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Syria 1962, The Jupiter Temple rolls with the punches

Syria has had to roll with many invasions over the years. The new post war independent Syrian Arab Republic was confident enough to display Roman ruins. Why not, as it was the site of an even earlier Aramean temple to the storm God Hadad, perhaps indicating Syrian people are outlasting even the Gods. 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.

With Assad in Syria being the last of the pseudo king socialist middle eastern dictators clinging to power, it is maybe time to acknowledge that these men had their good points. They were educated and knew the areas long history and celebrated all of it, not just the narrow part that conforms to a political or religious dogma. Compare that to Antifa or the Taliban.

Todays stamp is issue A84, a 10 Piaster stamp issued by Syria in 1962. It was part of a 16 stamp issue over several years showing historic sites that was the first stamp issue of the Arab Republic government. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents. 10 Piasters is currently worth 8/1000s of an American penny.

The site in old town Damascus that holds the ruins to the Roman Temple to Jupiter was the site of a temple even before Roman times. Under the rule of Aramean King Hazael a Temple was constructed in Semitic style resembling the Temple in Jerusalem but dedicated to the storm God Hadad. The Romans conquered Damascus in 64 BC and over time tried to combine Hadad with their own God Jupiter. Eventually the temple was expanded under local architect Apollodorus. Apollodorus added on in the Roman style but was careful to give large nods to earlier Eastern styles. He is even credited with giving Roman architecture Eastern style domes.

Period statue of Semitic Storm God Hadad
Damascus Engineer/architect Apollodorus

In the late 4th century AD, Roman Emperor Theodosis decreed the Roman Empire Christian and only Christian. The Temple was rededicated to John the Baptist. The Temple in that form was even said to hold his skull.

Muslims conquered Damascus in 635 AD and for a time the Temple served both religions but 70 years later Caliph al Walid Ist converted and expanded the temple into the current Umayyad Mosque.

As a Mosque, the temple saw the first demonstration of the Arab Spring that started the still current Syrian civil war in 2011, Security forces quickly dealt with the demonstration and then carefully fenced off the already walled site. Since to date Damascus has not fallen to the other sides, the historic site remains intact.

Damascus, Umayyad Mosque

Well my drink is empty. Come again on Monday when there will be another story to be learned from stamp collecting.

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Malta 1991, When ruins are too majestic to remove

The Parish Church of Saint Mary’s in Birkirkara, Malta was mostly leveled by an earthquake in 1856. A new church, dedicated to Saint Helen was built and loved enough to eventually be named a basilica. Yet so many years later Malta is displaying the ruins as something tourist should see. 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 12 stamp issue promoted tourism on the small island of Malta. They came up with 12 sites to see, most of which you are not going to see on a brief cruise ship stop.

Todays stamp is issue A191, a 5 cent stamp issued by independent Malta on December 9th, 1991. The twelve stamp issue had different denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

The Church was built over a 60 year period in the 17th century. It was dedicated to the Assumption of Mary to heaven. This is the belief shared by Catholics, Orthadox, and a few Protestants that at the end of Mary’s, mother of Jesus, time on Earth, she did not die but rather Angels came for her and lifted her bodily up to heaven. This confirmed her without sin and a renewal of the original Covenant as with Adam in the Garden of Eden. The Assumption is dated to August 15th, and celebrated as a feast day. In 1950 Pope Pius attached Papal Infallibility to the belief, but many Protestants don’t feel there is enough basis in the Bible for the belief. Feast poopers. As usual, Lutherans try to thread the needle by not believing in the Assumption but still celebrate the life on earth of Mary on August 15th.

A pre earthquake photo showing how Saint Mary’s originally looked.

Saint Mary’s Church was designed by Maltese architect Tommaso Dingli in the Renaissance style. After starting his career working on the Wignacourt Aqueduct that brought spring water into Valetta, he settled into the core of his career designing churches around Malta. His reputation was such the Giovanni de Medici tried to bring him to Italy. Dingli refused as he had too much work to do on Malta. I bet Malta wished that was still the case for their best and brightest.

