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China 1957, Building on Japanese and Russian foundations in Changchun, Manchuria

The first automotive plant in the biggest country by population in the world. Now the biggest automotive market 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.

You don’t often see smokestacks on a stamp. Today a developing country would probably just show the factory gate. The complex shown with its large size and wide boulevard gives a real sense to its importance to China. A truck factory was a big deal. the first domestic truck factory is a really big deal. Imagine a poor country where all the motorized transportation has to be imported. Inevitably this means there will be too few of them and the trucks will cost far more than they should, both to acquire and maintain.

Todays stamp is issue A73, a 4 Juan stamp issued by the Peoples Republic of China on May Day 1957. It displays the first automotive works that opened the year before. It was a two stamp issue. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth $2.75 mint.

Changchun has been an important center for industry since the 19th century. Located in Manchuria, it was the recipient of Russian and Japanese ambitions. In 1898 the train came to Changchun as a result of Russian construction building off their railroad network. It was for a while the end of the line as Japan fought a war with Russia in 1905 and for a short period their systems did not connect. The Japanese eventually set up a puppet state in Manchuria under old Emperor Puyi with it’s capital in Changchun. The Japanese put much effort into making Changchun a showcase city for the Greater East Asia Co Prosperity Sphere. They lavished much money on architecture and infrastructure. The population skyrocketed and in 1944 contained over 140,000 Japanese workers and 5 times that many Chinese. Some of that carried over  when the Chinese regained control of the city in the late 40s. Even today most Chinese bullet trains come from Changchun.

Japan Co Prosperity era government building still in use as a hospital in modern Changchun. Architectural Brutality with Japanese and Chinese flair. The Co Prosperity Sphere for the win.

The Russians accepted the Japanese surrender in Manchuria in 1945 and played a further role in the future of the Chinese city. When the plant on the stamp opened in 1956, the first product was a Russian truck, the Zis-150. The Chinese rechristened the truck the FAW Jia Fang C-10. It was the most common Soviet truck of the 50s and the Chinese made it until 1986. In 1958, the factory expanded its offerings to include the Hong Qi,(Red Flag), a long running series of limousines and large sedans for high officials.

The Soviet original Zis 150 truck. An image search for Gia Fang just gets you androgenous Chinese people with that name. I miss white wall tires as much as the next guy, but on the towed cannon?

The first factory is still around. The third largest domestic automaker FAW is still based in Changchun. FAW stands for First Auto Works. It is known today for its license production of Audi sedans and its own line of economy cars and commercial vehicles. As of yet, they have been unable to re-launch  the Red Flag series of limousines.

Well my drink is empty. This is perhaps not the story of success it would seem at first blush. Yes China fully supplies it’s own automotive market and indeed exports. What it has not been able to do to date, over 65 years later is design their own instead of licenses and pathetic thievery.  Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.

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Fiume 1920, the city state, and Italian Regency of Carnaro, whose principle was music and weapon was castor oil

A city state near a moveable border and with a diverse population is a formula for unrest. Sometimes what comes to occupy the vacuum is just bizarre. 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.

Fiume never had a stable government in it’s five years of existence. So there was not time to let the drama of the place be reflected on the stamps. Many were just overprints of Italian or Hungarian stamps. The stamp today is a newspaper stamp that though Fiume specific is somewhat generic.

Todays stamp is issue N2, a newspaper stamp issued  by the free state of Fiume on September 12th, 1920. This was during the time the right wing Italian poet and soldier Gabriele D’Annunzio had declared himself El Duce and that Fiume was the Italian regency of Carnaro. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $4.00 mint.

Fiume is a port city on the Adriatic that for many years belonged to the Austria-Hungarian Empire. It was administered by Hungary and was their only port. The people who actually lived there were mainly Italians and Croatians. At the end of World War I, Fiume was not part of the land that transferred from Austria to Italy and Hungary was also not able to hold on to it. Italy and Serbia claimed it but at the suggestion of mediator Woodrow Wilson it was declared a free state. There was much turmoil with new governments every few months.

