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Syria 1954, after 20 governments and four contitutions, seeking rebirth, Syria takes a Ba’ath

Syria had a hard time figuring who it was. After being dominated by the Ottomans and then the French, perhaps a new Syrian way forward can lead to a rebirth. Off to the Sorbonne we go. 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 Ba’athists had been heavily influenced by world socialism. That influence can be seen on this stamp. Here we have happy toilers in the field. They are not working to get ahead personally, nor to support a King, and not being exploited by capitalists or colonialists. Instead they are advancing Syrian society. Left unanswered by the stamp is the question of without any of those motivators, what is going to make them do the work. Toiling in the field is a hard life after all.

Todays stamp is issue A68, a 2 and a half Piaster stamp issued by independent Syria in 1954. It was a nine stamp issue in various denominations that hopefully showed off productivity in Syria. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether it is used or unused.

Syria got it’s independence from France in 1946. In the 8 years that followed Syria suffered an embarrassing defeat by Israel, uprisings from it’s Druze minority and 20 governments working under 4 different constitutions. Hashemite Kingdoms around them were scheming to bring Syria into their fold and the new government in Egypt was promoting their leadership for a united Arab super power. Wasn’t there anything natively Syrian that could turn things around.

Michel Aflaq was a Syrian thinker working on this. While studying at the Sorbonne in France he happened upon some fellow Syrian travelers who were immersing themselves in the work of French philosopher Henri Bergson and German philosopher Karl Marx. Aflaq was an Orthadox Christian Arab who tried to convert what he was learning into something useful for a non industrial and majority Islamic country. So in Aflaq’s telling Arabs are processed of a magic that will arise, as it did in the days of Mohammad, into a unity of purpose that will be a rebirth and then a renascence for the people. To achieve this a single political party can guide and be guided by the people, the Ba’athist Party. By subtly shifting the focus from Islam to being Arab, Aflaq has made a place for himself as a Christian, and a place for Bergson and Marx, who perhaps are not the type of thinkers an Islamist would normally seek out. In addition to Syria, Ba’athist political parties were formed in many Arab nations and had a long rule in Iraq.

Michel Aflaq in his French student days. Interesting how all those folks colonials sent to study came back leftists.

Aflaq wrote inspiringly about a Ba’athist future but was less good on how to manage a transition to the world he imagined. He was eventually pushed aside as an outsider in Syria and sent into exile. In Ba’athist Iraq, where he wasn’t personally vying for political position, he was welcomed as a great Arab scholar and philosopher. The last Iraqi Ba’athist leader, Saddam Hussein even claimed that Aflaq had a late in life conversion to Islam. Whether it is true or not, the importance placed on it shows how impossible the task of bringing Arabs together without a dictatorship.

Well my drink is empty and Syria still finds itself ruled by a Ba’athist who is pressured by all sides, yet survives. Still struggling to create that promised united Syrian rebirth, but all life is a struggle. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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New Zealand 1992, overly confident in an America’s Cup Challenge

New Zealand had a good run at the America’s Cup sailboat races. They won in 1995 and successfully defended the title in 2000. This stamp however is from 1992 when New Zealand’s boat was penalized for a  not allowed design and failed to make the finals. So that year it was still America’s Cup. 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.

It is not whether you win or lose, it is how you play the game. So why not put out a series of stamps to celebrate New Zealand sending a team to compete. Well how they played the game was to send a boat with design features that were not allowed. Once modified for rule compliance, the team was noncompetitive. Correction then, why not put out a series of stamps on floating rich man’s toys. Sure.

Todays stamp is issue A357, a $1 stamp issued by New Zealand on January 22nd 1992. It was a four stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.25 whether it is used or unused.

