Month: November 2022

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Hungary 1959, Getting into the spirit of the International Geophysical Year

The 1950s was a wonderful time of innovation and optimism. It was also a time of cold war between East and West. Some prominent scientists on both sides, wondered if advancements could happen quicker if they were able to work together on basic research with all results shared. 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.

60 countries participated in the I. G. Y., and many issued stamps. In my opinion the Japanese stamp is the most attractive. Since I only write up stamps in my collection, I am left writing up this still solid effort from Hungary showing the Soviet Antarctic Station.

Watch out for those hungry Huskies penguin

Todays stamp is issue A276, a 40 Filler stamp issued by Hungary on March 14th, 1959. It was a seven stamp issue in various denominations and was also available as a imperforate presentation set. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents.

The International Geophysical Year, I. G. Y., had it’s roots in two earlier, 1882 and 1932, International Polar Years that had focused the world on exploring and studying the earth’s poles. The 1932 year was somewhat discredited because many of it’s projects were abandoned and results lost in the runup to war. It was decided that all nations would be invited and all data shared in multiple locations. Only China refused to participate as they were annoyed that Taiwan was invited to participate as if it was a real country. It was further decided that the the subject of the year would expand from just the poles to include peaceful space exploration.

In the runup to the year, it was announced that the USA would launch 2 manmade satellites as part of it’s contribution. Four days later the Soviets announced that they too would launch a man made satellite. The American Project Vanguard faced several failed launches  and the world was shocked and impressed when the Soviets launched successfully Sputnik 1 as part of Soviet involvement in the I.C.Y. Project Vanguard was abandoned in the USA and a version of the Jupiter missile substituted with a new reentry cone and a scientific payload. The Americans eventually got  two rechristened Explorer satellites in space for the year, but it was not forgotten that two Sputniks were there first. America had some consolation in that one of their satellites discovered the Van Allen radiation belts that surround earth.

The poles were not forgotten during the IGY. Japan set up an intended to be year round manned science station in Antartica called Showa. The first year proved to be sort of a fiasco and the ship assigned to keep the station supplied got stuck in the ice. It was eventually freed by an American ice breaker but was unable to resupply the Showa station. The Japanese researchers were airlifted out by helicopter. The discusting losers left behind 15 Sakhalin Husky sled dogs chained up in the station. When the station was returned to a year later, seven of the dogs had died on their chain, six had disappeared. and two dogs named Taro and Jiro were still alive and in residence. they had escaped their chains and survived eating penguins  becoming national heroes in Japan as examples of perseverance and fortitude. Upon their natural deaths in 1960 and 1970 Taro and Jiro were stuffed and put on display.

Jiro after he was stuffed and put on display.

Overall the IGY was a great success and lead to much later cooperation. In the early 1980s the Steely Dan singer Donald Fagin  had a top 20 solo hit with the song IGY, what a beautiful word. I was familiar with the song but never knew what he was singing about. You can hear the song here, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di0_KYtmVKI.

The optimism did not last into this century. In 2008 a new International Polar Year was organized. Why I say it lost the optimism is that it was centered around climate change. What a bunch of gloomy Guses that must have been.

Well my drink is empty, and I think four toasts are in order for the two Sputniks and  Taro and Jiro. Come again soon after I sober up for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Albania 1925, Electricity changes everything

This looked like an interesting old bridge. I picked this stamp to write up to see if it was Roman or Ottoman in origin. It was Ottoman. Don’t look for it today as it is underwater, I wouldn’t have guessed 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.

The 1920s was a politically unstable time for Albania. The Ottomans were gone. Serbians, Greeks, and Italians had ambitions and blood feuds among the locals were rampant. So why not do an issue of stamps showing things that look as if they had been around forever and probably be there forever to promote stability. Fine and dandy until another group  of forgotten, failed politicians decide to recast the very name of the country to show the new sheriff in town. The resulting overprint on my copy of this stamp ruins the effect.

Todays stamp is issue A18, a 25 Quintar stamp issued by Albania in 1923. The overprint was added in 1925 after republic was declared. It was a seven stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.10, forty cents more thanks to the overprint. So I guess, viva Albanian republic. The catalog warns however that counterfeits exist. Imagine some sad sack stamp dealer in Vienna trying to fake the overstamp for the extra penny or two back then. Not the hobby’s finest hour.

