Month: May 2020

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Peru 1874, Things will get better, Inti promises gold in the hills and Meiggs is building a railroad to get us there

Having hope for the future gives the ability to get beyond a bad present. Spaniards had been attracted to Peru with legends of a fabulously rich empire in the mountains with much gold. What they found was a weak empire who fell quickly when they couldn’t mount a defense against 200 men. The gold proved scarce enough that the Conquistadors began killing each other over the dregs. Maybe if they just had more faith in those fellows golden sun God Inti. 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 an old stamp from a Catholic country. Yet here we have a rendering of the Inca sun God Inti. It should be remembered that the Inca Empire lasted a mere 80 years and had fallen 350 years before this stamp. Yet this iconography is still common in Peru and Bolivia. It is clear that what the Peruvians are really praying is that they will finally find that vein of gold in the mountains and strike it rich.

Todays stamp is issue A23 a 1 Sol stamp issued by Peru in 1874. This was just as they were renaming the Peso the Sol (sun) and the currency name as gone back and forth between Sol and Inti since. Poor man’s gold standard? This was a 9 stamp issue in various denominations that had many devaluation overprints later. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $2.40.

The Inca idea was that Inti was the Sun God and married to his sister Mama Killa the moon Goddess. Their children then decended to Earth via rainbows in the mountains and then taught culture and looked out for the people. The Inca Empire rose quickly and did indeed find gold in the mountains panning in tributaries at the beginning of the Amazon River. Hearing the legend Pizzaro landed from existing Spanish outposts in Panama bringing with him a force of 189 men and small pox. The Inca Empire fell in two years and Lima was started on the coast to export the rush of gold that was always right around the corner.

Henry Meiggs was a promoter and builder from the USA that had built piers on the waterfront in San Francisco then borrowed a great deal of money against them and absconded to South America with anywhere from $8000 to $500,000 depending who tells it. His story was that his little bit of money quickly ran out and at a low point had to pawn his fancy watch. I will pause for a moment while you shed a tear….. He did prove able to build railways that the locals had been unable to do themselves even in rough territory. Peru contracted with him to build a railroad from Lima into those old Inca mountains with all the gold. Peru was still praying to Inti and they froze out Meiggs upon the railroads completion in 1874. As with Pizarro. the life changing vein of gold as proven elusive.

Henry Meiggs

Unlicensed gold panning is still a big problem in Peru among the indigenous. They find just enough to keep doing it but not enough to really get ahead. I see all the Uber drivers and stamp dealers out there nodding. In the modern world the environmental impact is especially brought forward. The muddy holes dug and cut down trees are bad for the delicate rain forests. The Indigenous are also putting poisonous mercury in the water that binds with the gold and makes it easier to spot. Waste deep in water now containing much mercury is thought to be slowly killing the prospectors. Inti is not pleased, and neither is the Peru government who is not getting their cut.

Illegal gold panning

Well my drink is empty and you can’t stand in the way of a gold rush fortold by the married brother and sister Gods. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting

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Senegal 1913, the four Communes Evolve

When the colonies in Africa moved inland they took on the responsibility for those natives that they conquered. What did they hope for them? The time of slavery was in the past and there was no effort to remove them. Something had to evolve. 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 French in this period did a nice job with these stamps being little windows into the far off places. Imagine the young French collector, seeing his future of travel and adventure in the service of his country. Better than the reality awaiting him in the trenches.

Todays stamp is issue A28, a 1 Centime stamp issued by French Occidental Africa for use in Senegal in 1913. This was a 44 stamp issue in various denominations. The issue of stamps would last a full 20 years. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents.

The four major trading posts in Senegal, Dakar, Saint Louis, Goree’, and Rufisque began to be known as the four Communes. Over time the native citizens of them were to be trained in the French language, religion and culture so that they could evolve into full citizens of France. Starting in 1914 those that were fully evolved would be allowed to elect representatives to the French National Assembly, it was a time of French Republic. France was the only European power to grant elected representation in the Home Countries’ Parliament.

