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Albania 1953, Albania goes for self sufficiency in economy and culture

You don’t think of Communist, suddenly Atheist, Albanians building a Greek style temple to culture. That is what they did though and it shows how serious they were about going it alone under Enver Hoxha. 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 keep coming back to this stamp issue from 1953. I have covered other ones here https://the-philatelist.com/2017/11/09/communism-provides-smokes-for-atheists-and-then-a-refugee-camp-for-muslims/   , and here https://the-philatelist.com/2018/08/24/albania-1953-it-was-correct-to-chose-the-forces-of-hoxha-over-fake-royal-zog/ . The communist government was new and facing many challenges. It also had an ideal of where it wanted to go. To get there, the country had to have a unique advanced culture. In 1953, the country opened its first film studio, in order to tell the countries’ story at home and abroad. The Greek temple like structure shows how important it was to Albania, and how much resources were allocated. This had never happened before and to date has not happened since.

Todays stamp is issue A94 a 5 Lek stamp issued by Albania on August 1st, 1953. It was an 8 stamp issue in various denominations. The stamp displays the new that year Kino movie studio. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $2.10 unused.

Germans and Italians abandoned their occupation of Albania in late 1944. The former royal, King Zog was quickly deposed and sent abroad. The most effective resistance to the Axis was Communists. Communism is an international movement that was to be locally organized. Marshal Tito in neighboring Yugoslavia thought that he did the hard work of kicking out the Axis while local Communist leader Enver Hoxha was just a subordinate.. At first there were attempts at cooperation. A joint 5 year plan had the Albanian Lek currency devalued and all raw inputs from Albania exported to Yugoslavia to be processed and then reimported at high prices. Hoxha saw this as exploitive and broke ties. There was a scism among Communists in the 1950s between Stalinists and those who wanted a reformed Communism. Albania stayed Stalinist, isolating itself. After Mao died in China, Albania also broke ties with it. Some international communist organizations began referring to themselves as Hoxhaist.

The Albanians made some progress going it alone. Literacy went from 5 percent to 98 percent. Starting lower and ending far higher than what India achieved in the same period. See https://the-philatelist.com/2019/07/17/india-1958-is-this-girl-really-reading/ . The country was electrified. A free national health service expanded to even the smallest villages.  The country had no foreign debt and a small trade surplus. Albania was still the poorest country in Europe and always has been as would be expected of a Muslim country, and Hoxha was trying his best to spread scientific Atheism. Hoxha also built modern cultural institutions such as the Kino studio in Tirana.

The Kino studio opened in 1953. The first film produced was called “Scanderbeg” about a 14th century Albanian that rose up against the Ottomans. The Albanians are portrayed as noble and the Ottomans are portrayed as unEuropean pedophile brutes. A perhaps stereotypical Balkan portrayal of Ottomans see https://the-philatelist.com/2018/10/16/ottoman-empire-1873-what-to-modernize-what-to-protect-what-bills-to-pay-and-what-to-do-with-all-these-people/   , but a professional movie with a classic orchestral score and a large cast. You can watch it here https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=film+scanderbeg&view=detail&mid=3E543D940FC0815BE1C33E543D940FC0815BE1C3&FORM=VIRE  . Pretty good for a small, poor, mostly illiterate, Muslim country. The studio went on to make over 200 films. Hoxha was against bringing in foreign culture to Albania. He found the modern culture with it’s long hair and rebellion  to be degenerated and designed with a glossy veneer to convert the masses from strivers into passive consumers. He spotted all this before the smart phone when it all became more obvious.

Hoxha died in 1985 and the regime was not the same without him. It was overthrown in 1991 and Hoxha’s statue was pulled down in Scanderbeg Square. Ironic no? Kino studio would not be needed by a modern Albania and closed in 1996. The building on the stamp still stands but now is a derelict. Albania now is famous for exporting it’s people and it’s mob crime. The trade balance has gone negative and they have acquired much foreign debt. Not it worry, there is attempt to join the EU and the EU gives over a billion Euros a year in pre-entry aid. Money well spent?

