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Poland 1986,Remembering Dobrawa’s advise, If you want to avoid Holy Roman Germany, get with God, and Bohemia and err.. her

This is a fun one. You would think with collecting postage stamps, we could only go back in history to 1840 and the first stamp. Every now and then a country puts out a stamp that goes way back, when Royalty was cruel or brave or even haughty and when a King gets religious, so does his whole country, because he said so, and because his wife told him to say so. 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.

Dobrawa was a foreign Duchess that married a long ago King. Not someone you would think Poland would choose to particularly remember. As the stamp shows, she has a book for you. A Good Book. The country read the Book and some still do. When they do they should remember Dobrawa.

Todays stamp is issue A875, a 25 Zloty stamp issued by Poland on December 4th, 1986. It was a two stamp issue the other showing Dobrawa’s husband, King Mieszko I. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 40 cents used.

In the 960s AD Poland was still a Pagan country ruled by King Mieszko I. Nearby Germany was ruled by Kaiser Otto the Great who had recently added the title of Holy Roman Emperor. Otto was expansionary both based on patriotism but with the added duty of Christian conversion animating. Polish King Mieszko felt threatened and so sought out allies. He found a ready ally in Bohemia that was then a Dukedom ruled by Boleslav the Cruel. He may have been cruel but that does not mean he did not feel the same threat from the Holy Roman Germany. Bohemia was already Christian. To cement the alliance between Bohemia and Poland, Boleslav offered for Mieszko to pick a wife from his two daughters and Mieszko picked the older one Dobrawa.

Dobrawa arrived in Poland with a large entourage. Among them was Jordan, an Italian Missionary Bishop that reported directly to the Pope. Dobrawa then made it a condition for marriage that Mieszko be Baptized. Mieszko agreed and Jordan both performed the Baptism and officiated the wedding. He was then named the first Bishop of Poland with a base in Poznan. Dobrawa was then the Patron of several of the early Catholic churches in Poland. The union was successful. The Polish alliance with Bohemia outlasted all of them. There were also two children, another Boleslav, this one the Brave who succeeded the Polish Throne, and Segrid the Haughty. Segrid managed to marry, hopefully in different periods both the Kings of Sweden and Denmark. Perhaps Segrid was haughty by I nominate the additional honorific of Hottie.

We know these stories because of the work of the chronicler Cosmas of Prague. 150 years later he wrote the definitive history of the Bohemian people. He inspired a group of followers called Cosmas followers that updated his works as history went along. There are modern historians that dispute details of Cosmas. They say that it is just Catholic iconography that liked to emphasize the role of woman in the conversion of Pagans. Party Poopers.

Cosmas of Prague

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the the Brave, the Great and even the Cruel and the Haughty among us. That is a lot of toasting, I may need a bigger bottle. Come again on Monday for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Panama 1967, Remembering Palenque, the Mayan city state that rose out of the jungle under Pakal the Great and his mother Lady Beastie only for the jungle to reclaim

Panama was clearly excited by Mexico City getting the Olympics in 1968. In the runup to the games there were many stamp issues showing solidarity with Mexico. This issue shows of some of Mexico’s indigenous ancient sites, of which there were many in Latin America and a part of history that many of the day wanted to better connect to. 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.

One thing this stamp does convincingly is teach how to be remembered. Build in stone. It is believed that the area was occupied from about 2500 BC through 900AD. Yet virtually the entire site was built in a 35 year period under Pakal the Great. Carved into the stone edifices were stone reliefs that told how the elite lived and the then understanding of their history. 35 out of 3400 years is a drop in the bucket but all we have.

Todays stamp is issue A150b a 21 Centessimos airmail stamp issued by Panama on April 18th, 1967. It was a six stamp issue in various denominations that was also available as a souvenir sheet. The three highest denominations including this stamp were airmail. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 50 cents cancelled to order. The souvenir sheet is worth $18.00.

Palenque is the Spanish word for the site of the former Mayan Indian city state in the modern state of Chiapas in southern Mexico. In it’s time it was called Lakamha, which translates into big water. What we know of the place comes from modern guesses at translating the hieroglyphics that have been found in great numbers. The place was abandoned and taken over by the jungle. Even now when it is a major tourist site hosting almost 1 million visitors a year, experts believe it is only about 25 percent excavated. Recently they discovered the Western Hemisphere’s earliest viaduct. It had a spring loaded release that could release 20 feet of water under high pressure. Nobody has figured out conclusively why they built it.

