Tag: fake stamp

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Maluku Selatan after 1955, Fake stamp but interesting story

As might be expected after a long Dutch colonial period, not all Indonesians were Muslims. Some were Dutch Protestants and so perhaps understandably were nervous about independence from Holland. Being in the majority in a few islands in the South Moluccas, and feeling the Indonesians had reneged on the promise of a federal state with some autonomy, rebellious veterans of the Dutch colonial army declared the Republic of Maluku Selatan. Declaration does not make reality but soon enough an enterprising stamp dealer came calling. 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.

No post office, no legitimate stamp is an understandable philately rule. The first stamps of Maluku Selatan have the best arguments for legitimacy. They were just overprints of Dutch colonial issues from the brief period that the islands were not in Indonesian control. Being overprints proved the rebels were in the old Dutch colonial post offices. Were they still delivering mail?

There is not value or issue date for this stamp. Stamp dealer Henry Stolow had printed in Vienna circa 150 stamp issues under the name Maluku Selatan between 1955 and 1971.

There had been some Christian missionary work in the Dutch Indies. Many Christians were from the island of Ambon which was where the Dutch first landed in 1605. A good percentage of the males went on to serve in the Dutch colonial army. Being dark skinned, they were not held as POWs as ethnic Dutch were during the World War II Japanese occupation. The Indonesian independence movement received much of their organization during the Japanese occupation. Post war, the Maluku soldiers did not desire disbanding or transfer  to the new Indonesian Army. Claiming truthfully that the post independence Indonesian government was more centralized than what they had agreed to, several south Malluccan islands declared independence under President Christiian Soumokil. The capital was Ambon. 5 months after the declaration in 1950 the Indonesian army landed in Ambon. Guerilla resistance on the islands lasted till 1963. After fighting started the Dutch changed their tune and started offering transport to Holland for Christian Mallucans. A government of Maluku Selatan in exile set up in Holland that still exists. Christiian Sourmokil had remained behind to lead the guerilla fighters. He was eventually captured by Indonesia and executed in 1966.

From 1950, the government in exile issued a few new design postage stamps that were not recognized. In 1955 stamp dealer Henrey Stolow contracted with Vienna printers for printing stamps in the name of the Republic of Maluku Selatan. He was also working with several newly independent African nations and his authority was not questioned. Stolow was a Jew born in Riga, Latvia who started as a stamp dealer in Berlin in 1919. The Nazi regime of 1933 saw him move on to Brussels and then on to New York. In New York he bought the collections of several prominent philatelists for well publicized auctions. Among the prominent collections were Franklin Roosevelt, Cardinal Spellman, and deposed Kings Carol II of Romania and Farouk of Egypt. Normally the dealing in fake stamps is considered not reputable but it did not seem to effect Stolow’s career. He later returned to Germany and his operation continues still using his name 49 years after his death. It is currently  based in Munich. A nephew of Stolow is still active in New York.

Well my drink is empty and I will salute the Christian Missionary. When one sees the trouble caused for the small percentage of converts, one can understand why modern Christian organizations seem to concentrate solely on charity. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. I will have a legitimate stamp for you.

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Yugoslavia 1943, Remembering Black George rising against the Ottomans as Partisans were rising against the Germans

The Royalist government in exile took the opportunity of the 25th anniversary of the founding of Yugoslavia to point out a few people from the past who they felt were worth remembering. This is especially interesting as the choices would not have been those made by the upcoming Tito government. That does not mean that the new government won’t still sell you the stamps, they just won’t let you use 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 large 1945 overprint on this stamp was done by the new government of Tito to the large stock of this stamp issue held in the London embassy after they took it over from the former Royalist regime. In theory it celebrated the victory over the German occupiers during the war. What it actually did was cancel the ability of the stamp to be used for postage. The ability of course was already virtually nil when the stamps were printed in 1943 as the country was occupied. It was though theoretically possible via Yugoslav naval ships at sea. This means that this stamp without the overprint are legitimate but the overprint makes them fake. The London Embassy sold the remaining stock of the stamp to stamp  dealers in 1950.

Todays stamp is issue A3 a 10 Dinar stamp issued by the Royalist government in exile of King Peter II on December 1st, 1943. It was a six stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp without the overprint would be worth $5.50 unused. The overprint makes the stamp fake however so it has no stated value. The six stamps also came as a souvenir sheet showing how the stamps were mainly to raise revenue. The sheet is worth $65.