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Hoxha. It is not popular to toast people like him but I don’t think there has been anyone better for Albania before or since. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Bolivia 1943 Remembering General and President Jose Ballivian

Bolivia can be a rough place, but it is a place, and not just a province of Peru. That was due to General Ballivian, who was able to combine Bolivia’s three governments and armies into one and defeat Peru. 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 displays General Ballivian and what proports to be transportation in his time 100 years before and in 1943. I suspect transportation in Bolivia still was more represented by the vintage view than the American C45 airplane.

Todays stamp is issue A114, a 10 Centavo airmail stamp issued by Bolivia on November 18th, 1943. It was part of a 5 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 30 cents unused.

In the 1840s Bolivia was in a chaotic time. In fact there were three different groups claiming to be the legitimate government of Bolivia. Meanwhile next door, Peru had ambitions of regaining control of Bolivia as during the period of the Spanish Empire.  In a very unusual move, General Ballivian was able to convince the other two governments of the threat and the sides joined up to face Peru. The Peruvians, lead by their President Agustin Gamarra did not expect to face such organized resistance. At the Battle of Ingavi, the Peruvians were defeated and President Gamarra was captured and executed by Bolivia. The remnants of the Peruvian army fled back to Peru and were not pursued. The shocked and delighted ruling class of Bolivia quickly named General Ballivian President. There was perhaps here a missed opportunity in not taking the Peruvian (now Chilean) port of Arica, giving Bolivia it’s long desired outlet to the sea.

There were several opportunities the now President Ballivian took advantage of.. He appointed his friends to high positions. Among the was now Army Commander Manuel Belzu. As a Captain Belzu had married a 15 year old Argentine exile named Juana Manuela Gorriti. She bore him three daughters but the marriage was not a happy one. Separated, Betzu had a child with another women out of wedlock. However in 1845 he came home to find his wife en flagrante with President Ballivian. He drew his pistol and took a shot at the President, missing. General Belzu fled to the countryside with troops loyal to him but arrest warrants for him in the capital. Now Bolivia was getting back to normal.

General Belzu was more of a populist figure and was able to attract around him a large following in the countryside. When his forces later marched on the capital, President Ballivian decided to go into exile in Rio. Belzu became President and managed to hold on for seven years before passing the job to his son in law and become an ambassador at large in Europe. When son in law was couped out of office and later assassinated. Belzu was outraged and attempted a return to Bolivia to retake the Presidency. He was invited to the Presidential Palace and assassinated himself. Should have gone to Rio.

Belzu’s wife Juana(they never divorced), herself moved to Lima and set her self up nicely with a school and a political salon. She began writing melodramatic novels including one about a young man who cannot afford to marry his true love until he finds out he is the beneficiary of an insurance policy. The book was sponsored by an insurance company. Through the political salon she mentored many young Peruvian female writers.

Seductress, estranged Bolivian First Lady, authoress and insurance shill Juana Manuela Gorriti

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Juana Manuela Gorriti. If there are any insurance bigshots out there, I would be happy to write up a stamp that plays up the benefits of being fully insured. For a small fee, or better yet, a large fee. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting

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Egypt 1933, Imperial Airways delivers the mail to the far flung Empire

I have done several stamps where I have pondered if the colonial felt abandoned by their home country in some far off outpost. If so, how they must have welcomed to new regular air service in the 1930s offered by Imperial Airways. In addition to home country busy bodies to tell you how to do things better, the planes also carried great quantities of mail. 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.

Egypt in the 1930s was not actually a British colony but a protectorate. They had their own King that was from the same line left over from the Ottomans. A view of the plane flying over the temples in Giza tells the real story though of who was in charge. The plane comings and goings didn’t involve Egyptians.

Todays stamp is issue AP2, a 1 Millieme airmail stamp issued by Egypt in 1933. It was a 21 stamp issue in various denominations featuring a Handley Page HP42 aircraft in the service of Imperial Airways flying over the pyramids at Giza. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 30 cents.

