Author: John C

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Sweden 1872, new King, new gold backed money, industrialization and sending off the spare sons

Sweden fought it’s last war over 200 years ago. That in itself might have guaranteed fast development. Fast development means much change and dislocations. Some of those changes still show their effects. 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 bulk postage, (if only it was unused) puts the numeric value front and center. Sweden had just followed Germany’s lead and moved to a gold instead of a silver backed currency. They had also entered a monetary union with old rival Denmark. Remember at the time Sweden controlled Norway, and Denmark controlled Iceland, so if not for those pesky Russians in Finland, Scandinavia was coming together and taking off.

Todays stamp is issue A5 a 12 Ore stamp issued by the Kingdom of Sweden in 1872. It was a 32 stamp issue that came out over several years and had to take into account the currency change. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1 used. Sometimes old bulk postage issues are worth much more unused and that is the case here. The unused value of this stamp rises to $225. An imperforate pair of them rises to $1,000.

Agriculture was changing rapidly in 19th century Sweden. There was a move from village based large communal farms under rich often absentee landowners to smaller much more productive personally owned farms. You can guess this lead to what to do with excess sons. Farms tend to want to get bigger not be subdivided between heirs. So what to do with the excess boys. Well even with a pacifist foreign policy, there was still military conscription offering that traditional relief valve. There was also fairly rapid industrialization in the growing cities. What perhaps changed  Sweden the most was sending over a million immigrants to North America. At the time the population of Sweden was under 5 million.

In the short run sending them off made sense. Some returned having made a fortune. The ones that stayed had less competition and more was being done for them. Schooling became much more complete and began taking on a more physical component to retain fitness absent farm work. Mandatory gymnastics that resembled Asian martial arts were added for both boys and girls. Far more skiing that at the time took on a military flavor became common.

At first there was political change but in the 19th century it was mostly finessed. Up until the 1870s there was no Prime Minister and the legislature was a single house comprising wealthy landowners. New King Oscar II slowly allowed a few changes. The new Prime Minister was just the old Foreign Minister and there would now be a new bicameral legislature. The old order mostly survived though and why not, things were working.

One thing that might not have worked so well was letting all those young men go abroad to make their lives away. More education and living in cities leads to later and smaller families. Now Sweden finds itself short of people and as opened itself up to much immigration. The population is still only 10 million with a quarter of those being of immigrant heritage. One third of children have at least one foreign born parent. With the change lead to the new Somalis and Syrians learning to love gymnastics and skiing or will Sweden have to change to accommodate to what the new folks love?

Well my drink is empty and I may have another while I brood over my copy of todays stamp being used. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.

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West Germany 1970, showing off a little of Munich in the excitement leading up to the 1972 Olympics

When Bavaria was a separate German Kingdom, much work was done transforming Munich into an important cultural center. This legacy meant there was still a lot to show off when it was Germany’s time again to shine at the Olympics. We know the 1972 Olympics didn’t come off the way West Germany hoped, but this stamp lets us go back to the runup when people were excited that it might. 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 semi postal issue, the surcharge went to Olympic promotion, shows off some of the architecture of Munich. In this case the Residenz Palace. This housed the Bavarian Royal House of Wittelsbach when in Munich. The castle was started in 1385 as a sanction against the City of Munich after an uprising against King Stephen III. The castle was much expanded over the years and is today the largest urban palace in Germany. The facade shown on the stamp is the Konigsbau, which was added by King Ludwig I in 1835. The Wittelsbachs are of course no longer in residence. I did a stamp of the last Bavarian Kings here, https://the-philatelist.com/2018/11/14/bavaria-1900-with-king-otto-too-crazy-to-rule-the-prince-regent-peacefully-eases-into-germany/     . As a result when war damage was repaired, it was done in a much simpler style. The current Wittelsbach pretenders still reside in the separate Nymphenburg  Palace, which sounds like a fun place to live, but not for locked up Otto.