Black George lead the first major Serb uprising against the then occupying Ottoman Empire in the early 19th Century. He was the founder of the Royal House of Karadordevic. King Peter II in exile in London was the last member of this Royal house to sit on the Throne.

Black George was an ethnic Serb who lead a rebellion in the area around Belgrade. He claimed he was seeking self rule rather than full independence from the Ottomans. However in the areas to which he gained control, Muslims were ethnically cleansed. He met with a good deal of military success and attracted support to his cause from both Austria and especially Russia. Sensing Napoleon’s impending invasion of Russia, the Czar made a deal with the Ottomans that left the Serbs to their fate. Black George kept fighting but without outside help the tide in the long running rebellion turned against him. Black George fled to Austria but was then arrested and sent to Russia who intended to keep him out of Serbia.

The returning Ottomans proved very cruel to the Serbs and two years later there was a second uprising against the Ottomans. This time it was lead by Milos Obrenovic. A quick victory followed a deal with the Ottomans giving Serbia limited self rule. Obrenovic became Prince of Serbia and lead his own separate Royal line. I covered a Serb Prince from his line here,  https://the-philatelist.com/2018/06/21/serbia-unlike-so-many-places-had-its-own-royal-line-or-more-problimatically-two/  . Black George snuck back to Belgrade but when now Prince Milos heard Black George was back he had him killed. He did not want a rival  and thought that the Ottomans would renig on his deal when they found out Black George was back. Black George was axed to death in his sleep. His severed head was then presented to the local Pasha who had it stuffed and then sent to Constantinople. Here the severed head was mounted on a stick and displayed publicly for a week until it was stolen. The rest of his body was buried in Serbia. Black George’s great grandson, now King of all Yugoslavia was able to acquire his skull in Greece in 1923 and return it to the rest of his remains in the Karadordevic Dynasty Mausoleum in the newly constructed Church of Saint George, where he remains.

The Assassination of Black George, as depicted in a later Serb painting.

Well my drink is empty and this better explains to me  how small Serbia ended up with the riches or is it curses of two Royal houses. The Serbs sure seem rough, but with rivals like the Ottomans ready to put your head on a stick, perhaps you have to be. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Exiled Yugoslavia 1943, remembers a Croatian/Bosnian/German? Bishop

A fake stamp may still be interesting. They can get quite convoluted. 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.

So this stamp issue started out as a recognized issue, albeit just barely. The stamp was issued with the aim of raising revenue by the Yugoslav Royal government in exile in London. At the bottom of the stamp you can see it was printed in London. The international community, excluding of course the Axis troops then occupying Yugoslavia, still recognized the Royal government as the legitimate representative of the people. So far so good, but the stamp collecting community requires a stamp to also be useful for postage and this stamp was unavailable at Yugoslav post offices. The London Embassy developed a work around. This stamp would be valid for postage no matter how many were printed because it could be used on Yugoslav Navy ships at sea. One submarine and two torpedo boats had escaped to Egypt during the 1941 invasion and very occasionally operated with their old crews under British command. A thin string of legitimacy. That string soon broke. In 1944 the Allies began recognizing the partisans under Tito as the legitimate government. They took over the London Embassy and it’s large stock of unsold copies of this stamp issue. It was not their type of issue and the issue was cancelled. Not however thrown away. In 1950, a 1945 victory overstamp was added to remaining stocks and sold off not for postal use to stamp dealers. This stamp is one of those, so fake.

That does not mean it is not an interesting issue as it recognizes people who the Communists would have mostly found unworthy. I have already covered another stamp from this issue here, https://the-philatelist.com/2018/07/30/communist-yugoslavia-1950-sells-off-the-invalid-exile-stamps/ . On todays stamp, we have a Bosnian Croat Catholic Bishop who became a political figure promoting Croatian nationalism. He is thus an odd figure for a Yugoslav government to be honoring. Especially at a time when Croatia was given independence by the German invaders and one of the first stamp issues of Croatia literally blots out King Peter II’s face. See https://the-philatelist.com/2019/09/20/croatia-1941-crossing-out-peter-ii-is-something-we-all-can-agree-on/ .

Bishop Joseph Strossmayer was born into a German family in the Croat area of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He received Catholic clerical training in Belgrade, Budapest, and Vienna. He was ordained a priest in 1838. He was opposed to what he perceived as then Hungarian domination of Croats politically and served in the Croat Diet, a national assembly. Strossmayer was named Bishop of Diakovar in modern day Bosnia. He founded the wonderfully named Academy of South Slavs. Why don’t they still give out names like that?