In 1856 there was an earthquake that collapsed the tower and mostly

Napoleonic bullet holes. Don’t worry France, at this point I don’t think the Maltese want it fixed

closed the church except as an occasional funeral venue. The damaged shell was still much loved as it contained so much history. One wall has graffiti dating from the 17th century and another as bullet holes left from the Napoleon Era  French occupation. As early as 1890 there was a local committee with the the goals of rebuilding the church. A new roof was finally put on in the 1970s, not to the original style but again allowing the church to host a Parrish starting in 2005.

Well my drink is empty. I can understand why Birkirkara is fond of the the old ruins. My city also has a church that lost it’s roof to a Nineteenth century hurricane. They left the open air shell around, not as a funeral venue but to host music performances. Come again tomorrow when there will be another story to be learned from stamp collecting.

 

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Rwanda 1967, A Roundtable, not for knights but for future knights

Rwanda was a newly independent country in the 1960s. Why not have a social, business, and charitable organization to mobilize young business leaders. Rwanda picked the British one, whose moto is adopt, adapt, and improve. Not a bad motto for a new country. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and in special honour of the young up and comers, go rafting after learning to make sushi. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

This is a good looking issue of stamps. The roundtable emblem shows the local variation for the chapter in Kigali and the African wild animals show the where the money went for the annual charity event of the club. Imagine the first young fellows putting together the club in exotic Kigali. How full of hope they must have been.

Todays stamp is issue A37, a 20 Centime stamp issued by independent Rwanda on July 31st, 1967. It was a 6 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents unused. Rwanda’s last stamp issue, on gorillas, was in 2010 and the authorities have declared many more recent issues unauthorized and illegal. That includes a two souvenir sheet issue of nine stamps each on Rwandan pornography. It may be fake but there is a stamp collecting story that needs telling.

The first Round Table Club was founded in 1926 by Englishman, of Irish mother and Swiss father, Louis Marchesi. He was a young businessman interested in networking  and belonged to the Rotary Club. He didn’t feel the Rotarians were enough focused on the younger members that were also interested in adventures and available at night. Marchesi came up with the goal of adopt-adapt-improve as shown on this stamp and inspired when Marchesi heard the then Prince of Wales, later Edward VIII, say at a trade show that the young men of Britain need to gather around the table  to solve the Empire’s problems. The group was only open to males under 40 and met once a fortnight in a pub. Their wives were allowed to join the ladies circle. On the March after a member’s 40th birthday, they were retired from the club, although many local affiliates have 41 clubs for their former retired members and the tangent club for their wives. After World War II the club began to have international tables and is currently in over 60 countries. By keeping the membership young, the club can over more adventure based events while keeping up the annual charity aspect. The Duke of Edinburg was until recently the Royal Patron.

Louis “Mark” Marchesi
The International logo

The Round Table club is no more in Rwanda. It is possible there is still a 41 club of former members that aged out as the organization says that many of those no longer stay in touch. There is still an active Round Table chapter in neighboring Tanzania. There might be hope for a recovery in Rwanda. It has made some progress economically since the 90s civil war. They have even recently joined the British Commonwealth. Though Rwanda was colonized first by Germany and later Belgium, there was a short period of British occupation during World War I. This made Rwanda eligible for the Commonwealth and their application was approved.

Well my drink is empty. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Laos 1990, Get cleaned up for Pi Mai and we will see which beauty is named Miss Lao New Year

Laos celebrates new year in April which coincides with their hottest time of the year and the beginning of the monsoon season. That and the Buddhist traditions mean things are celebrated a little differently. The idea of a new year bringing hope is universal. 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 takes a formal and reverential tone to the ceremonies around new year. That is well and good and the stamp is well printed. New Year in Laos is foremost a cellebration though and that seems missing from this stamp. A while back I did a stamp on a similar festival as practiced by Hindus in Guyana, see https://the-philatelist.com/2019/08/19/guyana-apparantly-south-america-1969-after-the-political-rift-along-racial-lines-a-country-seeks-a-new-start-with-a-celebration-of-spring/      . I think that stamp better captured the party atmosphere.

Todays stamp is issue A239, a 150 Kip stamp issued by Laos on November 20th. 1990, seven months after new year. It was a four stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.25 cancelled to order. 150 Kip is currently worth less than 2 cents.

