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Gerrman Austria 1919, the rump state no one wanted

Austria paid dearly for involvement in World War I. Given that the war started with the assassination of an Austrian Royal and the last Emperor Karl had offered an early, gentlemanly end to the war for which he was Sainted, this was quite harsh. Yet here we have an early stamp from the treaty created rump state based on ethnicicity. Notice the German identity popping up, hmmm…. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Here we have the Roman God Mercury. He shows up in a fair number of stamps of Catholic countries, see https://the-philatelist.com/2019/05/22/spain-1962-can-the-winged-helmit-of-mercury-stop-us-from-falling-behind/   , Just a way to call for heavenly blessings without being overtly religious. Notice the overprint denoting the new German Austrian Republic. With the Hapsburg’s gone, there were three political parties. The communists, the  socialists, and the conservatives. The two left parties were in favor of joining the new left wing Weimar Germany. The conservatives didn’t, they probably harbored some royalist loyalty. The World War I victors were not going to have that, whatever the will of the Austrians and the German title of the Austrian Republic was quickly removed.

Todays stamp is issue SH2, a 5 Heller special handling stamp issued by the German-Austrian Republic in 1919. It was an overprint of the earlier Austrian Empire stamp of 1917. There are later overprints that take into account the inflation that was about to grip Austria. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 35 cents unused.

Austria was in a lot of flux at the end of the war despite defeating Serbia and having much military success against Italy. The sacrifice asked of the many nationalities was too high and first Hungary broke away then all the nationalities were forming separate nation states. This left the question of what to do with the German speakers of Austria. It was thought at the time that Austria itself was not economically viable without the industry of Bohemia or the farmland of Hungary. With the Hapsburgs gone, there was no other reason not to join Germany. The new Austrian Parliament passed a resolution in 1919 in support.

Austrian territorial claims based om locations of German speakers circa 1919

Request denied. New treaties even forced the removal of the German title from the Austrian republic. Austria did it’s part to try to stand up for German speakers as one might expect of an ethnostate. Austria issued claims for the return of large areas of land that contained majority German speakers. See map above.

These demands were ignored. The left of center government under Chancellor Karl Renner passed many reforms to help the common person but the government was perhaps not left wing enough for the capital Vienna and yet far to liberal for the rest of the country. Interestingly he was in favor of the union with Germany as it occurred under the Nazis in 1938. He thought the Nazis were just a fad like other right wing governments he had witnessed. With the experience of World War I, Renner was ready when the German war effort flagged in 1945. He put together a provisional government of the three parties from before and declared the 1938 union with Germany null. Knowing Renner was far more left wing than who the Americans would have put in charge, Stalin quickly recognized Renner’s government. This got Austria much better treatment post war as it was classified as being liberated from Germany instead of being a part of it. Impressive flexibility on Renner’s part and he was again Chancellor until his death in 1950. Typical of Austria, he died in Vienna, but Renner’s home town and former family land were now in Czechislovakia.

Well my drink is empty and I am left wondering if the overprint of German-Austria looks as bizarre to modern Austrians and Germans as it does for me. Then again I don’t understand why the Austrian Republic still has Empire(Reich) in it’s title? Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

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Haiti 1904, The angels revere an old man who proclaims himself President for life

Haiti has forever been one of the poorest places on earth. What to make then  of an 84 year old President surrounded by white angels. Don’t worry, heaven wasn’t his destination, New Orleans was. 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.

Haiti’s older stamps were usually printed by the American Bank Note Company in New York City. These were as well. It is a safe bet they were not printed in the American South. Not with the way the white angels on the stamp revere the black President of Haiti. Reminiscent of reconstruction when ex slaves were put into political power by vengeful northern forces. A Haiti redux could easily have been the outcome.

Todays stamp is issue A18, a 20 Centime stamp issued by the Republic of Haiti in 1904. It was a six stamp issue in various denominations displaying then President Pierre Nord Alexis. There are many later overprints of this stamp. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 35 cents unused. A rare example that was used for actual postage is worth more. As with many stamps printed to raise revenue rather than serve postage needs, there are many fakes. I believe my copy may be that. The catalog mentions bright colors on very white paper combined with uneven perforations as a sign of being from a later printing of fakes. Imagine the sad life of a forger who choses to waste his life recreating Haitian stamps with no value.

