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Oman”State”1969, the state of being a fake stamp

In 1969 Oman was known as the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman. That name was about to be shortened to Oman as the Sultinate was facing attacks from pan Arabist from South Yemen and wanted to present themselves as a united country. Nearest I can tell this stamp does not emanate from the rebelling area of Dhofar, just another one of those 60s fake stamp promoters. 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.

These small royalist enclaves were sure hotbeds of fake stamps. We have covered the stamps of the no longer in power Royal government of North Yemen here, https://the-philatelist.com/2018/01/29/zanzibar-when-the-arabs-needed-the-british/      . and Finbar Kenny’s “Dune” stamps here, https://the-philatelist.com/2019/04/10/sharjah-lets-you-enjoy-modern-art-thanks-to-finbar-kenny/ . Since this is not a real stamp there is no catalog value or official issue date.

The postal history of the area is interesting with the first post offices opened by the British East India company in Muscat. Muscat was a trading post city ruled by a Sultan while the interior area was known as Oman and had much autonomy to have a more traditional religious government under an Imam. The Sultans Royal House also controlled the Indian Ocean island of Zanzibar until it was conquered by Tanganyika in 1964, see https://the-philatelist.com/2018/01/29/zanzibar-when-the-arabs-needed-the-british/  . The discovery of oil in the interior led to a period of war as the Imam had to be displaced so that the oil revenue would go to the Sultan. This pitted the Sultan and his backers in Iran and Great Britain against the Iman and his backers in Saudi Arabia. The Muscat Sultan won that battle and the Iman went into exile. He tried and failed to get international recognition for his Imamate of Oman.

Having won that battle did not make everything rosy. In the 1960s, the traditional governments faced a growing threat from Marxist pan-Arabist that viewed the Sultans, Kings, and Emirs as illegitimate and tools of colonialists and economic exploiters. The pan-Arabist had come to power in neighboring South Yemen and there was an immediate pulling away of the trading post of Aden into a bigger all Arab but no longer trading city. South Yemen immediately started funding separatists in the neighboring region of Dhofar. Muscat had much more oil than Yemen and if you are not going to trade, the money must come from somewhere.

Muscat and Oman had to modernize to meet this new threat. Part of this was taking the name of Oman. The oil and loss of Zanzibar had shifted the country already from coastal trading to cashing the checks of interior oil wells and the deeply religious of the interior were natural rivals of the “infidel” pan-Arabists flooding in from Yemen. Part of the modernizing was Qaboos bin Said overthrowing his father. This was mostly bloodless except the old Sultan managed to shoot one of the coup plotters. Unfortunately for him while cocking his pistol he also shot himself in the foot. The old castle had of course lots of escape tunnels but when your coup plotter is your son he knows them all too and now with a hurt foot, you are not so fast moving. The old Sultan was captured and signed the abdication papers. Oil wealth then allowed him to live out his years at a suite in the Dorchester hotel in London.

Again with military help from Britain and Shah era Iran, Oman was able to defeat the Yemenis in Dhofar. The focus on the interior of Oman versus the trading of Muscat remained. Muscat is not a modern trading post in the manner of Dubai or Qatar. Qaboos bin Said remained Sultan till his death early this year. The oil will eventually run out. His legacy might be tarnished by not putting in place a system that can remain prosperous without the oil.

Well my drink is empty and so I will have to wait till tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

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Dahomey 1963, enjoying the last French African Friendship Games as the French African community splinters

The French had governed their African spheres with large tribally diverse regions. Near the time of independence they were broken into much smaller entities. The hope was that the local politician could well represent his community and tribe while the broader area could still exist in a French community. It did not work out that way. 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 boxers at the last French Friendship Games in Dakar in 1963. When given a fair election in the last days of colony most of the countries including Dahomey chose more autonomy but still close association with France. Instead full independence came and aspects of a common French African community could not be sustained.

Todays stamp is issue A21, a 50 Centimes stamp issued by independent Dahomey on April 11th 1963. It was a six stamp issue celebrating the French African Friendship Games held that year for the last time in Dakar, Senegal. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether used or unused.

