Author: John C

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The trains or the people

Welcome readers to todays offering from The Philatelist. 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. We have an interesting story to tell about economic choices.

The stamp today is from post independence French West Africa. The French influence was quite great in the countries themselves. In terms of the stamps however, compared to the British Commonwealth there was less influence from the former home country. The stamps usually do have some of the vibe of the cold war period nonaligned movement. This stamp is a little bit of an exception to that by showing an old railway car from the French period.

The stamp today is issue A198, a 100 franc stamp issued in the Ivory Coast on May 17th, 1980. It is part of a four stamp issue that displays the train line in the Ivory Coast over time. This stamp shows a passenger car from 1908. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 60 cents cancelled.

Ivory Coast is a former French colony on the coast of the Atlantic ocean near the Equator in the tropics. Despite the name, the main industries are cocoa beans, rubber, and oil production. There is also a fair amount of trade that passes through the Ivory Coast on the way to land locked countries to the north such as Burkini Faso. These areas were all formally part of French West Africa and during the colonial period a train line was built from  the port of Abidjan up through Ivory Coast into Burkini Faso.

All of this has left the country in a better state economically that many other African nations. The Government has used the growing GDP to fund large development projects such as a train extension to a new mining area and a new subway system in Abidjan. The problems come in with the rapid population growth and the additional migration of people of foreign countries has left a situation with many seemingly left behind economically from the growth. The instability from this causes periodic uprisings that then choke off economic activity.

Trouble like this flared up again in 2017. The military took to the streets demanding back pay that was owed. Shots were fired near commercial port facilities. this lead to outside companies quickly leaving. The government quickly paid the back pay due the military and they returned to barracks. However the civil service than went on strike demanding the back pay it felt it was owed. It remains to be seen what effect this will have on development goals. Not meeting those goals will leave more people behind and around we go. What is the answer to this? A liberal might suggest more public sector employment and a big push in family planning. Perhaps the more conservative might suggest a wall and better project management. In my opinion they both are correct.

Well, my drink is empty and so it is time to open up the conversation in the below comment section. What is the correct tradeoff between todays needs and a better future? Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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A new train station for a suddenly important city

Welcome readers to today’s offering from The Philatelist. 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. We have an interesting story of a partition, a blooding split, a famine and yet an attractive, unique, necessary  piece of infrastructure is constructed.

The stamp today is Bangladeshi, but looks post independence Indian. That India had a big influence on Bangladesh is obvious, even in the stamps.

The issue today is issue A70, a 1 Taka Bangladeshi stamp issued on December 21st, 1983. The stamp displays the Kamalapur Train Station in Dacca. It is part of a 10 stamp issue depicting various architecture around Bangladesh. According to the Scott catalog, it is worth 40 cents cancelled.

As the British faded from India, the decision was taken to partition the land area. This was a controversial decision at the time and quite the bloody mess as people suddenly found themselves on the wrong side of a line. Something like 14 million people were displaced by bloody and shameful ethnic cleansing. While none of the sides are blameless, the British drew the line. The man who drew the line refused payment for his work after seeing the trouble that boiled over after. It is worth noting though that there are today many Muslims in India, but virtually no Hindus in Pakistan. Make of that fact what you will.

A Eastern portion of Bengal elected to join with Muslim Pakistan. They were widely separated geographically, but also racially. The East Pakistan people were Bengali with a different language and ethnicity. They soon felt like second class citizens and in 1971, with Indian help had a successful war of independence from Pakistan.

Already with partition, the East Pakistan city of Dacca became much more important as an administrative and economic center. One problem with this was that the train did not go there. So by the early 60s while under the Pakistanis, an extention of the train line was begun. In Dacca, a local university of engineering and technology had started a school of architechture and brought in 5 American instructors. Among them was Robert Boughey. Mr. Boughey was selected to do the railway station in what everyone understood was going to be a major transportation hub in an important world city. The design was for a large station with a mid century modern look that included a roof that resembled a mosaic of lotus blossom shaped umbrellas. The station opened with much fanfare in 1969, two years before independence. Mr. Boughey is still with us and went on to design several other important buildings in Dacca and also in Bangkok. The Kamalapur train station is still in use today.

Bangladesh is a growing populous country today with a large textile industry and many workers around the world. It maintains good relations with virtually all the world’ s nations except Pakistan.

