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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.

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Israel 1974, a former Christian, later Arab, city is now Israeli

This is a story how a place can change overnight, over and over, and yet still be a part of ancient tradition. 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 series of stamps was issued a quarter century after the founding of Israel. The views of Israel presented make it look a lot older than that. The city of Zefat, with it’s stone edifices built a long time ago on a high hillside plays into that theme well.

Todays stamp is issue A193, a 1.3 Israeli Pound stamp issued by Israel on November 5th, 1974. It was part of a 23 stamp issue in various denominations that came out over a five year period showing Israeli landscapes. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether used or unused.

Zefat, there are many spellings depending on who you are. is a small town in northern Galilee near the Lebanese and Syrian border. Being near the Syrian border is dependent on whether you accept the Israeli annexation of the occupied Golan Heights. Towns in this part of the world make you accept a lot of quick changes. The town first came to prominence at the time of the Crusades when the hill sprouted a Christian castle and a town grew up around it. The town was majority Christian but contained an Arab quarter. At the time there were no Jews in the area. The town fell to the Arab forces under King Saladin in 1188 after a year long siege. Most Christians in the area relocated to Tyre in modern Lebanon. Unlike most crusader castles, the one at Zefat was not destroyed. The crusaders were soon back in Zefat and refortified the castle. This didn’t last and in 1260 the town again fell to Arab forces under Sultan Baybars. He was more vengeful on Christians, and that was the end of their presence.

The area passed to the Ottomans who administered it as part of the vilayet of Sidon in modern day Lebanon. The city  became attractive to Jews who were relocating from Spain. Specifically to Jews who practiced the mysticism of Kabala. Kabala Jews believe that the Jewish Savior will arrive on a hilltop in Galilee. Zefat is on top of the highest hill in Galilee. By the standards of the area, the Ottomans were most welcoming and a Jewish Quarter of the town took shape.

The time of the British mandate of Palestine paints a confusing picture depending on whose story you are following. Both sides seem to agree the British stood back as either Jews encroached on Arab land or the Jewish quarter of Zefat was mercilessly attacked in an attempt to starve them out. The Arab view should be given more credence as within a week after the end of the British mandate in 1948, there was a military offensive by the Palmach Jewish forces. At the time the town had 12,000 Arabs and 1700 Jews. The entire Arab population was forced out. Among them was the family of Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the West Bank Palestinian Authority.

Today Zefat has a population of 32,000 and is over 99% Jewish. Tomorrow? The Hebrew language has been modernized since this stamp and they currently call the city Safed.

Well my drink is empty and I will switch to Turkish coffee and toast the comparatively welcoming Ottomans. Come again soon for another story  that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

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French Morocco 1947, Managing the turning tide against Protectorate

Mainly American forces landed and faced brief fighting with Vichy French forces. This provided an opening to end the French Protectorate, but under what terms? 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.

Morocco’s status as a Protectorate complicates the French Moroccan stamp issues. They use the tradition of showing exotic views of the empire outpost, but edit out the French overlay. This was perhaps a tacit admission that the French were on their way out.

Todays stamp is issue A37, a 10 Centimes stamp issued by French Morocco in 1947. It was a 15 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 40 cents unused.

The Sultan of Morocco had acquiesced to French Protectorate status. In return he retained his position. Previously there had been a similar arrangement with the Ottomans but they expected a tribute from Morocco instead of the reverse as the Sultan got from France. In the French area, there was a marked increase in economic activity, but that mainly involved colonials and long resident Jews, leaving out the Muslim majority.

In 1937 the French banned a left leaning, Muslim independence movement. The World War II years saw the French administration side with the pro German Vichy French government. The successful American landing of Operation Torch changed that. America communicated openly that at the war’s conclusion the Moroccan people could decide how they wish to be governed. This was not the position of the tiny Free French presence.

Into this, pro independence Muslims crafted a Proclamation of the Independence of Morocco. It was the same figures of the left as before but attempted to display a united front by talking up the quite modest participation of Moroccans on the Allied side of the war and claiming they wanted to be ruled by the Sultan as a King. This was in early 1944 when there was still an American military presence in Morocco.

