Month: December 2020

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Ethiopia 2003, The Kebra Nagast tells of Menelik I and the Ark of the Covenant

Finding out where a people come from goes a good distance to providing a national identity. Many areas of the world were not writing down history. Ethiopia has such a history, the Kebra Nagast, that ties the history of Ethiopia to ancient Israel and the Old Testament. 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.

No this stamp doesn’t show Emperor Menelik. It instead shows Menelik’s Bushback, a variety of cape antelope native to Ethiopian highlands. It’s fur is darker than other antelopes and is not endangered. Ethiopia was coming out of a long period of troubles in 2003 and their stamps were taking a recognizable style with a certain font and simple but effective renderings of local subjects. This continuity continues on Ethiopia’s present day issues and much of the credit goes to local stamp designer Bogale Belachew.

Todays stamp is issue A351, a 45 cent stamp issued by Ethiopia on December 12th, 2002. It was a 25 stamp issue in various denominations that showed this rendering of Menelik’s Bushback with different color framing. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents with a postal cancelation.

Ethiopian tradition believes that the country was ruled by the Solomonic Dynasty for  3000 years up until the fall of last Emperor Hailie Selassie in 1974. To back this up, there are many old copies of the  Kebra Nagast written in ancient Ethiopian. The book begins with a debate question for the Fathers of the Ethiopian Orthadox Christian Church. The question is, Of what doth the Glory of Kings consist? The book then retells many stories of the Old Testament but then a new twist that brings Ethiopia into the picture.

It states there was a Royal visit of the Queen of Sheba to ancient Israel at the time of King Solomon and that he tricked her into sleeping with him. She returned to Ethiopia and raised the resulting son Menelik alone. When Menelik was in his twenties, he traveled to Israel to meet his father. King Solomon was overjoyed to meet his prodigal son and begged him to take over and rule Israel. Menelik refused as his true love was Ethiopia. To insure his son’s success, Solomon sent him home with a group of Israelite advisors and the original Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant is thought to contain the stone tablets with the 10 Commandments as given to Moses by God. The book goes on to chronical Ethiopian Emperors through time. The book ends with a prophesy that the power of Ethiopia would eventually eclipse that of Europe.

Solomonite Emperor Menelik I

At the Church of our Lady Mary of Zion in the ancient Ethiopian capital of Axum, they claim to process the Ark of the Covenant. During the reign of Haile Selassie in the 1950s,  Empress Menen had a new Chapel built next to the ancient one to safely house the Ark. She stated that heat giving off from the Ark was cracking the stones under it. The new chapel also allowed in females to pray. The old church by tradition only allowed males in with the exception of Mary herself. They don’t allow anyone to see the Ark but a British soldier claims to have seen it in 1941 when the area was being retaken from the Italians. He claimed it was an empty wooden box that appeared to be of middle ages construction.

The newer Chapel in Axum. I wonder what they have in there

Well my drink is empty and the Indiana Jones movies suggest it would be better to leave the Ark alone, whether in Ethiopia or not. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Patiala Indian Feudal State 1940. The Prince is wondering where the Prince of Nabha got his harem

Patiala was a Sikh state in the Punjab. It was one of the  Phiulkian sardars that had made peace with the British and so were allowed to continue. What to do when the Prince notices his states best girls being kidnapped and his neighboring cousin Prince rapidly expanding his harem. Call in Sherlock Holmes. 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 for official use in Patiala. The low denomination, 1/2 Anna = .004 of an American penny in todays money, implies local mail. Wonder what the ratio of bills to commendations directed at his people from the Prince?

Todays stamp is issue O8 an official stamp issued by the Sikh feudal state of Patiala. It was a 14 stamp overprint of a British India issue featuring King George VI. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

What became Patiala started as a village formed by a Sikh family castout. He was cast out for following another Guru. Thus the states in the area were separate though the ruling family were branches of the same family. The town took the name Patiala while under Baba Ala Singh who expanded his territory and rejuvenated the ancient Mubarak Fort. He was having constant battles with Afghans and Marathas and made a self defense treaty with the British East India Company.

Fort Mubarak’s main gate that is from Baba Ala Singh’s time.

In the 1920s Patiala’s Prince was having a problem with his cousin ruling Nabha. His police officers were being harassed in Nabha and more importantly young women were disappearing only to reappear in the Nabha Prince’s harem.  Things were getting quite hostile between them and that was quite dangerous for their continued existence. The British had a rule regarding the feudal states called the Doctrine of Lapse. If an area lacked a direct heir or the ruler was deemed manifestly incompetent, the state would revert to British India. Gosh, that is a doctrine that needs to make a comeback.

