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North Borneo Company 1922, A British Chinese Hong company comes to Borneo to persevere and achieve

These empire builders are not looked back on well, but you have to admire their confidence in themselves. 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 not issued by a country or even a colony, but rather a private company that had acquired a territory to develop or exploit it depending on your point of view. Either way a prime function was to maximize revenue. Postage stamps were a part of that with many more printed for collectors than were needed for postage. The themes were usually topical with views of exotic animals and fauna as the printers imagined them to be in London. Companies like this are long gone but farmed out topicals remain, now printed in China where companies that exist to develop and exploit poor areas of the world are reemerging. History repeats.

Todays stamp is issue A54, a four cent stamp issued by the North Borneo Chartered Company in 1909. It was part of a 14 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 30 cents used.

The area of North Borneo was previously under the control of the Sultan of Brunei. Alfred Dent, an Englishman, was involved in an important family business in the far east that operated as a trading firm called a Hong. It operated in Hong Kong and Shanghai and Mr. Dent was also involved in The Shanghai power company, tea plantations in Ceylon, and the conversion of the Indian Rupee from a silver standard to a gold standard. Sounds like he had a full plate but he desired to do more directly. At the time, the Sultan of Brunei was selling off large pieces of Borneo. Unfortunately he often sold the same piece of land several times over. Dent after several years of negotiations but was able to acquire North Borneo and have a publicly traded, British Royal Charted Company in charge. He bought it in exchange for 15,000 Spanish Gold Dollar coins. The coins were about .2 ounces of gold so worth $250 in todays money, a little less than 4 million dollars. Dent composed the motto for the colony as “I persevere, I achieve.”

Alfred Dent

The shareholder back in England where demanding short term dividends more than long term achievement and therefore Mr. Dent fell short of his goal. There was mining and some agriculture but the area proved expensive to operate. By the 1880s slavery was banned and so the company spent more effort stamping it out among locals that exploiting it for profit. The native tribesman also were difficult to coax to work for western enterprises and the few that did were punished by heavy taxation. The company had to import Sikh policeman from India to police tribal disputes. One Tribal leader named Antanum was on the outs with the company and lead a rebellion. He convinced enough natives of his magical powers and succeeded in overrunning several company outposts. The British Army had to be called in to arrest the tribesmen and Antanum was executed.

The area fell to the Japanese in World War II and the company had no resources to get the operation going again post war. In exchange for a token payment to cover old debts, the area was combined with the island of Labuan and became a British Colony. It passed on to Malaysia in 1963. The need of dividends for investors meant there was never enough reinvestment to persevere and achieve as much as Mr. Dent would have liked. Yet whether you speak of the jungle railroad in Borneo, the electricity in Shanghai, the tea in Sri lanka, or the value of the Rupee in India, a lot of things are around today because of Mr. Dent’s perseverance. It will surprise no one that it is Antanum that has the statue in todays Malaysia.

Antanum statue in Tenom, Malaysia

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the Sultan of Brunei. By trading off land he was able to continue until oil was discovered by others and he became one of the richest people in the world. I prefer “I persevere and I achieve” to I hang around and then take advantage, but results do speak loudly. Come again  for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

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Tanzania 1991, the sad transition from Ujamaa to Wabenzi

The hope that existed in 1960s era independent Africa was contagious. There was a belief that without colonial oppressors things would get better through a system of brotherhood called Ujamaa. What if the colonial system stays in place, now with a black face and corruption, but lacking the colonials competence. Then you get Wabenzi, a modern oppression named after the Mercedes autos so favored by the corrupt new black elite. 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 of a type that is sad to me. A cartoonish topical of an elephant. Tanzania was supposed to be a center of Ujamaa. It was a system designed by Africans influenced by Christianity and Socialism where the people bring themselves up by working together. If that had worked even half way, imagine the interesting stamps possible that really teach you about a far off place. Instead desperate revenuing by an almost non existing postal service with farmed out stamps. Other issues that year was a stamp for not Tanzanian Elvis and the paintings of not Tanzanian Vincent Van Gogh.

Todays stamp is issue A123, a 15 Shilling issue of the one party state of Tanzania. It was a 7 stamp issue in various denominations featuring elephants. There was also a much higher denomination souvineer sheet. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 60 cents cancelled to order. The sovineer sheet is up at $7.25.

