Month: March 2020

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New Zealand 1920, In Victory, New Zealand remembers the Maori volunteers

New Zealand, despite it’s far away location and small population, went all out in service to the victorious Empire during World War I. Over 10 percent of the population served overseas. Among them were many of the Maori tribe of Pacific islanders. Their participation was a little more complicated. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

The portrait of the man is what drew me to this stamp. I assumed he was a deceased politician that is rivals had zinged by slipping in Devil’s horns on his stamp honour. The makings of a fun stamp. Thus I was disappointed when he turned out to be a Maori Chief. Even the most rabid colonialist would not portray a native that way, well maybe if New Zealand was a French colony. As confirmed on many later New Zealand stamp issues featuring Maori, their leaders wear their hair with small pony tails in that manner.

Todays stamp is issue A50, a one and a half pence stamp issued by New Zealand on January 27th, 1920. It was a 6 stamp issue in various denominations celebrating the Victory of the British Empire in World War I. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp was worth 55 cents used.

New Zealand immediately began a large scale mobilization when World War I broke out in Europe in 1914. Though New Zealand’s first action involved removing Germans from Samoa where their landing was unopposed, the bulk of the troops served in Europe and especially the unsuccessful Gallipoli campaign in Turkey. The mobilization was massive with over 10 percent of the population serving overseas. The casualties were catastrophic. Of the 100,000 who served, 16,000 died and 41,000 more were injured. I did a New Zealand ANZAC monument stamp here, https://the-philatelist.com/2018/02/16/new-zealand-expands-a-war-memorial/  . At first the force was all volunteer and was open to Maori tribesman. By 1916, conscription was introduced but not for the Maori. In 1917 the government tried to extend the conscription to Maori but faced strong opposition. No Maori was sent overseas as a conscript.

Self proclaimed Princess Te Puea was the niece of a Maori Chief who claimed to be their King and the daughter of an English land surveyor who busily maintained a Maori wife in addition to his English wife. Colonial life sure sounds hectic. Te Puea had a wild adolescence that included much drinking, fighting, and promiscuity. This left her unable to conceive a child, perhaps job one for a real Princess. Upon the death of her mother, she returned to her family and began pushing to have her title recognized by the New Zealand government and compensation of course for her myriad woes. She was a leader in the Kingitanga movement that not all Maori were a part of. She hit upon the attempt at Maori Army conscription and lead protests in Waikato, dramatically hiding Maori men from conscription that remember did not apply to them. The authorities suspected Te Puea of being really a German spy and pointed to German heritage on her families English side. Well that does sound royal.

After the war Princess Te Puea thought that living like a Queen might enhance her cause. She formed a steel guitar and hula band that toured named after a battle between Maori and colonials that the colonials rudely won. She also applied  to the government for funds to build a Maori Royal Court. Her funds were later cut off after it was found that funds given her had evaporated. She tried to take a one/third income tax Royal tribute from Maori followers of the Kingitanga movement but of course trying to collect taxes from the Maori was a fool’s game.

self proclaimed Princess Te Puea. No crown but they seemed to have given her a English Medal to feel more a part of things

Princess Te Puea fell into obscurity in her older years. She had fallen out with most other Maori leaders and made a big stink about New Zealand’s Centennial in 1940 when she was not given an equal footing with the British Governor General. She died in 1952.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the memory of those of all heritages that served in World War I. I have had some fun here with this con artist Princess, but the real tragedy was in quickly hurrying of to war without considering the consequences. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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East Germany 1985 when oil refineries and plattenblau flats were celebrated instead of being embarrassed about

This must be an embarrassing stamp to the modern political left. A giant oil refinery, the biggest in all of Germany, smokestacks spewing, being celebrated as a great achievement of the communist East German government on the occasion of the government’s 35th anniversary. The crazy part is it was a great achievement, all these years later united Germany still relies on the refinery to process the oil coming into Germany from Russia by way of the connected Druzhba pipeline. Something President Trump always has fun pointing out when hectored by Europe over the USA’s environmental policies. 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 really is quite a large complex built in an otherwise small town on the Oder river near the Polish border. Being where the Russian pipeline crossed into East Germany it was the obvious, scientific place to put the refinery. At the left on the stamp you can spot the prefab Plattenbau apartment blocks put up to house the workers. This stamp represented industry in East Germany, others honored construction, agriculture and the military. The fellows with the protractor emblem were really making things happen and had been for 35 years. By the 40th anniversary and near the end of the DDR, a similar issue had education substitute for the military and industry was represented by a computer operator. You must move with the times. East German stamps were demonetized at the end of 1991

Todays stamp is issue A743, a 35 Pfennig stamp issued by East Germany on October 4th, 1984. It was a four stamp issue in various denominations that was also available as a souvenir sheet. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 30 cents used. Interestingly the souvenir sheet was not much or a prize, the four stamps are worth more apart.