Into this quagmire lands uninvited an Italian poet and war hero named Gabriele D’Annunzio. This was before the fascists had taken over in Italy but Fiume became a model for that takeover. He declared himself El Duce of the Italian regency of Carnaro. Only the Soviet Union recognized his government. He gave long poetic and musical speeches from his balcony in the central square. He reorganized the government into a series of corporations where people were assigned various tasks. He famously enshrined in the constitution that one corporation was to protect the interest of poets, heroes and supermen. What no Philatelists? Perhaps they were covered by the title of Supermen. Music was also enshrined as a fundamental principle of the state. He put forth a new moto for Fiume, “This place is the best!”

Gabriele D’ Annunzio during the Regency of Carnaro. They say the Yugoslavs masacred all the right wing looking Italians in 1945. as the Italians did to the Hungarians in 1919. Wonder if any or these fellows were good at disguises.

D’Annunzio clamped down on opposition by the use of black-shirted thugs. They are believed in originating the technique of dousing opponents in castor oil. This was an extreme laxative that would immobilize and humiliate them. Eventually the Italian military forced D’Annunzio to withdraw from Fiume and Fiume reverted to Italy in 1924. This was opposed by the local government which became a government in exile. At the end of World War II they again tried to claim the city but their leaders were quickly assassinated by Yugoslavia which took the city for itself. Fiume is now the Croatian city of Rijeka.

D’Annunzio returned to Italy and retired to his villa. He was weakened physically when he fell from a window on the second floor. It is not clear if he was pushed or lost his footing due to intoxication. It meant though that he did not participate in the rise to power of his fascists allies in Italy. He did live on into the rule and was the recipient of honors from them. His son was a movie director of movies based on his stories.

Fiume passed to Italy in 1924, to Yugoslavia in 1945 and finally to date Croatia in 1991.

The now much sleepier Croatian city of Rijeka. Not many Italians or Hungarians left, the biggest minority is now Bosnians. Lucky Croatia.

Well, my drink is empty, and as I am on the third floor so I will abstain as I like lack the castor oil to keep the bastards at bay. Come again  for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.

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Canada 1971, Trudeau is outraged about Laporte’s kidnapping and murder, so the perps got 8 years in jail

A politician is kidnapped from his front yard and murdered and yet the confessed and convicted murderers get only 8 years in jail. We will explore today how this can happen. 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 today looks older than it is. By the 1970s, most stamps including Canada’s offered bold colors. The only hints that this stamp is newer is the font that Canada is written in and the fact that 7 cents is too much to mail a letter in the earlier period. Perhaps the bland grey portrait of Mr. Laporte was thought in keeping with a mourning period. I think this is wrong. Turning him into a bland grey figure lessens the loss of what was a brutal crime where a man was targeted based on his moderate political views and for the crime of being willing to serve his province and country.

Todays stamp is issue A285, a 7 cent stamp issued by Canada on October 20th, 1971. The stamp honors Pierre Laporte a year after he was murdered. It was a single stamp issue. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether it was mint or used.

Pierre Laporte was a journalist, lawyer, and politician from Quebec. As a journalist, his work was instrumental in alleging corruption in the regime of then Quebecois Premier Maurice Duplessis. Allegations of impropriety should always be taken with a grain of salt when they come from political opponents and that was the case here. Mr. Laporte was an active member of the rival Quebec Liberal Party and later served in the Quebec National Assembly and was provincial minister of Labor when the Liberal party was in power in the 60s. Though not as radical as some, the Liberal Party in Quebec broke away from the national Liberal party of Trudeau and set up separate Quebec pension and health systems and nationalized the electric utility in Quebec. What it also did was favor remaining in Canada. For this sin, Laporte had to pay with his life.

The Front for the Liberation of Quebec was a radical communist group that sought the succession of Quebec from Canada. Further they wanted to establish and independent Quebec that was francophone and only francophone and that the country be an ethnically cleansed communist worker’s paradise. They had much support from left wing types and engaged in 160 outbreaks of violence that killed eight people.

Flag pf the FLQ. That red star really brings forth the French heritage

Mr. Laporte was playing football in the front yard of his home with his nephew when he was kidnapped at gunpoint. The FLQ declared him the Minister of Unemployment and Assimilation. Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau feigned outrage at the kidnapping and enacted special police powers to find the cell of the FLQ responsible.

Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in 1970 on TV announcing the roundup of the FLQ. He didn’t mention how short the jail terms would turn out.

The remains of Mr. Laporte were found eight days later having been strangled. FLQ support dropped as a result of the violence but Trudeau was nowhere man when it was time to see that the perpetrators of the kidnap and murder pay for their crimes. The death penalty was not possible in Canada at the time but sentences of life and thirty years were handed out to the for men who confessed and were convicted. This was just for show. The men served an average of 8 years in jail  and were even allowed to write books afterward that justified their actions and allowed them to profit from their crimes. One of the books was made into a movie partially funded by the film board of Canada. ‘Pierre Trudeau failed his people in allowing this to happen. I am sure his supporters will want to pass the buck on this but the buck stops with him.

FLQ people in the subsequent round up. The fellow would be able to shake his fist outside of police custody soon enough

Well my drink is empty. I wonder if the radical that was the young Pierre Trudeau led him to secretly sympathize with the FLQ or whether Laporte was too much of a like minded rival. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.

 

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The last white Rajah of Sarawak, much to the annoyance of many.

The Sultan of Brunei offers a territory to a British adventurer in perpetuity, until it isn’t. 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 comes from the island of Borneo. The area of Sarawak was ruled by a white rajah, in a system loosely modeled on British India, except with a more prominent local representation. This local representation allows the white rajah to just wear an ordinary business suit on the stamp. He did not have to pretend he was local when he was not as with so many Kings who are really from somewhere else.

The stamp today is issue A17, a 3 cent stamp issued by the Rajah of Sarawak in 1922. The stamp features Rajah Charles Vyner Brooke and is part of a 21 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth $1.40 used. The stamp to look out for in this issue is the 8 cent yellow. It is worth $70 used.

Sarawak, initially just the area around Kuching was awarded to British explorer James Brooke. He had helped the Sultan of Brunei quell a tribal uprising. The area was populated by Muslim Malayan tribes with a minority of ethnic Chinese. Brooke established a Rajah that was independent from Britain. He was succeeded by his nephew and then later by his nephew’s son, Charles Vyner Brooke. The rajah was successful in developing the local industry, most particularly oil drilling. He had a local council that advised him and for the most part was a protector of local customs, with the exception of headhunters who were pursued until the practice mostly died out locally.

Charles Vyner Brooke faced a new challenge in the form of Japanese ambitions. He turned over much power to the local council and fled to Australia with a sizable grant from the treasury of Sarawak. He destroyed much of the infrastructure to avoid it falling to the Japanese. At war end, the Australian Army landed and  Brooke was back on his family throne. He lacked the funds to rebuild Sarawak so proposed a controversial idea of becoming a British Crown Colony. This was especially controversial because the Rajah was by then mainly ceremonial and the locals had much self rule.

This was also a problem regarding the Rajah succession. Charles had named his nephew Anthony Rajah Muda, prospective. This angered his wife Sylvia of Sarawak who wanted to see the title go to her daughter. This was not allowed by Islamic Law or Charles Brooke’s will but her life saw many schemes to dispute Anthony’s claim to the thrown by pointing out he married a commoner and was disreputable. Anthony in turn opposed Sarawak becoming a crown colony. After the Crown Colony came to pass Anthony Brooke was banned from Sarawak by the colonial administration. A crown governor, Duncan Stewart, was assassinated and there were rumors that Anthony was in on the plot. The assassin, Rosli Dhobi, a teenager, turned out to be an activist who sought Sarawak’s union with Indonesia. Dhobi was hanged. Interesting in modern times the kid’s remains were moved to Sarawak’s Heroes Mausoleum. I guess you can’t just leave the mausoleum empty.

Teenager Rosli Dhobi, center, caught after stabbing to death British Governor Duncan Stewart. The British officer on the right, the throng of fez wearing local soldiers and the two tough Sikh guards give a nice colonial atmosphere don’t they. Well not perhaps for the Governor.

