Author: John C

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France 2003, Paris remembers fondly the peasant Cassoulet of Languedoc, to give a direction for white flight

This is a stamp, printed in Paris, that displays their view of the regions. Interesting that for the Languedoc region of southwest France, they picked a peasant dish to goes so far into tradition, that it contains a little of the dish that came before. This as Languedoc was taking in ordinary workers who could no longer exist in Paris do to the stratification. 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 meant to celebrate the regions of France. That it was put together by Paris sophisticates is obvious by the subjects chosen. Thus the region of Languedoc is not represented by the Airbus factory, but rather an old style peasant dish containing lots of beans. Says something I think of those moving from Paris to there. Good bye and good eats, and don’t forget your yellow vest.

Todays stamp is issue A1642, a 50 Euro Cents stamp issued by France on May 24th, 2003. It was a 10 stamp issue showing aspects of the various regions of France and was available as well as a souvenir sheet. According to the Scott catalog, any individual stamp from the sheet is worth $1.30 used. The souvenir sheet as a whole is worth $16.

The Languedoc region of France is one of the fastest growing regions as real estate is more affordable and all of the industry as yet to depart. The region came into France later than areas further north so shows some vestiges of Spanish and Italian influences. By French standards, the area still has a low population density.

The Cassoulet dish originated among peasants and was a casserole containing white beans, sausage and pork skins and often duck or goose. Interestingly when the dish is eaten the brown stains at the bottom of the pot are deglazed and stored as a base for the next time. In this way there is an unbroken continuity from a dish from many years before. Sounds a lot like whiskey makers transferring the sour mash dregs of the last batch into the next one for continuity and tradition. This talk has now made me both hungry and thirsty though I am no fan of beans, sausage or eating foul. Well part of the tradition of peasant cooking in the big pot is throwing in whatever is on hand.

Of course tradition can always be dumbed down and homogenized. French big box supermarkets sell premade cassoulets in cans and jars. No doubt whatever finds its way into those giant casserole dishes/industrial vats is just as good. At least it gives something to throw at the next yellow vest rally.

Well my drink is empty, and my wife has in mind Thai food for lunch. No French peasant food around here and I can’t convince my wife to crack open her Jacque Pepin cookbook. You can trust that I will be thinking of Cassoulet while I eat my drunken noodles. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

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Nicaragua 1976, Somoza will bleed the peasants dry and then automate their function

This series of stamps shows American progress over 200 years in celebration of the Bicentennial that year. In it though you can spot the hereditary Somoza regime’s plan to pacify the country. The plan was pretty fanciful, but lucky for the USA at the time Nicaragua was only exporting their rich people. The much more numerous poor would have to wait a few more generations. 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 multiple harvesters are not an accurate picture of agriculture in Nicaragua even over 40 years later. Then President Somoza’s son might argue it might had the Somozas not been forced to flee in 1979, who knows how much  extra progress might have occurred. The wealthy landowner class would surely have been interested in automating the peasant function.

Todays stamp is issue A308, a 3 Centavo stamp issued by Nicaragua on May 25, 1976. It was a 16 stamp issue in various denominations the showed before and after views of American progress after 200 years in various fields. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether it is mint or used.

Anastasio Somoza was the third member of his family to serve as President. It was a corrupt regime of the landowner class and as was common, a big percentage of the families lived overseas. Somoza’s mother was French and his wife Hope, though a cousin, was born and raised in the USA. Somoza took power in 1967 after his older brother had bowed out. Central America was starting to be the recipient of massive food aid from the USA that was reducing hunger and what soon followed was a great increase in population, mainly among the poor. These masses of peasants were not satisfied with the regime which seemed to be routing the American aid from them to the leaders pockets. Meantime Hope, now Madame Somoza, was appearing in worldwide best dressed lists.