Well, my drink is empty, and so it is time to open up the conversation in the below comment section. Have any of our readers traveled through the Kamalapur  train station? Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Thiers, tourist please look up the hill, not down

Welcome readers to todays offering from The Philatelist. 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. We are going to talk today about a stamp encouraging tourism to a place most of us have not been.

A few words about the attractiveness of the stamp. The use of the bright colors is very evocative to me of the south of France. If it were possible, the texture of the paint would show on the stamp to add to the feel of the impressionist movement in painting. All in all, visually a very good job on the part of the French postal authority.

The stamp today is issue A705, a 1.70 franc  stamp issued on October 9th, 1976. It displays the high-town part of Thiers and was part of 6 stamp issue showing tourist sites around France. It is worth 25 cents cancelled according to the Scott catalog.

Thiers is located in the department of Puy-de-Dome in the central southeastern part of France. The town was begun around 1000 AD. The current population is around 11,000 and has been in gradual decline for a long time.

The town relies mainly on tourism of the older high-town.  There is a tradition of fine knife making in the town which continues to a small degree and is remembered by a museum in the town. The mountains and nearby rivers also place the town in a pleasant area.

In the research on this stamp, I came upon something I found disturbing so I hope you will excuse I little rant. I mentioned earlier that this ancient town had suffered a population decline over many years. That should have prevented what happened in the 1950s but did not.

The old town is on a hillside and adjacent to it is an area of small factories where the knives the town is known for came from. This part is picturesque and no doubt is a powerful draw for tourists. In the 1950s, a lower city was developed. This part is especially known for it’s big box supermarkets. It is literally, and no doubt figuratively, looked down on from the older high-town.

Why such development is allowed in a town with a declining population is beyond me. Some may say it would not have happened if it did not fill a need. I am indeed not calling for a war on supermarkets. I do wonder if more talented architects and more carefully considered city planners could have seen to it that the development of the low-town could have blended in and complimented the architectural achievements that exist in Thiers up the hill.

Alas, as in so many places all over the world, this was not to be. I think it is safe to see that it will be a long time before the low-town is honored with a postage stamp or is sought out by a tourist. We can rejoice that the high-town is still here to enjoy.

Well, my drink is empty and it is time to open up the conversation in the below comment section. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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A friend and ally who wears a sash.

Welcome readers to todays offering from The Philatelist. So don your sash with your national colors, slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. We have an interesting story to tell. Too bad we have no ball to attend.

This is a big attractive stamp. The colors are bold with a lush green that matches the green on the subjects sash. In fact a version of the same portrait used on the stamp is the person’s official portrait on Wikipedia. It is very large stamp, perhaps too large to buy a sheet of and use to mail letters. This stamp is instead made for collectors. 45 years on, I believe few collectors will be able to name the luminary on the stamp. I believe this is just as true in Paraguay, as the fellow on the stamp is Brazilian.

The stamp today is issue A250, a 50 centavo stamp issued in Paraguay on November 8th, 1972 to commemorate the Presidential Summit of the leaders of Paraguay, Brazil, Argentina, and Bolivia. This stamp is of Brazilian President Emilio Garrastazo Medici, who presided over Brazil for one 5 year term between 1969 and 1974. It was part of a five stamp issue that honored the various leaders at the summit. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents in mint condition.

This is a stamp that would not be issued today, either in Paraguay or Brazil. Discussing any of the leaders on the stamps in this issue would invite a spirited, mostly negative argument. All of the countries at the summit were basically friendly at the time and aligned with the USA in an anti- Communist stance. The failure of communism would seem to confirm the rightness of that stance but I dare to say that a Cuban stamp from the same period showing Chile’s Allende from the same period would not be nearly as controversial. Despite the failure dripping from it. Weird world we live in.

President Medici was a soldier of Italian decent who moved up through the ranks to being a senior commander. Brazil at the time was ruled by a military junta and Medici was handpicked after the previous president suffered a stroke. The National Assembly was reconvened to rubber stamp the selection. It did this unanimously, with a few abstentions. He was considered by many the most effective of the string of military rulers at the time. The GNP was going up very quickly and there were many very visible public works projects. This was also the case in Paraguay, under long serving President Strossener. Brazil was also growing more urbanized with much sprawl, most notably in Sau Paulo.