The colony in the 60s was then seceded to a newly independent Malaysia. Malaysia allowed Anthony Brooke to return to Sarawak having renounced his title. Upon his death in 2012, the Malaysian British High Commissioner had released British documents that cleared Anthony Brooke of the assassination. Late in her life in 1969, Charles Vyner Brooke’s widow, Sylvia of Sarawak released a book titled “Queen of the Headhunters.”

Would be post war white Rajah Anthony Brooke as a young man at Eton. How does the song go… the playing fields of Eton have made him positively brave.

Well my drink is empty so I will pour another to toast the Brooke family, The White Rajahs. Come again  for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.

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Austria 1916, a last respectful view of the past, before the world changes

A stamp issue of the better of the monarchs as a near last stamp issue of the empire seems a fitting culmination. So slip om 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 today is a very formal portrait of a leader from over a century before. To be accurate the stamp was issued by the Empire of Austria-Hungary. Yet Joseph II on the stamp was actually from the Holy Roman Empire. What the two empires from different periods share was the Hapsburg Royal Line. Knowing this shows the stamp issue as more personal and less about changing borders or even the people. No wonder the days of monarchy were numbered.

Today’s stamp is issue A22, a 3 heller stamp issued by the Empire of Austria-Hungary from 1908-1916. It shows Joseph II, the Holy Roman Emperor from 1770-1790. It was part of an eighteen stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used. The stamp to look out for in this issue is the 10 krone stamp featuring Franz Joseph. It is worth $190 mint.

Joseph II was a Hapsburg emperor from Austria. At the time, the Holy Roman Empire ruled much of central Europe. This did not include France despite fashioning itself as the successor to Charlemagne. It also did not include Rome despite again being fashioned after ancient Rome. He did have an in with France as his sister was Marie Antoinette.

Joseph was unlucky in love. He loved his first wife, Isabella of Parma, but her infatuations were with his sister, Maria Christina. Isabella died young at age 21 after a difficult pregnancy produced a daughter followed by a string of miscarriages. The daughter then herself died at age 9 of small pox. He was distraught and had a loveless 2 year second marriage with no issue. His cruelty to his second wife was shown by not visiting her on her deathbed nor attending her funeral. He admitted later he should have shown her more kindness.

Princess Isabella of Parma

Joseph was very aggressive militarily which made it difficult for him to make alliances as no foreign leader could trust him. He once heard his friend the King of Prussia was sick so prepared an army to try to grab Silesia if he died. The Prussian King recovered and that was the end of that friendship.

In domestic issues, Joseph was considered enlightened, but many of his reforms just did not stick. He tried to advance education and use it to try to standardize the German language. This did not succeed. He tried to end capital punishment, but it was quickly brought back after his death. He tried to free the serfs in the Empire but this was opposed by both serfs and the nobility. The reason the serfs opposed it is that it required their labors to be paid in money while the whole system the serfs knew was based on barter. He announced freedom of religion but was unable to pry the Catholic church away from the Pope in Rome. He did have success in some legal reform and the economics of the empire were sound. Joseph himself was not satisfied with his achievements. He asked that the epitaph on his tomb read, “Here lies Joseph II, who failed in all he undertook.” Overall history has treated Joseph II more kindly than he treated himself.

Austria-Hungary itself ended a few years after this stamp. Much land was lost and the various countries contained went their separate ways. The Hapsburg rule ended. To see an Austrian stamp from a decade later could be 50 years later in how much more modern the style became.

Well my drink is empty. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.

 

 

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The Turk boy, Asena the wolf, and the master race of blacksmiths begotten

Welcome readers to todays offering from The Philatelist. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. We have a fun mythic tale to spin, as usual used by a new leader of a new country to bring people forward.

Visually this stamp is a mess. The paper is cheap and the printing is sub par. It is worth taking  time to study. In it you can see a master blacksmith and a wolf. The wolf is sitting by protectively, as well she might. The wolf is the blacksmith’s mother!

The stamp today is issue A66 a one Ghurush stamp issued by Turkey in 1926. It is part of a 14 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used. It we are looking specifically for treasure, the stamp in this set to look out for is the mint 200 Ghurush stamp featuring the then Turkish president Kamal, worth $90. He is on a lot of stamps though, so this Philatelist will stick to the cheap stamp depicting the fun legend.

