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Philippines 1974, Remembering Gabriela Silang, the Ilocano people’s Joan of Arc

It is fun when a newer smaller country country introduces the stamp collector to one of it’s heroes from long before. In them you not only find bravery adventure and even deception. You can also spot the similarities of how different places dealt with similar issues. 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 most common image of Gabriela Silang is of an indigenous woman furiously riding a horse while swinging a bolo type machete. The image on the stamp shows her much more feminine in traditional garb and making more clear her mixed heritage. This may take her more relatable across the Philippines and a better picture of who she was.

Todays stamp is issue A250, a 15 Sentimos stamp issued by the Philippines in 1974. It was a 21 stamp issue that came out over five years that honored historical female figures of history. In the 1960s there was an earlier series of stamps in a very similar style showing the males. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

It is believed that Ilocano people migrated to Luzon from Borneo as part of a third wave of migration around 300BC. Gabriela Silang was born in 1731 to a family that was mostly Spanish on her father’s side and mostly Ilocano on her mothers’. Her father was a trader that sold his wares along the Abra River. She was abandoned by her family at an early age and was taken in and raised by the local Catholic Priest. The Priest arraigned for her marriage to a wealthy much older businessman. When her first husband died three years later Gabriela found herself a wealthy young widow.

For her second husband, Gabriela chose mailman Diego Silang. As part of his job, he made frequent trips between Ilocano and Manila and was distressed with how poorly the Spanish brought in from Spain were administering the area. He felt people born on the islands would do a better job.

Diego’s chance came during the Seven Years war, what Americans know as the French and Indian War. In 1762, Britain declared war on Spain and occupied Manila. Diego thought the time was right for Ilocano to rise up in rebellion against the Spanish. Diego offered to cooperate with the British and they in turn named him their governor of Ilocano. What happened next showed that perhaps Ilocano was not quite ready to manage itself. The Spanish colonial authority put a bounty on the head of Diego Silang and two of his coconspirators quickly assassinated him to collect. Traditionally Ilocano men wear their hair long and gather it under a turban called a potong. If the potong was red it meant the man had committed murder. If it was striped, multiple murders. You would think Diego would have been tipped off by this as to the danger he was in.

Gabriela escaped her husband’s killing and set up shop in the house of an uncle. From there she appointed new generals to continue the rebellion. She tried to put herself forward as a cult priestess that would lead her people to victory. In 1763, her rejuvenated rebel force tried to lay siege on the town of Vigan. Her force was defeated by the Spanish and when she tried to escape back to her uncle’s house, the Spanish were waiting for her and arrested her. Gabriela and other prisoners from her army were hung in the town square of Vigan. The British occupation of Manila lasted 20 months until it was returned under the terms of the Treaty of Paris. The news that Manila had fallen did not reach Spain till after it was all over.

Gabriela on her horse waving her machete. No doubt the Spanish Governor was tweeting law and order.

Well my drink is empty. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.

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Algeria 1964, Ben Bella farms out looking out for Algerian kiddies to UNICEF, while looking over his shoulder

Here we have happy even fez wearing kids in newly independent Algeria. It had been a long struggle to rid Algeria of the French, and the pillaging of the Blackfoot’s assets hadn’t gone so well. It was thus up to UNICEF to see that the kids would be okay. Algeria sought to be a leader in the post colonial non aligned movement. It must have a tough pill to swallow to so openly admit being a welfare queen. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

I do really like the honesty of this stamp. No the children really weren’t so happy. The unemployment rate in Algeria was 70% after independence. It follows that the local kids were desperate for whatever crumbs UNICEF was handing out. The honesty is that the country was openly admitting that it was up to UNICEF to solve the problem.

