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Egypt 1953. Big changes coming for farmers, small farms but a big dam and even a new valley

After the end of the Monarchy, Egypt has been governed by the top down but in the socialist style. That as meant land reform and giant projects to turn the deserts green and get agriculture beyond the Nile Valley. 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 was the first issue of stamps after Egypt became a republic. On them we have a modern farmer, a modern soldier, and an ancient profile of Queen Nefertiti. The farmer had the task of feeding locally a fast growing population. A soldier, finally local who would keep out any would be colonials. An ancient Queen, a strong contrast to the recently deposed and a reminder of when Egypt was important in the world. Not bad for a first issue.

Todays stamp is issue A109, a three Millimes stamp issued by the Egyptian Republic in 1953. This was a 19 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 45 cents used.

Agriculture in Egypt used to center on raising cotton in the Nile Valley mainly for export. The British had built a much smaller dam at Aswan in 1903. After the republic was declared there was a large scale land reform. Farm size was limited to 190 feddans. A feddan is about the size of acre and comes from the Arabic for the yoke of an oxen. That is the area than an oxen can be expected to till in a period of time. The government was trying to discourage cotton in favor of food grains. It was important so less food would have to be imported and population was rising fast. That population meant a further land reform in 1969 that now limited farms to 50 feddans

The Aswan High Dam was completed in 1970. It increased arable land by about a third. There was still big problems with irrigation. Over use of wells caused seawater intrusion into the aquafers and the government became ever more concerned of water usage. In the mid 1980s the drought in Ethiopia caused water levels in Lake Nasser to fall to scary low levels. Then God/Allah smiled. The water level in the 1990s rose beyond the amount governed by the Nile deal with Sudan. This water was free for Egypt to use as it saw fit.

Starting in 1997, work started on  a new canal running west and then north from Lake Nasser for a length of 200 miles. The idea was that the New Valley project would open new land to live in and be available for agriculture and industry. Construction was slow going but in 2005 a new large pumping station named after President Mubarak started sending water up the part of the canal already dug and as well to a new series of lakes named Toshka after a former village now at the bottom of Lake Nasser.

The change in government in 2011 saw progress on the New Valley stop. The project was labeled a boondoggle and could never work due to the ever present problem of salt intrusion and evaporation. The soil near the canal also suffers from much clay, The current government under President el-Sisi restarted work. He has pledged that half the newly useful land be given to recent college graduates one feddan each if they agree to use it. The plan is funded by something called the Long Live Egypt Fund.

New Valley Canal

Agriculture has changed again in recent years. As with other countries like China with large populations and limited farmland, it is realized that grains are poor uses of scarce land compared to fruits and vegetables. Dates and figs of course but also onions, eggplant, strawberries and watermelon. Around the time of this stamp, 87 percent of Egyptian exports were cotton. Now agricultural exports are down to 11 percent.

Well my drink is empty and I hope dear readers you are enjoying this kick I have been on lately of turning deserts green. I had no idea how many projects there were to do such things that seem so antithetical in this time of climate doom. Not the kind of story I expected to learn from stamp collecting. Come again tomorrow.

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Austria 1976, Remembering Rilke and his thing poems translating Rodin

A recurring theme that keeps coming up in what we learn here through postage stamps is what a productive period there was in the arts in the first decade of the 20th century. Here we have a Bohemian poet who was so taken by how sculptor Auguste Rodin studied a subject before sculpting it he became his secretary and used what he learned to develop a new type of poetry, thing poems. 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 image on the stamp is an accurate one of a dark mysterious bohemian figure. Quite apart from the aristocracy of Vienna in Rilke’s time. Yet this fellow, born in Prague who accomplished most of his best work in Paris and Zurich is being portrayed as Austrian. This is based on the borders of then Austria Hungary of the time. This was from 1976 before the EU was actively began minimizing Euro nations differences. To American eyes, it seems a little odd.