While Dahomey was a small country it had three distinct regions with peoples of the old African Kingdoms of Dahomey, Peorto Novo, and Aboney. France picked a politician Hubert Maga from the North and the Dahomey Kingdom ethnicity but had converted to Christianity as practiced in the South. He was the best hope to unite the factions and France pressed him to share with other groups in the government patronage. By now however French President De Galle had tired of the work of nation building in Africa. In 1959 Dahomey and most of the other French African states got full independence. President Maga quickly tried to consolidate power and create a one party state. The French cut assistance and many of the French keeping the infrastructure intact departed.

The Dahomey Army them forced Maga to resign and tried to have the three areas be represented on a council that included Maga. He then plotted to have the Army chief of staff killed. He was placed under house arrest but his former foreign minister Chabi Mama broke him out. He went on to serve in various short term versions or the Army tribal council. In the 1970s Dahomey found a stronger dictator for life and changed the name of the country to Benin after the Atlantic Ocean Bay off the coast. This was a way to paper over differences of heritage.

Dahomey Foreign Minister Chabi Mama. When a Dictator is relying on him to come to the rescue, it is a great sign France has given up on the place.

 

The French founder of the modern Olympics, Pierre De Coubertin proposed  separate African games back in 1923, see https://the-philatelist.com/2019/02/07/1924-paris-olympics-the-last-of-the-modern-olympics-that-paid-homage-to-the-ancient-greeks/   . Olympics were thought of then as for the aristacracy so African colonials had no place. The French African colonies administration did not think the natives were capable and no games happened during colonial times. De Coubertan did convince De Galle however that African games were possible and France paid for the Friendship Games in the newly independant countries of French Africa. There were three games in Tarrative in 1960, in Abijan in 1961, and the Dakar games in 1963. 11 French African countries participated along with France. The new nations than asked that France invite English speaking African nations to future games. France withdrew support and there were no further Friendship Games. The name was late recycled for games held by the Eastern Bloc in 1984 that were boycoting the Los Angelas Olympics.

Well my drink is empty and the people of Dahomey/Benin must have felt they were taking as many blows as the boxers on the stamp. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

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Finland 1978, I don’t often get to write about sanitariums on stamps, but thanks to Alvar Aalto and the generous Finnish taxpayer

In 1929, the Finnish city of Paimio issued a requirement for a new tuberculosis sanitarium. There was no cure for tuberculosis, the best chance for the patient was to attempt to ride it out under a doctors care. Sounds like a miserable place with suffering and death all around. The building built to the requirement became much more than that. Finland was a new country and there was a new generation of architects ready to try out new ideas. One of those was architect Alvar Aalto. 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 early rational movement architecture was quite large and blocky, if not yet brutally so. The stamp designers use of bright colors do a good job of showing the building in it’s best light. There is just not room to show the special features inside to make this easier for patients and staff.

Todays stamp is issue A294, a 1 Markka stamp issued by Finland on May 2nd, 1978. It was a two stamp issue in different denominations featuring the work of Finnish architect Alvar Aalto two years after his death. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.00 used.

Alvar Aalto was born in 1898 when Finland was still a Dutchy of Czarist Russia. He had a Finnish father and a Swedish mother. He studied in Helsinki and fought with the White Guards in the war of independence from Russia. His early work was mainly traditional styled houses but as he got more experience and traveled to Italy he became more interested in the new rational international style. I did a Spanish stamp with one of their architects on a similar journey here, https://the-philatelist.com/2020/03/02/spain-1976-we-can-now-again-cellebrate-the-rational-architect-who-irrationally-ran-off/    . Rationalist architecture was very much in evidence with the Paimio Sanitarium with it’s blocky shape, minimum decoration, and ribbon windows. There was however much done to make things more comfortable for the patients. The rooms had double occupancy but featured special no glare lighting and colors to help with sleeping. Each room had two wash basins of special design to be nearly silent. At the end of each floor there was a large balcony where even bedridden patients could be wheeled to see the sunshine. The staff that lived on site had walking trails through nearby forests. None of this may sound earth shattering to modern ears, but this was 1930. Image the horrors of the typical sanitarium then.