Tanzania formed in 1964 upon the merger of the former British colony of Tanganyika and the Arab offshore island of Zanzibar. The African former slaves of Zanzibar rebelled against their post independence Arab King who was related to the Omani royal family. After the uprising, Arabs were forced into exile. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/01/29/zanzibar-when-the-arabs-needed-the-british/ This had also happened in Tanganyika when many whites and Indians were forced to leave, often with only 24 hour notice. Blacks themselves lost the previous ability to seek work in more prosperous South Africa. The first President consolidated power in one political party.

That does not mean everything was down trodden. People got their hopes raised that Africans working together through Ujamaa could get things moving. It was proposed that all laborers contribute one day a week toward community projects. There was nationalization of not just large organizations to bring them into black hands. There indeed was a great increase in literacy especially among women over colonial times.

Many mistakes were made. Collective farms concentrated on export cash crops instead of food. This left the country reliant on food aid. The administration left over from colonial times was now manned by incompetent locals who figured out how to enrich themselves by selling the permits required for everything.

A new elite’s Mercedes SL in Tanzania

 

To his credit, Julius Nyerere the first President, when he saw Ujamaa was not working, retired from government in 1985. At this point he was still somewhat revered for achieving independence and for not being personally corrupt. His ministers continued to govern without him with ever more corruption. Eventually most sources of foreign aid except old friend China cut off Tanzania. Zanzibar requested a vote on continued union with Tanzania in 1990 but was ignored. Aid started again after the first multiparty elections in 1995, but all parties proved corrupt. There is a new Bantu work called Wabenzi that refers to the corrupt new elite in Africa. The new oppressors. There is now some nostalgia for the optimism of Ujamaa. You hear the term popping up in African rap music and it is the fourth principle of the Kwanza holiday. Hope for the future is hard to sustain.

Well my drink is empty and I will smash my glass in frustration with the reality of Wabenzi. Let us hope it proves no more sustainable than Ujamaa. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019

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Australian Antarctic Territory 1984, Home of the Blizzard

Here we have a situation of  going from true adventure with real danger and real knowledge expansion to superficial people and their bucket list. This is not to insult modernity, but perhaps just the way of 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.

Todays stamp shows the dramatic scenery nearby Mawson station, the oldest continuously year round manned station in the Australian Antarctic territory. The scenery is a natural for the stamps but does much to attract tourism, which risks the last pristine and mostly unoccupied continent.

Todays stamp is issue A15, a 33 cent stamp issued by the Australian Antarctic Territory in 1984. It was part of a 15 stamp issue in various denominations. Stamps of the territory are valid for postage both in the territory and in Australia. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 45 cents.

The pioneering expeditions to Antarctica occurred early in the twentieth century. An early one happened in 1912-1913 and included a young geologist from the University of Adelaide named Douglas Mawson. Three men attempted to stay two years in the area around modern day Mawson station. Of the three men on the expedition, only one survived. One man fell into a crevasse and died while carrying much of the expeditions supplies. The second man died after being poisoned eating a dog’s liver. Mawson persevered not just to save his own life but to be able to provide the myriad scientific findings. Upon his return, Mawson was knighted and published many scientific papers and a popular book titled “Home of the Blizzard.” Among his findings was that windspeed averaged 50 mph and could go as high as 200 mph. He hypothesized that Antarctica was the windiest place on earth.

After WWI service and other Geology work in Australia, Mawson organized the much larger BANZARE expeditions of 1929-31. The expedition involved sea and air and was funded by three countries, Britain, Australia, and New Zealand with additional private funding. This expedition claimed the territory explored for Great Britain and occupied the rest of Mawson’s life editing 13 volumes of data. When he died in 1958, the work was not done and his eldest daughter Patricia took over the work only completing it in 1975. In 1933, Britain and Australia agreed to divide the territory claimed between themselves. See this American stamp I did a while back that goes into Antarctic treaties that governs various scientific stations now. https://the-philatelist.com/2017/10/25/celebrate-the-treaty-but-reserve-your-right-to-violate-it/.