Todays stamp is issue A76, a 15 Centimes stamp issued by Algeria on December 13th, 1964. It was a single stamp issue celebrating a UN sponsored children’s day. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used. Algeria was granted independence in 1962. Winning the pre independence vote, former Egypt exile and Nasser associate Ahmed Ben Bella was the new President. Algeria had been home to over a million colonists called Blackfoots because their feet were in Africa but their heart was in Europe. Some were French but there were also many Italians and Jews of Spanish heritage. Four days after independence, The European Quarters of Algerian cities were looted and the departing French Army did nothing to stop it. President Ben Bella declared European assets in Algeria abandoned and the property of the state. Soon there were almost no Europeans in Algeria and yet somehow it did not lead to instant prosperity. Perhaps this was due to Ben Bella’s  personal security.

Ahmed Ben Bella was born into a well off Algerian farming family. He was sent to France for University paid for of course by the French government. Ben Bella resented his teachers because he thought them racist against him. Perhaps his teachers wondered about having to teach someone on the dole who hated them while perspective French students were excluded. He further resented that the only career option without having to lower himself by going back to Algeria was enlisting in the French Army. Immediately after the war there were riots in Setif in Algeria that were put down by the French who were trying to reassert their authority. Ben Bella was incensed and made his way back to Algeria. Back home he was too good to work the family farm but also proved not very good when he was caught having robbed a bank in Oran. Escaping jail, he made his way to Egypt with a big pile. He there became a close associate of General Nasser. An on the lamb bank robber is perhaps not an obvious independence leader but Ben Bella created an elaborate back story of French persecution Among his tales while really living the good life in Cairo away from the actual struggle;

He claimed a package he didn’t recognize was delivered by taxi to his hotel and the taxi later exploded.

He claimed a shootout on the family farm that missed him.

He claimed that he was  shot and wounded in a Tripoli hotel while traveling under an assumed name and Pakistani diplomatic passport.

The passport didn’t work for him when he tried to return to Algeria with it and the French were waiting for his plane. So anxious to kill him they inexplicably released him to serve Nasser, I mean Algeria.

His Presidency did not go well as he attempted to follow the old African tradition of one man, one vote, once, followed by a by one party rule. The Defense Minister sensibly deposed Ben Bella in 1965 and put him in house arrest in a out of the way French villa. No doubt he resented the French for leaving behind a villa and not freeing him from it. When his house arrest was relaxed in 1980, Ben Bella moved to Switzerland to be close to his money. He was still using his Pakistani passport, to fool the French you understand.

President Ben Bella with Fidel Castro and Che Guevara in Havana. He is the one with his hand out. Ha Ha

Well my drink is empty and unless UNICEF wants to buy another round I will have to wait till when there will be another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.

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Southern Rhodesia 1953, The golden leaf from the high velts gets the colony beyond gold

Tobacco requires many things to be able to be a cash crop. Proper temperature and rainfall so only certain land, the leaves need curing which requires energy and access to transport for export. Then perhaps a devalueation to make the profits flow. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your fir sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

There was just a short window when Queen Elizabeth II appears on a Southern Rhodesia stamp as shortly after her Assentation Southern Rhodesia entered into a federation with Northern Rhodesia, (Zambia) and Nyasaland, (Malawi). Notice also that the tobacco farmer is white. That was a period truth as well as one of the reasons tobacco farming took off in Rhodesia and the lands that were useful for tobacco had not been allocated by previous generations as native reservations.

Todays stamp is issue A19, a one penny stamp issued by the Crown Colony of Southern Rhodesia in 1953. It was a five stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

Even in modern Zimbabwe tobacco is known as the golden leaf not just for it’s color but because the export revenue of the crop rivals that of the gold mines. In the 1920s and 1930s it was realized that the belt of high velts was ideal for tobacco. The 3000 to 4000 feet elevation moderated temperatures and allowed  rainfall in the ideal range. The land was both owned by white settlers but close enough to ample black contract labour. The preexisting railroads would allow for export from the landlocked country and the tobacco leaves were cured on site. A big bonus to the industry happened when the pound was devalued after the war making the product more competitive. Starting in 1945, tobacco surpassed gold as Rhodesia’s chief export.

