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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.

 

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Tunisia 1968, Its Stamp Day! so lets listen to the Ney play Malouf

I doubt stamp collecting was ever a huge pastime in Tunisia. That does not mean there wasn’t an official stamp day with their post office issuing stamps that reflected the unique culture of Tunisia. So for the day, Tunisians put aside the Egyptian pop music so popular then and listened to more traditional music from Spain…. I mean Tunisia. 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.

For stamp day, a player of a traditional Arab/Persian flute called a ney is displayed. In Tunisia that probably means he is accompanying an old style of musical poetry called the Malouf that came to the area from Muslims escaping Spain and interacting with Ottomans and Berbers.

Todays stamp is issue A119 a 20 Millemes stamp issued by independent Tunisia on June 1st, 1968. It was a two stamp issue for Stamp Day that year. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 50 cents unused.

In the 13th century AD, Muslims began to be pushed out of Spain  and made their new home on the cities of the North African coasts. The music they brought with them interacted and somewhat replaced the earlier Berber musical forms. In Tunisia these crosscurrents of culture merged into the Malouf. This put to music an Arab style of poetry called Qasidah in a certain musical structure called Nuba. The instruments played were those coming from the Ottomans who were also making their presence felt in the area.

In the 20th century aside from an occasional performance at a wedding the Malouf style was dying out. Instrumental in saving at least the memory of the style was French Baron and musicologist Rudolphe d’Erainger. He wrote a six volume masterwork on the history of Arab music and arraigned with his friend King Fuad of Egypt a symposium in Cairo where performances in the traditional styles occurred. The Baron did not live to see Tunisia independent and the concomitant grasping at wisps of cultural heritage. After independence, the Baron’s palace in Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia, the Star of Zahra, was donated to the state to serve as a conservatory and venue for traditional Arab music. It is lucky for Tunisia in the absence of local historians, Baron d’Erainger filled the void.

The Baron’s palace, the Star or Zahra, now an Arab music conservatory.

Well my drink is empty and that is for the best because it is perhaps inappropriate to toast Muslim subjects. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting

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Spain 1976, We can now again cellebrate the rational architect who irrationally ran off

The Generalissimo Franco died a mere four months before this stamp was issued. Despite the continuity supposedly represented by the King, the other half of the story, and just that half, could now be heard. Well and good. The architect and city planner Secundino Zuazo abandoned his ongoing projects and fled to Paris when Franco came to power in 1939. His politics and his patronage were with the Republican side, but he never again designed an important building despite living another 30 years. Strange perhaps for a proponent of rationality in his architecture. 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 mentioned the continuity provided by the King. That can be seen on this stamp. No Mr. Zuazo is not someone who would be recognized under Franco even if his politics lined up. His work mainly consisted of Madrid government offices and upscale apartments for those that man them. The right views such people as leaches. Where you see the continuity is in the style of the stamp that is very traditional. So for the average not stamp collector who may not pay much attention, everything seems normal.

Todays stamp is issue A460, a 15 Peseta stamp issued by Spain on Febuary 25, 1976. It was a three stamp issue in various denominations showing prominent Spanish architects and their most famous work. This one shows Secundino Zuazo and his House of Flowers apartment building. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether used or unused.

Secundino Zuazo was born in Bilboa, Spain in 1887 and studied architecture in Madrid where he settled. At first he was an architect in the traditional style. However a trip to Holland brought him in touch with the new rational movement in architecture that began in Italy and spread. The movement did not reject traditional architecture  but thought less decoration and more functionality were called for. A typical apartment building of the time in Spain would have elaborate decoration especially at the four corners but small rooms with little light let in from small windows and little airflow. The toilet facilities were communal and consequently sanitation left much room for improvement.

To answer these issues, Zuazo created his most famous work in 1932, the House of Flowers as seen on the stamps. The apartments were larger with private bathrooms and higher ceilings and larger windows. The recessed structure next to it is not a parking deck but a structure of terraces with elaborate flowers. Notice however that the façade of the building is very plain in keeping with the modern rationality.

