Month: November 2020

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Austria 1983, Was Upper Austria the first WiFi Hotspot

We must do a stamp on a Chamber of Commerce convention in Linz that is meeting in a dreary late brutalist building there. This sounds like a formula for a dreary stamp. Why not at least spice up the building with bright colors. Then kick it up a few notches with a building emblem of a technology a generation away. That will get a certain stamp collector scratching his head. 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 just must be backdated, in the manner of a Biden mail in ballot from the ghetto. Austria is no slouch in the realm of high technology but they did not have WiFi in 1983, I don’t care what that building says on it’s side.

Todays stamp is issue A645, a 4 Shilling stamp issued by Austria on August 16th, 1983. It was a single stamp issue recognizing the 27th International Chamber of Commerce Professional Competition held in Linz. I can confirm the was a talent section to the competition but I am still awaiting confirmation on the swimsuit portion. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 40 cents used.

At first Chambers of Commerce were local clubs for merchants. The first one formed on Marseilles, France in 1599. Soon the local affiliates were merged into national organizations that were regulated by the government and lobbied for pro big business measures. This can be seen in Austria where the first chamber formed in Vienna in 1848 but by 1868 there was a national parent organization regulated by an act of the Reichsrat legislature. In many European countries, including Austria, membership in the chamber of commerce is required by businesses over a certain size. The dues, as with union dues on the other political side are a major source of resources for center right political parties.

This is currently creating some trouble on the political right. The Chamber as advocated for liberal immigration policies in order to push down labor costs for big business. As right politics becomes more populist, this is a big bone of contention and in the USA the Chamber has begun redirecting it’s political support to Democrats.

This involvement in national politics is becoming a deterrent to local professionals and merchants joining the chamber. A late friend of mine was a member recruiter for the local chamber. After he quit he explained that he was a salesman his whole professional life but had very little luck getting people to join the local chamber. A local club for business people would have been welcome but not one where dues are redirected toward political lobbying that the locals opposed.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast my late friend. He always flew better on two wings. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Cambodia 1997, Putting the Indo in Indo China with a Khmer Temple to Shiva

In the 1990s, Cambodia had their King back, see https://the-philatelist.com/2018/04/11/968-cambodia-the-human-rights-flame-burns-bright-at-least-on-the-stamp/   , and was ready to again lay claim to the old Khmer culture that went back 1100 years and built in stone. Interestingly this was the period that the Khmer Empire converted to Hinduism, that did not stick in the Buddhist country. 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 1000+ year old temples featured on the six stamps of this issue survived as they were of stone but had long been swallowed by the jungle until uncovered by French colonial era adventurers. That they are from a long gone empire is not important, that they honor God in a different way than modern Cambodians is not important, that they were rediscovered by the French is not important. The important thing is they show a history of people achieving art and engineering, a civilized people. As with this ancient stone complex remembered by Panama that I wrote up, see https://the-philatelist.com/2020/07/09/panama-1967-remembering-palenque-the-mayan-city-state-that-rose-out-of-the-jungle-under-pakal-the-great-and-his-mother-lady-beastie-only-for-the-jungle-to-reclaim/   , the stone construction was so important.

Todays stamp is A305, a 1500 Reil stamp issued by the Kingdom of Cambodia on April 13th, 1997. It was a 6 stamp issue in various denominations that came out in two groups of three and showed views of the Khmer Empire era stone temples. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 35 cents cancelled to order.

Bantea Srei Temple was dedicated in 969AD to the Hindu God Shiva. It was built at the time of the Khmer Hindu Empire at the directions of courtiers of King Rajendravaman II. It was built of red sandstone that it as amenable as wood to elaborate carving. It is slightly removed from the more famous Angkor Wat complex. At first it dedicated to both Vishnu and Shiva but 200 years later rededicated to just Shiva. The Temple returned to the jungle around 1400 AD. This was about the time the Khmer Empire converted to Buddhism and 100 years before it fell. The modern Cambodian name means “The Citadel of Women” relating to some of the stone murals.

