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Austria 1983, 150 years of preserving the history of Linz

Modern stamps do so much to honor milestones of institutions. Perhaps too much, wouldn’t today’s letter writer rather get excited about where his people are going rather than how his ancestors were long ago. So to make it more relatable, I thought I would get into why the institution on this stamp got going, and a little on how close it is sticking to it’s mission. 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.

I am afraid this is a fairly drab likeness of the historic building that houses the Francisco-Carolinum Museum. The drab presentation is done perhaps to imply correctly that the museum has itself downplayed the historic in order to display mainly modern photograph arts. Well those folks probably throw better conventions than the history crowd.

Todays stamp is issue A655, a 4 Shilling stamp issued by Austria on November 4th, 1983. It was a single stamp issue honoring the 150th anniversary of the museum administative organization of Upper Austria in Linz. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 40 cents used.

The museum was founded by Linz lawyer and city administrator Reichritter Anton von Spaun. von Spaun was an avid collector of historic documents and his personal collection became a basis for the archive. A special interest of his was the folk music and folk dancing of the area. He felt knowledge of this past was at risk of being lost with the movement of people to the cities.

Museum and Upper Austria archive founder Anton von Spaun

The historic building that houses the museum was acquired in 1895 and the agency has since acquired a local castle and taken charge of several other historic sites around Upper Austria.

Understandably there was a big reorganization of the organization in 1946. The emphasis of the flagship museum changed from preservation of the historical record of the area toward displays of a now fairly extensive collection of modern art with an emphasis on photography. Perhaps an interesting lesson of what happens to even a well funded history museum  and archive when nobody cool wants to talk history.

A print by Eva Schlegel from the modern photography collection

Well my drink is empty and perhaps I have had enough as that photo of the girl from the museum collection just seems a blur. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Nigeria 1936, the Apapa Port Complex helps make Lagos an important city

The British involvement in Lagos began as part of their early 19th century efforts to stamp out the slave trade. That accomplished, why not stick around and see what can be done with the place. A railroad could be built that went right up to the port. If there is to be a port for real ships, there will have to be dredging of the sandbars and something must be done about the violent tides. Gosh this sounds like a lot of work. Here’s hoping when it is done people will remember who got it done in a desolate place. Maybe if there was a stamp? 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 was part of the Silver Jubilee stamp issues that came throughout the Empire celebrating the long, and nearly over reign of King George V. What was really great about them is that the standard design allowed a window into the actual colony. What a great thing for a collector, the comfort and beauty of a standard design and then the intrigue of the window to the far off place. The Apapa port really was a lot of work, and still important 100 years later, and stamp collectors get to open a window to it.

Todays stamp is issue A2, a half Penny stamp issued by the Colony of Nigeria on February 1st, 1936. It was a twelve stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth $1.50 unused.

The area around Lagos was first spotted by the Portuguese. The name comes from the Portuguese word of Lakes. After the British declared the slave trade illegal and that slave ships were pirate ships, the Royal Navy sent a naval squadron  to patrol the west African coast from Sierra Leonne south. There was still many slaves going to Brazil and Cuba. The slaves the navy freed were often dropped off in Lagos. The freed slaves began to wield some power in the African lead Kingdom of Lagos and when the Lagos King went after them, the British intervened on their behalf. The Kingdom of Lagos accepted British domination and outlawed slavery. With threats perceived from nearby French outposts, it was decided to formalize Lagos as a colony.

Well with a lot of new people and the banning of the biggest industry, thing may have not looked so rosy for Lagos. Well there still was the palm oil trade and agricultural opportunities and starting in 1898 the British constructed a rail network deep into the interior of the country. The spot where the new train got to the coast at Apapa was chosen to be the main port of Lagos. There were big problems. Sandbars made navigation through the harbor difficult and near impossible  for big ships. The tides also were a big challenge regarding water depth. In 1906, British money was appropriated for a massive dredging of Lagos harbor and two large moles were constructed. Moles are large stone breakwaters the ease the tide issue. Then in 1919 a 180 foot wharf was constructed  and four large ship berths with a total length of 1800 feet were completed in 1926. The port has had three major extensions since.

One thing the British got wrong was the overemphasis on the train line. By the time the port was operating and especially after independence, trucks became much more important in the movement of goods. Dealing with the traffic congestion has been a constant and ongoing issue. Meanwhile the railway system deteriorated with all rail service ending and the government owned railway declared bankrupt in 1988. Lagos however is now a megacity with the busiest port in Africa and over 16 million people. The port is now, since 2005 operated by the Danish firm Maersk.