Schwedt is a small town on the Oder river. In 1958, Comecon decided to sponsor a long pipeline that would take heavily subsidized Soviet crude oil from Tartaristan to the Comecon nations of Eastern Europe. I did a Hungary stamp on their part here, https://the-philatelist.com/2018/09/25/hungary-builds-on-soviet-friendship-to-power-itself/   . Different nations were responsible for aspects of the pipeline. East Germany was responsible for the oil pumps. A new refinery complex was quickly put together in Schwedt just over the Polish border to process the oil coming in. It had to be put together quickly. The very long pipeline was already in operation by 1963 with construction only starting in 1960. Try doing something that fast anywhere now. Well maybe China.

To house the workers in the otherwise small town, prefabricated blocks of worker flats called plattenbau were constructed. In modern days such flats are sneered at, but still lived in. In those days, they were more respected as they were larger units than old buildings and offered private bathrooms, kitchen facilities, and more effective heating. Schwedt had also been heavily damaged in land battles with the Red Army in the last days of the war, so the was plenty of opportunity for urban renewal.

I mentioned that the oil refinery and the pipeline are still in use by modern Germany. That does not mean that levels of employment have stayed high in Schwedt. During the East German period Schwedt went from 11,000 residents up to 55,000. Since reunification, the population of Schwedt has dropped back below 30,000. The refinery is still the largest private employer in the area, but is down to 1300 workers.

Well my drink is empty and looking deeper made me understand why East Germany wanted to feature Schwedt as an example of it’s success. Convincing The Philatelist however may be easier than modern fellow traveler Greta Thurnberg. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Belgium 1960, a different view of getting kids into stamp collecting

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.

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Ajman 1960s, check out the rocket, were you able to bring up any pearls

Ajman was a tiny pearl diving village occupied seasonally by Nomads. Thanks to Finbar Kenny there were stamps, big colorful stamp designed to get kids interested in stamps, or at least buy a starter pack from the Macys Department Store. Things can get pretty weird when a hobby goes big business. 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.

Stamps like this from Ajman are considered fake by the hobby. So I cannot give you a value or an exact issue date. That is not to say the “Dune” stamps were not influential. Mr. Kenny hoped that by making stamps more colorful and on subjects more relatable to a wider cross section of kids, he could sell more stamp collecting starter packs. It did not work, neither Macys or any other big department store currently have a stamp collecting department. What it did though was inspire real country stamp designers go down the same road of appealing to the immature would be collector. That did not boost the hobby.

Ajman was a tiny but fortified pearl diving village in what was then known as the Trucial States. Today it is one of the United Arab Emirates. As recently as the early 20th century the population was only 750 people and the town was only occupied seasonally. There was a pearl diving season and a palm date harvesting season. For the date harvesting season, most of the population moved to Muscat in modern day Oman. Pearl diving mostly went away after Japanese advancements in cultured pearls and dates just are no longer lucrative enough to travel for.

The Maim tribe conquered Ajman around 1816. Depending on who you ask the ruling Sheik may have been a vassal of the ruling Sheik of nearby Sharjah. After a sacking of a neighboring trucial state by the British in 1822, Ajman signed on as a British Protectorate that left the local Sheik in charge. Don’t get too annoyed at the British, these villages were constantly sacking each other. Ajman had special and repeated problems with the Sheik of Muscat. Remember it was there the nomads were precuring the palm dates.

Sheik/Emir Rashid bin Humaid Al-Nu’aimi ruled Ajman from 1928-1981. He sold the rights to print stamps in the name of Ajman to Finbar Kenny. The arrangement ended in 1971 when Ajman became part of the United Arab Emirates. The Emirs decided to band together with the end of British Protectorate status.