Red Sandstone carvings at Bantea Srei Temple

Andre’ Malraux was an important man in early 20th century art and literary circles in Paris. He had explained Cubism style painting in a book that widened it’s audience. He was a great fan of T. H. Lawrence and longed to have similar adventures in the East. The discovery of Angkor Wat had endowed the then French Protectorate of Cambodia with exotic mystery. Malraux travelled there and rediscovered the Bantea Srei Temple. His travels in the East were fodder for several well received French books but all was not well. Back in Paris, he was arrested and convicted of looting some original statues from the complex he rediscovered. He argued to no avail that since the statues ended up in Paris museums it was hardly looting. France eventually forgave Andre’ Malraux, much later in life French President de Gaulle named him French Minister of Culture.

Andre’ Malraux in 1933 after he did his time.

The rediscovery has inevitably lead to the complex becoming a tourist attraction. The Cambodians have tried to stem relics disappearing by replacing them with modern copies. They also accepted Swiss aid to protect the site from being reclaimed again by the jungle by installing a drainage system.

Well my drink is empty. Come again on Monday when there will be another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Belgium 1964, Benelux shows how to unite, you have to add another layer

The Benelux have reasons to not get along. There are different languages and religions. They were once united in a way that saw the Netherlands dominate. Perhaps not the best memory for Belgium and Luxemburg. Still there might be some advantages in some standardizing, how much is the question. 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 from Belgium recognized the twentieth anniversary of the Benelux countries governments in exile  signing the London Customs Convention. Interesting that the stamp chose to show the three countries seperate Royal Heads of State. A King/Queen/and Grand Dutchess might naturally be suspicious that integration with other realms might be limiting. Perhaps this is to hint that the integration won’t go too far.

Todays stamp is issue A185, a 3 Franc stamp issued by Belgium on October 12th, 1964. This was a single stamp issue that actually missed the signing anniversary by a month. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used. A similar stamp was also issued by the other Benelux countries and share this ones low value.

The first step toward reintegrating the Benelux countries economically was when Luxemburg and Belgium signed a customs union in 1921. One feature of the agreement that was not successful was the two countries setting their respective Francs at a fixed exchange rate. This exchange rate had to be changed twice during the 27 years it was in effect.

In 1944, when the governments of all three countries were in exile in London and thus were more under the will of the British than their own voters, a London Customs Convention was signed. The countries did not again try to fix currencies and did wait till 1947 to ratify the agreement. It took effect in 1948.

The most important thing about the customs union was that it provided a model on how countries could integrate. Soon there was a new Benelux Parliament based out of Brussels that did not replace legislatures in the three countries. An integrated Secretariat had figure heads from the three countries in turn on one year terms. The decisions of the integrated system in some cases are to be ratified by the counties separate governments. The customs union expanded into a full economic union in 1955. Of course this is all sold on the promise of greater economic efficiency. To what extent the expense of two governments where there was one counteracts this is not fully explored.

If this sounds a lot like what later happened with European integration you are correct. The process was directly the model for the 1970s and 1980s Schengen negotiations.

Today the EU requires members to adopt their rules on issues beyond economics. This can lead to troubles when for example Eastern European nations prefer to stick with more traditional rules on things like abortion or homosexual rights. I could find no record of similar arguments between the Benelux countries in this time frame. Whether that was the result of more similar people agreeing or the three Royals on todays stamp preventing overstepping is fun to consider.

Benelux Union building in Brussels.

Well my drink is empty. All my American readers have a nice Thanksgiving and come again on Friday when there will be another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Mauritania 1961, Daddah forms a one party Islamic Republic, the people are naturally thrilled, but how do the Barbary sheep feel?