President Nord Alexis was from north Haiti whose parents were a high official for North Haitian King Henry Christophe and the King’s illegitimate daughter. In Haiti, this makes him an aristocrat or what passes for one. As with European aristocrats of the more threadbare variety, Alexis served a long career in the Haitian Army. He married a niece Ce Ce of the former King. Ce Ce was active in the occult and tried to work her magic and her own bloodlines in favor of her husband. Her ministrations worked slowly and there were many diversions into jail and exile along the way in turbulent Haiti.

In 1902 at the age of 82, Alexis lead troops into the Parliament and forced them to declare him President. His stature was mainly among northern Haitians and there was soon a revolt in the south. Alexis than declared himself an avid supporter of American interests and that he would see Haitian debts repaid. The USA responded by blockading rebel enclaves in the south of Haiti. What the USA nor President Alexis could solve was the famine gripping the south of Haiti. Food riots were spreading north including the capital. In 1908 Alexis proclaimed himself President for life. He was 88. Later that year Ce Ce passed away and without her ministrations of the occult Alexis was doomed. He was succeeded by an illiterate southern Haitian who yet somehow was still a General. He was most famous for giving an elaborate state funeral for his pet goat Simalo. Haiti is that type of place. When President Alexis fled Haiti, he spent his last years in New Orleans. How lucky for Louisiana. Alexis’s great grandson recently served twice as Prime Minister of Haiti. He was removed from office for incompetence and corruption. No doubt he is perusing New Orleans real estate, at least the picture books.

Well my drink is empty and I will forgo any séance to communicate with failed Haitian Presidents. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting

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Iraq 1932, King Faisal brought down by arsenic and old Chaim

A young adventurer wants an Empire for himself not just to expand the empire of his father. To get it he double and triple deals with Ottomans, British, and Jews. Awarded an empire in Iraq, where he was a stranger, could the adventurer become a statesman? 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 show the period after Iraq became a self governing Kingdom. However notice that the state service overprint is in English. Notice that the King to whom loyalty was due was not Iraqi, but rather one of Lawrence of Arabia cronies, the one played by Alec Guinness in the movie. Not shown is Gertrude Bell, a British women who pulled his strings only to die mysteriously. Or Chaim Weizmann, the Zionist leader with whom he made deals. Who was this man working for. Iraq was too rough a place to leave open questions like this.

Todays stamp was issue A12 a 2 Fills, new currency that year, stamp issued by the Kingdom of Iraq on May 9th, 1932. It was part of a 17 stamp issue displaying King Faisal I. There are earlier versions of this stamp with the earlier Indian currency. The overprint means the stamp was meant for government service. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

King Faisal was the son of the Sharif of Mecca who was later the King of Hejaz after leading a rebellion against the Ottomans. The Sharif is to be the protector of the Islamic holy cities but Medina was looted after being taken from the Ottomans. The British then recruited an Arab Legion including Faisal to rid the middle east of the Ottomans. The British were conflicted because at the same time they were trying to stake out a Jewish homeland in then Palestine. Very complex and the deals made would forever haunt the Arabs participating. Arabs like Faisal foresaw a large Arab Empire of the whole Fertile Crescent with the sons of the Shariff of Mecca ruling. Oil would fund it, the British would protect it and the new Jews in Palestine would get some autonomy in return for payments and accepting Arab sovereignty. Probably not the best of a bad list of alternatives but what they were going with.

Faisal on right with future Israeli President Chaim Weizmann

Faisal himself was iffy on these goals and early in 1918 offered to change sides if the Turks would name him ruler of Syria. They refused but soon lost the war. Faisal declared himself King of Syria but the French weren’t going to have that and threw him out militarily a month later. In consolation, the British then gave Faisal Iraq. A quick, violent uprising had convinced them that direct rule in Iraq was a bad idea. The had adventuress and archeologist Gertrude Bell move to Baghdad to keep Faisal on the path of right.

Gertrude Bell at a dig in Babylon

Faisal found the Iraqi people less than worthy of him. The Shiites hated him. Most of his fellow Sunnis were backward. The Kurds to the north were both backward and of a different ethnicity, so their hatred was also racial. The dealings that the King made to get where he was meant that no one could ever trust him. Gertrude Bell died mysteriously in a death labeled an overdose. After that the King spent more time in Switzerland. That may have seemed a safer idea and of course allowed the leader to be closer to his money where he could enjoy it. It was in Bern in 1933 where his deals caught up to him in the form of fatal arsenic poisoning. His death was labeled a heart attack. This doomed the Kingdom as for the next 25 years there was a series of child Kings that did not live into maturity when they might have built a coherent country.