The hustle an bustle of Apapa in more modern times

Well my drink is empty and thanks to this stamp we can  pour another to toast those with the vision to construct a large port where nature wasn’t on their side. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Poland 1951, Hilary Minc has a 6 year plan to get German industry working again and build a Socialist Dream city in Nova Huta

I like a good communist 5 year(well in this case 6 year) plan stamp that tells the people what their leaders will be doing for them. Promises can be measured against results. At the end of this 6 year plan, Hilary Minc, the architect of it, was tossed out of the Politburo, so there were consequences for failure. 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 Philatelists.

This stamp presents an understandably misleading picture of the 6 year plan. Constructing of urban apartment blocks was actually slowing under this plan. The last plan had been about rebuilding. This plan was about redeveloping industry and a communist dream city in Crackow. Chemical factories and utopias for bigshots might be a little too honest to put on the stamps.

Todays stamp is issue A193, a 30 Groszy stamp issued by Poland in 1951. It was a 6 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents.

The first 3 year plan from 1947 -1949 had gone reasonably well and concentrated on rebuilding the cities after the damage of the war. For the next one, more ambition was shown. Much assistance from the Soviets would be involved and Stalin personally picked Hilary Minc to lead the effort. He was a Jew that had gone east to avoid the Germans during the war and joined fellow travelers in Russia in forming the Union of Polish Patriots that sought to replace the prewar Polish regime with a Jewish, communist one post war.

Hilary Minc

Who he was had a great deal of influence on what was in the plan. There was a special emphasis on getting old German industry in the former German territory working again but without Germans. The chemical works that had once belonged to IG Farben and the synthetic rubber plant Buna Werke. These plants had been closely associated with forced mostly Jewish labor from Auschwitz during the war. It was thus very important that the previous crimes there be revenged by Jewish ownership. Understandable until you remember Poland is a large majority Catholic country. The Soviet help was still industrial but at least more aimed at the people with help with steel mills and car factories, see https://the-philatelist.com/2019/03/11/philatelist-2-parter-polish-pontoon-today-versus-tomorrows-german-fintail/  .

A six year plan should also include a vision of a better future. The area of Crackow known as Nowa Huta was singled out for redevelopment. The model city was designed to resemble Paris. Remember the Union of “Polish” Patriots had lived much of their life in exile, and lefty exile in Europe means much time in Paris.

Nowa Huta, socialist dream city

The 6 year plan was not much of a success. Poland was falling behind economically. They even had to reintroduce some rationing because agriculture was being neglected and mismanaged. The formerly German industry was no longer using Jewish labor, just Jewish management. In October 1956 workers rose up in strike and protest demanding a more Polish route to socialism. The protest centered on Wroclaw, the former German city of Breslau. In response there was a purge in the higher ups of Polish leadership. It was marketed as a repudiation of Stalinists, but hit pretty hard on the Union of “Polish” Patriots. Hilary Minc was even forced out of the communist party.

Well my drink is empty and I will ask that my stories be judged as a body of work and that I not be purged. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Cayman islands 1985, The Kirk Pride never had any dead to hold but kept her Volkswagen

These small islands are hopefully done with their pirates but that doesn’t mean they still don’t host a shipwreck occasionally. 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 of The Philatelist.

These were visually well done stamps but they lack the key detail of what ship you are looking at. That is what you have The Philatelist for. Well perhaps they were worried about treasure hunters. One of the two cargo holds of the Kirk Pride held bags of cement mix. They wouldn’t have done it this way now. Scuba diving tours of their shipwrecks are now big business on Cayman. Not so much for the Kirk Pride, the wreck shifted into ever deeper water over 800 feet. Sorry but it gets pretty dark and scary that deep.

Todays stamp is issue A85, a 35 cent stamp issued by the still British Overseas Territory Cayman Islands on May 22nd, 1985. The sun may never set on the Empire but don’t call them colonies. Cayman itself must be thrilled to no longer have it’s former status as a Dependency of Jamaica, see https://the-philatelist.com/2018/12/14/cayman-islands-1935-one-group-of-caribbean-islands-avoids-poverty-by-breaking-away-and-staying-a-colony/ , they can’t be depended upon. This was a 4 stamp issue of shipwrecks around the island in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $4.25 unused.

