Month: March 2021

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Laos 1990, Get cleaned up for Pi Mai and we will see which beauty is named Miss Lao New Year

Laos celebrates new year in April which coincides with their hottest time of the year and the beginning of the monsoon season. That and the Buddhist traditions mean things are celebrated a little differently. The idea of a new year bringing hope is universal. 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 takes a formal and reverential tone to the ceremonies around new year. That is well and good and the stamp is well printed. New Year in Laos is foremost a cellebration though and that seems missing from this stamp. A while back I did a stamp on a similar festival as practiced by Hindus in Guyana, see https://the-philatelist.com/2019/08/19/guyana-apparantly-south-america-1969-after-the-political-rift-along-racial-lines-a-country-seeks-a-new-start-with-a-celebration-of-spring/      . I think that stamp better captured the party atmosphere.

Todays stamp is issue A239, a 150 Kip stamp issued by Laos on November 20th. 1990, seven months after new year. It was a four stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.25 cancelled to order. 150 Kip is currently worth less than 2 cents.

Pi Mai, the Laotian new year is a three day holiday. The first day, April 13th, is the last day of the old year. It is reserved for cleaning body, home, and especially Buddha Icons.  The second day is thought of as the day between  the years. It is a day for gathering sand and flowers. The sand is to be taken to the temple to build mounds and the flowers are to decorate the Icons and to add a pleasant smell to the water used on the third day. The third day, April 15th, is the actual first day of the new year and water is poured on the old and Monks by the young in return for blessings. Then it broadens with perfumed water being spayed every way. In recent years the celebratory spraying has started to include shaving and whipped cream from cans.

the water spaying. I hope the water is well perfumed

I mentioned above the taking of the sand to the temple to build mounds. These are called Stupas and are meant to build merit. The mounds are supposed to represent the mountain Phoukhou Kallot, where ancient King Kabinlaphrom’s skull was kept by his seven daughters.

The sand stupas of Pi Mai

There are also beauty pageants where seven young maidens compete to be name Miss Lao New Year. The seven contestants are also meant to represent the seven daughters of King Kabinlaphrom.

Pi Mai beauty pageant as practiced by Lao diaspora in Texas

Well my drink is empty. Happy new year to all, it is probably new years somewhere everyday. Come again tomorrow when there will be another story to be learned from stamp collecting.

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Vatican City 1987, The logistics and minefields of a Papal visit

Pope John Paul II was known for his many journeys. In the early years it could almost be likened to barnstorming with up to 8 events a day. Todays much older Popes try for a less tiring two audiences a day while traveling. Keeping the operation smooth so His Eminance can achieve his goals sometimes proves difficult. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult berverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

The image chosen for this stamp marking the 10 hour 1985 visit to the Liechtenstein is quite traditional with well scrubbed children in folk attire receiving an audience and blessing. It does not display the issue of the trip, whether abortion restrictions should be abandoned.

Todays stamp is issue A236, a 500 Lira stamp issued by Vatican City on October 27th, 1987. It was an 8 stamp issue in various denominations marking trips Pope John Paul II had made in 1985 and 1986. According to the Scott catalog. the stamp is worth 40 cents used.

A Papal visit is planned several years in advance. The process starts with an invitation from both the country and the local Catholic church. In this case the invitation was accepted, Liechtenstein was a traditional, 85 percent Catholic country that had only just gave women the right to vote. There was a worry that via a referendum the rules against abortion would be liberalized. The Pope thus decided to visit and make the arguement for keeping the standards.

A Vatican team of about 15 than makes a pre visit to prioritize the possible events and map out the logistics. On this trip the Pope had special audiences with Catholic youth and the Royal Family. 20 staffers including 6 security agents were part of the Pope’s entourage. They also made room for about 30 journalist.

This was in some ways a strange visit. The entire country had only 26,000 people at the time. The crowds at the Papal events were estimated at over 30,000. It was also a country with a very high standard of living and little poverty. It was estimated that there were 6 unemployed among the workforce of 16,000. The Pope threaded the line carefully acknowledging the achievement while displaying concern that wealth can led to apostasy.

Stamps were important in period Liechtenstein. Here was the visit’s first day cover

The abortion restrictions in Liechtenstein were the strictest in Europe. It was only allowed in cases of extreme medical distress of the mother or in cases of rape where the victim is below the age of 14. Violating the rules would result in 2 years in jail and loss of medical license by the doctor and one year in jail for the mother. Those that advocated changing the law estimated that 50 women and girls a year crossed the border to obtain a legal, safe abortion.

Pope John Paul II made some of his most direct statements against abortion in Liechtenstein. He described abortion as a repulsive crime and urged people to save the unborn human from the threat of the born man who would usurp the unborn’s rights by killing in the womb. He further said it was the duty of Christian politicians to stand up for the teachings of the Church which he pledged would never change. He received a pledge from then Prince Regent Hans Adam to veto an unCatholic outcome in any referendum.

The other side of the argument

It was thought at the time the referendum to change the abortion law would come very soon. In fact, it did not come until 2011 when a referendum to allow abortion up to 13 weeks and in cases where the child will have a disability was defeated with 52 percent against. The Prince Regent, by then Alois, did not have to use his veto. He said he would have.

