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Haiti 1954, Honor Madame Magloire before she catches the last plane out

When we these dictators learn to stop flashing money in these desperately poor countries? This dark skinned First Family fronted for the Creole elite of Haiti. So perhaps living and fronting just like a Creole is not going to get the job done. 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 the old conundrum. The first couple did not lack for style. Madame Magliore was glamorous, her children were photogenic and the President was at the ready with an over the top Napoleon style uniform to remind of his military service. This all plays well on stamps but can’t survive the basic question of who pays for this when we are all so poor.

Todays stamp is issue C77 a 1 Gourde airmail stamp issued by Haiti on January 1st, 1954. There were airmail and regular postage versions of this stamp. The tiny airplane in the top right corner and higher denomination denote airmail. The check mark is not an official overstamp but probably applied by the postmaster as part of the cancelation. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 60 cents used.

Yolette Leconte was born to a rich family in Haiti in 1919. At age 17 she married Paul Magloire, a fast rising Army officer 12 years her senior. They had four children. Paul Magloire’s rise was fast because he was corrupt. By 1944 he was head of the military police in Port-au-Prince. In 1946 he participated in a successful coup against President Elie Lescot. Lescot was a member of the small minority of Creoles that are the economic elite. He was close with the USA and Trujillo’s Dominican Republic. This coup was considered hopeful by many in Haiti as it brought a Haitian with dark skin to power. Magloire began to enjoy spoils from both sides of the Haitian racial divide. In 1950 the Creole elite was ready to come back to power but this time they were clever and dashing black officer Paul Magloire was the face of their coup.

The elite being in power stably can lead to some progress. Haiti’s first dam and a new Catholic Cathedral were constructed. Both of course were with outside money but a Haiti that was stable never lacked for outside help. Haiti even began to attract Western tourists including Truman Capote, Irving Berlin, and Noel Cowart. One can image what they were doing in Haiti. Yolette busied herself with shopping trips and the occasional charity photo op. President Paul Magloire had two nicknames either Bon Papa or Old Iron Pants.

The wheels came off the regime due to a woman. No not Yolette but Hazel, Hurricane Hazel. The deadly hurricane was followed by an outpouring of aid from the USA and elsewhere. When that aid did not arrive to those in need, questions were asked. The Magloires did not have good answers to these questions as they stole the money. As the questions turned into riots, the Magloires flew off into exile in New York. After a few years of chaos the Duvalier dictatorship took over and stripped the Magloires of their Haitian citizenship. The exile would be permanent but a comfortable one with their riches intact. Yolette died at age 62 in New York in 1981.

In 1986 the Duvalier line fell in Haiti. Two years later now old man Paul Magloire returned to Haiti. He tried to market his era in Haiti as a golden age. That of course greatly devalues the term golden age but it is Haiti we are talking about. With Haiti’s young population and short life expectancy there were few people who were buying his talk of long ago. Paul Magloire died in Port-au-Prince in 2001 at age 93 in obscurity. The next golden age of Haiti will not be recognized with postage stamps. Their last official issue was in 2003 though there have since been fakes. Haiti can no longer prove a postal service.

Well my drink is empty and I may have a few more while I contemplate the plight of the Haitians. Part of me wants to say you get the leaders you deserve but that just condemns so many to misery. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Hungary 1986, Remembering the retaking of Buda Castle from the Ottomans 300 years before

History buffs may remember that the Ottomans were stopped at the gates of Vienna. They did occupy sometimes empire sister city Budapest for 200 years ending in 1686. Yes that did make a difference. 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 palace was built in a grand Gothic style for Hungarian Kings. The Ottomans used the complex as a fortification and armory with it’s finery long gone. Thus the return of the Hungarians must have seemed a restoration of civilization. This is captured well on the stamp by using Gyula Bencur’ s much later painting.

Todays stamp is issue A806, a 4 Forint stamp issued by the People’s Republic of Hungary on September 2nd, 1986.  This was a single stamp issue. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 30 cents used.

Buda castle is located on the high ground facing the Danube River. The first Royal Residence there was built for Hungarian King Bela IV around 1250 AD. The last Royal occupant was Hapsburg Regent Admiral Miklos Horthy until 1944. The palace was greatly expanded in the Gothic style to serve as the main residence of Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund around 1400. Hungary evacuated the town before the arrival of the Ottomans in 1526. The town was looted and burned but the castle left intact. The treasures were carted back to Constantinople by Sultan Sulieman the Magnificent. He was not magnificent enough to preserve what he liberated as most was destroyed in rebellions there a few years later.