I mentioned Finbar Kenny was the head of the stamp department of the Macys department store. At the time, in the 1930s, it was common for there to be a table near the elevator displaying stamps to children. Mothers could leave their children there to be entertained while they shopped. Kenny through contacts started participating personally in some sales of very high end stamps. He then had the idea to make stamps that his tables might have more luck with by buying the rights to small independent countries no one could find on a map. Many of the Trucial states signed on to Kenny’s plan. In 1971 the formation of the UAE ended Kenny’s deals as the UAE would have a postal system and do there own stamps. Finbar Kenny then signed up the Cook Islands in the Pacific to continue his business with stamps under their name. That did not go well. The leader of the Cook Islands demanded a loan backed by future stamp revenues. After this bribe was paid, the American government arrested Finbar Kenny under the foreign corrupt practices act. He was fined $50,000 and naturally the Cook Island “loan” was not repaid. Things can get pretty rough when you spend too much time in the dunes or Gilligan’s, excuse me Cook, Island.

American philatelic entrepreneur Finbar Kenny holds ‘the world’s rarest stamp’, a British Guiana 1c magenta, at the Stanley Gibbons Catalogue Centenary Exhibition in London, 28th January 1965. (Photo by Stan Meagher/Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images). No Dunes that day

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Finbar Kenny. I don’t think over the long term he was good for the hobby but I admire his creativity in the cause. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting

 

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Soviet Union 1960, The USAs “operation abundance” takes on “Soviet Life” during the Khrushchev Thaw

The connections of regular Soviets to the outside world blossomed with new leadership of Khrushchev and the optimism of Sputnik. With the end of colonialism there was a worldwide battle for hearts and minds. Into this opening the USA launched operation abundance to convince the average Soviet that their government was not doing enough for them with regards consumer goods. An open door goes both ways. 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 issue features children’s drawings related to the world festivals of youth that the Soviets hosted. There is a quote from Khrushchev that stated that as long as he was President we are going to support genuine art. We are not going to give a Kopeck for the pictures of jackasses. The denomination of this stamp is 10 Kopecks. Hmm…

Todays stamp is issue A1202, a 10 Kopeck stamp issued by the Soviet Union on June 1st, 1960. It was a four stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

Khrushchev sought more person to person contact with the outside world to soften the harsh militaristic image put forth by his predecessor Stalin. To that end, the World Festival of Youth that promoted Communism was brought for the first time to the Soviet Union in 1957. It attracted 34,000 participants from 130 countries. There was even a new magazine for America named “Soviet Life” that presented a positive view of life in the Soviet Union. The USA agreed to allow the printings of 30,000 per month, and there was a waiting list for subscriptions. And Americans thought only Soviets waited in line.

An old issue of Soviet Life

 

The USA was not defenseless when it came to the new open door. The USA knew the Soviets used a much greater percentage of their output for arms. Perhaps that could be adjusted if the average Soviet, especially the females, started demanding more consumer goods. Operation Abundance backed American National Exhibition in Moscow in 1959 showed off all manner of consumer goods available in the USA. To drive the point home, then Vice President Richard Nixon engaged in an impromptu televised “kitchen debate” with Khrushchev as to why Soviets did not yet have stuff like this. His answer was that such things were junky and wasteful but then did what was hoped and began allocating more resources to the production of consumer goods.

The kitchen debate from 1959. Nixon is on the right. He had more hair as VP than later as President.

Modern Russia is still in the business of reaching out to the world’s youth though I am not sure what he is selling politically these days. In 2017 Russia hosted another World Festival of Youth in Sochi. It attracted fewer attendees than the 1957 one but more countries sent youth.

Well my drink is empty and I will contemplate the value of closed doors. Sure seems less wasteful. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

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Morocco 1939, the old capital Fez struggles with the strange French that have come to protect them

The Allouite Dynasty had a long run in Fez having avoided Ottoman occupation and being a mercantile center for Barbary pirates and the Timbuctoo gold trade. Then they signed on for French protection and had to flee partly from the strange people they suddenly found themselves dealing with. 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 a great image of period Fez. You get a sense of it’s ancient status, it’s inland desolateness, and the Picasso style rendering communicates what a wild place it must have been. Sadly all the things that used to make it interesting faded as all diversity there fled after independence and now Fez is just left with masses of poor and a few rich enclaves.