Todays stamp is issue A465, a 3 Schilling stamp issued by Austria on December 26th, 1976. It was a single stamp issue on the 50th anniversary of Rainer Maria Rilke’s death. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

Rene Maria Rilke was born in Prague to wealthy parents. His mother was distraught over loosing Rene’s older sister at ten days of age. She treated and dressed Rene as a girl. When Rene’s parent’s marriage broke up, his father sent him to military school in hopes of toughening him up but Rene dropped out. At 16 he was on is own. He took up with a much older married female psychoanalyst Lou Andreas Salome. She made Rene a frequent travel companion visiting European artistic salons. She helped him prepare for University examinations and encouraged him to change his name to Rainer to be more masculine. After University in Switzerland he made is way to Paris. He married and stayed married to sculptor Clara Westoff but they were separated for most of their marriage.

Rene Andreas Rilke as a feminine child
Rilke mentor, patron and lover Lou Andreas Salome

In Paris Rilke became the secretary of sculptor  Auguste Rodin. He also wrote a biography and an academic presentation on Rodin. Rodin made extremely in depth studies of his subjects before sculpting. This inspired Rilke to change the style of his poems from the subjects of romance or loneliness to long poems that very closely and realistically described things. The subjects of his thing poems were often flowers and written as sonnets and mostly written in French.

As with many other creative types in that period, World War I intruded. He was banned from Paris and his apartment there was raided with his possessions taken and auctioned off due to his Austrian citizenship. In Prague, he was deeply depressed and desperately trying to avoid military service. His beliefs became more left wing and political. In 1916 he was able with rich patronage to get established in a Swiss mansion. He was a big proponent of the Bavarian Soviet Republic but took it hard when it failed. In the early 1920s, there was finally another productive period for his poetry before succumbing to poor health from leukemia that ended his life in 1926.

Well my drink is empty. Come again tomorrow when there will be another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Israel 1989, Floating in the Dead Sea, ironically great for the health

Israel has become a top tourist destination. The area is quite historic in three religions. No Muslims don’t travel there but the sites allow others to explore the Muslim sites without threats from being non believers. Israel also offers a hospitable Mediterranean climate and so has been trying to branch out to the beach party crowd. This stamp also hints at the unique experience available at the natural wonder of the Dead Sea. 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 issue from 1989 does a good job  of showing there was more to do in Israel than visit historic sites. Temperate beaches are also on offer. Tourism got going in Israel by offering Christian centered tours of sites from early Christianity. This was a bigger business than the visits of Jews. Visiting beaches can add a new dimension to expand the industry and has been a goal all the way back to 1989.

Todays stamp is issue A434, a 60 Agorot stamp issued by Israel on March 12, 1989. It was a four stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 30 cents whether used or unused.

Tourism is a big and growing business in Israel. It employs over 300, 000 workers and generates about 6 percent of GNP and export revenue. Over 60 percent of visitors are Christian and many from the USA. Recently the country has been welcoming more visitors from poorer parts of Europe like Romania and the Ukraine. Also Chinese tourists are becoming ever more common. There is no mention in the literature of visitors from Muslim countries. Perhaps that will soon change with peace being admitted with the Gulf States that have recently become so important to international air travel.

This stamp promotes visiting the Dead Sea which at first seems a hard sell. The Dead Sea lies 1200 feet below sea level and consistently has very high temperatures and little rainfall. The Dead Sea name comes from the very high salt content of the water preventing any sea life. The salt content of the water is not from being so far below sea level but rather the very high evaporation rate which takes the water and leaves the salt.

Enough of the negative though. The consistently high temperatures and low humidity can offer some relief for sufferers of lung ailments such as asthma. The fairly unique thick atmosphere over the Dead Sea allows helpful UVA sun rays while filtering out burning UVB rays. Thus there is no need for sun screen. There are several beach front all inclusive resorts for those inclined and it is not far from Jerusalem.

Man enjoying the Dead Sea cure while practicing social distancing has required in this time of COVID

There is one thing counteracting the success of tourism in Israel. It is probably in the nature of the Jewish state. With Israelis having  so many ties to other countries around the world; for every dollar Israel earns from tourist, an Israeli spends two dollars visiting another country.

Well my drink is empty and at this time of the year I am more looking forward to temperatures dropping than thinking of a place even hotter. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Qatar 1972, Wonder who Sheik Khalifa will send to the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference

Qatar was a new independent country in 1971. So 1972 was spent joining all the UN Agencies and getting to hear what was in it for them. In the case of the ITU, quite a bit. Swiss leadership had been pushed aside in favor of Tunisian Mohamed Ezzedine Mili, just the man to make sure a new Muslim country would get all the goodies. There is always somebody else to hand the bill to. 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.