Madame Hope Somoza with an American Cardinal. she was less popular with local priests and their annoying liberation theology

One moneymaking scheme of the Somoza’s was especially offensive to the poor. He set up a company Plasimaferesis. Every day thousands of peasants lined up for 35 Cordobas in exchange for their blood. This was immediately exported. When this practice continued after a large earthquake in 1972 it was very damaging to the regime. Again there was an outpouring of aid that seemingly wasn’t getting through to the peasants. When Carter became President of the USA in 1977, he cut off aid to people like Somoza due to their stench. !977 was a rough year for Somoza has he also had a heart attack which saw his son as caretaker while he sought treatment in the civilized world. With the only military aid coming in from Isreal it was time to strike and the local leftists took up the cause of the peasants. It was the Somoza’s time to leave. The USA would not take President Somoza and he ended up in Paraguay with his mistress. Hope separated from him and moved to London. In 1986, the leftists came for Somoza in Paraguay as they had for his father in 1956. Operation Reptile, lead by a Argentine leftist code named Ramon assassinated Somoza by blowing up his Mercedes outside his estate. It took two RPG shots, the car was well armored. Former? Madame Hope Samoza found a rich Salvadoran to marry the next year.

The leftists of course were not any better for the peasants as they were not going to attract American aid and the East was only generous with out of date arms. Now Central America has learned to send their peasants to the USA directly to claim their aid. These peasants are lined up also outside American blood plasma centers to sell their blood every morning. Ironic isn’t it.

Well my drink is empty and I think I may reread my old piece on William Walker. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/09/27/costa-rica-remembers-the-the-drummer-boy-that-saved-central-america-from-an-american-manifest-destiny/   . Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

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Belgium 1955, should this textile alegory be updated to reflect 30 Euro a month workers in Bangladesh?

The industrial revolution began in Britain and spread throughout Europe. Textile were a big part, first clothes and later carpets. A key skill in big European cities is hosting conventions. Thus the big exhibition in textiles was this year in Barcelona, not Dacca or Abbes Ababa where the employment has gone. 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 1950s were a great time for industry. Unions were seeing to it that workers were getting ahead and societies wealth was rising fast enough that costs could be passed on to the consumer and thus the industrialist were also prospering. In 1951, it was Paris’s turn to get the ball rolling on large post war international textile exhibition and four years later it was the turn of Brussels. The majesty of this stamp shows how serious the country took the exhibition. The facilities of the Free University of Brussels were used and 12 academic papers on field advancements from around the West were presented.

Todays stamp is issue A117, a 2 Franc stamp issued by Belgium on May 11th, 1955. It was a single stamp issue celebrating the International Textile Exhibition to be held in June that year. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

In the USA, 95 percent of textile mills closed in the 1980s and 1990s. Belgium has faired a little better. The country still employs 42,000 people in the industry, this number drops 1-2000 a year. Update, now down to 17,000. This is a little less than one percent of the countries workforce. In the 1970s, developed nations noticed the movement of production to the third world. A multi fiber arrangement was worked out between them that temporarily put quotas on the amount of third world imports. Europe however made a special allowance for very poor countries to help them. Under this Bangladesh was allowed to export to Europe with no tariff or quota. Given that a Bangladeshi textile worker makes 30 Euros a month, no amount of industrial efficiency can match that. In the late 1980s the multi fiber arrangement broke down and the export rules were put under the jurisdiction of the World Trade Organization. China is the primary beneficiary of that and today is the worlds largest textile exporter. Somehow China has managed this while paying their workers a whopping 175 Euros a month.

China and Bangladesh should keep an eye out behind them. Recently Calvin Klein and H&M have moved some factories to Ethiopia. There a textile worker makes just 26 Euros a month. It has not been an easy go in Ethiopia. There has been much labor strife and turnover as it is not possible to support a family on 26 Euros a month, even in Ethiopia. Ethiopia was the last country on earth to officially ban slavery in 1942. Or did they?