The reign was repressive to political opponents. The fruits of the GNP growth were slow to trickle down to the poor. The countries population was growing rapidly which added to the challenges. There is a tendency to be quick to condemn a ruler like President Medici or President Strossener. The fact is though that these military leaders often took charge after a period where leadership and stability were lacking. Stability being the first duty of government, a military takeover is damming evidence the previous administration was mired in failure. The leaders on this issue of stamps, having proceeded through the ranks of their respective countries military were perhaps more influenced by patriotism than the lust for power that grips so many politicians. Many such leaders also failed their people and gave in to cruelty and corruption, but I remain unconvinced that there were better alternatives available. Castro turning over power to his brother becoming a hereditary communist king being quite the contrast to Medici’s one term and peaceful transfer of power.

Well my drink is empty and so it is time to open the conversation in the below comment section. If any of our readers are from Brazil or Paraguay and have memories of Presidents Medici or Strossener, positive or negative, I would be interested. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Hoping I own a fake, even if that means walking away from 25 cents

Welcome readers to todays offering from The Philatelist. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take the first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. We have an interesting story to tale of unofficial prints of real stamps.

At first glance, this stamp may appear Australian. The size and color palate reflect an Australian stamp. The lithograph on the stamp is captioned as a modern housing estate. To call a residential neighborhood that sounds British. That this stamp is from the African nation of Nigeria is surprising in that it was issued over 25 years after independence.

The stamp today is issue A140, a 5 kobo stamp issued on June 16th, 1986. It is part of a 14 stamp issue in various denominations that give views of modern life in Nigeria. Cancelled, it is worth 25 cents according to the Scott catalog.

The Scott catalog indicates two discrepancies that I am not used to coming across in stamps of mine. The first is the indication that this issue of stamps was in use for a few years before it’s date of issue. This seems strange as there were many stamps issued by Nigeria at the time, so why was there an urgency to get these out ahead of time. These do seem destined for use to mail letters instead of for collectors so I wonder if an early batch was printed in order to sell without passing the proceeds on to the postal service.

The other discrepancy is that the Scott catalog indicates there are a number of fakes around of this issue. The stamp has never held a high value to stamp collectors. If any of the commenters have more information on this, please bring forward the information in the below comment section. I hope my copy of the stamp is one of the fakes.

The subject matter of the stamp at the time must have seemed as progressive and hopeful. The newly independent states often were brimming with much such optimism in their early issues. Mid-century modern architecture springing up in the form of universities, libraries, and government buildings were a staple of many nations’ early stamps.

There is something a little sad about this in retrospect. The average person’s life remained so far below the progress shown on the stamps. In Nigeria the average person has 11% of the average American’s income. The new currency that started at one per USA dollar is now 360 per dollar. This is despite the greater than 80% depreciation in the dollar since 1973 when the current Nigerian currency appeared. This happened despite Nigeria having a lucrative oil industry all along the way.

What Nigeria has also had to contend with is borders that have more to do with now ancient colonial issues than with where Nigerians of various tribal and religious affiliations live. Nigeria has also dealt with extremely rapid population growth that must put quite a burden on even the best of its leaders. The optimism of todays stamp is also long gone. The last stamp issue seems to be from 2013 and the last issues seem to all honor something from the past, not optimism about the future.

Well, my drink is empty so it is time to open up the conversation in the below comment section. Assuming the picture on the stamp is of a real neighborhood and not just an artist conception of something they hoped to build, I would be interested in what it looks like now. No I don’t know a street address for a google street view. Come again tomorrow for a story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

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On this aniversary, a reminder comrade of all we have done

Welcome readers to todays offering from The Philatelist. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take the first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. We haven an interesting story to tell. A story of, as the late Casey Casem might have said, of keeping your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars. With of course a stop at Seventh Heaven.

The stamp today is a dramatically tall stamp. As well it should be. How better to depict the then newly opened tallest structure in the world, the Ostankino Television Tower. If that isn’t enough, our Soviet friends threw in an early space satellite, a Tupelov 144 “Concordski” jetliner, and a pretty space age bus I cannot identify. All that is missing is the space age kitchen sink. The Kremlin is also shown to remind you who brought this to you.

Todays stamp is issue A1595, a 4 Kopec stamp issued on November 19th, 1966. It was issued in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the 1917 revolution that brought the Bolshevicks to power and created the Soviet Union from the former Russian Empire. It was the only stamp in the issue. According to the Scott catalog, it is worth 25 cents in its sort of cancelled state.