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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Philippines 1947, Getting back to the business of independence

Manila had been devastated by the fighting there near the end of the war. Yet a year later, the Philippines was finally independent and back to business. How about a stamp issue to get you in the mood for the mid century modern future? 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 part of the first stamp issue of the independent Philippines. The other stamps in the issue show old monuments or pleasant landscapes. In this stamp, the country shows it’s hoped for modern future. How quickly it was put right after the war must have given hope.

Todays stamp is issue A80, a 12 Centavos stamp issued by The Philippines on June 19th, 1947. It was a seven stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used. 12 Philippine Centavos would today be worth .25 of an American penny.

In 1901, American President Theodore Roosevelt stated regarding The Philippines, “We hope to do for them what has never been done for any peoples of the tropics-To make them fit for self government in the manner of the really free nations of the world.” Fifteen years later not much progress on self government had been realized. Then Democrat Congressman William Atkinson Jones authored the Jones Law that set up an elected bicameral Philippine legislature with much actual authority and further made it the law of the USA that independence was the goal. This made Representative Jones very popular in the islands and his name is still on this bridge and a medium sized town.

Congressman William Atkinson Jones

In 1914 at a site a few blocks away from the current bridge, a historic Bridge of Spain collapsed in a rain storm. Manila had a new urban plan  drawn up by the famous Daniel Burnham and a new bridge over the Pasic River was part of it. His plan was to emphasize the rivers in Manila in the style of Paris or Venice. Funding for the urban plan came mainly from the USA but the new Philippine legislature saw that Philippinos got most of the work. The Jones Bridge opened in 1921 under the direction of local architect Juan M Arellano. the design was quite beaux arts and featured 4 female virtue statues representing the Philippine Motherland.

City planner Daniel Burnham
Architect Juan Arellano

In 1945 as Japanese forces evacuated Manila, see https://the-philatelist.com/2017/11/02/america-cellebrates-an-old-spanish-fort-a-decade-before-the-japanese-war-crime-there/   , they destroyed the original Jones Bridge. Again with American help the bridge was quickly rebuilt. In doing so the bridges structure stayed similar but it lost it’s elaborate decoration. The 3 surviving motherland statues were moved to other locations. In 1998 there was a refurbishment at the direction of then First Lady Ming Ramos. She added stone balustrades and Chinese style lamps. She also had the steel girders painted gold and backlit. She was trying to make the design less traditional and more in keeping with Asia. The design was not popular. In 2019 another refurbishment was started to return the bridge to the original 1921 appearance.

1945 Temporary bridge over the fallen span

Stamp collectors will want me to point out the impressive riverfront building in the background of this stamp. It was and is Manila’s central post office. The design was also part of Daniel Burnham’s Manila plan and also built under the direction of Juan Arrellano. The building has managed to keep it’s original style throughout it’s life.

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

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Turks & Caicos 1981, Every British subject has the right to rake the salt, but no colony can have it’s own colony

Turks and Caicos is still a British Colony, now styled British Overseas Territory. This became possible because somebody eventually decided to live there. 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 pleasant Commonwealth style issue showing fish. The Queen Angelfish is indeed present in the ocean area around the islands. The angelfish are something less than angelic. In aquariums they are known to fight each other. There is also the issue that they tend to chew on coral reefs. They can be forgiven of course because they don’t understand the climate crime they are committing.

Todays stamp is issue A69, a 20 cent stamp issued by the British self governing colony of Turks and Caicos on December 15th, 1981. This was a 28 stamp issue in different denominations that came out over five years. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $2.50 used.

There is evidence that a Lucayan Indian outpost existed on the island before it was spotted by Europeans but they were long gone. The first person to try to live on the islands was in 1709 when English colonist Bernard Caicos arrived. He thought himself of long ago Ottoman heritage explaining the Turk name. At the end of the American revolutionary war, 40 Crown Loyalists from Georgia and South Carolina were granted land to replace land seized from them. They brought with them 1000 slaves and grew sisal, a fiber used in ropes.

1763 French map of area

The big industry on the islands was however raking salt. Bermudan and Bahamians came in seasonally to get the salt, which was quite valuable then for food preservation. Turks and Caicos salt passed through trading houses in Bermuda and sold all along the east coast of North America. The trading got so lucrative that Bermuda petitioned the Crown to be given authority over Turks and Caicos, so they could exclude the Bahamians. The government ruled that no colony could itself have a colony and that any British subject had a right to rake the salt. Some may say non conguently, they then beefed up the administration from Jamaica. After first Jamaica then Bahamas became independant, Turks and Caicos was granted it’s own Governor and self rule. The position of both political parties is eventual independence but not now, as it would interfere with the tax haven status.

Salt raking

Being a colony has been a boon for good governance. In the early 2000s a string of three locally elected Premiers were arrested on charges of stealing, drug running, and even sexual assault. After a British Parliamentary inquiry it was decided to revoke self government until reforms and financial controls could be put in place. Since the return to self rule, there have been two Premiers. Neither has been arrested to date.