Budapest, it was three separate towns then, went into a decline during the Ottoman years. Those of Hungarian or German heritage mostly departed for the still Hapsburg ruled Royal Hungary. The population and importance of Budapest declined and in addition to Ottomans numbers of Gypsies and Jews increased. With no local Royals to house, Buda Castle became an Armory. In 1686 troops of 13 Christian European nations fought to retake Budapest from the Ottomans. During the fighting the armory that was Buda Castle exploded. The force was so great that a wave on the Danube wiped out artillery batteries on both sides of the river. The Castle was a ruin but was later rebuilt in even a grander style by Hapsburg Queen Marie Theresa as thanks for Hungarian support of her during the War of Austrian succession. The elaborate grounds were the center of Hungarian political life.

During World War II, Buda Castle was again destroyed. The Germans in defeat had hoped for a Stalingrad like turnaround in Budapest. It was hoped to bog down the Soviets in winter house to house fighting in Budapest while German tank units encircle them. The Germans were not able to encircle the Soviets, they got within 20 miles of it. There was however much house to house fighting with the last holdouts being on the grounds of Buda Castle.

Interestingly the post war Red government decided to rebuild Buda Castle not in the Hapsburg style but more as it was at the time before the Ottomans. Medieval Castles were  also of course fortifications and the war had showed that what happened before could always happen again.

Destruction after World War II
Modern aerial view of Buda Castle

 

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the residents of modern Budapest. In October, I enjoyed a great trip there were I was able to wonder the grounds of Buda Castle as well as enjoy the excellent food and drink and yes tour their stamp museum. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Netherlands 1980, reminding new Queen Beatrix that some Queens face challenges

Churchill described Queen Wilhelmina as the only “real man” among the many governments in exile in London. Perhaps because it wasn’t her first war. Quite a lesson for granddaughter and new Queen Beatrix. Things looked bright for Beatrix’s Reign, but one can never be sure. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

This stamp was issued on the fortieth anniversary of the Netherlands being conquered by Germany. Given that there was a new Queen that year the presentation comes across as a plea that the new Queen be more serious in the mold of Wilhelmina and less of the flightiness and corruption of recently abdicated Queen Julianna. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/08/30/netherlands-1971-prince-bernhard-is-honored-for-his-part-in-dutch-aviation-before-his-reputation-tarnishes/    .

Todays stamp is issue A198, a 60 cent stamp issued by the Netherlands on September 23rd, 1980. There was one other stamp in the issue that featured Churchill and the British flag in thanks for hosting the government in exile. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

There were 3 Queens in a row that served between 1890 and 2013.The Dutch House of Orange did have rules favoring male heirs but if their are no male offspring…. Wilhelmina assumed the throne after the death of her elderly father. He had 4 sons by his first wife but they had all died. The King remarried in old age in hope of a new heir but the only issue was Wilhelmina who in her early years had her mother serve as regent. Wilhelmina faced many wars that challenged her deeply. The first was the Boer war that saw Boer settlers of Dutch heritage fighting a losing battle with the British in South Africa. She risked war with the British when she ordered Dutch naval ships to South Africa to evacuate leaders of the Orange Free State. This gave her a loathing of the British.

Germany was threatening as World War I approached. Kaiser Wilhelm threatened her by pointing out that his bodyguards were 7 feet tall while hers were a foot shorter. She responded “That is true your Majesty, but if we release the dykes the water will be 10 feet deep.” Holland was not attacked in the war but faced the same blockaide as the Germans as they were perceived as allies of them. Kaiser Wilhelm was welcomed in Holland when he was exiled from defeated Germany. The fall of the Czar in Russia also left her personal fortune much diminished. She had been the first female billionaire. She was also facing a strong communist labor movement  at home that sought to remove her. The relative prosperity of the country at the time saved the Dutch Monarchy.

The Queen pulled an about face when Germany attacked in 1940. The government boarded British ships and was evacuated to London. The Prime Minister sought accommodation with the German invadors but Wilhelmina was now adamant about the Allied cause and had him removed from the government in exile. She became a symbol of resistance. Her home in Britain was even heavily damaged by a late in the war mini Blitz by Germany on Britain in early 1944. She returned after the war but by this point she was elderly herself. She began the tradition of abdicating to allow the next generation a long rule. That tradition continued through Beatrix abdicating in 2013 in favor of her son.