Imperial Airways was set up in 1923 by the merging of four small private airlines at the suggestion of the British Air Ministry. There was a concern that private airlines could not compete with the new subsidized airlines in France and Germany. The airline was to take up overseas routes to Africa, the Middle East, India, and Australia. The aircraft would mainly carry mail  but also there would be room for about 10-20 passengers. The flight segments were broken up into segments of three to four hundred miles which was still a fairly long distance as the planes only cruised at about 100 miles an hour. The planes acquired for the service were a mixture of flying boats and land planes made by Short Brothers of Northern Ireland and Handley Page of England. The flight crews were all male but the frequent stops allowed passengers the opportunity to sight see. The Africa route involved 10 days of flying with 9 overnight stops.

Imperial Airways had the idea  to expand their revenue by increasing the amount of mail flown to include all first class letters. There was a corrupt scheme worked out with the British government where the subsidies required for the service were to be paid not by Britain but by the colonies and dominions being served. Imperial hoped that the subsidies would prevent local air services in the colonies from opening international routes. The scheme was somewhat of a bust as mail traffic was very seasonal and the airline had no spare planes to take care of the extra volume at Christmas time. In conjunction with Pan Am and United Airlines in the USA there was a publicity stunt where the first airmail letter would go around the world starting across the Atlantic ocean with Pan Am, turning over to Imperial through Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia with United Airlines picking it up in San Francisco and getting it back to New York City.

1939, first around the world airmail letter

Imperial Airways  was merged with British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) in 1939 which was then itself merged into British Airways in 1974. Handley Page Aircraft went bankrupt in 1970. The HP42 aircraft on the stamp were requisitioned by the Royal Air Force at the start of World War II but none survived past 1940. In 2018, there was an air rally with 15 vintage aircraft that followed to old Imperial Airways route from Crete through Egypt south all the way to Cape Town, South Africa. It was a shame there was no HP42 to again fly over Giza to recreate the stamp.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the Imperial Airways flight crews that brought air travel to some pretty desolate places. The Handley Page aircraft proved reliable if slow, it was said they had a built in headwind, the Short Brothers flying boats less so. It should be not discounted however the dangers faced as a matter of course. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

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Guyana 1969, after the political rift along racial lines, a country seeks a new start with a Hindu Phagwah celebration of spring

Another story of an ex British colony being left with demographics  that make it hard to form a cohesive country. Well perhaps the nation can learn from the East Indian still then majority how to make a new start in spring. 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.

Guyana is derived from the old Portuguese word for black people. With the decline of colonialism, there have been as many as 6 nations basing their name on it. Neighboring Dutch Guyana now goes by Suriname. This is why South America in mentioned on the stamp, it does narrow 6 to three. After the end of slavery blacks were no longer interested in plantation work. Indian, called east Indians to differentiate from natives, were brought in to replace them and by independence were a slight majority of the population. This stamp shows the 1969 Phagwah Festival as something for the east Indians as you might expect. Today Guyana has repurposed the Hindu festival as multi racial celebration of getting along. Papering over troubles you may say, but would it be better to admit hatred? Here is a link to a government video of the 2019 festival, that doesn’t resemble the stamp much.. https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=phagwah+in+guyana&qpvt=phagwah+in+guyana&FORM=VDRE

Todays stamp is issue A13, a 6 cent stamp issued by Guyana on February 26th, 1969. It was a four stamp issue in various denominations celebrating that years Phagwah festival. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether used or unused or which denomination.