Qatar had two issues of stamps celebrating telecommunications, one before independence and this one just after. The first issue showed off existing infrastructure for telecommunications in the UK, including the Post Office Tower. This one features UN emblems and a wish list of not yet existing in Qatar tech like a satellite and a tracking station. To bad Qatar did not go further and replace Sheik Khalifa with the smiling generous face of ITU General Secretary Mohamed Ezzedine Mili. The people had a right to know who was playing Santa Claus.

Todays stamp is issue A50, a 1 Dirham stamp issued by the State of Qatar on October 24th, 1972. It was a 6 stamp issue in various denominations showing various UN agencies and what they will be doing for newly independent Qatar. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 35 cents used.

The ITU was formed by a group of European counties in 1865 as the International Telegraph Union. It is the second longest still operating International Agency. It’s purpose was to standardize telegraphs being interoperable, the use of Morse Code and to ensure access to telegraphs by all. Over time they added radio and telephones to their purview. For the first 80 years it was a Swiss based and run Agency. In 1947, the Agency agreed to be put under the United Nations, and while still based in Switzerland began to be run by various people decided on in huge Plenipotentiary Meetings held every four years at various resorts.

In the early 70s the ITU was run by Tunisian Mohamed Ezzedine Mili. He excitedly marketed the Plenipotentiary Meeting at Telecom 71. Desks were set up to show off the high tech wares available from top companies. Imagine the excitement of a free trip to a Spanish resort only to be presented with a shopping list to be paid for on someone else dime. Makes you proud to be a third world welfare queen while you spit on the usefulness of the original agency. It really puts into context the myriad 1970s middle eastern telecommunication stamps.

Wouldn’t Mr. Mile have looked handsome in Sheik Khalifa’s place on this Qatar stamp

Times and favored areas change. More recently the ITU was run by Hamadoun Toure’ from Mali. After a gratis education in the Soviet Union and a distinguished career in satellites, he started a new program called Connect Africa. It raised $55 billion dollars to improve Africa’s cell phone infrastructure. Now the Agency is run by a Chinaman named Houlin Zhao. No doubt he will come up with a houlingly expensive wish list for China.

Dr Hamadoun Touré, ITU Secretary-General. The UN always finds the best people

Well my drink is empty and I think I will have another. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Tanzania 1986, After hearing the clanging of 10,000 BBs, doomsdayers give Beyond War award to Julius Nyerere

When stamp designers working for Tanzania decided to honor the UN’s International Peace Year in 1985 with a stamp issue, they had a problem. Inexplicably, Tanzanian President for life Nyerere had somehow been denied a reputable award for peace. Doomsday cult Beyond War had given him their award. So why not just jazz that award ceremony up with some UN emblems and call it good. 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 has some well done visual distortions. They do list the reward as Beyond War but then put a squished down and blacked out UN emblem next to it. President for life Nyerere is dressed more like Mao than an African leader but his look is definitely third world rising. The presenter displaying both European pomposity and fake deference that is very 80s UN. How could the less informed philatelist come away not thinking the UN gave this warmonger a peace award.

Todays stamp is issue A69, a 1.5 Shilling stamp issued by Tanzania on December 22, 1986. It was a four stamp issue in various denominations celebrating the UN declared International Peace Year. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 55 cents whether used or unused.

The Beyond War movement started in Silicon Valley in California in the early 1980s. It was inspired by a quote from Albert Einstein, “With the unleashed power of the atom, everything has changed, save our modes of thinking, and thus we drift toward unparalleled catastrophe.” The movement believed that war was obsolete and the people of the world are one, and life on Earth was at a crossroads. Followers would host interest evenings where an audience heard a highly detailed description of a nuclear bomb blast would be like for a major city. They then were asked to close there eyes and listen while 10,000 BBs were loaded into a metal bucket. Each BB represented one of the 10,000 nuclear bombs in the world at the time. At it’s height the movement had 24,000 followers worldwide. They handed out their peace award between 1983 and 1991.