Blaise Diagne was born to a Lebu  father and a Manjack mother. He was then adopted by a mixed race family. He was Baptized Catholic in the mostly Muslim country. He was given the opportunity to study in France and then accepted a job in the French Customs service. He was elected to represent the four communes in the French National Assembly and advocated for more help regarding an outbreak of the Bubonic Plague in Dakar. He also impressed France by working very hard to recruit French West Africans to serve in the trenches of France during World War One.

Blaise Diagne in 1921 when he was Mayor of the Commune of Dakar

Though Diagne later served as Mayor of Dakar, by his later career times were passing him by. More modern Africans rejected the ideal of becoming French and rather looked to throwing off the yoke of France and creating a new nation. When he died he was denied burial in Dakar at the black cemetery because it affiliated with Islam and rejected him based on Diagne being a Freemason.

Diagne’s children made a new home in France. His son became the first black soccer/football star in France and had a French white wife. His grandson has served several terms as mayor of his home town in France. He also has a white French wife and has not traveled to Senegal post independence in 1960. Proving it was possible to evolve into a full Frenchman. Whether that was the ideal….

Senegal has evolved a little as well. Dakar has grown so large that the old communes of Goree’ and Rufisque are now just suburbs. Diagne is also remembered, it is his name on the international airport.

Well my drink is empty and perhaps I should myself evolve and put the bottle away. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting

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Bulgaria 1920, Celebrating the acquisition of territory we no longer have and a now abdicated Czar

Generally I prefer stamps that look to a bright future to the more common stamp that reminisces. This is a really weird one that celebrates what is gone. Perhaps in the belief remembering will stir hope. 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 Bulgarian issue of stamps was designed and printed in 1915 to celebrate the taking of the territory of Macedonia from Serbia while Bulgaria was an ally of Austria and Ottoman Turkey. The victory did not hold and Bulgaria ended up surrendering Macedonia and more and Austrian born Czar Ferdinand was forced to abdicate. This was all in the past when these stamps finally got into postal use in 1920.

Todays stamp is issue A54, a 10 Stotinki stamp issued by the Kingdom of Bulgaria in 1920. It was a five stamp issue all in the same denomination. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether mint or used. You would think a stamp displaying such interesting twists of history would have gained more value by the time the stamp was 100 years old but it must be remembered how much the stamp printing presses work overtime when a country is broke and defeated in order to raise a little money from the stamp collector.

First modern Czar Ferdinand ruled at a time when Bulgaria was transitioning from a Principality under the Ottomans to a Kingdom with autonomy. There were shifting alliances and frequent wars and Bulgaria not only gained territory in Macedonia but a land outlet to the Aegean at the expense of Greece and territory from Romania. That sounds like a lot of glory but the Czar was a flamboyant bisexual figure prone to dressing in drag. As such, both allies and enemies despised him. Here is how a British historian from the period described him.

“In this war, where the ranks of the enemy present to us so many formidable, sinister, and shocking figures, there is one, and perhaps but one, which is purely ridiculous. If we had the heart to relieve our strained feelings by laughter, it would be at the gross Coburg traitor, with his bodyguard of assassins and his hidden coat-of-mail, his shaking hands and his painted face. The world has never seen a meaner scoundrel, and we may almost bring ourselves to pity the Kaiser, whom circumstances have forced to accept on equal terms a potentate so verminous.”

The Balkan nations often picked their Kings/Czars from out of work Germans from former German city states in hope of competence and being taken seriously in European corridors of power. Even having done so, the Bulgars were still facing chauvinism like the above. On the other hand, I wish I could write like that.

Serbian Propaganda of Bulgarian Czar Ferdinand taking his punishment

When the tide turned Bulgaria lost the territory and Ferdinand was forced to abdicate and return to Germany. His son now named Boris and raised Orthadox was on the Throne with dreams of bringing Bulgaria back to it’s recent glories. Probably why this issue of stamps exists.