Todays stamp is issue A33, a three Franc stamp issued by French Morocco in 1939. It was a 37 stamp issue in various denominations that lasted over many years. According to the Scott catalog the stamp is worth 30 cents used.

Fez was founded by Berbers in the 8th century AD. It was ruled for most of it’s history by an Arab Sultan. The Sultan was fairly unique in having successfully resisted Ottoman domination. The place really took off when Muslims and Jews were expelled from Spain but welcomed in Fez. The place became a center of somewhat elicit business dealings involving the Timbuctoo gold trade and Barbary pirate loot. The Sultan protected all this in order to take his cut, but there was always much intrigue. There was also some manufacturing including leatherwork and of course the hats named after the place. Early on all Fezzes were made there and the color came from a berry native to the area. In the early 20th century the Sultan of Fez signed on as a French protectorate after French had replaced the Ottomans in neighboring Algeria. Suddenly all hell broke loose.

French Protector Lyautey

The Frenchman sent to work with the Sultan was Hubert Lyautey. French Prime Minister Clemenceau referred to Lyautey as an admirable and courageous man who always had balls stuck up his ass. It just a shame that they are not always his. He communicated with the local Arabs through multilingual authoress Isabelle Eberhardt. She was Swiss of Russian anarchist ancestry who wrote dirty stories of sexual deviancy in North Africa often involving necrophilia. She herself professed a conversion to Islam but dressed as a man and was plagued by bouts of syphilis and malaria. When details of the treaty of Fez got out the city reacted immediately with outright rebellion. The French protection turned out to be minimal. Most of the troops they commanded were local Askaris and they mutinied and joined the rebellion. You can read about other Askari troops in the Congo here, https://the-philatelist.com/2018/10/10/belgian-congo-1942-can-colonials-rely-on-askari-soldiers-when-the-home-country-is-occupied/   .

Authoress, diplomat, and spy Isabelle Eberhardt

Eventually the city was bought back under French control but not before the Sultan had to flee and set up a new capital at Rabat. The Jewish quarter was especially hard hit and with that the economy collapsed. Isabelle Eberhardt died mysteriously in a flash flood at age 27.

Well my drink is empty and I am left wondering if the French sent there started acting crazy because of how Fez was or in spite of it. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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USA 1985, getting around to the second string of aviation pioneers

After giving the Wright brothers no fewer that three stamps honoring their work as pioneers of aviation, it was time to dig deeper and honor lesser figures. Here we have a man who was on the staff of several important pioneers and ended his long career as a well paid consultant long after technology had moved beyond his work. 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 stamp designers did their best to make Mr. Verville seem interesting. Verville had been on the staff of General Bill Mitchel and from him received many ideas on how planes could go faster based on a survey of European aviation development after World War I. The ideas were incorporated into Sperry-Vervillle Racers as shown on the stamp that competed  for speed records at air races held in the 1920s.

Todays stamp is issue C113, a 33 cent airmail stamp issued by the USA on February 13th, 1985. It was a two stamp issue the other of which honored the Sperry Brothers that were also involved in the plane shown. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used. The catalog politely claims unused versions of this stamp are worth more than face value to prevent the survivors being used up on modern postage.

Alfred Verville was born in Michigan in 1890. As a child he sent fan letters to the Wright Brothers and to Glen Curtiss of Curtiss Aviation. The letters were answered with encouragement. After High School Verville took a correspondents course in electrical engineering and then worked at a series of automotive firms around Detroit. A few years later he decided he would rather be flying and again reached out to Glen Curtiss. Curtiss explained to him that pilots were plentiful what was needed were aircraft designers. Verville was hired by Curtis and was on the team that designed the first Curtiss flying boat and the famous for being upside down on the stamp Jenny biplane. I haven’t wrote up that stamp as I don’t own it but wrote up this later Chinese stamp featuring the Jenny here, https://the-philatelist.com/2018/11/09/china-1929-is-chaing-kai-shek-poison-for-stamp-values/  .

