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Mexico 1934, 6 Brave Mexican Cadets martyred in a losing cause.

Here is a perhaps mythic story of 6 young Mexican Army cadets who suicided after witnessing losing to an American invasion force. Thus becoming an inspiration to a new nation. Now to a more mature nation rapidly emigrating to the USA, perhaps not so much.  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 is 1930s Latin American, more specifically Mexican. Stamps of this period and place seem to be poorly printed and seem bizarrely martial. Strongmen with clownishly elaborate uniforms and monuments to forgotten skirmishes where there were no good guys. This may seem harsh, but it is the perception. This is where a philatelist can be of help. I am rather fond of the fun uniforms and self important monuments. This website gives me the time to dig out the story behind. So if you are like me, read on.

The stamp today is issue A115, a 50 centavo stamp issued by Mexico in 1934. The stamp features the Monument to the Brave Cadets at Chapultepec. It was part of a 15 stamp issue showing various Mexican monuments. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used. There are stamps from this set that lack the watermark. This pushes their value into the several hundreds of dollars.

Mexico had declared itself independent in 1821. Spain did not at first recognize this and there was fighting. The country was sparsely populated and many of the people were indigenous and did not have a loyalty to Spain nor Mexico. The central government was unstable, corrupt and had little control of the provinces. One great thing they had done was ban slavery in Mexico. This made life in what is now the American populated Mexican state of Texas difficult as the Southern American settlers had brought their slaves with them. After the Mexican leader Santa Ana had violated the Mexican constitution, American settlers declared an independent country of Texas. Mexico did not recognize an independent Texas and sent troops unsuccessfully to reclaim the area. The country of Texas was slave owning, making it the first territory in the world to ban slavery and then bring it back. This outraged abolitionists in the north of the USA. American President Polk however pushed further and offered to annex Texas as a slave state. This was accepted by the Texans. He then offered to buy from Mexico the territory between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande River, moving troops into the area. Mexico refused the sale and then attacked the forward American troops starting the Mexican American war.

An expeditionary force under Winfield Scott made America’s first amphibious assault at Veracruz and after heavy fighting marched toward Mexico City. Near Mexico City was Chapultepec Castle, which was being used as the Mexican Army’s military academy. Outnumbered, the Mexican commander ordered a retreat but 6 cadets disobeyed  and tried to hold out fighting to the death. One of the cadets, climbed the tower wrapped himself in the Mexican flag and jumped to his death to avoid the flags capture by the Americans. Mexico City still fell and Mexico lost much territory but a legend was born. A much needed legend. Only 7 of the 19 Mexican provinces had contributed to the failed war effort and after the war there was some soul searching locally as to whether Mexico indeed was a real country. The American invasion  force told a different story. That the Mexican Army had run away so quickly that they abandoned the child Cadets.

Cadet Juan Escutia, who is believed to be the cadet who jumped to his death wrapped in the Mexican flag. He was about 17.

The statue on the stamp was visited surprisingly by President Truman, who said that he liked all bravery wherever he could find it. Also in 1947 a mass grave was found near the castle that added some credence to the story and allowed Mexico to attach names to the Cadets.

While the monument on the stamp still exists. A much larger monument featuring a marble statue and 6 columns to the cadets at the entrance  to Mexico City’s biggest park was built in 1952. This was ordered for the 100th anniversary of the battle, but a little late.

The newer 1952 Mexico City monument to the 6 Cadets

Well my drink is empty but this is the kind of story where I get to pour another so I can raise a glass to all that fought in that war on both sides. The war was not popular on either side, but that does not mean that we should not honor the brave men who did their best in a difficult situation not of their choosing. Come again  for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Come to Bhutan, see our wildlife, maybe even an abominable snowman, and buy a Bahamian fake stamp

Enjoy mountain climbing in the Himalayas after being enticed by the exotica of a 60s fake stamp. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage and dream of your next mountain adventure. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

The stamp today is from Bhutan during the Burt Todd period. There were some pretty wild stamp offerings in that period. From stamps shaped like miniature phonograph records that would play the Bhutan national anthem, to stamps that were scratch and sniff to stamps that resembled coins, it was a wild time. So a stamp of what most believe to be a mythic figure seems almost mundane.

The stamp today is issue A14B, a 4 chetrum stamp issued by the Kingdom of Bhutan on October 12th 1966. It was part of a 15 stamp issue in various denominations that offered glimpses of the mythical creature the yeti, which is sometimes called the abominable snowman. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 35 cents in mint condition.