The Kirk Pride was an 170 foot long cargo ship that displaced 498 tons. It was built in 1947 and spent it’s life working around the Caymans. In January 1976, it made an unscheduled stop in Georgetown with engine trouble.  The two cargo holds contained bags of cement and the other a Volkswagen. A nor’easter was approaching and it was worried that the ship would damage the pier when the wind and waves began to pound. The ships engine started and it was able to move away from the dock in reverse. To go forward the engine had to be switched off to shift. It would not restart and so was helpless to control where the storm would take it. It was driven into a reef that left it with a gash and water coming in. It was hoped that the sump pump would pump the water out fast enough to keep it above water until the storm was over and the leak could repaired. Unfortunately the winds shifted and with it the position on the reef. Now the gash was bigger and the ship was in 3000 feet deep water. The ship was abandoned with no loss of life. There was no effort made to salvage the wreck because of the belief  of the depth.

In 1985 a small research submarine spotted the wreck in only 800 feet of water. The bow and the stern  were wedged onto two small underwater hills. This was shallow enough for deep sea divers to be able to go have a look and the BBC did an episode about it on their travel show “Wild Caribbean”.

The Kirk Pride in it’s 1990s position

Sometime in the early 2000s the wreck shifted again and went deeper. Nobody ever came for the Volkwagen, I wonder how much is left 44 years later.

Well my drink is empty and the website’s publishing machine tells me that this is my 700th offering. I may pour myself another. I hope you are enjoying these as much as I am. Come again Monday for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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East Germany 1982, talking up ships we no longer have

You can tell that a country is running out of gas when they just want to talk of old achievements that are not current. This is especially true when the stamp doesn’t tell you that what your looking at isn’t current. 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 has happened to me  before where what is happening on the stamp was no longer current. A Guatemala stamp where a dictator built his actress mistress an opera house. Sounds fun see https://the-philatelist.com/2017/11/06/guatemala-columbus-theatre-still-impressive-on-the-stamp-but-really-in-ruins/   . but the opera house had since been leveled by an earthquake and not rebuilt, all before the stamp. Here we have a stamp issue of an important class of East German cargo ships, that had served and been scrapped when they got old and expensive to operate. Was there anything new coming out of the Rostock shipyard in 1982?

Todays stamp is issue A685, a 5 Pfennig stamp issued by East Germany on June 22nd, 1982. It was a 6 stamp issue of the Type 4 cargo ships built in Rostock shipyard in the late 1950s, in this case the class leader M S Frieden(peace). According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents.

The Type 4 Frieden class of large cargo ships were 9000 ton (empty). They were diesel powered and capable of long journeys. They were the first large ships to come out of the Rostock shipyard after the war. The Frieden was built in 1957-58 so that was quite a gap. The shipyard was founded in 1850 and still exists employing 500 people.  They mainly now make river cruise ships. The ships were operated by the East German VEB line, which went through a few reorganizations before fizzling out in 1992.

When the ships were current, they went far and wide. The most famous journey was to North Vietnam in 1972 when MS Frieden and a sister ship were caught in the American bombing of Haiphong harbor. Neither were sunk. The MS Frieden was retired in 1978 and sold to China for scrapping. A club for former sailors of the ship still meets every other year.

The Type 4 ship can still be experienced in Rostock. In 1970 sister ship M S Dresden had engine trouble that was deemed too expensive to repair. As the hull was still in good shape the shipyard decided to maintain it as a museum ship. For a while the ship even hosted a youth hostel. There is talk of moving the ship from the shipyard to a mooring in the old town waterfront where it might attract more visitors. The museum is one of the best collections of the maritime history of the East German era.

Well my drink is empty and I may have another while longing for the time when we can visit museums again. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Maldives 1909, With Seashells and coconut rope on the decline, does anybody need an airport?

Imagine seashells that appear on the beaches of your small atolls being accepted far and wide as currency up there with gold and silver. Goes pretty far to creating a tropical paradise, except when it doesn’t. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

This stamp shows the spire of the Old Friday Mosque dating from 1658 in the Maldives. Well it was a Sultanate. Before the Europeans came the passing traders were Arab, Indian and Persian and they rose up and tossed out the Portuguese with their ideas of Christianity. Since then Europeans made deals but left them alone. Until they were just left alone.

Todays stamp is issue A1 a five cent stamp issued by the Sultanate of Maldives in 1909. Even though this was the first issue it is unfortunately too late to be denominated in sea shells. Tristan de Chuna’s first stamp was denominated in potatoes so it could have been. Instead  we are left with boring Rupees. How are the good followers of the Sultan supposed to get ahead using the other guy’s money. This was a 13 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 50 cents unused.

