The Ivory Coast charted a different course than many in Africa by staying close to colonial power France. The President for life marketed himself and changed his name to the irresistible force in charge of the ivory miracle. It was true that people weren’t having much luck resisting, but by the end he had stolen too much and the people had enough. Ironic for a man that had came to prominence by penning an article complaining about what he perceived as French thievery. 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.
President Felix Houphouet-Boigny marketed his rule as the ivory miracle. The simple portrait bulk postage stamp makes a pretty good case for it. Bulk postage implies a functioning country. As with bulk postage throughout the world, mint versions of this stamp are worth more than twice the used form as most really were mailed. Ivory Coast is no longer so functional regarding the post. The last bulk mail issue was from 1994 and the last stamp recognized as legitimate is from 2015.
Todays stamp is issue A111, a 25 African Franc stamp issued by the Ivory Coast in 1974. It was a five stamp issue in various denominations issued over several years. In the late 1980s there were new versions reflecting then new currency devaluations. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.
The President eventually known as Felix Houphouet-Boigny was born either in 1901 or 1907 depending on who you ask in Yamoussoukro during the time the Ivory Coast was a French colony. His birth name was Dia (magician) Houphouet and he was in the line to be a tribal chief in the Akoues tribe. He became chief at a young age but was represented by a regency. As per colonial policy, tribal chiefs were offered education in French local schools. During this time he trained as a medic and converted to Catholicism, Christened name Felix. Felix worked as a medic and organized a club for indigenous medical personnel. The French authorities considered the club a labor union and transferred him to a French hospital in a smaller town. He then penned an essay in a socialist newspaper saying that the French had stolen too much from the African man as regards to agriculture in the Ivory Coast. When the French figured out Felix wrote the article, they offered him a job as a colonial tax collector to buy him off. Soon Felix was rich.
After the war Felix won a seat in the French Parliament in Paris representing the colony. The Africans quickly aligned with the French communist party as it was the only party in favor of ending the colonies. Felix assured the French he was not a communist as he was too rich to be one. He instead began to advocate a gradual process toward independence unlike most African leaders of the time. France however was ready to leave and Felix became the first President of independent Ivory Coast. In the runup he added Boigny (the irresistible force) to his name. As he consolidated his power for a long rule he initially had some resistance. He had rival Jean-Baptiste Mockey exiled for using a form of voodoo involving black cats against him. Creepy, I can see why he had to go. He shrunk the military to avoid coups and let the French continue to run the economy that mainly involved coffee and cocoa, not ivory.
In the 1980s the world price for coffee and cocoa dropped and the country took on a great deal of debt to buy peace by continuing to pay farmers the old prices. Felix desperately begged Europe to pay him above market prices and then failed again when he halted exports to try to raise the market price. Felix was still spending lavishly moving the administrative capital to his hometown and building there a giant Catholic Basilica in the bush and an airport that could handle the Concorde SST. When Felix died in 1993, his fortune was estimated at $7 billion. His children argued how much of the fortune belongs to them versus the state. It did and still does support a peace prize in his name that is handed out annually through the UN. Perhaps odd for a leader that supported armed opposition to African governments in Angola Benin, Burkini Faso, Ghana, Liberia, and Nigeria. Felix is still fairly well remembered in the Ivory Coast, benefiting in retrospect for what came later.
Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the Concorde supersonic airliner. If I was the leader of a place not doing so well with so much money waiting for me in Switzerland, I sure would want a Concorde at the airport ready to zip me away. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.