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Austria 2000, recognizing at least 100 years of Vienna’s Philharmonic

The Vienna Philharmonic is one of the top orchestras in the world. Austrians might claim the top, while their German friends might point toward Berlin. My own towns quite good Philharmonic does not rise that high, despite recently replacing an Irish fellow with a Japanese one, a local man to conduct apparently not an option. Who the conductor is seems to matter a lot on this stamp, as it only recognizes 100 of the Philharmonic’s then 158 years. !00 years was when there was a young outsider brought in to modernize. 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 do like the visuals of the stamp. I simple view of a violin, is a nice way to emphasize the importance of the music. Claiming 100 years when the Philharmonic was formed in 1842 seems strange, but may not be as political as I assume. In 1942, Austria was part of Germany and distracted by the war. The Philharmonic was performing during that time, but missed out on a stamp recognizing the milestone.

Todays stamp is issue A1066, a 7 Schilling stamp issued by Austria on September 15th, 2000. It was a single stamp issue. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.25 used.

Before the Philharmonic was organized there were orchestral performance. They tended to be one time mash ups of professional and amateur mucisians. The German composer and conductor Franz Lachner began to meet with prominent Vienna citizens how met regularly at the pub Zum Amor. The idea was that there would be a subscription service that would then hire musicans. The musicians would all be professional and standards would be assured by hiring only those that had previously served for at least three years with the Austrian state Opera, then known as the Hofoper. The Philharmonic, it was first known as the Kunstiemverein, moved to it’s current home in the Musikverien in 1870.

Around the turn of the 20th century, there was a movement to modernize the music that was played. A young Bohemian, Gustav Mahler, was proposed as the new conductor. He had previously worked in Budapest where performing German pieces was considered cultural colonialism. Mahler tried to show his traditional bonefied by diecting tradition Wagner and Mozart pieces as part of his demonstrations. Once appointed though, his first was a Czech opera that involved nationalistic yearnings that were further stroked by the hero not dying in the end as it was written. This sent shock waves through Vienna. Remember this being the time of Bohemian, Hungarians, and Germans all being under the German Hapsburgs. Appointing not Germans resulted in sudden changes as to what was produced. I will leave for another day whether diversity was a strength or a can or worms. The stamp comes down clearly on one side.

Politics have been a part of the Philharmonic since. The 1930s saw the changes began by Mahler reversed as people were forced out or just moved on. Then there was the reversal with a new cleansing in the late 1940s. This does not sound like a formula for one of the top orchestras in the world. The answer to why it still is may lie in the fact that the original idea of professional musicians of long tenure with the state opera. Professional standards. The organization now gets around the controversy  appointing conductors by only having guest ones who serve for a season.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast founder Franz Lachner and perhaps play some Wagner. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Denmark 1960, a small, crowded, rich country misleads on how it is done agriculturally

A small crowded country might have to bring in a lot of food. Same thing with industrial and consumer goods. Sounds like a formula for staying poor.  Yet somehow Denmark is prosperous. Maybe they considered carefully how to make the best of what they had. 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.

In the title, I hinted that the stamp is misleading with regard to agriculture. I don’t think the stamp designers meant it to be. They were told to put together a set of stamps showing off modern agriculture and did so. It is hard to make out what is going on with this stamp thanks to typically poor period Scandinavian printing, but it is showing a harvester combine as was used in wheat cultivation. They have the potential to look impressive and modern on a stamp, see https://the-philatelist.com/2019/06/19/nicaragua-1976-somoza-will-bleed-the-peasants-dry-and-then-automate-their-function/  , but have nothing to do with what was getting Denmark ahead. It is a better stamp that tells the real story.

Todays stamp is issue A79, a 30 Ore stamp issued by Denmark on April 28th, 1960. It was a three stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

Agriculture up to the nineteenth century was not particularly successful. There was wheat and cereals to go with some raising of pigs. As the farms were smaller, costs were higher. Denmark was not very fertile as land to the west tended to be quite sandy and that in the east had a great deal of clay. Much money was expended in government programs adding topsoil that would allow for more fertility.