Well my drink is empty and every time I write a stamp from Iraq the image of what a sad place it is comes through. Perhaps people will eventually learn to leave them alone to their misery, Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Great Britain 1982, Showing Austin success Past, Present, and it turns out final

The industrial revolution did much to bring the masses of people out of poverty. Better off, they can themselves buy more goods expanding the market continuing the cycle. Until the manufacturer has to start cutting prices to keep sales going. Then those factory workers start to look expensive. 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.

Britain was trying to put a good face on car production in the UK in 1982. This Austin stamp was perhaps the most optimistic. The old car on the stamp the Austin 7 had legitimately expanded the car market and the then current Austin Metro was the last British designed model to play in that part of the market. The other stamps in the set are less successful. Ford and Vauxhall are appropriated as domestic. Jaguar and Rolls Royce were low volume luxury niche players.

Todays stamp is issue A317, a 15.5 Penny stamp issued by Great Britain on October 13, 1982. It was part of a four stamp issue in various denominations celebrating the manufacture of British automobiles. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 35 cents used.

The Austin motor company was founded in 1905 by Herbert Austin. He was able to acquire a mothballed former print works in Longbridge where both cars on todays stamp were built. The Austin 7 model on the stamp was his big success in the inter war years. It was a very small car that could be manufactured cheaply and sold a cheap price that expanded the car market down to less well off people. The car was a large success and was licensed to sell around the world including the USA. In Germany, the Austin 7 was the first BMW. In Japan it was the first Nissan. Typical of Asia then and now, the Nissan version was an unlicensed copy. The light weight of the car saw sport specials built off of it including the first sporting cars built by Bruce McLaren and Lotus’s Colin Chapman.

Post war many auto manufacturers merged down to only a few as it required ever more economies of scale to make a profit. This is often blamed on union worker demands but throughout the industry there were ever demands for new and better with no willingness to pay for it. There was also the issue that Britain like the USA allowed lower cost foreign manufacturers in to sell their products at prices that could not be competed with. This hit the British manufacturer like Austin with declining volume to go with the rising cost. See https://the-philatelist.com/2019/01/14/great-britain-1962-the-pm-pontificates-to-the-queen-about-productivity/  .The quite successful Mini managed to sell over 5 million units but Austin lost money on every one of them. They needed that volume though to keep the dealers in business. There was the further issue of the baby boom generation was rebellious and part of that rebellion was not to support domestic industry with whom they did not feel a connection.

To replace the Mini for the 80s, a new Metro model was designed. It was modern and safer and rode better than it’s foreign competitors thanks to the hydragas suspension. Air springs normally being luxury car fare. To keep cost down, carry over engines from the Mini were reused. The tag line for the car was send the foreign invaders back where they came from. It didn’t quite do that. It did sell over 2 million units and lasted 18 years in production. This means it outlasted Austin itself with later models getting the Rover name. It was the last time Britain attempted to design and build a car completely in country for it’s biggest car market segment. The leader in the segment is now the Ford Fiesta, but it was designed in Germany with third world assembly. Ford being American the profits would go to America if there were any, but there is no need to worry for that.

I mentioned that the Metro and the Austin 7 were built at the same Longbridge plant. Most of the plant closed in 2005 with the end of Rover. The Chinese acquired it from bankruptcy and for a while assembled a few of the old cars from Chinese kits in a corner of the old plant. This ended in 2016 and the area is being redeveloped into residential housing. That fits, Britain has been doing better lately on it’s houses than trying to manufacture anything. Now if it could only figure out how to send the foreign invaders back where they came from. I know, John mind your own business.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Herbert Austin. The Longbridge facility was huge and he was able to acquire it in his first year, this really let him think big by going small. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Montenegro 1898, Prince-Bishop Nicholas trades pan Slavism and religion for war mongering and exile

19th century Balkans featured mainly German Kings arguing with their cousins over the spoils from the falling back into Asia Ottomans. What if an Orthodox, Slav King from Montenegro with a flair for soldiery was empowered. Would the Slav people fall behind him. 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.

With “Game of Thrones” now over, perhaps an enterprising Montenegrin could concoct a replacement based on the European Balkans of the 19th century. Here we have a bearded Slav, descended from Orthodox monks ready to take up the sword against Turks, Austrians, and occasionally his fellow Slavs to get ahead. In the background are Austrians and Russians handing out just enough arms and treasure to convince that unification will only happen through them. I would watch that.

Todays stamp is issue A1, a 25 Novcic stamp issued by the Bishopric Principality of Montenegro in 1898. This series of stamps was issued for many years with this the later version, Nicholas having ruled from 1860 till the Austrians sent him packing for the French wine country in 1916. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 40 cents. The early printing of the same denomination in lilac is worth $280.

The Royal line of Montenegro took some degree of power from the Ottoman Empire in 1696. The Royal House were monastic monks who did not marry. Thus the line passed from Bishop-Prince to his nephew. Prince Danilo, assassinated in 1860, tried to modernize by not taking the Bishop part of his title and marrying. However his son Prince Mirko refused the throne and so it still went to the nephew Nicholas. Things were still pretty old fashioned.  Nicholas studied in Trieste and Paris. His wife Milena to whom he was betrothed when he was 12 and her 6, was uneducated and illiterate. She was from a prominent family but at the time they were just not educating females. Later she was tutored in the Palace in French in time for her elderly French exile years. She was fertile, they had 12 children.

Nicholas inherited the title of Prince but on the 50th anniversary of his rule in 1910, he took the title of King. Nicholas claimed to be a pan Slavist but did nothing to unite with the next door larger Slav country Serbia. Serbia had the complication of two royal families, one pro Austrian and one pro Russia. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/06/21/serbia-unlike-so-many-places-had-its-own-royal-line-or-more-problimatically-two/   .Montenegro fought on the winning side on the many wars of the time, especially against the Ottomans. Though his military exploits are perhaps better remembered at home, in the west he is remembered for having sold Gatsby a fake bravery medal in F Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”. During World War I King Nicholas made the mistake of siding too quickly with Serbia only to be quickly defeated with it by Austria. The treaty at the end of WWI saw Montenegro given to the new Yugoslavia under the Serbian King, the pro Russia line. With the Austrians conquering, King Nicholas and Queen Milena left for France never to return.

King Nicholas, Queen Milena and family in exile in France in 1916. Stop by their gift shop and pick up a medal.

Montenegro stayed with Serbia initially as Yugoslavia broke apart. Serbia was greatly punished by the wars of the 90s trying to keep Yugoslavia together. In 2006, Montenegro again put pan Slavism aside and broke off from Serbia peacefully. Pretender King Nicholas, the great grandson of King Nicholas, has returned the Royal line to Montenegro. It is not a monarchy but they allow him to use his preferred title Crown Prince, live in the old Palace, and perform some ceremonial functions. Not bad for a French born and raised architect. Nicholas has grandchildren named Nicholas and Milena.

Well my drink is empty and I may have a few more while I ponder the upsides and downsides of pan Slavism. No doubt a common drinking game from Vienna to Moscow. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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French Kwangchowan 1937, without good governance, France’s Hong Kong becomes a smugglers den

Hong Kong was such an inspiration to China. With British good governance, the Chinese had achieved so much beyond what any Chinese government achieved. Yet the nearby French leased territory showed living under an European colonial administration was no panacea. 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 by The Philatelist.

Kwangchowan was an area of Guandong province in China leased for 99 years to France beginning in 1898. The area was quite prosperous by 1997, but France was not inclined to put forth the effort to be a part of it. This can be seen by the stamp, which is just an overprint of a standard French Indo China issue. In fact the French administration in Kwangchowan was subservient to the French Resident Superior in Hanoi, Vietnam. Well who shouldn’t be subservient to him?

Todays stamp is issue A20, a 2/5s Cent stamp issued by Kwangchowan when it was leased to France in 1937. It was part of a 33 stamp issue in various denominations. If you see one without the RF in the bottom left corner, it was issued later under the Vichy France administration. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 40 cents whether mint or used.

The area was leased to France by the Imperial Chinese government. There was much resentment in China over deals like this, but that does not mean the government didn’t have an ever greater need for money. The French thought of the area has a military base and established Fort Bayard as the capital. The port was also quite useful to port large warships as the river is wide and deep for miles inland. The stated purpose of the troops was the protection of Christian missionaries in China. I didn’t even know France was much into that, but it got the camels nose under the tent.