The transfer to black rule did not mean the end of tobacco cultivation. The first years of Zimbabwe saw the tobacco planters as the Rhodesians most likely to stay. As recently as 2000, there were 1500 active tobacco growers. In 2019 there were 171,000 and most whites have been pressured into leaving. In some countries after land reform, there is a large boost in output. This has been the case in Zimbabwe with production nearly four times the level of 1950. The end of the necessity of white ownership or ideal land has seen a dramatic increase in area under cultivation. Zimbabwe is the fourth largest tobacco exporter in the world, the largest in Africa.

There has been a down side. There is a great deal of slash and burn cultivation with much accompanying deforestation. I mentioned above that cultivation requires curing. The requires heat mostly generated by burning firewood. The government started a new tax of 1.5 percent gross to counteract deforestation. This has not solved the problem, as the programs main goal is to raise awareness instead of planting trees. Zimbabwe technological expertise might now be offering a solution. The government has been promoting the use of a coregated tin “twin turbo barn” for fast tobacco curing. It allows the switching to natural gas when available as a heat source. Exciting stuff.

High Zimbabwe tech Twin Turbo Barn for tobacco curing

Well my drink is empty and so I will have to wait till  when there will be another story to be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.

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Hungary 1919. The Soviet Socialists would like to introduce you to some historical figures they intend to rehabilitate

In the chaos after World War I, Hungary was briefly declared a Soviet Socialist Republic. Obviously such a government was mainly Jewish outsiders. In their one stamp issue, they introduced the country to a cast of historical figures that give some basis for their government. In this case, Serbian Jacobin Ignac Martinovics. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

I always have a good time looking at the design of the early communist stamps. There was still a hint of the old Royal look as the commies were obviously torn as to how much of the old grandiosity to retain now that it was in their hands. On the other hand, it is also easy to spot the wild ride the whole country was on with the cheap paper and indeed slightly deranged look of the old would be hero. When a country is in the midst of a reign of terror, everybody is a little deranged.

Todays  stamp is issue A17, a 60 Filler stamp issued by Hungary on June 12th, 1919. It was a five stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $4.00 unused.

Ignac Martinovic’s father migrated to Pest in Hapsburg era Hungary. To hear Martinovic tell it, his father was either a nobleman soldier or a Serb tavern keeper. Obviously both could be true in different periods and Hungary was playing host to many Serbs on the run from the Ottomans. In Hungary, he converted to Catholicism  and married a local German girl.

It is not clear where the money for it was coming from, but Martinovic was well educated. During his education he became involved in intellectual francophone Jacobin secret societies modeled on the reign of terror era French Jacobin societies under Robespierre. For the Jacobins he engaged in many secret missions on their behalf. He also lead a more mainstream life as a university professor in Lemberg, now called Lviv and in the Ukraine. The Jacobins were half satisfied with reform minded Emperor Joseph II  and even worked as a part time agent for Leopold II, but when he was succeeded by more conservative Francis II the Jacobins became more radicalized. They began to assert that the aristocracy was the root of Hungary’s troubles and deserved elimination. Lack of self awareness did not let them see that by logic a bunch of haughty French speaking heringguts at the universities should therefore be high on their lists of those that should go. Jacobins then tried to stir up trouble among serfs and the Emperor Francis II  had Martinovic and six other “Hungarian” Jacobins beheaded for their subversion.

1795 depiction of the execution of the six Jacobins including Martinovic

This 1919 issue was not Martinovic’s only Hungarian stamp. The later communist regime did one in 1947. yes again with the cheap paper. As with many such people, Martinovic was also a Mason, and the Masonic Temple in Budapest is named for him. Interestingly both stamps that I have so far written up from this set were executed by the Hapsburgs. Probably still a worry for the then Hungarian Soviet Socialists.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the use of stamps to signal rehabilitation. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.