As Britain started to wind down their colony in Guyana, a left wing party formed under east Indian Cheddi Jagan and a marketed as right wing party under black Forbes Burnham. Britain very much favored Burnham as they found it embarrassing when  a colony went communist immediately after independence. Taking sides was futile, as both parties were communist the difference was really racial. In the late 50s, Britain was trying to put together a federation of their old African majority Caribbean islands. It was hoped they would be stronger together and Canada could replace Britain as their protector. People of African heritage in Guyana were in favor of such an arrangement.  Cheddi Jagan was not, east Indians were a slim majority in Guyana and would be a small minority in such a federation. He vetoed Guyana’s involvement. From then on political parties were strictly on racial lines. Through gerrymandering Britain was able to turn Guyana over to Burnham as head of the black political party. After independence he declared himself also a communist and African style president for life. Guyana is quite poor and loses about one percent of it’s population a year to migration out. These are mostly East Indians, which are now a minority of the country. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/02/12/british-guiana-going-independant-means-choosing-between-the-indians-and-the-africans/  .

Cheddi Jagan, the east Indian communist

 

The Hindu Phagwah Festival is an annual event to celebrate spring. The Festival begins with a nighttime circle around a bonfire where prayers are offered that one’s evil spirits will be burned by the fire. The next day is one where caste, age, and class are put aside for frivolity and the friendly spraying of colored water on friend, foe, and stranger alike. You are also to partake of food and a drink called bhang that contains cannabis. The next day is more sober and involves visiting in ones best clothes to cement new friendships.

Well my drink is empty and I am more used to whiskey in my glass than cannabis, so perhaps I should stick to what I know. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting

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Ceylon 1938. there is room in a great Empire for Westminister Abbey and a Temple of the Tooth

I can imagine a young British stamp collector in 1938, for example my father, staring incredulously at this stamp. The King showing a peak at a colony on the other side of the globe where instead of Anglican Cathedrals there are palaces containing something as foreign as a Temple of the Tooth. Must have made him excited to serve the Empire and see the world. My fathers Empire service never got to Ceylon but he made it as far as Egypt, India, Iraq, and Burma. 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 a great deal of love for this style of stamp. A standard design, printed in England, with a room for an individual colony name. Then the window into the exotic colony. Maybe a bridge the British built, or the industry the colony takes part in, or even just a tourist style picture of an exotic landscape. Then there is this one. Buddhists believed that Buddha’s tooth relic conferred with it the right to rule. The Kandy Palace complex that housed the Tooth now also held the British Colonial Governor. Amazing!

Todays stamp is issue A54, a 25 Cent stamp issued by the Crown Colony of Ceylon in 1938. These stamps replaced an earlier issue with King George V. This design never made it Queen Elizabeth II as it did with other colonies as Ceylon got independence before then. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 30 cents used. Some experts believe George VI issues are a good place to be for the Empire collector as prices are still so reasonable. The same stamp from 1935 with George V is worth 5 times as much.

Buddha died in modern day India in 543 BC. He was cremated. A Tooth that survived the cremation was then presented to the local King for safekeeping. The King started the tradition of building a temple on the grounds of the palace to preserve it. Over a long period of time possession of the Tooth came to be seen as conferring the right to Rule. Around 300 AD the tooth was smuggled to the Kingdom of Kandy on the island that later became Ceylon and now is Sri Lanka. The practice of Buddhism was fading in the India of the day.

That does not mean Buddhists did not want to get control of the tooth. The native King of Burma offered a ransom to Portuguese adventures for the tooth. The Kingdom of Kandy then faced many attempts to capture the tooth and it had to be moved several times to retain procession. Portuguese attacks and attempts to conquer were eventually solved by the Kingdom affiliating with the Dutch. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/02/22/the-british-require-a-duty-so-send-kandy/  .

With the Napoleonic wars in Europe, Dutch interests in Kandy passed to the British in exchange for Britain recognizing the Dutch takeover of Belgium. The British felt they needed to exert more direct control than the Dutch and after a few wars the Kingdom of Kandy became the colony of Ceylon. Surprisingly, the tooth was not shipped off to London to be a curiosity in a museum but stayed in its temple on the palace grounds with the palace now occupied by Sir John D’Oyly, the 1st Baronet of Kandy. You can probably guess that Sir John had somewhat gone native, he spoke Sinhalese and took up with local poet Gajaman Nona. She had come to him to appeal for aid after her husband died leaving her with many children. He granted her a Nindagama, a house and small farm. From then on her love poems were written for him.