Bhutan is a majority Buddhist landlocked country in the Himalayan mountains bordering India to it’s south and the Tibet region controlled by China to it’s north. It is a very isolated place but maintains close relations with India. It had never been a colony in it’s history. In 1962 a road opened up which better connected Bhutan to India and increased mail volumes. An American named Burt Todd that had traveled there and became friendly with the King suggested issuing stamps was a good way to raise funds for development and introduce Bhutan to the world. Mr. Todd set up a company in the Bahamas and was granted by Bhutan Post the right to issue stamps on the countries behalf.

King Jijme Dorje of the Royal House of Wangchuck. Everybody have fun tonight. Everybody Wangchuck tonight

The company was not part of the regular philatelic scene so the stamps were not quickly recognized by collectors. To drum up interest, ever more wild issues were dreamed up with some interesting printing techniques. Of course some found this clownish and indeed Indian advisors suggested reigning in Mr. Todd and printing stamps that were of more use locally with face values more in line with postal rates. This lead to a series of Indian overprints of this issue and others to be more useful as stamps. In 1974 Mr. Todd’s contract to make stamps was not renewed and a New York outfit took over a more mundane stamp issuance that was more in the philatelic system. Bhutan has developed quite successfully and sells hydroelectric electricity to India and Bangladesh, but not China. Tourism is also a growing activity. Mr. Todd’s wild stamps look ever more predictive as many smaller countries seek out specialty philatelists with bold offerings.

The abominable snowman is usually known locally as the yeti, is a mythic creature that lives high up in the Himilayas in Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet. Many mountain treks have come across animal tracks in the snow that imply a large animal. There is some thought  that Tibetan blue bears spend a portion of their teens living up trees and that twist their front claws to make the animal tracks seem unique.

Yeti or Abominable Snowman. Fake animal for a fake stamp

Well, I have come to decide that I am to lazy to climb a mountain in Bhutan so instead I will pour another drink and toast the philatelic creativity of Mr. Todd. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.

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French Indochina 1945, Vichy fights on for French empire in IndoChina

This is a sort of weird story where a puppet government tries to hold on to an Empire when the homeland 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.

The stamp today is a French Indo China issue from the period when it was being administered by the region of France that had some autonomy after German occupation. This government was centered in Vichy rather than Paris. They did hold sway in some French colonies including French Indo China. The admiral on the stamp was central to the French formalizing control of several areas of Vietnam and in honoring him they are making it pretty clear they intend to stay.

Todays issue is A45, a 5 cent stamp issued by French Indo China in 1945. The stamp features French Admiral Pierre de la Grandiere. It was part of a two stamp issue. According to the Scott Catalog, it is worth 35 cents in its much more common mint version.

When French Indo China was brought under the Vichy government, there was an effort to retain French control. France had gradually firmed up control over Indo China in the 19th century. The pretext of their arrival was to protect French Catholic missionaries. The missionaries were considered a threat to the feudal system still in place there. The Catholic concepts of monogamy were quite threatening to the courtesans and  the Catholic church did make some inroads in the area. The missionaries were of course a pretext to get the nose under the tent and Admiral Grandiere had his fleet and 300 Filipino troops loaned by the Spanish  to bully and coerce ever more land concessions from the local royals. It continually amazes me how much the European powers were able to do with so few resources. By the dawn of the 20th century, the territorial expansion had reached Siam.

Tonkinese Colonial troops with their French officers

Hoping to take advantage of the chaos of the Vichy takeover, Siam launched a war to retake earlier French seized territory. Their troops did well on the ground but Vichy sent the fleet to defeat the Siamese Navy and force Siam to give up there retaken land. Vichy had come to terms with Japan allowing port access but the French were still in charge in Indo China.

British designed, Japanese built Siamese battleship HTMS Tonburi that ran aground in battle with the Vichy French. It was later refloated and refurbished in Japan and still exists as a museum ship

It is this perspective with which to view todays stamp. By the time it was issued the Vichy government was over in France but out in the colonies they are still reminding of their presence, staking their claim and reminding of past conquerors like the Admiral. It seems the stamp is talking to everyone, Siam, stay out, to Japan, we can still run things whatever happens in Europe, to the Free French, on this don’t we agree, and to the Americans, forget stripping the French of their colonies post war. Japan was first to not listen to Vichy. They arraigned Laos to declare independence and then took the opportunity to take control in March 1945. In August, Chang Kai-sheck forces crossed the border to accept Japanese surrender. By now the Communist Viet Minh controlled much of the countryside and the new French government had to work hard to overcome American objections and now North Vietnamese and Cambodian independence.