This was not enough as there was not enough land for the large, productive wheat farms that exist in the American midsection, Canada, Australia, and perhaps in old Soviet fantasies, the Ukraine. Those are where the combine harvesters shine.

What if though you could use what land you have to do a few things agriculturally mainly for export and that revenue could then be enough to import the more land intensive basic foodstuffs. There was an excess demand for dairy in the UK that could be satisfied by dairy farms on Jutland. Zealand is low lying and gets a healthy dose of rainfall. This is condusive to fast growing cereals. The pig raising is still a big part of things. This small crowded country manages not to have an agricultural trade deficit. Not what one might expect.

Well my drink is empty and I have a sudden desire to have some crackers with ham and cheese with the next round. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

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Israel 1974, a former Christian, later Arab, city is now Israeli

This is a story how a place can change overnight, over and over, and yet still be a part of ancient tradition. 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 series of stamps was issued a quarter century after the founding of Israel. The views of Israel presented make it look a lot older than that. The city of Zefat, with it’s stone edifices built a long time ago on a high hillside plays into that theme well.

Todays stamp is issue A193, a 1.3 Israeli Pound stamp issued by Israel on November 5th, 1974. It was part of a 23 stamp issue in various denominations that came out over a five year period showing Israeli landscapes. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether used or unused.

Zefat, there are many spellings depending on who you are. is a small town in northern Galilee near the Lebanese and Syrian border. Being near the Syrian border is dependent on whether you accept the Israeli annexation of the occupied Golan Heights. Towns in this part of the world make you accept a lot of quick changes. The town first came to prominence at the time of the Crusades when the hill sprouted a Christian castle and a town grew up around it. The town was majority Christian but contained an Arab quarter. At the time there were no Jews in the area. The town fell to the Arab forces under King Saladin in 1188 after a year long siege. Most Christians in the area relocated to Tyre in modern Lebanon. Unlike most crusader castles, the one at Zefat was not destroyed. The crusaders were soon back in Zefat and refortified the castle. This didn’t last and in 1260 the town again fell to Arab forces under Sultan Baybars. He was more vengeful on Christians, and that was the end of their presence.

The area passed to the Ottomans who administered it as part of the vilayet of Sidon in modern day Lebanon. The city  became attractive to Jews who were relocating from Spain. Specifically to Jews who practiced the mysticism of Kabala. Kabala Jews believe that the Jewish Savior will arrive on a hilltop in Galilee. Zefat is on top of the highest hill in Galilee. By the standards of the area, the Ottomans were most welcoming and a Jewish Quarter of the town took shape.

The time of the British mandate of Palestine paints a confusing picture depending on whose story you are following. Both sides seem to agree the British stood back as either Jews encroached on Arab land or the Jewish quarter of Zefat was mercilessly attacked in an attempt to starve them out. The Arab view should be given more credence as within a week after the end of the British mandate in 1948, there was a military offensive by the Palmach Jewish forces. At the time the town had 12,000 Arabs and 1700 Jews. The entire Arab population was forced out. Among them was the family of Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the West Bank Palestinian Authority.

Today Zefat has a population of 32,000 and is over 99% Jewish. Tomorrow? The Hebrew language has been modernized since this stamp and they currently call the city Safed.

Well my drink is empty and I will switch to Turkish coffee and toast the comparatively welcoming Ottomans. Come again tomorrow for another story  that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Falkland Island Dependencies 1946, How Britain suddenly itself becomes dependant during manefestations of Herr Graf Spee

War between major powers often takes place in some far off places. A otherwise costly, lonely outpost can become suddenly important when you add the presence of the enemy. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

This is the first stamp issue of the Falkland Island Dependencies. So why not inform the collector where you are talking about with a map. The stamp looks nice but I can’t make much out on the map. The stamp designers saw this themselves and redrew the stamp two years later but it is hard to get around that the south Atlantic ocean is large and the tiny outposts spread out.