Here we have a new country in the first few years of independence. There was reason to hope, there was a new capital, a new industry was coming online, they had taken the name of an ancient empire, and like an ancient empire they had additional territorial ambitions. 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 do like the delicate French style coloring of this stamp. The Barbary sheep is still numerous in Mauritania and the Maghreb. It’s natural predators are the Barbary Lion and Barbary Leopard which are extinct or near extinct. So it’s main threat now is man. I joked above about how the sheep feel about the country’s change. Perhaps there is room to worry, a group of Barbary Sheep is called an anger.

A more youthful Barbary sheep

Todays stamp is issue A13, a three Franc stamp issued by the Islamic Republic of Mauritania in 1961. It was a 15 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used with what appears to be an actual postal cancellation.

This area on the West African coast south of Morocco took the name of the old Carthage/Roman era empire, see https://the-philatelist.com/2020/10/29/algeria-1952-french-algeria-remembers-cherchell-when-it-was-a-roman-mauretanian-empire-under-juba-ii-and-cleopatra/ . There is no overlap in territory or tribe with the old entity. During the French colonial period the area went undeveloped as it was viewed as a buffer between Arab Morocco and the more important French African colony of Senegal. The area’s population was mainly nomadic Arab tribesmen.

In the runup to independence, work was done on nation building. A new capital named Nouakchott was laid out and constructed assuming 15,000 people. A large iron ore deposit was discovered and infastructure was put in place to mine it and get it exported. Moktar Daddah, the first Mauritanian to hold a University degree, was chosen by the French as the leader in the hope he could hold together a coalition of the ethnic groups.

Not everything went smoothly but there was a flurry of progress. Daddah did indeed hold together his coalition by banning political opposition. The iron ore mine came on stream in 1962. In addition to French aid, China and Saudi Arabia stepped up with aid. Spain was nearing the end of it’s time in the Spanish Sahara and Daddah worked out a plan to divide it with Morocco.

The problems soon began to mount. The new southern capital attracted many Africans willing to live the city life. Thus the nomadic Arab tribesman resented the powers of the government as they seemed foreign. The mine required 3000 expatriates to run it. The salaries that were paid to the expatriates so dwarfed local wages that the mine attracted the ire of the counties leftists. Attempting to occupy territory in the Spanish Sahara brought conflict with the well armed POLISARIO, that wanted to turn the area into another independent country, see https://the-philatelist.com/2018/08/02/saharaui-semi-nation-on-the-other-side-of-the-wall-of-course-with-stamps/   .

Daddah worked hard to keep things moving forward. He nationalized the mine and replaced the Franc with a local currency. He announced an effort toward more Islamic national institutions to placate the Nomadic Arab tribesmen.

President Moktar Daddah in 1977, the year before he was deposed.

Daddah had a long run but it was not meant to be. Coronels from the Army, tired of the northern war, mutinyed and forced Daddah from office and into jail. Daddah eventually was able to depart for Paris where he had earlier studied. If he had held out longer, perhaps the country would have turned enough to what he was trying to build. The country is now much less nomadic with the capital, remember it was designed for 15,000, now having over a million people. Even the best of leaders would have struggled with that level of growth.

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

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Costa Rica 1954, Showing off a survivor in the easy come, easy go world of industry

The industry stamps of small countries often tell much. Often what was important at the time of the stamp is just gone. Here we find an industry with some staying power. 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 not the easiest to picture a vegetable oil processing plant in a good light. This one even has puffing smoke stacks. De La Rue did a pretty good job though. The hilltop location give a certain monastery feel.

Todays stamp is issue C227, a 5 Centimos airmail stamp issued by Costa Rica in 1954. It was a 20 stamp issue that came out over 5 years that showed off industry of Costa Rica. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether used or unused.