The Maldives are a group of 1194 islands south of Sri lanka in the Indian ocean. It was populated by first Buddhists from India but came under the sway of Muslim traders from Basra in modern Iraq. They had two products to trade in addition to the replenishing ship stores common to such islands on trade routes. One product they had were super strong ropes spun from fibers of the coconut. Traders would also accept cowrie seashells in return for the rice they were selling. The shells were traded as currency as far away as Africa and China. This sounds perhaps a little too idealist as a way to make it sound as if everything was perfect before those pesky Europeans showed up but who knows maybe it was true.

Maldives’ Cowrie Seashell money

The Portuguese came from Goa in India bringing with them missionaries, see https://the-philatelist.com/2017/11/10/remember-the-divine-duty-of-empire/  . Big mistake, the Sultan organized riots that removed them way back in 1573. The day of the riot is still a holiday. Later Dutch and still later British traders operated out of the Maldives but interfered less in local affairs and paid tribute to the Sultan. They weren’t as interested in the sea shells and rope spinning is a lot of work. A dispute between Arab traders brought the British more involved as they asked for British protections as Indian British subjects. The area was becoming ever more dependent on Ceylon as ships visited less.

After World War II the area moved toward independence. An airport had been built on an atoll well south of the capital and when the Royal Air Force lost their last air base in Pakistan, RAF Mauripur, they offered to rent the old Gan airport to support the long flights to British bases in the Far East. The Maldives accepted but then one year later the Sultan decided to try to raise the rent. The atolls near the base worried that the British would instead just leave and they would lose the jobs provided by the base. A short lived break away United Suvadive Republic formed to honor terms of the original British lease. The Sultan had a change of heart and reclaimed the atolls of Suvadive and honor the original British lease. Speaking of changes of heart, the British abandoned the base in 1976 as they weren’t doing much in the Far East anymore and planes could fly farther. The Gan base was offered to the Soviets but at a price they wouldn’t accept.

Coat of Arms of United Suvadive Republic

Well my drink is empty. The Sultan now calls himself President but can he make the place open enough to tourists to bring prosperity. Perhaps if they handed out a cowrie shell to arrivals? Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Peru 1874, Things will get better, Inti promises gold in the hills and Meiggs is building a railroad to get us there

Having hope for the future gives the ability to get beyond a bad present. Spaniards had been attracted to Peru with legends of a fabulously rich empire in the mountains with much gold. What they found was a weak empire who fell quickly when they couldn’t mount a defense against 200 men. The gold proved scarce enough that the Conquistadors began killing each other over the dregs. Maybe if they just had more faith in those fellows golden sun God Inti. 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 is an old stamp from a Catholic country. Yet here we have a rendering of the Inca sun God Inti. It should be remembered that the Inca Empire lasted a mere 80 years and had fallen 350 years before this stamp. Yet this iconography is still common in Peru and Bolivia. It is clear that what the Peruvians are really praying is that they will finally find that vein of gold in the mountains and strike it rich.

Todays stamp is issue A23 a 1 Sol stamp issued by Peru in 1874. This was just as they were renaming the Peso the Sol (sun) and the currency name as gone back and forth between Sol and Inti since. Poor man’s gold standard? This was a 9 stamp issue in various denominations that had many devaluation overprints later. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $2.40.

The Inca idea was that Inti was the Sun God and married to his sister Mama Killa the moon Goddess. Their children then decended to Earth via rainbows in the mountains and then taught culture and looked out for the people. The Inca Empire rose quickly and did indeed find gold in the mountains panning in tributaries at the beginning of the Amazon River. Hearing the legend Pizzaro landed from existing Spanish outposts in Panama bringing with him a force of 189 men and small pox. The Inca Empire fell in two years and Lima was started on the coast to export the rush of gold that was always right around the corner.

Henry Meiggs was a promoter and builder from the USA that had built piers on the waterfront in San Francisco then borrowed a great deal of money against them and absconded to South America with anywhere from $8000 to $500,000 depending who tells it. His story was that his little bit of money quickly ran out and at a low point had to pawn his fancy watch. I will pause for a moment while you shed a tear….. He did prove able to build railways that the locals had been unable to do themselves even in rough territory. Peru contracted with him to build a railroad from Lima into those old Inca mountains with all the gold. Peru was still praying to Inti and they froze out Meiggs upon the railroads completion in 1874. As with Pizarro. the life changing vein of gold as proven elusive.