Todays stamp is issue A1, a half penny stamp issued by the Dependencies of the British Crown Colony of the Falkland Islands. It was an eight stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.10 unused. The half penny denomination, quite the bargain, would have only been useful for inter-outpost mail, so the stamp being used triples the value. I mentioned the stamp was redrawn and that change ups their value 8 fold.

The Falkland Islands dependencies was the arrangement where by the Falkland Island colony administration took responsibility for other British outposts including South Georgia island, the South Sandwich Islands, South Orkney Islands, the South Shetland Islands, and British outposts on Antarctica. The Antarctic territories separated in 1962, see https://the-philatelist.com/2019/06/10/british-antarctic-territory-1963-with-no-more-shackleton-we-better-make-bases-permanent/ , and left only  South Georgia and South Sandwich as Falkland Dependencies. In 1985 the Dependencies became a separate overseas territory of Britain, which they remain. The islands were free to do there own stamps, we covered a South Georgia stamp here https://the-philatelist.com/2019/06/14/south-georgia-at-least-the-norwegians-immigrants-brought-reindeer-to-this-british-island/  .

Maintaining British nationals in such far off outposts will always be expensive. The 20th century brought world wide wars among Great Powers and a base suddenly useful. In World War I the German Indian Ocean naval squadron was returning home by way of the south Atlantic under the command of Admiral and Graf Maximillian Spee. He decided to bombard the Falklands to deprive the British of their radio relay and coal station. A larger British naval squadron was looking for them and had stopped at Stanley to be refueled. Spee’s squadron was surprised and most of the ships were sunk, only two of the eight German ships escaped. Admiral and Graf Spee perished.

HMS Inflexible picking up survivors from the sunken German Cruiser Sharnhorst after the Battle of the Falklands.

At the onset of World War II, a German pocket Battleship, named in honor of the World War I Admiral, deployed to the south Atlantic to raid commercial ships. A pocket battleship was a faster and better armed cruiser built to get around Weimar restrictions on ship building. It was at the extremes of its range and had no prospect of rearming so was ordered to avoid all contact with even weaker enemy ships. A British cruiser squadron  was again waiting for them off Falkland and the Graff Spee decided to scuttle herself to save her crew rather than face them. Captain Ludendorf of the Graf Spee committed suicide, his body falling on the battle ensign of the Graff Spee.

After the war the foreign intrusions were by lessor powers. In 1966, an Argentine DC4 airliner was hijacked to Falkland by 19 members of a Peronist extremist group and the plane landed on a racecourse but hit power lines. First responders were taken hostage and the Argentines disembarked around the plane, raised Argentine flags and sung the Argentine national anthem. The local part time defense forces surrounded the racecourse and forced an Argentine surrender. I will leave the 1982 war with Argentina for another stamp.

Well my drink is empty and I guess the Falklands are safe with Germans no longer using the name Graf Spee on their ships and not hiring any descendants of the Graff. Their navy’s current frigates however do rather resemble pocket battleships. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

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Venezuela 1961, Lefty Betancourt tries to get peasants interested in land reform

A new lefty government in Venezuela wanted to diversify the oil economy so that imported foodstuffs could be replaced by home grown production. Doing so would improve the lot of the average peasant who was to be the beneficiary of government mandated land reform. 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 60s really saw socialism on the march. The educated, urban, intellectuals created some great visuals to go along with it. Case in point this stylized view of a cow’s head, grain, and a peasant family. Pretty cool if grain was an important part of Venezuela’s agriculture. It wasn’t, and strongly hints that the socialist didn’t have a good grasp of the situation. Perhaps good intentions are more important as they replaced neglect.