Beatrix reign was for less eventful than Wilhelmina. The power that she had was gradually disapated. She also avoided controversy by making it against the rules to quote her directly. Her son abandoned this but it seems a sensible precaution if someone is adept at putting their foot in their mouth.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the Royal House of Orange. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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China 1959, check out the perhaps new natural history museum, it claims dragon fossils

There are no such thing as dragons. That of course is not what Chinese kids want to hear and after all that is what natural history museums are trying to attract and inspire. Well them and maybe a plutocrat or two from the Chinese diaspora. So slip in 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 printing on the stamp lets down the new building for the natural history museum. It is a pretty good example of the Chinese take on Brutalist architecture. In 1959, the Chinese inked a deal with the Czechs on postal design cooperation. Anyone who remembers cold war era Czech stamps will grasp that this meant Chinese stamps were going to get larger and more colorful.

Todays stamp is issue A107, an 8 Fen stamp issued by the People’s Republic of China on April 1st, 1959. It was a two stamp issue in different denominations celebrating the opening in Peking of the Museum of Natural History. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 75 cents cancelled.

This stamp places the opening of the museum in 1959. The current itineration of the museum list the opening date as 1951 and the taking of the present name as 1962. The stamp from 1959 uses the 1962 and later name. I suspect the intention of having a natural history museum was announced in 1951 with the building and permanent collection ready in 1959. The museum employs teams of scientists in paleontology, botony, and zoology.

The displays of early life on earth are grouped in chronological order and include dinosoars and early examples of elephants. The star of the show is the 78 meter fossil they claim is a dragon. No word if they have managed to show how it used to breath fire.

The museum is an accomplishment of the early days of the Communist regime, but that was a long time ago. The modern museum owes a great deal to the late in life donations from diaspora philanthropist Tian Jiabing. Apparently greedy for handouts Chinese institutions kneel before robber barons now just as in the west.

Tian was from Dabu in China but quickly moved on to Vietnam to which he exported Dabu made porcelain. When the war made this trade impossible he moved on to the Dutch Indies and got involved in the rubber industry. He amassed 3 factories in Indonesia but felt that Chinese were persecuted in independent Indonesia. Maybe if they had allowed him a fourth factory? In 1959 China was in the middle of their industrial “Great Leap Forward” and so could readily make use of the skill and capital of a rich Chinese industrialist. Instead Tian moved to Hong Kong. He wasn’t finished making the world better. He used his expertise in rubber to become a leader in the production of leatherette. He marketed himself as the leather king of Hong Kong. Well maybe the leatherette Majoor de Chinezen, as they said in the Dutch Indies.

Leatherette King and museum donator Tian Jiabing

As Tian aged in the 1980s he shielded his assets from taxes in a charitable foundation that doled out donations to institutions that would attach his name to things. This included schools in every province of China and Taiwan. Now he marketed himself in China as the “Father of a 100 schools”. Well maybe the Dutch (Indies) Uncle of 100 schools. The 1998 financial crises wiped out Tian’s industrial assets but Tian was not through virtue signaling. He sold his 40 million HK dollar house to recapitalize his foundation. Obviously stealing the money from his creditors. Before dying in 2018 he traveled China to allow the people to shower him with rewards. He showed his virtue by refusing Soda and bringing soap with him to hotels for the environment. Pretty obnoxious for a rubber and plastics guy. Sorry the stories of guys like this really get my goat. End Rant.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Chairman Mao for seeing the need for the museum and getting it built. Waiting for robber barons would have taken forever. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Western Australia 1890, Remembering the Swan River Colony

Due to it’s mention by Karl Marx in “Das Kapital”, the Swan River Colony is remembered has a failure. Yet almost every stamp of the successor Western Australia colony has a swan on it. The survivors of the Swan Colony proved themselves hardy men however, so why shouldn’t the descendants want them remembered. 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.

Of the 123 stamp issues of  Western Australia, 6 of them do not have a portrait of a swan. The 6 others all featured Queen Victoria. During this period there were a lot of Aborigine and after the time of the Swan River Colony a lot of UK convicts arrived. So a fairly small swath of the population is being represented by the swan. Apparently influential, and it is not like all those in the American West come from cowboy stock. The black swan is native to Australia but the colony began at the mouth of the Swan River.