After the House of Flowers, Zuazo got his biggest commission, the Nuevo Ministeros in Madrid. The large structure had a large center courtyard for the government workers to enjoy away from the private eyes of the public. As the Civil War in Spain ground on progress on the complex was very slow. In 1939 Franco emerged victorious but the complex was still unfinished. Zuazo had been quite close with the previous government and decided to flee Spain for Paris. Franco eventually brought in a new team of architects that finished the complex but did not stick to Zuazo’s plans. Zuazo eventually returned to Spain but his career was in shambles.

The rational international school of architecture eventually evolved taking on more influence from industrial architecture with less respect for what was built before. This was also reflective of the great masses moving to the cities from rural areas and culminated in the brutalist school of architecture. This was most prominent in the east and I did a Polish stamp celebrating it here, https://the-philatelist.com/2019/03/20/poland-1976-would-it-be-too-brutal-to-try-this-again/     .

Well my drink is empty and I am wondering of the dichotomy of someone who promotes rationality in his profession but runs away when politics don’t go his way. It was perhaps lucky that Franco’s grip on power was so long. Imagine all the uprooting Zuazo would have to do if the government was changing every four years. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Egypt 1972, Sadat tries a Corrective Revolution

Some times it is obvious that the results of a revolution aren’t as wonderful as what was hoped. It is a time perhaps to bring in some new people and try some new things still within the framework of the revolution. We did an nineties stamp from Vietnam here, https://the-philatelist.com/2019/10/22/vietnam-1993-after-a-renovation-wondering-about-becoming-an-asian-tiger/   , when it faced similar issues. In Egypt, 20 years after the revolution that ended the Monarchy, new President Anwar Sadat was ready to put his stamp on Egypt. 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 emblem on this stamp proports to be the coat of arms of Egypt. It is not, after the Monarchy the Coat of Arms gas been a depiction of the Eagle of Saladin. That doesn’t mean that this is a bad emblem. You see the Pan Arab Socialist emphasis on progress and science. You also see the call to Faith, part of the Corrective Revolution was Sadat lightening up on religious persecution and reaching out a hand to Islamist. Getting that balance is quite tricky. Even on the stamp it seems somewhat discordant.

Todays stamp is issue A395, a 20 Milliemes stamp issued by Egypt on July 23rd, 1972 when it was in a federation with Syria, Libya, and the Sudan. It was a two stamp issue remembering the 20th anniversary of the revolution. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 30 cents used.

Anwar Sadat was born in southern Egypt to a Nubian family of modest means. He was one quarter Sudanese on his mothers side. Thus he was significantly darker than most Egyptians. He was trained as an officer in the Egyptian Army and posted to Sudan, where he met the more senior future general Nasser. He was arrested and jailed by the British for trying to contact the Axis powers to conspire to rid Egypt of Britain. He participated in the revolution that ended the Monarchy and rose fast in Nasser’s government including ultimately the Vice Presidency.

After the death of Nasser in 1970, Sadat assumed the Presidency. Most figured him a short term caretaker but he had other ideas. He threw out the Soviet Army from Egypt as a non Muslim force was unwelcome and exerted too much influence on Egypt’s actions. He arrested the head of Nasser’s secret police and lightened up on the practice of the faith. He rejuvenated efforts at Pan-Arabism by introducing a Federation of Arab Republics. After agreeing in full to a UN proposal on the Israel occupied Sinai resulted in no movement with Israel he reformed the Army toward a new war. This was all packaged as a Corrective Revolution.

In 1973, the Egyptian Army crossed on to the Sinai smashing Israel’s fortifications. Though the war did not regain the Sinai it did energize Egypt and the wider Arab world. The near defeat shocked Israel and made them suddenly more willing to deal for peace. When the peace treaty was signed with Israel many Arabs viewed it as a betrayal. The new more capable Egyptian Army was the key tool in the defeat of the Jewish entity as they put it. Egypt was wrong they felt to sellout in exchange for only the occupied land in Sinai. The Federation with other Arab states ended and even the headquarters of the Arab League moved to Tunis, Tunisia. Sadat was assassinated 4 years later. There are debates whether the assassin was motivated by Nasserism or Islamism.