As Mr. Aalto aged he understood the limitations of having all new construction being undecorated blocks of concrete. His later work had more undulations in the designs and he worked on laminating wood so that it could better be used in situations with curves. That of course made the wood less natural and there is a forced quality to some of his later work that leave it less distinguished. In his early years he teamed with his fellow architect wife Aino but after she died in 1949, Alvar remarried a junior female architect with the firm named Elissa who was perhaps not able to support his work at the top level. It is of course normal for the creative to do their best work when they are young.

An auditorium Aalto did in 1966. The red bricks had been forced on him at a wavy dorm he did at MIT in the USA to better match the surroundings, but he used them a lot after.

The Paimo Sanitarium still exists but thankfully is no longer needed by tuberculosis patients. It was a general hospital starting in the early 1960s. Today it is a physical rehabilitation center for children.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Finland. Many new countries get bogged down in old rivalry and do not take the time to invest in creating a new distinct future, Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

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East Germany 1985 when oil refineries and plattenblau flats were celebrated instead of being embarrassed about

This must be an embarrassing stamp to the modern political left. A giant oil refinery, the biggest in all of Germany, smokestacks spewing, being celebrated as a great achievement of the communist East German government on the occasion of the government’s 35th anniversary. The crazy part is it was a great achievement, all these years later united Germany still relies on the refinery to process the oil coming into Germany from Russia by way of the connected Druzhba pipeline. Something President Trump always has fun pointing out when hectored by Europe over the USA’s environmental policies. 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 really is quite a large complex built in an otherwise small town on the Oder river near the Polish border. Being where the Russian pipeline crossed into East Germany it was the obvious, scientific place to put the refinery. At the left on the stamp you can spot the prefab Plattenbau apartment blocks put up to house the workers. This stamp represented industry in East Germany, others honored construction, agriculture and the military. The fellows with the protractor emblem were really making things happen and had been for 35 years. By the 40th anniversary and near the end of the DDR, a similar issue had education substitute for the military and industry was represented by a computer operator. You must move with the times. East German stamps were demonetized at the end of 1991

Todays stamp is issue A743, a 35 Pfennig stamp issued by East Germany on October 4th, 1984. It was a four stamp issue in various denominations that was also available as a souvenir sheet. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 30 cents used. Interestingly the souvenir sheet was not much or a prize, the four stamps are worth more apart.

Schwedt is a small town on the Oder river. In 1958, Comecon decided to sponsor a long pipeline that would take heavily subsidized Soviet crude oil from Tartaristan to the Comecon nations of Eastern Europe. I did a Hungary stamp on their part here, https://the-philatelist.com/2018/09/25/hungary-builds-on-soviet-friendship-to-power-itself/   . Different nations were responsible for aspects of the pipeline. East Germany was responsible for the oil pumps. A new refinery complex was quickly put together in Schwedt just over the Polish border to process the oil coming in. It had to be put together quickly. The very long pipeline was already in operation by 1963 with construction only starting in 1960. Try doing something that fast anywhere now. Well maybe China.

To house the workers in the otherwise small town, prefabricated blocks of worker flats called plattenbau were constructed. In modern days such flats are sneered at, but still lived in. In those days, they were more respected as they were larger units than old buildings and offered private bathrooms, kitchen facilities, and more effective heating. Schwedt had also been heavily damaged in land battles with the Red Army in the last days of the war, so the was plenty of opportunity for urban renewal.

I mentioned that the oil refinery and the pipeline are still in use by modern Germany. That does not mean that levels of employment have stayed high in Schwedt. During the East German period Schwedt went from 11,000 residents up to 55,000. Since reunification, the population of Schwedt has dropped back below 30,000. The refinery is still the largest private employer in the area, but is down to 1300 workers.

Well my drink is empty and looking deeper made me understand why East Germany wanted to feature Schwedt as an example of it’s success. Convincing The Philatelist however may be easier than modern fellow traveler Greta Thurnberg. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Belgium 1960, a different view of getting kids into stamp collecting

Yesterday we did a fake stamp from the then Trucial State of Ajman. A stamp huckster thought to designing stamps not related to where they allegedly from but subjects kids might better relate to. Here we have a stamp to bring kids into the hobby from a different perspective. 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.