Traditionally the biggest business in Costa Rica is agriculture. This is still the case as far as number of people employed, but in terms of gross national product it has fallen behind tourism. While being by far the most prosperous Central American country, there is still a very real issue of haves and have nots. This has been exacerbated by the influx of North American retires. Such activity looks great for GNP and also adds impetus to environmental enforcement. For example, recently Costa Rica banned commercial fishing fleets from both of their oceans but still allows sport fishing in their rivers to appease the retirees. It should not be surprising that the unemployment rate among locals is near 10 percent even before Covid.

Costa Rica has attempted to counteract this trend. They have opened free trade zones to attract foreign owned industry. Costa Rica seemed to attract a crown jewel when Intel built a chip manufacturing plant. It employed 5000 well paid employees and the output of the plant was 25 percent of exports of Costa Rica and 4.9 percent of GDP. In 2014, Intel anounced that they were ending manufacturing at the barely ten year old plant in Costa Rica and laying off over half the staff. The current largest employer in the free trade zones is Amazon.com, but most of their jobs are lower pay, lower skill, warehouse jobs.

The once important Intel plant

One industry that has proved more consistent is vegetable oil. It is still locally made and owned. It sells under the brand En Su Punto in 10+ countries. I can’t confirm that they still operate out of the factory shown on the stamp. Their website, facing the same problem no doubt as the stamp designer, would rather show you their product.

Costa Rica’s own vegetable oil

Well my drink is empty, so please come back tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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North Vietnam 1965, Remembering Nguyen Du for his epic poem of romance and corruption

North Vietnam in 1965 was in a struggle arguing their Soviet and Chinese influenced system would be better and less corrupt than the South’s western, colonial, and Catholic influenced system. What better time to remember Nguyen Du’s epic poem that was Chinese influenced and told of Northern Vietnamese corrupted by their Southern rulers. 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.

Nguyen Du was a figure from 200 years before in a country that was not doing much to record it’s history. This works well for this stamp as his work and in this case his northern birthplace is cast as mythic and  which proports to show a very different Hanoi.

Todays stamp is issue A158, a 12 Xu stamp issued by North Vietnam on November 25th, 1965. It was a four stamp issue in different denominations celebrating Du and especially the epic poem The Tale of  Kieu. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 40 cents used.

Nguyen Du was the seventh son by the third wife of a Vietnamese Prime Minister. His mother was a poetic songstress which at the time was considered disreputable. Du was well off and well educated and after completing his studies he was employed as a government advisor  called a Mandarin. He also married his own songstress which was still considered disreputable. The dynasty he worked for and swore loyalty to was overthrown and Du was out of a job. 6 years later the new guys were out and a new group of Southern rulers were in. This time Du accepted his job back as a Mandarin and eventually was promoted to Ambassador to China. Working for the new people was thought a betrayal. In China Du found a minor romance novel that he thought under a pen name he could translate into Vietnamese verse and it would serve as an allegory to trying to keep your honor while serving a corrupt government.

The Tale of Kieu is the story of an attractive young educated girl named Kieu who travels to visit the graves of her ancestors with her younger sister. Kieu meets and falls in love with a young man. Before they can marry he is called back to his home village for 6 months to mourn the death of his uncle. While at home herself awaiting reunification her family gets cheated in a business deal and losses all their money and the government is threatening to jail Kieu’s father and brother. To buy their way out of trouble, Kieu sells herself into marriage with a middle age man and tells her younger sister to fulfill her previous promise of marraige. The older man Kieu married turns out to be a pimp and delivers Kieu to an upscale brothel. There she attempts suicide but is instead forced into the life of a prostitute. She is especially popular and degraded as she is of higher class than the other prostitutes. One of her clients is a government Mandarin who takes pity on her and buys her out of the brothel and makes Kieu his wife. When her first husband hears of this  he tries to force her back to the brothel as he is still her husband. Kieu runs away and hides out with Nuns. At the Nunnery her first love finds her, but Kieu thinks herself too debased to take up again with him.