Ceylon was granted independence in 1946. Great Britain had fought two World Wars where colonies like Ceylon were no shows, it was time for separation. The time as a British colony left now Sri Lanka with a large non Buddhist practicing Indian minority. So as with Kandy’s time with the Portuguese, the Temple of the Tooth has been attacked repeatedly by local Indians. Wonder if Sri Lanka will consider putting in a call to the Dutch Ambassador?

Well my drink is empty so I will patiently await tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

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Belarus 2004, A former Soviet Republic manages to annoy by staying so Soviet

There are many former Soviet republics that are now independent states. Is it really so surprising that one decided to continue as if the Soviets never ended. I don’t think so, but it sure seems to annoy the USA, the EU, and yes even the Russians. How does the old Ricky Nelson song go “You see, ya cannot please everyone, so you gotta learn to please yourself”. 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 Soviet style is alive in Belarus stamps. Both in the extravagance of issues intended for the world wide stamp market and here with the austerity of the stamps intended for local bulk postage. When I was a young stamp collector, my godmother had a friend in Romania and she would generously clip the stamps off the envelopes for me. Instead of the elaborate oversized stamps in the rest of my Romania collection, it was always the same simple, small, single color stamp of a postman. Belarus follows that tradition.

Todays stamp is issue A179, a standard postage rate stamp A issue of Belarus from 2004. It was a 15 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

Belarus broke away from the collapsing Soviet Union in 1991. The Supreme Soviet of Belarus voted almost unanimously to ratify the break. The one hold out was Alexander Lukashenko. He was the former head of a large collective farm and a veteran of the Soviet Army for which he was a political commissar. Lukashenko got appointed to a independent government anti corruption panel. There was of course a lot of corruption in the early days due to chaos. In 1994 the commission put out a report accusing 70 officials including President Stanislav Shushkevich of corruption. Belarus was still trying for modernness so instead of show trials and detention in Siberia there was an election and Lukashenko was the new President.

Lukashenko then set out recreating at least the Belarus  part of the Soviet Union. The old style was bought back, state ownership of industry was reestablished and dissidents were disappeared. This was annoying to the EU which began to label Belarus a dictatorship, Europe’s last. Lukashenko responded by telling the then Foreign Minister of Germany that it is better to be a dictator than to be gay. Well at least German leaders can think of someone more annoying to them than Trump. He also declared the Drazdy complex in Minsk where all the foreign diplomats lived state property and indefinitely closed for renovations. The west responded with travel restrictions on Lukashenko and began funneling money to the opposition figures. I know, you thought only Russia did that.

The Russians themselves tired of Lukashenko. In 1998 the Russian central bank stopped supporting the Belarus Ruble. Russian state media also began airing exposes of opposition figures and business leaders that disappeared under who they deemed the Godfather. Lukashenko called the stories dirty propaganda. No he is not crazy enough to call Putin gay. He did tell his people that a traditionally Jewish city in Belarus was a pigsty and that if Jews had any pride in themselves they would return from Israel and fix it up. There is plenty of word that Israel was offended, but none whether any came back to fix it up.

Like Putin, Lukashenko keeps getting reelected. Sometimes it is enough to annoy the right people. Former President Shushkevich recently filed suit against the Belarus Department of Labor. He complained that his pension as former head of state was inflation battered and equated only $1.80 a month. No word if they upped his pension but Belarus did give him a medal for his service in the independence movement.

Well my drink is empty and I will poor another while thinking of all the world leaders I have made fun of in these articles. I hope Russia is wrong about Lukashenko. It would be ashamed for everyone’s (anyones?) favorite Philatelist just disappeared. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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China 1952, Honoring 25 years of the PLA, but forgetting that honoring should sometimes mean letting the guns fall silent

Imagine a career in the Peoples Liberation Army in 1952. In 25 years, there had never been a full year of peace. Now you were having to market yourself as a volunteer and fighting on foreign soil. 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.