If you scroll down below this article, you can take a look at the stamp we did yesterday from Ajman. It is hard to believe the two stamps are from the same century, never mind the same decade. Yet what a great way to show graphically the two methods to get kids interested in stamp collecting. Notice on todays stamp and the thankfully still present tag, (not many left those attached for mailing), all the little hints at the great tradition. The Crown representing the blessing of the King, the old fashioned horn emblem of the post entwined with the patriotic adventure promised by the Belgian lion. Notice that the children look more intelligent than cool. Also notice the presence of the globe, showing the promise of what can be learned in terms of geography and peoples and different time periods. It is what drew me into the hobby at age 10. Stamp huckster Finbar Kenny might however respond that those kids are just scouring that globe looking for Ajman. Today I will admit a bias toward adult collectors as perhaps they can bring their experience and memories of far of places and different times into the hobby so suited to it.

Todays stamp is issue A152, a 40 Centimes stamp issued by Belgium on October 1st, 1960. It was a single stamp issue. The engraver of this stamp was a man I wrote about here, https://the-philatelist.com/2018/03/26/belgium-honors-a-stamp-engraver/ . According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether used or unused. The catalog makes a point that the tag should still be attached for that only token value to apply. To me this is a little disrespectful of a nice stamp that has now made it 60 years with that tag still attached.

You can gather from this stamp issue that the Belgium of the day had a traditional, conservative government. This is perhaps a little misleading. The country was divided by language and tradition with the Walloons being much more Socialist, anti religion, and a good deal poorer than the Flemish area that was more Dutch. The King of the day Baudouin tried his best to be King of all the people but his sympathies were with the Flemish. This came to a head in 1990 when the lefty government passed a law making abortion more available. A new law has to be signed by the King but this is usually a rubber stamp. The King announced that his Catholic religious principles would simply not allow him to sign it. It was suggested that he do what many religious left center politicians do. Vote for the law as public policy but then openly state that his personal convictions are opposed. That was not going to work and the Cabinet voted instead that the King was unfit to serve as of that date and the cabinet would have to sign off on the new law in his absence. There must have been a lot of wondering if the left wing government would then declare the King again fit to serve. They did the next day. The King of Spain was asked later if he would sign a left wing piece of legislation making it’s way through the legislature. He answered of course, I am the King of Spain not the King of Belgium.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast King Baudouin I of Belgium. The different people of Belgium are now so divided with a federal system that keeps the two groups in their own bubbles with ever less holding them together. King Philippe and perhaps the European Union is all that is keeping them together. They probably wouldn’t have King Phillippe were it not for the long successful rule of Baudouin. Come again tomorrow  for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Ajman 1960s, check out the rocket, were you able to bring up any pearls

Ajman was a tiny pearl diving village occupied seasonally by Nomads. Thanks to Finbar Kenny there were stamps, big colorful stamp designed to get kids interested in stamps, or at least buy a starter pack from the Macys Department Store. Things can get pretty weird when a hobby goes big business. 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.

Stamps like this from Ajman are considered fake by the hobby. So I cannot give you a value or an exact issue date. That is not to say the “Dune” stamps were not influential. Mr. Kenny hoped that by making stamps more colorful and on subjects more relatable to a wider cross section of kids, he could sell more stamp collecting starter packs. It did not work, neither Macys or any other big department store currently have a stamp collecting department. What it did though was inspire real country stamp designers go down the same road of appealing to the immature would be collector. That did not boost the hobby.

Ajman was a tiny but fortified pearl diving village in what was then known as the Trucial States. Today it is one of the United Arab Emirates. As recently as the early 20th century the population was only 750 people and the town was only occupied seasonally. There was a pearl diving season and a palm date harvesting season. For the date harvesting season, most of the population moved to Muscat in modern day Oman. Pearl diving mostly went away after Japanese advancements in cultured pearls and dates just are no longer lucrative enough to travel for.