Henry Meiggs

Unlicensed gold panning is still a big problem in Peru among the indigenous. They find just enough to keep doing it but not enough to really get ahead. I see all the Uber drivers and stamp dealers out there nodding. In the modern world the environmental impact is especially brought forward. The muddy holes dug and cut down trees are bad for the delicate rain forests. The Indigenous are also putting poisonous mercury in the water that binds with the gold and makes it easier to spot. Waste deep in water now containing much mercury is thought to be slowly killing the prospectors. Inti is not pleased, and neither is the Peru government who is not getting their cut.

Illegal gold panning

Well my drink is empty and you can’t stand in the way of a gold rush fortold by the married brother and sister Gods. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting

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Senegal 1913, the four Communes Evolve

When the colonies in Africa moved inland they took on the responsibility for those natives that they conquered. What did they hope for them? The time of slavery was in the past and there was no effort to remove them. Something had to evolve. 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 French in this period did a nice job with these stamps being little windows into the far off places. Imagine the young French collector, seeing his future of travel and adventure in the service of his country. Better than the reality awaiting him in the trenches.

Todays stamp is issue A28, a 1 Centime stamp issued by French Occidental Africa for use in Senegal in 1913. This was a 44 stamp issue in various denominations. The issue of stamps would last a full 20 years. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents.

The four major trading posts in Senegal, Dakar, Saint Louis, Goree’, and Rufisque began to be known as the four Communes. Over time the native citizens of them were to be trained in the French language, religion and culture so that they could evolve into full citizens of France. Starting in 1914 those that were fully evolved would be allowed to elect representatives to the French National Assembly, it was a time of French Republic. France was the only European power to grant elected representation in the Home Countries’ Parliament.

Blaise Diagne was born to a Lebu  father and a Manjack mother. He was then adopted by a mixed race family. He was Baptized Catholic in the mostly Muslim country. He was given the opportunity to study in France and then accepted a job in the French Customs service. He was elected to represent the four communes in the French National Assembly and advocated for more help regarding an outbreak of the Bubonic Plague in Dakar. He also impressed France by working very hard to recruit French West Africans to serve in the trenches of France during World War One.

Blaise Diagne in 1921 when he was Mayor of the Commune of Dakar

Though Diagne later served as Mayor of Dakar, by his later career times were passing him by. More modern Africans rejected the ideal of becoming French and rather looked to throwing off the yoke of France and creating a new nation. When he died he was denied burial in Dakar at the black cemetery because it affiliated with Islam and rejected him based on Diagne being a Freemason.

Diagne’s children made a new home in France. His son became the first black soccer/football star in France and had a French white wife. His grandson has served several terms as mayor of his home town in France. He also has a white French wife and has not traveled to Senegal post independence in 1960. Proving it was possible to evolve into a full Frenchman. Whether that was the ideal….

Senegal has evolved a little as well. Dakar has grown so large that the old communes of Goree’ and Rufisque are now just suburbs. Diagne is also remembered, it is his name on the international airport.

Well my drink is empty and perhaps I should myself evolve and put the bottle away. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting

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Bulgaria 1920, Celebrating the acquisition of territory we no longer have and a now abdicated Czar

Generally I prefer stamps that look to a bright future to the more common stamp that reminisces. This is a really weird one that celebrates what is gone. Perhaps in the belief remembering will stir hope. 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 Bulgarian issue of stamps was designed and printed in 1915 to celebrate the taking of the territory of Macedonia from Serbia while Bulgaria was an ally of Austria and Ottoman Turkey. The victory did not hold and Bulgaria ended up surrendering Macedonia and more and Austrian born Czar Ferdinand was forced to abdicate. This was all in the past when these stamps finally got into postal use in 1920.

Todays stamp is issue A54, a 10 Stotinki stamp issued by the Kingdom of Bulgaria in 1920. It was a five stamp issue all in the same denomination. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether mint or used. You would think a stamp displaying such interesting twists of history would have gained more value by the time the stamp was 100 years old but it must be remembered how much the stamp printing presses work overtime when a country is broke and defeated in order to raise a little money from the stamp collector.