Sir Douglas Mawson in 1914

Australia organized a permanent year round station named after Mawson in 1954. The Australian station consists of about 500 during summer and 80 during winter. There are more than 50 permanent buildings. There also now cruise ships that allow tourists to set foot on Antarctica, so far at least staying on shipboard. To show how reckless and unserious even the scientists have become lets recall a recent expedition organized by an Australian university. The university chartered a Russian icebreaker and took not only scientists but spouses and even some tourists who paid there way on. The ship got stuck in the ice and the call went to the Australian armed forces for rescue. These perfumed princes then demanded extra dangerous helicopter flights so they could leave the ship with all their luggage. Remember the wind? I hope none of these losers were knighted on their return, but today who knows. The Russian crew elected to stay with the ship till spring when it could be saved.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Sir Douglas Mawson. Come again  for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting, First published in 2019.

 

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Mongolia 1932, Remembering Sukhe Bator, the axe hero of Mongolia

In a new government with an ever changing cast of characters, it is often useful to pick one who has already fallen as the ideal to strive for. He is no longer competing for power himself, and has no risk of disappointing in the future. 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.

Axe and hero are usually not two words that fit together, outside the world of the firefighter. This is however Mongolia we are talking about. The communist People’s party of Mongolia was put in power by action of the Soviet Red Army. That does not sound particularly independent or patriotic. So the role of one of the Soviets collaborators is emphasized, with just enough truth to be credible. To his credit, he does look the part of a young Asian revolutionary. Wonder if Stalin looked at pictures of dead Mongolian collaborators, and picked the guy who looked the part and whose given name meant axe hero to be elevated. The actual head of Mongolia was a Buhdist Monk, good communists would not want to talk of him. Remember the old communist joke. The future is certain, it is the past that is always changing.

Todays stamp is issue A10 a 40 Mung stamp issued by the Mongolian People’s Republic in 1932. It was a 13 stamp issue in various denominations that showed the sights and people of Mongolia. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth $2.00 mint.

Sukhe Bator, then done as one word was born in very poor circumstances in 1893, the son of an itinerant day laborer. Both parents often abandoned the big family seeking work. Bator a street kid, befriended Russian children from the nearby Russian embassy, and learned some Russian. Mongolia of the time was a vassal of Imperial China but in reality had strong  connections to Russia. When the Imperial Chinese government fell in 1912, Mongolia declared independence under a Buddhist Monk named Bogd Khan. His government offered national service to street teens and Bator spent time in Khan’s army and civil service. During this time Bator married a woman of higher station than his own. The benefits of a steady job in a poor country.

The steady job became less steady. Chinese Manchurian warlord Zhang Zoulin, whom some may remember from the other days Manchurian stamp, invaded Mongolia and brought it under his government. Bogd Khan was put on house arrest and his army and civil service dissolved. Many of these people including Bator then joined left leaning organizations that sought help from the Soviet Union to dislodge Zhang and restore Bogd Kahn. Bator succeeded in sneaking a letter from Kahn to the Soviets in the hollowed handle of a horsewhip. The Mongolian group, formalized as a peoples party and received military training. At first the only military action allowed was at Khiagt, where Chinese had crossed the Soviet border. At this time a separate Czarist white Russian force crossed into Mongolia and pushed out the Chinese. This was not acceptable to the Soviet Union and the Red Army invaded and defeated the already running white Russian force. The People’s Party was put in charge with Kahn as a figurehead and Bator put in charge of the armed forces. He was still in his 20s.

There was much jockeying for position and many were executed for coup planning. As head of the armed forces, it was Bator’s job to prevent this. He was not up to this pressure and suffered a mental breakdown in 1923. He died under mysterious circumstances a few days later. Some think he was poisoned and others think pneumonia got him. His memory was raised highly after his death and his statue still stands in the capital Ulan Bator. After Bator’s death, his wife received further training at the Communist University of the Toilers of the East in Moscow. What Asian wouldn’t want to attend that? Deng Xiaoping and Ho Chi Minh were also there.  She was later a politician in her own right, rising to Chairperson of the Presidium and for a short period acting President of Mongolia.

1930’s class photo of the Communist University of the Toilers of the East University. Go Bears!

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast myself for not making a gay prostitute joke over what Bator’s name sounds like in English. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

 

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Great Britain 1962. The PM pontificates to the Queen about productivity

Sometimes a stamp issue can be overly optimistic about the future. A little bit of optimism is a good thing, but at some point credibility is lost. 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.

Every week, the British Queen sits down with the Prime Minister and receives a report on the state of things. As with question time in the House of Commons, this potentially is a useful way to hold the PM to account. Queen Elizabeth II has been on the throne so long that her first Prime Minister was Winston Churchill all the way through to Theresa May, assuming she is still Prime Minister in a few weeks when this publishes. Update, nope! I have often wondered what these meetings were like. This stamp is how I picture it. The Queen siting there while the PM gives a report that is long on sunshine and perhaps short on reality. Get real Mr. Prime Minister, turn this stamp upside down and tell the real story.