Todays stamp is issue A10, a 2 Pence stamp issued by the British Colony of Western Australia in 1890. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $3.00 used. If the same stamp was unused, the value goes to $37.50. This shows that even in a small colony, stamps could be printed for use rather than just revenue generation.

It is thought that the aborigine indigenous people arrived in Western Australia 40,000 years ago when sea levels were much lower. I have never understood how proclaimed indigenous people can arrive. There is no doubt that the there first title is theirs however. The first European was Dutch Explorer Dirk Hartog in 1616. He kindly left a plaque on a post before he left. Much of the early European exploration including Hartog were sailing ships headed for the Dutch colony at Batavia,(modern day  Jakarta) but blown off course. The first British claim to the area was made in 1791 by George Vancouver, the Royal Navy Captain more famous for his work on the northwest North American coast.

In the early 19th century, the British worried of France establishing a colony in western Australia. New South Wales sent a small detachment of soldiers, administrators, and convicts in 1826. The going was rough as the area was very dry with few sources of fresh water. After a survey British Captain James Sterling returned to Britain and promoted the area as a free colony. This meant not convicts with land granted to British colonists agreeing to the adventure. The Swan River mouth was thought the best place for the water.

New South Wales sent out a party to check on the colony and reported back that they had found a few near starving people but that the new colony had been abandoned. This was not true. Most of the colonist ships coming from Britain rerouted to other parts of Australia. A few ships still came and the colony struggled on finally getting sheep herding established.

In 1850 the Swan River Colony was reorganized as Western Australia and the large scale importation of convicts began. This was used as an example  by Karl Marx that a dependent labour class was necessary for a capitalist colony to work. History suggests that Marx had a valid and damming point. The Western Australian Colony was also helped along by the discovery of gold. The colony had 100,000 residents when it joined Australia in 1901. Aborigine were not counted in the early censuses, but I am not sure if modern reporting adjusts the old census to include guesses of the number of Aborigine.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another while imagining the hardship and adventure of the Swan River Colony. Take a listen to the old Zombies song “Imagine the Swan”.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1CIjBHKsUI     . Bet the Zombies didn’t realize they were singing about Australia, but the lyrics work. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

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Greece 1947, mourning King George II, the man whose most important tool was his suitcase

Many Balkan Kings were really from northern Europe, in the case of Greece, the King was Danish. So perhaps he was not ideal in providing  the stability and continuity of an ideal Royal family. Yet there was always the hope and so King George II kept his suitcase packed whether in country or during his frequent exiles. 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 have always admired Royal death stamps with their perforated white area redone with a black frame suitable for mourning. This is perhaps the worst version of such a stamp I have seen. George by all accounts a dower and aloof man. This is reflected in the stamps portrait. The black frame done as a cheap overprint and then the bad situation of 1947 Greece is further shown by overprinting a 50 Drachma new value on a not old I Drachma stamp. Gosh George, we know you were gone a lot, but couldn’t you have left your people in a better place?

Todays stamp is issue A67, a 50 Drachma stamp issued by the Kingdom of Greece on April 15, 1947. It was a 3 stamp death issue for King George II who had died April 1st. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 60 cents unused. A mistaken double overprint of the new denomination would up the value to $72.50. The original 1 Drachma version of the stamp from when he was alive is worth 25 cents.

Greece in the early 20th century suffered numerous changes in government. Charles II’s Grandfather was assassinated and soon after assuming the Throne his Father was forced into exile in favor of Charles’s younger brother. This was as preparation to becoming a Republic which then did not happen. Charles received military training in Germany and married German Romanian Princess Elisabeth. After World War I, Charles was invited to come back to Greece and restore the natural Royal Line. Charles and Elisabeth came back but by 1923 they were again back into exile. At first they went to Bucharest where Elisabeth was happy with her family but Charles was bored. He moved to London, taking a house in Belgravia that he shared with his mistress Joyce.

Between 1923 and 1935, Greece had 23 governments. There was increasing support for a return of the Monarchy. When Queen Consort Elisabeth heard of this, she did not desire a return to Greece. Among her lovers was a banker named Alexandru who had made her rich. Without telling George in London what she was up to, Elisabeth divorced George in a Bucharest court on the grounds of his abandoning the family home. He returned to Greece alone and childless but back on the Throne.