Verville later jumped to other aircraft firms that did not have as much going on but then landed on the staff of then Army Air Force General Bill Mitchel when he went on a tour to survey European progress on aviation after the war. He came back asking for planes to be sleeker and less like Wire filled mouse traps. Verville teamed with the Sperry Brothers for a series of racers that were monoplanes with retractable landing gear. They competed in barnstorming displays held throughout the country but few planes were sold.

Verville then designed for his own firm a four seat Air Coach that he hoped to sell to the well off for transport. He went bankrupt after building fewer than 20 planes. After that he mainly consulted for both private industry and ever more frequently the government. After World War II he was again on a European trip to survey their wartime aeronautical advancements but this time no new aircraft designs were inspired. He continued consulting until 1960 and died in 1970.

Well my drink is empty and I have an inkling to pour another and toast Glen Curtiss who seemed in this story to be the more accomplished. The USA postal service seems to agree as the gave Mr. Curtiss his own airmail stamp issue five years before. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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India 1951, Showing off the Lingaraja Temple to Shiva

In the early days of independence there must have been a competition of what to show first on the stamps and thereby tell the world about the new, large but yet ancient country. The Lingaraja Temple in Bhubaneswar made the cut. Rightly it should as it tells the story of the conversion of eastern ancient India from Buddhism to Hinduism. Another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. 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 harder stamp to research than I would have guessed when I picked it out. The period English spelling of the place yields nothing now and Google close matches send you to “hot” pictures of some Bollywood actress. I will leave for the day when a stamp featuring her arrives in my collection to add my opinion as to her hotness. Meanwhile the stamp featuring the Lingaraja Temple just labels it as a place with many old temples of a similar style including an identical but smaller one to Krishna rather than Shiva. Very confusing but the kind of far off rabbit hole that must have fascinated the old time stamp collectors.

Todays stamp is issue A94, a 4 Anna stamp issued by independent India on April 30th, 1951. It was a later printing revision of a 16 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 30 cents used. The stamp being unused would have raised the value to $11. The printing quality of stamps took a big turn for the worse post independence so much more can be seen on unused versions.

The Lingaraja Temple in Bhubaneswar was built in the 11th century AD when the area was under the rule of the Somavamshi Dynasty. This era saw the conversion of the area from Buddhist to an early form of Hinduism. The temple was built on the site of an earlier one to a different religion dating from the sixth century AD. The Scottish Historian James Fergusson refers to the Lingaraja Temple as one of the best purely Hindu Temples in all of India. The tower is 150 feet high and the stone walls are over seven feet thick.  The Temple is today open to both tourists and Worshipers receiving 6000 visits a day.

Somavamshi King Yahati I initiated construction of the temple and assigned the Brahmin Caste to serve as the priests and defenders of the Temple wich also served as a fortification defending the faith. The Lingaraja name refers to Shiva as King and the Temple contains an icon of such. King Yahati was correct to think in terms of defense in the design of the Temple. In 1114 AD, the area was conquered by the Gangas Empire but the Hindu worship in the Temple was allowed to continue.  This remained true through many subsequent changes through the continueing work of the Brahmans.

Today the old temple area of Bhubaneswar faces one of it’s biggest challenges in the form of the exploding population and urban sprawl of Bhubaneswar. From a 15,000 population at the time of the stamp to over 800,000 now. Bhubaneswar became the provincial capital as the previous colonial one flooded a lot. Colonialism now takes the form of multinational software corporations such as Infosys and IBM availing themselves if India’s low cost of labour.

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

 

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Tunisia 1968, Its Stamp Day! so lets listen to the Ney play Malouf

I doubt stamp collecting was ever a huge pastime in Tunisia. That does not mean there wasn’t an official stamp day with their post office issuing stamps that reflected the unique culture of Tunisia. So for the day, Tunisians put aside the Egyptian pop music so popular then and listened to more traditional music from Spain…. I mean Tunisia. 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.

For stamp day, a player of a traditional Arab/Persian flute called a ney is displayed. In Tunisia that probably means he is accompanying an old style of musical poetry called the Malouf that came to the area from Muslims escaping Spain and interacting with Ottomans and Berbers.

Todays stamp is issue A119 a 20 Millemes stamp issued by independent Tunisia on June 1st, 1968. It was a two stamp issue for Stamp Day that year. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 50 cents unused.