Todays stamp is issue A157, a 2 and  one/half Pence stamp issued by Great Britain on November 14, 1962. It was a three stamp issue celebrating national productivity year. According to the Scott catalog, this stamp is worth 25 cents whether mint or used. There is a rare version of the 1 Shilling 3P stamp of this issue that mistakenly omits the portrait of Queen Elizabeth. It is worth $16.000.

The reality of British industrial productivity was somewhat less rosy than it appears on this stamp. In 1961, Britain was the ninth most productive nation on earth. By 1978, it had fallen to number 18th. Both Labour and Tory governments of the period had radically increased social services spending. Though the spending was not spent as efficiently as would be hoped, there was a marked increase in the income of the lower class. The spending however created inflation and caused the Pound to be devalued from 2.8 USA dollars to the Pound to 2 for one. This understates the depreciation as the US$ was itself depreciating.

The improvement in the lot of the lower class unexpectedly devalued the value of work  to the next higher working class. This class was heavily unionized and so their devaluation resulted in more radical demands for wage increases. These could not be met and the result was large levels of labor strife, most famously a coal miners strike. Other factors played into this like the stock market decline and the Arab oil embargo.

Britain was ready for a change in 1978 but of course not everyone will approve of any big change. The productivity in 2015(the newest I could find) has Great Britain at number 15. Luxembourg is number 1, the USA number 5. China and India do not figure high on such list as the GNP output per employed person is quite low.

Well my drink is empty and I am always willing to pour another to toast Queen Elizabeth. Imagine the number of hot air sessions she has had to sit politely through over these many years. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

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Manchu Empire 1935, an old Dynasty is new again in the co-prosperity sphere

Between 1850 and 1950, China was beset with outsiders trying to strip China of it’s national wealth. The last Quing Emperors discredited themselves by not preventing it. The ultimate discreditment occurred when the last Quing Emperor Puyi allowed himself to be named Emperor of the Japanese puppet state in Manchuria. 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.

Back in 1935, this must have been a scary stamp to the Chinese. An area labels itself the Manchu Empire and displays an ancient pagoda. Not so scary sounding and a pretty typical Chinese stamp. However all the Chinese tradition is just a front for Japanese military occupation. It would still have been a real question in 1935 if this was the future of all of China. The last puppet state stamp declared that Japan’s progress was Manchuria’s progress, there were actually two versions of the stamp, one with Chinese characters, one with Japanese characters. By then the mask was off.

Todays stamp is issue A7, a 3 Fen stamp issued by the Manchu empire in 1935. It was part of a 15 stamp issue in various denominations. There is an earlier version of the stamp issue from 1932 with 5 characters across the top from before Puyi was declared emperor. They have higher values. According to the Scott catalog, this stamp is worth 70 cents used.

Manchuria was eyed covetously by both Japan and Russia. Russia desired more warm water ports south of Vladivostok. The Japanese wanted to expand into China from their new bases in Korea. Both used railroads as a way to stake claims and demand rights of their citizens to work them. After the last Emporer Puyi  was forced to abdicate, China entered a period of division being ruled by regional warlords. Manchuria came to be ruled by Zhang Zuolin. His army was unusually strong by Chinese standards as he acquired a stock of French Renault light tanks left over from the French intervention in Vladivostok during the Russian civil war. This allowed Zhang to defeat the Russians and expand his territory to include Beijing. He had close ties to the Japanese and to Puyi the former emperor. Manchuria was then the richest part of China

In the mid twenties he came into conflict with Chiang Kai-shek’s forces and was defeated. The Japanese were upset at his defeat and murdered him as he made his way back to Manchuria by train. They thought they could better control his son Zhang Xueliang. This proved not to be the case as the son resented the murder of his father and had sympathy with Mao’s communist rebellion. He worked with both the Nationalist and Communist forces to oppose the Japanese. However, when Japan invaded Manchuria, he decided to not contest in order to keep his army intact.

Zhang Xueliang is famous for an incident that happened the year after this stamp.  Communist diplomat Chou en Lai met with Chiang Kai-shek to negotiate a temporary truce so efforts could be combined to fight the Japanese. When the negotiations dragged on, Zhang kidnapped Chiang and held him until was willing to agree. For this, he is remembered as a hero in both Chinas.