Well my drink is empty and should I pour another to toast the cross dresser on the wrong side that ultimately lost big time. Of course, why not, it is a hundred years later. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

 

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France 1938, sound the bells, drop the pig, Carcassonne is back and positively medieval

Here we have a castle dating to Roman times on the overland trade route from the Atlantic ocean to the Mediterranean sea. Over the years it has witnessed so much daring do from Romans, Visigoths, Saracens, Spaniards and Franks that kids today are playing video and board games based in the legends. If they are enjoying themselves, the tykes should remember to thank architect Eugene Violet le Duc and Napoleon III. 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.

Though the quality of printing isn’t the best, France knew how to show off it’s tourist sites on their stamps. Most far outside Paris, reminding the tourists that there is much more to see than the city of light. This is a tradition that continues and as resulted in some fantastic little perforated portraits.

Todays stamp is issue A85, a 5 Franc stamp issued by France in 1938. It was a 6 stamp issue in various denominations showing tourist sites. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 40 cents used.

The Cite’ de Carcassonne was first fortified by the Romans on 333AD. It lay on an important trade route. It was the first fortress to employ hoardings that were wooden ramparts outside the walls to improve fields of fire esspecially toward the base of the walls. In 462 AD, the Romans ceded the area to the Visigoths under King Theodoric II. It later passed to the Saracens, who were Muslim Moors up from Spain.

Now to the legend that gave Carcassonne it’s name. The Saracen knights of the city were under the command of Lady Carcas after the death of her husband. The Franks under King Charlemagne were laying siege to the town in the hopes of pushing the Saracens back into Spain. The siege was taking it’s toll and Lady Carcas asked for an inventory of the remaining food. A pig and some wheat were brought to her. She had the idea of letting the pig gorge itself on the wheat fattening it up. She then had the pig thrown over the walls at Charlemagne’s troops.  The troops were then devastated that the siege would go on forever if they have so much food to be wasting it like that. Lady Carcas then had all the church bells ring, a signal that the siege was over. Hearing the bells, the Frank troops exclaimed Carcassonne, Lady Carcas has been heard from and the siege really was over.

Lady Carcas statue at the castle

In the nineteenth century many sites like Carcassonne were in ruins. French architect Eugene Viollet le Duc put together plans to rebuilt them in their traditional form. His efforts around France were much benefited from funding from now Emperor Napoleon III. Doing so the way they had been  was controversial as most of the architectural establishment wanted things done in a more modern style that emanated from Rome. Viollet le Duc noted that Rome was one of the few places never to build in the French Gothic style because they had their own style. When a country is blessed with it’s own style, it might be worthwhile to keep it. An argument that can never be won or lost but always worth having.

Eugène Viollet-le-Duc (1814-1879)

The board game inspired by the Castle came in 2000 and was a product surprisingly of Germany. Well perhaps not, there is a German tradition in toys. A computer multiplayer video game came later with the ever multiplying expansion packs and spinoffs you would expect.

Well my drink is empty and I am afraid I am not much of a gamer. A better question is whether I am too old to learn a new board game? Come again on Monday for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Afghanistan 1964, the Shah forgets how he is supposed to lean

1960s Southwest Asian stamps paint a somewhat bizarre picture of life in those countries. Usually under UN auspices, rapid progress and westernization is shown. The children are all involved in scouting, the women are uncovered and being educated. What happens though when the disconected elite start to buy in. The long serving Shah of Afghanistan’s motto was leaner on Allah. The stamps indicate that he was really leaning on a much shakier UN. 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 image on this stamp beggars belief. Is the average citizen supposed to believe that such a doctor nurse team with microscopes was at his service should he fall ill? When the Shah was deposed 9 years later, he was under doctor’s care in Italy. When the Shah can’t find a decent doctor locally, it requires a degree of being out of touch to put out a stamp like this. They probably hoped the average citizen wasn’t mailing letters so would never come across such brown nose the UN stamps.

Todays stamp is issue A213, a 3 Afghan Rupee stamp issued by Afghanistan on March 8th, 1964. Though this farmed out issue was almost 6 months late, it celebrated United Nations Day 1963 with an 8 stamp and two souvenir sheet issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.20 whether unused or cancelled to order.