Greece was closely divided between communists and the far right. Middle of the road political figures could not gain traction. George supported a far right figure named Metaxas as Prime Minister who ruled as a Dictator but left George on the Throne. During WWII, Greece tried to side with the Allies but was quickly overrun by Germany. George was again off to exile in his beloved London. The Allied victory was complicated for Greece. Britain did not want a return of the prewar far right regime and so did not want George to return to Greece. They forced him to appoint a Cleric as Regent who then appointed a moderate left government. This was not going to do as the numerous communists were in open violent revolt. A 1946 plebiscite that the left boycotted saw a return of a hard right government with a concomitant invitation for George to return to Greece and resume his reign. His now ex wife Elisabeth was financially supporting the communist insurgency. He returned to find his Palace looted and died shortly after returning. His younger brother Paul succeeded him.

Queen Consort Elisabeth continued her interesting life after the divorce. Sensing change coming she became involved romantically with several prominent communists in Romania. The young King of Romania referred to her as his “Red” aunt. She was not allowed to stay in communist Romania but was given several days to pack and a private train to leave on. She much enjoyed looting her own Palaces. She left room on her train for Alexandru. However once in the south of France, she took up with a much younger would be artist named Marc. Unable to secure for him a title so that they could marry, she instead adopted him three months before her death in 1956 at age 62. Marc was 32.

Elisabeth as a young Romanian Princess

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

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Great Britain 1973, Idealizing a Royal Marriage does not always work out

The oldest daughter of the Queen in 1973 was not likely to assume the Throne as younger male siblings took precedence. That does not mean Anne, Princess Royal’s marriage to Calvary Captain and Olympic Gold medalist Mark Phillips was not worth broadcasting around the world to give a peak at a different sort of life. Maybe that life wasn’t so different after all as infidelities on both sides lead to divorce. 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.

Deciding on a close up face shot was an interesting choice by the stamp designer. It might have worked better with better looking people. On the other hand, Royal style over the top military uniforms and hyper traditional wedding dresses would have annoyed or seemed political in 1973.

Todays stamp is issue A250, a 3 and a half penny stamp issued by Great Britain on November 14th, 1973. It was a two stamp issue in different denominations and colour tints with the same picture. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether used or unused.

Untitled Mark Phillips was commissioned as a junior officer into the 1st, the Queens Dragoon Guards, cavalry regiment in 1969. The Regiment still exists and mainly recruits from Wales. It is currently light cavalry  with Jackal Armoured Cars. In 1969, the Regiment had tanks but Phillips was a horseman. He was an alternate on Britain’s 1968 Equestrian Team and won a gold with the team in 1972. He was still on the team as late as 1988. He met Princess Anne at horsing events. After the marriage, Phillips was promoted early to Captain and served as a military aide de camp to Queen Elizabeth. He declined a peerage offered by the Queen and this meant that the couples two children were not eligible for courtesy titles. Queen Elizabeth gifted the couple a country house, Gatcombe Park, with elaborate horse facilities.

The pomp of the wedding attracted some unwanted attention to Princess Anne. In February 1974 her Austin Princess IV limo was forced to the side of the road by a armed would be kidnapper Ian Ball in a Ford Escort. Ball shot 4 people trying to defend the Princess. He intended to hold her for ransom and then give the proceeds to the National Health Service. He instructed her to get out of the limousine but she replied that was “Not Bloody Likely”. She and her lady in waiting eventually escaped out of the other side of the limo and lead away by a passerby. The Queen had many medals to hand out to Anne’s many defenders. Ball has been in a mental hospital since.

You would think that an older Austin Princess would have been suitably discreet for Princess Anne

The marriage of Princess Anne and Mark Phillips did not last. In 1985, Phillips fathered a child out of wedlock with a New Zealand art teacher who later sued for paternity. Princess Anne herself had an affair with a crewman on the then Royal Yacht Britannia. He is now her second husband and an Admiral. Her second marriage had no related stamp issue at least in Great Britain.