The Sultan at first did not rise to the challenge/opportunity and the Free French were able reestablish their administration. The Sultan finally gave a speech in the then international city of Tangier referring to the Proclamation of three years before and demanding that French Morocco, Spanish Morocco, Tangier, and the Spanish Sahara be returned to him. The people responded with anti French and anti Jewish riots in the major cities. 1947 was a time when security forces were again being lead by French. Senegalese Tirailleurs were then sent in to put down the riots which they did in what Moroccans considered brutal fashion. The Sultan was sent into exile in Madagascar and the French tried to recognize his cousin as Sultan. The independence forces then on Christmas Eve set off a huge bomb in the market of Casablanca.

The Senegalese fighting on behalf of the French

The increase in violence disturbed the French and the Sultan in exile promised he could end it if he was allowed to return to his Throne. The cousin was forced into exile, first in Tangier and then in Nice, France.

One by one, the areas to Morocco have indeed come under the Sultan who rebranded himself King of Morocco. The lefty independence forces immediately passed into opposition to the Monarchy. The biggest change though was to change the place from an international place where different people mix to non Muslims voting with their feet and leaving. Even some Muslim Moroccans voted with their feet. About 1.5 million of them live in France.

Well my drink is empty. Come again soon when there will be another story to be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.

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India 1965, a growing India needs electricity, so how about nuclear power?

When India imagined independence from Great Britain, it hoped to include Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri lanka and Burma. A superpower, albeit requiring much development. The smaller India that emerged still had great ambitions and big rivals, so why not forsake some needed development to play big power games. Bizarrely, the West was ready to help. Well at least until Buddha smiled. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

This stamp shows the Atomic Research Center in the Trombay section of Bombay. It is from the same set of stamps as the Gnat airplane stamp I covered here, https://the-philatelist.com/2018/07/20/a-gnat-sting-slays-a-sabre-over-bangladesh/      . As with the Gnat, the stamp is long on the Indian achievement aspect, with no mention of the outside help that made it possible. Ah, superpower dreams….

Todays stamp is issue A205, a 10 Rupee stamp issued by India in 1965. It was an 18 stamp issue in various denominations. The 10 Rupee stamp, a high denomination then, was the highest indicating where India ranked the achievement of the nuclear center. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 50 cents used. Unmailed the stamps value goes up 30 times.

India’s work on nuclear energy began even before independence. The Tata organization, see also https://the-philatelist.com/2019/11/21/india-1958-independant-india-will-be-great-building-on-the-success-of-people-like-j-n-tata/    , was a big believer in Swadeshi, which is India doing for itself. In this case that means sending fellow Parsi Homi Bhabha to Cambridge to study and then fund his nuclear research center once back in India. The Parsi were Persians that British India took in as they were no longer welcome in Islamic Persia due to their Zoroastrian religious beliefs. Interesting that is was from these people the idea of Swadeshi got it’s backing.

Knowledge of how nuclear energy works is not enough, as to use it for peace or war, specialty manufacturing of intricate pieces is needed. The West and the East only developed this after slow expensive development. USA President Eisenhower then proposed the silly stunt of “atoms for Peace’. The American military industrial complex would be encouraged to build nuclear facilities in the third world in return for monitoring how they handle it and the countries’ word that the program would be peaceful. India, Pakistan, Israel, and Iran signed up and solemnly gave their word that the only intention was civilian atomic power. Canada got in on the graft from such a program by providing India another reactor. Over time, and it took a long time, India was able to reverse engineer the reactors they were given and add further reactors built locally. The process was slowed by the death of Homi Bhabha in a mysterious crash of an Air India 707 airplane in Switzerland. Conspiracy theorists blame the CIA, but planes do fly into mountains occasionally. 16 years before another Air India plane flew into the same mountain.