Todays stamp is issue C762, a 40 Centimos airmail stamp issued on February 6th, 1961. It was a 15 stamp issue in various denominations that recognized an agricultural census that went on the previous year in preparation for land reform, the redistribution of farmland from large landowners to the ownership of small tracts by the agricultural laborers. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

The economy in Venezuela was really all about oil. Here the leftists work was solid because they showed flexibility and followed through when there was an advantage. Romulo Betancourt was a young communist who was exiled to Costa Rica. He had in mind a string of leftists regimes forming a block out of the former Gran Columbia. He had studied the 1938 Mexican nationalization of their oil industry and realized that was not the way to go to pay for it. The oil had naturally been found by American oil companies and World War II demand  had seen the companies greatly increase Venezuelan production. The softening of demand post war would have allowed them to boycott Venezuelan oil. Venezuela under the right wing had not much benefited from the oil as the tax revenue amounted to only 9% of production. In Betancourt’s first term as President, he raised the tax on the oil to 50% and the money flowed in while leaving the professional foreigners to keep production up.

Betancourt was not as successful with land reform. Millions of acres were bought from wealthy landowners and distributed to peasants. The products were mainly coffee, sugar cane and tobacco. Seeing the vast economic growth in the cities with it’s promise of an easier life, many peasants resold the land given to them and used the proceeds to finance the move to the cities. So land reform was no help to output. Indeed only 4 percent of the land in Venezuela is under cultivation. Food must be imported.

Betancourt was not done maximizing oil revenue however. American President Eisenhower was not pleased with the taxes on American oil companies and signed a law promoting importation of Mexican and Canadian oil over Venezuelan. Betancourt in turn sent his Arab speaking oil envoy to Cairo to work with fellow traveler pan Arabist socialists who were facing similar issues regarding getting control of middle east oil revenue. In 1961, Venezuela became a founding member of OPEC that over time had such a big part in rising oil prices.

I mentioned that Betancourt was a young Communist. Indeed he was a participant in violent plots against right wing strongmen in Columbia and Costa Rica. Back in Venezuela however he marketed himself as a democrat. His early radicalism was not forgotten though when Dominican Republic strongman Trujillo tried to have him assassinated by a car bomb. See https://the-philatelist.com/2019/07/05/dominican-republic-1937-making-the-guy-behind-the-cow-understand-you-are-working-for-him-with-parsley/  . He was badly burned but survived. With the change in the USA from Eisenhower to more progressive President Kennedy in 1961, Betancourt sought and received better relations with the USA. He  forever burnished his democratic credentials by leaving office without incident at the end of his final term in 1964. A rarity in the Latin America of the day.

Romulo Betancourt after leaving office

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the Venezuelan stamp designers of the 60s. The international socialist movement in the 60s did not turn out to have all the answers, but they definitely had a hopeful vision of where they wanted to go, well captured on this stamp. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

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Guatemala 1902, attention Europeans, new country with rich Spanish culture is open to immigration

So many of the early Guatemalan stamps show impressive stone edifaces. It is what claudillos like to build with their obvious achievement and hopefully stone permanence. What better to show potential immigrants who might worry the place will be a cultural wasteland. 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 today shows the La Reforma Palace. It was designed by French architects. The palace as with many of the structures on this set of stamps were destroyed by a large earthquake in 1919. The government of the time was not stable enough to follow through with plans for reconstruction. I covered this issues Carrera  opera house here, https://the-philatelist.com/2017/11/06/guatemala-columbus-theatre-still-impressive-on-the-stamp-but-really-in-ruins/   .

Todays stamp is issue A30, a 5 Centavo stamp issued by Guatemala in 1902. It was part of a 10 stamp issue in various denominations featuring architectural achievements. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used. A vertical pair of this stamp in imperferate form is worth $100.