The Turkish President we know today as Ataturk, was born simply as Mustafa in present day Greece to Muslim Turkish parents. At the time people did not generally have last names. Kamal was added by a school teacher faced with 4 Mustafas in the class. Kamal means exact one as he was good at math. Ataturk was added as President when he was having everyone register a last name from an approved list of newly made up traditional Turkish last names. Ataturk was reserved for just Kamal and translates into big Turk guy. He served with distinction in the World War I Ottoman Turk army and was trained and educated by them in France, Germany, and Austria. He found himself able to maneuver into the Presidency of a new smaller Turkey now encamped in Ankara to avoid the old power centers in Istanbul.

Kamal set out to modernize a new Turkish nation. There were issues with this. There were a lot of ruins around Asia Minor but none of them were Turkish. The people were illiterate and the powerful were corrupt and defeated. Into this a lot of work went into developing a unique Turkish culture. Stories were woven of Turkish explorers mapping the world. Proof of this was offered in the name of the Amazon river in South America. Amazon River in ancient Turk translates into what a long river. Proving Turks first mapped it. The Arab alphabet was abandoned for the Latin one before universal education was put in place for the next generation. Religious garb was discouraged along with the fez which was too associated with the old system. Industrialization was also started, in my opinion leading to the myth on this stamp.

The story told on this stamp is the following. A boy is injured in a raid on his village and he becomes separated. A female wolf named Asena finds him and nurses him back to health. He then impregnates her leading to 10 super strong boys who became master blacksmiths and passed on their strength and talent to the Turkish race. An inspiring Turk story. An inspiring Ataturk story?

Asena with master Turk race baby
An early proposal for then new Turkey coat of arms that included Asena

President Ataturk did much to modernize Turkey and ease it away from Asia and toward Europe. The pendulum is now swinging back but those opposed to that are still known as Kamalist, 90 years later. What a big Turk guy indeed.

Well my drink is empty and so I will pour another and raise it to President Mustafa Kamal Ataturk. Come again  for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.

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Jordan 1983, a Hashimite King tries to rule a substitute Palestinian homeland.

Coming out of a great military tradition, the Hashemites might seem poised to provide for a pan Arab vision to contend with Nasser’s Egypt. The country was changing though and growing with people who are not loyal to the great traditions that were of no benefit to them. 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.

Jordan had it’s King and it’s army. The population was poor but growing and mainly were displaced persons from the Holy Land. The Army was capable and the King flexible and the people are under marshal law.So why not celebrate King Hussein. No one would have predicted a long reign and a death by natural causes. People under marshal law can be made to say Long Live the King, but it is really something when it is achieved.

Todays stamp is issue A170, a 40 Fills stamp issued by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in 1983. It was part of a 6 stamp issue in various denominations that honor King Hussein, who was on his 30th year on the throne. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 40 cents mint.

King Hussein ascended to the thrown in 1953. The Hashemite tribe of Bedouin warriors had been defenders of the Saudi holy places until displaced by the House of Saud in that role. A relationship developed between them and the British that resulted in a quite capable military force and Hashemites on the thrones of Palestine, Jordan, Iraq, and even briefly Syria. However, one by one these territories faded to just Jordan. Hussein’s father was assassinated and his brother was removed from the Throne due to mental incompetence. No one saw a long rule from Hussein as he was only 18. The country was taking in so many refugees from Palestine that they were two thirds of the population. The area lacked oil and many of that generation saw a socialist pan Arab future that did not include Hashemite Kings. Israel saw a majority Palestinian country that could function as a homeland if they could just get rid of the Hashemite King. Not so fast though.

The army was competent. Enough so that Israel tried to avoid fights with it. When the local Palestinians armed Fedayeen(self sacrificer) fighters to attack Israel from Jordan and get rid of Hussein. The King ordered the Jordanian Army into action. The Fedayeen was defeated and sent to Lebanon, an allied with the Fedayeen Syrian relief force was quickly defeated and martial law was expanded. The King remained. The Palestinians tried to form a Black September Organization to exact revenge on King Hussein but the terrorism was only successful at uniting the world against them and they quickly promised attacks only on Israel.