Mohammed Zahir became Shah at age 19 in 1933. His first few decades saw several of his uncles serve as Regent and Prime Minister. In the 1950s he started to take charge more personally and stopped leaning on his uncles. His official motto was “Leaner on Allah”. This seems a good motto for the King/Shah of a backward country implying both being chosen by God and also if things aren’t going well, blame not the King but God as it must be his will. Instead the Shah started relying on foreign aid much coming by way of the UN. One can imagine the tiny cadre of western educated Afghans dealing with the UN types. Can you imagine them to be Monarchists? I can’t.

The Shah listened to the offered advice. In 1964 there was a new constitution  with a bicameral legislature that was one third elected by the people. This resulted in a flood of new political parties of different stripes making demands.

In 1973, while in Rome for eye surgery there was a sudden end to the Monarchy. Not too surprising, the Shah only looks decent when compared to the very low bar of who came later. He was replaced though not by the modern lefties or the traditional religion folks but by his brother in law, a former Prime Minister. He was back as President, Prime Minster, and one political party General Secretary of the “Republic”. Sometimes you have to break the Monarchy to save it. Shah Mohammed Zahir was allowed to return to his Palace after the Taliban fell under the honorary title of “Father of the Country”, see https://the-philatelist.com/2018/10/03/afghanistan-1963-as-a-start-to-development-lets-begin-to-feed-ourselves-if-only-someone-could-build-us-an-irrigation-system/   . Finally he could stand straight.

The United Nations Day holiday celebrated on the stamp is October 24th, marking the day in 1944 that 50 nations met in San Francisco to sign the UN charter. In 1972, the holiday was repackaged as World Development Information Day to educate world opinion of all the UN was doing to address development disparities. Some times you have to break an institution to save it. I wonder if UN General Secretary Guterres has a brother in law?

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast  the Doctor and Nurse on todays stamp. Wonder who they were serving, aid workers and foreign embassy personnel until their immigration applications go through  to serve the British NHS. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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French Equatorial Africa 1937 Pierre de Brazza and Malamine Camara duel with H.M. Stanley over who gets to cut down trees in the Congo

Logging was big business in the Congo River Basin. In the race for the hoped for windfall, an Italian and a Senegalese in the service of France clash with H. M. Stanley the Englishman in the personal service of the Belgian King. The clash wasn’t with pistols or fists but rather romancing chiefs and message schemes. 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 logging in the area had suffered from a black eye that this stamp tried to put a better face on. So we have a strong African working hard alone moving logs down a river in the shadow of a majestic French built viaduct. Adventure, danger, profits, and achievement all laid out. Inspiring no? Well on the no side was the Catholic Church, who had sent a team to access what was going on in the post slavery Congo River Basin and then reported back to the French Parliament of the brutality of the operations to African natives. Party Poopers. The French suppressed the report.

Todays stamp is issue A1, a two Centimes stamp issued by French Equatorial Africa in 1937. It was a 40 stamp issue in different denominations that lasted many years but was originally issued for the Paris International Exhibition. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether used or unused. A Libre overstamp from when the colony went into Free French hands in 1941 is worth $4.00.

The interior territory of the Congo River basin was rich with logging possibilities with many small river that lead to the sea and export. Portugal had old claims in the area but for the most part Africans were left to themselves. However H.M. Stanley had been employed by Belgian King Leopold to make a productive colony, see https://the-philatelist.com/2019/10/07/great-britain-1973-remembering-henry-stanley/    .France countered with Pierre de Brazza an explorer trained in France but really an Italian from the then French affiliated Papal States.

de Brazza

de Brazza’s expedition relied heavily on mixed Moor/Berber Senegalese Sargant Malamine Camara who quickly picked up the local dialects. His being black also made it easier to deal with the African chiefs encountered. The de Brazza expedition came south from Gabon by river and made deals putting African tribes under the “protection” of France. His deal with the Batekes tribe as a big blow to H.M. Stanley and a French trading post was established taking the name Brazzaville. Far to close to Leopoldsville in the Belgian area. Stanley had a plan though.