First modern Czar Ferdinand ruled at a time when Bulgaria was transitioning from a Principality under the Ottomans to a Kingdom with autonomy. There were shifting alliances and frequent wars and Bulgaria not only gained territory in Macedonia but a land outlet to the Aegean at the expense of Greece and territory from Romania. That sounds like a lot of glory but the Czar was a flamboyant bisexual figure prone to dressing in drag. As such, both allies and enemies despised him. Here is how a British historian from the period described him.

“In this war, where the ranks of the enemy present to us so many formidable, sinister, and shocking figures, there is one, and perhaps but one, which is purely ridiculous. If we had the heart to relieve our strained feelings by laughter, it would be at the gross Coburg traitor, with his bodyguard of assassins and his hidden coat-of-mail, his shaking hands and his painted face. The world has never seen a meaner scoundrel, and we may almost bring ourselves to pity the Kaiser, whom circumstances have forced to accept on equal terms a potentate so verminous.”

The Balkan nations often picked their Kings/Czars from out of work Germans from former German city states in hope of competence and being taken seriously in European corridors of power. Even having done so, the Bulgars were still facing chauvinism like the above. On the other hand, I wish I could write like that.

Serbian Propaganda of Bulgarian Czar Ferdinand taking his punishment

When the tide turned Bulgaria lost the territory and Ferdinand was forced to abdicate and return to Germany. His son now named Boris and raised Orthadox was on the Throne with dreams of bringing Bulgaria back to it’s recent glories. Probably why this issue of stamps exists.

Well my drink is empty and should I pour another to toast the cross dresser on the wrong side that ultimately lost big time. Of course, why not, it is a hundred years later. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

 

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France 1938, sound the bells, drop the pig, Carcassonne is back and positively medieval

Here we have a castle dating to Roman times on the overland trade route from the Atlantic ocean to the Mediterranean sea. Over the years it has witnessed so much daring do from Romans, Visigoths, Saracens, Spaniards and Franks that kids today are playing video and board games based in the legends. If they are enjoying themselves, the tykes should remember to thank architect Eugene Violet le Duc and Napoleon III. 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.

Though the quality of printing isn’t the best, France knew how to show off it’s tourist sites on their stamps. Most far outside Paris, reminding the tourists that there is much more to see than the city of light. This is a tradition that continues and as resulted in some fantastic little perforated portraits.

Todays stamp is issue A85, a 5 Franc stamp issued by France in 1938. It was a 6 stamp issue in various denominations showing tourist sites. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 40 cents used.

The Cite’ de Carcassonne was first fortified by the Romans on 333AD. It lay on an important trade route. It was the first fortress to employ hoardings that were wooden ramparts outside the walls to improve fields of fire esspecially toward the base of the walls. In 462 AD, the Romans ceded the area to the Visigoths under King Theodoric II. It later passed to the Saracens, who were Muslim Moors up from Spain.

Now to the legend that gave Carcassonne it’s name. The Saracen knights of the city were under the command of Lady Carcas after the death of her husband. The Franks under King Charlemagne were laying siege to the town in the hopes of pushing the Saracens back into Spain. The siege was taking it’s toll and Lady Carcas asked for an inventory of the remaining food. A pig and some wheat were brought to her. She had the idea of letting the pig gorge itself on the wheat fattening it up. She then had the pig thrown over the walls at Charlemagne’s troops.  The troops were then devastated that the siege would go on forever if they have so much food to be wasting it like that. Lady Carcas then had all the church bells ring, a signal that the siege was over. Hearing the bells, the Frank troops exclaimed Carcassonne, Lady Carcas has been heard from and the siege really was over.

Lady Carcas statue at the castle

In the nineteenth century many sites like Carcassonne were in ruins. French architect Eugene Viollet le Duc put together plans to rebuilt them in their traditional form. His efforts around France were much benefited from funding from now Emperor Napoleon III. Doing so the way they had been  was controversial as most of the architectural establishment wanted things done in a more modern style that emanated from Rome. Viollet le Duc noted that Rome was one of the few places never to build in the French Gothic style because they had their own style. When a country is blessed with it’s own style, it might be worthwhile to keep it. An argument that can never be won or lost but always worth having.

Eugène Viollet-le-Duc (1814-1879)

The board game inspired by the Castle came in 2000 and was a product surprisingly of Germany. Well perhaps not, there is a German tradition in toys. A computer multiplayer video game came later with the ever multiplying expansion packs and spinoffs you would expect.

Well my drink is empty and I am afraid I am not much of a gamer. A better question is whether I am too old to learn a new board game? Come again on Monday for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.