Luckily for Europe, nobody is interested in having conventions in Dacca or Abbes Ababa. This year the Exposition was held in Barcelona and in 2023 there will be another one in Milan. There is no doubt that Europe knows how to put on a show, but it is too bad the act of making the textiles we use has been taken away.

Well my drink is empty and I am left wondering what the Brussels exposition was like. Were they still musing about technological and design advancements, or was there already a sense of doom over what was about to happen? Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

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El Salvador 1970, sitting out the Football War on a British Yacht

El Salvador in the 70s-80s was a warlike place. How does a patriotic young Salvadoran do his bit without getting himself killed in all the foolishness. Hm….. check your mailbox. 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.

Stamps that honor a countries military service also have the unsaid second job of military recruiting. This stamp is perhaps the most effective example of that I have ever seen. This ship makes no pretense whatever of being a warship. It is a patrol craft whose most important job is to show the flag. It’s summertime and the living is easy. Beats fighting your neighbor over footballs and land reform or gearing up for an endless left-right civil war. Join the Navy!

Todays stamp is issue A210, a 50 Centavo airmail stamp issued by El Salvador on May 7th, 1970. It was part of a 5 stamp issue in various denominations that honored the armed services. There is an overprinted version of this stamp from 1971 that celebrates the 20th anniversary of the El Salvadoran Navy.

El Salvador and Honduras were and still are desperately poor countries as can be seen by the recent mass migration north out of both countries. What more graphic indictment could there be of a failed state. In 1970 Salvador had a much higher population while Honduras had a much greater land mass. The 1960s saw a migration with Salvadorans squatting on Honduran land becoming over 20 percent of Honduras’s population. In 1962, Honduras passed a land reform plan  that intended to evict the Salvadorans and return the land to the large banana growers. This greatly angered El Salvador.

Into this anger came football (soccer). In a three game qualifier, Honduras faced  El Salvador. Honduras won the first match in Tegucigalpa. There was much violence in the stands and it shocked the country how many locals were not for the home team. There was then a second match in San Salvador won by El Salvador and again marker by anti Honduran violence. El Salvador broke diplomatic relations with Honduras after Salvadoran peasants began to be forcibly evicted from Honduras by citizens without the government lifting a finger to stop it, land reform being the law of the land. El Salvador won the third match in Mexico City and attacked Honduras. The armies fought on the ground but the interesting fighting was in the air where ancient American F4 Corsairs piston fighters handed out freely and stupidly by America to both air forces fought each other. America through the Pan American Union, see https://the-philatelist.com/2019/01/08/el-savador-1940-celebrating-the-pan-american-union-a-league-of-nations-that-actually-worked/ .quickly put a halt to the war after 100 hours and finally started an arms embargo. This was the last war where piston engine fighters fought each other. Both countries amazingly enough found some money in their pockets and bought out of date French jets from Israel, Oragons for Salvador and Super Mysteres for Honduras. Advantage Honduras.

Honduran Air Force F4 Corsair fighter showing Fernando Soto’s 3 Salvadoran kills. Notice also the old US Navy color. USA didn’t think to include paint in their aid

The patrol boat on the stamp was given second hand by the British. In the 80s they were replaced by American made patrol boats that previously served as service craft for offshore oil platforms. That sounds a little less yacht like=fail. The Navy also uses an ex USA coast guard cutter given in 2002. It was built in 1942! The Navy  has 870 personnel and has ordered bigger, new build!, Chilean patrol boats. We will see if they can actually pay for them at delivery time.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the sailors of both El Salvador and Honduras. Just remember if you see a boat in the drug trade, sail the other way, that way the living will always be easy. Wait, you already knew that. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019,

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Croatia 1941, Crossing out Peter II is something we all can agree on

Peter II, already on the stamps as a child King after his fathers assassination, was not really in charge. His Uncle Paul was regent and making some iffy decisions. So when real trouble came, the kid King flies away and gets crossed out. 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 situation had changed so an overstamp of the prewar Yugoslav stamp was called for. The big black circle over the guys face is downright rude. A few weeks before the German invasion, a coup supported by the young King was seen as against special arrangements made with Croats. So apparently the Croats were especially anxious to cross him out. The German puppet Serb government just wrote Serbia over the same stamp, so the extra hostility was not from the Serbs or even the Germans.