The Maim tribe conquered Ajman around 1816. Depending on who you ask the ruling Sheik may have been a vassal of the ruling Sheik of nearby Sharjah. After a sacking of a neighboring trucial state by the British in 1822, Ajman signed on as a British Protectorate that left the local Sheik in charge. Don’t get too annoyed at the British, these villages were constantly sacking each other. Ajman had special and repeated problems with the Sheik of Muscat. Remember it was there the nomads were precuring the palm dates.

Sheik/Emir Rashid bin Humaid Al-Nu’aimi ruled Ajman from 1928-1981. He sold the rights to print stamps in the name of Ajman to Finbar Kenny. The arrangement ended in 1971 when Ajman became part of the United Arab Emirates. The Emirs decided to band together with the end of British Protectorate status.

I mentioned Finbar Kenny was the head of the stamp department of the Macys department store. At the time, in the 1930s, it was common for there to be a table near the elevator displaying stamps to children. Mothers could leave their children there to be entertained while they shopped. Kenny through contacts started participating personally in some sales of very high end stamps. He then had the idea to make stamps that his tables might have more luck with by buying the rights to small independent countries no one could find on a map. Many of the Trucial states signed on to Kenny’s plan. In 1971 the formation of the UAE ended Kenny’s deals as the UAE would have a postal system and do there own stamps. Finbar Kenny then signed up the Cook Islands in the Pacific to continue his business with stamps under their name. That did not go well. The leader of the Cook Islands demanded a loan backed by future stamp revenues. After this bribe was paid, the American government arrested Finbar Kenny under the foreign corrupt practices act. He was fined $50,000 and naturally the Cook Island “loan” was not repaid. Things can get pretty rough when you spend too much time in the dunes or Gilligan’s, excuse me Cook, Island.

American philatelic entrepreneur Finbar Kenny holds ‘the world’s rarest stamp’, a British Guiana 1c magenta, at the Stanley Gibbons Catalogue Centenary Exhibition in London, 28th January 1965. (Photo by Stan Meagher/Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images). No Dunes that day

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Finbar Kenny. I don’t think over the long term he was good for the hobby but I admire his creativity in the cause. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting

 

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Soviet Union 1960, The USAs “operation abundance” takes on “Soviet Life” during the Khrushchev Thaw

The connections of regular Soviets to the outside world blossomed with new leadership of Khrushchev and the optimism of Sputnik. With the end of colonialism there was a worldwide battle for hearts and minds. Into this opening the USA launched operation abundance to convince the average Soviet that their government was not doing enough for them with regards consumer goods. An open door goes both ways. 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 features children’s drawings related to the world festivals of youth that the Soviets hosted. There is a quote from Khrushchev that stated that as long as he was President we are going to support genuine art. We are not going to give a Kopeck for the pictures of jackasses. The denomination of this stamp is 10 Kopecks. Hmm…

Todays stamp is issue A1202, a 10 Kopeck stamp issued by the Soviet Union on June 1st, 1960. It was a four stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

Khrushchev sought more person to person contact with the outside world to soften the harsh militaristic image put forth by his predecessor Stalin. To that end, the World Festival of Youth that promoted Communism was brought for the first time to the Soviet Union in 1957. It attracted 34,000 participants from 130 countries. There was even a new magazine for America named “Soviet Life” that presented a positive view of life in the Soviet Union. The USA agreed to allow the printings of 30,000 per month, and there was a waiting list for subscriptions. And Americans thought only Soviets waited in line.

An old issue of Soviet Life

 

The USA was not defenseless when it came to the new open door. The USA knew the Soviets used a much greater percentage of their output for arms. Perhaps that could be adjusted if the average Soviet, especially the females, started demanding more consumer goods. Operation Abundance backed American National Exhibition in Moscow in 1959 showed off all manner of consumer goods available in the USA. To drive the point home, then Vice President Richard Nixon engaged in an impromptu televised “kitchen debate” with Khrushchev as to why Soviets did not yet have stuff like this. His answer was that such things were junky and wasteful but then did what was hoped and began allocating more resources to the production of consumer goods.

The kitchen debate from 1959. Nixon is on the right. He had more hair as VP than later as President.

Modern Russia is still in the business of reaching out to the world’s youth though I am not sure what he is selling politically these days. In 2017 Russia hosted another World Festival of Youth in Sochi. It attracted fewer attendees than the 1957 one but more countries sent youth.