After independence from Spain Guatemala faced big problems. The bulk of the people in the countryside were of indian heritage. Their traditional style of living was on rural land under communal ownership of the tribe. The capital of Guatemala City had a slight majority of people of criollo background. This was much closer to Spanish with still some mixing. These were the leaders of the political parties, both left and right, and the military officers. The call out for European immigrants was one of self preservation. At the time, the Yukatan peninsula to the north was a separate indian run country. There was a boom in the cultivation of henequen, useful in ropes and a local alcoholic drink. The cultivation sent Indians off the land and toward Guatemala City from Yukatan. To keep them out of the capital and the following inevitable demand for political power, the American United Fruit Company was invited in, They set up banana plantations that took even more land from Indians but required much labor. The workers were given a small plot of land for themselves in return for several months of labor on the plantation. Guatemala City, now much larger, still claims a slight criollo majority. Their current relief valve are those caravans walking north.

I mentioned that the Presidential Palace on the stamp was destroyed in 1919. The street it was on still shares its name. A new design for a palace was  commissioned from Italian architects, but there was no money to build it.The frustrated President Herrerra wanted a new palace in time for the Guatemala Centennial and ordered one built in 3 months with a shoestring budget. The result was known as the Cardboard Palace. It only lasted a few years before burning in 1925. Guatemala got by without until the current Presidential Palace was completed in 1943, with the help of the United Fruit Company. They courteously delivered the Palace on the Dictator Ubico’s birthday.

The current Palace is somewhat notorious today for death tribunals held there in the early 1980s by Dictator Efrain Rios Montt against mainly leftist Indians. 15 were killed after trials. For many years Rios Montt was protected from opponants retribution  by staying an elected member of Parliment after leaving the Presidency. When he attempted to retire in 2012 at age 85 he was quickly indicted and convicted of genocide. The vertict was overturned by a higher court. It was agreed to reconvict him but without jail time due his age. The journey to civilization begins with one small step. Rios Montt died in 2018 at age 91.

President Efrain Rios Montt on trial for his alleged crimes late in life

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the United Fruit Company. Dangerous places require relief valves especially beneficial are domestic ones. Plus you can’t have people as esteemed as Guatemalan leaders living in cardboard palaces. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Poland claims Nicolaus Copernicus

Sometimes it is very important for a new or in Poland’s case a reconstituted country to be able to reach back into history to promote important figures. This adds to legitimacy and gives young Poles someone to emulate. 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 today shows how much of the Polish character survived into the communist era. From the style of this stamp, I assumed it to be an interwar issue and the denomination seems low for the 1950s. Coperinicus’ birth and death dates are not much help. The stamp celebrates the 480th anniversary of his birth, a strange number. The painting on the stamp is where the communist influence shows. Originally titled “Conversations with God” they seem to have retitled it “Copernicus Watching Heavens”. The painting is currently at the University of Krakow.

Todays stamp is issue A222, a 20 Groszy stamp issued by Poland on May 22nd 1953. It was a two stamp issue in different denominations. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

I mentioned in the title that Poland claims Copernicus as a son of Poland. Germany does not formally make a claim to him but there is also a case.  given the crosscurrents of what was going on there on the ground. Copernicus was born into a wealthy family in Torun, a Henseatic city. At the time, 1473, the area was contested by the Kingdom of Poland and the Teutonic Order of Knights. The Henseatic cities treasured their special status as trading cities and when the Polish King offered to respect this status, the cities affiliated with Poland, despite the German tongue spoken by the residents. The area was known by the not very Polish sounding Royal Prussia. For a much later version of this rivalry see this Danzig stamp  https://the-philatelist.com/2018/09/19/danzig-1923-a-very-early-airmail-stamp-from-a-german-city-that-suddenly-found-itself-outside-germany/    . Copernicus studied in the Polish then capital of Krakow, spoke Polish and German and published his scientific work in Latin. Copernicus went on to serve in the court of his uncle, the Bishop Prince of Warmia.

His uncle financed Copernicus to continue ecclesiastical training in Italy His studies went on and on since he was also receiving instruction in astronomy on the side. There is debate today whether Copernicus was ever ordained as a priest. The Catholics say yes and the scientific community disagrees. Late in life he was a candidate for his now late uncle’s old job as Bishop Prince of Warmia, a post that requires ordination. He never married but had a close relationship with a housekeeper. During Copernicus’s lifetime, the German Teutonic Order of Knights converted to Lutheran and became the Dutchy of Prussia. Copernicus did not convert.