Todays stamp is issue A16, a one Dinar stamp issued by Croatia on May 16th, 1941, only a few weeks after the German invasion. It was a two stamp issue. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 40 cents whether mint or used.

Peter II became King in 1934 upon the assassination of his father. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/02/08/it-is-dangerous-to-rule-the-kingdom-of-serbs-croats-and-slovenes/   . He was 11 years old. His uncle Paul became regent and claimed to be trying to continue the policies of Peter’s father until he reached his majority in 1941. Instead he gave a great deal of autonomy to a greater Croatia that included much of Bosnia. This angered the Serbs. They were further angered in early 1941 when the regent signed an alliance with Germany. There was a British supported coup. Pro coup army forces approached the royal compound that was guarded by troops loyal to the regent. At this point, 17 year old King Peter slipped out of the Palace by climbing down a drainage pipe and greeted warmly the coup forces. Quickly there was a coronation and Peter was ruling. Regent Paul went into exile and house arrest in Kenya.

10 days later, the Germans invaded. The Yugoslav plan if attacked was not to resist but instead withdraw intact to the south. So instead of defending against the Germans, the Yugoslav army invaded Italian occupied Albania hoping to link up with Greece. Peter flew to Greece. This plan did not succeed and despite the Yugoslavs and the Greeks far outnumbering the Germans, the campaign was over in a few weeks and Greek and Yugoslav royals were off to London where Peter married a Greek Princess. Almost none of his army got out with him and the active resistance to the Germans were mostly Communists and/or Serb nationalist, who owed nothing to the King.

Post war Peter lived in first the USA and then France. Tito had frozen his bank accounts so Peter had to live of the generosity of Serbs abroad. He drank a lot and became famous for writing bad checks. He probably thought they were just Royal mementoes not to be cashed. He dreamed of leading an army of expats back to Yugoslavia and liking up with Serb nationalists he imagined were still fighting Tito in the mountains. He died after a failed liver transplant in 1970 and became the first European Royal buried in the USA.

Oddly in the 1980s there was revival of Royal nostalgia in Yugoslavia. The American soap opera Dynasty featuring glamorous young Catherine Oxenberg was shown on TV there. She is the granddaughter of Prince Paul, Peter II’s old regent who caused so much trouble 45 years before.  Time had healed and neither Serb nor Croat, communist nor capitalist, wanted to ex her out.

Catherine Oxenberg as Amanda Carrington on Dynasty.

Well my drink is empty and if I am lucky a Yugoslav Royal will write the check for another round. I will understand not to cash it. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

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UAE 1986, Arabs prove they are not all against chess, but Russia still wins

Olympics often get mired in politics. Even a Chess Olympiad. When the Olympiad was held in Israel in 1976, annoyed Arabs set up a rival “Against Chess Olympiad” in Tripoli Libya. Instead of laughing at them, the against tournament was won by not exactly chess giant El Salvador, The Olympiad leadership cucked. Hence we have an official Chess Olympiad in Dubai. 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.

When you think of Emirates stamps, you think of the fake dune stamps of Finbar Kenny. See https://the-philatelist.com/2019/04/10/sharjah-lets-you-enjoy-modern-art-thanks-to-finbar-kenny/  . These later official issues are more serious stamps. There is still a little of Kenny’s old whimsy in the depiction of the Arab players. This was a cold war chess tournament, so the actual competitive players were Russians and more Russians. Even on the American team. The USA chess melting pot was serving up Russians, if you can’t beat them….