Well my drink is empty. The Americans at the end of World War II  tried to make the French see that they did not have the right to stay as they had not made the place better during their rule. I wish the USA later had remembered their own advice to a friend. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting

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Denmark 1946. Remembering a Danish Astronomer with a brass nose who died because he was too classy to pee

The story today is of a man fascinated by the stars while those around him stared at his nose. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, conduct a bladder check, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

The stamp today is Danish. Aesthetically it is a disappointment. The man on the stamp wore a prosthetic nose made of brass. Given the purpose of the stamp is to remember Mr. Brahe, it might have been nice to include his most memorable feature. No such luck. Perhaps something to do with his career in astronomy. No. This stamp is a poor effort on the part of the Danish Postal Authorities.

Todays issue is A56, a 20 ore stamp issued by Denmark on December 14 1946. The stamp remembers the 400 anniversary of the birth of Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe. It was a single stamp issue and is worth 30 cents in its mint condition.

Tycho Brahe was born to a noble family in Scandia in what was then Denmark. Scandia lies at the southern tip of Sweden. The people at the time were ethnically and linguistically Danish. Brahe was well educated at schools throughout Europe and developed an interest in astronomy. His family wanted him to take on more noble duties but he found a benefactor in the Danish King Fredrick II, who named him royal astrologer.

Tycho got in a dispute that ended in a duel. In a swordfight in the dark he lost most of his nose and had a bad scar on his forehead. He was fitted with a prosthetic nose that was glued to his face. He told people it was made of gold but it later proved to be made of brass.

His portraits glossed over the brass nose and there were no photos back then, but here is Tycho with the brass nose as portrayed by a Czech actor

Five years later he met a girl named Kristen and fell in love. She was a commoner so legally they were not allowed to marry. Denmark did have a rule though that if such a couple lived together as man and wife for three years that the marriage was legal. However the man stays noble, the wife and any children remain common and cannot inherit titles. The royal court ignored Kristen and the eight children.

Mr. Brahe’s contribution to astronomy were realizing the other planets orbited the sun rather than the Earth. He also realized that a supernova was the creation of a new star and therefore the celestial bodies are not fixed forever as was then believed. What he was wrong about was that the sun did not revolve around an unmoving earth. He was the last of the astronomers to make many of his observations with his bare eyes.

When King Fredrick died, the regency of his son chose not to continue supporting Mr. Brahe. He had many detractors in the court including many in the Lutheran Church. Tycho eventually found another benefactor in the Holy Roman Emperor and moved to Prague. There Kristen was accepted as noble.

During a noble ball in 1601 tragedy struck. The festivities went on for quite a period and Tycho felt it would violate rules of etiquette to excuse himself to urinate. By the time he arrived home he was in terrible pain and could no longer relieve himself as his bladder had burst. He was 55. It was rumored he was poisoned by the Danish Royals but his remains were exhumed  in Prague in 2010 and they discovered that his bladder indeed burst and that his nose was made of brass.

Well my drink is empty and if you will excuse me I will take a rest break before pouring another. Come again  for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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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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Finnish Post Office 1938, Functional Architecture shows what a big function the post was then

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 an interesting story to tell of a giant building, later expanded and ask what should be done with it now.

The stamp today is from 1930s Finland. It was a time of functionalist architecture. The independence of Finland was fairly new, so the capital needed a large office building to administer the countries postal system. The design was local but one cannot help but notice how strikingly similar the stamp and building are too many from 1930-1960 throughout Europe and the world.

Today’s stamp is issue A44, a 9 Markha stamp issued by Finland in 1939 to celebrate the recent opening of the new main post office building in Helsinki. It was part of a three stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 50 cents in it’s used condition.

Finland achieved its independence in 1917. The territory had passed several times between Russia and Sweden but was sparsely populated and still contained an indigenous group of people, the Sami, who are somewhat analogous to Eskimos. The national leader, Mannerheim, was busy learning the Finnish language and Lutheran Finland attempted prohibition of alcohol, something the Russian Czars had never allowed in the Grand Duchy period. There were also problems with borders and getting everyone on the same page culturally. Typical stuff for a new country.