So Hussein stays in power but without oil wealth and the majority of the people poor exiles it sounds pretty miserable. Well not entirely. He was King after all and while the people were kept under marshal law he was not. He had 4 Queens including one British and one American. Through them he fathered 12 children. He also had a child out of wedlock with American actress Susan Cabot. He flew fighter planes, rode Harley Davidsons through the desert and even collected stamps. He maintained enough of a relationship with all sides in the middle east that he was the go to for any peace talks. These efforts were perhaps his second greatest legacy, after surviving 36 years in power. His son Abdullah, by the second English Queen Antionette(titled Nuna) has now himself ruled 26 years and counting. Maybe pan Arabism under Hashemites would not have been so bad, unless you are the exile under marshal law.

Well my drink is empty. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.

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Spain 1980, honoring postal as well as Royal heritage

One of the issues facing modern stamp issues is an overabundance of issues that look backward instead of forward. This is probably related to a sense in the western world that the future will be worse than the past. Some times the look back can be making a current point. Like Spanish King Juan Carlos seeing that his unpopular grandfather King Alfonso VIII is treated respectfully on a stamp after the Royal nightmare of Franco and Republicans was over. 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 was produced to honor the 1980 EXFILNA stamp collecting exposition held that year in Barcelona. It was the 50th anniversary of the first national stamp exposition that was also in Barcelona. To mark the anniversary, it was decided to show 50 year before King Alfonso visiting the first exposition. This is where the politics entered in. King Alfonso was about to abdicate in 1930 after a long but lousy rule. Republicans had won local elections discrediting the King’s favored conservative prime minister. The army then rebelled but the civil war that followed was won by Francisco Franco who was not interested in restoring the Royals. King Alfonso and his heirs had to watch this from Italian exile. After Franco’s death, Alfonso’s grandson King Juan Carlos I was Franco’s chosen successor as head of state and restoring the Royal line. This is what is really being celebrated on this stamp. The stamp exposition is a clever way to slip unpopular grandfather back on a stamp without creating a ruckus.

The stamp today is issue A575, a 5 Peseta stamp issued by the Kingdom of Spain on July 1st, 1980. It was a single stamp issue. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether it is mint or used.

King Alfonso XIII ascended the throne upon  his birth as he was born posthumously after his fathers death. It is said he was presented as a baby naked on a silver platter to the then Prime Minister.’ Lucky for him this did not happen in one of Spain’s African colonies. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/06/05/spanish-guinea-in-the-rush-to-leave-spain-turned-it-over-to-a-witch-doctor/ During his childhood, Spain was ruled by a Regency headed by his Austrian mother. The Regency went badly as Spain lost the Spanish American War and with it the Empires last footholds in the Americas and Asia. When Alfonso was actually in power the empire calamities continued much closer to home in Morocco with the costly Rif war see.https://the-philatelist.com/2018/10/25/spanish-morocco-it-is-useful-to-have-a-second-stringer-occupy-much-of-a-large-dangerous-place/ The wars were also expensive and required large armies manned by peasants for whom the economic situation was not improving fast enough. Even the genius of staying neutral in World War I was not enough to restore his popularity. His marriage to an English Princess was unhappy since he resented that she had passed her families’ hemophilia to his sons. He fathered 5 children out of wedlock in addition to his legitimate 4 children.

Franco was not interested in reestablishing the Monarchy during his long rule. The Royals had been on the Right side of politics but many in his movement supported a rival pretender Royal line. Franco also wanted to keep the power for himself. The Royal line still formally claimed the title and continued reaching out to Franco. A Royal married Franco’s granddaughter and the young royals were allowed to be educated in Spain. As Franco aged he ignored the in place royal line and installed Alfonso’s grandson Juan Carlos as heir apparent. He hoped for loyalty to his movement but once in power the King followed a more middle of the road course. He appointed more liberal ministers to replace Franco’s people and supported pro democracy reforms. At the same time he maintained a conservative image that allowed for a certain continuity. To his credit, over time he backed away from politics and was thought by most as a positive, stabilizing influence in Spain.