The epic runs to 3254 verses and is delivered in a six-eight meter. There are some in Vietnam who can recite it in full. In 2007 there was a movie version called Saigon Eclipse that moved the story to the present day and had Kieu working in a massage parlor in San Francisco to pay off her family’s debt in Vietnam. No fault of North Vietnam in that one. Well maybe a little.

Film Poster for Saigon Eclipse. The producers seem to have forgotten that Kieu is not supposed to look like the other prostitutes.

Well my drink is empty. I can see how the south can be accused of debasing corruption but perhaps those up north should check if they themselves are throwing stones from glass houses. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Rwanda 1965, Check out the wildlife at the (A)Kagera National Park

The wildlife of the Kagera National Park as ebbed and flowed due to disease, poaching, and farmer intrusion. Numbers are flowing again thanks to an investment from a Warren Buffet heir and the leadership of an NGO with the artist formerly known as Prince Harry at the helm. What could go wrong? 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 particularly well drawn and printed wildlife at Kagera National Park issue especially when you consider it dates from 1965. It is the work of J van Notem and printed by De La Rue.

Todays stamp is issue A17, a 20 Centimes stamp issued by independent Rwanda on April 28th, 1965. It was a 10 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether used or unused as this one.

The Kagera National Park was set aside for protection by the then Belgian colonial authorities in 1934. It is named for the Kagera River that runs through it. In the time since this stamp, the park has added an A to the beginning of it’s name. The park is over 970 square miles and thus is the largest protected wetland in central Africa.

At first wildlife in the park was most famous for a huge herd of African wild dogs sometimes called painted dogs or Lycaon. They were so numerous the Belgians thought them a pest. In the 1970s the herd was gradually thinned by disease and the dog was last seen at the park in 1984. They were still numerous enough to earn a stamp in this 1965 issue.

Gone but not forgotten at Kagera National Park. The African wild dog.

The next big challenge for the park came in the aftermath of the 1994 civil war between the Hutu and Tutsi tribe. As refugee farmers returned to the country, apparently they chose not to return to their own farms but rather set up shop in the park. This was the end of the lions and the rhinos. All the herds took a hit and by 2010 the park was in pretty pathetic shape.

At that point a deal was struck to subcontract out the park to a non government organization called the African Parks Network based out of South Africa and since 2017 having former Prince Harry has President. The group got a 10 million dollar contribution from Howard Buffet, an heir of Warren. The group employs 1100 park rangers to work in the 18 parks they run in Africa. You can guess that this is mainly about offering safaris to tourists but tourists want to be able to see some animals so the group as arraigned the donation of lions from European zoos. In the politically correct fashion, this is marketed as returning lions from where they were stolen. The Parks Network also managed to get some rhinos from South Africa.

Tourism to the park has gone up 8 fold since the Parks Network took over Akagera not so National Park. This makes them 80% self sufficient. They can’t ever get to 100% because how then would they get another donation from Howard Buffet so he can see his name up there with Warren and Jimmy.

This stamp is about the still existing zebras so I thought you might like to see an embroidery by a group of female artisans from the Rwandan village of Rutongo. You can check out and buy more of their work at http://rutongoembroideries.com.

The Zebras of Akagera

Well my drink is empty and I suppose I should be toasting former Prince Harry for his work with the African Parks Network. I will hold off, it smells like a bunch of rich boys who just enjoy Safaris. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Romania 1964, Valeri Bykovsky spends 5 days alone in space, a record still unbroken

When we think about how on the razors edge the early space flights were, we begin to get a sense of why the Cosmonauts and Astronauts were so revered, with so many stamps from so many places. 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 ten stamp issue celebrating various missions. Most countries doing space stamps indicated the cold war team they were on by which missions  they covered. Romania had a little bit of an independent streak and so honored the Cosmonauts and Astronauts of both worlds. Romanian Dumitru Prunariu went to space in 1981 on the Soyuz 40 mission as part of the Soviet Intercosmos program.