Lets talk a little bit about what I mean about it’s sort of cancelled state. It is what I like least about the stamp. The stamp as you can see has a near perfect cancellation in it’s bottom corner and yet it also still has gum on the back as it as never been used. The Soviet Union, as well as many Eastern European and African countries, had licensed Mincus, the American stamp dealer, to produce stamps in their name to sell to collectors. Thus the stamp as never seen the Soviet Union. The Philatelist can sort of see why a poor country would sign on to such a thing but that a then superpower would is just beyond me. Should a good communist really sell out for money, even convertible foreign exchange?

Enough about that. Lets bask in all the visual treats that were fitted on this huge stamp. The Ostankino Television Tower is the biggest thing. The tower opened in 1967 after only taking three years to build. It was the tallest structure in the world, 1772 feet high, for eight years until it was surpassed by the CN Tower in Toronto. Besides the television equipment, it housed an observation deck and The Seventh Heaven Restaurant. There was a fire in the tower in 2000 that cost the lives of four fireman and cut tower transmission. The top part of the tower even took on a lean after the fire. Russian President Putin used the incident and a spate of similar mishaps to encourage better preservation of the nations vital facilities. In contrast to three year initial construction, rehabbing the tower took 16 years with the 2016 reopening of The Seventh Heaven Restaurant. The USA apparently is not the only country that can’t build anything anymore.

The Moliniya 1 satellite was also a great success of the Soviet Union that matured in 1967. It was a model of military communication satellite. The type of orbit it flew was great for coverage of northern latitudes and that type of orbit is now called the moliniya orbit after these advanced satellites. Later versions also carried satellite TV to remote areas of the Soviet Union.

This is really a great stamp! Showing all this world class stuff accomplished by the Soviet system is a great way to celebrate 50 years. Many will rightly point out that everyone did not share in this progress and perhaps even that the resources expended would have been better spent on raising the living standard of the average Soviet. Not me, I am a sucker for progress and achievement.

Well, my drink is empty and so it is time to open up the conversation in the below comment section. Do any of our Russian readers or lucky tourist know how the view from the tower is or how the food is at The Seventh Heaven? Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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How honoring challenged children can go very wrong

Welcome readers to todays offering from The Philatelist. 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. We have an interesting story to tell of how a group gets distracted from it’s mission by the rewards of being a political insider and in doing so discredits themselves and the stamp that honored them.

First let me make a note about the condition of the stamp from my personal collection. As the reader may remember, all stamps discussed on this site are from my collection and were not gathered specifically to write about. This stamp has been in my collection for several decades. One can still spot the staining that can happen when you soak stamps to get them off envelopes. When one, in this case The Philatelist himself, tries to soak too many stamps at once the water becomes dirty from the gum and the stamps can turn yellow. The Scott catalog image of the stamp indicates that the paper started out white. Mea Culpa.

The stamp today is issue A952, a 10 cent stamp issued on October 12th, 1974. It is printed with the slogan of the National Association of R——- Citizens, as the group was then known. I have chosen not to use the R word as in the intervening years it has come to be derogatory. The Scott catalog list the stamp as worth 25 cents cancelled. The staining is a detriment to the stamp’s already low value.

To be frank, I do not like this stamp. It is not because of the R word. Language changes over time and seeing how a word is used in a different era can be just the type of interesting hook that a stamp collector thrives on. My problems with this stamp are two fold.

The first problem is the picture of the little girl on the stamp. I am not sure if she indeed has an IQ under 50 or it was picked because the real life person had the look the organization was going for. Either way it seems exploitive. I suppose at least she does not have her hand out at the encouragement of the many paid employees of the organization.

The second problem is the government by way of the postal service honoring an organization that has morphed into an identity political group on one side of the political divide in the USA. The group started in the early fifties as a support group for parents of children with IQs under 50. This is where the cut off point where at the time you shouldn’t send your child to public school. The group has had many names and currently calls itself The ARC. In the beginning it did good work advocating for government support programs for the understandably overwhelmed parents of these children. It also funded research into fetal alcohol syndrome and lead poisoning in the hopes of reducing the numbers of such children where it might be prevented.