The bridge shown is the old Nemjeme bridge built in the 17th century over the Drin River in what was at the time of the stamp called Vezirit, later called Kukes. Whatever you call it it was a small market town founded by the Romans, on the road near the border with what is now Kosovo. The most famous moment for the bridge came in 1912 when the Serbian army crossed it only to be forced back when faced with strong resistance

I have done before stamps of the apparent building spree that happened under the Albanian communist regime from 1945-1990. I didn’t think this stamp would be one of those but you never know where a stamp story will lead. In the 1970s, a new town of Kukes was constructed 3 kilometers from where the old town stood.

The new Kukes

This was done in preparation for a new large dam being constructed on the Drin river with the help of the Chinese. Over 14,000 workers were assigned to the project. The resulting Fierza Hydroelectric plant opened in 1978 and the resulting resevior left old Kukes submerged.

the Fierza Dam. When built, it was the second tallest in Europe.
The Fierza reservoir. Somewhere under there should still be the bridge

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

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Japan 1948, Getting back to work in the mine

We here a lot about Europe getting back to work after the war. It is a frequent topic in the USA as we like to take credit for it by way of the Marshall Aid plan. Japan also got back to work fast and became an industrial powerhouse. One area that fell short though was mining, where loss of empire was clearly felt. 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 most remarkable thing about this stamp issues appearance is how it is just a typical Japanese stamp that could be from any era, excepting a new issue. Here we must give some credit to the Allied occupation under General MacArthur. They were still allowing Japan to be Japan, even in defeat. One interesting thing is that it was already the second Japanese post war stamp to feature coal miners. They must have mistakenly thought that coal would be an important part of a hoped for comeback.

Todays stamp is issue A210, a 5 Yen stamp issued by Japan in 1948. The coal miner stamp was part of a 10 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used. As a bulk mailing stamp, unused copies are more rare and valueable. A booklet of 20 of this stamp unused is worth $300.

In the early twentieth century mining was very important to the Empire. In addition to local output there was gold mining in Korea, iron and coal mining in China, and coal mining in Formosa. In 1942, the world’s worst mining disaster, a Japanese run coal mine in occupied China suffered a coal dust explosion that killed 1500 Chinese laborers and 30 Japanese overseers. Most died when ventilation was shut off to put out the fire. The 1967 Bee Gees song seems to have got it wrong placing the disaster in New York in 1941. That all was over after the war. Given how they were run, perhaps that was for the best.

Japan still had small coal deposits at the extreme north and the extreme south of the country. It was located in expensive to axcess veins that required inclined gallery style mining instead of regular pit coal mines. This made imported coal much cheaper to use and Japan became a big importer. Over time of course cleaner sources of energy have been tapped.

Many of the Japanese mines closed in the 70s and 80s. By 1988, less than .2 percent of Japanese workers were employed in mining. In 1974, a small southern Japanese island called Battleship was abandoned by the conglomerate Mitsubishi after the mine reserve there was exhausted. The town around the mine was built of concrete and fortified against typhoons resembling a battleship. For 45 years the concrete city has decayed without anybody living there. See Below.

Battleship Island abandoned coal mining town ruins 40 years later

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another drink to toast the coal exporting nations who stepped in to supply Japan’s coal shortfall. It would be a short list of people in those years getting rich off exports to Japan. Come again  for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

 

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South Africa 1942, chose doing too much over doing too little for Empire

South Africa found itself in a similar position as Canada during World War II. Empire required participation against Germany in 1939. Yet like Canada, there was a strong feeling against getting involved. Unlike Canada see https://the-philatelist.com/2017/12/27/canada-supports-the-war-except-quebec-and-churchill-just-ignores/ , the government was changed to support, and large numbers of South Africans served alongside Britain with distinction. Even if that meant internment camps at home for the opposing Ossewabrandwag. 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 is a fairly typical support the troops war issue. The stamps did not convince all. Hardline anti war elements among Boers even took to harassing troop volunteers in uniform, in one instance causing a riot in Johannesburg in 1941. This division does not show on the stamps as the new government was all in on the war effort.