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Saint Vincent 1955, Choosing between Garanagu and Canada

A while back The-Philatelist presented a Saint Vincent post independence stamp that concentrated on the issues of that time, see https://the-philatelist.com/2018/10/01/saint-vincent-against-all-odds-has-a-stable-currency-even-if-joshua-gone-barbados/ . While researching this stamp from the later days of colony I came on a whole different telling on the history of the island from a black rather then colonial perspective. It may shed light on why the West Indian Federation failed and these islands decided to go it alone. 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 was a fairly plain issue showing Queen Elizabeth as a new queen and in higher denominations the coat of arms of the colony. I have often equated a Monarch’s portrait on a colony’s stamp as a reminder to those far from the home country that Britain remembers and is looking out for their endeavor. During this time Britain was actively trying to extricate itself from the expense of looking out for these small islands and to me that tarnishes the intended calming effect of an issue like this. This stamp comes from a time of a great migration out of Saint Vincent, especially among those who might feel like they won’t fit in with an in charge Garanagu culture.

Todays stamp is issue A23, a 25 cent stamp issued by the Crown Colony of Saint Vincent on September 16th, 1955. This was a 12 stamp issue in various denominations that lasted over a decade. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

The traditional view of history of Saint Vincent is that British invaders subdued and then small pox wiped out local Caribe Indians. African slaves were imported to work sugar cane plantations and when slavery was abolished in 1834 the island fell into a deep poverty and an expensive failure for Britain.

Here is a different telling that is gaining favor in the region of a Garangu culture. As early as the 1300s AD, migrants from the west African Mali empire came to Saint Vincent. At the same time Caribe Indians were arriving from the territory that is modern Venezuela. They intermarried and a very strong culture developed that strongly resembled Mali. In 1635, a slave ship shipwrecked near the island and the Africans were freed and integrated instead of being returned to the slave traders. Hearing of the independent black culture of Saint Vincent, escaped slaves of other islands made way to Saint Vincent on makeshift boats and were welcomed.

A 1586 map depicting Saint Vincent with an earlier spelling of Garanagu

In 1763, Saint Vincent was awarded to Britain by the Treaty of Paris. What followed was a 34 year war to try to subdue the island. Garanagu leader Joseph Satuye lead Africans bravely against the British until his final defeat. Defeated warriors were held on the island of Beliceaux. Some then escaped to the Honduran island of Roatan. There is an annual pilgrimage of Saint Vincent residents  to Beliceaux to remember their fallen.

Though the Garanagu were militarily defeated, the British were unable to enslave them. Desperately British India contract workers and some Portuguese and Chinese were brought in to work their sugar cane plantations, but the British just could not make the colony work as they had gone against Garanagu culture. As a face saving way out, Britain tried to impose a West Indies Federation to be run out of Port of Spain under mixed race British trained Jamaican politician Norman Manly. The Philatelist presented a Jamaican stamp on him here, https://the-philatelist.com/2018/08/09/jamaica-1970-mixed-race-leaders-try-to-graft-socialism-onto-black-jamaica/   . Canada was to provide guidance, help and supervision in place of the British. There was even talk that the Federation could include British Honduras and British Guyana and end up a Canadian province.

The British again failed to take into account the strength of Garanagu culture and the West Indies Federation failed. One benefit was the donation by Canada of two ships, the Federal Palm and the Federal Maple, that visited all the islands of the federation twice a month  to improve communication and ironically enhance Garanagu culture.

Saint Vincent became fully independent in 1979. Though the population is lower than in previous times, the demographics are much more in keeping with the time before the Garanagu were subdued. The island is still part of the Commonwealth and maintains friendly ties with Canada. It even host numerous American iffy medical schools. The key is not going against Garanagu culture.

Well my drink is empty and this was fun attacking a subject from a completely different perspective. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.

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France 1931, When Colonial powers held exhibitions to explain and defend what they were doing

At a time when all this stuff is just being erased as evil, I thought it might be fun to travel back to a time when things could at least be debated. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult  beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

I am fond of many French colonial stamps with their exotic views of far off colonies. So a total Empire set should really be exciting. Alas this stamp has too much going on and the rest of the issue is a small bulk mail stamp of a Fachie woman that is very familiar to stamp collectors.

Todays stamp is issue A42, a 1.5 Franc stamp issued by France itself in 1930. It was a five stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 65 cents used. The exposition was a few years too early for the stamp souvenir sheets that would have been part of later expositions. It should be remembered though that French colonies themselves issued stamps as part of the exposition, and often were available to collectors at the colony’s pavilion at the expo.