Beyond War Award, designed by Steuben Glass

President Nyerere was perhaps not a great recipient of a peace prize. In 1964 after independence, Tanganyika supported an African insurrection in Zanzibar that lead to the fall of the Arab Sultan and the ethnic cleansing of long tern Arab and East Indian residents, see https://the-philatelist.com/2018/01/29/zanzibar-when-the-arabs-needed-the-british/. Whites on Zanzibar were left alone so not to attract a British military response. In 1979, Tanzania invaded Uganda with the goal of toppling President Amin. Upon taking the border town of Mutukula, the town was leveled and many civilians were killed. The last sounds they heard were not the sounds of BBs.

After the end of the cold war the Beyond War organization renamed itself Global Community and started taking more interest in the doomsday  prospects of climate change. Membership dropped dramatically. After the USA invasion of Iraq some former members of Beyond War tried to get the band back together. They were by then retired and had traveled up the Oregon trail to Portland and Eugene in Oregon. They opposed the War on Terror and for old times sake they thought that the USA and Russia should further cut their stockpile of nuclear weapons.

Nyerere never got a proper peace prize. After his death, his fans have lobbied for the Catholic Church to declare Nyerere a Saint. So far the Church has not done that.

Well my drink is empty and I am thinking about the early Silicon Valley incarnation of Beyond War. Their early principles included being non political and nonsectarian. Yet their policy goals that their members probably thought were came at scientifically were very political. No wonder the group tried to recast itself about climate change. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Singapore 1947, Getting toward self rule

After Singapore did not stand with the Empire when under Japanese attack, there was little possibility of staying a colony long term post war. The complicated part was transferring to self rule without acquiring a new master in the form of China or Malaysia. The Chinese majority city can thank David Marshall, a Sephardic Jew from Baghdad and Lim Yew Hock a Chinese Muslim convert, for getting them down that path. 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.

Notice that this fairly standard King George VI issue is now labeled Singapore rather than Straits Settlements. Singapore was now realized to be a quite important city distinct from the Malayan majority area around it. It had also proved to be disloyal, so a Monarch stamp issue is appropriate to remind British still there that the home country is looking out for them.

Todays stamp is issue A1, a 25 cent stamp issued by the Crown Colony of Singapore in 1947. It was a 15 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 60 cents used.

Singapore was founded on previously unoccupied land acquired by George Raffles from a Malayan Sultan. Raffles was in the employ of the privately owned British East India Company. The site was intended as a trading post but also housed an Indian penal colony. This was after slavery and when the work habits of Malayans were found wanting, large numbers of Chinese were brought in as contract workers. The Chinese were overwhelmingly male and sometimes called coolies. Many stayed on after their contracts expired. British were never more than 2 percent of Singapore residents. At the time of the Japanese attack in 1942, the British Indian Army deserted leaving only a few British and Australian defenders. The mostly male Chinese population did not join the cities defense. Worrying about the water supply being cut meant the British gave up without much of a fight. Churchill described it as their worse defeat in the war and even Hitler said it was a sad day in the cause of white supremacy. Singapore was only returned to Britain post war.

Singapore celebrates the wars end showing their loyalties

Well if the two percent of Singapore that was British was no longer supreme who would take their place. Neighboring Malaya was in a civil war with local communists and Chinese were looking more toward the Motherland also facing a civil war. The British put a lot of faith in David Marshall, born Mashal. He was a Jewish lawyer  that had immigrated to Singapore from Iraq and had volunteered for the defense of Singapore and was a POW. What they didn’t realize is how much he resented being labeled Asian and how far left he really was. Sensing a potential ally, Chinese Foreign Minister Chou Enlai invited Marshall to China. That didn’t go well because once there he took up the cause of White Russians of Jewish heritage not faring well in Shanghai. Not what the Chinese wanted to talk about. Back in Singapore he was appointed chief minister but then angered the British by demanding instant self rule while also refusing to crack down on the many leftists in his party.

Chief Minister David Marshall

Frustrated the British turned to Lim Yew Hock, a labor organizer who was more willing to crack down on communists and have a more staged process to self rule under the old system. The process worked but Lim Yew Hock became very unpopular in Singapore. So much so that he moved to Malaysia and became a diplomat for them in Australia.