Pi Mai, the Laotian new year is a three day holiday. The first day, April 13th, is the last day of the old year. It is reserved for cleaning body, home, and especially Buddha Icons.  The second day is thought of as the day between  the years. It is a day for gathering sand and flowers. The sand is to be taken to the temple to build mounds and the flowers are to decorate the Icons and to add a pleasant smell to the water used on the third day. The third day, April 15th, is the actual first day of the new year and water is poured on the old and Monks by the young in return for blessings. Then it broadens with perfumed water being spayed every way. In recent years the celebratory spraying has started to include shaving and whipped cream from cans.

the water spaying. I hope the water is well perfumed

I mentioned above the taking of the sand to the temple to build mounds. These are called Stupas and are meant to build merit. The mounds are supposed to represent the mountain Phoukhou Kallot, where ancient King Kabinlaphrom’s skull was kept by his seven daughters.

The sand stupas of Pi Mai

There are also beauty pageants where seven young maidens compete to be name Miss Lao New Year. The seven contestants are also meant to represent the seven daughters of King Kabinlaphrom.

Pi Mai beauty pageant as practiced by Lao diaspora in Texas

Well my drink is empty. Happy new year to all, it is probably new years somewhere everyday. Come again tomorrow when there will be another story to be learned from stamp collecting.

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Vatican City 1987, The logistics and minefields of a Papal visit

Pope John Paul II was known for his many journeys. In the early years it could almost be likened to barnstorming with up to 8 events a day. Todays much older Popes try for a less tiring two audiences a day while traveling. Keeping the operation smooth so His Eminance can achieve his goals sometimes proves difficult. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult berverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

The image chosen for this stamp marking the 10 hour 1985 visit to the Liechtenstein is quite traditional with well scrubbed children in folk attire receiving an audience and blessing. It does not display the issue of the trip, whether abortion restrictions should be abandoned.

Todays stamp is issue A236, a 500 Lira stamp issued by Vatican City on October 27th, 1987. It was an 8 stamp issue in various denominations marking trips Pope John Paul II had made in 1985 and 1986. According to the Scott catalog. the stamp is worth 40 cents used.

A Papal visit is planned several years in advance. The process starts with an invitation from both the country and the local Catholic church. In this case the invitation was accepted, Liechtenstein was a traditional, 85 percent Catholic country that had only just gave women the right to vote. There was a worry that via a referendum the rules against abortion would be liberalized. The Pope thus decided to visit and make the arguement for keeping the standards.

A Vatican team of about 15 than makes a pre visit to prioritize the possible events and map out the logistics. On this trip the Pope had special audiences with Catholic youth and the Royal Family. 20 staffers including 6 security agents were part of the Pope’s entourage. They also made room for about 30 journalist.

This was in some ways a strange visit. The entire country had only 26,000 people at the time. The crowds at the Papal events were estimated at over 30,000. It was also a country with a very high standard of living and little poverty. It was estimated that there were 6 unemployed among the workforce of 16,000. The Pope threaded the line carefully acknowledging the achievement while displaying concern that wealth can led to apostasy.

Stamps were important in period Liechtenstein. Here was the visit’s first day cover

The abortion restrictions in Liechtenstein were the strictest in Europe. It was only allowed in cases of extreme medical distress of the mother or in cases of rape where the victim is below the age of 14. Violating the rules would result in 2 years in jail and loss of medical license by the doctor and one year in jail for the mother. Those that advocated changing the law estimated that 50 women and girls a year crossed the border to obtain a legal, safe abortion.

Pope John Paul II made some of his most direct statements against abortion in Liechtenstein. He described abortion as a repulsive crime and urged people to save the unborn human from the threat of the born man who would usurp the unborn’s rights by killing in the womb. He further said it was the duty of Christian politicians to stand up for the teachings of the Church which he pledged would never change. He received a pledge from then Prince Regent Hans Adam to veto an unCatholic outcome in any referendum.

The other side of the argument

It was thought at the time the referendum to change the abortion law would come very soon. In fact, it did not come until 2011 when a referendum to allow abortion up to 13 weeks and in cases where the child will have a disability was defeated with 52 percent against. The Prince Regent, by then Alois, did not have to use his veto. He said he would have.