World War I had a big negative effect on the prospects for European power’s colonial experiment. Most of the fighting was in Europe but there was a widespread sense that the natives of the colonies did not do their part in service to the mother country. There was further contreversy coming from the left in the Soviet Union and Weimar Germany that the whole endeavor of colonies leads to decadence, and race mixing. Our friends on the left don’t phrase things that way any more but it was an earlier time.

The six month long Exposition Coloniale Internationale was set at the Bois de Vincennes, the largest park in Paris. The park was laid out by Napoleon III who remember had lost a European war while much of his Army was tied down in the colonies. A reaction to the criticism was that France would be portrayed as not assimilating the colonies but their partners. Pavilions were in the local style and natives were brought in to demonstrate the native culture of the colonies and create art and crafts. One of the most popular pavilions was a recreation of the Angkor Wat Cambodian Temple. Smaller colonial powers like Portugal, Belgium, Holland and even the USA participated.  The expo was well attended and there was a spike afterward of French applying to serve in the colonies.

This poster would have made a better stamp. The exotic shown in the period art style

There was however some pushback. A Dutch recreation of Balinese Mero temple burned down under mysterious circumstances. The pavilion contained a great deal of the collection of the Batavia Museum. The was also a counter expo put on by French Marxists that had displays of the horrors of forced labor and compared in a positive light the Stalin era Soviet nationalities policy to the European colonial experiment. The Marxist expo attracted few visitors.

The legacy of the Expo was not great. A Permanent Colonial Museum was opened at the edge of the park. It proved not permanent, the building now houses a museum to immigrants in France and the former collection is mainly in storage at a museum honoring former French President Chirac. The biggest legacy seems to be a spike in the consumption of North African and Vietnamese food in Paris that has yet to dissipate. Maybe the 1920s lefties had a point? The Batavia Museum in the Dutch East Indies used the fire insurance payout to fund a major expansion back home. This is now the Indonesia National Museum. So in a way the colonial power is still there teaching the natives of their own culture. Funny how that works.

Well my drink is empty and here’s hoping that our hobby is not itself erased as part of our current leftie friends’ desire for a new year 1. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.

 

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North Korea 1966, hoping to export to prosperity

The North Korea of 1966 had not yet fallen behind it’s Southern cousins economically. North Korea has important natural resources in coal, tungsten, zinc, and even gold. That was just what Japan found during the colonial rule. Now it is all in the countries hands, so perhaps the resources will spread to the people. That could have happened. 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 is a great issue of strong, determined workers in the areas of construction, mining, industry, and machine tool production. They show vast facilities and scientific methods. These are the kind of stamps newer communist countries do so well. Early on there really is a belief that such things being in the hands of the state instead of capitalist and often even foreign exploiters will move the country forward by great leaps. I admit, the optimism is contagious.

Todays stamp is issue A615, a 40 Chon stamp issued by North Korea on November 20th, 1966. It was a four stamp issue in various denominations with todays mining stamp the highest value reflecting the industries’ importance to Korea. Unlike the other stamps in the issue, the stamp came out with no gum on the back. There is still a value given for used, so I assume they are cancelled to order. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth $2.10 cents unused.

Most of the mining going on in North Korea in 1966 was done in mines left over from the Japanese. For example, Korea’s most important mineral zinc comes from the largest mine in eastern Asia at Geomdeock. It was founded by the Japanese in 1932. The complex was quickly nationalized by the North Korean regime but as never progressed beyond the old method of flooding and collecting the zinc as it floats up.

In coal output the Gogeonwon mine produces the highest form of coal anthracite, mainly for export and North Korea is the largest exporter of anthracite. with over a billion dollars a year of exports. It too was founded by Japan in 1920 and subsequently nationalized. Coal for electricity comes from a newer mine opened in 1997 in Jikdong. It however produces lower quality lignite or brown coal that has a much lower energy content. North Korea is very short of electricity despite large reserves of coal and a large workforce that must work where assigned even a tired old mine.