Todays stamp issue is A53, a 2 Dirham stamp issued by the United Arab Emirates on November 14th, 1986. It was a three stamp issue in various denominations in honor of the 27th Chess Olympiad played that year in Dubai. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $4.50 used.

Chess Olympiads are held every two years. I covered the French stamp honoring the 1974 Nice Olympiad here, https://the-philatelist.com/2018/11/15/france-1974-the-chess-olympiad-mostly-comes-to-nice/  , where I covered the history. Money was hindering those games as Bobby Fischer wouldn’t play without a big paycheck. Darn those people who manage to be the greediest capitalist while thinking themselves communist. Anyway soon after politics became more important. To get the not competitive Arab teams back after the Against Chess Olympiad.  this tournament was scheduled in Dubai. Using the excuse of the official but unacted upon state of war with Israel, they were not invited. Several European teams of Russians then sat out in sympathy with Israeli Russian chess players. Not to worry, lots of third worlders sent uncompetitive teams and the Olympiad hosted a then record  107 nations.

You can guess that the Soviet Union team won. This was the period that Gary Kasparov was starting to dominate teammate and 70s champion Anatoly Karpov. There were separate ladies teams where the Russians also came in first. Their scores were 30% lower. Great Britain made a good show in their former protectorate, their team of homegrown British came in second.

Dubai came to host this tournament as part of the opening up to the world that was going on there. In 1979, the Jebel Ali Free Zone in Dubai opened up there where anyone could set up shop in a duty and tax free zone utilizing facilities built by the government. The area employs 144,000 people and provides 21% of Dubai’s GNP.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the Russians. It was quite the act of inclusion to open up their Chess tournaments not just to their diaspora but all comers. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

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Eastern Rumelia 1881, from Vilayet to Oblast and from Northern Thrace to Bulgaria

Easing European territories left over from ancient Rome(Rumelia), from the Ottomans to the native Christians was a delicate process. This was a great occupation for the great powers in the late 19th century. Hence an area known by all as Northern Thrace would go by this weird concocted name on it’s way to Bulgaria. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your Turkish coffee and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

They were sure giving the Ottoman’s their due on this stamp. The area was about 70 percent Bulgarian and 20% Muslim. The stamp with all it’s Ottoman razzmatazz showed their was still some distance to travel toward union with Bulgaria. Some thought they had gone too far already. In this period a Muslim area broke away as the Republic of Tamrash.

Todays stamp is issue A4, a one Piaster stamp issued by the Ottoman self governing Vilayet of Eastern Rumelia in 1881. It was part of a five stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $5.75 unused.

The Russians beat the Ottomans in a war in the 1870s. A great power conclave in Berlin hammered out the Treaty as to what happened next. The area we are talking about was known as Northern Thrace. The British came up with the name Rumelia to remind the Ottomans that it wasn’t traditional Turk land. That does not mean there were not a lot of Turks streaming out to an Asia Minor they hardly knew. The deal was that the area would become self governing under a Bulgarian appointed by the Ottoman Sublime Porte who would then be owed a fee paid to Constantinople.  What could go wrong with the involvement of a Sublime Porte, him being so sublime and all? Turns out he appointed an Ottoman of Bulgarian heritage Alexander Bogoridi that was acceptable to all. Except for those in the breakaway area of Tamrash, but everyone can’t win.

Two Visions, Bulgarian and Turkish, of what was going on at the time. Both True?

Turkish refugees from Eastern Rumelia
A Russian painting by Madovsky depicting the rape of Bulgarian women in a church by Turkish and African Bashi-bazouk

The rather warlike Bulgarians then got in a war with Serbia that went well. They renamed Eastern Rumelia as the Oblast of Southern Bulgaria. The Berlin treaty was sort of adhered to by paying that sublime Turk guy to name the Prince of Bulgaria as the new head of Eastern Rumelia. This place sure goes in a lot of directions. Turks no doubt were thrilled to have the Republic of Tamrash returned to them. The area either boomed or fell apart economically depending on whose historians you read.