Though poorly printed, these stamps do a good job of showing the Chinese soldier as strong and determined. The Chinese had just sent 600,000 plus volunteer soldiers to fight UN forces in Korea, a fight the North Koreans started with Soviet help. It was up to the Chinese to avert military disaster. The long Civil War had just ended with a decisive victory for the communists. It was time to show off what they could do for the simple citizen they claim to champion. Unless another military struggle could be concocted to take the pressure off.

Todays stamp is issue A28, an 800 Yuan stamp issued by the People’s Republic of China on August 1st, 1952. It was a four stamp issue in all the same inflation battered denomination recognizing the 25th anniversary of the People’s Liberation Army. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth $2.50 unused.

The People’s Liberation Army(PLA) was founded in 1927 as the Chinese Workers and Peasants Red Army. In Shanghai there had been a purge of previously allied Communists from the KMT under orders from Chiang Kai-shek. In response army units in Nanchang under communist generals including Chow Enlai rebelled. Most of the KMT Army remained loyal to Chaing and there was a long pursuit of the Red Army. The fact that the Red Army was not caught was in itself a victory and the army became ever more adept at living off the countryside and engaging in guerilla tactics. In 1937, the Red Army officially rejoined the KMT to fight the invaders from Japan. The Red Army however held together in units separated from the KMT.

After World War II the Red Army became officially the PLA. Contact was close with the Soviets and there were large scale transfer of now surplus Soviet weaponry. Notice the artillery pieces on todays stamp are Soviet made 122mm pieces. The PLA did well in the Civil War, winning in 1949. The losses however were over 250,000 dead plus over a million on the KMT side. In a civil war, losses from both sides had to be absorbed.

Though the Chinese had allowed Soviet arms to flow through China to North Korea, when the North invaded the South it was without the Chinese Army. The entirety of the PLA was inside China’s borders. When the tide turned, it seem to surprise the Chinese that the North Koreans would be pursued in defeat into North Korea. The UN forces never crossed the Yalu River forming the border with China even though remnants of the North Korean army did.

China sent at least 600,000 troops into North Korea. Officially they were volunteers. General MacArthur proposed bombing Chinese cities with nuclear bombs to make the Chinese pay the price for getting involved. The USA fired General MacArthur and allowed the fantasy that the Chinese were volunteers to avoid World War III. China was not bombed. After some initial Chinese success using guerilla strategies of which they were expert, the Korean war settled into 2 years of trench warfare  very near the old North Korea-South Korea border. The two sides dispute the numbers of Chinese casualties. The Americans claim 1 million while Chinese admit to one third of that. It may be that the Chinese number is more accurate. American Generals tend to promote high opponent losses to burnish their career and make it seem the war is successful. The Chinese point to the fact that it was a serious crime to misreport information to Chinese leadership. The fact is though that losses were high and the Chinese people had to again put off the bounty the communists had promised them.

Well my drink is empty, and I will pour another for the PLA veteran on todays stamp. The guns finally fell silent in 1953 and I hope he got his fair share of the communist bounty due him. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Spain 1980, boldly reminding who found Buenos Aires, one of the great world cities

Colonialism is now days almost a dirty word. Not to a stamp collector like me, who loves both colonial and post colonial issues in how they show what changed and what remained the same after the status changed. With Empires a thing of the past, you wouldn’t expect them to show much on home countries’ stamps. Britain doesn’t remind that it was them that founded Singapore or Calcutta. Spain in 1980 was more bold. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Given how modern this stamp is and Spain insisted on recognizing the 400th anniversary of Buenos Aires founding, you might expect a modern shot of the skyline. Instead Spain had the guts to go full conquistador and show the always on the lookout for gold guy waving his sword. It makes the point of what a dangerous thing it was to try to bring civilization where there is none. Good for Spain making the case that is too often forgotten today.

Todays stamp is issue A579, a 19 Peseta stamp issued by Spain on October 24th, 1980. It was a single stamp issue. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether used or unused.