As Bishop, Strossmayer ruffled a few feathers. At the Vatican Council he spoke out controversially in favor of Protestantism and reuniting the Catholic Church with the Eastern Orthadox Church. Even more controversially, perhaps even heretically, he spoke out against Papal infallibility and even Papal Primacy. He lost those fights at the Vatican Council and as Bishop was forced to yield “at least outwardly” as he put it, to the official position. He died in 1905.

Well my drink is empty and so I may pour another while I ponder why Bishop Strossmayer would be honored By Yugoslav Royalty. Were he alive, given his background, he would have probably gone along with a German influenced Croatia. 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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Fake North Yemen stamp remembers the barefoot bazooka guy/ freedom fighter

I was pretty sure this stamp was fake. It looked to modern and well done for the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of North Yemen which ended in 1962. But as with this Indonesian Republic stamp from when it was still Dutch, see https://the-philatelist.com/2017/11/24/well-we-think-we-are-independant-we-have-a-constitution-a-flag-and-austrian-stamps/    , sometimes outsourcing  can make for a high quality, interesting if fake stamp. 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 fake stamp was put together by the Royalist side of the North Yemen Civil War. The one from 1962-1970. Not the one from 2011-today. The 60s one saw Egypt sending thousands of troops, arms and aircraft to defend the Socialist Republic declared by the former head of the palace guard. The Royals escaped to the mountains were they received arms and money from Saudi Arabia and Jordan. The fact that the guy on the stamp is barefoot shows how backward this all was. Shame on the lot of them for handing out advanced weapons. It would probably be the 25th century before one of these tribesman could figure out how to build a bazooka. Let them settle their differences with spears.

This is not a real stamp as the Royalist forces did not control the capital or the postal system. The Yemen Arab Republic issues of the same period are considered real. The story of how the Royalist got stamps is interesting. An American stamp collecting boy named Bruce Conde wrote to King Ahmad asking for Yemeni stamps for his collection. He received a letter back from child Prince Badr. They became pen pals and eventually Conde was invited to Yemen. He converted to Islam and became a Yemeni citizen. He supervised the Royalist sides stamp issues and wrote articles for Linn’s stamp news. When the Royalists lost, Conde was left stateless in exile in Morocco. He had renounced the USA and Yemen had renounced him.

King Ahmad ruled North Yemen from 1948 through his death in 1962. He faced many coup attempts. Once in 1956 his palace was surrounded and he came charging out leading the palace guards while wearing a devils mask. He killed 2 rebels personally with his scimitar. He then went to the roof of the palace and shot rebels one by one till they surrendered. The rebel leader was beheaded. In 1961 he was severely injured in another coup attempt and his son Prince Badr took unofficial control. Soon after Ahmad’s death in 1962, the head of the palace guard with the support of Egypt shelled the palace and now King Badr fled. A socialist republic was declared and thousands of Egyptian soldiers deployed to Sana.

From 1962 through 1970 the Royalist forces held the mountainous north  and the socialist government held the capital. In 1967, Egypt was defeated by Israel in the Sinai desert and decided to pull their troops out of Yemen. The Royalist made one last attempt to take the capital but when they failed, Saudi Arabia cut off support to the Royalist side. Saudi Arabia began paying the socialist government for influence and King Badr was left out in the cold. He moved to London and most of his troops were given amnesty.

Well my drink is empty and I am not predisposed to label the barefoot bazooka guy on the stamp a freedom fighter as this fake stamp suggests. His grandson is probably fighting the current civil war where Iran is playing Egypt’s old part. The weapons have gotten more advanced than bazookas, but there is still debate whether shoes have been acquired. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

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Sharjah lets you enjoy modern art thanks to Finbar Kenny

Taking us back to a time when stamp collecting was big business allows us to see why the hobby declined. 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 style of stamp issue is called a dune. It is not recognized as a real stamp by the catalogs as they were printed outside the tiny Emirate and the designs had nothing whatever to do with the country. The Emir had merely outsourced his possibility of producing stamps. The designs are well printed but done for dramatic visuals rather than inform about exotic places. It is thought by many that having children involved in the hobby insured the future. Instead playing to them chased off the adults and left even real countries modern offerings resemble Sharjah’s stamps.

Sharjah is a tiny Emirate on the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. For many years the principle industry was pearl diving. It has been ruled by the Al-Qasimi clan since the early 18th century. Soon after the Emirate became a protectorate of Great Britain which was chosen over a similar status offered by the Ottoman Empire. The British built an airport in Sharjah as it was a useful stopover from planes going between Baghdad and India. The British also handled the postal system with a civilian post office in nearby Dubai and a military one operating out of Sharjah’s airport.

As the British faded the local Emirs began negotiating toward what became the United Arab Emirates. In the time several Emirs became involved in the big money stamp business of the 1960s thanks to the efforts of American businessman Finbar Kenny. Finbar Kenny had been an executive at the American department store Macys. He was head of their stamps department. I will give you a moment to collect yourself after falling out of your chair. Yes at the time department stores often had stamps departments. The innovation came in the 1930s when Minkus first set up his card tables near the elevators of department stores. This would occupy the children so the mothers could shop. It may have something to do with some collectors not collecting stamps produced after World War II.

Finbar Kelly then went out on his own. He made deals with Emirs to produce stamps in their name. In the case of Manama, it was just a tiny village. He designed dramatic stamps that would attract the young and printed them in great quantity. The coming together of the UAE was the end of these deals in 1973. Finbar Kelly then approached the Cook Islands with a similar deal. The commissions were to support old age pensions on the island. Soon the trouble started. A Prime Minister approached Finbar Kelly and asked for an advance on the revenue which he was given. He used the money to fly in voters to the small island to sway the election his way. The Supreme Court of the islands discovered what happened and removed the Prime Minister. They then remembered the money and went after Finbar Kelly for bribery. They made him double pay that years stamp revenue and pay an additional fine of $50,000. Apparently it was his fault that they are a bunch of crooks. Well probably so for having involved himself.

Well my drink is empty but I will pour another to toast Finbar Kelly. His stamp issues probably hurt the hobby more than helped it and even 50 years later are not worth anything. They were dramatic and who doesn’t like looking at unlicensed reproductions of modern art. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Tajikistan 1998, since former Soviet republics don’t put out enough topicals, heres a fake

I should have known this would be fake. Tajikistan puts out many stamps, but it has even more issues that it has declared illegal. So any Tajik readers I have may want to stop reading now. I wouldn’t want to tempt you with forbidden fruit or dogs. So besides Tajiks, 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 today fake Philatelist.

Todays stamp features a German Sheppard and a Dalmatian. Tajikistan is spelled correctly in both English and Tajik. The currency is presented without detail but many Tajik real stamps also did it that way. The cancelation to order looks standard Soviet farm out. Yet Tajikistan topicals tend to cats, fish, and airliners. No dogs. Among fake issues banned are topicals featuring cartoon characters, The English Queen Mother, and Osama bin Laden, hopefully all not on the same souvenir sheet. Who buys this stuff? There are actually people in the world who take the time to carefully design and print stamps from small countries without authorization. With the hobby shrinking like it is, how can it still happen.

The stamp claims to be from 1998 but is not in the catalog so I can give no estimate of value. A realish 1997 stamp with a cat is valued at $2.00. A real stamp from 1998 Tajikistan featuring academic Bobojon Ghaferov is down at 30 cents. One could perhaps learn something of Tajikistan by reading up on Mr. Ghaferov. but from values it is obvious people would rather look at cute cat pictures on stamps that nobody mails.

Tajikistan got it’s independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. It was one of the poorest areas of the Soviet Union. In the 1950s, Soviet Leader Khrushchev attacked the problem of low food production with a virgin land campaign that sought to put under cultivation land not previously used in places like Tajikistan. The effort  had very little success as the climate was too dry and the soil too poor without fertilizers, which the Soviets were short of.

Tajikistan was heavily Muslim and soon after independence a civil war started with the goal of ethnically cleansing the area of non Tajik Soviets, especially Jews. The Russians responded with Speznas troops that were able to install a former electrician and labor leader Emonali Sharipovich Rahmononov as President for life. He dutifully changed his name to sound less Soviet and often emphasizes his Muslim religious beliefs. At the same time, he has banned beards, burkas, Arabic sounding names, Soviet sounding names, and loudspeaker calls to prayer. This he says allows the more unique to Tajikistan culture to flourish. The war in nearby Afghanistan has proved lucrative, as Tajikistan shares a border and therefore is useful to route military supplies through. Russian troops have been invited back in to help secure that border.