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

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Japan1990, Remembering when Rangaku broadened to include Germany, and sex

Why is old Japanese man writing a letter in old style German. I thought he might be some sort of ambassador from the Axis alliance period. That man of course would not be getting honored with a postage stamp in modern Japan. Instead this is more interesting from a time when Japanese realized they had much to learn from the west in general and a man might find the broadened horizons life changing in the individual. 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 promotes the 8th Congress of the international Association of German studies. The group promotes the fact that the German language is the basis also for Dutch, the Scandinavian languages, and Yiddish. The commonality means there is a basis for cooperation. Well fine, but what does that have to do with Japan. The Japanese stamp designer might have peaked your interest to study the connection. Subtly but the more you look the more there is to see.

Todays stamp is issue A1578, a 62 Yen stamp issued by Japan on August 27th, 1990. It was a single stamp issue. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 30 cents used.

In 1620, the Dutch were able to set up a trading post near Nagasaki that was tolerated by the Shogun Japanese governments. The Dutch were there to facilitate exports of silk and deer hides to the West. Soon a two way trade developed as the Japanese realized the Dutch were far ahead in areas like industry and medicine.This gained knowledge was called Rangaku. Mori Ogai was born into a family of physicians that served Japanese feudal lords in 1862. As part of his medical training to join the family practice, Mori studied the Dutch language to better make use of the Dutch medical textbooks being used. Upon graduation, the new physician was commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Army medical corps. Through the Army an opportunity to further his studies for four years in Germany opened up. His knowledge of Dutch made Mori the obvious choice for the German opportunity.

Upon returning to Japan in 1888, Mori rose rapidly in the medical corps, eventually becoming it’s head. What he is most famous for however is his writing career that began after his return. His first book, “The Dancing Girl” was quite a sensation in Japan. It was the autobiographical story of a Japanese exchange student that had an affair with a German dancer named Elise. When it was time to return to Japan, the student has to chose between a promising career in Japan and his love for Elise. He choses his career and leaves Elise alone and pregnant and she has a mental breakdown. This wasn’t the typical Japanese story of the time.

Mori’s most famous story was “The Wild Geese”. This was set in Tokyo and the story of a banker who is unhappy with his nagging wife and takes a young, poor, mistress named Otama. Otama finds the situation with the banker soul crushing until she meets a young medical students who she falls in love with and dreams he will rescue her from her miserable life. These books were aimed at females who previously hadn’t much attention in Japanese literature. Mori’s real love life was also dramatic but perhaps he was not also the hero, he had a string of bad marriages.

 

USA cover of “The Wild Geese”

Mori’s daughter Mari also became an important author. She was an originator of the Yaoi style of Japanese fiction written by women for women. These are homoerotic stories of older men who have affairs with much younger teenage boys. Seems a strange thing for women to read about.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the designer of this stamp, A German language convention in Japan doesn’t sound like it would be interesting, but I really enjoyed this stamp. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.,

 

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Chile 1989, Chile remembers when they defeated Bolivia’s pretend navy

Bolivia is a landlocked nation. In the 1830s it confederated with Peru freaking out Chile and Argentina. I bet the Chileans were not expecting a naval attack from Bolivia, but it was a time when you could set a bounty and attract foreign privateers. 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.

Here we have a naval battle scene and a seaman of the Chilean navy. The navy perhaps should have worked harder on their uniforms, this fellow looks more like he might be one of the privateers Chile was fighting. The Chilean Captain was British and the privateer Captain was French, so perhaps they were trying to imply someone from the area was involved in the battle.

Todays stamp is issue A440, a 100 Peso stamp issued by Chile on January 12, 1989, the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Casma. It was a four stamp issue that came out as two stamp pairs depicting battles from the War of Confederation. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 85 cents used.

Robert Simpson was born in England and was a teenage midshipman on the sloop HMS Rose under Lord Cochrane. A port call in Chile saw him jump ship to join the navy of newly independent Chile. It was an opportunity for rapid advancement and by age 21 he was a Captain. An example of how threadbare the operation was can be seen in his command of the American built 18 gun brigantine Araucano. Ordered to sail to California to buy supplies after raiding Spanish commerce off Acapulco, Simpson went ashore to handle transactions. The ship then mutinied under one of Simpson’s also British deputies and sailed around the pacific ocean before ending up as a pirate ship based out of Tahiti. The French authorities there eventually seized the ship and told Chile the ship was theirs if they would come get it. They never came for it.