Gold is one area where North Korea has been able to make some headway. A new mine in Songnong opened in 1956. The mine extracts tailings that contain 30 grams of gold per ton of extraction. There is a connected processing plant that has over time processed over 20 million tons of tailings. The now giant pile of waste rock was tested and still contains 1.5 grams of gold per ton.

South Korea did a survey that agreed with this stamp as to the potential for mining in North Korea putting the potential at 9.7 trillion dollars. This attracted a lot of investment from China in the sector. The investments have not proved lucrative due to the shortage of electricity that modern mines require in great quantities and capitalist sanctions on Korea that threaten to blacklist firms that get too involved.

Well my drink is empty and my search continues for one of these optimistic communist industry stamps where the results were as hoped and continue on. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.

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Ottoman Empire 1916, Shifting Blame toward the Figurehead

The ruling class of the Ottoman Empire were thought feckless and expensive and were hampering the rejuvenation of Empire. Through a string of coups, a group of young Turks stripped the Sultans of much power and then tried to regain what was lost through more war. By 1916, it was clear that effort had failed and so we see this issue on the war effort prominently showing the powerless Sultan Mohammed V as if it was him to blame. Nice bit of blame shifting. 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.

Along with the portrait of Sultan Mohammed V we see a map of the Dardanelles. In 1916 these indeed were being vigorously defended  after the landing at Gallipoli by the ANZAC manned British force. The Young Turks lead by Enver Pasha were to be the ones to restore the far flung empire. Gallipoli is less than 200 miles from Istanbul.

Todays stamp is issue A46, a one Piastre stamp issued by the Ottoman Empire in 1916. It was a 15 stamp issue in various denominations showing mostly romantic views of the soon lost Empire. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 50 cents used. Being issued so close to the end of the Ottoman Empire there is a post war version with the Sultan crossed out. Lucky for now Turkey, the defense at Gallipoli held and they did not have to also cross out the map of the Dardanelles. That version is worth $1 used.

The Ottoman Empire was quite far flung in the Middle East, Egypt and North Africa. If we reflect on the governence of those areas in the last 100 years with dictators and ethnic cleansing we understand how hard it must have been to govern the areas effectively. The Sultans traded a good deal of self rule of the provinces in exchange for a tax due the central government. Most of that revenue was used to import modern arms that Turkey was not capable of making for itself and thus be able to defend itself. None of this was perfect and there was a group of young officers called the “Young Turks” lead by Enver Pasha that knew better and Couped in 1913 in the Raid on the Sublime Porte. This stripped Sultan Mohammed V of much of his power though he was still Sultan and indeed Calliph, which was the leader of the Faith. Enver Pasha forced an alliance with Germany and Ottoman involvement in World War I. It should be noticed that the Young Turks were just that and this was no longer to be a multi religion and multi ethnic empire.

Having no choice and confined to Yidiz Palace in Istanbul, Mohammed V played along and signed off on war on the side of Germany that he personally was very skeptical of. He even went so far that in his role of Caliph he issued the last official Muslim Jihad ordering all Muslims to fight for the German Alliance. This did not have much weight and indeed Arabs fought on the British side in the Fertile Crescent. It was perhaps for the best the Sultan Mohamed V died four months before the end of the war and therefore did not have to witness the Empire’s end and the Young Turks rush off into a much pursued exile.

I mentioned that the modern Turks much resented the old fashioned Empire. This can be seen in what happened to Yidiz Palace after there was no more Sultan or Caliph to be locked up in it. It was converted into a high class casino. Constantinople was no longer the seat of Government or the Faith but now Istanbul was playing host to many exiled white Russians. The palace was eventually made into a museum. In 2013, the Palace even got a stamp. In 2019 things came full circle and Turkish President Erdogan  moved in. Don’t let them lock you in, Mr. President.

Yidiz Palace during the period it was a museum and event venue.

Well my drink is empty and this seems the right stamp to pour another to toast blame shifting. So much easier. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.