What there was also was a lot of institution building and bigger government. This was true whether the country was socialist or capitalist. So new universities, and government offices and more city living. To deal with these trends, a new style of architecture grew up called functionalism. The American Architect Louis Sullivan famously said form follows function. The large workforces being built to administer the growing institutions needed large buildings to house the workers within. The buildings would not be quasi cathedrals to God or King but rather be purposely designed for the function. Decoration was to a minimum but the massive structures needed to be strong and steel reinforced concrete was specified.

In the case of the Finland main post office a competition was started in 1934 and the building was completed in 1938. The architects were Finns and did the job while they were still in there 20s. Their training was local as well but it is clear that despite the attempts by the government to develop a distinctive local style, the result was somewhat generic. The post office function was well looked after and when additional space was needed a new floor was added seamlessly in the 1950s. The building is still in use today.

With the decline in postal volumes, the building is today somewhat underutilized. This is true of so many of these edifices from the functional architecture period. There is a tendency by governments just to let things like this go on even if times have changed.

The complex in more modern times

I have a modest proposal for this building and the many like it around the world. Rather than knocking them down or just letting them gradually fall into disuse, repurpose them as housing. Young people flock to big cities and many have put off marriage and child rearing. What they need are centrally located affordable places to live. Local housing stock tends to be taken by older established people and conversely by those on the public dole. With government ownership this building  could be rented out slightly above cost but without subsidy and provide convenient, safe affordable housing for the young people that are so necessary for the vibrancy of a city. The postal museum inside could continue as a nod to the buildings past. Just a suggestion.

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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China 1939. Foreign friends yes, foreign domination no

Today we feature a rather strange stamp from China  celebrating USA ties at a time when the central struggle was to come out from under foreign domination. 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.

Today’s stamp is big colorful and dramatic. As such, it is aimed at stamp collectors more than postal customers. Indeed it was even printed in the USA. Americans might be surprised to see the American dollar sign on it. The Chinese juan was sometimes called the Chinese dollar then. The stamp was not denominated in United States dollars. Another interesting thing to notice is that the island of Formosa is not included in the map of China. Instead it is shaded as foreign territory. That would change a decade later. Notice also the claim on Mongolia. Claim unfulfilled.

The stamp today is issue A58, a 1 Chinese dollar stamp issued by China on July 4th, 1939. It was part of a four stamp issue celebrating the 150th anniversary of the United States Constitution. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth $2.25 in it’s cancelled condition. I should note that the only western writing on the stamp is included in the cancellation.

The first half of the twentieth century was a time when China struggled to unite and throw off many years or foreign denomination. Many western nations had been granted concessions in China under duress from the weak Chinese Emperor. The last Emperor had abdicated and a new Chinese government under Sun Yat-sen  was formed but all was not smooth sailing. The German concession in China was awarded to Japan as part of the Versailles treaty. China indeed refused to sign the treaty as it was their aim to end the foreign concessions. Sun Yat-sen’s rule was complicated by rival warlords and a tenuous alliance of his political party  with the Chinese Communist Party.

When Sun Yat-sen died in 1925, he was replaced by Chiang Kai-shek. He even married the sister of Sun’s widow to add to his premotor of power. The alliance with the communist party ended and there was an attempt to start a cult or personality. The foreign concessions continued, including an American one that was backed by US Marines and a naval Yangtze river patrol.

This seems a strange background for a USA-China friendship stamp. Japan had invaded China and though they were not able to conquer it they were able to take much territory and inflict much damage. There was a Japanese 3 all strategy in China. Kill all, Burn all, and Loot all, though this is not how the Japanese would have described their actions. They imagined East Asia a co prosperity sphere under them with China especially needing more prosperity.  Given the invasion, it is understandable that China would hold it’s nose and ask for foreign military assistance to fight the Japanese. Military help was received from the USA, the Soviet Union and surprisingly, Germany.

The defeat of Japan in 1945 lead to a splintering of China with the communist party in power in Peking and Chiang Kai-shek  having to move to the island of Formosa and declare a second Chinese government in Taipei. By this point, his continued existence as a Chinese leader was due to American support. A far cry from the ideals of Sun Yat-sen.