Tajikistan does not lack for stamps that portray the country as it desires to be seen. Yet all that gets out our topicals aimed at the young and young at brain. Hopefully local collectors will preserve these stamps so future generations of stamp collectors will have a guide to what Tajikistan was like. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Armenia 1921,the Soviet Republic gets some iffy stamps out before the inevitable integration

Armenians had a terrible time around the time of this stamp. Armenians had suffered a horrible massacre in the hands of the Ottoman Turks. Finally a little hope when the Russian Revolution for a short period lost grip of Armenia. Only to have that grip come back a few years later. 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 it’s unusual paper and being imperferate, there is an air of this being a fake stamp. There is some reason to think this even though catalogs recognize them. The very short lived republic of Armenia ordered stamps printed in Paris but never actually delivered as the government fell so fast. Than the Soviet Republic that put out this issue was quickly folded into the Transcaucasian Socialist Federation with Georgia and Azerbaijan. They also had a few stamps till the Soviets just made them use the Russian issues. In fact only one denomination, the 25 Ruble, of this series even made it into post offices. The catalog does not even list a canceled version but urges the stamp collector to be on the lookout for fakes. I think perhaps sympathy for the Armenians plight might have lead the catalog to list a fake stamp. Just my opinion…

Todays stamp is issue A16, a 1000 Ruble stamp issued by the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1921. The stamp displays a fisherman on the Aras River. It was part of a 17 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 40 cents. There is also a perforated version of the stamp but that does not effect it’s value either way. One can see the high denomination, later once the rampant inflation of the time was dealt with, there were overstamps of this issue with the new denominations. These tend to have a slightly higher value.

Armenia tried to get itself free from both Turkey and Russia at the end of World War I. The Turkish genocide of Armenians, many who had fought for czarist Russia, caused a migration of ethnic Armenians to the new country. The peace treaty between the Bolsheviks and the new nation of Turkey left certain areas in Turk hands that Armenians thought belonged to them. Soon the Red Army arrived in the area to bring Armenia and the other new countries back into the fold. After fighting a deal was struck with Armenia becoming an autonomous Soviet Republic in return for the Red Army guaranteeing the borders and no persecution of former non communists. When this last part was reneged upon, a new Armenian mountainous republic rebelled and held out for another year but without stamps.

The Soviet Union then had the idea of merging Christian Armenia and Georgia with Muslim Azerbiajan as the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic.  With atheism and Soviet nationalism being promoted, the Soviets had hope for this. Of course the divisions were too deep and eventually in 1936 the states were allowed to be separate Soviet Republics.

Interestingly, in 1922 the Soviets appointed Alexander Martuni as their leader on site. He was a scholor of Armenian arts and literature and even wrote books and articles promoting it. This allowed a separate Armenian culture to flourish and did much to lessen opposition. However Moscow began to worry that Martuni was not Sovietizing the place fast enough. In 1925 he was killed in a suspicious plane crash of the Junkers F.13 he was flying in. Some believe Minister of State Security Beria was behind the crash. Unusually for a Soviet era official, Martuni is still revered in modern independent Armenia, even getting a stamp issue honoring him in 2012. Armenia achieved independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Well my drink is empty ao I will open the conversation in the below comment section. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Communist Yugoslavia in 1950 sells off the now invalid exile stamps

Midway through World War II, the Allies shifted their support from the former Royal government of Yugoslavia to the Socialist force that was having such success resisting the German occupation. This left the Royals in exile out in the cold, and their stamp offerings. 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.

Exile agreed with the stamp issues. The Royal government in exile was out of London. Therefore the printing of their stamps moved to London, which had simply better printers. A while back we did another questionable stamp issue printed in Vienna on behalf Indonesian independence fighters. See https://the-philatelist.com/2017/11/24/well-we-think-we-are-independant-we-have-a-constitution-a-flag-and-austrian-stamps/. In both cases, the iffy stamps are of far higher quality that what was printed locally in less trying times.

Todays stamp is considered an invalid overprint of issue 1K8 that was issued by the Royal government of Yugoslavia in exile in London. The unoverstamped version is considered legitimate even though they were not sold or used in Yugoslavia at all. The postal system in Yugoslavia was using stamps issued by their German occupiers and their collaborators. What makes the exile stamps legitimate was that they were valid for postage on Yugoslav Navy ships at sea. One can only imagine the infinitesimal number of the stamps used that way but that makes it a recognized stamp. With the change of affiliation of the Allies the recognized socialist government of Tito came into possession of the stock of already printed stamps. They overprinted the 1945 you see on my copy and eventually sold off the stock to stamp dealers in 1950. They were not valid for postage in Yugoslavia at all and so go unrecognized by the catalogs today. According to the Scott catalog, the 1K8 issue is worth $1.60 mint. My stamp, who knows? but less…