This sounds like worthy work and perhaps justifies a stamp in a retrospective honor of this work. Instead the group has expanded with ever larger paid staff and clearly is just a cog in the Democratic party apparatus. The current blog on the groups website is nothing but this political agenda, with no mention at all of the children with IQs under 50 that the group is alleged to be about. Some may agree with their political agenda and that is fine. But in getting away from the original mission the organization and it’s stamp become discredited. The postal service is not likely to issue a stamp for the Democratic National Committee or the Republican National Committee for doing a good job getting their people elected. They don’t put live politicians on stamps and this should also be true of political groups, especially those that clothe themselves as a charity.

Well, my drink is empty so it is time to open up the conversation in the below comment section. I ask all of you not to use the R word or be otherwise derogatory about children with IQs below 50. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Singapore discovers itself as an Asian country

Welcome readers to todays offering from The Philatelist. 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. We have an interesting story to tell of a new nation discovering who it is.

What I find so interesting about todays stamp is how different it if from a stamp issued in the same place 20 or 30 years before. Today we are learning together about a stamp from the Asian city state of Singapore.

The stamp today is issue A113, a 5 cent stamp issued on April 24th 1985. The stamp depicts a brightly colored damselfly. The stamp was part of a sixteen stamp issue in various denominations up to $10 Singapore dollars. It has a current value of 25 cents cancelled.

Singapore was founded as a trading post for the British East India company in 1819 by Stanford Raffles. Intrigue and payments to who we would now describe as Malaysians and Indonesians allowed Singapore to get going in a natural harbor at the end of the Malaysian peninsula. Ownership passed to Great Britain in 1826 and except for about 3 years under Japanese occupation during World War II, Singapore remained in British hands until the late 1950s.  In fact the British Military remained until 1971.

Independence was also a gradual process. It was the initial intention of Singapore to unite in federation with Malaya and the old Straits Settlements that Great Britain also controlled. This just did not work out. Singapore at it’s heart was still a multi-ethnic multi-language trading post. This created many tensions with the more ethnically uniform Malaysia and Indonesia. In 1965 Singapore became a sovereign city state within the British Commonwealth.

One might expect this history to result in a strong British influence on the post independence stamp offerings. There is some influence. Singapore is spelled out in English script as it is the governmental and most commonly spoken home language in Singapore.

When one looks at the stamp, one sees a color palate that gives away Singapore’s location in Asia and the fact that a majority of its people are ethnically Chinese Mandarin. Yet at the same time the stamp is not Chinese. Instead the influences of the different people and the climate of Singapore are well depicted in this simple only at first glance stamp. I also sense some of the optimism that stamps from newly independent states often have.

The Damselfly exists all over the world on every continent except Antarctica. The bight colors indicate that the depiction on the stamp is of a male. The fly is most common in jungle areas where it eats smaller insects around grass. The damselfly is threatened by deforestation and the aspect of climate change that sees ecosystems drying out. One might wonder how the damselfly is doing in a thriving crowded city state such as Singapore. Perhaps there is an element to this insect stamp issue of lets enjoy them while we still have them.

Well, my drink is empty and so it is time to open the conversation in the below comment section. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

Authors note: When I was entering this offering, news had just come in on the death of Hugh Hefner at 91. While this website does not feature nudity, it does at it’s most basic sell the lifestyle of the connoiseaur. Intellectual pursuits were always a part of that in the early Playboy and are front and center at what I am trying to do at the-philatelist.com. When Hugh Hefner started, male magazines were just about hunting, fishing, and war stories. Mr. Hefner as Mr. Mincus and Mr. Harris realized that the best parts of the lifestyle of a British Duke were now available to masses of newly educated and prosperous people. They prospered in bringing out how to get into that. RIP

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The British Royal Family picture to honour end of WWII in NZ. Hmmm…

Welcome readers to todays offering from The Philatelist. So slip on your smoking jack, fill your pipe, take the first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. We have an interesting story to tell which questions if loyalty is a two way street.

While you may not be familiar with this particular stamp. it’s type should be familiar to any serious worldwide stamp collector. In the period soon after the end of World War II, the British controlled a large empire. In addition, there were many self-governing dominions, like New Zealand in this case. So the British influence on the stamps is unmistakable.

The stamp today is issue A96, a two penny stamp issued in New Zealand on April 1st,1946 to celebrate the arrival of peace after the long war. This stamp casually depicts the British Royal Family, but most of the other stamps in the 11 stamp issue relate directly to the efforts and sacrifice of New Zealanders in the recent war. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents cancelled.

