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Philippines 1943, The Second Republic’s official business is to cross out

Well they didn’t cross out Jose Rizal, but Japanese characters on his face are not promising to his future. The Philippine government of the second republic crossed out the USA but couldn’t help showing who was now buttering their bread. 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.

Here we have a prewar stamp from 1941 when the Philippines was under Commonwealth status, a planned 10 year. 1936-46, path to independence. Showing on the stamp is Jose Rizal, a Philippine author and anti Spanish colonial figure, who the Spanish shot. The K P stands for Kagamitong Pampamahaloon, official business in Tagalog, the Philippine native language Japan was emphasizing. Asia for Asians being a propaganda goal of their conquests. One aspect of the 2nd Republic is not shown on this stamp. There was a lot of inflation and the Japanese printed Peso notes in very high denominations, so called Mickey Mouse money. Yet here is a stamp in it’s low original denomination. Official business after all.

Todays stamp is issue NO1, a 2 Centavo stamp issued by the Second Republic of The Philippines in 1943. The 2nd republic version of this stamp was a 4 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents unused. The 2nd Republic must have printed a lot of these for such interesting overprints to have no effect on the stamps value.

The Philippines fell to Japan in 1942. The administration of President Quezon fled to the USA where Quezon later died. Though there was an active resistance to Japan, there was also a group of prominent politicians willing to work with Japan. These figures include members of the Aquino and Laurel political dynasties. In 1943, a second Philippine Republic was declared. The First Republic was in power briefly between the periods of Spanish and American colonial status around 1900. The new government had many challenges. Most importantly was a shortage of rice in the cities. The first goal of rice production was to feed the Japanese occupiers and further collaboration was not complete in rural areas. The Japanese tried to help by importing a new strain of rice from Taiwan they had luck with and grew faster. The weather however was not favoring the Japanese with too much rain and a large typhoon hitting Manila in 1943. The 2nd Republic emphasized the Tagalog language, introducing a stripped down 1000 word version that could be quickly learned in a country with low literacy. Spanish and English not being Asian.

After the Americans landed in late 1944, the Second Republic declared war on the USA, but soon the government was evacuated to Tokyo and it was their turn in exile. American General MacArthur had Laurel and Aquino arrested in Japan and intended the Philippines to try them for treason. Instead they were amnestied. Laurel ran for President again in 1949 and lost, he believed by corruption. An Aquino was later shot attempting to stir up opposition to later President Marcos. His daughter in law and grandson were later Presidents. Laurel is now considered a legitimate President, Japan aside, Republic status sounded pretty good after so long as a colony.

Jose Rizal was a Filipino of Chinese ancestry, the Spanish had forced the taking of Spanish names. He was not Catholic and wrote several books mocking the Spanish priests that tried to impose their religion on Filipinos who were less Spanish. He was trained in ophthalmology in Germany and practiced in Hong Kong, taking an Irish common law wife. He refused to marry in the Church and had many affairs. As the troubles in the Philippines started, he went into internal exile. He later accepted a job in Cuba but was forced back to the Philippines to face treason charges. He felt himself innocent as he had not took up arms against the Spanish, but was convicted and shot at age 35.

Well my drink in empty and I will pour another to toast the postal overstamp. It is such fun figuring what they meant all these years later. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Burundi 1964, The Pope canonizes victims of a precolonial King and gets a stamp with another one

A precolonial King in Buganda killed some Baptized Africans in 1884. In the 1960s, the Church wanted to be seen as inclusive and not racist so assured that the long ago crime will be remembered. In response the Pope is shown on equal footing with another precolonial King of a total cesspool of a country. Perhaps not so well thought out. 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 arrogance of King for not much longer Mwambutsa IV of Burundi must have known no bounds. There was not actually a meeting of the two, but a real picture of someone meeting the Pope usually shows some defferance. It is interesting to think that the Burundi King  thought the story of an old crime by another King was one he wanted to emphasize. It may come down to the old folkway that a King has special powers granted him by God. Mwambutsa did not, he was overthrown two years later.