Todays stamp is issue SP299, a 10 +5 Pfennig stamp issued by West Germany on June 5th, 1970. It was a four stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 35 cents used.

Munich was awarded the 1972 Olympic Summer Games over bids from Madrid, Montreal, and Detroit. The slogan for the Olympics was the “Cheerful Games”. They went all out on new Olympic venues and the female hostesses dressed in traditional Beer Garden atire. For the first time there was an official mascot for an Olympics, a dachshund plushtoy named Waldi. The course of the marathon was laid out in the shape of a dachshund. Is it just me or does all of this sound a little out of Germany’s comfort zone. Well maybe Bavaria is a little different.

Waldi and pretty girl from Munich

God did not grant Germany a cheerful Olympics. Israeli athletes were attacked and held during the second week of the games by Palestinians. There was a shoot out eventually at a military airport and 11 athletes, a German police Sargant, and all but three of the attackers were killed. Germany perhaps compounded their black eye by trading the facing trial attackers for hijacked Lufthansa Flight 615. Israel over the next years hunted down and killed two of the Palestinian attackers in operations that very much resembled Nazi Hunters from the decade before.

The Olympics were not a success. They had also cost three times what Mexico spent on the 1968 games. Waldi took a little bit of a hit to his reputation. The dachshund was supposed to represent resistance, tenacity, and agility. These are good things for an athlete. There were however now unofficial posters of Waldi using the Olympic Tower as a fire hydrant.

Well my drink is empty and and I will pour another to toast Waldi. Sure the Olympics didn’t work, but Germany was asking an awful lot from one of it’s plush toys. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.

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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.

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Cayman Islands 1970, Remembering Barnaby Rudge, Dickens’ take on the Gordon Riots and the Decrees of King Mob

The great thing about the myriad islands where the British Empire’s sun never set, is we get stamps on some obscure but very British subjects. Here we have the Gordon Riots. 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.

On the occasion of the death century of author Charles Dickens, Cayman Islands shows us the title character of his serialized novel Barnaby Rudge. This is thought of as one of Dickens lessor works. It was written during the time Dickens was transitioning from writing shorts stories for his own magazine, that was called  Master Humphrey’s Clock, to full length stories. There were two interesting things about Barnaby Rudge. It was set in the Gordon Riots, the story of which I will tell below. It also was reviewed by Edger Alan Poe, who liked that the title simpleton carried a raven, seen on the stamp, on his shoulder. He thought the raven under utilized by Dickens, and was inspired to write his masterpiece The Raven.

Master Humphrey’s Clock serial. Boz is a pen name for Charles Dickens

Todays stamp is issue A34, a 1 cent stamp issued by the Cayman Islands on June 17th, 1970. It was a four stamp issue in various denominations showing Dickens characters. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp was worth 25 cents unused.

The Gordon Riots happened in London in 1780. At the time the Empire found itself fighting Catholic France And Spain in an attempt to hold on to the North American colonies of Britain. The fight was not going well and the government was positively considering a change in the law to allow British Catholics to serve in the Army. A “mostly peaceful march” by Catholics was the beginning of the trouble.

the 1780 Gordon riots by artist Charles Green

Scotsman Lord George Gordon, head of the Protestant Association, was strongly opposed to the change. He thought that Catholic soldiers would change sides when sent to fight the Catholic Armies of France or Spain. He organized counter demonstrations and the level of violence increased. Newgate Prison became a center of the violence. The Protestants attempted to breach the prison to set free the prisoners inside to join the cause. When they couldn’t get in they set Newgate on fire and the prisoners were then released. On a stone wall of the prison, graffiti appeared. ” Inmates have been released on authority of His Majesty, King Mob”. The riot was put down forcibly by the Army.