Copernicus in Italy made his great discovery. By mapping the position of planets over time he was able to determine that the sun was the center of the solar system rather than the Earth as was believed. Pope Clement was briefed on the discovery but took no action against Copernicus. Copernicus was very worried over the reaction to his discovery and only sent manuscript copies of Commentaries to friends and colleagues. Lutherans were more initially opposed. They described Copernicus as an absurd Sarmatian astronomer who moved the Earth and stopped the sun. Soon after Copernicus’s death, his charts were republished as Prussian Tables and widely accepted. Catholics eventually got around to banning his work from 1591-1885. Copernicus also wrote poetry, wrote treatise on economics and practiced medicine. In 1973 on the 500th anniversary of his birth, Poland, West Germany, and East Germany honored Copernicus with stamps. The German ones only described him as an astronomer, not a Polish astronomer. In 2008, his remains were confirmed in the Cathedral at Torun.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Copernicus the classic Henseatic. I will know when I have had enough when the Earth spinning becomes all to obvious. Come again tomorrow for another that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

 

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New Zealand 1998, Lemon & Paeroa subtracts Paeroa and adds Coke

Sometimes town icons outlast what they are celebrating. Or even the town. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, or perhaps this once a Lemon & Paeroa soft drink, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

This is really a story of how towns rise and fall. Yes the drink from there still exists but not from Paeroa. The gold is gone, the railway is gone, the river is no longer navigable so the port is gone. The icon of the towns former signature product is still there and this is a stamp set of town icons. Not of thriving towns.

Todays stamp is issue A442, a 40 cent stamp issued by New Zealand on October 7th, 1998. It was a 10 stamp issue of town icons all in the same denomination. It was also available as a souvenir sheet. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 45 cents. The souvenir sheet is worth $4.50.

The towns area was occupied by Maori tribes when it was first explored by Captain James Heard while in the employ of the for profit New Zealand Company in 1826. Around 1870, the area saw a gold rush and prospectors bought the land from the Maori. Captain Beard had also bought the land from the Maori but I guess the natives attitude was use it or lose it. The height of the towns prosperity came when the Bank of New Zealand set up a gold refinery. It was never a big town but even the railway came.

The Lemon & Paeroa drink was a soft drink consisting of lemon juice and the local carbonated mineral water beginning in 1907. The ad slogan was “World Famous,… in New Zealand”. The drink is a common mixer in New Zealand pubs with the American whiskey based liqueur, Southern Comfort. Around the time of the stamp there was a ad campaign showing the bottle statue on the stamp with a homespun rendering of the local population.

The town is now ready for a new boost. The gold ran out, the refinery closed and the trainline shuttered. Lemon & Paeroa sold out to Coca Cola and is now bottled at their bottlers no longer using the local water. The town’s population is below 4000 and heavily Maori. Perhaps if a new use for the area is proposed, the Maori will again entertain offers.

Well my soft drink is empty and I am curious to try that Southern Comfort concoction my next time in New Zealand. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Australia 1985, Hard to pry Honours from the Queen

The Dominions are so far from the UK. So honouring people locally makes some sense, especially as part of a strategy of gradually breaking away. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

This stamp shows the badge worn by Queen Elizabeth when she hands out the Order of Australia. So much for the award being a part of the breaking away. However this stamp was issued as a the traditional Queen’s birthday stamp in a year with a lefty government so there probably a subtle message there.

Todays stamp is issue A353, a 33 cent stamp issued by Australia on April 22nd, 1985. It was a single stamp issue. The same stamp was re-issued in 2013 with a new date but the same now low denomination, I suspect backdoor sneering by a new lefty government. Mine is the original. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 35 cents used.