1580 is given as the date of the founding of Buenos Aires by the Spanish conquistador Juan  de Garay. There was an earlier Spanish settlement there starting  in 1536. That one was abandoned 8 years later due to persistent indian attacks. The number of Spaniards in the new world was really quite small and so settlements were few and far between. Juan de Garay moved on from Buenos Aires in search of the mythical “city of the ceasers”. While encamped with 40 men, a priest, and a few woman, his force was surrounded and massacred by indians of the Querandi tribe. This time Buenos Aires decided to keep going.

Buenos Aires always made it on trade, often of the elicit veriety. The Spanish Empire had rules that required trade with the colonies to go only between Lima in Peru and the port of Seville in Spain. This was to allow for convoys to ward off pirates. The distances meant trade was slow and very expensive. The port of Buenos Aires reduced the distance a lot and avoided all the taxes and fees of doing things legally. Though the people in Buenos Aires were mostly European the activities gave the city a rebellious nature.

Spanish King Charles III tried to reform the situation. He freed up the previous trade restrictions and set up a new Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata. This was based out of Buenos Aires. This did not work out as intended. The British repeatedly raided Buenos Aires. With no Spanish army nearby to defend, locals had to rely on themselves to kick out the British. This mirrors how they were on their own in dealing with indian attacks earlier. Combined with the cosmopolitan international nature of a large port, Buenos Aires became a  hotbed of pro independence from Spain sentiment. With Spain distracted by Napoleon at home, Argentina got independence. The disdain toward Spain was somewhat mutual. Notice when Argentina had further troubles with Britain over the Falkland Islands in the 1980s, Spain was a no show for the former colony.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another as I remember a pleasant trip I had there in 1999. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

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Latvia 1919, Ulmanis slays the Russian dragon to take Kurland

Another slaying the beast stamp. This time not Russian see https://the-philatelist.com/2018/11/16/russian-soviet-federative-socialist-republic-1921-triumphant-so-claims-the-stamp/ , in fact Russia is here represented as the dead dragon. At the time Latvians faced many dragons. Russians, Germans, and even Jews. It also had a leader Karlis Ulmanis, who believed Latvia was for Latvians, and only Latvians. 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 obviously anti Russian. Really though could the image be more Russian. Latvia had been in Russia’s orbit for quite a while and of course neighbors for all time. More assimilation must have occoured than a Latvian nationalist like Ulmanis would like to admit to.

Todays stamp is issue A6, a 10 Kapeikas stamp issued by the newly independent provisional government of Latvia. It was part of a four stamp issue in various denominations celebrating the Latvian government gaining control over the province of Kurland. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 50 cents whether it is mint or used.

Kurland started the 20th century as a Dutchy of Czarist Russia. The area lies on the coast of the Baltic just east of the then furthest eastern city of Germany Memel, see https://the-philatelist.com/2019/06/21/memel-1920-the-french-worry-about-the-germans-and-forget-to-worry-about-the-lithuanians/   . During World War I the Russians were pushed back and the area became German. After Germany lost the war, The intact and indeed victorious German Eastern Army was used to prevent the Soviets from retaking the area. Weimar Germany hoped the Baltics would become vassal states. After the German Army pushed back the Soviets they turned over Kurland to the Latvian government of Karlis Ulmanis.

New German East lands during World War I. Nice Fonts if nothing else

Kurland was about 80 percent Latvian, 8 percent German, 8 percent Jewish, and only 1 percent Russian. Germans were over represented in the cities and the landowning class while Jews were over represented in the professional and artistic classes. Ulmanis sought to replace the Germans and Jews with Latvians not by force but via an education system that heavily favored the after all native Latvians. Independent Latvia was however politically splintered and there were numerous minority governments till Ulmanis again took power in a coup in 1934. He ruled by decree until the Russians pushed him out and imprisoned him in 1940. Ulmanis died of chronic diarrhea while his Soviet guards fled East away from advancing Germans in 1942. He died knowing what the Russian dragon on the stamp must have felt like.

