Month: November 2024

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Djibouti 1979, The French also learn to read the writing on the wall

In the late 1950s the French and the British colonial authorities realized there was no way to continue their colonial administration against the will of the African majority. What to do in a place that is majority Arab and welcomed French administration as a buffer between them and the natives. Will France spend up to continue the protection in Djibouti or leave the Arabs to their fate as the British did in Zanzibar in 1965? 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.

Already 2 years after independence, independent Djibouti was heavily into  licensing their name for topical stamp issues. Here we have what was already their second issue of sea shells. The Cypaecassis rufa, or more commonly the red helmet shell, was first cataloged in 1758. It is most common on the west coast of southern Africa in Natal and Mozambique but occasionally as far north as Kenya.

Todays stamp is issue A100, a 10 Franc stamp issued by independent Djibouti on December 22nd, 1979. It was a three stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents cancelled to order.

In colonial times Somaliland was divided into an Italian, a British, and a French part. For the most part the colonies were coastal trading posts with mostly Arab populations that had some affiliation with the Arab traders of Muscat in Oman and Aden in Yemen. The desert interior also held clans of mostly nomadic black Africans. During the war, Italian Somaliland was taken from them and the many Italians that lived there made a quick departure. Into this void the black Somalis arrived. In the late1950s it was decided to allow the British Somaliland to unite with the former Italian one as independent Somalia. France held a plebiscite to give the colony a choice whether to join Somalia. In the runup to the vote a large number of black Somalis appeared in Djibouti to turn the vote. France saw this happening and deported as many of the new arrivals as possible. They also required voter cards to be allowed to vote. It was now the turn of the blacks to claim voter suppression, noting the truth that the percentage of Arabs that voted was far higher than the percentage of blacks. The vote along racial lines was won by those that chose to remain French. Riots ensued and the French had to reinforce their military.

Ethiopia, Somalia, and Yemen were all quickly arming with mostly Soviet weapons. The British gave up in Aden in 1968. The French military deployment now had to consist of a full brigade of the French Foreign Legion backed up by French navy ships and a squadron of Mirage fighters. Meanwhile the UN was suggesting the French leave Djibouti anyway no matter the vote. The arms given to blacks in Djibouti by Somalia was now backed by further aid from the Organization of African Unity.

France decided in the late 1970s to go ahead and give up on the last European colony in black Africa. The expenses however continued. The new African government decided that it really had no desire to join the failed states of Somalia or Ethiopia. To keep them out, they requested that France keep up fighter planes and Foreign Legion Brigade in independent Djibouti. They stayed another quarter century.

The population of French Somaliland was only about 70,000 at the time of the first independence vote. Now it is about a million with less than a third Arab mostly in enclaves outside Djibouti city. Americans will of course be thrilled to learn that the French military presence was replaced by an American one. The USA deploys 4000 troops to Djibouti. Briefly Saudi Arabia considered building an 18 mile Bridge or the Horns that would connect Djibouti and Yemen and include new build twin Arab cities called Al Noor at both ends of the bridge. The estimates from 10 years ago is that it would cost 20 billion dollars. In 2010 the Saudis decided to indefinitely delay the project after reading their own writing on the wall.

The proposed site of the Bridge of the Horns as seen from space

Well my drink is empty and so I will have to wait until  there will be another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.

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Fake Equatorial Guinea 1976, Looking forward to an Olympics they would not attend

Can you really boycott an Olympics when there is no Olympic team to send. Of course, especially when you are doing it with fake stamps. 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.

Equatorial Guinea was in a bad place in the 1970s. The Dictator, Macais Nguema had changed his title from President to “the Unique Miracle”. His rule was not known for good governance. From 1972-1979 it is known that the Central Post Office left over from the Spanish was padlocked and there was no mail service. There were however many stamp issues emanating from Spain. They are considered fake.

We do know however that this was an 11 stamp issue in various denominations issued May 7th, 1976. There was also several souvenir sheets including one embossed in gold foil. It would be another unique miracle if any of them had any value.

