Month: May 2025

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Uzbekistan 1993, With no more silk road trade, the Tashkent Turks tire of the Boyars and the exiles and revert to Kokand

The silk road trade made Tashkent rich. It also made it a target of Turkish Khans seeking tribute. In desperation, the traders allowed themselves to be conquered by Russian Boyar adventurers hoping for good governance. Instead the silk trade was allowed to dry up and the city was flooded with exiles the Soviets didn’t trust and wanted out of the way. Maybe if they united with the rural Uzbeks and gave the Turks another try. 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 question was how and how much to subdivide the Turk people of Central Asia. Tashkent went to the extreme and tried to be a city state to protect it’s wealth. The early Soviet years saw the entire area organized as semi autonomous Turkestan, the other extreme of possibilities. The Soviet break up saw a middle road, with independent Uzbekistan reverting to a new Khanate of Kokand. That is what is reflected in the new coat of arms that is more like Kokand than more recent Soviet days.

Todays stamp is issue A8, a 15 Ruble stamp issued by independant Uzbekistan on June 10th, 1993. It was a four stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 35 cents cancelled to order. It is strange to see a non postal cancellation on what appears to be a bulk issue.

The Silk Road was the key to developing Tashkent. It wasn’t just Chinese silk, but also paper and gunpowder that were traded. The Turk population had to be able to interact with Chinese, Indians, Russians, and even Germans and British. The wealth and interaction changed the city and it attempted to govern itself as a city state, still under a local Turk Khan. The neighboring and formerly ruling Khanate of Kokand whose borders closely resemble modern Uzbekistan was able to reconquer Tashkent. To due so they occupied it with 30,000 defenders for the walled city.

Into this came Russian Boyar General Mikhail Chenyayev. Boyars were a multinational class of aristocrats who contract with the Czar to do  certain tasks. In Chenyayev’s case he was to bring the Russian flag to central Asia. He only had with him 1000 men. Knowing how well defended it was, the Czar had instructed him to leave Tashkent alone. Instead his small force scaled the wall in the middle of the night and killed the Kokand leader and paralized the defenses. Promising the city would be tax free and not militarily occupied, Tashkent was conquered.

As the Czar gave way to the Soviets Tashkent changed in a way that disappointed the local Turks. Cold war barriers got in the way of the old trade. In the meantime Moscow picked Tashkent for industrialization and as a place to go for eastern European exiles to whom they did not really trust. The city grew to be the fourth largest city in the Soviet Union, but the Turks were now a minority in their own city. The end of the Soviet Union saw a new Kokand form as Uzbekistan and there was a quick migration out of the exiles and Soviets. The city has not shrunk as the population was replaced by rural Uzbeks. The migration out can be spotted on modern AT&T commercials. The spokeslady, Milana Vaayntrub, was born in Tashkent in 1987, the daughter of Jewish exiles. The change saw the family emigrate to the USA when Milana was a toddler. The question is, the Soviets didn’t trust her family, nor did the Uzbeks, can AT&T?

Milana Vayntrub as Lily the AT&T lady. When she is not selling you a phone, she is advocating for Syrian refugee settlement in Europe. Interesting Tashkent doesn’t occur as a likely destination.

In recent years, China has been interested in reinvigorating silk road trade with a Chinese financed Silk Belt and Road initiative. This will not be of any good to Uzbek Tashkent. The Chinese have decided instead to route the new belt of roads and rail through Kazakhstan.

Well my drink is empty. Come again soon for another story that can be learned by stamp collecting. First published in 2021.

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Ras Al Khaima/ Khaimah 1969, Finbar Kenny brings postage stamps to a high tent on a pirate coast

Translated Ras Al Khaima means top of the tent, and indeed the Emirate contains the highest peak in the United Arab Emirates. In the old days it probably had some great smugglers dens. Now it hosts the worlds longest zip line. This stamp collector would rather talk about the old days. 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 shows the docking of the lunar and command module of that years American Apolo 11 mission to the moon. A note about how spelling changes. They currently list three acceptable spellings for the Emirate in English, none of which is the one this stamp from 1969. The Emirate now seems decisive in wanting an h at the end of Khaima. Interestingly, in the first year of the Emirate’s stamps in 1964, the cancelation to order done on the stamp spelled the Emirate differently than on the actual stamp. The cancellation was prescient on putting the h at the end of Khaima, but then switched the Al to El which again is not one of the three allowed English spellings.

This dune stamp is considered fake so it is not in the catalog. Between 1964 and 1972 1036 stamps and 70 souvenir sheets were issued by Ras Al Khaima. Mid way along the currency switched from  Indian Rupees to Riyals so there are even some overprints of early issues changing the currency. This issue of 6 stamps and one souvenir sheet came out on August 15th, 1969.