Malamine Camara

After de Brazza returned to France to take his victory dance, Stanley pounced. De Brazza had left Camara behind to deal with Africans and protect the prize. H. M. Stanley had a fake messenger send a message in French ordering Camara back to Gabon on urgent business. He left immediately even though he claimed later to smell a rat. de Brazza had to mount a second expedition again including Camara who was welcomed by the Africans back in Brazzaville.

I did a stamp on nearby logging in Gabon here, https://the-philatelist.com/2019/06/27/french-equitorial-africa-1936-getting-gabon-interested-in-forestry/   . In the Congo it as been less successful post independence. The concessions to foreign owned operations were voided at the suggestion of NGOs and now the logs stay local. Unfortunately that does not mean trees are not being cut. They are rapidly now being cut in an unsustainable way to provide heat for cooking. Electricity is still more a future goal than a tapable grid in the Congo.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the professional lumberjack. Hard dangerous work, but done professionally and sustainably everyone can benefit. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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New Zealand 1940, Dutchman Abel Tasman hopes to find gold in the Provinces of Beach, but only found Murderer’s Bay

Explorer Abel Tasman did not hang around his discovery of New Zealand the way the Dutch did in the Indies to the northwest. The Maori there were trying to kill him. Perhaps that was the correct decision for the Maori. The descendants faired better under the British than the Malayans further north did under the Dutch. Modern New Zealand is much more wealthy than modern Indonesia. 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.

They pack a lot of information on this stamp. The man portrayed as an obvious Dutchman, the ship undergoing a rough voyage and a map showing the part of the west New Zealand coast that was spotted by Tasman. It would probably be too much to ask to also include a club wielding Maori, but I bet the kids and probably the Maori would have appreciated it.

Todays stamp is issue O79, a 2 Pence official stamp issued by New Zealand in 1940. It was an 11 stamp issue in various denominations that show scenes from the colony’s founding. The “official” overstamp meant the stamp was used for government business. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 30 cents used. Without the overstamp the value falls to 25 cents.

The government of Holland had granted a monopoly to the Dutch East India Company for trade with the east after the realization that the world was round. The company had made an arrangement with local Malayan Prince Jakarta to set up a trading post in what the Dutch called Batavia. Among their employees was seafarer Abel Tasman. Tasman had a close brush with death when he landed without warning to trade spices on the island of Seram in the Malluccans and several of his companions were murdered. He escaped and returned to Holland. He then reupped for 10 years and brought his wife to Batavia. There was a theory at the time that the great Euro-Asian land mass near the North pole must be balanced out by another undiscovered land mass near the south pole. In the Indies they heard local legends of such a place rich in gold. The Dutch version of this was the “Provinces of Beach”. The Dutch East India Company sent out Tasman to find them.

Tasman of course first found the island of Tasmania off of southern Australia but this stamp requires me to get to the New Zealand part. Upon leaving Tasmania, Tasman intended to sail north but the rough seas and strong winds had his ships go east. He spotted the west coast of the south island of New Zealand in 1640. His earlier trouble in Seram had taught him not to rush ashore. He anchored a kilometer off the coast and sent a small boat ashore to scout some fresh water. They were met by club wielding Maoris that murdered them. Now the Dutchmen knew how the kiwi birds felt. Tasman thought the discovery important as he hoped the land connected to land already discovered at the southern tip of South America.

Tasman tried to communicate with the Maori but they could not understand each other. At one point Maori tribesman sailed to the ships in canoes. When the Maori played a wind instrument as part of their battle cry. Tasman’s ship responded by one of the sailors playing sea shanties on a trumpet. The Maori did stop and listen but it did not change their intent which was to board the ship and capture it. When the canoes got too close, Tasman was forced to fire cannon and muskets. He ended up sailing away having never set foot on New Zealand. He named the area he set anchor Murderer’s Bay. For some reason that name didn’t stick.

A 1642 Dutch rendering of the incident

The Dutch East India company was unsatisfied to Tasman’s work on this expedition or later ones. They decided to fire him and hire a more “persistent explorer”. He was even brought up on charges and stripped of his rank for a shipboard hanging without a proper trial. His real crime of course was not bringing in the gold. Tasman was able to live out his life as a well off landowner in Batavia.