South Africa had been excluded from the Olympics starting in 1964 over their then apartheid policies. Therefore there was never an invitation to attend the 1976 Summer Olympics held in Montreal. The Supreme Council of Sport was at the time the governing body for organized sports in black Africa. They desired a way to show solidarity with violent protests then happening in black South African townships like Soweto. They hit upon the sport of rugby. This was not an Olympic sport, but a team from New Zealand was playing a series of matches in South Africa with integrated teams. New Zealand was invited to the games and the Supreme Council of Sport would pull the African teams already there if New Zealand was not removed. Over 40 mostly African nations boycotted the games with the Olympic Committee reminding that rugby was not their business since it was not an Olympic sport. The boycott had the desired effect with several news cycles dominated by South Africa’s apartheid policy.

Equatorial Guinea was officially a boycotter but the reality was that they never sent a competitor to any summer or winter Olympics prior to 1984. To date, they have never sent a competitor to a winter Olympics. The country does have an important footnote from the 2000 games in Sydney. Swimmer Eric Moussambani recorded the slowest time in Olympic history during a 100 meter Freesyle heat. With disqualifications of the other two swimmers due to false starts, he won the heat. Mr. Moussambani had never before been in an Olympic size swimming pool and was barely able to complete the distance. Nonetheless his time was a national record in the event. The press labeled him Eric the Eel and congratulated him on his courage for finishing. When he finished the cheering was so loud he thought he had won the Gold. He is currently the coach of the swim team of Equatorial Guinea.

Eric the Eel after finishing

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Eric the Eel. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.

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Bavaria 1920, coming out of a crazy time

Bavaria went through a crazy time after World War I with eventually two rival Anarchist governments replacing the monarchy. Eventually Bavaria was brought back into the German fold and putting a big stain on the idea  of Soviet Republics in Germany. No wonder this first new design stamp after that featured Madonna and Child, there was much to pray about. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of tour adult beverage, and sut back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

The political whirl going on in Munich was not well represented on the stamps. When the Weimar German Army intervened on the side of the Bamberg socialist government, finally there was time for a new hopeful stamp issue. Almost as soon as it came out though, Bavaria integrated with Germany and the many copies of this stamp were overstamped German Reich and could be used for postage throughout Germany.

Todays stamp is issue A17, a 2.5 Mark stamp  issued by the Free State of Bavaria in March 1920. It was a 17 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, this example with the Germany overprint is worth 95 cents unused. The value goes to $95 if used, showing perhaps that there was more anarchy than a functioning government.

A mainstream left center socialist government attempted to take the reigns in Munich after the Monarchy fell. The left though was quite splintered with many on the far left and from abroad enamored with the idea of a Soviet Republic  in Munich as was happening in Budapest. There were also right wingers and disaffected aristocrats in Munich. This group in Munich stood somewhat apart from the otherwise conservative Catholic country. When the leader of the mainstream left leader was assasinated by a disaffected aristocrat, there was another round of assassinations among the left. The government then fled to the city of Bamberg and left Munich to anarchists. The Anarchists declared a Soviet Republic of Bavaria under Jewish playwright Ernst Toler.

The anarchists made all sorts of wild declarations. They declared that money should be free. They stated that the University of Munich should be free and open to all except nobody was allowed to study history. Within a month of being in power, they had declared war on the Bamberg government but also the governments of Switzerland and Württemberg. The Swiss had apparently refused to loan Toler some locomotives. The foreign minister wired the Pope and Vladimir Lenin complaining that his predecessor had absconded to Bamburg with the key to the foreign minister’s toilet. Max Levien, a Soviet of French heritage was soon given more power as the Soviets tried to bring their republic under more control.

It was not to be. The Weimar National German government intervened on the side of the Bamberg socialists. After much street to street fighting in Munich, the Bamberg socialists were back in Munich as the short lived Free State. The anarchists on the left and right were given short prison sentences.