Lord George was tried for treason by the House of Lords but acquitted as his aims were found not treasonous. This was not the end for him as he had stirred the hornet’s nest. Under pressure, the Archbishop of Canterbury excommunicated Lord George. He was then sentenced to jail for defamation of some prominent Catholics. Lord George responded to how his Anglican country treated him  by converting to Judaism and living the rest of his life as an Orthadox Jew. Talk about upping the victim ante!

Lord George Gordon after his Jewish conversion. Yes he was circumcized in adulthood

Perhaps there is some lesson in all of this for modern times. When the government sends out Antifa to promote unpopular ideas in the streets, they should not be surprised to find some Proud Boys.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Lord George Gordon. Not so much that I agree with everything he said, but it was nice to hear something different. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.

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Hawaiian Republic 1894, The Republic nobody wanted

The Hawaiian Islands were changing rapidly in the late 1900s. Migrant workers from Japan were rushing in. The native Hawaiians had their Royal Family but lacked good governance. There was however a large group of Hawaii born Americans who thought the answer was becoming an American territory. Something that might be agreed upon was that they should have spent more time convincing before acting. 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 a view of Honolulu harbor. The image displays a sleepy backwater. It was the policy of the republic government to seek American annexation. Encountering surprise resistance from the USA might have lead to views that imply we will be no trouble for you.

Todays stamp is issue A27 a two cent stamp issued by the Republic of Hawaii in 1894. It was a six stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 60 cents used.

In 1887, Hawaii born ethnic Americans who were serving in the legislature of the Kingdom of Hawaii drafted a new constitution. The elements of it were limiting the vote to ethnic Hawaiians, Americans, and Europeans. This would prevent the large numbers of Japanese contract workers being brought in from coming into political power. Though the Constitution still recognized the Monarchy, it made it ceremonial and passed most power to the Legislature that was under the control of American businessmen. There was to be a new House of Nobles, to whom only wealthy landowners could vote, that would further consolidate power.

Hawaiians referred to this as a bayonet constitution. The Hawaiian Rifles, the Palace Guard unit was all white and thus could threaten the Royals if they did not bend. A new Queen in 1891 tried not bending and rejected the “Bayonet Constitution”. Legislatures than formed a committee of public safety that declared an end to the Monarchy and the formation of a republic. Serving as President was Sanford Dole, a Hawaii born and speaking American who had served in legal capacities. A petition was presented to the sympathetic American Ambassador seeking immediate annexation. The Queen was still in her Palace.

Hawaiian Republic’s President Sanford Dole. In the Hawaiian language, there is slang calling Spanish moss, Dole’s beard

Unfortunately for President Dole, the American President Grover Cleveland was against colonial adventures as unAmerican and not worth it. He commissioned a study on where the proposal came from. The resulting Blount Report found those involved as conspiring against the rightful Hawaiian Royal Government. Cleveland proposed to the Hawaiian Queen that she accept the 1887 constitution and amnesty the coup plotters in return for American support of a reinstated Kingdom. The Queen was by then agreeable on the constitution but wanted the ethnic Americans serving in the Republic government tried and hung for treason.

Grover Cleveland thought her position unreasonable and washed his hands of the situation by recognizing the government of the Republic but refusing to annex. President of Hawaii Dole now had unexpectedly to serve for five years while facing many intrigues from the maybe former Queen. She eventually abdicated in exchange for ending her house arrest in the Palace. For the rest of her life she spent her time selling her story and suing people for the return of  Royal lands. The constant begging for money did not improve her standing in Hawaii. The Hawaiian territory eventually granted her a $1250 a month pension. A lot of money then but far less than she asked for. During World War I, after 5 ethnic Hawaiians died in a sunk American submarine, she for the first time flew the American flag, at half staff, from her homes flag pole.

The ex Queen, late in life

In 1898 there was a new President in the USA, William McKinley was more amenable to colonial adventures. A day before the Spanish American War was declared, Hawaiian President Dole signed the papers for annexation of Hawaii by the USA. Dole than became the first Governor of Hawaii as a US territory. The Dole Food Company was founded in Hawaii after it was a USA territory by a cousin.