Well my drink is empty and I am left wondering how the Maori could not have understood sea shanties played on a trumpet were  a sign of friendship? Perhaps a tribe’s warriors are not there to lay out the red carpet. Come again on Monday for another story to be learned from stamp collecting.

Update: Sorry this ran a little late today, for some reason the publication failed overnight at the usual time. I woke up this morning to see only yesterday’s offering.

 

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Spain 1967, the other Commonwealth, unclaimed

Samuel Johnson once inquired if there was one peaceful, empty dessert in the world that went unclaimed by the Spanish Empire. It was a critique about Spain doing nothing with all their territories. A tradition that continued in to post colonial status of territories. 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.

Franco era Spain was one time where there was slight outreach to the former colonies. Hence a convention of mayors in Spain from around the old Empire. Two fun things they included on the stamp. One is the gold filled? Spanish galleon ship. The second is including Portugal. They share a peninsula and lost together big parts of empire thanks to Napoleonic trouble at home. Why not include them in the party to remember old ties?

Todays stamp is issue A352, a 1.50 Peseta stamp issued by Spain on October 10th, 1967. It was a single stamp issue celebrating the fourth congress of mayors. These congresses no longer happen. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents unused. Interesting and a little depressing that when my collection contains a mint stamp, it is one where being mint does nothing for the value.

I am framing todays article contrasting Spain in regards to their old Empire in contrast to the modern British Commonwealth. This should make sense to stamp collectors as being within the British one is such a big part of their stamp issuance. The fact that there is very little outreach today from Spain shows a different route. That does not mean there is no Spanish commonwealth.

For one, Spanish is the second most spoken native language in the world, second to Chinese. This from a home country that contains less than one percent of the world’s population. The Catholic Church, though not originating in Spain, owes much of it’s worldwide spread to the Spanish Empire. Remember Empire was also the time of the Church inquisition, that limited practice of other faiths in the colonies as well as at home. Compare the prevalence of the Catholic Church in the old Empire to the Anglican Church in the British. The trade routes the gallion on the stamp reminds of the new foods that entered Europe from the Spanish colonies like corn, potatoes and yes beans, and the meat and livestock introduced to the colonies like horses, cattle, and chickens.

Other long lasting interactions were less positive. The Spanish tradition of spastic shifts from right wing to left wing and back again Claudillos remains throughout the former empire. There was also the specter of otherwise far separated peoples interacting bringing fourth new diseases. So indigenous people suddenly get small pox and Spaniards come down with syphilis.

Doing little to recognize Empire saves Spain a lot of money. A budget hawk might have questioned the value of Franco importing all those mayors for a party. Budget hawks were however never a strong Spanish tradition.

Well my drink is empty and so I will wait till tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Romania 1962, Remembering Grigore Cobilcescu, who figured out how to search for the oil

Romania only came out from under Ottoman domination in the second half of the 19th century. After that things happened pretty fast with locals offering ways to better utilize what God had given Romania. One thing God had given was oil and Romanians proved to have the ability to find it and develop it without the foreign  domination of for example the Middle East. 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.

One of the things that Romania did well with it’s stamps was present Romanians of high achievement to the wider world through their stamps. This was true or the early Royal and later communist government and on into the 1990s. Most years there was an issue of famous Romanians. This unfortunately has dropped away with famous Romanians being replaced by famous people stamps. I can learn something new about previously unknown to me Romanians. Elvis or Lady Di, not so much.

Todays stamp is issue A519, a 55 Bani stamp issued by Romania on July 20th, 1962. The famous people issue that year covered 9 people, none of which I had ever heard of. Proving that over time, The Philatelist has much still to learn and pass on to my dear readers. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether used or unused.

Grigore Cobilcescu was born in Lasi in what was then the Principality of Moldavia in 1831. Moldavia had been the first to exploit petrolium in the area not by drilling for it by gathering it from ditches where it would sometimes appear. The main use was fuel in lamps as it was before use in transportation. G. C. (this simple philatelist can’t spell long names and I found several different spellings anyway in my research), Studied geology locally and then won a state scholarship to further his studies in Paris. He then returned to become a geology professor at the University of Lasi.