The Japanese held Manchuria until it was taken by the Soviets at wars end and turned over to Mao’s forces. Puyi was taken by the Soviets and held for a period until being turned over to China. After a period of reeducation. Puyi was allowed to live out his days. Chiang Kai-shek had expressed the desire to have Puyi shot.

The stamp features the White Pagoda in Liaoyang. It was built during the Kin Dynasty in 1189. It is over 200 feet high and built on a large stone foundation. It is called white for the chalky paint that decorates it. The pagoda still stands today.

Well my drink is empty and I will toast the Renault tank. It fought in both world wars and made surprising differences in battles all over the world when tanks were new. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

Renault tank in Zhang’s army service

 

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Malaysia 1974, Remembering the tin industry during it’s Malaysian sunset

We have often covered here how colonial periods often bring in new ethnicities into a place. In Malaysia’s case, Chinese came in to then Malaya to mine for tin. 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 shows a gravel pump tin mine in Malaysia. Water is sprayed forcing up the gravel and allowing the tin to be filtered out. It is a fairly old tech, low cost way of mining for tin. Showing an older way harkens back to when the industry was started in the 19th century by Chinese emigres. This activity is what made many of them rich and indeed the capital Kuala Lumpur started as an important tin mining town.

Todays stamp is issue A50, a 15 cent issue of Malaysia on October 31st, 1974. It was part of a three stamp issue in various denominations that displayed the local tin industry in honor of that years International Tin Conference in Kuala Lumpur. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 35 cents used.

Tin mining was started by Chinese emigres in then Malaya in the early nineteenth century. At the time, tin mining was extremely labor intensive as it mainly consisted of manually digging and separating out the tin. The importation of the Chinese laborers was handled by the Chinese themselves. While some deals were struck with local Malayans and their Sultans, there were also some turf wars as the Malayans sought their share of the bounty. There was also trouble between various Chinese Tongs over who would control the opium trade and brothels that grew up around the mines.

The British used this instability as an excuse to formalize their control over Malaya. This allowed the Chinese to become more entrenched in Malaya and enjoy their new found wealth in more stable and fast growing Kuala Lumpur. The British saw the opportunity to install more modern dredge style tin mining, that had higher yields and was less labor intensive. The Chinese did not have the capital to install their own dredges and so fell behind.

Over time tin mining has become less important. The easily recovered tin is mostly exhausted leaving reserves that are more complicated to exploit. Tin prices on the world market are quite cyclical, favoring low cost producers. There is also the issue that it would be no longer possible to import large numbers of Chinese to work new mines. It has reached the point that Malaysia is a net importer of tin.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the Chinese in Malaysia. It must have been quite a challenge to go to a new land and build a new life with the Malayans and the British always trying to take their share of any accomplishment. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

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Jamaica 1970, Jamaica remembers rebel leader Gordon while Australia remembers Governor Eyre

Some times people see things differently. Even if there is a certain similarity. 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.

Among my favorite Jamaican stamp issues is the national heroes issue of 1970, We have already covered one here. https://the-philatelist.com/2018/08/09/jamaica-1970-mixed-race-leaders-try-to-graft-socialism-onto-black-jamaica/This stamp features a rebel leader who was convicted of treason in 1865 and hung. It seems natural that Jamaica, newly independent, would look back into the colonial history and highlight people that were key in the long struggle. However in Australia, The British governor of Jamaica who repressed the rebellion was also honored with a stamp, not for what happened in Jamaica but his earlier accomplishments in Australia. Both stamps taken together show how similar the men were, although I am sure neither would admit it.

Todays stamp is issue A89, a one cent stamp issued by independent Jamaica on March 11th, 1970. It was part of a 5 stamp issue in various denominations that honoured the newly declared national heroes of Jamaica. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether it is mint or used.

George William Gordon was born to a Scottish planter and slave mother. At age 10 he was sent to live with his godfather who was active in business and brought Gordon in. Soon in his own right, Gordon was a wealthy businessman, landowner, assemblyman, and church Deacon at the African Baptist church. He was active in opposing British rule and even tried to acquire a former Confederate schooner to ferry arms to the he felt oppressed majority in Jamaica of former slaves.