King Peter II briefly took the thrown at age 17 in 1941 after his father was forced to abdicate. He had signed an unacceptable alliance with Germany. The Germans invaded a few weeks later and the government offered little resistance and went into exile in London. Given his age, Peter was not taken seriously as a leader for Yugoslavia by the allied leaders. There were separate partisan operations actively resisting the Axis in Yugoslavia, a socialist one and a royalist one. The socialist one was much larger and more effective. In fact the Germans had the most trouble in Yugoslavia than in any of the other countries occupied. In many occupied countries the resistance was dominated by the tiny Jewish minority. After the Tehran conference in 1943, Allied help flowed to Tito and his partisans. When Tito cleared the Nazis out, Yugoslavia was quickly declared a People’s Republic and the Royals were stripped of their titles, property, and even their citizenship. King Peter refused to abdicate and moved to the USA leaving his son behind in England to be raised by a grandmother. Peter drank himself to death. His son Alexander, was Crown Prince for a few months as a baby in 1945 has now had Serbian citizenship restored and is allowed to reside in the old palace in Belgrade. In 2013, King Peter’s remains were returned to Serbia and placed in the Royal Tombs. Alexander still lobbies for his return to the Serbian Throne of his ancestors. Things were great under his great grandfather, so says Alexander…

Todays stamp features Vuk Karadzic, a Serbian linguist from the 19th century. He was born a peasant but was educated and transcribed for the first time Serbian folk songs and poems. There is a rich tradition in Slav countries of the peasant song and poetry recited and sung with great feeling at night around the campfire. The transcription lead to the songs becoming better known around Europe where they were quite a hit. Vuk later worked on reforming Serbian writing to bring it more inline with what was spoken. This lead to increased literacy. He also translated the New Testament into Serbian. Interestingly much of his work was banned in Serbia in his day even though it was not political. It was feared that the songs would stir up patriotic feelings of Serbs at a time when they were still pledged to the Ottoman Empire.

Well my drink is empty and I am faced with another fake stamp. Fake stamps though still have a story to tell. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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A poor Portugal rents out a colony to British big business

In the late 19th century, Portugal did not have the resources to develop all the territory they controlled. So in a few instances, areas were rented out to British businesses. 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 from a Portuguese colony that existed in present day Mozambique. It is more complicated than that. The colony was leased out to a British company in the hopes that they would have the resources to develop the place. One of the ways they hoped to make money was the issuance of postage stamps that were legal for postage in the colony but mainly existed for stamp collectors. As such we are treated to well colored pictures of exotic animals to whet the collector’s appetite. One issue is that the stamp shows a camel, and camels do not get that far south in Africa. Remember though it was a British company dealing with Portuguese printers, so a little confusion about what exotic animals to display is understandable. The was a separate British colony nearby called Nyasaland. It is now known as Malawi.

The stamp today is A6, a 75 reis stamp issued by the Niassa company in 1901. It features camels and the Portuguese monarch. It was part of a thirteen stamp issue in various denominations. The issue continued for over 20 years with various surcharges and the transition of Portugal to a republic. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.75 mint. There are fakes and inverted pictures with this issue, although I am sure the catalog struggled where to draw the line at what point this issue is fake.

The Niassa Company was formed to acquire the concession of the territory in Portuguese Africa. It was formed in Portugal but the ownership was British. The hope was to develop cotton plantations that could be lucrative. The Portuguese set out standards of development but they were not achieved. The business plan of the company was that over 10 percent of the revenue was to be from the issuance of postage stamps.

The cotton plantations did not go well. By taking the best farm land away from food production meant that there was less food for the community. The company also passed property taxes that required much labor to satisfy. This system was called chibalo. As such it was a short step away from slavery.

The concession ran 30 years till 1929 when the Portuguese refused to renew the arrangement. The company dissolved and Portugal appointed a  colonial governor, Theodorico de Sacadura. He worked hard for many years to end the system of chibalo and other methods of exploiting the local tribes. Even after independence,  Sacadura was allowed to stay on in Mozambique as most Portuguese were forced to leave. This was out of respect for him and the work he had done as colonial governor. He died in 1987 having completed 2 books that gave some of the best accounts of the late colonial period in Mozambique.

Well my drink is empty so I will open the discussion in the below comment section. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.