Todays stamp is issue A11, a 14 Franc stamp issued by the Kingdom of Burundi on November12th, 1964. It was a 6 stamp issue in various denominations celebrating the Canonization of 22 victims who died for their faith in Buganda in 1884. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents.

Buganda, modern day Uganda, stayed under local rule longer than most. That does not mean that there were not attempts by white missionaries to convert the locals to Christianity. A Catholic group of such “White Fathers” got to work in Buganda in 1878. This did not please the King, none of the 60s sources list which King, who ordered the killing of any local black who was baptized. The death toll according to white father records was 22. The deaths are reported to have sped up rather than slowed down the progress of Christianity in Buganda. It did not seem to hurt the King of Buganda, as he still had some ceremonial powers in Uganda at the time of this stamp. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/12/05/uganda-1942-a-british-bridge-in-self-governed-buganda/  ,Canonization of course requires later miracles attributed to the future saints. 2 Catholic nuns, the “White Sisters” reported in 1941 that intervention from the Buganda victims had given them a miracle in ending their heart problems. The canonization happened in 1964 and the Church hoped it would signal their inclusiveness. It also seemed to a have a big dose of good old fashioned white man’s burden.

King Mwambutsa was a child King with a regency before the arrival of Belgium in the area after World War I. He was left in place by the Belgians and upon independence of Burundi in 1962 he really had his power back. He was a Tutsi in an area with many Hutus though and in the absence of Belgium, he had trouble ruling those who had no allegiance to him. In 1966 there was an attempted coup and the good King departed for Switzerland leaving his son behind as a Regent. A second coup later in 1966 ended that  and a Republic was declared. Burundi has been and still is one of the poorest places on Earth. The King lived out his days in Switzerland. In 2011, his remains were exhumed with the idea of giving him a proper state funeral in Burundi. His family fought this in Swiss court, he had specifically stated that his remains were never to return to Burundi. After a long court case, his remains we reinterred in Switzerland. See https://the-philatelist.com/2017/11/08/the-prince-who-was-assasinated-after-fighting-for-independence/ .

Well my drink is empty and I am left pondering the Catholic practice of declaring Saints. A stamp collector is always in favor of remembering worthy humans, but at what point does it start to resemble the supposed granting of special powers as with those silly old African Kings? Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Bulgaria 1950, now that he is dead, we can forgive Kolarov his passivity

One can forget what an Internationale movement the early Communists were. There were conventions, factions and debates. Then in the 20s there was Stalin and he regarded all that with suspicion as he was the world leader of the movement, and therefore deserved personal loyalty. Kolorov was able to age out but shows what was happening. 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 wave of communist exiles that returned home had been abroad for decades. They were also quite old. and by 1950 such leaders had passed. This allowed Stalin to put in his own people. No reason however not to give Kolarov a nice sendoff. On this issue of two stamps, the lower denomination writes the country name in the local language while this stamp has Bulgaria written in Latin letters. Already in 1950 a nod to the international collector that would soon be so important to Eastern European communist era issues.

Todays stamp is issue A377, a 20 Lev stamp issued by the Peoples Republic of Bulgaria on March 6th, 1950. The two stamp issue had quickly been put together after caretaker Prime Minister Vasil Kolarov had died in January. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 70 cents, whether mint or canceled to order as here.

Vasil Kolarov was born in Bulgaria in 1877 when the area was still part of the Ottoman Empire. He was the son of a shoemaker. In 1897 he joined the Tesniak wing of the local Communist movement. He was then given the opportunity to study law in France and make connection with the various communist movements. At the time it was thought that a communist takeover of the Balkans would involve a federation of Slavic countries that would itself sub serve itself to a communist Russia.