Well my drink is empty. Come again on Monday when there will be another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Turks & Caicos 1981, Every British subject has the right to rake the salt, but no colony can have it’s own colony

Turks and Caicos is still a British Colony, now styled British Overseas Territory. This became possible because somebody eventually decided to live there. 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 pleasant Commonwealth style issue showing fish. The Queen Angelfish is indeed present in the ocean area around the islands. The angelfish are something less than angelic. In aquariums they are known to fight each other. There is also the issue that they tend to chew on coral reefs. They can be forgiven of course because they don’t understand the climate crime they are committing.

Todays stamp is issue A69, a 20 cent stamp issued by the British self governing colony of Turks and Caicos on December 15th, 1981. This was a 28 stamp issue in different denominations that came out over five years. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $2.50 used.

There is evidence that a Lucayan Indian outpost existed on the island before it was spotted by Europeans but they were long gone. The first person to try to live on the islands was in 1709 when English colonist Bernard Caicos arrived. He thought himself of long ago Ottoman heritage explaining the Turk name. At the end of the American revolutionary war, 40 Crown Loyalists from Georgia and South Carolina were granted land to replace land seized from them. They brought with them 1000 slaves and grew sisal, a fiber used in ropes.

1763 French map of area

The big industry on the islands was however raking salt. Bermudan and Bahamians came in seasonally to get the salt, which was quite valuable then for food preservation. Turks and Caicos salt passed through trading houses in Bermuda and sold all along the east coast of North America. The trading got so lucrative that Bermuda petitioned the Crown to be given authority over Turks and Caicos, so they could exclude the Bahamians. The government ruled that no colony could itself have a colony and that any British subject had a right to rake the salt. Some may say non conguently, they then beefed up the administration from Jamaica. After first Jamaica then Bahamas became independant, Turks and Caicos was granted it’s own Governor and self rule. The position of both political parties is eventual independence but not now, as it would interfere with the tax haven status.

Salt raking

Being a colony has been a boon for good governance. In the early 2000s a string of three locally elected Premiers were arrested on charges of stealing, drug running, and even sexual assault. After a British Parliamentary inquiry it was decided to revoke self government until reforms and financial controls could be put in place. Since the return to self rule, there have been two Premiers. Neither has been arrested to date.

Turks and Caicos current Premier

 

Well my drink is empty. Come again tomorrow for another story to be learned from stamp collecting.

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Guinea 1967, A Spanish bouncer effectively imagines a struggle for fellow imaginers

The goal of bringing third worlders in via connected people grants  is for them to benefit from first world progress and for the first worlder to learn about hardships from the new arrival. What happens though when the third worlders attracted are their rich, connected and in Jose Vela Zanetti’s case not even a third worlder. Interestingly the Guggenheim fellowship that brought Zanetti to New York has been suspended indefinitely over worries over it’s efficacy. 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 offerring from The Philatelist.

This stamp displays Mankind’s Struggle for a Lasting Peace, a mural painted by Jose Vela Zanetti that sits in the hallway outside the Security Council chamber in the United Nations New York headquarters. The image on the stamp has little to do with Guinea. When your third worlders are fake and have benefited from a many year education in Tuscany, there is an advantage in that he understands as a fellow cosplayer in any real struggle what the UN wanted. An image rich in the pornography of the toiling of the third worlder with any devine purpose or hope edited out.

Todays stamp is issue AP7, a fifty franc air mail stamp issued by independent Guinea on November 11th, 1967. This was a three stamp and one souvenir sheet issue displaying the art collection of the United Nations Security Council. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents canceled to order.

Jose Vela Zanetti was born into a rich family in Burgos, Spain. He showed an interest in art and studied in Leon and Madrid. With the Spanish Civil War heating up, the family got him a scholarship to continue his studies in peaceful Florence, Italy. The victory of what Jose felt was the wrong side in 1939 left him with a conundrum over where to bounce next. Stay in an Italy gearing up for war again on the wrong side or bounce back to peaceful Spain where his politics may be a hinderance. As with several other exiled Spanish artists, Jose moved to the peaceful Dominican Republic.