Turks and Caicos current Premier

 

Well my drink is empty. Come again tomorrow for another story to be learned from stamp collecting.

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Guinea 1967, A Spanish bouncer effectively imagines a struggle for fellow imaginers

The goal of bringing third worlders in via connected people grants  is for them to benefit from first world progress and for the first worlder to learn about hardships from the new arrival. What happens though when the third worlders attracted are their rich, connected and in Jose Vela Zanetti’s case not even a third worlder. Interestingly the Guggenheim fellowship that brought Zanetti to New York has been suspended indefinitely over worries over it’s efficacy. 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 offerring from The Philatelist.

This stamp displays Mankind’s Struggle for a Lasting Peace, a mural painted by Jose Vela Zanetti that sits in the hallway outside the Security Council chamber in the United Nations New York headquarters. The image on the stamp has little to do with Guinea. When your third worlders are fake and have benefited from a many year education in Tuscany, there is an advantage in that he understands as a fellow cosplayer in any real struggle what the UN wanted. An image rich in the pornography of the toiling of the third worlder with any devine purpose or hope edited out.

Todays stamp is issue AP7, a fifty franc air mail stamp issued by independent Guinea on November 11th, 1967. This was a three stamp and one souvenir sheet issue displaying the art collection of the United Nations Security Council. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents canceled to order.

Jose Vela Zanetti was born into a rich family in Burgos, Spain. He showed an interest in art and studied in Leon and Madrid. With the Spanish Civil War heating up, the family got him a scholarship to continue his studies in peaceful Florence, Italy. The victory of what Jose felt was the wrong side in 1939 left him with a conundrum over where to bounce next. Stay in an Italy gearing up for war again on the wrong side or bounce back to peaceful Spain where his politics may be a hinderance. As with several other exiled Spanish artists, Jose moved to the peaceful Dominican Republic.

Jose Vela Zanetti

Jose hit the ground running in the D. R. Within a year of his arrival he hosted his first solo art show. Giving the audience what it wanted, he impresed the D. R.’s right wing dictator Trujillo. Soon he was inundated with commissions to put his murals in many of the new public buildings going up at the time. He was also named a Professor of Art at the local university and eventually named the Dean.

There was however the problem of being a big fish in a small pond. Jose applied for and received a Latin America oriented  Guggenheim Fellowship in 1951. The idea was to bring in the Latin American artist mid career and giving him enough money to live for a few years in the hope that he or she will do their best work. This is what happened for Jose. He quickly applied for and won the commission from the UN for the mural that appears on the stamp. It is his most famous work.

In 1960, Jose inherited the estate that he grew up in. Despite Franco, he moved back to Burgos, Spain with his wife and son. His art shifted from murals to paintings and the subject matter shifted from the political to landscapes. He lived there another 39 years.

A later landscape

Well my drink is empty. I will pour another for the bouncing cosplayers, it is where the world is heading, Mr. Vela Zanetti just got there early. Come again tomorrow when there will be another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Australia 1996, Who sank the boat, don’t worry I won’t spoil it

Australia has maintained a vibrant children’s book industry. How it came about, and how it is maintained is an interesting story. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

This stamp issue features books that have won the Australian Children’s Book of the year award. This stamp features Who Sunk the Boat, a 1983 winner that was written and illustrated by New Zealander Pamela Allen. It tells a story designed for adults to read to small children in a sing songy way of 4 animals debating who ruined their day sailing by sinking the boat. I won’t spoil the ending.

Todays stamp is issue A514, a 45 cent stamp issued by Australia on July 4th, 1996. It was a four stamp issue all in the same denomination. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1 USA used.

In 1945 two American ladies stationed in Australia with the USA Information Library suggested a children books week in Australia modeled on what was happening in the USA. It was to be a partnership of teachers, librarians, booksellers and publishers. Once the organization got going it decided to give out a children’s book of the year award though in the first years it was only awarded intermittently. In 1966, Australian government grants replaced the foreign aid and the organization grew exponentially. Perhaps too much as in 1988 the government pulled funding. For 5 years after the Myers Department Store chain paid the bill but afterwards funding as come via a non profit foundation.

Pamela Allen was born in New Zealand in 1934 was college educated and served as a teacher. In 1977 Allen and her sculptor husband moved to Sydney and the first of her 30 children’s books came out in 1980. Eight of them were pieced together into a play that was performed in 2004 at the Sydney Opera House. In 2008 Allen semi retired back to New Zealand. In Australia, Penguin Books commissioned Allen’s Melbourne based glass sculptor daughter Ruth to produce a piece of art to celebrate 5 million copies of her mother’s books. Back in New Zealand, she was made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Allen is still with us.

Pamela Allen
Ruth Allen’s lost wax tribute to her mother. The boat shape is a callback of her most famous book and the smooth sailing of her book sales

In case you are wondering about the 2020 award, the winner was I Need a Parrot written and illustrated by Chris McKimmie.

Well my drink is empty. Come again tomorrow for another story to be learned from stamp collecting.