The stamp expositions are still an annual event in Spain. There is often a unique stamp issue that is available to buy only within the Exposition. The issues are often more valuable than regular issues but the fact of stamp collecting is that it is impossible to buy a stamp when issued and have it be life changingly valuable in your lifetime. If you are lucky though the value might keep up with inflation. Todays stamp did even worse that that. No love for King Alfonso outside the family?

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to celebrate the annual EXFILNA stamp shows in Spain. Long may they continue. Update, they have continued and this year’s one is coming to Cadiz in November. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.

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Nepal 1962, The King having abolished hereditary prime ministers, also chaffed against socialists, tries Panchayet

Nepal was greatly influenced by the Indian independence  movement despite having remained independent. The Gandhi inspired Socialist freaked out the Nepalese elite and the Panchayat system was devised by King Mahendra as a local alternative. Think of India if the British had turned it over to the Maharajahs. 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 a simple portrait of King Mahendra of Nepal. Look how out of date it appears for an early 60s stamp, the King with his ancient uniform and feathered crown. By the 60s, most remaining Kings were in suits for their portraits. Yet in a country that never fell to colonial status, isn’t the King more distinctly local, than any standard issue socialist, with his foreign education and ideas. These independence movements like to present themselves has home grown  and up from the people. Who was the real authentic. Some of the more successful colonial ministers came to the realization that it was better to deal with tribal chiefs for administration labor than sending promising young students abroad, only to come back to work against the system. Here, as with Emperor Salase in Ethiopia, Nepal found a real local system was no defense against an international movement.

Todays stamp is issue A35 a 1 Paisa stamp issued by the Kingdom of Nepal in 1962. It was part of a three stamp issue featuring King Mahendra in various denominations. The overprint means the stamp was meant for the official use of the government. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents. A larger overprint version is worth $1.50. Mine may be that, I can’t determine if my overprint is bigger then the example shown in the catalog or just centered more to the right. 10 years after the death  of the King in 1983, a large remainder of this stamp was sold to stamp dealers by the postal authority. They had the for official use overstamp and still fetched face value.

Nepal never succumbed to foreign domination, unless that is how you would describe the countries current situation. The Nepalese were and are fierce mountain warriors and after bloodying the British in India, both sides had a rare moment of brilliance decided to become friends and partners. Volunteer Gurkha soldiers fought bravely for Britain over many years and units of them still serve in the British, Indian, Singaporean, and Brunei armies. The veterans of this service play an important part in King Mahindra’s plans for a modernized traditional rule. His father had gotten rid of the powerful, hereditary prime ministers the Rama. This was done with the help of newly independent India and an Indian born, educated, and resident Socialist named B. P. Koirala was pushed by the Indians as the future potential leader of Nepal. His Socialist party did very well in the subsequent election and King Mahendra invited him to form a government.

Studio/August.51,A22a(i)
Photograph taken on arrival of the His Majesty the King of Nepal, at Wilingdon Aerodrome, New Delhi on August 13, 1951, shows from right to left:- Mr. B.P. Koirala, Home Minister of Nepal; Maj-Gen. Bijaya Shumshere Jung Bahadur Rana, Nepalese Ambassador to India; the Hon’ble Shri Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister; Shrimati Indira Gandhi New Delhi the Royal Ladies of Nepal.

The in place hierarchy was terrified by what was an effective Indian takeover of  Nepal. The King agreed and disbanded the elected government and jailed and then exiled Koirala. He banned all political parties and designed a system of Panchayat to replace it. The system was a three tiered system  of councils the bottom one at the village level that relied heavily on Gurkha veterans. The King had built a major east-west highway that better connected the nation and made some stabs at land reform. He still found too much influence by urban, Indian and socialist within Panchayat and started a back to the villages program to try to keep leaders tied to the people. This somewhat resembled what was going on in Mao’s China and over time China became an important ally of Nepalese Royals. This and a program making it more difficult for Indians to work in Nepal lead to India cutting off trade. The anniversary of B. P. Koira’s death was used as a starting point to overthrow the King and the Panchayat system in 1988. By then Mahindra had died and all royals were stripped of their titles.