Jose Vela Zanetti

Jose hit the ground running in the D. R. Within a year of his arrival he hosted his first solo art show. Giving the audience what it wanted, he impresed the D. R.’s right wing dictator Trujillo. Soon he was inundated with commissions to put his murals in many of the new public buildings going up at the time. He was also named a Professor of Art at the local university and eventually named the Dean.

There was however the problem of being a big fish in a small pond. Jose applied for and received a Latin America oriented  Guggenheim Fellowship in 1951. The idea was to bring in the Latin American artist mid career and giving him enough money to live for a few years in the hope that he or she will do their best work. This is what happened for Jose. He quickly applied for and won the commission from the UN for the mural that appears on the stamp. It is his most famous work.

In 1960, Jose inherited the estate that he grew up in. Despite Franco, he moved back to Burgos, Spain with his wife and son. His art shifted from murals to paintings and the subject matter shifted from the political to landscapes. He lived there another 39 years.

A later landscape

Well my drink is empty. I will pour another for the bouncing cosplayers, it is where the world is heading, Mr. Vela Zanetti just got there early. Come again tomorrow when there will be another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Australia 1996, Who sank the boat, don’t worry I won’t spoil it

Australia has maintained a vibrant children’s book industry. How it came about, and how it is maintained is an interesting story. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

This stamp issue features books that have won the Australian Children’s Book of the year award. This stamp features Who Sunk the Boat, a 1983 winner that was written and illustrated by New Zealander Pamela Allen. It tells a story designed for adults to read to small children in a sing songy way of 4 animals debating who ruined their day sailing by sinking the boat. I won’t spoil the ending.

Todays stamp is issue A514, a 45 cent stamp issued by Australia on July 4th, 1996. It was a four stamp issue all in the same denomination. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1 USA used.

In 1945 two American ladies stationed in Australia with the USA Information Library suggested a children books week in Australia modeled on what was happening in the USA. It was to be a partnership of teachers, librarians, booksellers and publishers. Once the organization got going it decided to give out a children’s book of the year award though in the first years it was only awarded intermittently. In 1966, Australian government grants replaced the foreign aid and the organization grew exponentially. Perhaps too much as in 1988 the government pulled funding. For 5 years after the Myers Department Store chain paid the bill but afterwards funding as come via a non profit foundation.

Pamela Allen was born in New Zealand in 1934 was college educated and served as a teacher. In 1977 Allen and her sculptor husband moved to Sydney and the first of her 30 children’s books came out in 1980. Eight of them were pieced together into a play that was performed in 2004 at the Sydney Opera House. In 2008 Allen semi retired back to New Zealand. In Australia, Penguin Books commissioned Allen’s Melbourne based glass sculptor daughter Ruth to produce a piece of art to celebrate 5 million copies of her mother’s books. Back in New Zealand, she was made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Allen is still with us.

Pamela Allen
Ruth Allen’s lost wax tribute to her mother. The boat shape is a callback of her most famous book and the smooth sailing of her book sales

In case you are wondering about the 2020 award, the winner was I Need a Parrot written and illustrated by Chris McKimmie.

Well my drink is empty. Come again tomorrow for another story to be learned from stamp collecting.

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Bulgaria 1982, In Vladimir Dimitrov, Bulgaria produces a Tolstoyan Fauvist hippy monk

This is one I like. Here was a small poor country that was constantly fighting it’s neighbors and yet through all that an artist arises that is both part of some of the big international movements going on without losing his sense of where he came from and the simple beauty all around if you take time to look. 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 have been doing a lot of these 1960s and up art stamps lately where improvements in printing finally allow an art image to be appreciated on a stamp. I think it becomes more meaningful when the art is from the country issuing the stamp. A stamp is a way for a country to present itself to the wider world and where the collector can spot both what we have in common and also where a country like Bulgaria maybe does some things a little differently. The Bulgarian peasant maiden girl is presented a little differently here then a French Fauvist artist would have presented a French one.