Phillip’s second marriage was unsuccessful. He married Sandy Pflueger in 1997 with whom he fathered another daughter. She was from Hawaii, the daughter of a car dealer, and a member of the American Dressage team. The couple lived in Britain on the grounds of Gatcombe Park, where Anne still resides. In 2012 the couple divorced as the second Mrs. Phillips had taken up with a female. With the children grown up, Philips has now moved to America. Phillips received a divorce settlement of 3 million pounds from Princess Anne, which is about 20 percent of his net worth.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another for Anne, Princess Royal, for her active service to Britain. The idea of hyping out of the line Royal Weddings might require a rethink however. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Cuba 1962, Celebrating the 9th Central American and Carribean Games, they almost didn’t happen

Seeing this Cuban stamp from the early days of Fidel Castro. I assumed this would be a story of Cuba fighting to stay part of regional organizations against American wishes. Instead the story is how precarious such organizations are. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

This stamp is from the first year of the American embargo on the sale of mint Cuban stamps. The embargo never applied to used stamps which this is. The exemption would prevent American collectors from being penalized from keeping a stamp they may have received in the mail. The embargo is still in effect. All that said, this stamp is not much to look at. This is reflective of how tenuous the games were.

Todays stamp is issue A258, a three centavo stamp issued on August 27th, 1962 by Cuba. It was a four stamp issue in various denominations celebrating sports of the 1962 Central American and Caribbean Games, in this case baseball. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether used or unused. The catalog does list values for stamps covered by the embargo, which seems to have no effect on the low values.

This stamp celebrates the 9th holding of the games that year in Kingston, Jamaica. The first games were in the 1930s and still continue, making the games second only to the Olympics in longevity. They are open to Central American countries, the countries on the north shore of South America and the Caribbean island nations and colonies. They occur every four years on the even off years between Olympics. The hope was to help the area field more competitive teams in the Olympics.

The 1962 Games were especially tenuous. There were initially no bids at all from cities to host the games. The governing body then voted to give the games to San Juan, Puerto Rico. This was against the vote of the sole Puerto Rican representative. They should have listened to him. The Puerto Rican government then announced that they were refusing to host the games. After much additional deliberation, it was decided to award the games to Kingston, Jamaica. Jamaica accepted. The choice however was complicated by Jamaica only receiving independence a few days before the 1962 games. It was also the first times the games were held in a country for whom Spanish was not the native tongue. The games did come off though. 16 countries and territories sent over 1500 athletes. That year a sailing competition was new but gymnastics were discontinued.

So who did the best at the games? Mexico as per the usual had the highest medal count. This reflects the population of Mexico compared to other competitors. Cuba had the highest gold medal count and no other country came close in the medal count.

Well my drink is empty so I will pour another to toast the CASCO organization for keeping the Games going on for so long. The 1962 games shows how difficult it is to make them happen. The next games will come to Panama City, Panama in April 2022. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Warlord Somalia 1997, maybe Barri was right, the Hawiye can’t pull it together

This stamp is not real. There is no evidence that any of the three+ different warlord areas of Somalia circa 1997 had a functioning postal system. Thus whoever printed this stamp either just pretended to have authority to do so or perhaps paid the self proclaimed warlords Minister of Post for the right. Notice the spelling of Somalia is not even the local way. Cute dog though. 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.

Between 1969 and 1991, Somalia had a socialist government under former General Barre. Barre tried to regain what he thought were more traditional Somali borders incorporating areas of Ethiopia gained in WWII and he hoped that French Somaliland  would join with Somalia when it decolonized. This might lead to less fighting between clans and a better chance at progress. He also attempted a move from Arabic to the Latin alphabet as a precursor to a literacy push.

His efforts made many enemies. Trying to retake part of Ethiopia in the chaos after Emperor Selassie was deposed lead to a big war. The eastern bloc cut off arms to him and gave heavy support to the Derg in power in Ethiopia. His attempt to send many Somalis to vote on Djibouti’s plebiscite on their future was not successful. Now Barri had estranged himself from East, from West, and from religious leaders. Trouble was coming.

Several former leaders in Barre’s period formed what they called the United Somali Congress with a political arm in Rome and a military arm in Ethiopia. It leaders were all members of the Hawiye clan. Obviously such a thing would be a front but I wonder if their backers realized they were just one clan of many. The leaders were Muhammed Farah Aided and Ali Mahdi. Aidid, a former General, intelligence chief, and Ambassador to India. He was trained at the Frunze Military Academy in the Soviet Union. Ali Mahdi was an “entrepanuer”. After Barri was forced out of Mogadishu in 1991 the United Somali Congress became less than united. Mahdi was named interim President at a conference in Djibouti that was boycotted by Aidid. Aidid then also declared himself President. Northern Somali, the old British part, did not recognize either and declared itself independent.