The area of Ras Al Khaima has been occupied by humans continuously for 7000 years. It is associated historically with the trading post of Julfar. The area has been rules by the House of Al-Qasimi since 1721. Another line of the Royal house rules the Emirate of Sharjah. During this early period the British involved with the private British East India Company labeled the area of the coastline a pirate coast. There is some contention that this is just the British putting labels on trading competitors, however it is known that the Al-Qasimis were tied to the Somalis. Their allies in old times were the Persians and their rivals were the Omanis in Muscat and their British allies.

At first there was much inconclusive fighting with Muscat. In 1820 to they said put a stop to the piracy, the East India Company attacked by land and sea the fort at Ras Al Khaima. When they charged the fort they found it almost deserted. Unable to locate Emir Al-Qasimi, they traveled to Sharjah and had that Al-Qasimi sign a capitulation that agreed to an end to piracy and slavery. Ras Al  Khaima again seperated from Sharjah in 1869.

1820 British and Muscat siege of Ras Al Khaima

In 1963, the British stopped being the protector and stamp issuer for the Trucial States as they called them. That allowed American fake stamp guru Finbar Kenny come in to fill the stamp breach, signing a deal with Sheik Saqr Al-Qasimi. However the time period was very bad for Ras Al Khaima. Two islands that the Emirate claimed were occupied militarily by Shah era Iran. It seems the Al-Qasimi ties with the Persians had frayed. This became very important to stamp collectors because Ras al Khaima delayed joining the United Arab Emirates until the whole area agreed to to take up the cause of returning the islands. As a result of the delay, Ras Al Khaima produced the last fake dune stamps. Emir Saqr ruled from 1948 -2010.

Emir/Sheik Saqr Al- Qasimi

In 2003 Saqr removed crown prince Khalid in favor of son Saud. Khalid was forced into exile in old rival Muscat, Oman. Upon Saqr’s death on 2010, Khalid posted a video claiming the Emirship for himself, but the Emirate council recognized instead the selection of Saud. Khalid than funded a western PR campaign suggesting that his father and brother were in cahoots with the Islamic Republic of Iran in their nuclear weapons program. Sometimes the Philatelist has to update his scorecard to track the leans. Dunes do shift.

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

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Germany 2003, remembering the Porsche 356B 40 years later

I am generally more impressed with stamp issues that promise a better future than remember a great past. With an achievement like the Porsche 356, why not take the time to remember, especially when the remembrance supports a good cause. 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.

With a new stamp from an old car comes the question of how to photograph it. Period photos from advertising? No you are remembering a car, not trying to sell it. A modern photo of a classic car? No, an old car in great condition is probably more about the owner than the car itself. Germany decided to use a series of car drawings of the type a car identification book for children might have, even with some quick stats. This is a great idea as there were more kids dreaming about Porsches than adults driving them.

Todays stamp is issue SP434, a 55 +25 semi postal stamp issued by Germany on October 9th, 2003. This was an 8 stamp issue that remembered important cars from Germany’s past. All cars were post war and a few were even East German. The 25 cent surcharge benefited something called the Federal Working Party on Independent Welfare. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth $1.90 whether it is mint or used.

The Porsche 356 was a post war development of the pre war Volkswagen Beetle. The car had a smaller, lighter body and had engines that were uprated over their state of tune in Beetles. The car used the independent swing axle suspension of the Beetle but over time upgraded it to cope with more power. Initial thoughts of aluminum bodywork were deleted to keep expenses down. The car was still quite expensive costing a little more than an American Corvette with 3 times the power and 40 percent more weight. The British Austin Healy 3000 split the difference with less power, weight  and expense than the Corvette, but more weight and power than the Porsche.

What all three of these cars did well was demonstrate the 3 countries different approaches to going fast. To Germany, it was important to keep light so only as much power as could be gotten out of the light Beetle engine. In this period of the 356 in the early 60s, that power was as much as 3 times what the Beetle had. The Corvette was bigger with the engine out of big, powerful American cars. The American car was far faster and more stable, but the light Porsche could catch up in the turns where its agility, rear engine traction and independent, if dangerous suspension helping. The Corvette in this period sold better with about 25 percent more volume despite a fewer percentage exported than the 356. The Austin Healy sold less still despite it’s lower price but did achieve many exports. One thing the three cars had in common was souped up sedan engines rather than specially designed engines for sports cars. It kept prices down.

The 356 was made from 1949- 1965. The B model shown on the stamp had larger window and changes in the floorplan to add room. The C model came along in 1963 adding disc brakes. Over time the car gained a few hundred pounds as more equipment was added. The 356 was replaced in 1965 with the Porsche 911 that attacked the problem of higher weight by adding a six cylinder overhead camshaft engine still in the back. Weight was up 30% over the early 356 but power more than doubled. Prices also went up but for a few years a 912 version sold with the 356 engine at only a slightly higher price.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the German attitude toward speed. The idea now seems to be that all cars must now be built to a world standard so it matters less where a car comes from. I preferred it when the cars better reflected the attitudes of where they were from. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.