Well my drink is empty and I would be happy to share another Turkish coffee with an Ottoman Sublime Porte. Bet he has some stories to tell. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

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East Germany 1971, reforming a German Army

Germany on both sides of the East-West divide were divided on reforming a new German Army. In East Germany, that meant it was all volunteer until later when the army became the only Warsaw Pact force to allow for conscientious objection. 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.

What I like most about this 15th anniversary of the East German Army stamp is the close up shot of a regular soldiers face. Reminding Germans who may not be thrilled with the politics that the regular soldier was still one of you. A wider shot would just be uniform details and get bogged down in how the East German uniforms more resembled the old while the West German Army uniform looked more American.

Todays stamp is issue A400, a 20 Pfennig stamp issued by East Germany on March 1st, 1971. It was a single stamp issue. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents cancelled to order.

As early as 1948, East Germany was accepting volunteers in what became known as the Kasernierte Volkspolzei. These troops were trained in a military fashion but lacked heavy weapons. Most were recruited from captured by Soviet Union World War Two German soldiers. It should be remembered that Germany contained many with communist sympathies even among those serving the Third Reich.

In 1956, West Germany formed the conscript Bundeswher. Six months later East Germany formed the all volunteer National Peoples Army. Both armies started with about 75 percent of the officers being veterans of the old Wehrmacht. It was more than 10 years later and the veterans were serving in much higher capacities. After the Berlin crisis of the early 60s, the army added conscription and doubled in size to about 150,000 men.  Interesting very few aristocrats served, the Prussian military tradition was no more. In 1968, the 7th Panzer Division deployed to Czechoslovakia in a non combat role. This was the first post war German deployment outside Germany. Some may remember an earlier 7th Panzer Division lead the 1940 invasion of France under General Erwin Rommel.

At the time of reunification, the East German Army was mostly disbanded. Only 3200 of the 36,000 officers and NCOs were retained, no Coronels or Generals. Those that remained were reduced one rank. The West German Army was itself shrinking with the end of the cold war.  The over 2 million German males that served in the East German Army were not treated well. Their pensions were only token  and their employment records listed the time  as serving in a foreign military. They were also not to allowed to use their military titles in retirement as was customary even for SS officers. 15 years later a court case finally restored some of what was owed.

Well my drink is empty and so I will pour another to toast the veterans and active duty members of all the worlds armed forces. Come again soon when there will be another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

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Netherland Indies 1903, Dutch leadership of Indonesia goes from a cultivation system to an ethical policy to a communist mutiny

After the Napoleonic Wars, the Netherlands needed the Indies to transform into a cash cow. The extent that it did so meant that Liberals could then afford to reevaluate their position regarding natives. What about the natives themselves? Well, it was a different world then. 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 is a bulk mail issue featuring then Queen Wilhelmina. There is no effort to display the colony on any Netherland Indies stamp prior to 1938. This is perhaps a consequence of decisions for the place being a conversation between Dutchmen alone.

Todays stamp is issue A9, a 10 Cent stamp issued by the Netherland Indies colony of Holland in modern day Indonesia starting in 1903. It was a 10 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

Indonesia had been under Dutch control for hundreds of years, first as a for profit company and then as a colony. It had been a consistent money loser. After the Napoleonic Wars and with continued troubles in Belgium it became critical the colony begin to turn a profit. A cultivation system was put in place that required either 20 % of a villages land or 2 months of labor on the part of peasants go toward crops for export. In reality this moved the vast bulk of land from food production for locals or non use to export crops. Large, efficient rubber plantations began to generate much revenue both in the Indies and for the Netherlands. The Dutch did a slightly better job than the British in Ireland preventing such an economy leading to famines.