Simpson returned to Chile after being stranded and given later commands. In the late 1830s, Simpson was commanding a three ship squadron that was trying to blockade the port of Lima during the war with the Confederation of Bolivia and Peru. A bounty of 200,000 Pesos was put on the Chilean squadron. A four small ship force of privateers responded to bounty under former French naval officer Juan Blanchet. We can probably deduce that 200,000 Pesos was more then than now. The Chilean squadron was caught in Casma bay but the bigger Chilean ships got the better of the fighting. The privateers’ flagship was captured and Blanchet killed. The other privateers than hoisted French flags and ran. Unfortunately in running they ran into a real French warship that did not appreciate their French flags and forced the privateer squadron to disband. Simpson was made a Commodore and many years later took Chilean citizenship.

Commodore Robert Simpson, some Chileans called him Roberto but probably not Beto

The Chileans eventually also beat the confederation on the ground as well as at sea and the confederation between Peru and Bolivia ended. The leader of the confederation went into a European exile.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Commodore Simpson. We can’t know if would have risen so high in the Royal Navy but he did manage to rule the seas, Britannia style, at least in the Bay of Casma. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Vatican City 1967, Honoring Saint Peter by going outside the walls

The Vatican does not lack for items of beauty to display. The important thing to communicate is that the item often conveys a Holy meaning beyond merely the aesthetics. 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.

Vatican postage stamps are not surprisingly printed in Rome. Nearby Vienna is more well known for skill of stamp design and production but carries perhaps too much baggage regarding “Holy” Roman history. The Rome based  engravers did seem to take extra effort on the Vatican stamp issues.

Todays stamp is issue A135, a 220 Lira stamp issued by Vatican City on June 15th, 1967. It was a four stamp issue in various denominations honoring the 1900th anniversary of the martyrdom of Disciples and Saints Peter and Paul. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents.

The land on which Saint Peter was martyred in Rome was owned by a Christian woman named Lucina. She had built a tropaeum that became a site for veneration of Peter. In the late days of the Roman Empire, A Basilica was built on the expanded site. The Basilica was one of the four major ones located in Rome and the only one outside the walls of Vatican City. Outside the Walls is sometimes included in it’s title. It is still owned by the Vatican and considered their territory in the manner of a foreign embassy.

The Basilica has been the recipient of a few challenges over it’s many years. In it’s first hundred years it was heavily damaged by a lightning strike. In 846 AD, Rome and the Basilica were sacked by Arab raiders called the Saracens. The raiders did not penetrate the walls of Vatican City so the position outside was critical. In 1823 there was a huge fire during a renovation that required a total rebuilding. The alter had been constructed over Saint Peters sarcophagus, making it impossible to see or touch. This was remedied, if that’s what you want to call it by making it visible on one side recently. The Church must be fairly confident that there will not be a visit by modern Saracens.

For most of the life of the Basilica, it was the home of the Latin Patriarch of the Egyptian city of Alexandra. The city went vast majority Muslim many years ago. The Christian community  however was divided between allegiance to Rome or Constantinople after the Eastern schism within the church upon the breaking in two of the by then Christian Roman Empire. The argument over the Egyptian Coptics went on for 1000 years until 20th century Catholics first left the position empty and then abolished it. The Basilica is currently managed by an Archpriest. Today that is Cardinal James Michael Harvey, from Milwaukee, USA.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the city of Rome. The presence of the Papal enclave has added many complications to the city over the many years. Come again tomorrow when there will be another story to be learned from stamp collecting.

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Sudan 1951, As the Egyptian/British co dominion fades the Hadendoa fuzzy-wuzzies briefly rise

The Egyptian Kingdom replaced the Ottomans in northern Sudan. Of course the British were also there but in the background. After the war, where Sudanese including the Hadendoa fuzzy wuzzies had helped fight off the Italians and Egypt was especially weak, it was a good time for the native Sudanese to make their case for a nation. 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.

Naturally during the co dominion period, the postal service was left to the British. A dominion on the way to independence will show more of the local flavor of the place but still with a colonial perspective. So here we have a member of the Hadendoa tribe appearing on a stamp. The Hadendoa tribe is a mixed group with black African and Arab heritage. The wild hair that they process was what stood out about them to the British and what appears on this later stamp. The Hadendoa were the subject of the term Fuzzy-Wuzzies that Rudyard Kipling made famous. The Hadendoa do not feature on more modern Sudanese stamps. They did not win the power struggle post independence.