The America’s Cup sailing race was first put on in 1851. Teams are put together by yacht clubs and often lead by very rich men as vanity projects. The involvement of such wealthy men means that the boats are spared no expense to gain any small advantage. The San Diego Yacht Club team in 1992 that won  was lead by Bill Koch the little brother of the famous Koch Brothers who sold his share of his father’s petrochemical company  for 400 million dollars to his politically active brothers. This gave him the time and money to play the playboy sailor man

Australia sent a team in the 1980s that became the first foreign team to win the Cup. Australia’s Cup? This attracted the attention of New Zealander Michael Fay, partner in the NZ investment bank Fay Richwhite. He put together a team of mainly Australian sailors under skipper Peter Blake and with a boat design originating in New Zealand.

The first boat was found in violation while in semifinals against an Italian team that went on to lose to the boat America3 under Bill Koch. Skipper Peter Blake was back at the next America’s Cup in 1995 and won with a new design boat. He returned again in 2000 and became the first foreign team to successfully defend a title. By then they were no longer getting support from Michael Fay, he had moved to Geneva to be closer to what he loved, his money.

Skipper Peter Blake had an interesting sailing career in addition to the America’s Cup. He became involved with the Cousteau Society from which he bought the Seamaster ship. He engaged in expeditions designed to monitor climate change under the auspices of the United Nations. In 2001 the Seamaster was boarded by pirates while on an expedition on the Amazon River. Blake was shot and killed and the rest of the crew had their wallets and watches stolen before the pirates left the ship.

Sir Peter Blake, New Zealand America’s Cup sailor

Well my drink is empty and since I can’t afford the yacht lifestyle, I might as well have another drink. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Hungarian “Soviet”Republic 1919, the proletariat is coming for you failed gentry, Gyorgy Dozsa style

Hungary was left an ethnic rumpstate after World War I, one that had lost 77% of it’s land. The ruling class had failed the people and deserved blame. So a new communist government was understandable, if only they could remember they work for Hungarians. A great time to invoke a previous rebellion lead by Gyorgy Dozsa against another discredited gentry. If Soviet Hungarian Republic President Sandor Garbai knew his history he would have worried. Hey wasn’t Dozsa fried and then eaten? So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult, lock your door if you are part of the landed gentry. and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist,

Hungary was only the second country to go Communist after Russia. It was a worldwide movement so they probably didn’t think too hard about the label Soviet. It wasn’t implying a Russian colony, except of course that was exactly what they were selling. The local Communists did think to appoint a gentile figurehead, President Garbai, to somewhat shield who they were. A later communist leader joked that Garbai was picked so that they would have someone to sign death warrants on the Sabbath.

Todays stamp is issue A18 a 75 Filler stamp issued by the Hungarian Soviet Republic on June 12th, 1919. It was the only issue of the Soviet Republic and consisted of five stamps in various denominations. My stamp has the later vertical watermark that did not make it into postal use before the short lived Soviet Republic ended. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $7.50 unused.

The Soviet Hungarian government came in peacefully but with a little trickery. The Hapsburg Regency ordered the center left social democrats to form a government not knowing they had merged with the still officially banned communists. The communists than ordered the Hapsburg regent and any social democrats in the government arrested. This was directly on orders from Soviet leader Lenin. The people who had such a time dealing with defeat were willing to give the communists a chance. They were desperate for anyone that could restore Hungary to its prewar status. The Reds had no trouble recruiting an army that duly marched into the old upper Hungary, then the Czech and Slovak Republic. The army made some progress but then declared a Slovak Soviet Republic in the conquered territory. This was about an ideology not restoring to Hungary it’s lost territory. The army and people rebelled and the Soviet republic fell. The Hapsburg Regency was restored and there was a “White Terror” against the Communists and the Jews who the government felt had betrayed the country. Many of the top Communists escaped the terror into exile including the top leadership and actor Bela Lugosi, who was head of the communist actors union. Lugosi went of course on to America to play a Hungarian Count from Transylvania not too unlike Gyorgy Dozsa. The rest of the leadership went on to the Soviet Union where many then fell victim to Stalin’s 1930s purges of those he suspected of being untrustworthy.

Hungarian Soviet propaganda 1919. To Arms! To Arms!