Well my drink is empty and I will contemplate the value of closed doors. Sure seems less wasteful. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

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Morocco 1939, the old capital Fez struggles with the strange French that have come to protect them

The Allouite Dynasty had a long run in Fez having avoided Ottoman occupation and being a mercantile center for Barbary pirates and the Timbuctoo gold trade. Then they signed on for French protection and had to flee partly from the strange people they suddenly found themselves dealing with. 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 a great image of period Fez. You get a sense of it’s ancient status, it’s inland desolateness, and the Picasso style rendering communicates what a wild place it must have been. Sadly all the things that used to make it interesting faded as all diversity there fled after independence and now Fez is just left with masses of poor and a few rich enclaves.

Todays stamp is issue A33, a three Franc stamp issued by French Morocco in 1939. It was a 37 stamp issue in various denominations that lasted over many years. According to the Scott catalog the stamp is worth 30 cents used.

Fez was founded by Berbers in the 8th century AD. It was ruled for most of it’s history by an Arab Sultan. The Sultan was fairly unique in having successfully resisted Ottoman domination. The place really took off when Muslims and Jews were expelled from Spain but welcomed in Fez. The place became a center of somewhat elicit business dealings involving the Timbuctoo gold trade and Barbary pirate loot. The Sultan protected all this in order to take his cut, but there was always much intrigue. There was also some manufacturing including leatherwork and of course the hats named after the place. Early on all Fezzes were made there and the color came from a berry native to the area. In the early 20th century the Sultan of Fez signed on as a French protectorate after French had replaced the Ottomans in neighboring Algeria. Suddenly all hell broke loose.

French Protector Lyautey

The Frenchman sent to work with the Sultan was Hubert Lyautey. French Prime Minister Clemenceau referred to Lyautey as an admirable and courageous man who always had balls stuck up his ass. It just a shame that they are not always his. He communicated with the local Arabs through multilingual authoress Isabelle Eberhardt. She was Swiss of Russian anarchist ancestry who wrote dirty stories of sexual deviancy in North Africa often involving necrophilia. She herself professed a conversion to Islam but dressed as a man and was plagued by bouts of syphilis and malaria. When details of the treaty of Fez got out the city reacted immediately with outright rebellion. The French protection turned out to be minimal. Most of the troops they commanded were local Askaris and they mutinied and joined the rebellion. You can read about other Askari troops in the Congo here, https://the-philatelist.com/2018/10/10/belgian-congo-1942-can-colonials-rely-on-askari-soldiers-when-the-home-country-is-occupied/   .

Authoress, diplomat, and spy Isabelle Eberhardt

Eventually the city was bought back under French control but not before the Sultan had to flee and set up a new capital at Rabat. The Jewish quarter was especially hard hit and with that the economy collapsed. Isabelle Eberhardt died mysteriously in a flash flood at age 27.

Well my drink is empty and I am left wondering if the French sent there started acting crazy because of how Fez was or in spite of it. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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USA 1985, getting around to the second string of aviation pioneers

After giving the Wright brothers no fewer that three stamps honoring their work as pioneers of aviation, it was time to dig deeper and honor lesser figures. Here we have a man who was on the staff of several important pioneers and ended his long career as a well paid consultant long after technology had moved beyond his work. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

The stamp designers did their best to make Mr. Verville seem interesting. Verville had been on the staff of General Bill Mitchel and from him received many ideas on how planes could go faster based on a survey of European aviation development after World War I. The ideas were incorporated into Sperry-Vervillle Racers as shown on the stamp that competed  for speed records at air races held in the 1920s.

Todays stamp is issue C113, a 33 cent airmail stamp issued by the USA on February 13th, 1985. It was a two stamp issue the other of which honored the Sperry Brothers that were also involved in the plane shown. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used. The catalog politely claims unused versions of this stamp are worth more than face value to prevent the survivors being used up on modern postage.