The French administration saw Chinese flood into the area. Things illegal like smuggling were easier to carry out. In Kwangchowan this was opium into China and the export of Chinese laborers out. One smuggling activity unique to the area was American airplanes. America had regulations making aircraft shipments to China difficult. They could be acquired in the Philippines and shipped to Kwangchowan to be passed on to China. These activities did not benefit the French much but were the bread and butter of Chinese Tong Societies that was so entwined with Chinese expatriates.

During World War II, French Asian colonies went with Vichy France and by extension became allies of the Japanese in their war in China. In 1945, after the end of Vichy France the new French government signed over early Kwangchowan to the Chinese Nationalist government, their allies. What a mistake! The Nationalist government was on borrowed time and the Red Chinese somewhat surprisingly respected the leases for places like Hong Kong and Macao. A colony that might have worked? Well maybe, but they would have had to stop running it out of Hanoi.

After China took over, Fort Bayard became Zhanjiang. It is an important railway and port shipping center with a population over 7 million. The city still contains a French school and Catholic church founded by the French.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Sun Yat-sen. He inspired many Chinese by talking up how much better off China could be if they could learn from the West, without being dominated by it. That goal eluded Sun during his Chinese Presidency, see https://the-philatelist.com/2019/04/26/china-1961-remembering-sun-tat-sen-for-trying-to-bring-peace-order-and-good-government-over-from-hong-kong/, but people need inspiration. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Mexico 1968, putting a modern face forward for the modern Olympics

Getting the Olympics to come to Mexico was a big deal. Mexico was determined to show itself a modern country, with an indigenous culture but a part of the modern  world. Well sometimes the modern world brings with it some baggage. 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.

Mexico’s many stamp issues leading up to the games feature artwork by famed muralist Diego Rivera. His work is both modern in the cubist style and often distinctly political. There was a movement in Mexico at the time called Mexicanidad that tried to get away from Spanish colonial culture and instead base culture on the indigenous people. Mexicans like Rivera were forefront in bringing this sensibility to the world stage. It is a testament to how widespread the movement that the right of center Mexican government chose this style to present.

Todays stamp is issue C337, a 2 Peso airmail stamp issued by Mexico on March 21st, 1968. This stamp featured athletes playing volleyball and was part of a four stamp issue. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 30 cents used.

Mexico City was awarded the Olympics beating out Detroit, USA and Lyon, France. It was a conscious decision to feature a third world city. The Olympic Committee was under the very traditional leadership of Avery Brundage. He was very opposed to the commercialization and pollicization of the Olympics. This was thought by some to be unrealistic and even classist. Perhaps, but that was the original idea of the modern Olympics, See https://the-philatelist.com/2019/02/07/1924-paris-olympics-the-last-of-the-modern-olympics-that-paid-homage-to-the-ancient-greeks/    .

Mexico was pressured heavily by the left leading up to the games. Many strikes suddenly popped up, with unions sensing this was the time to ask for more. Students then occupied a Mexico City university wanting revolution, not Olympics. They were in Latin America not Berkley and the army quickly surrounded them and mowed down hundreds and arrested the rest. Bet Nixon wished he could get away with that.

Once the games began, it was the turn of American blacks to distract from Mexico’s fresh face. The many black athletes started using raised fists during medal ceremonies to protest what they felt were the plight of blacks in the USA. Blacks in the USA were much better off than African blacks or even the average Mexican, but the cameras were there. Avery Brundage thought the display terribly disrespectful to the athletes own country and banned them permanently from the Olympics. Brundage’s old school tactics were not the future. Politics and professional athletes were the future. After offending Jews by continuing the 72 games after the Palestinian attacks, he was put out to pasture and accused of antisemitism. Don’t feel too bad for Mr. Brundage, the widower retired to a German spa town marrying a German Princess less than half his age. He spent his last years spending quickly his vast fortune.