Karlis Ulmanis in 1934. He arrested and jailed the Latvian Nazi party guy so I don’t know what those high pants fellows on the left are up to?

The German dragons were also back in Kurland in World War II. They in fact were especially long lived. The German forces that had been besieging Leningrad faded into Kurland and were cut off in a pocket in 1944. German Generals advised Hitler to evacuate Kurland by sea. Hitler instead had the fantasy that the troops there could lead a new push to Leningrad when the tide turned. Indeed the German force stayed intact and undefeated until the end of the war but unlike World War I was not willing or able to keep the Baltic states from being absorbed by the Soviets. The Soviet dragon was alive in Latvia, even if the German and Jewish ones were dead.

Karlis Ulmanis is well remembered by modern independent Latvia. There are now statues of him and a major highway built by the Soviets was renamed for him. Ulmanis was a homosexual so had no offspring, but a grand nephew of him Guntis Ulmanis served as President of Latvia from 1993-1999.

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

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Denmark 1920, to the nuetral go the spoils, and this warehouse, unless the King gets greedy

By the 20th Century, if left alone, Scandinavia will tend toward neutrality. Denmark sat out World War I and benefited greatly, if not enough to satisfy King Christian X. 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.

Todays stamp shows a newly acquired castle in the area of Northern Schleswig that was retaken from a defeated Germany. The Danes have since sensibly renamed the area South Jutland. It being hard to argue Jutland isn’t naturally Danish. Sonderborg Castle was actually built by Danish 12th century King Valdemar I, so does a great job of signifying Danish claims to the area are long term and have legitimacy. Sonderborg Castle wasn’t the prize  that it may appear on the stamp. The previous owner, a Schleswig Duke, had been renting the castle out as a warehouse.

Todays stamp is issue A21, a 20 Ore stamp issued by the Kingdom of Denmark on October 5th, 1920. It was a three stamp issue in various denominations celebrating the return after 50 years of Northern Schleswig to Denmark. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 50 cents used.

Denmark got many benefits from staying out of World War I. Wartime Germany was short of everything Denmark had to export and paid dearly for it. Denmark was able to sell money pit colonies in the Virgin Islands to the USA for still more money. See https://the-philatelist.com/2019/05/01/danish-west-indies-1900-triangular-trade-becomes-triangular-bidding/  . After the War, there was even a vote in Schleswig as to whether the area wanted to be Danish or German. The Northern area voted 3 to 1 to return to Denmark. The southern part, despite relative German poverty, voted to stay German. This outraged King Christian X, who thought the whole of Schleswig should be Danish whatever the voting. If you are guessing that the Danish Royal family probably  could trace it’s heritage to areas still part of Germany, you would be correct. In any case, the elected government did not appreciate the interference of the King, and there was a constitutional crisis over Easter in 1920. The King eventually backed down and stayed on the Throne in return for staying out of politics. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/09/05/iceland-honors-king-christian-one-last-time-before-the-union-with-denmark-ends/ .

Sonderborg Castle was built first as a fortified tower in the 12th Century by Danish King Valdemar I. It was built on a then separate(now connected) small island off the bigger island of Als on the Baltic Sea side of Jutland. The fort was built to defend Germanic settlements from attacks of the Wends people. The Wends people were Slavic people who had ended up on what Middle Age Germans would consider the wrong side (western) of the Oder River. Over the long term the Wend Slavs integrated with the Germans and lost their separate identity. While there are really no more Wend people, the term has survived in some Baltic languages as a sneer aimed at Russia. The castle over many years gradually was rebuilt into a castle. It’s most interesting claim to fame was when deposed Danish King Christian III was held there against his will for 17 years starting in 1532. A legend grew up that he paced around a round table so much that his thumb wore a groove in it. The castle passed through many hands and the last Duke who owned it was happy to sell out to the government of Denmark in 1920. The Duke was not living in it but renting it out to serve as a warehouse. The castle currently contains a museum which is the main place for the artefacts of the former  Dutchy of Schleswig. Hmmm….

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast all those who remember to stay on the right side of the Oder. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.