Todays stamp is issue A11, a 10 Milliemes/1 Piaster stamp issued by Sudan in 1951. This was while it was still under the co dominion of Egypt and Britain. It was a 17 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents.

The Hadendoa (lion clan) was a nomadic tribe that were part of the old Christian Kingdom of Axum in eastern Sudan and Ethiopia. The tribe was gradually  converted to Muslim mainly by intermarriage. The Muslims of Sudan thought that the Ottomans to the north were too lax in upholding Islam while the British to the south were preventing the conversion of Africans in southern Sudan. The Sudanese united under a Muslim cleric named Mohamad Ahmad who had proclaimed himself Mahdi. A Mahdi is a redeemer of the Islamic world. The uprising lasted 18 years before the British finally won. That is of course if you accept that winning in Sudan is being allowed to stay there.

Mahdi Muhamad Ahmad. from artist conception as there are no photos

After World War II, the group put down in the Mahdi uprising were elevated briefly by the British. The British were looking to leave Sudan while the Egyptians desired to stay and formally annex it. British efforts toward nation building included a plebiscite on the future of Sudan that supporters of Egypt boycotted. Thus the late days colonial government perhaps over represented the Hadendoa. The British had built a dam on the Nile river that had greatly increased the area of cultivated land and this was used to raise cotton for use in the then British textile industry. During this period the Monarchy in Egypt fell and the new government renewed efforts to influence Sudan with an eye toward merging the countries. When there was a second election to chose the post independence government, the pro Egyptian party won and became the dominant force in early post independence Sudan.

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

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Great Britain 1936, Edward VIII the past as precursor

With another English Prince abdicating his duties and losing his title to placate the unroyal woman he loves, it is a good time to review what happened with Edward VIII. Time will tell if the past is precursor.  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.

Edward did not have enough time on the Throne to have a full set of stamps done for him. There was just this rather austere bulk issue where it turned out very appropriately Edward is not wearing a Crown. The stamps showing Edward were not demonetized or overprinted to cancel out his image after abdication. Their short time status is reflected in stamp value today. The next issue same value stamp displaying new King George VI are worth one third the value.

Todays stamp is issue A99, a 2 and a half Pence stamp issued by Great Britain in 1936. It was a four stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 75 cents used.

King Edward VIII was on the Throne for 10 months. He desired to marry an American socialite Wallis Simpson who was divorcing her second husband. Prime Minister Baldwin  advised that it was not an appropriate marriage as he was the symbolic head of the Church of England and that the British people would not accept Wallis as Queen Consort. Under the Westminster Statue Law of 1931 the Parliaments of the Dominions had to give assent to the choice. Prime Minister Baldwin also implied that if Edward married anyway, the government would resign. Edward then proposed a morganatic marriage to Wallis where she would not become Queen Consort and any offspring would not be in the line of succession. This was all rejected and Edward abdicated in December 1936.

In theory Edward would have reverted to the Prince title but new King George VI quickly bestowed the title of Duke of Windsor with an accompanying His Royal Highness. This happened before the marriage so HRH did not go to Wallis. Giving Edward this title made him a peer and disallowed him  discussing politics or running for the seat in the House of Commons, a big fear. There was also much ado about money. Bank accounts controlled by the King were cleaned out during Edward’s last days on the Throne. Leaving meant that Edward was no longer on the civil list for government funds but George gave Edward a large stipend in return for not coming back to Britain. He also demanded payment for Sandringham House and Balmoral Castle. Telephone calls demanding money from Edward became so frequent that King George VI and the Queen Mother Mary stopped taking his calls.

The Church of England refused to marry but a renegade priest Robert Jardine conducted the ceremony in Paris. The priest claimed that the Bishop’s instruction not perform the marriage did not apply outside of Britain. Jardine was forced to resign the priesthood afterward and move to the USA where he cashed in by writing a book.

As we can expect from Harry, the stipend from the Monarch however generous it would seem to any even well off person, was not enough for the jet set lifestyle. Edward began monetizing his notoriety by being paid to be interviewed and accepting junkets offered by iffy people.