Gyorgi Dozsa was a Hungarian Count from Transylvania who lived around 1500 AD when Transylvania was part of a greater Hungary. After a meeting with the Pope the Hungarian Chancellor passed on his issuance of a Crusade against the Ottomans. Count Dozsa duly raised an army staffed by peasants to fight the Ottomans. The peasants felt the Army was not getting enough support from the Hungarian gentry that had initiated the war. The army turned against the Hungarian government while still under Count Dozsa and burned several hundred manor homes and castles and killing many of the gentry, often by Crucifixion. The King withdrew the crusade against the Ottomans and ordered the peasants back to the farms under “pain of death”. He also raised a new mercenary army to personally go after Count Dozsa. He was duly captured in battle in Tannesvar, in what is now Romania. After capture, he was mocked by being made to sit on an iron throne and wear an iron crown the had both been warmed in a fire until nearly molten. Still alive he was then cut with pliers also heated in the fire. Then fellow rebel prisoners were offered a way to avoid death by taking a bite of Count Dozsa’s flesh.

A woodcut depicting the death of the Count

The Communists of 1919 were just trying to weave a little history into their story of a glorious future. In retrospect the message is more clear, Don’t Screw with the Hungarian Gentry.

Well my drink is empty and faced with a choice of a controlled by outsider mob of peasants and a gentry that takes names and gets their revenge I will chose the gentry. At least they live better in the meantime, Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Romania 1928, celebrating the new province by crossing the Danube with the longest bridge in Europe

Romania kept getting bigger up through the first half of the 20th century. They scooped up new territory from the Ottomans, Bulgaria, and Hungary. As can be imagined, many had to move. Why not show however good stewardship by building the longest bridge in Europe. Nobody would expect to find that in Romania, and having it designed by a Romanian would show the possibilities. 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 celebrated Romania obtaining the province of Dobruja from Bulgaria 50 years before. The stamps show the port of Constanta on the Black Sea that was so important to Romania, an ancient monument to show the history, King Carol I who obtained the area, and the then King Carol Bridge in Cernavoda that was Romania’s great achievement in the area. Stamps can help a country to put their best foot forward and this issue was definitely doing that.

Todays stamp is issue A80, a 10 Lei stamp issued by the Kingdom of Romania on October 25th, 1928. It was a seven stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $3.25 unused.

The region of Dobruja was awarded to Russia in the Treaty of San Stefano of 1878 from Bulgaria after Russia defeated the Ottomans. They then traded the area to Romania for land in present day Moldavia. The area was about half Romanian but also contained Bulgars, Turks, Russian Tartars, Gypsies, and Germans. The port of Constanta on the Black Sea was very important and would be more so if it could be connected more directly to Bucharest.

Anghel Saligny was born in 1854 the son of a French educator who operated a boys boarding school in Focsani. He was able to continue his engineering education in Germany and was later employed designing railways in Saxony. Soon he was back in Romania designing railways and working on the facilities of the port of Constanta. A bridge over the Danube at Cernavoda was quite daunting due to the needed length and the bridge was initially bid out. Instead Romania decided to trust Saligny with the 8600 foot bridge. The bridge was built in five years and named for then King Carol.

In World War I the bridge very nearly saw its end. Bulgarians with German support were advancing through Dobruja toward Bucharest. The government considered blowing the bridge to slow the advance. Instead a new General was appointed as commander of the Romanian Second Army. He suggested that the government blow up the previous commander instead of the bridge. The bridge was made temporarily impassable but the Romanian 2nd Army was able to hold the line along the wide Danube. After the fall of the Royal Government in 1948, the bridge was renamed after Anghel Saligny.

Bridge Designer Anghel Saligny

In the 1980s a new slightly longer bridge was built nearby the Anghel Saligny Bridge. It was also designed in Romania and handled rail and road. The older bridge has not been taken down due to it’s historic signifigence. The new one may be slightly bigger but is not so handsome. The new bridge got a stamp in 1989 but that stamp is only worth 25 cents.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Anghel Saligny. His work was considered on the same level as Gustave Eiffel, whose firm had also put in a bid on the project. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

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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