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Lesotho 1981, Rivalry between South Africa’s African National Congress and the Pan Africanist Congress weighs on Leabua Jonathon’s tiny black Kingdom

Lesotho is a tiny landlocked country with South Africa on all sides. It was formally known as Basutoland. Independance saw the retention of the ceremonial tribal King but multiparty democratic rule with two parties closely aligned with respective anti apartheid groups in South Africa. As such we get a window as to what a South Africa that could read the writing on the wall earlier might have been like. 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 is a nicely done farm out commonwealth stamp. The remember to include King Moeshoeshoe II in a Manchin like profile in the top right corner. The good King had a cool 70s “Shaft” vibe that reminded the part of the world you were in. The well drawn bird on the stamp is a greater or white eyed kestrel. They indeed are native to the area and still numerous.

Todays stamp is issue A66 a one Lisente stamp issued by the independent Kingdom of Lesotho on April 20th 1981. It was a 14 stamp issue in various denominations that lasted many years with surcharges as the currency new in 1979 was devalued. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents unused.

Lesotho gained independence from Great Britain in 1965. Britain had retained ties extra long to prevent being absorbed by the apartheid South Africa. The old Basutoland had seceded some

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Australia 1961, Even before there was a band on the Little River, Melbourne presented Melba to the world

Nineteenth century Australia is perhaps not where you would look for the next great Prima Dona. Even back then though there was a conservatory in Melbourne with top flight instructors and well off father’s indulging daughters who display talent. Too bad then to reach her potential, Nelly Melba had to leave behind her country, and her husband and even her young son. 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 celebrated the birth century of Melba by displaying her bust. I just got you to look at the stamp again, ha ha. A bust is perhaps a little too serious for a performer so it was good that they included an autograph of her stage name to remind that there was a real person behind the marble and the façade.

Todays stamp is issue A124, a five penny stamp issued by Australia on September 20th, 1961. It was a single stamp issue. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 35 cents.

Nellie Melba’s real name was Helen Mitchell. She was the daughter of a Scottish born builder that operated out of Melbourne. She was a star student  at the Melbourne Conservatory where she received training as an opera singer. Her father was happy to fund her instruction but was opposed to her becoming a professional singer. When his wife died, Melba’s father moved the family to Mackay, Queensland where he was constructing a sugar refinery. Here Melba married and quickly had a son. Melba was not satisfied with how her life was turning out. Alleging abuse by her husband, she abandoned the marriage and her young son and struck out to London where she hoped to become a Prima Dona with the new name of Nellie Melba.  London proved less than receptive so it was on to Paris where she was able to arrange further instruction from Mathilde Marchesi. Melba got a 1000 Franc a year 10 year contract to be the Prima Dona she dreamed of and began a notorious affair with Prince Philippe, Duke of Orleans and that Royal House’s pretender to the French throne. Melba’s still husband back in Mackay threatened to sue for divorce  in Mackay naming Philippe as correspondent. Philippe did not want that and agreed to end it by going on a two year African Safari without her.

Melba was also not happy with her Paris singing contract as she had been offered one at three times the salary in Brussels. Her boss refused to release her but then her luck changed and he died. She tried it again in London to very mixed reviews. She developed an enthusiastic fan base  that saw her repeatedly invited back but the official review said Madam Melba was a fluid vocalist and quite representative of light soprano parts, but lacks the personal charm necessary to be a great figure on the lyric stage. You can’t please everyone, but Melba played around the world even in the USA and a few times back in Australia. She died back in Melbourne after an infection from a botched face lift. By then her husband and son had moved to Texas and quietly divorced her there.

Melba reviews were not all bad and the British named her a Dame in 1919. Australia renamed her old Conservatory for her and even put her on their $100 bill. Assuming it hasn’t been removed lately by only BLM, Covent Gardens Opera House has her statue, one of a very few. One of her biggest fans was French chef Auguste Escoffier, who named Peach Melba and melba toast after her.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to commiserate with the worries of fathers who have been overly indulgent with their daughters. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.