Todays stamp is issue C159, a 1 Leu airmail stamp issued by Romania on January 15th, 1964. The 10 stamps were of different denominations with the lower values being diamond shaped. The set was also, and more commonly available perforated. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.40. The perforated version loses about a third of that value.

Valeri Bykovsky was born in 1934 in a suburb of Moscow. At age 16 he heard a presentation given to young men by the Moscow aviation club and eagerly joined. This then lead to a spot for him at the Kachinsk Military Aviation Academy and he was commissioned at age 21. Valeri was a fighter pilot and later a parachute instructor. He had 72 jumps before being accepted in the Cosmonaut training program.

Ground control to Major Valeri. It is time for Vostok 5 to come home

After being a backup pilot on the Vostok 2 mission, Valeri got to space the first time on the Vostok 5 mission in 1963. The mission would see Valeri alone in his capsule and was scheduled to last eight days. During the mission he was to photograph the earth and conduct experiments including attempting to grow peas in space. Also of course seeing how space treated Valeri physically and mentally was the big experiment. Once in space, solar flares turned out to be much stronger than forecast. It was worried that the flares might change the the dynamics of the atmosphere and cause the already shallow orbit to decay and lead to a less controlled rentry potentially anywhere. It was decided to bring Valeri home early, still having spent 5 days in orbit alone, a still current record. Valeri was awarded membership in the communist party while in space and much decorated and promoted back home.

Valeri and a female Cosmonaut with schoolchildren in 1963

After seeing his potential Soyuz 2 mission scrubbed after the failure of Soyuz 1, Valeri went back to space two more times in 1976 on Soyuz 22 and again in 1978 on Soyuz 29. On Soyuz 29 he flew with East German Cosmonaut Sigmund Jahn, the first German in space and again part of the Soviet Intercosmos program. Sigmund took a plush toy Sandmannchen to space in order to film a piece for the the German animated children’s show. The film included included Soviet Cosmonauts joking that Sandmannchen should mate with their present Soviet plushtoy mascot Masha. Back on Earth, it was decided that the footage was not useable.

Late in his career, Valeri was a Major General and an important figure in the Intercosmos program. He died in 2019.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to join Romania in toasting the space travelers of both worlds. Come again tomorow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Guatemala 1946, Remembering, well not very well, Jose Batres Montufar

Small poor countries really have a hard time displaying culture. Jose Batres Montufar’s family decided to destroy their copies of his poems just after his death so to avoid trouble with the government. That would probably have been the end of all memory if his favorite dictator hadn’t had a statue made of him. 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.

With most of his work not surviving, it is hard to judge Mr. Montufar’s talent, and with it the state of Guatemala’s nineteenth century poetry. He was really all they had. Well there was that bust though, so they have his likeness, and with a likeness you can make a stamp. The stamp then can give the illusion there was poetry once, a long time ago.

Todays stamp is issue A133, a 3 Centavos stamp issued by Guatemala in 1946. It was a four stamp issue with the highest denomination being airmail. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

Pepe Batres, Jose Batres Montufar was a pen name, was born in 1809. He was a part of the rich Aycinena clan that had a monopoly in commerce in Guatemala back to Spanish colonial times. Pepe served as a soldier including a year spent as a prisoner of war held by the El Salvadorans. He rose through the ranks peaking at Captain in command of an engineering unit of the Guatemala Army. His schooling was by tutors and Pepe was fluent in French, Latin, and eventually English. His poems were romantic and heavily influenced by Lord Byron.

In 1829 the political left took over in Guetemala and the Aycinena clan had their properties seized and was forced into exile. The family claims the properties were handed out to bunch of liberal creoles and halfbreeds. They were understandably annoyed but looking at their portraits perhaps they shouldn’t be throwing stones from glass houses on ethnicity.

