Month: August 2026

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Germany 1943, U-boat wolfpacks bring the war across the sea

Here is another stamp where the lead times to produce a new stamp meant the story told by the stamp was out of date. Thus the early German optimism about the war is displayed just as Stalingrad had turned the tide. 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.

There were two series of this style of stamp from Germany. The early issue showed German forces victorious and on the march, including this U boat. They came out on Hero Memorial Day in 1943. For Hero Memorial Day in 1944 there was a new issue that was quite different. Gone was the blitzkrieg bluster replaced by determined, well armed soldiers clearly on the defense. In 1945 there was a stamp  honoring the Volksstrurm, a new army of children to resist the Russian advance from the East, as the situation went from bad to worse.

Todays stamp is issue SP189, a 3+2 Pfennig  semi-postal stamp issued by Germany on March 21, 1943. It was a 12 stamp issue in various denominations showing German war fighters from the various services. The surcharge benefited the families of the war dead. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.25 used.

Germany had great hopes that their Navy’s submarines would help insure a German victory in the war. Great Britain after all was an island and very dependent on supplies brought in by sea. The German war effort in World War I had been greatly damaged by the mainly British naval blockade. It was now time to return the favor. Unfortunately when the war broke out the navy only had 57 seaworthy U boats, and many were small coastal types. They all were not truly submarines in the modern sense, being able to stay under water for long periods. Instead they were more surface ships that could dive underwater for short periods with their engines off under battery power. Notice the cannon on the deck of the U-boat on the stamp. This was to attack a merchant ship on the surface without ever diving.

German production was gearing up fast. By 1943, Germany was able to field the 100 U boats concurrently at sea that German Admiral Donitz believed was key to success. U boats sank 3663 ships that added up 14 million tons of shipping. The cost however was 720 U-boats sunk. The surface journey in and out of base was becoming ever more treacherous. German ship builders were innovating new battery technology that would have kept the subs underwater longer where they were much less vulnerable. They required extra crew training and were only just coming into service at wars end.

At the beginning of May 1945, Admiral Donitz replaced Hitler as head of the Third Reich. One of his first orders  was that the U-boats and all other German ships except useful post war minesweepers be scuttled. On May 4th, in surrender talks that order was rescinded, but many ship Captains went ahead with the scuttling assuming the rescinding order was coerced. 238 of the 394 remaining U-boats were scuttled and 4 were turned over to Japan. This is indicative of both extremely high U-boat construction during the war and how around two thirds of them were lost.

Admiral Donitz surrenders to British soldiers on May 23, 1945. He was jailed till 1956 and lived till 1980. One of his aids had just killed himself rather than surrender.

The German technological progress with submarines was very influential post war. The West German, French and Soviet navies made submarines modeled on late war model U-boats. Even the USA started the GUPPY program that rebuilt World War II subs to incorporate German technology. Even as late as the 1980s, a Soviet Whiskey class sub was sneaking undetected into Swedish waters until underwater rocks found it rather than the Swedish Navy. The Whiskey class was a copy of the Type XXI U-boat.

Well my drink is empty. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

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Taiwan 1956, General “Cash My Check” plans project national glory

Losing becomes self perpetuating. Kuomintang leader General Chiang Kai-shek had to flee to Taiwan after losing the Chinese civil war. His comrades were now in a strange land and many of the locals found the former Japanese administration more efficient. The General had an idea to return to national glory before the Americans got serious about not cashing his checks. 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.

I found it strange that this Taiwan stamp portrayed their leader in the guise of a General. Many if not most of the General Chiang’s battles had not gone well. Yet here he is, at nearly 70, presenting himself as a military leader ready to win back the China he had lost. To have survived so long Chiang had his fans, but this was not a convincing guise to convince anyone new.

Todays stamp is issue A124 a $2 stamp issued by the Republic of China on Taiwan on October 31st, 1956. It was a six stamp issue in various denominations displaying President Chiang Kai-shek as a military leader. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used. This was a bulk postage issue therefore unused versions are more valuable. A mint version of this stamp is up at $16.

At the end of World War II, Taiwan had been under Japanese occupation for over 50 years. Things had been peaceful and there had been economic progress. At suggestion of the Allies, Chinese Kuomintang(KMT) forces accepted the Japanese surrender.  The KMT administration proved much rougher than the Japanese. On February 28th, 1947 a local 40 year old widow lady was selling contraband cigarettes on the street when agents from the tax authority approached her. One of the agents hit her over her head with a pistol as an angry crowd formed. Soon the agents fled after shooting into the crowd. This lead to days of riots where over 5000 people were killed. Thus the KMT’s legitimacy was already suspect when their leaders arrived in defeat from the mainland.

The legitimacy of General Chiang was already under question. The KMT had been the recipient of massive amounts of American aid over many years to have nothing but Taiwan to show for it. He was still asking for and getting even more aid while making big promises. Thus the sneer in America of General Cash my Check. The Soviet Union was at the time having similar feelings about all the aid going to Red China while their great leap forward proved to be such a stumble.