Todays stamp is issue A25, a half penny stamp issued by South Africa in 1941. It was a nine stamp issue in various denominations showing various aspects of the war effort, in this case infantry. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

When Germany attacked Poland in 1939, Britain acted upon it’s alliance with Poland and declared war. This required participation by the Empire including self governing dominions like South Africa. South Africa’s Prime Minister Barry Hertzog was a former Boer General and thought that South Africa should stay neutral in the war. There was a fiery debate that saw Hertzog deposed in favor of pro British Jan Smuts who promptly declared was on Germany and Italy. Anti war sentiment then divided between opposers within the system and the soon outlawed Ossewabrandwag that was pro German and went as far as sabotage attacks against the war effort. The Ossewabrandwag was rounded up and sent to internment camps. Among those interned was a future Prime Minister BJ Voster. The new government faced the white voters in 1943 and although they lost Parliamentary seats, Smuts was retained as Prime Minister.

The emblem of the banned Ossewabrandwag

334,000 South Africans, two thirds white, volunteered for war service. There was no conscription. 11,000 died in the war. Most prominently two divisions of infantry fought in the western dessert against the Italians and the German Africa Corp under General Erwin Rommel. They were attached to the British Eighth Army.  The second South African  division was part of the Empire forces that held out in fortress Torbruk in Libya well behind the lines. When Torbruk fell to the Germans in May 1942, the unit went into captivity. The First Infantry division was then pulled back to South Africa and reconstituted into a tank division that fought in the Italian campaign later in the war, attached to the American Fifth Army. It had been planned to form an additional tank division but the Army was short of volunteers. The 77,000 black volunteers were not deployed outside South Africa.

Prime Minister Jan Smuts overtly pro British stance was not popular and he failed when up for election in 1948. The change of party lead to the break with the Commonwealth and the attempt through Apartheid to maintain white minority rule. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/12/21/south-africa-1966-a-tiny-minority-can-go-it-alone-because-they-have-diamonds-but-do-they/ .

Well my drink is empty and so I will patiently await  for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

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France 1954, The Noratlas is ready to take a paratrooper to a place he doesn’t want to go

After the war, France like so many nations had a mixed fleet of America DC3 and German Ju 52 war surplus. They were old designs more suited to passengers than cargo. Thus France contracted a design for a proper freighter well stressed for heavy loads and  convenient rear cargo doors. However the need turned out to be moving paratroopers to far flung outposts under attack. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

The stamp came before the Noratlas’s many uses in combat. So here we get not a formation of the plane with paratroopers being dropped, but a peaceful blue single example perhaps on a regular supply run. So a stamp near the end of the planes life instead of the begining might have presented a different picture.

Todays stamp is issue C30, 1 200 Franc airmail stamp issued by France on January 16th, 1954. It was a four stamp issue displaying French aircraft. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

The development of the Noratlas had it’s ups and downs. The prototype with French engines was underpowered so a licence to manufacture the more powerful British Hercules engine was arranged. In practice the plane was still underpowered so late production examples had two small jets added to the wingtips just used for takeoff only. The program received a huge boost when the newly reconstituted German air force placed a big order, as they read their situation as similar to the French. In practice the modern German military didn’t move around much so the planes were not much used. Soon Germany began giving them away to countries like Israel, Greece, and Portugal that had much use for the Nortalas. Israel had been forced to buy two from France in order to also get the Mystere fighters that they really wanted. Once in service, they proved useful in all the Arab-Israeli wars to come, so they allowed Germany to gift many more.

The rear cargo doors thought to define modern.

The first big combat was taking French paratroopers into Port Said during the canal crisis. Then the combat swiched to Portugal, when a squadron of the second hand German transports was located in each African colony Angola, Mozambique, and Guinea Bissau on call to take paratroopers to reinforce outposts under attack. The never ending war was so unpopular, that when the colonies were abandoned in the mid 1970s, the Nortalas planes were just left there. The post war Portuguese military was no longer going to move around much, German style.

The last large scale combat was deep into the 1970s when the planes were quite old. Greece had been given a large fleet or Noratlases by Germany and when Turkey invaded Cyprus, the planes were tasked with moving a battalion of Rangers to Nicosia airport from Crete so it would not fall to the Turks. The Greeks were able to get 13 of their 15 planes flying and enough reinforcements were flown in to hold the airport. One Noratlas was however shot down with a great loss of life, it is believed by friendly fire.