Edward John Eyre was born in England. He set out for Australia at age 16. Through hard work, he acquired a flock of 400 lambs and raising them in New South Wales. At age 22 he drove his flock of now over 1000 lamb and 600 cattle to Adelaide where they were sold for a large profit. The profits were then used to fund three expeditions that explored the Australian interior. This brought him some fame and he was then charged as a colonial administrator in first New Zealand and later as the British appointed Governor of Jamaica.

Governor Eyre

After slavery ended in Jamaica the plantation system broke down with former slaves were attempting subsistence farming on small farms with poor results. In 1865 in Morant Bay, a black man was convicted of trespassing and stealing from a long abandoned plantation and given a long prison sentence. This did not sit well with the locals who took over the town center, burned the courthouse, and killed in the street the local officials. The African Baptist church than lead a march toward Kingston to present their demands to Governor Eyre. Instead of meeting with them, he sent troops that killed 400, flogged 1000 more and burned many homes. The leader of the church and co conspirator Gordon were tried for treason and hung. The rebellion failed and Britain withdrew some of the self government previously granted at Governor Eyre’s suggestion.

Gordon’s case became somewhat a cause celeb among the British left afterward. Gordon had been in contact previously with members of the English religious left as part of his role as deacon in Jamaica. Notables including John Stuart Mill tried to have charges brought against now recalled Governor Eyre. On Eyre side were more right wing notables including Charles Dickens who respected Eyre and thought he had taken the necessary tough decisions. The case went Eyre’s way and he lived quietly for the rest of his life in England.

Today in Australia many geographic points in Australia have Eyre’s name while in Jamaica, you will find much named after Gordon. He is even on the $10 coin. So now like then you can pick your place and choose whom you admire. I find myself most drawn by their similarities.

Well my drink is empty. Come again  for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

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Croatia 1941, Croatia achieves independence by aligning with bad people and then pays a huge price

It is challenging to write about the stamps of the Balkan World War II states. On one hand, peoples got their own countries, often for the first time in centuries, On the other hand the leaders were fascists, and therefore the end of the war saw many paying the ultimate price for the association. 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 of stamps of the then new independent state of Croatia show views of the new country. This itineration of Croatia was twice the size of the modern state. The view of the small city of Dubrovnik still lies within Croatia. In 1991-92 after a new independence, the city was subject to a siege from Montenegrins and Serbs who claimed the city. The lines between nationalities is blured, and therefore often deadly purges follow changes in political status.

Todays stamp is issue A1, a 6 Kuna stamp that was the first issue of the independent state of Croatia in 1941. It was part of a 19 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether mint or used. There are imperforate versions of the stamps that were presented to the countries leaders in special albums by the printer and also a special version for a Philatelic Exposition in Banjaluka in 1942. These are slightly more valueable but there is an understandable queasiness in the hobby of the fascist issues.

Croatia was granted independence in 1941 after the German invasion. The hope was that by giving minorities a measure of freedom they would not have to be occupied. It was the first time Croatia had achieved independence since 1100 AD. As the new leader, Ante Pavelic was chosen. He had been in Italy after being sentenced to death in absentia in Yugoslavia and France for his alleged part in the assassination of Yugoslav King Alexander  I, see https://the-philatelist.com/2018/02/08/it-is-dangerous-to-rule-the-kingdom-of-serbs-croats-and-slovenes/. His rule was more closely aligned with the Italians than the Germans and tried to reduce the role of Serbians in the new country. The goal of his plans were to kill 1/3rd of the Serbs, deport 1/3, and the last third be assimilated. As such, most of the fascist cruelty was aimed at the Serbs, although the few Jews and Gypsies were also persecuted.

Ante Pavolic in office

As the tide of the war turned many Croats felt they would not have a future in a post war Yugoslavia. Dubrovnik had fallen to the Yugoslav partisans in October 1944 and what fallowed were a few show trials and many massacres. Croatia was still in German hands as the war ended and what fallowed was a major refugee movement toward Austria in hopes of surrendering to the British army there, thus avoiding their fate with the Yugoslav partisans. Pavelic and several hundred thousand of his followers made it to Bleiberg, Austria in the days after the war.  To their surprise, many were the forced marched back to Yugoslavia and over 100,000 were massacred. When the British saw what was happening, they eventually stopped the forced repatriations and many Croatians were resettled in Peron’s Argentina.