In 1883 he did the work that contributed the most. G. C. correctly theorized the types of geological formations that might indicate where there were oil deposits. As Romania came together, this geology knowledge became very important. By 1900, Romania was fourth largest oil producer in the world and the largest in Europe. In recognition the Lasi University awarded to G.C. a seat in the Romanian Senate reserved for them. He used that platform to lobby for Romania to be very careful about letting foreign interests to take over what could be Romania’s route to wealth. He went so far as to resign his Senate seat in 1885 in protest to a trade deal the Senate had ratified with Austria Hungary. G.C. was right to worry about that, over the years Germans and Soviets have during different periods plundered the oil revenue stream given by Romania.

Despite digging ever deeper wells, water injection and even off shore Black Sea oil wells, Romanian oil production peaked in 1976. The drop off after that was pretty steep as the old fields went dry. By 1980, Romania was a net importer of oil. Thus they mostly missed out on the oil booms of the 1970s and 1980s. The earlier facilities had attracted so much unwanted attention from Germany and even Allied bombing followed so closely by Soviet seizing of the output. One wonders if Romania would have been better off without G. C.’s knowledge and leaving the exploitation for a time when the fuel was more valuable and Romania might have been more able to retain control of it. That worked for Norway.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast G. C. both for the new knowledge he discovered and for realizing how important it could be for his new country. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Fujeira/Fujairah 1960s, Invoking Goya’s The Forge to tell the guest worker what is expected

Here we have another of Finbar Kenny’s Dune stamps issued under the apparently misspelled name of the then Trucial State of Fujairah. The stamp trade calls them fake, but these little village states are interesting and why not relate the subject of the stamp back to the place however tendential. Kenny’s topicals were beautiful if fake and perhaps unfortunately evocative of the future of the hobby. 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 now over 50 years old and I am fascinated by the spelling discrepancy of the name. Even if you look at the Arabic the spelling is different. Does an Emir just decide to change or is it one of those things that just changes to better reflect local pronunciation?

Finbar Kenny’s stamp output is considered by the trade as fake. The stamp professes it’s value in Dirhams  which puts it after 1966 when that currency replaced the Indian Rupee in the Trucial States. The area was annoyed by India’s devaluations. Join the club. Fujairah postage was handled by the UAE post 1971.

Fujairah was a small village of 50 houses that may have broken away from Sharjah around the beginning of the 20th century. The Bithnah Fort had been built there to protect a trade route that traveled up a wadi, (a usually dry creek bed)going inland. The original purpose was to protect from Wahabis but later control of the fort signified if the area was leaning toward Sharjah on one side or Muscat on the other.

Bithnah Fort

The British had decided that Fujairah was a part  of Sharjah which they had a protectorate deal with so it didn’t really matter who had the fort. That changed in 1952. A British oil company wanted to make sure the petroleum exploration concession stood up anywhere in the area so suddenly the British granted Fujairah recognition and protectorate status. Yay team another Emir gets paid! There wasn’t oil in Fujairah. The big current industry is a cement factory and the bulk of the population are guest workers from India. So much so that the schools follow the standard Indian syllabus. Perhaps the British oil company should have skipped the Emirs and dealt directly with by then independent India as successors to the British in the area. The oil wealth of the UAE pays for new development. Among them is a new beach resort near the Oman border called the Al Fujairah Paradise. The average high daily temperature is over 90 degrees Fahrenheit with summer months over 100 degrees. Paradise or Hell on Earth?

Spanish Painter Goya painted the Forge to show off strong workers dealing with molten hot iron. It is thought to be an allegory to the tough Spanish people dealing with the recent intrusion of Napoleonic era France. The iron forger is putting his strength behind an anvil to work the hot metal. The anvil of history at the time was a concept that would correct short term injustices. Perhaps the Indian toilers in hot modern Fujairah can relate to both Finbar Kenny and Goya.

Well my drink is empty and so I will have to wait till tomorrow when there will be another story to be learned from stamp collecting.