After being defeated in World War I a new King appointed leftist Aleksandar Stamboliski as Prime Minister. He was from the rival leftist Agrarian Party. Bulgaria was much shrunken and was faced with a huge war reparations bill. As Stamboliski worked through it, he angered Bulgarians on the right for kowtowing to the new reality. In 1923, the Right lead a coup that saw the King appoint a new right wing Prime Minister. Stamboliski tried to fight the coup but had no help from the rival Tesniak communists like Kolarov. He was captured, tortured, blinded, had the arm he signed peace treaties with cut off and had his head removed as a trophy. This greatly angered Stalin, who was on good terms with Stamboliski. His anger was mainly directed at those communists of the Internationale that were passive through the struggle as Stamboliski was of the other party. Another issue for Stalin was that he now opposed a wider Balkan Slavic Soviet federation. as he thought it would be too powerful for the Soviets to easily control. Realizing the danger of angering Stalin, the Communists like Kolarov started a separate uprising later in 1923. This was quickly defeated and sent Bulgarian communist leaders into exile where they perhaps wanted to be. The Communist International took care of them.

In 1944, Bulgaria switched sides and welcomed in the Red Army as the Germans retreated. With them came the exiled Bulgarian Communists like Kolorov. He accepted the abdication of Bulgaria’s last King and became a figure head President of the new People’s Republic. These were the old passive guys from 1923 and Stalin was not pleased. They still harbored ideas of a Balkan federation and were too close to Marshal Tito in Yugoslavia. New Prime Minister  Dimitrov was some believed poisoned in Moscow and there was a show trial and execution of the deputy Prime Minister. Kolarov stepped in as caretaker Prime Minister but perhaps lucky for him he died of natural causes a few months later allowing Stalin to put in his people. No longer a threat, Kolarov was given a hero’s funeral and his hometown was even renamed for him. This enthusiasm was short lived, by 1965 the town had reverted to it’s previous name.

Well my drink is empty and I will stay out of Bulgarian politics. I am sure someone would find me too passive. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Italy 1947, moving forward under jet power

There was a lot of fighting in the latter years of the war in Italy, although it involved surprisingly few Italians. As such, the post war Italian future would be decided by the Allies who won the campaign. Thus what Italian authority was still around did much to announce it was still here and there was a future to look forward to, with jets! 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.

It is pretty bold to suggest Italian air mail would soon be transported on jet aircraft. Italy flew a jet in 1940, but was unable to get any in service before the end of the war. The Italian jet engine design did not produce enough thrust to be an advancement on piston types and later designs were predicated on Germany supplying engines, which they never did. The prototype had made a flight in 1941 from Milan to Rome with a fuel stop in Pisa. This aircraft indeed carried a bag of mail and was met in Rome with much fanfare. So for Italy, jet airmail was more than a dream, but a reality. The surprising part is that it took six years for there to be a stamp commemorating it. Well, it was a busy time.

Todays stamp is issue C114, an 50 Lira airmail stamp issued by Italy from post war 1945-1947, while the country was transitioning from Kingdom to Republic. It was a 9 stamp issue in various denominations showing clasped hands over an artist conception of the Caproni Campini CC 2 aircraft. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents, whether mint or used.

The Italian government switched sides in World War II in 1943 though most of the country was under German occupation. Most of the organized resistance to the Fascists were Communists. Remember it was them that found Mussolini as he fled. See https://the-philatelist.com/2019/03/29/italy-1941-hitler-interviews-mussolini-about-his-future-role-as-a-colonial-governor/  . That was not the Italian government that America wanted. Alcide De Gasperi was from the Italian minority in the Austrian Tyrol region that passed to Italy after World War I. He spoke German with his family at home his whole life. He was part of a small right of center party closely associated with the Catholic Church. He had broke with Mussolini and was subsequently jailed by him. The Church had seen to his release and made a place for him in Vatican City. King Victor Emmanuel II picked him as Prime Minister at the suggestion of the Americans. Unusually for Italian politics, he was the head of many coalition governments for almost 10 years. De Gasperi sought to minimize punishment for Italy having been Fascist and in turn he worked hard to see  Communists would not seize power in Italy. He also gave Germans from his old region of Tyrol rights in modern Italy. Over time it became increasingly hard to keep the left out of government. By 1953 De Gasperi was resorting to super majorities to blunt left power and the Catholic Church was declaring it a mortal sin to vote Communist. Many thought this undemocratic and De Gasperi was forced to resign.