The glory days of Palenque started under someone known as Lady Beastie in 600 AD. She acted as ruler after the death of her husband the last King and before her son Pakal could take over at age 12. She is believed to have had a large influence on Pakal during the first half of his long reign. Interesting her stone depictions of her time ruling are much more masculine appearing than those earlier or later. Pakal started his building spree 33 years into his reign with a temple and just kept going. The Throne than past to two of his sons who continued Pakal’s projects though the second son worked mostly on the Palace. The city was sacked by rival Mayan city state Tonina in 711 AD. After that there were no more local Kings but there was still some farming in the area until around 900AD.

Lady Beastie

The site was discovered overgrown by jungle by the Spanish Conquistador de la Nada in the 1520s. Nothing was done and the whole area was very sparsely populated. In 1786 the Spanish administration in Guatemala sent out a proper expedition that included an architect and a draftsman to make copies of the stone reliefs for further study. The findings of the expedition were much later published in London As “Descriptions of the ruins of an ancient city” that was very popular and got the word out about the place.

Well my drink is empty and one thing I find interesting is that these ancient sites always seemed to be discovered and interpreted by outsiders before taken to heart by the actual descendants. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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French India 1923, Check out the Temple to Kali, you won’t find that in Paris

The French were in the city of Pondicherry for 250 years at a trading post. As they were there to trade, and it was a city open to trade as far back as the Romans there was no need to try to convert locals to French cultural or religious practice. This is great for the stamp collector as the place can show off the exotic foreign culture in the context of a French prism. Now Puducherry has the tables turned and likes to show off architectural relics of the French now firmly in the context of modern India. No stamps though. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

This stamp shows off the local Hindu Temple to Kali. The overstamp showing the new currency formulation that year inadvertently tell the stamp collector that the place is really all about money. The vast bulk of the people were then and are now Indian. Elections in the late 1940s saw the people vote to stay French. As in Hong Kong, not wanting to break the golden egg trumped national identity. As with Hong Kong the nation will eventually enforce their will, golden egg be dammed.

Todays stamp is issue A5, a 1 Fannon 6 caches (1.5 Fannon, 8 Fannons made a Rupee) issued by French India in 1923. The new currency that year replaced Centimes and Francs. An earlier version of this stamp from 1914 has no overstamp. This was a 26 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.50 cents used. Without  the overstamp the value would go to $2.25.

As the Indians of the day were not writing down their own history at the time, the first mentions of the marketplace at Pondicherry were in logs of Roman Empire traders in the first century AD. At the time the city was known as Poduke. It was part of the then Indian Empire of Kanchipuram.

The French arrived in the area in 1674 under the auspices of the privately owned French East India company. The company had a large investment personally by the French King and had a monopoly on French trade with Asia. The company fairly quickly failed as it was very expensive to maintain far flung outposts from India to Madagascar to Mauritius. After the financial failure the French government stepped in more formally to protect the enclave from British or Indian encroachment.

Kali first appeared as a Goddess around 600 AD. Kali translates into the feminine form of the fullness of time. She appears when the higher Goddess Durga is attacked by two demons. Durga responds with such anger that her skin darkens resulting in Kali appearing out of her forehead. Kali’s is colored dark blue with sunken eyes, a tiger skin sari dress and a garland of severed human heads. She quickly defeats the two demons. I can understand why the stamp shows her Temple rather than Kali directly. It might have made Pondicherry seem unwelcoming.

Hindu Goddess Kali

Well my drink is empty so I will have to wait till tomorrow when there will be another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. 27th wedding anniverary greetings to Mrs. The Philatelist who takes all the stamp pictures for the website.

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Togo 1983, We must make reservations early for The Feast of Victory over the forces of evil

Etienne Eyadema was the longest serving leader in Africa when he died in 2006. He claimed to process superpowers and his long rule  where he did stand for election does provide some evidence. His powers were so great that his son replaced him and just recently won reelection. 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 was a farm out issue of famous paintings related to the Crucifixion of Christ in celebration of Easter. In this case by Raphael. When the President has superpowers and only about a quarter of the country is Catholic, I find it hard to believe Easter is that important to Togo.

Todays stamp is issue A253, a 70 Franc stamp issued by Togo in 1983. It was a three stamp issue in various denominations that was also available as a souvenir sheet. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents cancelled to order.