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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Transjordan, an Emir wants an empire, and has an Arab Legion to get it for him

Staking an empire is hard even when you are moderate and have powerful friends. 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 is from Transjordan. The area is now called Jordan and the same royal house rules it. The Emir on the stamp was serving at the pleasure of the British mandate and although there is no evidence of this on the stamp, everyone was aware of it. At least he had the power to be his own man on the postage stamps. Eventually he would be his own man but resentment over who his friends were would lead to his assassination.

The issue today is A3, a 1 mil stamp issued by the Emirate of Transjordan in 1934. It featured Emir Abdullah ibn Hussein. It was part of a 16 stamp issue in various colors and denominations with the same portrait of the Emir. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $2.00 in mint condition. The stamp to look out for in this issue is the grey 1 Palestinian Pound stamp that is worth $120 used.

King Abdullah I, his eventual title, was the son of the Grand Sherif of Mecca. He was a direct decendant of the Prophet Muhammed. His early days were the last years of the Ottoman Empire. His early mannouverings reflected the intrigue of the time. He was educated in Istanbul and his first two wives were of Turkish nobility. On the other hand a great deal of his dealings were with the British in Egypt and his third wife, married later, was of that heritage. World War I saw an Arab uprising against the Ottomans and King Abdullah along with his brother the eventual King of Iraq lead Arab armies against the Ottoman Turks. This was done with British support and coordination most famously by T. E. Lawrence, (Lawrence of Arabia).

The hoped for independence after World War I was not forthcoming instead the area was divided into a British mandate and a French one to the north in Lebanon and Syria. King Abdullah hoped for a great empire that would stretch through modern day Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, and Syria. Instead for the time being he had to be content with the title of Emir in just Transjordan, that did not yet include the west bank of the Jordan River or the city of Jerusalem.

The complicating factors here were the British mandate and the growing numbers of Jews arriving in Palestine to build a new Jewish state. King Abdullah was the only Arab leader in regular contact with the Jews including a regular dialog with Golda Meir, the later Israeli Prime Minister. At various times he supported a Jewish state in Palestine or a least a Jewish run canton that pledged allegiance to his empire. He was opposed to local Palestine Arabs who pledged themselves not to King Abdullah but the Mufti of Jerusalem.

What King Abdullah did possess was the British lead Arab Legion. It was by far the most effective military force at the command of the Arabs at the time of the 1948 war. The deployments during that war were limited as the goal of Abdullah was not to wipe out the Jewish state but rather to bring the Palestine Arabs under his control. To affect this he banned the terms Transjordan and Palestine in favor of Jordan and offered citizenship to Arabs with Palestine mandate papers. He took control of the west bank of the Jordan.

General Sir John Glubb, or if you like Glubb Pasha, head of the Arab Legion. He was disliked by many in the Arab and Western worlds. He was accused of being the real ruler by Arabs and in the west he was thought to have been so seduced by the romance of strangeness and so long gone that he ended up prostituted to another race.

With his British ties and Jewish contacts there was some distrust of King Abdullah from some of his subjects post independence. There were rumors in 1951 that Lebanon and Jordan were conspiring to make peace and recognize the Israeli state. Within a 48 hour period the Lebanese Prime Minister and King Abdullah I were assassinated at the hands of Palestinians. This ended any peace talks. Abdullah was succeeded by his son  King Talal I whose rule was short. He was forced to abdicate after less than a year after his schizophrenia became known. He spent the rest of his life in a sanitarium in Amman.

Well my drink is empty. What a different middle east we might have today except for the assassinations in 1951. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.

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Haiti, reviewing French ruins now that the Americans have left

When todays stamp was new, Haiti had a new government and perhaps reviewing assets while determining where to go from here. 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 could easily be mistaken for an issue of a British colony transitioning toward independence. Except that the de facto colonial power was the USA. The architecture, all of which are relics of colonists are displayed in the issue. The style of printing was also very much in the American style. The big difference is that the architecture was left over from the much earlier French. Although you would not know it from the stamps, the scenes on the stamps were already in ruins.

The issue today is A53, a 5 centimes stamp issued by Haiti in 1933. The stamp displays an aqueduct built by the French to assist with sugar cane production near Port-au-Price. It was part of a 9 stamp issue showing various architectural sites around Haiti. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

Haiti had gained independence from France during the turmoil of the French Revolution. During the colonial period a large number of slaves had been imported in Haiti to work the sugar cane plantations. An uprising among the slaves had been met with a French decree for their freedom. This being a period of increased interest in human rights arising from the French revolution. The French proved unable to hold on to the colony as many of their troops were freedom fighting Polish troops who en masss switched sides to the mostly black revolutionairies. The French were removed from Haiti and a new constitution was passed that decreed that white people could not own land but that all mixed race people were decreed black. This was an attempt to end a class system that broke down on race. Interestingly the Poles were exempted from this and many stayed after the war.