Nevertheless, General Chiang had a plan to turn things around. It was modeled after Sun Yat-sen’s successful effort to bring down the Qing Dynasty in 1911. See https://the-philatelist.com/2019/04/26/china-1961-remembering-sun-tat-sen-for-trying-to-bring-peace-order-and-good-government-over-from-hong-kong/ . Small units of special forces would foment trouble while the Muslim opposition army funded from Taiwan acted as a warlord army. It sounds pretty fanciful that it could work, but Chiang had often been attracted to such schemes.

In late 1965, Project National Glory got under way when special forces were to be landed in the mainland. The Red Chinese navy caught the ships and two were sunk. Earlier a practice for an amphibious landing was botched when three landing craft overturned in high waves. General Chiang gave up on these fanciful schemes in the early 70s when many countries withdrew recognition from Taiwan as the spokesman for all of China.

Chiang Kai-shek died in 1976 at the age of 89. His son by his first wife succeeded him. His then current wife, number four and First Lady fled to the USA as she was on bad terms with the son from another mother. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/03/06/madame-chaing-efforts-to-help-warphans/  .

Well my drink is empty and I am left wondering how much the USA and the Soviet Union squandered trying to influence what happens in China. Not money well spent. Come again soon for another story to be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

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Barbuda 1979, think of how great it will be to be independant or at least dependant on Antiqua

Barbuda is a small island in the Caribbean. When Antigua achieved independence in 1981, Barbuda was declared a dependent. A well known writer from Antigua, who calls herself Jamaica Kincaid, writes that because of the nature of slavery, the descendants are not responsible for their current situation. Imagine having to rely on 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.

This stamp is sort of a fantasy of air travel to Barbuda. In real life Codrington  Airport has a very short runway and the most common plane serving it is the 9 passenger twin prop Islander. In fact even this capability is closed as the airport was damaged by Hurricane Irma in 2017. Yet here we have a four jet Convair 880 airliner ready to park. Is it the Lisa Marie, Elvis’s plane? Total fantasy. The fantasies get even larger elsewhere in the stamp issue, showing a British Airways 747. There was a theory that tourism was being held back by the British administration. So perhaps the stamp is a vision of how the future may be. If the British would just leave.

Todays stamp is issue B33, a $1.25  stamp issued by the West Indies British colony of Barbuda on May 24th, 1979. It was a four stamp issue celebrating the 30th year of the West Indies Civil Aviation organization. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 50 cents unused. Barbuda did a few stamps after independence but most now stated as Antigua and Barbuda

Barbuda was first spotted by Columbus but proved difficult to settle  because of the Caribe Indians were not welcoming. Eventually the British got established on the islands. With them they brought Irish indentured servents and many slaves from West Africa to work sugar cane plantations. The Irish often functioned as slave oversears and intermarried with them. As was typical in the British Empire, others from Portugal and Syria were attracted to the towns to function as merchants. They were again mostly male and intermarried with the slaves. This diversity went away after the plantation economy tanked and the island is now near 100% black.

Barbuda put off independence as long as possible. You weren’t still a colony in 1981 because it had not been offered to you. The economy had dried up after slavery and they came upon naming Barbuda a dependency of  the nearby slightly larger island of Antigua. In Antiqua a labour leader named Bvrd had been recruited to serve in the colonial administration and went on to serve as Prime Minister. So did his son. In fact the main political rivalry was between Byrd’s two sons. One was accused of corruption for being a silent partner in a new hotel. The other was accused of smuggling arms to a Columbian drug cartel. No doubt people from Antiqua and Barbuda rejoiced when daddy Byrd picked the hotel guy. The slightly bigger airport on Antigua was built by the Americans during World War II  but was recently renamed for daddy Byrd. This was in celebration of Byrd’s contribution to the islands, none greater than his two charming sons.

The writer who calls herself Jamaica Kinkaid is from Antiqua. At 16 her mother sent her to Scarsdale, NY as an au pair. She was supposed to send money home to help support her large family but didn’t. Her host family let her attend community college and then she was offered a full scholarship to a college in Vermont. She moved to New York City and began writing angry anti colonial Caribbean based youth fiction that some describe as half séance half ambush. When she began dating the Editors son, she began writing for the New Yorker magazine. She married him, converted to Judism, and moved to Vermont. She quit the New Yorker in 1996  when an issue was dedicated to Roseanne Barr, who Kinkaid felt was beneath her. Asked why an Antiquan and Barbudan would refashion herself Jamaica Kincaid, I come from nowhere and have no credentials. Well yea.

Well my drink is empty and so we are at an end. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

 

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Poland 1982, do Polish experts do better through adversity, or was it just easier when nobody knew anything?

This isn’t the first Polish scientist stamp I have covered. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/10/17/poland-1983-remembers-an-astronomer-mathemacian-from-a-time-with-so-many-changes-that-it-was-hard-to-develop-the-polish-academic-tradition/  . They all seem to have faced dramatic obstacles related to the plight of the Poles at the time, yet still moved mankind’s knowledge forward. With relative peace and prosperity not just in Poland, am I the only one to notice that progress has slowed. 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 from 1982 shows four prominent mathematicians. They are displayed on graph paper in a fun 80s Max Headroom style. Sierpinski died in 1969 making him the most modern figure on the stamp issue, although most of his important work was 50+ years before that. Could Poland have come up with 4 living mathematicians in 1982 or 2019 that were advancing the field enough to be worthy of being remembered? I wonder.