Patiala petitioned to a Sikh council called the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak. They got no satisfaction there so it was referred to the British Indian courts. Their enquiry found that Patiala’s accusations were true. They forced the Prince of Nabha to abdicate and took over the states administration. There are some that thought that Patiala had more popularity with the British as a Patiala polo star was playing in Britain and winning championships.

Patiala Prince Singh. In addition to his huge harem he was also an accomplished cricketer.

In 1947 Patiala was the first feudal Prince to sign the Instrument of Accession to the new independent Union of India. In return, he was named the areas first governor.

Well my drink is empty. I checked and Patiala Prince Singh had 10 wives, numerous consorts and a a whopping 88 children. Wonder where he got his harem? Come again tomorrow when there will be another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Uruguay 1962, Remembering first President Fructuoso Rivera, who with 33 Orientals embraced the monsoon

The first President of Uruguay was in and out of office and exile and is in some peoples thinking guilty for the massacre of the Charrua Indians. Not quite the legacy one might hope of a county’s founding father. Then you should remember that the people decided actively to embrace the monsoon to end Brazilian rule. Well they did that. 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.

When a country is formed by embracing the monsoon, you might expect the leader to have some anarchist flair. Yet here we have Uruguay showing President Rivera in the standard fake Napoleon get up so common to Latin America. Our founders must be founding fathers in the USA sense?

Todays stamp is issue A190, a 20 Centesimos stamp issued by Uruguay on May 29th, 1962. It was a three stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether used or unused.

In colonial times, it was agreed between Spain and Portugal to divide what was known as the Oriental Province between the two Empires. The area of modern Uruguay was the part given to Spain. The area was sparsely populated but the nomadic Charrua Indians who thought the colonials white, not oriental. After Spanish abandonment, the area became known as the independent Banda Oriental under a General Artigas. Cattle rancher Fructuoso Rivera joined Artigas’s army, himself rising to general. In 1820 the by now independent Brazilian Empire invaded and much or Artigas’s army went into Argentine exile. Rivera returned to his ranch.

Argentine cattle ranchers were very much threatened by Brazil’s move and funded a rejuvenation of the Banda Oriental army. Rivera met with his former comrades and agreed to be a part of it if they made a comeback. In 1825 33 “Orientals” landed at Arenal Grande beach and picked up additional figures from the countryside on a march to Montevideo. Those landed were not all from Oriental Province, some were Argentine and one was even from Mozambique. In Montevideo, the group declared independence from Brazil and allegiance to Argentina.

An imagination of the 33 embracing the monsoon and taking the oath to the Uruguay flag. The guy with the big afro giving the future Nazi salute looks fun

Brazil then declared war on Argentina. The war lasted 3 years and was eventually mediated by British diplomat Viscount Ponsonby. It was decided that Uruguay would be independent and affiliate with neither Brazil nor Argentina.

Viscount Ponsonby. He wouldn’t do as a Uruguay founding father, would he?

Rivera served three times as President although he was often at odds with many of his former comrades. Relations with the Charrua Indians declined as they felt their land was being intruded on by cattle ranches. In 1831 Rivera lead the army to attack the Indians in what was an antihalation. In 1834, Uruguay sent four Charrua Indians to Paris to be part of a circus freak show of a died out race. None of the four ever made it back to Uruguay alive. The race may not have totally died out. In 1989, a group was formed that self identified themselves as members of the Charrua nation. Uruguay allows Charrua identification on their census, and 700 claim it. Wonder if they are lobbying to start a casino.

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

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Great Britain 1996, Remembering the first tv star, a puppet mule

“We want Muffin. Muffin the Mule. Dear old Muffin, Always playing the Fool”. Television was a new medium in 1946, but a new medium needs a breakout star. Even if it was a puppet. 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.

Children’s television had a fifty year history at the time of this stamp. So the stamp shows a black and white image of the BBC presenter Annette Mills and the Muffin puppet. Imagine someone today conceiving a show of a mature and accomplished lady performs original music while a mule puppet is made to dance on the piano by puppetiers who concieved the puppet, voice it and wrote the script.It would have never happened that way now and the Muffin reboots since never stuck to the formula. The formula would have looked familiar to 1940s Britain. There were still traveling kids shows such as Punch and Judy that were similar.

A photo showing how it was done on live TV.

Todays stamp is issue A469, a 20P stamp issued by Great Britain on September 3rd, 1996. It was a five stamp issue in various denominations also available as a prestige booklet that displayed Britain’s children’s tv over time. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 45 cents used. The prestige booklet is worth $16.