One bone to the old system is that Mahendra’s now elderly wife (title stripped)Queen Mother Ratna  is allowed to live in a small house on the grounds of the now museum Narayanhity Palace. She is not the mother of the Royal line as Mahendra fathered his family with her older sister while still Crown Prince. After the death of older sister Princess Consort Indra in 1958, Mahendra married Ratna but had no further children. Her family is Rana, from the former family of hereditary prime ministers. Lots of tradition here, now cast aside.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the Gurkhas. Tough enough to keep the British out, but perhaps less adept in defending traditions at home. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

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Zaire 1979, After giving up on African Authenticity, Mobutu retraced HM Stanley

Sometimes you wonder if this stuff is all a joke. A dictator forces names changed and people not to wear western suits, he nationalizes industry, and builds great gaudy palaces. Then the money runs out and the west is invited back in to recreate H. M. Stanley. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your fist sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Todays stamp is from the time when the wheels were starting to come off President Maputu’s party train. You still see him trying, with his leopard skin toque and his abacost. Indeed he was still chartering the Concorde to fly from the international airport he had built in his hometown in the jungle. Now to do it he was inviting in westerners and Chinese to get industry working and even retrace the journey into darkest Africa 100 years before by Stanley. The same man who 8 years before renamed Stanleyville Kisangani. The cheap paper of the stamp shows how threadbare it was all getting.

Todays stamp is issue A166 a 25 la Kuta stamp issued by Zaire in February 1979. It was part of an eight stamp issue in various denominations recognizing the joint British and Zairean Congo River Expedition recreating Stanley’s original 100 years before. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 40 cents. There is a version of this issue printed on gold foil that is worth $50.

Congo when Belgian had a very lucrative copper operation. So independence was difficult has there was much money floating around trying to keep  the operation going. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/03/07/a-failed-plan-de-redressement-brings-a-revolt-of-simbas-in-the-congo/, and this https://the-philatelist.com/2018/07/13/katanga-1961-mining-out-the-chaos/   . By the 1970s the operation was nationalized and there was one party rule under former Army officer and Belgian gendarme corporal Mobutu. Mobutu started a program to make Congo more authentically African. He had a new suit designed called abacost, which meant down with suits. He changed all the place names and made it a crime to baptize a baby with a western name. Speaking of names, he changed his name to include the phrase, “the all powerful warrior, who because of his endurance and inflexible will, goes from conquest to conquest, leaving fire in his wake. This was shortened to Sese Seko. He was born with only Mobutu for a name.

One conquest Mobutu couldn’t manage was against the laws of economics. By the late 70s the west and China were invited back in to try to get things working again. That would not prove possible and the lure of getting those copper mines working again  is enough to fund rebel groups from the outside. In 1997, Mabutu was forced into exile. His tacky grandeur in now in ruins, the billions allegedly hidden away were never found and the new guys are just the old guy minus the style. The Scott catalog doesn’t recognize the modern stamps as there is no longer a provable postal service. To bad a new Belgian King Leopold can’t fund a new H. M. Stanley to start over.

A woman in the ruins of the Bamboo Palace, one of the extravagant residences built by Mobutu Sese Seko in his native village in Equateur Province.

H. M. Stanley was a British explorer in the personal patronage of King Leopold of Belgium. He wanted to find the sources of the Congo and Nile River and how they relate to Lake Victoria. His expedition down the length of the Congo River started with 228 people including 4 Europeans. By the time he reached the Atlantic 999 days later he was down to 114 and he was the only European. There are waterfalls and rapids along the route that made it difficult. As Stanley travelled he was claiming the territory for Belgian King Leopold. There however was later a falling out because Stanley’s treaties with African tribes only amounted to renting places for trading posts instead of creating a massive personal colony. The King perhaps should have listened to Stanley.

Well my drink is empty and I am afraid I wouldn’t look good in a leopard skin toque or an abacost. So I will just stick to the smoking jacket and remind you to come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.