Etienne Eyadema was born into a poor Kabye tribe family from the interior of Togo. As a young man he joined the French Army for whom he fought in Indo China and Algeria. In the early 1960s he returned home to now independent Togo and was commissioned an officer in the Togo Army. He was a Coronel when he participated in the 1963 coup where he personally murdered President Olympio. He stayed in the Army a few more years until there was another coup and he was ready to become President. He maintained close relations with both Germany and France, the former colonial powers and the French were still active in the economy where there was a fairly lucrative bauxite mine. As President, he banned all other political parties except his personal Rally of the Togolese People.

President Eyadema early in his reign before everyone realized the extent of his Superpowers

A President needs to have some ability to  intimidate to avoid the next revolution. In 1974 there was a plane crash of a Togo Air Force C47 that was taking Eyadema from the capital to his hometown. The fact that he walked away from the deadly crash was proof of his superhuman strength and the plane must have been sabotaged by evil forces that opposed his plan to nationalize the bauxite mine. Soon there were comic books with Eyadema cast as Superman and even male wristwatches where his portrait would appear and disappear every 15 seconds. His entourage began to include 1000 girls who would sing and dance his praises. The date of the plane crash became a national holiday and excuse for a national feast remembering his victory over the forces of evil. Eyadema even changed his first name in honor of the crash.

The monument at the crash sight. The pack of dogs seems impressed

Naturally there were political opponents who would have rather him disappeared permanently from their watches. To end a riot, Eyadema granted an amnesty that allowed exiles to return to Togo in 1991. The opposition met in a forum and immediately declared itself a sovereign national assembly with a new Prime Minister but Eyadema still a ceremonial President. Surprisingly this was allowed as Eyedema waited for the inevitable infighting between the opposition to ease out his opponents one by one. In a few years he was back in total control despite have allowed rival political parties and Presidential candidates. In addition to his superpowers, a source of strength has been the the still French managed bauxite mine belonged personally to him and now his son.

Eyedema died in 2006 aboard a Gulfstream jet taking him to France after suffering a heart attack. The head of the Army of Togo then declared his son President. His son has as his last name the new first name Eyadema made up after the plane crash. Opposition leaders complained that the transfer of power was unconstitutional  but then 15 seconds later Eyadema’s portrait again appeared on their watches.

Well my drink is  empty and so I will just have to wait until next January 24th for the still celebrated Feast day. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Belgium 1961, Marie Curie and uranium in Katanga lead to electricity in Mol and Zaire for a time

Belgium now spends much time rankling over how to get rid of its nuclear plants that give the country over half of it’s electricity. The plants are aging and it is not realistic to build new ones. Yet the emission free generation is vital to meeting pollution goals. However going back to 1961 allows us to go back to a more optimistic time when the first electricity began to flow. 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 BR3 nuclear reactor was to the the first that would provide electricity to the people of Belgium. The original idea was to build it in Brussels and have it open to the public as part of the 1958 Brussels Worlds Fair. That it was even seriously considered is pretty bizarre. Eventually it opened a few years later located in the existing nuclear research center at Mol. The delayed opening was still important enough to warrant an issue of stamps that attacked the issue of how to show the plant in a good light with mediocre design and poor printing.

Nuclear fans at the Brussels Worlds Fair could console themselves for missing out on the BR3 reactor at the Atomium built for the fair

Todays stamp is issue A159, a three Franc stamp issued by Belgium on November 8th 1961. It was a three stamp issue in various denominations celebrating the opening of the BR3 reactor at Mol. The plant didn’t actually start generating electricity until the next year. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether used or unused.

The Belgian mining operation in the Katanga region of Belgian Congo discovered uranium ore in 1911. An atomic research unit was set up back in Belgium that worked closely with Marie Curie. During World War II and the Manhattan project a deal was struck that gave the USA access to Katanga uranium  and Belgium access to American nuclear technology. The BR3 reactor followed  the earlier BR1 and BR2 research only reactors at Mol. All were American designs.

The BR3 produced electricity until 1987. The early 1980s had seen 7 new nuclear reactors and there was no need to try to extend beyond it’s intended 25 year life span. It was the first plant of its type to be decommissioned. The site still hosts the nuclear research reactors. Studies from the early 2000s long after BR3 indicate that children with 15 kilometers of the Mol complex have 3 times the risk of developing leukemia and higher rates of thyroid cancer.