In the 13th century AD, Muslims began to be pushed out of Spain  and made their new home on the cities of the North African coasts. The music they brought with them interacted and somewhat replaced the earlier Berber musical forms. In Tunisia these crosscurrents of culture merged into the Malouf. This put to music an Arab style of poetry called Qasidah in a certain musical structure called Nuba. The instruments played were those coming from the Ottomans who were also making their presence felt in the area.

In the 20th century aside from an occasional performance at a wedding the Malouf style was dying out. Instrumental in saving at least the memory of the style was French Baron and musicologist Rudolphe d’Erainger. He wrote a six volume masterwork on the history of Arab music and arraigned with his friend King Fuad of Egypt a symposium in Cairo where performances in the traditional styles occurred. The Baron did not live to see Tunisia independent and the concomitant grasping at wisps of cultural heritage. After independence, the Baron’s palace in Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia, the Star of Zahra, was donated to the state to serve as a conservatory and venue for traditional Arab music. It is lucky for Tunisia in the absence of local historians, Baron d’Erainger filled the void.

The Baron’s palace, the Star or Zahra, now an Arab music conservatory.

Well my drink is empty and that is for the best because it is perhaps inappropriate to toast Muslim subjects. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting

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Spain 1976, We can now again cellebrate the rational architect who irrationally ran off

The Generalissimo Franco died a mere four months before this stamp was issued. Despite the continuity supposedly represented by the King, the other half of the story, and just that half, could now be heard. Well and good. The architect and city planner Secundino Zuazo abandoned his ongoing projects and fled to Paris when Franco came to power in 1939. His politics and his patronage were with the Republican side, but he never again designed an important building despite living another 30 years. Strange perhaps for a proponent of rationality in his architecture. 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 the continuity provided by the King. That can be seen on this stamp. No Mr. Zuazo is not someone who would be recognized under Franco even if his politics lined up. His work mainly consisted of Madrid government offices and upscale apartments for those that man them. The right views such people as leaches. Where you see the continuity is in the style of the stamp that is very traditional. So for the average not stamp collector who may not pay much attention, everything seems normal.

Todays stamp is issue A460, a 15 Peseta stamp issued by Spain on Febuary 25, 1976. It was a three stamp issue in various denominations showing prominent Spanish architects and their most famous work. This one shows Secundino Zuazo and his House of Flowers apartment building. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether used or unused.

Secundino Zuazo was born in Bilboa, Spain in 1887 and studied architecture in Madrid where he settled. At first he was an architect in the traditional style. However a trip to Holland brought him in touch with the new rational movement in architecture that began in Italy and spread. The movement did not reject traditional architecture  but thought less decoration and more functionality were called for. A typical apartment building of the time in Spain would have elaborate decoration especially at the four corners but small rooms with little light let in from small windows and little airflow. The toilet facilities were communal and consequently sanitation left much room for improvement.

To answer these issues, Zuazo created his most famous work in 1932, the House of Flowers as seen on the stamps. The apartments were larger with private bathrooms and higher ceilings and larger windows. The recessed structure next to it is not a parking deck but a structure of terraces with elaborate flowers. Notice however that the façade of the building is very plain in keeping with the modern rationality.

After the House of Flowers, Zuazo got his biggest commission, the Nuevo Ministeros in Madrid. The large structure had a large center courtyard for the government workers to enjoy away from the private eyes of the public. As the Civil War in Spain ground on progress on the complex was very slow. In 1939 Franco emerged victorious but the complex was still unfinished. Zuazo had been quite close with the previous government and decided to flee Spain for Paris. Franco eventually brought in a new team of architects that finished the complex but did not stick to Zuazo’s plans. Zuazo eventually returned to Spain but his career was in shambles.

The rational international school of architecture eventually evolved taking on more influence from industrial architecture with less respect for what was built before. This was also reflective of the great masses moving to the cities from rural areas and culminated in the brutalist school of architecture. This was most prominent in the east and I did a Polish stamp celebrating it here, https://the-philatelist.com/2019/03/20/poland-1976-would-it-be-too-brutal-to-try-this-again/     .

Well my drink is empty and I am wondering of the dichotomy of someone who promotes rationality in his profession but runs away when politics don’t go his way. It was perhaps lucky that Franco’s grip on power was so long. Imagine all the uprooting Zuazo would have to do if the government was changing every four years. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.