Chief Minister Lim Yew Hock

Here there was a strange incident. He disappeared from Canberra to chase after a 19 year old stripper named Sandra at The Paradise Club in Sydney. He was lost for nine days and returned disoriented, disheveled, and unable to explain what happened. He was sent back to Malaysia and given retirement. His marriage broken down, he then made the strange decision to convert to the Muslim religion and move to Saudi Arabia. Sort of a strange cast of characters with which to get such a good result in Singapore.

Well my drink is empty and I don’t think this was much of a story of white, Jewish, or Chinese supremacy, rather the story of a city state getting lucky. Perhaps despite itself. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Togo 1947, Deciding who to give it to

Togo had been a successful colony for Germany. German colonists and Afro Brazilian freed slaves returned from Brazil had made the port of Lomé an economically and socially active place. In the interior there were more native tribes who might have wondered what rights they had. So when France was ready to fade, who should they turn it over to? 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 is a timbre taxe stamp. That means it is a postage due stamp. The Philatelist has made fun of the proposition that it was possible to send a letter in Africa with postage due from the receiver. This is a good response to that. In the colonial period it was possible in French colonies like Togo. The system the French left behind did not just shut down completely on Independence day. So a better answer to the question of could you send a postage due letter in Togo was that you could until you couldn’t. The last Togo timbre taxe was issued in 1981.

Todays stamp is issue D5, a 10 Centime stamp issued by the French Administration of Togo in 1947. It was a 10 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 30 cents.

Togo had been a German colony before being jointly invaded by France and Great Britain in 1914, see https://the-philatelist.com/2020/04/07/togo-1916-in-the-first-british-shots-of-the-war-germany-loses-togo/ . The colony was divided with the British part electing to join the neighboring Gold Coast. After the war, France was named Trustee of Togo and allowed to administer it from the League of Nations. France was chosen over other proposals from Weimar Germany and even new nation Czechoslovakia.

The Olympio family had been returned as a freed slave from Brazil and prospered in the port of Lomé under the Germans. The family had operated for generations a trading house that dealt in palm oil. It was the richest African family in the area, though the routes to Brazil rather than the local tribes put some distance between local blacks. Sylvanus Olympio was born in 1902 and educated in German Catholic schools set up by the Society of the Devine World. He went on to study at the London School of Economics. Back in Africa, he rose through the ranks of Unilever. By 1938, he was General Manager of the company’s African division and based in Lomé. During the war the Vichy French were nervous of Olypio’s British ties and was put in house arrest in a remote village. This made Olympio more anti French.

After the war Olympio funded and lead a Togo Party of National Unity and the French supported a rival Togo Party of National Progress. Olympio prepared a list of grievances against the French and submitted them to the UN which inherited the old League of Nations Mandate. This gave Olympio’s Party much support from the anti colonial UN. You may be wondering who the local blacks supported in this. Neither party served them  and a new party broke off called the Union of Chiefs and Peoples of the North. That party consistently won half of the seats on the pre independence assembly but still wielded no power.

The National Progress Party won the election for the first local Prime Minister before independence. Olympio’s petitions to the UN than forced the French to have a new election supervised by them that nobody will be surprised that Olympio won.

Now President Sylvanus Olympio a few months before assassination. Wonder if he wore that getup to Unilever board meetings?

In 1960, Togo became independent with Olympio as Prime Minster. Olympio should have perhaps been more careful what he wished for. In 1963, he was assassinated by members of the Togo military. Future President Eyadema, see https://the-philatelist.com/2020/07/07/togo-1983-we-must-make-reservations-early-for-the-feast-of-victory-over-the-forces-of-evil/     , claimed to have personally fired the shot. Olympio’s dead body was dumped in front of the USA Embassy. Did the UN not have a local office?

Well my drink is empty and I am wondering how many places haves been ruined by well meaning outsiders. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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India 1949, Red Fort, elaborate home of Mughal power, succumbs to lootings, show trials, and laser light shows

The Red Fort was to be the seat of power of the Mughal Empire after it’s move to Delhi. So of course there was a great deal of pride when the flag of independent India was raised and President Nehru spoke from it’s ramparts around the time of this stamp. He might have been disappointed to know that the historic site was part of India’s adopt a historic site program and sits unrestored while hosting laser light shows and shopping malls in private hands. 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 was an issue of historical sites. When thought of in terms of the recent independence, the idea that the sites are finally in Indian hands is what is being celebrated.