Among those iffy people was Nazi era Germans. Wallis had an affair with German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop from the time he was German Ambassador in London in 1936. They remained in contact and everyone was worried that Edward would reclaim the Throne with German backing, in the dark days after the fall of France. Edward played into that fear by traveling from France to Nazi sympathizing Spain And Portugal. In July 1940, Edward was appointed Governor of far off Bahamas to keep Edward out of Germany’s reach. There was much relief when he boarded the ship to leave Lisbon for his new assignment.

Edward after the war concocted a plot to return to England. He considered buying a country house near London as George VI’s health declined. He wanted to be in place in case there was an opportunity to serve as Regent. This did not pan out and he received no new assignments from Queen Elizabeth II. One bone she threw at her uncle was allowing him and Wallis! to be buried at the Royal burial ground at Frogmore castle. The previous plan would have seen the couple buried in Baltimore, Maryland next to Wallis’s father. The cemetery in Baltimore is also the place of rest for John Wilkes Booth.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast King George VI. It must have been a Herculean task to keep things going through all the craziness. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Reunion 1933, Reuniting with mutineers

Reunion was not occupied before the French came. So perhaps the clean slate would mean less colonial baggage. Perhaps not though when the first residents who create the island’s heritage are mutineers. 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 were wonderful for showing the exotic aspects of empire on their stamps. So a tall waterfall cascading down the wet side of a volcanic mountain can get the juices flowing of a stamp collector cooped up in a French city. To be more modern after the war, outposts like Reunion were made overseas departments of France. By extension then they are now far off outposts of the European Union. To bad the EU does not do postage stamps for their empire.

Todays stamp is issue A22, a one Centime stamp issued by the French colony of Reunion in 1933. It was part of a 41 stamp issue in various denominations, this one showing the Salazie waterfall. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents unused. A version of this stamp without the RF means it was from the Vichy government of France during the wartime German occupation. They are not real as they did not actually make it to the island for use in postage, getting them to stamp dealers was the priority.

Reunion is a volcanic island in the Indian ocean  east of Madagascar. There were no natives however the islands over time had been spotted by ancient mariners from Indonesia, Arabie, and Portugal. France was the first to leave people there in 1642 when 12 mutineers were left there after being part of a failed mutiny in Madagascar. French King Charles IV had dreams of France prospering off the India trade, and personally provided 20% of the equity for the French East India Company. The company planned trading posts in India as well as Reunion, Mauritius, and Madagascar. Reunion was not yet called that. The French East India Company replaced the Portuguese given name of Saint Apollonia with the name Bourbon after the French Royal House and in honor of Charles IV’s money. The Company was not able to bring in the hoped for profits with several outposts failing and several recapitalizations.

The French Revolution then intruded. First the new name Reunion after the joining of revolutionaries from Marseilles with the National Guard in Paris in 1792. More importantly, the revolutionary government in France ended the monopoly of French trade with the east and soon the French East India Company was bankrupt with the assets reverting to the state. Napoleon tried to change the name of the island to Bonaparte but that did not stick with the Bourbon name coming back during a brief wartime British occupation. The troubles of 1848 then brought back the name Reunion which has stuck.

The island during the war affiliated with Vichy France. The Free French had other ideas. The elderly French destroyer Leopard had escaped to Portsmouth in England during the fall of France. After convoy escort duty, it was modified in South Africa for Free French colonial duty. An engine and a gun were removed so extra fuel and 80 French marines could be carried. The Leopard was resisted by the Shore Battery and it took several days of fighting before the Vichy administration gave up. The ship later was written off after it ran aground in Libya in confusion after a German attack.

The rebellious spirit of the island was shown again recently. The problem of childhood poverty on Reunion was addressed when 1630 children were moved to France and made available for adoption. As adults the adopted children filed repeated lawsuits that the movement to France was against their will and not adequate screening of adoptive families was done. The lawsuits were all thrown out of court but it is a twist to have immigrants claiming ill will in bringing them to an advanced country.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the adoptive parents of the children from Reunion. The grown up children may romanticize what their life would have been like in the tropical paradise as shown on the stamps, but they were saved from a life of deprivation. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.