Bavarian Head of State Ernst Toller during his short stay in jail

The Bavarian Soviet Republic leaders weren’t given much trust by the later Soviet government of Stalin. Max Toler died under mysterious circumstances while in exile in the USA. Max Levien returned to Russia and worked on war relief and ironically as a history professor. In 1937, Stalin ordered Germans or former Germans to be rounded up on the assumption that they were probably all spies of the Nazi Gestapo. It is easier to label someone a Nazi then just admit it was someone who can’t be trusted. Levien was executed 6 months after his arrest.

Well my drink is empty. The anarchists had hoped theirs would be a revolution of love and a coffee house government. Does anywhere really want to be ruled by the whims of such people? Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.

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Serbia 1880, Unlike so many places, Serbia had it’s own royal line, or more problematically two.

As the mostly Christian Balkans tried to extract themselves from the Ottomans rule, a King who could play in European power games was useful. Instead of employing an out of work German Royal as did others, Serbia was blessed with it’s own royal line. Some times however the blessings come fast and furious. For Serbia that meant a second royal line to compete and joust with. 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.

Todays stamp shows Prince Milan I, at 26 a few years before he was able to get Great Power support for Serbia being upgraded from Principality to Empire and Milan I to King. Rulers didn’t last too long at the time so the stamp did it’s best to disguise his youth with the elaborate uniform and newly acquired mustache.

Todays stamp is issue A5, a 25 Paras stamp issued by the Principality of Serbia in 1880. It was part of a 6 stamp issue in various denominations. There are two colors of the 25p denomination, blue and ultramarine(a darker blue). I think mine is blue but that is open for debate with possible fading on a 141 year old stamp. According to the Scott catalog, the blue version is worth $1.90 mint. The ultra version is $1.50.

Serbia got a measure of independence from the Ottomans in the early 19th century. Some areas contained Muslim holdovers and also many Serbs were in Austrian and Montenegrin areas that were still Ottoman. The two royal lines were Karadordevic line and  the Obrenovic line to which Milan I belongs. His line was more simpatico with Austria and the Karadordevic line more with Russia. Milan grew up in exile in Moldavia as it was the other lines turn. He lost his father fighting for Romania as a mercenary and his mother became the mistress of the Moldavian King bearing him several out of wedlock children. She no longer had time for Milan and he was adopted by his cousin the ruling Prince Mihailo who had the Karadodevics expelled in 1858. Milan was given a Paris education. He had to return early at age 14 when Prince Mihailo was assassinated leaving no offspring. After some chaos a regency was agreed upon with a council of politicians advising now Prince Milan.

The young Prince faced one or two attempts on his life as a teen. One was a bomb and the other an incident in an outhouse. He was doing his business sitting on a wooden seat that gave way under his weight sending him into the pit below. He couldn’t climb out but had his sidearm and fired to summon help. There were rumors that the wood had been treated with acid so to give way under him. There were also rumors that both attempts were from his regents to scare Prince Milan into not dismissing them upon majority. It was not just a rumor that that was one stinky pit.

It was a violent time. There was a disastrous war with Bulgaria that was almost the end of Serbia. Only Austrian intervention preventing that. The other was more successful with the stripping of the last ties to the Ottomans and the recognition of Serbia as an Empire and Milan has the King. Austria was prominent in this and with so many Serbians living unhappily in Austrian territory an alliance with them undermined King Milan’s popularity. To address this, he took a Russian wife Natalie as his Queen. The union was unhappy although a son Alexander was produced. They divorced and she took the Crown Prince with her moving to Germany. Milan eventually was able to regain control over Prince Alexander. He then passed a new constitution friendly to Austria and then abdicated to his 13 year old son. He tried to serve on his son’s regency council but then Alexander’s mother returned from Germany with paperwork declaring her divorce from Milan invalid. The young Prince Alexander, incensed with both of them for not approving of his choice of wife had both his parents sent into exile. Former King Milan died in Vienna a year later at age 43. In 1903 King Alexander was assassinated at age 26 allowing the rival Karadordevic line to assume the throne. This put Serbia firmly in Russia’s orbit in time for World War I. Queen Natalie converted to the Catholic Church after exile and became a Nun serving the Church in France until her death in 1941.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast King Milan I. Getting out early and dying of natural causes was quite a feat for a leader in that time and place. Come again  for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018