For a while Pepe was safe in the Army but as pressure on him grew he took leave to take part in a Central American funded expedition to map out a possible Atlantic-Pacific canal in Nicaragua. The expedition was lead by Englishman John Baily. The expedition was under resourced and got stuck in the rainforest. Pepe returned to Guatemala sick and dejected.

The Aycinena clan made a comeback in Guatemala funding the peasant army of Rafael Carrera. Though leading a peasant army and allegedly personally illiterate, once in power Carrera built a grand stone opera house for his singing mistress and across from it a statue of the great Guatemalan poet Jose Batres Montufar. At the time Pepe was serving in Carrera’s Army as a military provincial governor.

After Pepe died his family worried that his work would annoy the political right because it poked fun at them  and annoy the left because of who his family were. The opera house, I did a stamp on it here, https://the-philatelist.com/2017/11/06/guatemala-columbus-theatre-still-impressive-on-the-stamp-but-really-in-ruins/  , went through many changes trying to stamp out the memory of Carrera before collapsing in an earthquake in 1920. The very top of Pepe’s statue was remounted as a bust and given to the national library.

Pepe’s bust

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the illiterate General Carrera who saw to it that Guatemala would at least remember the poet they couldn’t read. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Spain 1981, Leave the Nuns alone and tell us more about the Donkey

In the period after Franco, there was a good deal of rehabilitating figures that sat out Franco in exile. Seems a strange thing to do as the average person can’t just leave because they don’t agree with the politics of their leaders, so you end up honoring the elite who have choices. Here we have poet and writer Juan Ramon Jimenez. 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 Philatelists.

1981 was the birth century of Mr. Jimenez and he got just a ton of recognition. Not only this stamp but a similar image of him graced the back of the 2000 Paseta bank note. At the University of Maryland, where he had taught Spanish and Portuguese in the later years of his self imposed exile, in 1981 he had a new dormitory named for him.

Todays stamp is issue A605, a 30 Paseta stamp issued by Spain in 1981. This was a six stamp issue put out in two sets of three depicting great Spanish men. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

Juan Ramon Jimenez was born into a rich family in Moguer, Spain. He studied with the Jesuits and at the University of Seville, with an eye toward the law. He instead switched to writing poetry and in this was heavily influenced by Nicaraguan poet Ruben Dario and the modernist movement in poetry.

In this phase Jimenez would suffer bouts of depression which he would self medicate by sexual promiscuity and then a stay at a sanitorium. Dirty stories of his escapades were the main body of his prose. Around 1912, he was in residence at a sanitorium in Madrid that was staffed mainly novitiate Nuns. When his dirty stories got back to the Mother Superior, Jimenez was thrown out of the sanitarium. It is not known whether the stories actually happened.

You are not going to get a Nobel Prize in Literature for chasing around young Nuns with cold feet and even worse talking about it. Luckily for Mr. Jimenez he was about to enter a more productive phase. He wrote a full novel called Platero and me about a writer who travels around his the rural area of his childhood with a donkey named Platero. He did a good job of showing the simple love between the animal and his master. The book was his masterpiece and was a hit throughout the Spanish world and beyond.

When the Spanish Civil War broke out, Jimenez relocated first to Puerto Rico and then Florida. He was hit with another bout of depression and his literary output reverted. He put out a collection of the romances of Coral Gables. I have to assume that Coral Gables in his period was not the retirement community it is today. Luckily the committee of the Nobel Prize in Literature was still thinking more of Platero the donkey from 40 years before than the cold footed young Nuns or the hot flashing seniors of Coral Gables when they awarded Jimenez the Nobel Prize in 1956.

Mr. Jimenez died in 1958. Perhaps his home town Moguer had better ideas of how to best honor the author. They erected a statue to Platero the donkey.

Bronze statue of Platero in Moguer

Well, my drink is empty. I have perhaps been a little harsh on Mr. Jimenez. He could not be expected to deliver a work that so vividly described a time and place after abandoning his homeland. I wonder if he considered that before leaving? Come again tomorrow when there will be another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.