The Camproni Campini CC2 was the first successful public flight of an airplane powered by a jet engine in 1940. Germany had flown a jet plane the year before but kept it a military secret. The Italian jet sat two. The indigenous Italian jet design is called a motorjet and combined a ducted fan with an afterburner. They could not get enough airflow through the engine and with the afterburner it was both fuelish and suffered from low thrust. They played around with the idea of a separate piston engine to force more airflow into the motorjet but that wasn’t practical. The design was refined later to take a German turbojet as the Reggiane Re 2007 but Germany refused to supply any of their jet engines. Work of course slowed after 1943. One of the prototypes of the CC2 survived the war but disappeared after being shipped to Great Britain for study. Post war, Secondo Campini emigrated to the USA where he worked with Tucker automobiles on a turbine powered car and Northrop where he worked on converting their experimental flying wing bomber to jet power. Northrop much later built the flying wing B2 stealth bomber. The world remembers the German jet and rocket experts post war, but Italy had a few as well.

Well my drink is empty and there would be quite a wait in 1947 for airmail delivered by jet. So perhaps there is time for another drink. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Portugal 1870, King Luiz, a learned man, a ladies man, but not much of a King

The Portuguese Royals divided into a Portugal and a Brazil line in the 19th century. So though Portuguese still left for Brazil, less and less money came back and the empire became threadbare. Perhaps a dynamic new King could have turned it around, but not someone satisfied playing the cello and translating Shakespeare. Gosh this guy probably collected stamps. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Todays stamp is so typical of a 19th century European Empire stamp. A Royal depicted in an ageless profile along with a denomination. Great Britain started postage stamps this way in 1840, was much copied, and Queen Elizabeth II is still displayed this way. Portugal’s lesser status is seen in having to include the countries name on the stamp. Otherwise the stamp fits right in as did Portugal’s Royal House of Braganza. Luiz married Maria Pia, Princess and daughter of Italian King Victor Emanuel I.

The stamp today is issue A15, a 25 Reis stamp issued by the Kingdom of Portugal in 1870. This was a 17 stamp issue in various denominations that was issued foe many years and then reprinted on cheap paper for collectors in 1885 and again in 1905, third world money grubbing style. The quality of the printing I think suggest that this stamp is original and if I am correct the Scott catalog places it’s value at $3.75 used. An imperferate version is worth $500 mint.

I mentioned that Portugal was somewhat threadbare after Brazil became it’s own Empire. See https://the-philatelist.com/2019/04/18/brazil-1891-an-elite-overthrow-the-monarchy-to-avoid-a-haitian-outcome/ . Portugal was also faced with the end of the slave trade and the fact that many Portuguese traders in places like Macau and Goa in India had gone native. See https://the-philatelist.com/2017/11/10/remember-the-divine-duty-of-empire/  . The extent of the rot was shown by the Royal succession in 1863. Prince Luiz was a second son and a naval ship captain when he was called home as his mother the Queen was sick. He arrived home to find her and two of his brothers dead from cholera from bad water at the Palace of Necessities. One of the necessities apparently not being clean water. There was a new palace being constructed, Ajuda Palace though it was far from finished after many years work.  New King Luiz was advised to move in anyway and was soon joined by his 14 year old bride Queen Consort Maria Pia.

Luiz stayed out of politics for the most part and weak governments of the left and the right did not make much headway. The Queen attracted much consternation for her extravagance and the government often withheld money in finishing Ajuda Palace. The Queen responded that if you want a Queen you have to pay for her. The marriage with Luiz cooled after the birth of the heir and the spare as he found more understanding with his mistresses.