Into this warlord mess western powers sent military force in to protect aid shipments to the people and became targets. The USA/UN decided Aidid was the problem and began siding against him. This lead to the famous Blackhawk Down battles. Interestingly Aidid’s son Hussein was serving in the USA Marines having immigrated to the USA at age 17. He functioned as a translator as no Marines spoke Somali. There doesn’t seem any sense that they realized who he was or what his loyalties if any, were. The USA/UN mission ended and the warlord period continued. In 1996 Hussein left the Marines and became a naturalized USA citizen. In 1996 Aidid was killed and the Hawiye clan named Hussein the new head of the clan. Remember his father had declared himself President and now his son did the same.

Hussein was more willing to negotiate. He withdrew his Presidential claims and accepted a role of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Works, as if there were any, in a new Djibouti formed transitional government. This was done to get western aid flowing again. He was now marketing himself as leader opposed to Al Queda infiltration. He went into exile in 2008 with a big pile of money.

Well my drink is empty. I would pour another to toast the handsome dogs of Somalia but all the wasted aid lavished on Somalia has left those of us in the West and East strapped. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Iraq 1958, Neither Faisal nor Churchill would have been happy where his tanks were headed

Tanks can be devastating weapons so small countries should keep close track of them. These British gifted Churchill tanks were out of date and unreliable. When they were ordered to Jordan they instead headed for the Palace. The Royal Guard stood down and then the Royal Family was gunned down. 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.

There were two visions of pan Arab unity in the 1950s. Nasser’s socialist vision backed by the USSR. There was also a rival Hashemite vision backed by Britain. Here we see WWII surplus Churchill heavy tanks ready to make the Hashemite case. In Syria and Egypt similar vintage but superior Soviet T34 was backing up their side. Intimately the people decide such things and the Hashemites couldn’t even trust their tank crews.

Todays stamp is issue A34, an eight Fils stamp issued by the Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq on January 6th, 1958. This was a four stamp issue in various denominations celebrating Iraqi Army Day. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 85 cents used.

King Faisal III came on to the Iraqi throne in 1938 at the age of three after the mysterious death of his father in a car crash in Switzerland. There was then a Regency with an Uncle and a lot of mysterious foreign advisors. In 1941, there was a coup where disgruntaled officers attempted to align with Germany. A British, Arab Legion invasion followed that restored the child King. My British father’s military service included this campaign. In 1953, Faisal reached his majority but the cast of characters didn’t change much. Oil revenue was beginning to flow but the rewards were not making it to the average Iraqi. The Hashemites were counting on oil revenue to grease the wheels of their planned coming together of Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Kuwait.

At this same period, Nasser in Egypt was offering an alternative socialist pan Arab vision that seemed to offer a more modern choice to the middle class. His United Arab Republic signed up Syria and North Yemen and there was much intrigue going on in Lebanon. In order to bolster Jordan’s position in this, two armored Brigades of the Iraqi Army were ordered to Jordan in 1958. To do so, they had to pass through Baghdad. Their Nasser sympathetic commanders saw the opportunity. Churchill tanks drove to the radio station, the defense ministry and the Palace. The Royal Guard stood down. The Royal Family was marched outside the Palace and shot. One Princess survived being shot and escaped.

The two chief coup plotters both had turns leading Iraq. One was then executed and the other had his plane sabotaged by domestic rivals. Neither followed up on their alleged belief in Nasser’s vision of an United Arab Republic. The oil rich cannot sign on to the level of subsity from rich to poor that union demands.

The Churchill tank was  hopelessly obsolete even before the end of World War II. It was a heavy tank with armor protection on a par with the contemporary German Tiger tank. Where the Tiger had an 88mm gun, the Churchill tank started with only a 40mm gun. The tank was later uprated with a 57mm gun and later some were retrofitted with 75mm turrets taken from American Sherman tanks. The Iraqi ones appear to have the 57mm gun. The tanks would not have been much good against Syrian/Soviet T34s but Syria also possessed old German Panzer IVs passed on from the French. so the old tanks might have had a reunion  in the desert, Iraq had more modern new build British Centurions on order, but the Churchills proved very capable in a coup.

Well my drink is empty and I am left wondering about middle eastern Royals spending so much on sophisticated weapons when they can’t trust those who will operate it. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting