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Japan 1938, a national park offers a calming refuge while the army pushes for unending war

Japan was achieving much in the early 20th century. There was rapid industrialization and leaps in educational achievement. In world affairs, Japan was seen as a major player, the only Asian country to be so seen. The achievements were not enough for the army that wanted to set up a wider Asian Empire, even over the objection of Emperor Hirohito and  the last civilian controller, Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi. 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 an early version of a stamp that would be very common post war. A calming scene of natural beauty. It must be remembered that even so long ago Japan was a very crowded place with many new arrivals in the cities from the countryside. Parks were a big part of getting through such a transition. It was a great marker of an advanced civilization that effort was expended to see that parks are set aside and protected.

Todays stamp is issue A101, a two Sen stamp issued by Imperial Japan on December 25, 1938. It was part of a four stamp issue in various denominations that showed the sights of the then new Nikko national park. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 50 cents used.

Emperor Hirohito began his long reign in 1926. There was a crisis of politics early in his reign as the civilian politicians were having a hard time reigning in the ambitions of the leaders of the military. The Emperor was more than ceremonial but the Prime Minister and the Diet had real power. Not for long though. An example of how out of control the Army was can be seen by what happened in Manchuria. Hirohito had ordered that there be no attack on China as was required by international treaties that Japan was a signatory to. Without orders to do so, the Army bombed a Japanese owned railway. They then blamed the Chinese and used the pretext to invade Manchuria, conquer it and set up a puppet government. Remember all without orders.

The Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi then withheld even Japanese recognition of the new puppet government in Manchuria. This did not sit well with the armed forces and group of young soldiers went to the official residence of the Prime Minister and assassinated him by firing squad. At the same time other politicians were attacked as were some prominent business leaders and there was also an explosion inside Mitsubishi Bank. The Emperor declared this a rebellion and ordered the perpetrators arrested. This was ignored and only some teenage soldiers were arrested and received only token sentences. From then on there was no civilian oversight of the military and Hirohito was no longer opposing the wishes of the Army. From then on when told of war plans he would only try to caution the armed forces by asking what Russia or the USA would do if the plan was carried out. The answer of course was start a long bloody and loosing war for Japan.

Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi

The Nikko park opened as a national park in 1934. Earlier it had been an Imperial park but the Diet had passed a law making such places national parks and open without charge. The Park was expanded several times post war and is a major tourist attraction.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Prime Minister Tsuyoshi. His last words to his firing squad were reportedly that if you would listen you would understand me to which they responded, the time for dialog is over. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Guinea 1959, work, justice, solidarity, but really poverty, exile, and no elephants

France mismanaged their colonies. In 1958 a new French republic was formed to deal with it. Part of that was an option of a vote in the colonies whether to continue a relationship with France. Only one colony, Guinea opted to end the French relationship immediately. It did not go well for them. 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 first issues or a new country coming out of colony status are often the best. The issues are not yet the farm out topicals that always come later but show the country and it’s leaders at a time when there is still hope for a better future. In addition to nature scenes, this issue of stamps showed cultural objects and hard working Guineans working for a better future. Stamp issuance in Guinea seems to have stopped but among their last known issues honored the anniversary of Elvis’s death. I like Elvis as much as anybody, but what does he have to do with Guinea.

Todays stamp is issue A14 a 25 Guinean Franc stamp issued by Guinea in 1959. It was part of a 8 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth $2.25. This seems to be one of the most valuable stamp issues from the country, so lucky me.

Ahmed Sekou Toure was born to subsistence farmers and his education ended at age 15. He however was the great grandson of the last African ruler of the area in the 1890s. He was literate enough to get hired by the French colonial postal service and become involved in trade union organizing and had contact with a major French communist trade union. He was quite anti French but that did not prevent him from being appointed the mayor of Conarky, the capital. He organized a successful strike in 1957. France was tiring of its Empire and the new Fifth Republic President Charles De Gaulle proposed the colonies vote on a new constitution that granted self rule leading to independence in a decade with continued French aid and assistance. A no vote meaned immediate independence with the French washing their hands of the area voting that way. Toure campaigned for a no vote and Guinea voted that way 86% and was immediately granted independence with Toure as the first President. Toure indeed had no relations with France but accepted aid from the East and West. Progress and stability did not come fast enough and Toure banned all politics but his own and set up a brutal prison called Camp Boiro run by his brother. This did not prevent close relations with Ghana President for life until coup Nkume and American civil rights leaders Stokey Carmichael and Malcolm X.

President Toure in 1983 on a visit to the USA

Toure also supported anti government forces in neighboring Portuguese Guinee and held several Portuguese POWs at Camp Boiro. In 1970, the Poruguese Army raided Conarky and freed their prisoners but could not find Toure. After they left, Toure claimed a military victory over them and sent many of his staff to Camp Boiro as disloyal collaborators where many were starved tortured and killed. As many as 50,000 died at Camp Boiro and another 500,000 went into exile. Toure was elected with no opposition to 4 seven year terms as President but died at Cleveland Clinic after a heart attack in 1984. His successor fell to a coup a few months later.

Loffo Camarra, Health Minister and member of Guinea’s Politburo. In 1971 she was starved to death at Camp Boiro

Guinea has still failed to prosper after Toure. There is a large deposit of iron ore that the Chinese, an American hedge fund, and Australian mineral giant Rio Tinto have competed to develop. The competition seems to be bribing government officials for rights to proceed but nothing ever happening. Surprisingly, Guinea has never moved to change it’s colonial name as many African countries did post independence. Guinea comes from Portuguese and referred to any black person from below the Senegal River. The Arabic Berbers from north of the Senegal river were referred by the Portuguese as tawnys. Guinea no longer has elephants or any other large animals in it’s nature preserves left over from the French

Well my drink is empty and President Toure doesn’t get a toast. Instead I will toast De Gaulle for allowing Guinea a vote and then immediately leaving them alone when that was what they wanted. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Syria 1930, France tries to enforce it’s Syrian mandate

Replacing the Ottomans was hard and unprofitable. The European League of Nations ratified the division of Palestine, the Levant, and Iraq between France and Britain. A mandate to be where they were not wanted. 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 is somewhat disingenuous. By showing architectural sites around the French Mandate, there is an implication that France was a good steward of the area and a protector of the history. In the 26 years of the French mandate Damascus was attacked by French forces twice and then they themselves were attacked by free French and Australians during World War II. Not a great record of stewardship.

Todays stamp is issue A10, a 4 Piaster stamp issued by the French League of Nations Mandate in Syria. It was part of a 24 stamp issue in various denominations that show architectural sights around Syria. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

Syria had been ruled by the Ottoman Empire for hundreds of years up until 1918. The Ottomans had buttressed their often precarious finances by granting self rule to areas of the Empire in return for an annual tribute paid by the territory. As such, the area had a large degree of self rule. That said, when the Arab Legion arrived in Damascus toward the end of World War I, they were welcomed and a Hashemite was named King of Syria. Though the Arab Legion was affiliated with Britain through Lawrence of Arabia, they were not authorized to take Syria. A deal had be struck between Britain and France that divided the area up postwar. This allowed the continued influx of European Jews into Palestine but just replaced an Ottoman ruler with an even more foreign European.

The Syrians tried to fight for the freedom the Arab legion had won. The entrance into Syria by Algerian and Senegalese French troops was actively resisted. The French won the battle of Maysalun and then laid siege on Damascus. The Hashemite King was forced into exile and French administrators came in quickly to try to replace the local administration. This meant more direct rule by France than under the Ottomans. An uprising by the Druze minority was quickly taken up by many Syrians in 1925. The French had allowed their number of colonial troops to drop and the uprising met with much initial success. It took a mobilization of 50,000 French troops to restore the French authority. Doing so again meant bombing and a siege of Damascus, for the second time in a decade.

Damascus in flames during the 1925 uprising

In World War II, Syria initially sided with the pro Nazi Vichy government after the fall of France. In 1941, there was a coup in neighboring Iraq where a Arab nationalist group asked for Nazi German aid routed through Syria.. This was not acceptable and Iraq and Syria were invaded, in Syria’s case mainly by Australians. This was an embarrassment to the Allies as the Vichy French forces fought. The battles saw American made Martin bombers given to France used by the Vichy forces fighting American P40 fighters given to the Australians. The campaign was little covered in the west as it implied the French were then on the German side and willing to fight to retain colonies. Damascus was again bombed and fought over. The Vichy were defeated but the French had learned their lesson and left Syria at the first opportunity in 1946.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the Hashemites. Building an effective army of locals meant they were the only ones to realistically succeed the Ottomans. Instead the French and the British arrogantly came in only to find they lacked the will to stay. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Cuba 1980, Embargo stamps hint at a red dawn

Cuba was the only country in the Americas to go full bore Marxist Leninist. The USA did not like that and decided to end all trade even postage stamps. That does not mean that farm out stamps were not being produced for the international collector. The stamps now get out and we can see some of our fears reflected. 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 Cuban participant in the sport of shooting in the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. Some of the Olympic sports like competitive shooting arise from the nineteenth century skills of a gentleman soldier. Today the sport still exists but is the province of Middle Eastern petro states. So where does that leave Cuba. The rich quickly left after the revolution and the remaining worker class is not allowed guns. The exception of course was the greatly expanded Cuban Army. This is where the team came from.

Todays stamp is issue A618, a 2 Centavo stamp issued by Cuba on February 20th, 1980. It was part of a six stamp issue in various denominations that celebrated Cuban participation in the 1980 Moscow Olympics. There was also a higher denomination single stamp souvenir stamp released. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether it is mint or cancelled to order.

The Cuban revolution occurred in 1959. Pre 1959 Cuba was typical of Latin America. There was some prosperity in the capital but much poverty in the countryside. The revolution started in the countryside but was coopted by urban Marxists as was typical of the era. Part of the change in government was grudge settling with the previous hierarchy and this lead to the emigration in mass of the upper class. For example, over half of the doctors left for Miami.

The Marxists somewhat succeeded in Cuba at least in terms of the lower classes. Food was cheap and plentiful and rents were token. The Soviets invested much aid in Cuba and education increased, soon Cuba had amongst the highest rate of doctors.

There was a price for this aid. The Army was greatly expanded. Expeditions of Cuban troops were sent to Africa to fight in favor of Soviet client states such as Angola and Ethiopia. They were functioning almost as colonial half black Askari troops where deployments of Soviet white troops were not justified. In Angola they came up against the apartheid era South African Army and were much bloodied. The all too serious theory at the time at the time was one Cuban soldier in Africa was worth 5 African soldiers. One white South African soldier was worth 10 Africans. Not sure when the Cuban people signed up for that. Indeed the communist Cubans have never been able to provide much more than basic subsistence, especially after the end of Soviet aid. The people have voted with their feet and over 10% of the population has emigrated to the USA. That is about average for a Caribbean country, but before the revolution Cuba was better off than the black Caribbean, and communism was to make it better still.

We can see how this stamp plays into then USA fears over Cuban militarism. In 1984, the movie “Red Dawn” prophesized a Soviet invasion of the USA using mainly Cuban troops. Cuba did have many troops relative to its population but the movie failed to recognize that if one arms embargo addled South African soldier was worth 2 Cubans, how many Cubans would be needed to match up to the USA army.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the Soviets. If their investment in Cuba had gone better, the country really might have been a model for South America, with all its inequality and migrant caravans. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Uganda 1942, a British bridge in self governed Buganda

Crossing a river seems pretty basic. The British built bridge on this stamp was recently replaced in 2018 by a new bridge financed interest free by the Japanese. The question might arise why Uganda can’t do for itself. The answer comes from realizing Uganda was self governed and part of that is nothing gets done without outside help. 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 British like to show off accomplishments like the Jinja Bridge on their colonial stamps. And why not, getting something like this done in a place so far away from civilization was quite an achievement. Uganda had proved to be a major loss leader for the previously empowered British East Africa Company. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/09/07/imperial-british-east-africa-company-1890-another-company-fails-to-administer-a-colony/ Yet the new British protectorate of Uganda succeeded where the company failed by working through the traditional local tribal system of Buganda. So much self rule did not mean there was not a desire for independence, even if that makes for an end to progress.

Todays stamp is issue A16, a 30 cent stamp issued by the East African Post Administration that covered the postal system of  the colonies and protectorates of British East Africa including Kenya, Uganda, and Tanganyika. The unit continued issuing stamps for the area for over a decade after 1960s independence and even added Zanzibar in 1968. The stamp featured Jinja Bridge on the Nile River and King George VI and updated an earlier issue showing King George V. The later Queen Elizabeth II update of the stamp issue deleted the Jinja Bridge in order to show the new for 1954 nearby Owen Falls Dam. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 35 cents used. A mint version of the number 14 perforation is worth $130.

The British gained influence over Uganda in the 1885 Conference of Berlin, the areas tribes had previously affiliated with the Sultan of Zanzibar. British interests were mainly elsewhere and the area was governed by the British East Africa Company, a private entity. When the company proved unable to develop the local economy and bankrupted itself putting down a tribal rebellion the area was taken over by the British directly and named a protectorate. The British had no interest in losing further money on the area and the government left to the local tribe of Buganda. With this the desired connections between Entebbe and Lake Victoria were achieved and cotton plantations overseen by the Bugandans themselves were formed. Indian traders  saw to the export and their were very few British involved. This was different from neighboring Kenya which had a fair number of white settlers. The British differed heavily to Buganda’s prime minister Sir Apolo Kagwa who did much to expand local educational opportunities. The Bugandans were keen to keep out British settlers as they felt that would reduce their level of self rule.

The plantation system of worker exploitation and the new educated cadre of young Ugandans lead to increased resentment of the tribal system. In 1952, the British sent a “reforming” new governor, Sir Andrew Cohen to prepare for independence. He promoted new political parties of the disaffected at the expense of the Buganda tribal hierarchy. So independence consisted mainly of taking from the old favored tribe and giving to the new British favorites.

The bridge on the stamp was an early achievement of the Uganda protectorate, which sought to improve trade connections. Jinja is very near the source of the Nile River on Lake Vitoria. In 1954 a new dam was constructed that flooded the nearby falls. The British saw that the dam did not impede the water flow of the Nile as Egypt feared. Later the energy output of the dam was greatly reduced by the mismanagement of the Idi Amin years and lately by falling water levels in Lake Victoria attributed to climate change. A new bridge, now called Source of the Nile Bridge partially replaced the old bridge as part of a new expressway from Jinja to Kampala, the capital. The Ugandans are still not doing for themselves 56 years after independence, the new bridge relying on Japanese interest free financing. Construction was by Zenitaka of Japan and Hyundai of South Korea.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Sir Apolo. Compared to the British before and afterward and their hand picked Ugandan successors, his was a time of real progress. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

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Ceylon 1935, hinting the money was drying up for Great Britain

Ceylon was heavily down the road to independence in 1935. Some may attribute this to recognition of natives peoples right to self determination, but I expect the money for Britain dried up. 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.

These type of British Empire issues are just great. Stamps from all over showing exotic views and ancient sites with the Monarch, in this case George V, looking on benevolently. These were done into Elisabeth II’s Reign but the early ones are best. They are just a bit more realistic as to why the British were there. So in addition to the view of Colombo harbor and the Temple of the Tooth, we have Tamils picking tea and tapping a rubber tree on the plantation. Gone in the later similar George VI Ceylon issue. By then Great Britain was signaling it’s exit. In a post independence issue of 1954, the tea pickers and rubber trees were back. Independent Ceylon’s British trained, socialist leaders had high hopes that the plantations could again be profitable for the state, or at least for it’s socialist leaders. The British knew better.

Todays stamp is issue A47, a 2 cent issue by the self governing Crown Colony of Ceylon in 1935. It was part of an eleven stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 55 cents used.

Great Britain acquired Dutch trading posts in the then Buddhist kingdom of Kandy during the Napoleonic wars to prevent them falling into French hands. France had conquered the Netherlands at the time. There was then a series of wars that completed the conquest of Kandy. The British were interested in coffee plantations that could then export their product. To their credit, the locals refused to work the plantations and so Britain imported large numbers of Tamil contract labourers from nearby India. This forever changed the ethnic makeup of the island as the Indians practiced a different religion and spoke a different language. Coffee product wound down after a disease outbreak and was replaced by tea and rubber for export. There was rice cultivation for food but not enough and rice had to be imported. The British presence was not all bad as there was much work on education of locals and infrastructure building. At the height of the colony in the 1920s, seven percent of the gross national product returned to Britain in terms of remittances and payments to investors.

The 1930s worldwide depression hit hard on commodity prices and demand. Investors, as usual were first to pay the price. Great Britain had just been bled dry in World War I and had not failed to notice that areas of the Empire ethnically British had been willing to sacrifice far more for the cause than colonies of other ethnicities. That of course is natural but perhaps not what the British expected, who had often viewed the Empire with rose colored glasses. When combined with the drop off in return on the investment in Ceylon, it was time to fade out.

Unlike Spain and Portugal, who simply walked away from their empires when their governments changed in the 1970s, Britain tried to prepare Ceylon to go it alone. Administrators were sent for education at Oxford  to prepare them to administer the place. The universities trained them with a socialist philosophy  that wanted to replace British planters with state management but keep the plantation system in place. To have worked that would have required high prices and output and they of course would not have learned how to achieve that at Oxford. Even today though, the two rival parties in Sri Lanka are family run enterprises with decendants of those trained by the British. Of course they claim to be anti colonial, but still have bizarre amounts of contact with London. Great Britain of course no longer gets that 7 percent of the GNP, where it goes now is anyone’s guess.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the former Kingdom of Kandy. Left alone, they still might be what President Trump might describe as a shit hole, but at least they would have stayed their own shit hole. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Czechislovakia 1970, remembering the cannons of the Hussite Bohemian Rhapsody

Cold war era eastern European farm out stamps could be fun and were often aimed at children. Here our communist Czech friends remember the Bohemian uprising against the Catholics and the following Hussite Crusades. 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.

In stamps we don’t often get to travel back before 1840 and the first postage stamp. Here we do, because a noble ancient war with crusades fought by knights around castles with cannons is always fun. To increase the fun, the stamp is oversized with a lot of disparate things going on for children of all ages to deduce. This is a fun stamp but comes through with what was going on with the hobby at the time. Stamp values were rapidly inflating and stamp makers were using new printing techniques to make ever more bold stamps. Somewhere in this we lost the serious adult collector who really doesn’t look much at stamps after World War II. The hobby came to be seen as a hobby for children and many big collectors took advantage of the high prices to cash out. The young collecters, myself excluded, did not continue into adulthood and we are left with a much smaller hobby. Most of us think the answer is get more kids involved but I say lets get the old rich guys back, this time from the new countries that have interesting, often colonial postal histories.

Todays stamp is issue A620, a 60 Haleru stamp issued by Czechoslovakia on August 31st, 1970. It was part of a five stamp issue in various denominations that displayed cannons over time. Todays stamp shows cannons from the time of the Bohemian Hussite Wars in the 15th century. According to the Scott catalog the stamp is worth 25 cents whether it is mint or used.

Jan Hus was a Bohemian priest who rebelled against the Catholic church’s habit of selling indulgences. This was over a hundred years before Martin Luther. At the time there were rival Popes and the one in Rome was trying to raise a lot of money to fight his rival. Hus thought this wrong and lead his followers to Prague where they attacked church and Holy Roman political leaders. His people stormed the palace and threw many of the occupants out the windows to their death. The Pope then launched a series of 5 Crusades that attempted to bring Bohemia back into line using mainly German knights. None succeeded as the Bohemians had developed new tactics taking advantage of new developments in artillery and personal arms. Hus himself however was captured and burned at the stake for heresy. After this the Hussites began fighting amongst themselves and the Polish King turned on his own force that he had sent to fight with the Hussites. Though Jan Hus did much to inspire the Protestant Reformation, Bohemia/Chechia remained Catholic.

The stamp also features Saint Barbara who has roots in Roman mythology where her command of lightning lead her to become the patron saint of explosions and by extension artilleryman and miners. The lack of clarity of whether she was merely a figure of myth have seen the Catholic Church deemphasize her. Really they are probably not to in to praying for artilleryman. She is still important in the Eastern Orthodox Church. The British Royal Navy Gunnery School is named for her and in Chechia her statue is still placed at the entrance to a new road tunneling projects.

