Overwrites, history and popsicle brain

 

First off, who is King Edward VIII?   Reading about the British Monarchy gives me popsicle brain.  Suffice to say to the current generation, he was uncle to Dianna by marriage.    He reigned for 11 months only, became the first ever to abdicate the thrown.  It was his desire to marry an American divorcee.

So why is  he on this stamp with Moroccan Angencies and other overwrites.  This is where things get a bit  complicated.  The stamp is a definitive stamp The overwrites were to be used in Morocco and labeled Morocco agencies.  They were to be used by British Post offices in Morocco with both French and Spanish values depending on zone utilized.   .Morocco was mostly a colony of France although Spain still has 2 colonies within.  This is where my brain freezes over and I cannot understand what I read let alone try to explain it. Morocco is a mostly Arab country in the North of Africa.  We will leave it there and make compliment to the stamp.

Issued in 1936, it is a lovely set in its rich colors.  The overwrites make them somewhat unique though not at all necessarily valuable.  They do provide numerous challenges for the collector.  A definitive stamp is nothing special.  There is no cap on  production and will certainly never be rare.

It's Friday evening.  Time to drink or in the case of others (me), time to sesh.  This popsicle brain needs to be thawed.

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Sometimes it is just a pretty stamp with pretty colors, and not much more.

 

This polish stamp was issued in 1974 depicting a town hall of wooden architecture.  It has no inherent value, but to me, its coloring is beautiful.  My pic doesn't do it full justice.  Beauty in art. 

Farewell to my sweetheart.

 

This stamp is 1914 issue from Russia.  The stamp illustrates Don Cossack bidding farewell to  his sweetheart.   It is a charity stamp issued to  raise money for national organizations, public events, and public charities.  The stamp is typographed on unwatermarked paper---maroon and grey green on pink.   

As to the value of the stamp, barely none.  The stamp shows an override print of 25r, assumed to be for 25 rubles.   My researcher (The First Lady) have thus far not been unable to see any with this designation, likely making this stamp extremely rare and valuable.  Fantasy stamps, play it!  For those speculating, I have 3 in very good condition.

Indigenous Peoples ---So much I don't know.

 

 Chief Joseph.  I bow my head to you.  He is honored with this stamp issued in 1968. Chief Joseph (1840-1904) was a leader of the Wallowa band of the Nez Perce Tribe, who became famous in 1877 for leading his people on an epic flight across the Rocky Mountains. ... Chief Joseph took over for his father, the elder in 1871.  Settlers were inhabiting  the area occupied by Nez Perce tribe but they did coexist peacefully until a few of his tribe ambushed and killed some settlers.  The heat and battle was on.  He deftly led his tribe in retreat trying to reach Canada.  Unfortunately he had to surrender just short of  his intent.  He was admired by his enemies for his principled resistance and deft fighting skills.  He became renowned as a  humanitarian and peacemaker.  Obviously there is a lot more to the story and it took me on an interesting and fun educational ride.

The stamp above, and  not a good picture, is to keep with the Indigenous people theme.    To my eyes, it is not at all a pretty stamp but that is on me.  On October 14-15, 1948, Native Americans of the Five Civilized Tribes of Oklahoma - Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee and Seminole - would gather in Muskogee, Oklahoma to commemorate the centennial of their forced move [the Trail of Tears] by the United States government from their tribal lands on the East Coast to Indian Territory [later Oklahoma].  The Trail of Tears was started and in 1848, ten years later, all the Five Civilized Tribes were moved by force to the Indian Territory which is now Oklahoma."   Obviously  more to  this story as well including some last minute political maneuvering.  

On another planet and to be sure we were on  the right side of  history, Manager Ron and me made sure in our current ASTI Championship Series,  The Cleveland Indigenous people played in one series of games followed by the Atlanta SIps, (Southern  Indigenous people). Please feel free to ask about all that.   Ain't no denying, we are woke as shit and proud to be.

Here we go again.........who is this dudette? Who is this dude?

The dudette is the daughter of a bad man.  Angelita Primera was 16 years old at the time of this picture.  She is the daughter (hello Ivanka) of Rafael Trujillo.  