Todays stamp is issue A799, a 6 Zloty stamp issued by Poland on November 23rd, 1982. It was a four stamp issue displaying 4 Polish mathematicians. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether it is mint or used.

Waclaw Sierpinski was born in Warsaw in 1882. At the time the city was under Czarist Russian occupation. The city’s University taught in Russian and had a largely Russian staff. As such, it was sort of a colonial operation and Poles were reticent to attend and thereby support the Russian occupation. Sierpinski did not honor the boycott as he desired to learn from a prominent Russian mathematician on staff there. He did withhold his first major academic work from publication until it could be published in Polish instead of Russian. World War I saw him in Moscow working with Russians. Sierpinski was back in Poland for the 1919 war with the Soviet Union and worked for the Poles decoding Soviet cyphers. Bet the Soviets were glad the Czarists had invested so much in Sierpinski’s success.

Sierpinski main mathematical contribution was in the field or numbers theory and set theory. In numbers theory, Sierpinski built upon the work of Russian mathematician Vorony. His later set theory work was built on the work of German mathematician Cantor. Below is a fractal that is named for him. It is one of those visual distotions.

Sierpinski Square, a fractal where the dimensions of the individual are more than the whole

Sierpinski continued working at the University or Warsaw through 1967. Or course his later years were more about receiving rewards for work he had done many years before. In a way, I wonder if this is the most interesting part. Is the adversity faced by people like Sierpinski necessary to challenge him to be his best? An alternative theory is that of course the older fellows seem to do more than the moderns because people just did not know anything back then.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Poland. It is a short list of countries that could put together a list of prominent mathematicians and Poland is one of the smaller and newer countries on that list. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

 

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Lubeck 1859, a Hanseatic Free state submits to Prussia but keeps its independant streak

Along the Baltic and the North Sea there were a group of trading cities that formed a Hanseatic League to protect their interest. When Prussia united Germany there was a dance with cities like Lubeck as to how much of it’s traditional character could be retained. Some later leaders thought too much. 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.

Well a German Eagle implies a state ready to join a greater Germany. Look closer and you will spot the eagle has two heads looking east and west. This is a symbol of the old Holy Roman Empire, which first granted Lubeck it’s status as a Imperial Free Hanseatic State. The looking east and west implies empire and also fits with a trading post city. With Austria being the successor to the Holy Romans, it also speaks to the natural sympathies in the rivalry between Austria and Prussia.

Todays stamp is issue A1, a 2 Shilling stamp that was the first stamp issue of the Hanseatic Free State of Lubeck in 1859. It was a five stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $27.50 unused. A variant of this stamp with the denomination written out as two and a half is worth $7200 used. Lubeck printed stamps for collectors up till 1872  so used copies of their stamps are the most valuable.

Lubeck was a trading post city on the Baltic. It had the additional advantage of being on the direct land route from the Baltic to the much larger Hamburg, thus avoiding the long sea journey around Denmark. As a trading post, the city had a much more international flavor than inland cities and the trade added to the wealth. The Hanseatic League had fallen apart many years before but many of the cities worked to preserve the unique character. The then large Holy Roman Empire granted Lubeck its free city status and the city was comfortable pledging allegiance to the far off Hapsburgs while running themselves under a Burgermeister. In the second half of the 19th century, Prussia had ambitions in the area and first worked with Austria against Denmark and then turned against her and fought a war that removed Austria from the area. Now came the direct pressure from Prussia to join the North German Confederation controlled by Prussia.

Prussia made the direct threat to occupy the city militarily. An alternative was offered that allowed some measure of self government but more Prussian control than Austrian Hapsburgs ever had. Under the military pressure, both heads of the Lubeck eagle looked south and joined with Prussia. The instruments of separateness stayed in place.

The independence of the area can be seen in two of it’s most famous citizens. Thomas Mann was a giant of German literature including ” A Death in Venice”. A closeted homosexual and leftist, he spent most of his life outside Germany in Switzerland and the USA. During the war, he hosted a propaganda show called “Listen Germany” where he decried the then German government for ending the cultural openness or decadence of the Weimar Republic, depending on your point of view. After the war Mann returned quickly to Switzerland rather than Germany after finding Truman’s USA too right wing for him. The politician known as Willi Brandt was a left wing activist who fled the Nazis to Norway and then resurfaced post war in Berlin, first as a Norwegian diplomat and then had a fairly miraculous rise in German politics becoming mayor of West Berlin and later Chancellor of West Germany. He was controversial on the right side of the political spectrum for living his life under an alias, having a mysterious gap as to what he did while abroad, and or course the sex and spy scandals that eventually brought him down. Things were perhaps done a little differently in the trading post cities.

Hitler resented Lubeck and removed the last vestiges of it’s special status in 1937. On this point, post war West Germany agreed and did not return it’s special status.

Well my drink is empty and so I will pour another to toast Lubeck Trading post cities often have interesting histories but it is often sad when they are brought into line, Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.