With the financial crisis past, the Dutch began to wonder if enough was being done for natives. In 1903, Queen Wilhelmina announced a new “ethical policy” that intended to open up more educational opportunities at local Dutch schools for natives and much spending on irrigation, roads, and water systems to deal with the rapidly growing population. All this was done very paternalistically but when a nationalistic organization was formed by newly educated natives, the Budi Utomo, it was welcomed by the Dutch.

It was also the Dutch that began the more threatening moves against the colony. Dutch communist activist Henk Sneevliet spent much time in the Indies forming a local communist party open to both left leaning Dutch and natives. It’s goal was Indonesian independence under communism. Sneevliet had much success among seaman and many ships were manned by mixed crews. His work culminated in the mutiny of the Heavy Cruiser HNLMS De Zeven Provincien in 1933. The Dutch naval ship with a mutinous crew of 450 was then bombed by the Dutch air force killing 23. This was quite a story and the ship was renamed to improve its reputation. Still in the Far East, Snievliet worked toward the forming of the mainland Chinese communist party. Later back in Holland, he was arrested during the German occupation. He walked to his 1942 execution singing “The Internationale”.

Henk Sneevliet
HNLMS De Zeven Provincien before the mutiny

Well my drink is empty and I am left with no one to toast. The Dutch never found the ideal formula and the Indonesians themselves in this period seemed largely no shows to the debate. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

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France 1938, remembering Clement Ader for his steam powered bat planes

One of the great things about stamps is that they allow a country to show off interesting things that are going on there. Advanced countries possessed inventors changing the world and imagining the future. Here we have the story of Frenchman Clement Ader and his pre Wright brothers steam powered bat planes. 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 printers and engravers did a good job with this issue. The blue color tint gives Ader’s Avion III plane a more serious look. The reality was that the bat shaped wings were mostly beige linen stretched over a thin wood frame. Lite weight being so important to getting off the ground. By 1938 there were many types of airplanes, the stamp does well in showing how advanced the early work was and then still have room for the man behind it.

Todays stamp is issue A88, a 50 Franc stamp issued by France on June the 16th, 1938. It was a single stamp issue. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $65 dollars used. There is another version on thicker paper in a darker shade of blue that would up the value to $77.50.

Clement Ader was born in Toulouse France in 1841. Toulouse is the future home of Airbus. He trained in electrical engineering and his early work was in the recently invented by Alexander Graham Bell telephone. He was in charge of installing the first telephone network in Paris in 1880. He went on to design a headset that would allow an audience to listen to an opera being performed with stereo sound. Pretty advanced for the nineteenth century.

In the 1880s Ader turned his attention to trying to achieve  powered flight. For what the machine that gets off the ground might look like he carefully studied the shape of birds, specifically the bat. He designed a lightweight, 112 pound, steam powered 20 horsepower four cylinder engine powering a propeller. His plane the Ader Eole, got one foot off the ground for a distance of 160 feet. It was the first powered takeoff, but the flight itself was not under the control of the pilot Mr. Ader. Ader then attracted funding from the French Defense Ministry for a more developed effort. This plane, still bat shaped but much bigger with a 46 foot wingspan and 2 30 horsepower steam engines wan named the Avion III. This flew in 1897 but was blown off course by the wind. The government declared it a failure and pulled funding.

Ader’s Avion III in flight in 1897.

After a short stint building V8 powered race cars that did not find buyers, Ader continued to have influence on aviation. In 1910 he published a book imagining a future of aerial warfare. Among the imaginations were drawings of what an aircraft carrier might look like, with a large flat deck, ship functions from a small island, and aircraft elevators to take planes to the flight deck from the hanger deck below. The book was spotted by at American Naval Attaché in Paris and sent to America. where they influenced the design of the USS Langley, the first flush deck aircraft carrier.

Ader’s plane name Avion became the French word for air travel. Ader was also honored in his hometown where one of Airbus’s assembly lines was named for him.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Clement Ader. With the value of this stamp, I can readily afford another round. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.