Mr. Trufillo ruled the Dominican Republic as a dictator from 1930-38  and 1942-52.  He was a military strongman, reputed to be very brutal in his regime and also reputed to be worth billions today and living in the US.  The picture of Angelita was taken at the Fair of the Free World, 1955.  This fair was in honor of her father.  Angelita lived a privileged childhood, wrote a book about her dad, Trujillo, mi padre", and now lives in Miami.  Of course she does.  The stamp itself has no inherent value.  I am not even sure what year it was issued.  (Kudos to The First Lady for her assistance, and  excellent research skills......and for the company in the rabbit hole.

Hats of to the dude.   Meet Baron Hisoka Maejima.  Also, calling bullshit on my prejudice/racism.   I assumed he was another badman.,,,conductor of military  madness.   He was in fact, a Japanese government official and a statesman.  More so, he was "The father of the modern Japanese postal system."  How about that!   This one yen stamp was issued in 1952 (a great year to be born, I would say)  making it 69 years old---or 70 next year as another might add.  This stamp is particularly valuable on the collector's market.  I believe it may have a value of a cent or three.

   Indeed, this study of stamps is a deep and spindly rabbit hole that is able to consume hours of my time between  admiring, photographing but mostly searching and reading.  Mr and Ms. Google are certainly most able and helpful partners but the fact that they can decipher a phrase as obscure as "Corrientes brown stamp."  remains amazing to  me.  However in this case they did.  I was referred of course to another friend Wikipedia who was glad to deliver a boatload of intelligence of the origins of this particular stamp.  For the sake of  brevity, this stamp is from the 1860-1880 period and from the "province" of Corrientes in Argentina.   The ability of the camera and zoom capability of the computer allow me to see detail that is far superior to even a very good magnifying glass....so respect again science and technology.  This is a giant leap from 8 years ago when I first actively pursued this hobby.  

  Corrientes is the capital city of the province of Corrientes which is about 160 miles from Buenes Aires.  They created their own stamps, which were also used for small change up until 1880 when the stamp business became centralized with the government of Argentina.  The design of the stamp came from (copycat actually) a french stamp  from that period that bore effigy to Ceres.  She apparently was the Goddess of growing plants according to Roman mythology.

  As to value, like most things  it depends on who wants it  and how badly.  This stamp is  not in good condition.  It is possibly a forgery  which oddly enough could make it more valuable.  From my very minor league research analysis,  value seems to be less than $100 on its best day.   

                                

   1895-1904 from Maritius, 4 cent value. Officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island  nation off the southeast coast of Africa, east of Madagascar.  At was to what was happening there at that time and  more detail as to the development and history of this stamp, I leave it to you.  Enjoy the chase.

Just like riding a bike. 4/18/21

 

Just like riding a bike.

  Well, not quite. I needed 33's technical acumen to bring the page back to life.  I enjoyed  writing this blog and working with the stamps when  I did it.  I have  no memory as to why I stopped and re-reading some of  my blogs does bring some of it back.  My  writing was and is often sloppy as I like to  write like I  converse.  I have to break up with the .... ellipse.....(or maybe I  won't.)  I do have a friend, Clarence, who is committed to working on the editing part of  this.

The beauty of it all  is I  get to look at beautiful miniature pieces of art and with that, comes research and education.   

As for this lovely stamp, I can tell you nothing.  I have been unable to identify its age or origin.  When that happens, I often get a tingle of excitement that   this stamp is so rare there is little to no information or literature about it.   That's why playing  fantasy stamps is so fun.....not as much fun as fantasy baseball, but I digress.   The partial  cancel is clean as is the stamp.  The cancel may or may  not affect stamp value (likely none).  That said, offers always accepted.  EDIT-4/27/21-----this stamp is Japanese issue. Still no year or info.  EDIT2 same date...conflicting internet opinions.  Further research indicates it is a China stamp......more detail to follow.  I bet you can barely wait.   And here it is   This is a 1988 stamp from China, part of a  4 stamp set.  Nothing rare or special about it from a stamp value perspective.  I like the Buddah.

The beauty and the beast of writing this blog...and my others, is that readership and interest is limited.    I am  writing for myself and I am fine with that.  

With that my non-reader, if  you are  looking for serious literature,  I  can surely send you a signed copy of my "2020 APBA Baseball Tournament, a short but true story."