Alfred Verville was born in Michigan in 1890. As a child he sent fan letters to the Wright Brothers and to Glen Curtiss of Curtiss Aviation. The letters were answered with encouragement. After High School Verville took a correspondents course in electrical engineering and then worked at a series of automotive firms around Detroit. A few years later he decided he would rather be flying and again reached out to Glen Curtiss. Curtiss explained to him that pilots were plentiful what was needed were aircraft designers. Verville was hired by Curtis and was on the team that designed the first Curtiss flying boat and the famous for being upside down on the stamp Jenny biplane. I haven’t wrote up that stamp as I don’t own it but wrote up this later Chinese stamp featuring the Jenny here, https://the-philatelist.com/2018/11/09/china-1929-is-chaing-kai-shek-poison-for-stamp-values/  .

Verville later jumped to other aircraft firms that did not have as much going on but then landed on the staff of then Army Air Force General Bill Mitchel when he went on a tour to survey European progress on aviation after the war. He came back asking for planes to be sleeker and less like Wire filled mouse traps. Verville teamed with the Sperry Brothers for a series of racers that were monoplanes with retractable landing gear. They competed in barnstorming displays held throughout the country but few planes were sold.

Verville then designed for his own firm a four seat Air Coach that he hoped to sell to the well off for transport. He went bankrupt after building fewer than 20 planes. After that he mainly consulted for both private industry and ever more frequently the government. After World War II he was again on a European trip to survey their wartime aeronautical advancements but this time no new aircraft designs were inspired. He continued consulting until 1960 and died in 1970.

Well my drink is empty and I have an inkling to pour another and toast Glen Curtiss who seemed in this story to be the more accomplished. The USA postal service seems to agree as the gave Mr. Curtiss his own airmail stamp issue five years before. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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India 1951, Showing off the Lingaraja Temple to Shiva

In the early days of independence there must have been a competition of what to show first on the stamps and thereby tell the world about the new, large but yet ancient country. The Lingaraja Temple in Bhubaneswar made the cut. Rightly it should as it tells the story of the conversion of eastern ancient India from Buddhism to Hinduism. Another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. 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 a harder stamp to research than I would have guessed when I picked it out. The period English spelling of the place yields nothing now and Google close matches send you to “hot” pictures of some Bollywood actress. I will leave for the day when a stamp featuring her arrives in my collection to add my opinion as to her hotness. Meanwhile the stamp featuring the Lingaraja Temple just labels it as a place with many old temples of a similar style including an identical but smaller one to Krishna rather than Shiva. Very confusing but the kind of far off rabbit hole that must have fascinated the old time stamp collectors.

Todays stamp is issue A94, a 4 Anna stamp issued by independent India on April 30th, 1951. It was a later printing revision of a 16 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 30 cents used. The stamp being unused would have raised the value to $11. The printing quality of stamps took a big turn for the worse post independence so much more can be seen on unused versions.

The Lingaraja Temple in Bhubaneswar was built in the 11th century AD when the area was under the rule of the Somavamshi Dynasty. This era saw the conversion of the area from Buddhist to an early form of Hinduism. The temple was built on the site of an earlier one to a different religion dating from the sixth century AD. The Scottish Historian James Fergusson refers to the Lingaraja Temple as one of the best purely Hindu Temples in all of India. The tower is 150 feet high and the stone walls are over seven feet thick.  The Temple is today open to both tourists and Worshipers receiving 6000 visits a day.

Somavamshi King Yahati I initiated construction of the temple and assigned the Brahmin Caste to serve as the priests and defenders of the Temple wich also served as a fortification defending the faith. The Lingaraja name refers to Shiva as King and the Temple contains an icon of such. King Yahati was correct to think in terms of defense in the design of the Temple. In 1114 AD, the area was conquered by the Gangas Empire but the Hindu worship in the Temple was allowed to continue.  This remained true through many subsequent changes through the continueing work of the Brahmans.

Today the old temple area of Bhubaneswar faces one of it’s biggest challenges in the form of the exploding population and urban sprawl of Bhubaneswar. From a 15,000 population at the time of the stamp to over 800,000 now. Bhubaneswar became the provincial capital as the previous colonial one flooded a lot. Colonialism now takes the form of multinational software corporations such as Infosys and IBM availing themselves if India’s low cost of labour.

Well my drink is empty and I am left to wait till tomorrow when there will be another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.