Pavelic himself post war was the quintessential fascist running man after the war. He was not immediately arrested in Austria and acquired a string of false identities as a Hungarian or Peruvian priest. He hid out with Catholic monasteries and even at the Papal summer residence in Italy. The Church knew who he was and eventually helped him and his family travel to Argentina. He lived there officially under one of his aliases and worked as a bricklayer. Over time he became friendly with Evita Peron and worked with other Croatian exiles to form a government in exile. In 1957 he was shot while getting off a city bus by a Serb Royalist. In hospital his identity was confirmed and the post Peron government began moves to deport him to Yugoslavia. He ran to Chile and then to Spain but never fully recovered from the wounds and died at age 70 in 1959.

Pavelic’s picture from his fake passport when on the run

Modern Croatia initially honored the memory of the Bleiberg repatriations/massacres. Over time, the association and symbols of Pavelic’s movement have caused some queasiness. In 2012, the modern Croatian government pulled funding for the annual Bleiberg commemoration as it was deemed too partisan.

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

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Iceland 1972, Ending the Soviet Chess domination, if Bobby will show up

The Soviet Union was the center of world chess. As a young chess master, American Bobby Fischer went on a TV game show to win money for airfare to Moscow. Fifteen years later, he had to be coaxed to show up in Reykjavik for the Chess Olympiad to take on world champion Boris Spassky. 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 world map mounted on a chessboard and a rook chess piece to remind that the world checkers tournament was somewhere else. Serviceable design, but not a great one.

Todays stamp is issue A117, a 15 Krona stamp issued by Iceland on July 2nd, 1972. It was a single stamp issue. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 45 cents used or in this case unused.

Bobby Fischer was not a typical chess master. For 24 years up to 1972, the Soviet Chess club supplied the world chess champion. Bobby Fischer is a Jewish American being raised by a single mother. His father was not the man his mother had been married to but a prominent Hungarian phycisist and mathimatician. As a latch key kid, his mother bought him a chess set to play with his sister while alone. As she soon lost interest, he played mostly against himself. At a used book shop on vacation, Bobby found a book of chess strategys that he devoured. After the family moved to New York, Bobby was able to make a big impression on the local chess scene, becoming junior champion. He had his mother write to Soviet President Kruschev for permission to come to Moscow to play the young Soviet players. Permission was granted but he then had to go on a tv game show to have the show pay for airfare. It did not go well in Moscow. 15 year old Fischer was rude and quickly beat young players. Then senior player Tigern Petrosian was summoned to the club to play Bobby and beat him. Fischer was outraged that the matches were informal and the Soviets were outraged at his rudeness.

Bobbu Fischer

Boris Spassky was also not a typical Soviet champian. He was from Leningrad and an Orthadox Christian with open far right monarchist political views. He learned to play at age five when he met a chess master on a train while being evacuated during the German siege of Leningrad in 1942.

Boris Spassky

When the tournament opened in Reykjavik, it did so without Bobby. The prize money was to be $125,000,($857,000 in 2022) going 5/8 to the winner and 3/8 to the loser of the multimatch tournament. Fischer also wanted 30% of the world television rights, all for the winner. American Jewish National Security Advisor Henry Kissenger pleaded with him to go to the tournament that had been delayed for two days. He did go when a British Jewish Banker agreed to double the prize money, still 5/8ths and 3 /8ths. The Soviets thought this drama was all a cheat  to psyche out Boris Spassky. Bobby Fischer insinuated  his own cheating theory that Soviet chess masters purposly play each other to draws to enhance their rankings.

The place in Iceland where the 1972 matches were played. Here it hosts basketball.

Bobby eventually beat Boris 12.5 games to 8.5. Inspite their differing backgrounds, the two became friends. Twenty years after the tournament, Boris, who had in 1976 defected to Paris, decided to do a wierd “revenge” match. To do it in dramatic style, it was conducted in Belgrade Yugoslavia during the time of their civil war when the Serbian side was under UN Sanction. Bobby won again but felt himself cut off from America and defected to Budapest where his father was from. From Budapest he went on to Iceland where he was granted citizenship as a humanitarian gesture. He died in 2008 of kidney failure after refusing surgery to clear a urinary blockage. He believed massage was a better treatment.

Boris is still alive and happily back in Putin’s Russia. He is the oldest living former chess champion and has the distiction of winning chess matches against 6 other world champions including Bobby Fischer.

Well my drink is empty. Come again soon for more stories that can be learned from stamp collecting.