The nuclear research in Belgium had an unfortunate consequence in their former colony. In 1959 the Belgians constructed a nuclear research reactor nearby Kinshasa in a town now called Mama Mobutu. It opened in 1959 and was the first reactor in Africa. After independence the dictators of the country thought the site gave them much prestige. President Mobutu even managed to buy and get operating a second reactor that supplied electricity. This troubled Belgium and they assisted with maintenance and annual inspections. As the country gradually fell apart so did the plant’s output until it stopped completely in 2004. The more recent governments have ambitions to get the plant working again but are being told it is not possible to source parts for the now quite old design. Pieces like fuel rods traced from the plant regularly show up on the black market. Climate change and soil erosion are now threatening the entire site with collapse. There are worries that when it does the old nuclear fuel might leak into the water supply of Kinshasa. I know, reason 37 for not drinking the water in Kinshasa.

Sinkholes near the nuclear complex in Mama Mobutu

Well my drink is empty and I wonder if there is a place to get another on in the Atomium. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Soviet Union 1930, bringing education to the masses

One area where the Soviets did a good job was bringing education and literacy beyond just the Russian elite as under the Czar. This stamp from midway in that process lets me check in on what they were doing to bring that about. 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 is failed both by the low quality of the printing and the well worn condition of my copy. What the stamp is showing is children putting together poster style newspapers as part of an educational exhibition that year in Leningrad. I can’t be too mad at myself for the condition of the stamp. How miraculous is it that any of these tiny gummed and perforated little slips of paper can survive 90 years, trips around the world and multiple owners?

Todays stamp is issue A120, a 10 Kopeck stamp issued by the Soviet Union on August 15th, 1930. It was a single stamp issue. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $8.00 unused though that number might assume a better condition.

The educational system under the Czar regime was limited. According to the 1897 census, the literacy rate for the country was only 28%. For females that number was only 13 percent. Near the end in 1914 the regime had managed to get 91% of school age children enrolled in a school. It was slow going as almost all the schools taught in Russian rather than the native tongue of the region.

The new communist regime had high goals for education and decreed very early that school was compulsory, free, and children had a right to up to 9 years of schooling. Everyone would go for four years, some would go for seven years that would qualify them for further vocational training at the new Teknikums. Those who went the full nine years were qualified for University. With the Red and White Civil war raging the first few years saw school attendance drop from 91% down to 25% in the low year of 1920.

The regime also made a big effort to  bring literacy to adults. Young adults of Komsonal deployed to villages to offer literacy classes to adults free of charge. This program lasted between 1920-1939 and succeeded in bring literacy to older folks who had missed out on school under the old system. These classes met less resistance because they were taught in the areas native tongue. Though the Soviets generally were in agreement in the long term goal of Russification of the regions, it was simply more expedient to do it this way.

I mentioned above the problem of illiteracy was specially severe among females. A club. the Ali Bayramov Club opened up in many locations. Jeyran Bayramov was an illiterate young  widow from Baku who married her former brother in law Ali  as per Azeri tradition. Ali was a communist activist who encouraged Jeyran to pursue education and Jeyran was transformed. She founded the first club in Baku named for her husband. The club was marketed as a sewing club in order that women would be allowed out of the house by husbands and fathers. The clubs did indeed offer sewing classes but also midwifery classes, telephone operator classes and literacy classes. The Soviets got behind the clubs and even let the original one in Baku occupy to old fancy Palace of Happiness that had been the home of an Azeri oil baron. The oil baron didn’t need it anymore, he killed himself upon the Soviets entering Baku. The club members also began pushing for the unveiling of females. The clubs were shut down in 1937 by which time women were literate and unveiled.

Palace of Happiness in Baku. What a great way to show the importance of education than handing out one of the old palaces for it

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast literacy. Without it my dear readers would just be left looking at pictures. Come again on Monday for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. Have also a nice Fourth of July, to whatever extent we are still allowed to celebrate it.

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Poland 1979, 50 years of LOT Airline

Fifty years, well with a six year interruption, was a long time for an airline to last. It was not the first Polish airline rather  a merger of two former airlines under government control. This continuous government ownership has allowed LOT to have now lasted over 90 years when so many other countries lost their flagship airline. 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 stamp makers made some interesting plane choices for the stamp. The airline started out with German and Dutch airliners but the stamp chose to feature the one Polish made airliner the airline used in it’s first decade. Understandable, but the 1979 chosen aircraft was a Soviet made airplane. LOT then operated Polish made small turboprops but wanted to show off a jet. The LOT emblem has remained unchanged throughout and you can barely make it out on both planes. I would have liked to see it more prominent.

Todays stamp is issue A714, a 6.9 Zloty stamp issued by Poland on January 2nd, 1979. It was a single stamp issue. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents cancelled to order.

