been a lot of wondering if the left wing government would then declare the King again fit to serve. They did the next day. The King of Spain was asked later if he would sign a left wing piece of legislation making it’s way through the legislature. He answered of course, I am the King of Spain not the King of Belgium.
Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast King Baudouin I of Belgium. The different people of Belgium are now so divided with a federal system that keeps the two groups in their own bubbles with ever less holding them together. King Philippe and perhaps the European Union is all that is keeping them together. They probably wouldn’t have King Phillippe were it not for the long successful rule of Baudouin. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.