Things did not go smoothly. Sugar caine exports came to a halt because of the inability to maintain commercial level cultivation without slavery. There was small scale cultivation for local rum. The French did not recognize the new government until payment was extracted for French losses and displacement. This left Haiti in debt. Some recovery occurred over time as Germans came in. They avoided the anti white people laws by marrying in to promenant mulatto families. Around World War I, the Americans occupied Haiti to collect debts and end German influence.

The American occupation saw some advances. A non political civil guard was trained by the American Marines that was different from the previous regional and political attempts at armies. It consisted of black soldiers and mulato officers. This was also soon reflected in the Haitian government left by the departing Americans in the 1930s. The alignment of these Haitian rulers with neighboring Dominican Republic strongmen was useful to the United States. It is understandable that this tended to discredit them with the people and Haiti continued to wither.

Then President Stenio Vincent. He was fiercely anti American but elected in a USA arraigned election. A legal genius apparently, he graduated law school at age 18.

The aqueduct on the stamp is now but a ruin. It was further damaged in the earthquake of 2011 and the area was used as a displaced persons camp.

The remnant of the aqueduct in 2012. The freshly paved road lead to a UN military compound

Well my drink is empty. In retrospect, the 30s stamps should have perhaps celebrated local institution building rather than relics from a long ago troubled era. That presumes that something like that was happening. Come again  for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.

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The Soviets learn a great deal while on an ice drift to Greenland

A uniquely Soviet method of exploring the Artic was from drifting ice stations. The first, North Pole 1, was celebrated by todays stamp. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your hot chocolate, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Visually the poor quality of the printing lets down this stamp. That is a shame because the true story that the stamp tells has the power to be quite inspiring. In three different ways. The obvious knowledge breakthrough has to inspire the nerd in all of us. The shear bravery of venturing out into the dangerous desolation of a floating ice drift. Also the brave patriotic act of sending out icebreaker ships into dangerous waters to find and bring back the scientists and all the knowledge they have gained. To be fair to the Soviet Postal  authority, it would be difficult to convey so much on a four stamp issue.

The stamp today is issue A251, a 30 kopek stamp issued by the Soviet Union on June 21st, 1938. It features scientist Ivan Papanin and his men about to board the icebreaker ship that was to take them home after nine months on the ice station. The stamp is part of a four stamp issue celebrating the accomplishment of the successful mission. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $3.75 used. A mint imperforate version is worth $3,250.

Ivan Papanin was an explorer and scientist  who had previously lead an expedition to Franz Josef Land, an archipelago of islands north of the Soviet Union in the Artic ocean. There had been a previous theory by the Norwegian explorer Nansen of purposely letting a ship get frozen into a drifting ice block to allow it to reach artic extremes. This had been done successfully around 1910. Papanin and his Soviet team developed the idea further in the 1930s. A fully functioning science station was built on a section of drifting ice. The people and materials had been flown up by airplanes that successfully landed on the drift ice. The ice float was about 4 square kilometers and only 3 meters thick. The station contained five men. It was christened North Pole-1. It stayed in operation for nine months during which the ice station had drifted over 1700 miles.

Franz Josef Land north of Russia. It has that name because it was discovered by an Austria Hungary expedition to find the North Pole in 1872. Norway had perhaps already been there

In the days before helicopters, it was very difficult to keep up with such a station and guess as to where it might be. Two ice breakers were up to this dangerous mission. They found the ice station near Greenland and were able to evacuate the team. All of those involved were named Heroes of the Soviet Union. The expedition proved there was no large or small land mass at the North Pole.

The drifting ice station idea has continued to be used by the Soviets and still by the Russian. Some have been built on breakaway chunks of glaciers that are much less tenuous than drift ice. A few of the expeditions have lasted several years. The most recent, North Pole- 40 was in 2016.

North Pole-40 in 2016. Helicopters make it easier but not easy

Well my drink is empty so I will pour another to toast the brave men on North Pole-1 and the other brave men who got them there and saw to their return. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.