Our King and Queen early on at a costume ball

When Luiz suddenly died in 1889, now dowager Queen Maria Pia refused to leave Ajuda Palace and new King Carlos had to go live in the Palace of Necessities. The cholera there did not get him but assassins did. Portugal was declared a Republic and Maria Pia was sent into exile in her native Italy. The is a current pretender to the House of Braganza, Duerte Pio, but none of the political parties support a return to monarchy. The Necessities Palace now serves as Portugal’s Foreign Ministry and Ajuda Palace is a somewhat derelict museum. There is a scheme to fix it up by selling some of the grounds for development. If you want a Palace, you have to pay for her.

Well my drink is empty and I am not one to add much water to my scotch, so I am safe to have another. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Benin 1988, the chameleon Kerekou embraces old King Behanzin and his Amazons

The King of the old Dahomey would seem an odd person to celebrate for a Marxist dictator that had even changed the areas name in order to claim a fresh start. Mathieu Kerekou was all about starting anew though and that was how he stayed around from 1972-2006. Or maybe it was voodoo? Too bad none of his fresh starts was the way out of the misery. 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 really like this stamp for two reasons. One is showing the old African leader King Behanzin as part of the continuum of Benin/Dahomey  history.  The second thing is that it is not some elaborate fake looking stamp just meant for topical stamp collectors. This is a small stamp ready to serve the needs of bulk mail. The reality, or at least ambition, that there will be bulk mail implies a functioning country. Benin was not really there yet in 1986, but it is a nice piece of optimism that it could be.

Todays stamp is issue A194, a 220 Franc stamp issued by the Peoples Republic of Benin in 1988. It was a six stamp issue in various denominations issued over 2 years reflecting the rapidly depreciating currency. There were even later overprints into the 1990s. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.25 used.

There are two versions of old Dahomey King Behanzin’s story, one African and one French. The African story is that the French sent Porto-Nova administrator Jean-Marie Bayol to demand concessions from the inland African Kingdom of Dahomey and the King cleverly refused to meet with him and the insulted French then trumped up charges of slavery and savagery and brutally massacred his female Amazon warrior army. See https://the-philatelist.com/2019/03/07/dahomey-1941-never-mind-the-canoe-watch-out-for-the-dahomey-amazons/   . The French claim that Bayol was sent to discuss slave raids and was then held prisoner and forced to sign over rights to Porto-Novo. After escaping, Bayol was obliged to return with French troops. In both cases the reality was King Behanzin was easily defeated and went to exile in the French Caribbean.

Jean-Marie Bayol

In 1972 independent Dahomey was not doing well despite finding some oil resources. A successful coup put in military officer Mathieu Kerekou. After a few years of lackluster rule he refashioned Dahomey as Benin and himself as a Marxist. In retrospect, this allowed him to blame the lack of progress on the French and reach out to the eastern bloc for aid. Kerekou, a Catholic, in 1980 converted to Islam with a temporary new first name in an attempt to gain aid from Libya under Kaddafi. When that aid faded so did his conversion. By 1990, after surviving many attempted coups, and his Marxism looking rather dated, Kerekou appeared on tv with the local Catholic Bishop. He elaborately confessed the sins of his government and pledged to go forth and sin no more. An election was held the next year and repentance was not enough and Kerekou lost. The next fellow proved no better and Kerekou returned in 1996 for 10 more years until they managed to term limit him out. Practitioners of voodoo in Benin thought Kerekou must have had powers to survive so many twists and turns and die of old age in his country. Perhaps?

Benin President KereKou near the end of his rule in 2006

Benin has not been able to cope with the population growth of the country. The population is over 5 times what it was at independence. Thus even has the economy has showed signs of life from debt forgiveness and cotton exports, it has not kept up with the population growth.

Well, my drink is empty, and I will pour another to toast Jean-Marie Bayol for making it out of Dahomey with his head. Against all odds, there is still a plaza named for him in the capital Porto-Novo. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting

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Basutoland, Would Her Majesty help a fellow King with the Boers

We have done several stamps from the former colonies of South Africa before it federated. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/04/27/natal-boers-to-the-left-zulus-to-the-right-and-stuck-in-the-middle-with-the-indians/ Most had white rule, but not all and today comes a stamp from an area that kept black rule and stayed independent even as South Africa transitioned to majority rule. 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.