Todays stamp is issue A1079, a 30 Stotinki stamp issued by Bulgaria on March 8th, 1982. It was a six stamp and one souvenir sheet issue remembering the birth century of artist Vladimir Dimitrov. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

As the stamp reminds, Dimitrov was born in 1882 in a small town in western Bulgaria. As a young adult, he was working as a clerk in Sophia when he decided to enroll in drawing classes. Though he at first was drawing in realistic style it was obvious to the art community what a talent had been discovered. He was employed by the government as an official war artist both for the Balkan wars and World War I. Post war he was able to travel throughout Europe exposing himself to the new Fauvist style coming out of France that emphasized bright colors and less comitment to realism. He also made contacts through which he was able to sell many of his paintings for a lot of money.

Here is where the story changes from what you might expect. Dimitrov by his nature was a hippy. He gave away vast amounts of the money he was making and returned to his home village to live almost as a chaste monk and paint Fauvist landscapes. He didn’t shave or cut his hair, did not smoke or drink, and practiced veganism.

Vladimir Dimitrov

Dimitrov was a follower of the Tolstoyan movement named after Russian author Leo Tolstoy. They didn’t believe in participating in any government or church as they were considered hopelessly corrupt. They were also pacifists that followed the simple teachings of Jesus on the Sermon on the Mount. The movement saw several communes pop up around the world that did not do well. The rich, educated, followers may have desired to get back to nature, but had no skills in agriculture.

The change to a communist government in Bulgaria in 1946 made Dimitrov back away  from some of his idealism. He even went so far as to join the communist party and recast one of his most famous earlier paintings of Madonna as a girl from the village of Shishkovzi. His accommodation allowed the regime to celebrate Bulgaria’s most famous artist in his last years.

Is she a Bulgarian imagination of the Madonna, or a simple rural women? Can’t she be both?

Well my drink is empty and Dimitrov would not want me to have another. Come again on Monday when there will be another story to be learned from stamp collecting.

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India 1994, Ashoka the Great’s Sanchi Stupa tells us how it was

There are today fewer than 10 million Buddhists in India. Yet it once was the primary religion of the subcontinent. The Emperor Ashoka’s conversion to Buddhism was chronicled in stone at Sanchi Stupa and also on stone pillars found throughout India. Building in stone proves very useful later as we have Ashoka’s view of his times in a way we don’t from those who left nothing permanent behind. 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 comes soon after the site was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site. India had also named it such. This is progress as India can be fairly critiqued for not working to preserve pre Hindu heritage.

Todays stamp is issue A981, a 5 Rupee stamp issued by India on April 4th, 1994. It was a single stamp issue. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 50 cents used.

In the second century BC, most of India, except the southern tip was ruled by the Maurya Empire from what is now the city of Patna. The Empire reached it’s height under Ashoka the Great, who ruled from 268 to 232 BC. During his time the state of Kalinga, now called Odisha, was conquered. Doing so was very costly with estimates of 100,000 deaths and 150,000 deportations, this was when there were fewer than 170 million people in the world. Ashoka was depressed about the loss of life and converted to Buddhism. With the missionary zeal of a new convert, he had the Sanchi Stupa complex built to host his marriages and to safekeep the relics of Buddhism. The site was expanded later under the Gupta Dynasty, Ashoka also sent out monks to act as missionaries as far as Siberia, Sri Lanka and the Eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Where ever they went were left stone pillars on which were inscribed Ashoka’s edicts. Over time the practice of Buddhism in India declined after the ruling dynasty converted to Hinduism and the practitioners were further attacked by invading Arabs and Persians.

Maurya Empire under Ashoka the Great
Ashoka’s Edicts inscribed on stone pillars.

The Sanchi Stupa was discovered in 1819 long abandoned but intact by a British Indian Army officer named Henry Taylor. For about 50 years after this British archeologists and treasure seekers took pieces away as trophies. Over time most ended up in the British Museum or the Victoria and Albert Museum. In 1869, Britain put a stop to the gradual looting and in the 1920s the site was reconstructed into it’s current status under Sir John Marshal.

From the period after independence the call went out to return the trophies taken from the Sanchi Stupa. Interestingly, the calls didn’t come from India but rather Ceylon and Burma, where Buddhism is still widely practiced. The return? to Ceylon of relics in 1947 was a major public event.

Well my drink is empty. Perhaps I should take inspiration from Ashoka the Great and have my stamp stories inscribed on stone pillars. That way later generations will learn about stamp collecting long after the stamps themselves are gone. Come again tomorrow when there will be another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.