Enjoy mountain climbing in the Himalayas after being enticed by the exotica of a 60s fake stamp. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage and dream of your next mountain adventure. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
The stamp today is from Bhutan during the Burt Todd period. There were some pretty wild stamp offerings in that period. From stamps shaped like miniature phonograph records that would play the Bhutan national anthem, to stamps that were scratch and sniff to stamps that resembled coins, it was a wild time. So a stamp of what most believe to be a mythic figure seems almost mundane.
The stamp today is issue A14B, a 4 chetrum stamp issued by the Kingdom of Bhutan on October 12th 1966. It was part of a 15 stamp issue in various denominations that offered glimpses of the mythical creature the yeti, which is sometimes called the abominable snowman. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 35 cents in mint condition.
Bhutan is a majority Buddhist landlocked country in the Himalayan mountains bordering India to it’s south and the Tibet region controlled by China to it’s north. It is a very isolated place but maintains close relations with India. It had never been a colony in it’s history. In 1962 a road opened up which better connected Bhutan to India and increased mail volumes. An American named Burt Todd that had traveled there and became friendly with the King suggested issuing stamps was a good way to raise funds for development and introduce Bhutan to the world. Mr. Todd set up a company in the Bahamas and was granted by Bhutan Post the right to issue stamps on the countries behalf.
The company was not part of the regular philatelic scene so the stamps were not quickly recognized by collectors. To drum up interest, ever more wild issues were dreamed up with some interesting printing techniques. Of course some found this clownish and indeed Indian advisors suggested reigning in Mr. Todd and printing stamps that were of more use locally with face values more in line with postal rates. This lead to a series of Indian overprints of this issue and others to be more useful as stamps. In 1974 Mr. Todd’s contract to make stamps was not renewed and a New York outfit took over a more mundane stamp issuance that was more in the philatelic system. Bhutan has developed quite successfully and sells hydroelectric electricity to India and Bangladesh, but not China. Tourism is also a growing activity. Mr. Todd’s wild stamps look ever more predictive as many smaller countries seek out specialty philatelists with bold offerings.
The abominable snowman is usually known locally as the yeti, is a mythic creature that lives high up in the Himilayas in Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet. Many mountain treks have come across animal tracks in the snow that imply a large animal. There is some thought that Tibetan blue bears spend a portion of their teens living up trees and that twist their front claws to make the animal tracks seem unique.
Well, I have come to decide that I am to lazy to climb a mountain in Bhutan so instead I will pour another drink and toast the philatelic creativity of Mr. Todd. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.