Aesthetically this stamp is both quite old fashioned and yet up to date. The British policy toward the African colonies was about to change. The new policy became known as the writing is on the wall. It meant that the British were going to leave and turn over power to the majority blacks. This was most controversial in the south where there were more white settlers that couldn’t see themselves under black rule. Lots of old history now but look who is on this stamp from even earlier, the current Queen of Great Britain. It is amazing to think how long she has been guiding the ship of the Empire/Commonwealth.

Todays stamp is issue A7, a 3 Pence stamp issued by the British Crown Colony of Basutoland on October 18th, 1954. It was part of an eleven stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 40 cents used.

Basutoland was ruled by King Moshoeshoe I. He had been successful in raiding neighboring cattle herds earning him the name the razor. He sensed early on that if his empire was to survive he needed to procure a white advisor. The appearance of Christian missionaries provided that. He also was able to acquire some firearms for his warriors. His warriors therefore did surprisingly well against Zulu and British rivals. In victory, Moshoeshoe was conciliatory and so wars were just incidents not long battles and the British established friendly relations.

King Moshoeshoe I

This would prove useful when the Boers came for the land. Boers, Dutch heritage South Africans sent what they called trekkers into Basuto land from the Orange Free State. Again Moshoeshoe had early military success against them but the Boers kept coming in ever greater numbers. King Moshoeshoe appealed to Queen Victoria for help. A deal was struck with the Boers making Basutoland a British Crown Colony with new borders that ended the Boer intrusion. Moshoeshoe I was kept on has Paramount Chief with substantial powers. The area remained far less than one percent white.

As the British read their writing on the wall in the 50s and 60s, the then current Paramount Chief was named King Moshoeshoe II of the new Kingdom of Lesotho. Relations with apartheid South Africa were tense as the ANC had a presence in Lesotho, but British pressure again kept the Boers out. Lesotho decided not to join the new South Africa   in the 1990s and Moshoeshoe I’s Royal line still sits on Lesotho’s Throne. All this stability has not translated into prosperity. The GNP per person is about one sixth that of not rich South Africa, and much of that is from remittances of Lesotho citizens working in South Africa.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the Catholic missionaries that got King Moshoeshoe’s ear. You would think that advise from missionaries would just be of a spiritual nature but their good advise lead to a stability and continuity unusual in the region. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting

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Guadeloupe 1928, The island is ours not theirs, but what happens without bekes and subsidies

Here is another one of those sugar plantation islands trying to cope without the original industry. For a change Guadeloupe stayed French and as a result the poverty rate is lower. 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.

As this stamp is from 1928, it shows a unique period in the islands history. The sugar industry was big business on Guadeloupe. Without slavery, the local blacks were not willing to keep working the plantations for the meager wages provided. So here we get to see a sugar mill from the period when Indian contract workers were brought in from the also French colony in India, Pondicherry. This was also suboptimal and the sugar industry is mainly gone from the island, which now relies on tourism for employment, and import/export to employ the former planters called bekes, and inevitably massive subsidies from France to keep the whole thing going.

Todays stamp is issue A11, a 5 Centimes stamp issued by the French colony of Guadeloupe in 1928. It was part of a long running 42 stamp issue in various denominations that showed scenes from the island. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether it is mint or used.

Guadeloupe was home over time to several groups of Indians. When it was discovered by Christopher Columbus, it was occupied by Caribe Indians. They were not friendly to outsiders and wiped out several attempted colonies over the next 150 years. In the mid 17th century, a French private company, the Company of the Americas managed to get a settlement going. Though private, the company had important investors including Cardinal Richelieu and France had the power to appoint the colonial government. What followed was the mass importation of slaves from west Africa to work sugar cane plantations with the product exported. These planters, called bekes in the local creole dialect, were less than one percent of the population. These style companies are never the consistent moneymakers hoped for and Guadeloupe was sold to it’s governor, Charles Houel. He managed to get a fort built and banished the remaining Caribe Indians that had never been truly brought into the fold. The Caribe had replaced violently an earlier tribe of settlers and now it was their turn. Would it now be the French turn to be driven out?