Todays stamp is issue A97, a 2 Rupee stamp issued by independent India on August 15th, 1949. It was a 16 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 50 cents used. The mint value is way up at $27.50. It shows how few were being saved by collectors from the date of issue.

The Red Fort was constructed in 1639 in Delhi to house the seat of government of the Mughal Empire. The Empire’s capital was moving from it’s previous home in Angra. The Mughal Empire was perhaps at the height of it’s power under Shah Jahan and the elaborate complex took 10 years to built and reflected the best of Hundu, Persian, and Timurid styles. The walls of the fort were done in thick red sandstone. The architect in charge of the project was  Ahmad Lahori, who also designed the Taj Mahal.

The imposing stone pediments have survived from the times of Shah Jahan, but much of the interior grandeur has been lost. First in 1747 at the time of the Persian invasion under Shah Nadir. In 1783 the Misl states of the Sikh Confederacy  briefly held the complex. During the time of the British East India Company, the much reduced in power Mughal Shah was allowed to stay in the Red Fort. During the Sepoy rebellion of 1857, the British made the decision  not to defend the Red Fort as the uprising was promoting then Shah Bahadur II as a leader. The complex was again badly looted and the Shah decided to flee. He was captured and returned to the fort this time as a prisoner and banished to Burma.

During the more formal British Raj, Lord Curzon restored much of the complex including the gardens that now boasted a sprinkler system. 1911 saw the visit of King George V and Queen Mary on the occasion of the Delhi Dubar, where the British King was Coronated Emperor of India.

In the last days of the the British Raj, trials were held at the Red Fort on charges of treason  to British Indian Army officers who abandoned their posts during the Japanese invasions of Malaya, Singapore and Burma. Many of the accused offered their services to the Japanese puppet India National Army. The trials were met with much protests and even further mutiny in the British Indian Army and Navy. The sentences were never carried out and  the affair went a long way to convincing Labour Prime Minister Atlee that British continued presence in India was unsustainable.

Independence saw the elaborate raising of the flag of India at the fort and Prime Minister Nehru giving a speech from the ramparts. This has turned into an elaborate annual tradition by all the Prime Ministers since. The Sandstone facade as held up well as stone tends to. This century as seen much change within the walls. In 2003 the last Indian Army detachment left the fort. The complex attracts many tourists. This has been terrible for the gardens and much of the marble tiles from the Mughal era gradually disappear. The tourists are accommodated by restaurants and stores within the walls of the complex. There is a nightly laser light show. In 2016 the Red Fort was included in the government’s “Adopt a historical site program” that sells the right to operate historical sites for profit. Some in India thought this went too far, and the hashtag “India for sale” trended.

Hmm…

Well my drink is empty and I am left wondering what Shah Jahan would have thought. Would he be just amazed that the fort survived or just in a daze about the laser light show? Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Andorra Spanish Administration 1972, Suggested foriegn policy for all, speak softly with a smile and carry a giant cigar

This is a funny stamp, but it turns out high quality cigar tobacco is an important crop of this tiny country. What better way to show that off than creating a giant one? So slip on your smoking jacket, light your cigar, take tour first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

This stamp looks a little different from the last Andorra stamp presented here. That one was from the side of Andorra that has French administration. Here we have the Spanish side and one can see the change in language and currency. The Spanish side was a bishopric subject to the Bishop of Urgel. This changed somewhat in 1993 but there is still seperate Spanish and French stamps.

Todays stamp is issue A17 a 5 Peseta stamp issued by Andorra on December 5th, 1972. It was a 6 stamp issue in various denominations featuring Andorran customs including singers, dancers, cigar smokers, and even a hermit. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 60 cents unused.

Andorra is a tiny mountainous country with only 2 percent of the land being arable. For that reason, most of the food has to be imported. Andorra uses about 8 percent of it’s farmland in the production of tobacco. This is of high quality mostly for cigars and mostly for export. A cigar usually contains various tobacco leaves from different places.