Well my drink is empty, and I will pour another and toast the original idea of the Olympics, gentleman getting stronger physically and spiritually through physical competition. It can be no surprise that a stamp collector will commiserate with the old school among us. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Italian Eritrea 1930, Pouring it on for Italy’s first daughter colony

Eritrea sat on the African side of the Red Sea. It’s importance to Europeans grew with the completion of the Suez Canal. It was already important to Arab traders. If it could be peeled away from Ethiopia what a great first colony for a newly united Italy. 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 Italian cavalryman cuts an impressive figure on the stamp. It was not a real picture of the security situation. The security forces were mostly locally recruited Arabs, often keen soldiers. Italians far from home, not so much. Eritrea fell to a British lead Indian force half it’s size in 1941. The British did not have much luck sending the British Indian Army against the Japanese see https://the-philatelist.com/2019/01/25/straits-settlements-1912-trying-to-keep-singapore-british-when-the-people-are-chinese-malay-and-indian/   . Against the Italians further afield? no problem.

Todays stamp is issue A5, a 2 Centesimi  stamp issued by Italian colonial Eritrea in 1930. It was a 10 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $4.75. If the stamp had been used in postage, the value would rise to $20. Another colony printing way more stamps than needed for postage. Well at least they painted exotic pictures that stamp collectors love.

The inland black Ethiopians had always claimed the area but the many Arab traders on the coast had taken to paying a suzerainty to the Ottomans to operate. With the decline of Ottoman power, the Arabs were receptive to Italian overtures. The Ethiopians less so inland. When Italy tried to extend inland to take arable potential farmland the Ethiopians fought and won! This was not the end though. The Treaty of Wuchale offered Ethiopia money in return for it’s recognition of Italian Eritrea. Italy was now speaking Ethiopian Emperor Menelik II’s language and he signed the treaty. He later claimed not to understand it but of course understood how to take the Italian’s money.

Italians made a concerted effort in Eritrea. They built grand buildings in the Capital Asmara and even railways and factories. In the 1938 census, the majority of people in the capital were Italian. It was hoped that from Asmara a wider Italian colony from Sudan to Somalia would be administered. There was a concerted and in the short term about half successful effort to educate locals and convert them to Catholic. Compared to the backward Ethiopians who still practiced slavery legally into the 1930s a picture of progress was put forward. Ethiopia was the last place on earth it was legal.

The 1938 Fiat Tagliero building in Asmara. The buildings wings are unsupported and still stand but the taxi in front is now a Kia

As stated above, the British took Eritrea fairly easily. What to do with it after the war was the question. Italy wanted it back and had all those settlers. In this oddly  they had the support of the Soviet Union. The Soviets were confident that Italy itself would soon vote in the communists and then it and any colonies would be theirs. See https://the-philatelist.com/2019/06/03/italy-1945-moving-forward-under-jet-power/  . Meanwhile the USA with it’s large black population, bonded with Ethiopian Emperor Hailie Selassie and followed his views on the area being rejoined to Ethiopia. This was done as a face saving federation and the Italians fled in the correct appraisal of black rule. Soon Ethiopia reneged on federation and annexed the territory. Getting control over the still present Arabs would however elude them.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the Italian colonists who traveled far to build a new place, only to see it collapse and have to make a run for it after they were forgotten. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Spain 1983, the now left government tries and fails to get control of the national police

Spain used this stamp issue to try to show respect for the professionalism of the then three branches of the national police. By professionalism, crime fighting was not on the agenda, they meant serving loyally left governments as well as right. It didn’t work and two of the branches were disbanded, just like Franco had done in 1939. 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 national police force was not disbanded immediately after Franco’s death and the country’s politics moved left. King Juan Carlos was trying to keep some continuity so the right wouldn’t rebel restarting the 30s civil war. The reforming was gradual. Some leaders were pensioned off and this stamp shows the new uniforms that changed their look. There was also a new police labor union, that weeded out right wingers. The left was dissatisfied with these reforms and the police force was abolished and replaced in 1986.

Todays stamp is issue A627 a 9 Paseta stamp issued  by the Kingdom of Spain on March 23rd 1983. It was a three stamp issue honoring the then 3 divisions of the National Police. This stamp shows the urban National Police Force. There were also stamps for the rural Civil Guard and the Superior Police Corp, a non uniformed secret police. Only the Civil Guard still exists. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether it is mint or used.

During the bloody 30s civil war, the national police sided with the left republican side while the Civil Guard leadership stayed republican but about half of the rank and file went to Franco’s side. After Franco won the civil war, the national police were reformed as the Policia Armada and a Republican Civil Guard General was executed. From these reorganizations, the national police could be relied upon by Franco and despised by the left. When Franco died, his chosen successor King Juan Carlos picked from the old Royal House took over. Quickly the left found themselves taking power in the government. Personally however the King was a conservative figure that it was hoped could maintain the loyalty of the Franco police until they could be quietly purged.