The last user of the Noratlas was France. A few examples called Gabriel were used for electronic warfare into the late 1980s.

I mentioned the Germans didn’t use theirs much. Indeed this one became a pub.

Well my drink is empty and the German Noratlas pup is now closed. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Brunei 1952, faced with a lustfull triangle, Brunei chooses none of the above

The Sultan of Brunei is an ancient title that once conferred leadership of much of the island of Borneo and even included much of the Philippines. The time of colonialism saw the realm shrunk and protection from Great Britain sought. Inviting the British proved lucky as they discovered oil. With the fading of the British, decisions faced new Sultan Omar Ali Saiffuddin on how to move forward. 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.

Brunei was a British Protectorate at the time of this stamp. That means there was a British Resident locally that the Sultan was required to consult with on all matters excluding religion and customs. Yet unlike some other Protectorates, like this one https://the-philatelist.com/2019/07/23/bechuanaland-protectorate-1888-the-british-side-with-christian-chief-khama-to-keep-the-pioneers-at-bay/ , you don’t see the British Monarch on the stamps. The oil revenue conferred power locally so there was more local involvement in the administration.

Todays stamp is issue A4, a 3 Cent stamp issued by the Sultanate of Brunei on March 1st, 1952. It was a fourteen stamp issue in various denominations celebrating new Sultan Omar that year. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents unused.

Brunei was occupied by the Japanese during the war. The future Sultan served in their administration as well as the British before his older brother abdicated and he became Sultan. The war had reduced dramatically colonial power in the area. Philippines became independent in 1946, after a fight Indonesia became independent in 1949, See https://the-philatelist.com/2017/11/24/well-we-think-we-are-independant-we-have-a-constitution-a-flag-and-austrian-stamps/   . Malaya was also moving toward independence and to take control of other British controlled areas like Singapore and Brunei. Sultan Omar was faced with the challenge of wrestling more authority over his people from the British, while keeping Indonesia at bay, while exploring the possibilities with Malaya. The British problem was dealt with first. A new constitution replaced British control with local and the British Resident was replaced by a High Commissioner as with former colonies. The British kept up the commitment to defend Brunei. Negotiations with Malaya were began. They did not go well as Sultan Omar would be the low man on Malaysia’s system of revolving regional sultans. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/07/12/kelantan-the-british-peal-away-siam-for-the-benefit-of-malaya/ . They would also not guarantee that oil revenue would remain for the benefit of Brunei, Malaysia went ahead with former  Brunei territories of Sarawak and North Borneo, but not Brunei itself. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/02/21/the-last-white-rajah-of-sarawak-much-to-the-annoyance-of-many/   , and https://the-philatelist.com/2019/01/24/north-borneo-company-1922-a-british-chinese-hong-company-comes-to-borneo-to-persevere-and-achieve/    . Gosh I have written a lot of articles.

Anyway, the new constitution meant elections and a left wing Indonesia supported party won. The favored a confederation between Brunei, Sarawak, and North Borneo with a capital in Brunei and no more Sultan. A militia tied to the party began attacking oil installations and government offices. The Sultan asked for British help and the British responded with two companies of Gurkhas who flew in on a Bristol Britannia from Singapore and rescued Sultan Omar. Sarawak’s old World war II resistance leader and now museam currator asked for help from his old Kelabit tribesman to block escape routes to Indonesia while the Gurkhas got up to strength.  This would all sound like the last charge of Empire except that the Falklands War was 20 years later. The Gurkhas were able to retake Seria but not before the rebels had executed  some Brunei officials who refused to join the rebellion. This helped convince Sultan Omar not to join Malaya but keep up a close relationship with the Gurkhas, To this day there is a British Gurkha infantry battalion in Brunei. Rich city state Singapore also maintains a few thousand Gurkhas for internal security. Must keep jealous triangles at bay.

A few years after the revolt Sultan Omar decided to abdicate in favor of his first born son, who still rules. When now Begawan Sultan Omar died in 1986 his funeral was attended by all his former triangle suiters with even Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip flying out to pay their respects.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the Gurkhas. It was such a masterstroke of the Empire to recruit the Nepalese soldiers from outside the Empire. Even after the Empire’s sun as set, they have proved indispensable. Come again  for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.