The integration with the EU as been a little problematic for tobacco. The EU allowed Andorra to keep it’s low domestic price but then enforced duty requirements similar to alcohol for a visitor taking it with him.  This perhaps turns a few fans into smugglers. As the economy developed more and more of the workforce shifted to providing tourist services. A reflection of this is the former Reig tobacco factory. this has now been repackaged as a tobacco museum.

Well my cigar burned out, i did not have the guts or stamina to try a giant one, and so I will have to wait till tomorrow when there will be another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Alderney, Bailiwick of Guernsey 1985, our airport is 50 years old, come check it out

Alderney is a small island 10 miles off the coast of Normandy. To keep it British, large fortifications and an airfield were built. When trouble came in 1940, from the Germans not the expected French, it was decided to evacuate the 1200 residents. The Germans then took the bait and made their own large constructions. So there is much to see and an active airport to get there. 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.

Alderney began issuing separate stamps in the early 1980s. A stamp issued by Alderney is valid for postage all over the Bailiwick of Guernsey. A Bailiwick is a jurisdiction under a Bailiff who is appointed by the Crown. This stamp shows off the history of the airport on the occasion of it’s 50th anniversary. This stamp further shows off the de Havilland Heron 1 airliner, as operated in the 1950s by Morton Air Service. The airliner seems huge with it’s four engines, but only held 17 passengers. This points to the still persistent problem of trying to maintain a regular air service to a tiny island with few potential  travelers.

Todays stamp is issue A3, a 29 Pence stamp issued by Aldereney on March 19th, 1985. It was a five stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth $3.00 whether used or unused.

Being so close off the coast of Normandy, Alderney residents were subjects of William the Bastard as Sovereign of Normandy. The Norman conquest saw William transfer to the Conqueror and King of England. From then on the island was British but still French speaking and the site of a French monastery. Over the centuries, many English Kings made half hearted, incomplete attempts to fortify the island. Some saw this as folly as there would be little way to defend and resupply an island so close to France. The construction projects imported many Irish and British laborers that gradually made the island less French. In 1940, it was decided to evacuate the island and the Germans took it without a fight. Germany continued the work on fortifications with their Todt organization importing Polish, Russian POWs and Jewish laborers to work on the forts. There were also 600 German army soldiers. Alderney was bipassed on D-Day and the end of resupply saw the situation of the German occupying force become quite desperate. This is what had been expected by earlier British critics. Germany held on to Alderney until a week after the war in 1945 and indeed 300 agreed to stay on to work on cleanup so the residents could come back 6 months after the war.

Morton Air Service was started by Sammy Morton as the first private post war airline operated out of the old Croydon Airport in London. Morton already had some fame as having been a flying partner of British Aviatrix pioneer Amy Johnson. Morton Air Service had a fleet of mainly de Havilland Doves but also a single example of the Heron as seen on the stamp. In 1953, Morton Air Service took over Olley Air Service and with it it’s charter and scheduled service around the Channel Islands. In 1958, the service was merged into British United Airways. The Morton Heron on the stamp made the last scheduled departure from Croydon airport before it closed. To recognize that, a different Heron is painted up like it guards the entrance to the Croydon Aerodrome Hotel.

The Heron was not a successful airliner. 149 were built starting in 1950 but the engines were badly underpowered and on the Heron 1 the under carriage did not retract which greatly limited top speed. The aluminum wings were also very subject to cracking. Later versions  addressed some of this and some airlines in Japan and the USA stretched and reengined their copies to make them more useful. None are still in service.

The Alderney airport is still in operation though the terminal in antiquated and the roof leaks. The annual passengers are half the 1980s rate even before COVID. Aurigny Ar Service is the only airline and only flys to Guernsey using Britten Norman Triislanders. A local airline Air Alderney tried to form in 2017. The acquired 2 Brittan Norman Islanders and hoped to offer 5 destinations in England, France and other Channel Islands. Though they got a Certificate of Airworthiness, they proved unable to commence operations.

Alderney aerial view. You can see airport to the north and the breakwater for the never completed port

Well my drink is empty and I must admit I am attracted to the idea of a Channel Island tour. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.