It will be no surprise that India lied about the peaceful intent of it’s nuclear power program. Plutonium derived from the spent nuclear fuel from the Canadian supplied reactor CIRUS at Trombay was used for India’s first nuclear bomb  tested in 1974. The secret program was called Buddha Smiles. The smiles did not extend to the western powers that had foolishly helped the program along. Pakistan sped up their bomb program that also had received help from atoms for peace, see https://the-philatelist.com/2019/05/16/pakistan-atoms-for-peace-poliferates-until-buddha-smiles/  .

Mr. Bhabha made optimistic projections of how much nuclear energy India could produce. A projection made by him in 1962 gave a number by 1980 that is a full five times what is actually produced in the India of 2020. Less than 3 percent of Indian electricity comes from nuclear power. It was of course, all about the bombs.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another in case the power goes out. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from  stamp collecting. First published in 2020.

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

When you enter a new century, it is a good time to check out what is going on in the arts. The UN is in an especially good place to do that as they have offices and representatives everywhere. What did they find? So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

The competition featured artists from around the world and all the entries went on a traveling exhibition from London to Brussels, then Stockholm, then New York City. Six stamps featured art from the exhibition with 2 stamps each issued by UN offices in New York, in Geneva, and Vienna. The artists were 1 American, 1 Japanese, 1 Philippine, 1 Kenyan, 1 Greek, and 1 Lebanese, Rita Adaimy the painter of “The Embrace” on this stamp and the only female.

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

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

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

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

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the UN for showing us the state of the art world in this millennium. That the state is not so good in not their fault. At least they are not yet doing a stamp set on the current state of postage stamp gasbaggery. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.

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Iceland 1925, Denmark builds a storehouse of culture, as part of sending Iceland on it’s way

The-Philatelist often writes up stamps of newly independent countries that take credit for infrastructure left behind by the former colonial power. Something like a power station is one thing but what about something that was the place’s central storehouse of knowledge and culture. Isn’t some sort of thanks in order for the generosity? Apparently not, and this is even true where both colony and colonial power were within Scandinavia. 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 can see from the printing style, how influential Denmark was on Iceland’s stamps. The fact that they were printed in Denmark often meant stamp shortages in Iceland at the time of this stamp. In 1928 a proposal to solve the problem lead to more trouble. A Vienna group of stamp dealers calling themselves the ‘Friends of Iceland” proposed printing a large batch of commemorative stamps. Against the advise of the Postmaster, Iceland agreed to the printing of 813,000 Kronars of stamps, 600,000 of which would go to Iceland for postal use and the other 213,000 would compensate the Austrian Friends of Iceland. Fraud was then perpetuated and Iceland did not not catch that the print order that they signed off on had at some point had a 1 inserted before the 8. A police investigation was initiated but still had made no progress when the war broke out more than a few years later. No jurisdiction in Vienna perhaps even among “Friends of Iceland”. If the Iceland police had renewed their efforts after the Anschluss, the might have had more cooperation. The stamp issue with so many extras seems to have better values than this issue today, so perhaps a crooked Austria beats a niggardly printing Denmark.

Todays stamp is issue A12, a 20 Aurar stamp issued by Iceland on September 12th, 1925. It was a 5 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 85 cents used. The value of the stamp unused rises to $45, showing how few went to collectors when new. The 20 Aurar stamp from the Vienna issue is worth $90 used, twice what it was worth unused. That one got to collectors.

In 1906, Denmark started construction in Reykjavik of a new building that could properly house a National Library and national archive. The large stone building in traditional Scandinavian style was the work of architect Johannes Magdahl Nielson. This was his only building commission outside of Denmark. At home he was more known for his many churches. The year the library was finished, Nielson was awarded the Eckersberg Medal. Later in 1925, he was Knighted.

In modern times as Culture House

The building, now known unofficially as the Culture house, held the National Library and also took in the collections of the national university library and a noted collection of traditional Icelandic furniture. The building held the National Library until 1994 and came under the auspices of the National Museum in 2013 to continue the furniture display. The building is on the national registry of historic places but the history as laid out now mainly goes over the work of Icelandic stone masons and leaves out entirely that the whole thing being a gift of Denmark.

Well my drink is empty and so I will have to wait until when there will be another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.