The original puppet mule was made by puppet maker Fred Tickner on commission from the husband and wife puppeteer team of Jan Busell and Ann Hogarth. It was part of the puppet circus of the traveling Hogarth Puppet Theatre. The in person show went on hiatus during the war. The Hogarth team was hired by the BBC to work with presenter Annette Mills, a talented singer, pianist, and in her earlier days a dancer. She was also the sister of actor Sir John Mills and aunt to later child star Haley Mills. On TV they were able to recreate the live old style live performance but had the added challenge of debuting new material every week.

The show was very successful and ran until 1955 when Annette Mills died of a heart attack. A few years later the show was reimagined with Muffin the mule getting a lot of friends such as Sally the sea lion and Perguene the penguin. On the new ITV show Muffin lived in Muffinham village and was put upon by the hijinks of his new compatriots. You can sense the modernity creeping in.

The stardom of the puppet was such that in 1959 Lesney Products, then makers of Matchbox cars, made a die cast metal Muffin the mule toy. It was the only tv character they ever did that for. The character was even brought to the Soviet Union with a series of Soviet made episodes. They did however convert Muffin to a donkey.

Well my drink is empty and though there are people here worthy of a toast, it seems wrong in relation to a kids show. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

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Guinea 1967, 20 years of the Democratic Party of Guinea, 20 down and 17 to go

Guinea in this period was a one party state with the leader Touré reelected unanimously every 5 years. Such success must have put Guinea on top of the world. Well that is what this stamp issue expresses and was early enough that some still might have believed. 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 celebrates 20 years of the Democratic political party  and also the opening of the “People’s Palace” in the capital Conakry. The Democratic party had been the only legal party since 1960 so was hardly democratic. The peoples palace was of course for the use of President Touré. The Palace was built with eastern bloc aid, it must have been strange for them to be in the palace building game.

A large sign covering the central part of the entrance hall to the Peoples Palace in Conakry. Three values are represented : that of work, symbolized by a woman holding a sickle, cultural tradition by a drum player and the struggle for national independence by a man armed with a torch and rifle. 

Todays stamp is issue A63, a 30 Franc stamp issued by Guinea on September 28th, 1967. It was a four stamp issue in various denominations the top value being airmail. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents canceled to order.

Sekou Touré was born a peasant farmer in a small village in then French Guinea. He claimed to be the great grandson of King Touré of the precolonial Wassoulou Empire. The claim was enough to get him enrolled in French schools in Guinea until he was expelled at age 15 for protesting the quality of the food the French were providing. Apparently we are to believe  before he left school he made a deep study of Marx and Lenin. After school he pursued his true calling as a labor organizer. Getting somebody to get people working would be quite the novelty in an African country, but no he was a strike guy. Strikes are probably hard to pull off in Africa as who could tell the difference. That stuff doesn’t pay the bills so Touré was also a postal clerk. He had to take a test for that job so that probably proves he could read. He was a founding member of the Democratic Party that wanted complete independence from France.

In 1958, Touré had his shot and took it. The new French 5th Republic allowed a fairly sudden vote in the colonies whether to remain in the French community or get snap independence. Guinea was the only African colony to chose independence and got it in 1958 with Touré as President. Telling the French to go away was very popular throughout Black Africa and the Black community in the USA. Seeing his in depth study of Communism, the Soviets and the Chinese were very forthcoming with aid. As was more lefty forces in the west like the Peace Corps.

They say image is everything but not always. Askari soldiers in the service of Portuguese Guinea raided Guinea finding no opposition but also not finding Touré. They had hoped to instill a national uprising but found the radio station inoperative so they couldn’t get the word out. After they left, Touré portrayed it as a great victory and had the Soviets cast him another statue. The truth showed as the new High Command executed much of the Army and government officials as traitors.

Nice of the Soviet sculptors to remember to put African features on the brave Red soldier defending home and hearth

In 1977, it became impossible to claim that communism was working economically. Female merchants in Conakry’s main Medena Market rioted saying that the government set prices were too low. The government stopped trying to enforce those rules. Finally in 1984 Touré died of a heart attack at the Cleveland Clinic in the USA when he did not trust the hospitals in Guinea.

So what was the results of Touré and the Democratic Party’s 26 year rule with ample foreign aid. The worker’s average income was $140 a year, literacy was below 10 percent, and life expectancy in Guinea was 41 years.

The sun will come out tomorrow

Well my drink is empty and no I will leave the toasting of Touré to his still many fans. Come again tomorrow when there will be another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.