LOT formed in 1929 in a merger between the former Aerolot and Aero Polish airlines. The national government held an 86% stake with the rest owned by the city of Poznan and the province of Silesia. The new emblem that is still in use was the result of a national design competition won by artist Tadeasz Goronowski. The first year saw the first international service to Vienna. The first airliners were Fokker Trimotors and Junkers F.13. In 1933 there was a competition to replace the F.13 that was one by the locally made PWS 24. LOT was the only customer for the PWS 24 and only used them until 1937 when they were passed to the Polish Air Force as staff transport. One of the 11 built evacuated to Romania in 1939 where it was briefly used by the then Romanian flagship airline LARES.

LOT’s long serving emblem

In early 1945 LOT was reformed completely under the new national government and had a fleet of DC3s some of which were the Soviet copy. The first jets did not come into service until 1968 in the form of the Tupolev TU-134. The later TU-154 featured on the stamp has a bad place in Polish history. Much later in 2010 a VIP transport TU-154 of the Polish Air Force crashed killing many Polish dignataries traveling to the site of the 1939 Soviet Kazarin Forest massacre of young Polish cadets. There weren’t many old Soviet airliners still operating in Poland in 2010 so the irony was not lost. Since 2010 the Polish Air Force has allowed another TU-154 to rust in peace at Minsk airport.

In 1989 the airline began to convert to western airliners including the Boeing 767. The airline had high hopes for new direct service between Warsaw and Krakow and the midwestern American cities that once hosted large Polish communities. These mostly didn’t pan out. The airline has also suffered from Poland’s poor relations with Russia complicating flights to China. On fairly bright spot financially is the otherwise rare service it offers to Hanoi in Vietnam. The airline has so far avoided being privatized but came close with negotiations a few years back with Turkish Airways. The airline currently has 98 planes serving 120 destinations.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast T. G. the logo designor. He is of course long gone but his work is still viewed daily in 120 destinations. Not a bad legacy. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

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South Africa 1991, keeping a manned science station on Antarctica

We have done a few of these Antarctica stamps. No South Africa doesn’t put out stamps from their Antarctic stations like some others. In 1991 they put out this issue to give hints about what they had going on. 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 issue was on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Antarctic Treaty. The treaty allows nations to have scientific stations on Antarctica but they must not be militarized. You might be surprised that South Africa took advantage of that but they have a long presence that continues.

Todays stamp is issue A280, a 27 Cent stamp issued by South Africa on December 5th, 1991. It was a two stamp issue in various denominations, this one showing the research vessel S A Agulhas. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

South Africa maintains 3 scientific stations in the South Pole region with one each on Marion  and Gough Islands and the SANAE IV station on the Antarctic mainland. To keep them manned year round is quite an undertaking and the research vessel S A Agulhas was acquired in 1978 from Japan. It is not a full icebreaker but the hull is ice strengthened. The ship is the size of a large destroyer and can accommodate 200 people. Of special importance in the hanger accommodation for 2 large Oryx helicopters. An Oryx is a South African copy  of a French Puma helicopter. Remember the ship must visit all three stations annually to replace staff and carry adequate supplies to last through the winter. All waste from the stations must be taken away as well.

I mentioned that the current mainland station is called SANAE IV. Stations tend to have a short life because over not much time at all the get buried in the snow. The current station was built in 1997 and raised up on stilts to avoid this and to just let the snow blow through. This design has been copied by newer stations. It houses 10 in winter and 50 in summer.

SANAE IV station. Notice the stilts and the red painted roofs to make it more visible from the air

The Agulhas had a bad December 1991 despite being honoured that month with a stamp. The ships rudder broke and it got stuck in a ice drift off of Gough Island. The German icebreaker and research ship R V Polarstern was able to free it. In 2002 The Agulhas’s helicopters were able to free the crew of the Russian cargo vessel M V Magdalina  Oldendorff. Part of the Antarctic Treaty is that everybody cooperates regarding safety.

Not everything is safe on board though and not just from the cold. There have been two shipboard murders on board. One by axe and one by stabbing. The charges were dropped in the first case and the suspect in the second case went overboard to escape justice. The ship was replaced in 2012 in it’s Antarctic duties by the Finnish made S A Agulhas II. Agulhas still serves as a training vessel.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the hearty crews of Antarctica stations and the ships that supply them. Sounds like great adventure but I wish they would describe more what scientific advances are being made. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

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United Nations(Geneva offices)2000, Painters for the new century

When you enter a new century, it is a good time to check out what is going on in the arts. The UN is in an especially good place to do that as they have offices and representatives everywhere. What did they find? 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 competition featured artists from around the world and all the entries went on a traveling exhibition from London to Brussels, then Stockholm, then New York City. Six stamps featured art from the exhibition with 2 stamps each issued by UN offices in New York, in Geneva, and Vienna. The artists were 1 American, 1 Japanese, 1 Philippine, 1 Kenyan, 1 Greek, and 1 Lebanese, Rita Adaimy the painter of “The Embrace” on this stamp and the only female.