Well my drink is empty and I may have another as I imagine the bombs bursting in the air and hoping Saint Barbara will see that the flag is still there in the morning. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Italy 1863, Victor Emmanuel II, the padre dela patria

To paraphrase the Beatles, Come together, right now under me. The Beatles had to be more popular than Jesus to pull that off. In Italy, Sardinian King Victor Emanuel II only had to be more popular than the Pope. 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 so much influence of the original British penny black stamp of 1840. The leaders profile taken from a medal. The gummed paper. The corner letters from where on the sheet the original stamp was from. Another demonstration how right the British design was, especially in a European century dominated by royals.

Todays stamp is issue A5(numbered off of previous Sardinian issues), a 15 Centesimi stamp issued by the Kingdom of Italy in 1863. The stamp showed King Victor Emmanuel II and was a single stamp issue. Controversially  at the time, the King was still styling his name as for when King of Sardinia. Many thought he should be the first as the first King of Italy, not just that Sardinia conquered Italy. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $7 mint. A version with the stamp image mistakenly printed on both sides is worth $17,500. Only one of those is known to exist.

As a member of the Royal House of Savoy, Victor Emmanuel II inherited his fathers throne of the Kingdom of Sardinia and Piedmont. He was very much in favor of a united Italy but to achieve that he had to fight Austria, Papal Forces in Rome and the 2 Sicily Kingdom. He had to do more than fight, he had to be able to win at the negotiating table. The fighting with Austria did not go well and was awkward as his mother and wife were Austrian. The King was able to work around that by siding with Britain and France in the Crimean War in order to get concessions from Austria at the subsequent peace conference. He shared a mistress, Virginia Oldoini, Countess of Castiglioni, with Napoleon III and was able to work out an agreement through her for French forces to pull out of Rome where they were defending Papal interests and allow Sardinia Venetia and Lombard from Austria. In return France got Nice and Savoy. This took a while to play out and were helped along by Austria being defeated by Prussia in 1866 and France following suit in 1871.

The Countess of Castiglione by Pierson from the 1860s

In addition to eight children via his Queen and two more by his morganatic second marriage to his favorite mistress. Victor Emmanuel fathered 6 further children by 4 other mistresses. He was excommunicated by the Catholic church. Not for all this womanizing but rather for ending Papal control of Rome, confining the Pope to Vatican City. Combined with the conquering of the 2 Sicilys, a united Italy with Rome as his capital was achieved. After the success, the King somewhat faded, He was more adept dealing in big country power games then dealing with unruly ministers and legislators. He died in 1877, soon after his excommunication was reversed.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the Countess of Castiglione. She was famous at the time for coquettish Queen of Hearts outfits and pictures where she scandalously showed bare feet and legs. In addition to the King of Italy and the Emperor of France, she also had interactions with German/Prussian Chancellor Bismarck. Perhaps we should withdraw the Beatles song “Come Together” and replace it with “The Lady is a Tramp” in this article. Maybe not though. “Come together, right now, over me” seems to fit the Countess. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Pitcairn Islands 1967, An island with more stamps than people, this one overprinted in gold!

50 people on a hard to find group of islands. They must send a lot of letters as they have plenty of stamps. 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.

Obviously a postage stamp from a sort or real life Gilligan’s Island will mainly serve the international collector. That said, some of these tiny still English colonies do it right. The HM Armed Ship Bounty, that played such a central part of the islands history. Queen Elizabeth, youthful and crowned, looking out for her far off realm. The peace de resistance is the change to decimal currency being used for an overprint in gold, with an intricate representation of the Bounty’s anchor.

Todays stamp is issue A14, a one cent stamp issued by the British colony of Pitcairn Islands on July 10th, 1967. It was part of a 13 stamp issue in various denominations that overprinted a 1964 issue in the earlier currency. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 35 cents. The unoverprinted early version 1 penny version is worth 25 cents. There is a misprint of the 10 cent overprint that included the gold anchor but fails to include the 10 cent denomination. It is worth $2,000.

Pitcairn Island was first spotted by the HMS Swallow in 1767. It is named for Robert Pitcairn, a 15 year old midshipman on board who actually laid eyes on it. The Captain of the Swallow misrecorded the location so that Captain Cook could not find it again later. There is evidence of an earlier Polynesian colony but it had gone extinct. Who did find it were the mutineers of the HMS Bounty and their Tahitian wives and helpers. 21 people came ashore and the Bounty was scuttled in 1795. Their first years were rough with alcoholism and several murders but a mutineer with the ships Bible was able to establish a more Christian society of peace. A missionary that passed through in the 19th century found an active Christian congregation and temperance society.