In the early 1970s, Australia had a new left Labour government under Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. He had won office by trying to expand Labour’s constituency from its traditional support among the trade union movement to the more centrist suburban voter. He won a slight majority but it left Whitlam with opposition on the left as well as the right. One of his tasks was the establishment of the Order Of Australia. He modeled it on the Order of Canada, see https://the-philatelist.com/2019/04/01/canada-creates-an-order-of-canada-to-further-seperate-from-the-british-queen-but-has-her-hand-it-out/   . As with that, the Queen quickly acquiesced to the new award but then made sure the annual Honours list passed through her Governor General and so was handed out under her auspices. The Governor General at the time John Kerr soon proved controversial.

John Kerr, appointed at the advise of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, had a similar background. He was a young Labour activist who worked in a shipyard before going to law School and becoming a QC, a senior barrister. As he aged he too saw Labour needed to expand and his politics gradually moved right. The opposition had enough power in the Senate to block spending bills and began doing so in 1975. They hoped to force an early election while the Whitlam’s government was beset by scandals. Instead Whitlam proposed to dismiss a few Senators and have new elections only in those constituencies. To do this he had to propose this ceremonially to John Kerr, as the Queen’s representative in Australia. This was thought to be a rubber stamp but Kerr thought this wrong. After consulting the Chief Justice to confirm he had the power, Kerr dissolved Whitlam’s Labour government and appointed the Liberal party leader as a caretaker Prime Minister until there could be full elections. The Liberal Party then won in a landslide.

Governor General Sir John Kerr

Labour activists saw this as a coup and hounded John Kerr relentlessly. He resigned early as Governor General and moved to London. There he spent most days at Gentlemen’s clubs looking ever the worse for wear. He died in 1981 of a brain tumor but his death wasn’t announced until after he was buried to allow for an undisturbed funeral.

Later left wing governments have tried to make the award more Australian. For example they have discontinued naming people Knight or Dame. They also have expanded the criteria to include not just those who served Australia but mankind generally.  It is a staple of Australian comedy to mock counterjumper’s efforts to receive the Order of Australia. That in itself though sounds quite British.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the Queen on her many birthdays. She is now quite old and her official birthday and actual birthday are separate, so she gets two a year. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting

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Belgium 2003, Wallonia remembers being the industial furrow of Belgium

Wallonia is the mainly French speaking part of southern Belgium. The river corridor of the Meuse River became one of the first industrialized areas of Europe. The wealth created and lifestyle changes greatly influenced a Belgium breaking away from the Netherlands. 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.

Notice the grey colors used on this modern stamp. The stamp honors an engineering association in Mons left over from the time of the area being the “Sillon Industriel” of Belgium. A nice way to remember the former industries of the area in a way to say we still have something to show for it.

Todays stamp is issue A838. a 49 Euro cents stamp issued by Belgium on March 17th, 1973. It was issued with another stamp honoring a business association in Solvay. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 40 cents used.

The area was industrialized in the nineteenth century. In the area near Mons that mainly meant coal and steel mills. This brought jobs and some wealth to the French speaking area. It was a time remember where fewer workers were required on farms and the concomitant move to cities. Not surprisingly based on what was happening, the area became a hotbed of quite left politics as the workers fought for more pay and better conditions. The changing nature of the city could be seen not just in the new industrial concerns. The walls and fortifications left over from the Dutch period were removed.

After the war, the industry of the area gradually shut down. Out of I guess right field, the areas economic decline was cushioned by France’s decision to leave NATO in 1967. The Supreme Headquarters Allied Forces Europe, (SHAPE) moved to the outskirts of Mons from outside Paris. Strange that after the French slight, a French speaking area of Belgium was chosen.

The NATO headquarters was not enough to restore Mons. The EU classifies the former industrial furrow of Belgium as an objective 1 area. This means that the area has low GNP per capita and there are incentives in place to encourage growth. It is quite unusual for a region of western Europe to have such a designation. Maybe the lefty politicians are actually working for their constituents. Perhaps if they had worked harder to keep the factories open?

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the engineers of Mons. I hope there are opportunities to practice their profession without having to pick up roots and move. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.