Todays stamp is issue A319, a .90 Swiss Franc stamp issued by the United Nations on May 30th, 2000. The two Geneva issues had different denominations with this the lower. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.10 used. Though this is a Geneva issue, I got it in a pack of stamps I bought at the UN headquarters gift shop in New York in 2013. After getting home from that trip, I put the pack aside unopened till I found and opened it last week. Ah, Lost treasures…

The millennium art competition show us where the art world was at. Despite attracting entrants from around the world the entries turned in were remarkably uniform. In this case it might lead you to believe that Auguste Rodin might have an outsized influence on the contemporary female artists of Lebanon. Perhaps he does and maybe that is not so bad. Imagine a similar competition from the dawn of the 20th century, you would have had fewer entrants from fewer places but you would have had much more diversity of style. You also would be dealing with art from Rodin himself rather than someone who ripped him off.

Artist self portrait as a cross stitch pattern. Try that Rodin

Ms. Adaimy is still an artist and Pharmacy educator in Lebanon. She recently participated in a multi section mural at the Lebanon Museum of Contemporary Art. The mural is in the graffiti style and sponsored by the European Union in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the UN Human Rights Commission.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the UN for showing us the state of the art world in this millennium. That the state is not so good in not their fault. At least they are not yet doing a stamp set on the current state of postage stamp gasbaggery. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Brazil 1933, Lets talk more of Rio and less of Sao Paulo with all their coffee and cream politics

Power centers can shift in a large country with internal migration and economic change. During this time Sao Paulo was in open rebellion after it’s monopoly on power was removed. 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 stamp celebrates the first century of the small city of Vassouras near Rio. One century sounds like a short time but Vassouras was an older city that harkened back to the days of Empire, before Sao Paulo took center stage.

Todays stamp is issue A112, a 200 Reis stamp issued by the Central government of Brazil on January 15, 1933. That year the rebels in Sao Paulo had their own stamps which were weirdly declared real Brazil stamps after the uprising was put down. This was a single stamp issue. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 60 cents used.

In the 1880s slavery was abolished and there was a large migration of the newly freed to the south. The economy was also shifting with less emphasis on the sugar cane agriculture up north to coffee production in the south. The Monarchy was also fizzling out with no realistic heir and what replaced it was the new coffee and cream politics centered on fast growing Sao Paulo. Between 1890 and 1930 an informal arrangement was made between the comparatively rich and populous southern states of Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais that former governors of the two states would rotate as President of Brazil. The style of ruling was called coffee and cream politics because of the backing of gentry coffee planters and the creamy whiteness of the politicians.

Change is constant and the early 20th century began to see a growth of a middle class and industry in the cities. These people were to the left of the coffee and creamers that had an electoral lock on the Presidency. In 1930 a new coffee and cream guy was elected but the state refused to inaugurate him. Instead the army appointed former general Getulio Vargas as interim President and suspended the constitution. In 1932 Sao Paulo rebelled demanding a reinstatement of the Constitution and the seating of elected in 1930 coffee and creme guy. In control in Sau Paulo, the Paulites began to march toward the capital then still in Rio.

Uncle Coffee Planter wants you for the Revolution.

The Army proved loyal to Vargus and successfully blocked the path to Rio. The Brazilian Navy then began to blockade Sao Paulo preventing the arming of the army the coffee planters had raised with imported heavy weapons. The fight than seemed to shift to the idea of Sao Paulo  breaking away to become independent of Brazil. However the Paulista rebels were badly outnumbered and gave up before the national army reached Sao Paulo.

Counterpoint, The kids love Vargas

In 1934, Vargas was elected as President and ruled off and on into the 1950s. His opposition increasingly became hard leftists and facists. This took the form of coup scheme called the Cohen plan. Then there was a Nazi Intregalist coup attempt. Despite surviving all this and being one of Brazil’s longest rulers, Vargas got tired of the fight and killed himself while in office in 1954.

Well my drink is empty and I am now convinced that it is no fun being the President of Brazil. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.