Settler group photo 1916

The islands’ population peaked in 1937 at 137 but there has been some emigration to Australia taking the number down to 50. There has only been one child born on the island in the last 20 years. The main occupations are fishing, tourism and bee keeping. There are no hotels on the island but it is possible to stay with families and there is a boat that takes day trips to the island.

The 2000s have seen a sexual crisis on the island. A sex assault/ child porn ring caught up 15 locals that were convicted. Clearly the islands got internet. Britain built a prison on the island for them to serve their terms. Britain makes sure there is a police officer, a doctor, and a mayor on the islands but the expense is high and there are ever present questions on when the plug will be pulled and settlement on the islands ends.

Well my drink is empty, and so I will pour another to toast the mutineer with the ships Bible. Where was his descendant when the island got internet?. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Philippine Commonwealth 1936, Raising hope, tagalog, and changing style

The Philippines status changed in 1936. A 10 year process toward independence from the USA was begun. It was time to show the world who the Philippine people were and show the masses at home that things will get better going it alone. 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.

Looking at todays stamp, you can see the ambition or making the Philippines a great country. The majestic figures around the portrait of President Quezon do that. By showing the then current President, they are showing the simplicity with which they were facing the challenges. Reliance on an individual politician to get things done. Even in the best of times a political leader will be resented by a sizable minority. Portraits of political leaders in democratic places are better left till after their death. The partisanship is then dissipated and a legacy of good works can be honored by all. The USA puts no live figures on stamps, except actors in a role, but in 1936, the Philippines no longer had to listen to the USA.

Todays stamp is issue A69, a 6 Centavo stamp issued by the American Commonwealth of the Philippines on November 15th, 1936. It was a part of a 3 stamp issue celebrating the anniversary of the inauguration of Manuel Quezon as the second President of the Philippines. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents mint. All the variations of this issue have the same low value. Optimism can appear sad in retrospect when goals go unfulfilled.

The Philippines was granted a 10 year track toward independence by the USA in 1936. This was supported by the USA at the grass roots level because as a colony, Philippine sugar could be freely imported to the USA at a cost the American growers could not match. How many times around the world have we faced with the complications of sugar cultivation profitably without resorting to slavery. As part of the move toward independence, a long term legislator, Manuel Quezon was elected President. His parents were school teachers and he served the first Philippine President/Dictator Aquinaldo as a aide.

Quezon was interested in social justice and therefore took a half hearted stab at land reform. The Philippines had many American owned large plantations whose product was export crops. They were taken by the government and sold on into local hands. This still left the same system of absentee landlords, cash export crops, less local food production and few tenant farmer rights. This helped government revenue but did not raise the lot of the people fast enough. The Government promoted the native language Tagalog that it rebranded Filipino and tried to promote alongside English and the fading Spanish. Some feel this was a mistake as the ability to speak English is a marketable skill in the world market and of course the language emanates from Indian and Pacific Islanders who are a minority of the ethnicity of the Philippine people.

In 1941, Japan invaded and Quezon’s government fled into exile in the USA. The large American B17 bomber force stationed there had not succeeded in taking out the Japanese invasion armada as it was itself taken out in a daring Japanese air raid. The state of the Philippines was shown in that the bombers were parked together in a small area where they could be guarded from local looters not how they would be dispersed for use in wartime.

Quezon by now was old and sick with tuberculosis. His government in exile had little power and was bogged down in a power struggle with Quezon’s vice president who expected to take power. Quezon died in 1944. His political party, the Nationalists remained a important political force until Ferdinand Marcos in 1978 merged rival paries into one party, his own. Ironically in the mid 80s the party returned as a power base for the Laurel and the Aquino political dynasties. Both had got their start in the Second Philippine Republic, the Japanese puppet government of their occupation. This was after all a rival government to exiled Quezon.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the legacy of President Quezon. He fell short but achieved much and remains a symbol of Philippine independence. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.