France ended slavery in their empire in 1848. There was no effort either on the part of the freed slaves or from the French to see them returned to Africa. The plantations ground to a halt. In desperation, the planters brought in Indians, but few stayed beyond the short term contracts. In 1946, the new fragile French government declared colonies like Guadeloupe overseas departments and everyone on the island French citizens. You can guess what would be the next Guadeloupe export, it’s people. France responded by jumping up subsidies to the island to stem the flow of people out. The former planters found work in import businesses on a small island where most things had to be brought in. This insured their prosperity and the continued resentment of the black majority, who resent the cost of island living.

In 2009 there was a strike that turned into riots under the slogan this island is ours, not theirs, a racial reference. The rioting was so bad the airport had to close due to debris on the runway. The French gave in on salary demands and sent in 500 military police to restore order. The subsidies mean that Guadeloupe is far richer than nearby islands and so there in much inter island migration to Guadeloupe as the locals still head for France. The French have showed staying power, but the Africans are the real permanents. Unless a new indian tribe lands? Its happened before.

Well my drink is empty and so I will wait patiently until tomorow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

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Britain 1991, Remembering Michael Faraday, why advancements seem to happen in only a few places

Michael Faraday had several strikes against him. He grew up poor and his Christianity was of an obscure sect in a class conscious 19th century Britain. Yet he was able to work and his research advanced human knowledge in the fields of electricity and magnetism. How is it that such stories happen in only a few places and times in the world. 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.

Regular readers will sense that I really like this 1991 British stamp issue. A few weeks ago I covered this stamp on Charles Babbage,the proto computer inventor. See https://the-philatelist.com/2019/05/15/great-britain-1991-remembering-one-of-those-great-19th-century-polymaths/   . Being a fairly ignorant American, whose knowledge of electricity consists of visions of Ben Franklin flying a kite, I am presented with an opportunity to expand my knowledge with what Britain was up to in the field. Mr. Faraday is presented in a smoking jacket with a lightbulb going off in his head like when I figure out what a stamp is talking about. Bringing me in an expanding my mind. Stamp making at it’s best.

Todays stamp is issue A393, a 22 pence stamp issued by Great Britain on March 5th, 1991. It was a four stamp issue remembering prominent British scientists. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 50 cents.

Michael Faraday grew up poor in an outer suburb of London in a family that practiced the small Glassite offshoot of the Church of Scotland. He was able as a teenager to get an apprenticeship at a bookseller. This gave him access to books and to other people who read them. Contacts from the store got him invited to science lectures held at the Royal Institution. The RI had been founded in 1799 with the purpose of extending scientific research to benefit the masses. Hearing a lecture from chemist Humphry Davy, he sent him a 300 page report on what he heard. Impressed, Davy hired him as an assistant and his work was rewarded by an appointment of his own at the Royal Institution. In English society this did not quite make Faraday a gentleman. He was quite offended to still have to function as Davy’s valet on a European tour. A real gentleman would not have made such a production out of the perceived slight.

the first electric generator, by Faraday

Anyway. Faraday made many advancements including early insights in how magnetic fields work and how electricity is conducted. He also built the first electric generator and bunson burner. I assume Mr. Bunson may argue with that last one. He was also much rewarded. He turned down a Knighthood based on the precepts of the Glassite sect. He did accept from Prince Consort Albert a Grace and Favor country house. The house was owned by Prince Albert, but given rent and expense free as a thanks for service to the Empire. One service he was not willing to provide the Empire was work on chemical weapons during the Crimean War. He explained his religion based objections and the house nor the position at the RI was removed from him. His Glasite sect of Christianity died out in the late 20th century.