It was not to be, in 1981 Civil Guard Coronel, Antonio Tejero, attempted a coup. He had a lot of experience combating Basque separatists and was outraged the left government had legalized their flag. The separatists had the tactic of flying their banned flag and when the Civil Guard police force tried to remove it, a bomb was attached. Several police had died this way. Tejero sent a sarcastic letter to his superiors asking if he was now to salute the now legal flag. In 1981 Tejero lead 150 soldiers and policeman into the lower house of Parliament taking the Deputies prisoner. When the rest of the army didn’t join him, the King got on tv at midnight and ordered them to surrender to avoid violence. Tejero surrendered the next day.

While awaiting trial for treason, Tejero formed a right wing political party called Solidarity and attempted to get a seat for himself in Parliament from his jail cell. A sitting member of Parliament would have had immunity from prosecution. His slogan was enter with Tejero into the Parliament. He got 28,000 votes, not enough for a seat. He served 15 years in jail. Tejero is still alive and served as a pallbearer recently at the funeral of Franco’s daughter.

Coronel Tejero, entering Parliament with him would freak out the Sargent-at-Arms

As much as it must have annoyed them, the left followed Franco’s example and disbanded the National Police and purged the Civil Guard so that what was reformed was directly under their control. Necessary of course, but it does not take George Orwell to see the irony.

Well my drink is empty and I am always happy to toast professional, non political national police. Given the virtual FBI coup attempt in the USA recently, they are as hard to find here as in Spain. Too bad, I could have used another drink. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Dominican Republic 1937, making the guy behind the cow understand you are working for him, with parsley

Peace, work and progress sound pretty good on paper. Except perhaps to the man who must spend his life toiling behind the cow. How to convince him that his work will be rewarded. Strongman Rafael Trujillo went pretty far to do this, and some will never forgive him. 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 looks so foreign to modern eyes. A leader describes himself as a benefactor and then shows a man of simple means performing what must be hellish work. Yet what is our farmer/hero supposed to do after his cow is stolen. This was happening a lot because poor Dominican Republic bordered even poorer Haiti and the border was porous. Trujillo instigated an eviction that Haitians would call a massacre. Either way, maybe our hero’s toil might now lead to rewards. Progress?

Todays stamp is issue A64, a 3 Centavo stamp issued by the Dominican Republic on September 18th, 1937. It was a single stamp issue marking the eighth year of the rule of Rafael Trujillo, who is presented as the benefactor. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

Trujillo early life was modest. His early adult years saw his unable to find steady work and resorting to crime. The USA had invaded the DR to try to assure repayment of debts defaulted on. As part of this, the USA established a new constabulary that Trujillo joined and rose quickly in. Soon he was head of the official DR army and running successfully for President. Unlike most Latin strongmen leaders he had sensibilities that seemed of the left. He required the middle class to join his political party. He required government workers to tithe 10% of their salary, not to the church, not even to himself personally, but the national treasury. Party membership gave you a card with a palm tree on it, a palmita. If you were without it, police were to assume you a vagrant. Everything was renamed for the leader, the capital, the biggest province, the tallest mountain. Car license plates said viva Trujillo on them. Sounds almost Soviet or even Maoist.

The DR had a problem with desperately poor Haitians crossing their border and committing crime. The army was sent to evict the Haitians. Since there was race mixing on both sides of the border. skin color was not determinative. The two peoples did speak different languages but literacy was low. The army hit upon holding up a sprig of parsley and have the suspected Haitian describe it. If he pronounced it in the French creole way he was done for. There are people that claim that wrong pronunciation was fatal and not just leading to deportation. Haitians at the time claimed a bizarrely exact number of 12,168 killed in the parsley massacre. In the way of the modern dragging out and inflating grievances, the currently claim is 35,000 killed.

Stongman Trujillo with his sash. They never seem to leave home without it.

Trujillo ruled the DR until 1961 when he was assassinated. Whether you admire the infrastructure and economic progress of his time or resent his tough guy methods depend on your politics. Either way, it can’t be easy to share a small island with Haiti, one of the poorest countries on earth.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast our hero toiling behind the cow. I hope his cow was not stolen and he was able to enjoy the rewards of his work. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.