Looking back, this seems a strange stamp for New Zealand to have issued, especially as part of a peace issue. New Zealand was and remains a British Dominion. This means that the British Sovereign is the official head of state of the country. World War II lead to a reassessment of the relationship with Great Britain and the status of New Zealand as a Dominion is ever more controversial.

On September 3rd, 1939, New Zealand declared war on Germany. This was two days after the invasion of Poland. Michael Savage, the Prime Minister of New Zealand declared, referring to the UK, “Where she goes, we go. Where she stands, we stand.” This was from a Socialist PM of Irish ancestry. Volunteers were recruited and a large army of New Zealanders fought at the side of the British. This was most notable in North Africa and Italy. There was much glory and sacrifice on the part of New Zealand, but it left the home country rather naked in the face of the WWII menace of the advancing Japanese. Having lost Singapore, and being distracted elsewhere, there was little Britain could do to help. It was left to the Americans to assist in the defense of New Zealand and Australia. Britain even went so far as to refuse the return of New Zealand troops home to face the threat.

Given how fresh this history was in 1946, it seems insensitive to include a family picture of the Royal Family  in a peace issue of stamps. There was obviously a great well of loyalty to Britain, and personally to the Royals themselves. It was also though a time to question whether that loyalty was a two way street. What was Britain doing in 1946 to show their loyalty to their colonies and dominions? In 1951 New Zealand signed a mutual defense treaty with the USA. Since then there has been a dramatic shrinkage in the size of the New Zealand armed forces.  For example, in 1945 New Zealand has over a thousand combat aircraft. Today it has none.

Well, my drink is empty and so it is time to open up the conversation in the below comment section. Is affinity enough to keep a relationship between nations going when the benefits only flow in one direction? Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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The author and the towers

Welcome readers to todays offering from The Philatelist. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take the first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. We have an interesting story of a German author whose reputation shot up to the stars when Germany found itself with superfluous towers.

Today stamp is recognizable as a West German stamp from the 1980s. Germany did the opposite of many western countries in doing stamps with current political leaders but very few of past leaders. This was true even before the second world war. What Germany always did was issue many stamps of leaders in various fields from previous periods. This would often be done on the anniversary of a birth. I am very fond of this practice as it allows the stamp collector to learn about those to whom there was no previous exposure.

The stamp today is issue A493, a 50 pfennig stamp issued by West Germany on August 13, 1981 to honor the 150th anniversary of the birth of the writer Wilhelm Raabe. The Scott catalog list the value as 50 cents cancelled. Interestingly, the Scott catalog mistakenly lists Mr. Raabe as a poet. He was instead a writer and secondarily a painter.

Mr. Raabe started writing at a fairly young age while he was employed as an apprentice in a bookshop. He quickly tired of the shopkeeper’s life and with the success of his early works he was able to devote himself full time to writing and advanced academics. His early works were funny insights into the life of the German bourgeois.

There were three distinct periods in Mr. Raabe’s writing. There was the early period described above. There was then a middle period where the work seemed to come under the influence of philosophical pessimism. This was being advanced at the time by the German philosopher Shopenhaurer. Philosophical pessimism puts forth that there really is no prospect of advancement in the human condition and that any striving was just the human will being dominant in the pursuit of humans baser needs. The last period in Mr. Raabe’s writing saw a more mature form of his humor return.

I identified a lot with the idea of three periods to a persons work. An early creative phase where a lot of ones best work is done. The optimism of youth can be such a formidable force. Then after time passes and perhaps the world has handed you a few hard knocks, a pessimism creeps in that will change the product being produced. Then at last a final phase where a lite touch returns and a more worldly but less serious tone emerges.

There is another interesting thing about Mr. Raabe. A 70 foot tower was named for him near Blankenburg, Germany in 1952, 42 years after his death. That may not be surprising as it was the area that Mr. Raabe lived. What makes it more interesting is that the tower was originally built in 1896 and was one of a series of towers built to honor various German Kaisers. They were built as a response to towers previously built to honor Otto von Bismarck. There was a perception that Bismarck was becoming something of a cult like figure to some. It would have been natural for the Kaiser to have thought that the people’s hearts belonged with him. To those people the sudden great number of competing towers must have been very strange.

Thus the renaming of the tower in 1952 for Mr. Raabe was understandable. By then few of the towers survived. This one still does.

Well, my drink is empty and so it is time to open up the conversation in the below comment section. Have any of our readers read Mr. Raabe’s books or even climbed his tower? Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.