One can understand what good a properly functioning Royal Institution can do for a nation. It still exists in it’s original and now quite valuable building in London. It still exists but had a brush with modernity recently. The leader was a female descendant of an Austrian electrician and an exotic dancer. Her idea to advance the institution was to spend 25 million pounds to renovate the building so an upscale public nightclub for the glitterati was a part of it. It bombed and the institution was left in debt. An anonymous donation prevented the building from having to be sold. When she was removed, the lady, a Countess, sued, claiming she was discriminated against. Well the people that appointed her should have used more discretion. Any way the woman’s science work is in the field of dementia. So perhaps we can all forget. No wonder the last Nobel Laureate from the RI was born way back in 1933.

Well my drink is empty and I am left wondering what modern institutions that actually advance knowledge look like today. The RI seems moribund, China is littered with scientific institutions with no decernable output, and silcon valley in the USA hasn’t been heard much from lately. Wonder what that Tesla guy is up to? Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

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Spain 1962, can the winged helmit of Mercury stop us from falling behind

Ah, the troubles of the life ruler. Eventually you have tried all your ideas and without fresh blood to keep things moving, things can stagnate. However knowing how smart and right you are, and as a student of history, there is the hope that the Gods will smile and the old dictator vindicated. In Mercury we pray. 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.

You may join me in admiring the aesthetics of this stamp. Spain printed their own stamps and so they were a little behind most of Western Europe in adding elaborate color to the issues. There was somewhat an exception for the frequent religious issues. Nobody was worshiping the Roman God Mercury in Franco’s Spain, but he does seem to get the extra care given Catholic symbols. This stamp celebrated a stamp day, and the perforations pictured imply that Mercury was on an older stamp. He wasn’t, early Spanish stamp issues usually featured their Royals. Perhaps Franco would have preferred a Mercury issue.

Todays stamp is issue A274, a 25 Centimo stamp issued by Spain on May 7th, 1962. It was part of a four stamp issue in various denominations displaying the Roman God of Commerce, Mercury. Spain usually had a stamp issue to present at the big annual stamp exhibition in Barcelona to go with International Stamp day. We covered the 1980 issue here, https://the-philatelist.com/2018/12/24/spain-1980-honoring-postal-as-well-as-royal-heritage/ , that allowed then King Juan Carlos to honor his not well remembered grandfather. Franco had you go back all the way to the ancients. Well stamp collectors can be accused of spending to much time looking back instead of forward. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether it is mint or used.

By the 1960s, Spain was failing to catch up with the economic success of Western Europe. Avoiding participation in World War II was not the big economic driver it was in Switzerland or Sweden. The 1930s had seen  a devastating civil war and with the ostracism of Franco from much of Europe recovery was slow. Spain was doing better however than communist Eastern Europe, that had the same issue of tired old dictators ruling for life. On their stamps you would have more likely seen the prophet Marx than Roman God Mercury, but I guess you have to pray to someone for new blood. The Spanish Civil War with the choice of Marxist or Fascist was suboptimal.

Mercury is the Roman God of Commerce, Mercury is a bringing over from Greece of their God Hermes. In bringing over Hermes, the earlier Roman God Dei Lucrii was merged into the idea of Mercury. This taking over can be seen in how later Catholic Saints were appealed to in similar ways as were the pre Christian Roman Gods. In Roman times, the Roman Historian Tacitus saw other peoples Gods as being representations of Mercury. He saw this as true for the Germanic God Wotan, and the Celtic God Lugus. None of those had Mercury’s cool helmet. Tacitus was perhaps right about Mercury being absorbed by not just Romans. We see him here on a Spanish stamp, he also was the inspiration for Ford’s Mercury automobile. The American Mercury dime coin, in use until 1946, was not actually Mercury. It was really Lady Liberty, but her head gear on the coin was thought to resemble Mercury’s famous winged helmet.

Well my drink is empty and so I will patiently await tomorrow when there is a new story that can be learned from stamp collecting.