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Chile 1905, Examining Columbus at a time of Golden Legend instead of todays Black Legend

One hundred and fifteen years ago it was still possible to remember Christopher Columbus as a man who conquered danger and obstacles to bring freedom and opportunity for Europeans in the new world while bringing the good news of Jesus to lost and desperate natives. A Golden Legend. Throughout history and especially today, there is a competing Black Legend that recast Columbus as an incompetent set on enslavement with a demonic thirst for unearned riches. In Columbus’s own time he could and did defend his good name. When Governor of Hispaniola, He had a colonial Spanish woman stripped and paraded through the streets before cutting out her tongue for saying he was of low birth. Protecting his Golden Legend while also perhaps providing ammunition to the Black Legend crowd. Maybe everything isn’t so simple and whichever side someone is on they should be well versed in both legends. 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.

Notice something about this Chilean stamp. It did not feel the need to tell the postal user or the stamp collector who they were looking at. An Italian man who’s travels were 400 years before and never got close to Chile. Yet his image was thought self evident enough not to require identification. Golden or Black, there is no denying the legend.

Todays stamp is issue A14, a five Centavo stamp issued by Chile in 1905. It was a 10 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 70 cents unused. There is a version stamped Isla de Mas Afuera that were only for use on Juan Fernandez Islands. That version is worth $125.

The term Black Legend originates in 19th century Britain through a series of histories that cast the the Napoleonic and especially the Spanish Empires as something dark and demented as opposed to the good work of community building in the name of God, King, and family as practiced in the British Empire. To give evidence for this view, the quest for gold and the alleged enslavement of the indigenous are pointed out. These points are amplified today with everyone becoming spokesmen for the otherwise voiceless indigenous. It shouldn’t be too big a surprise that the same arguments are now turned on the British colonial efforts.

A period depiction of the Black Legend as practiced in Hispaniola. The Dutchman who created it was really annoyed that Spain was Catholic instead of Protestant

It should be remembered that Columbus’s voyage was funded by the Spanish Crown in the hope of finding a shorter route to the trading posts of Asia. Ironically Christopher Columbus sent his brother Bartholomew to pitch the idea of being a patron  of the voyages to the British Crown. It was not meant to be. On his voyage to Britain, Bartholomew’s ship was attacked by pirates. It is a misreading of history that Columbus was for the first time proposing that the world was round. Educated people of the day knew of the work of Ptolemy and Eratosthenes. The big error of Columbus was a miscalculation of the Earth’s diameter. He estimated the distance sailing west from his starting off point in the Canary Islands to Japan would be at most 5000 miles. The actual journey would be more than twice that even if the western hemisphere was not in the way.

In 1500, Columbus was removed as colonial governor of Hispaniola, arrested, and sent back to Spain in chains. Over two thirds of the Spanish colonists had died from disease and famine in the early days of colony and the remainder were in a sour mood. The removal also in the opinion of the Spanish Crown absolved them having to pay Columbus his personal 10% of new colony profits that they had agreed to when they funded the first voyage. Back in Spain in his last years Columbus wrote two books defending himself. His Book of Privileges put out what he felt he was owed. He also wrote a Book of Prophesies putting forth his discoveries in terms of God’s requirement for spreading the word of God.

After his death, Columbus’s remains were moved to Santo Domingo. An American request in 1913 was denied that the remains be allowed to be placed on the first ship to use the new Panama Canal. This proves that 1913 was still a period of Columbus’s Golden Legend.

Well my drink is empty and you can probably guess that I will side with the Legends of Gold over Legends of Blackness every time. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.