Well my drink is empty. Come again soon when there will be another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2021.

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Germany 1925, Sometimes an old man should just enjoy his retirement

When you are a senior statesman and well remembered in your own circles, it is natural to think that you would be doing better than your successors. What if the people then agree to give you the chance? Will you be able to relive your past glories with current success. Or will you realize that it isn’t easy and how much you have slowed down. President Paul von Hindenburg shows how badly things can go. 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 you the predicament Weimar Germany was in. Look at how poor the printing is on this issue. Germany always was a center of stamp collecting so their designers would have good ideas for issues. Instead here is a poorly printed portrait of an 80 year old man.

Todays stamp is issue A61, a five Pfennig stamp issued by Weimar Germany in 1925. It was a nineteen stamp issue in different denominations and derivatives over many years. You may notice that the denomination seems more normal that the high ones of a few years before. In 1923 the Reichbank introduced the gold backed Rentenmark  that had removed 12 zeroes from all prices. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 60 cents used. An imperforate version is worth $105.

Paul von Hindenburg was born into a noble family in Posen, Prussia (now Poznan, Poland) in 1847. He joined the Prussian Army and served with distinction in the wars with Austria and France. After the Franco-Prussian War, Hindenburg earned a spot in the Kriegs Academy in Berlin that opened the way for a future on the General Staff. After he was passed over as head of the General Staff, he retired from the Army in 1912.

The Russian invasion of Eastern Prussia at the beginning of World War I saw Hindenburg come out of retirement and take charge of the defense against the Russians. The Germans attacked the Russian flank at Tannenberg and  killing 92,000 and turning the tide of the fighting in the east. That Tannenberg was also the site of a big Prussian defeat of Slavs in 1410 captured the imagination of the German people, and Hindenburg was the new hero.

A wooden statue of Hindenburg that popped up in Berlin after the Battle of Tannenberg

Missing the chance to again retire in success Hindenburg was put in charge of the never ending trench warfare in the west. He succeeded again in the deepest penetrations into France. His army was tired and hungry however, with the average soldier down to 125 pounds, and the Allies never seemed to run out of reinforcements. After losing the Second battle of the Marne in 1918, the army fell back in defeat. His trusted deputy Eric Ludendorf, who had been with him since the beginning of the war began to have temper tantrums and crying jags. Six weeks before the end of the war Hindenburg informed the Kaiser as there was no further reserves to call on, it was time to sue for peace. Hindenburg retired from the army again in 1919, at age 72.

As a former Field Marshal, Hindenburg was given a staff and the city of Hanover gave him a luxury villa. He had a ghost written book that emphasized the positive that was later made into a movie. He was once called to the Reichstag by lefties to explain the war loss. He strode in and read a statement that the war was lost because the army was stabbed in the back by politicians and striking unions. He then marched out ignoring questions confident they wouldn’t arrest him. They didn’t, half the country agreed with him.

The house given to Hindenburg by the city of Hannover out of respect for his service and for him to be comfortable in his last years. That should have been a hint.

In 1925 he ran for President, though claiming to still be a Monarchist, fronting a coalition of right and center parties. He was 78. He hoped to get Germany working again and restore German greatness. He went through Chancellor after Chancellor but never found the right strategy to get beyond Germany’s problems. At the suggestion of his son, who was handling ever more of the workload, he appointed Adolf Hitler Chancellor in 1932.

Hindenburg was however in his last years and couldn’t contain Hitler. A law was secretly passed that upon Hindenburg’s death there would be no more President just a leader who would be Hitler. You might have thought the military would have stayed loyal to the constitution. Hitler however had met, on the new German cruiser Deutschland with the head of the army and the navy and agreed in return for vague promises of disarming the SS and the brown shirts, the military would accept Hitler  as leader. Hindenburg died in 1934 at age 86 of lung cancer. He was buried at the Tannenberg war memorial until that was taken down by Poland after the war.

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