Big Blue 1840-1940 Stamp blog

Thanks Rod- yes, 100 year old stamps sometimes look like----100 year old stamps. 

That was a nice journey through your story, Jim,   you write a good yarn.  
Thoroughly enjoyable.

bigblue1840-1940.blogspot.com/2014/09/TheClassicalStampsofNossiBe.html

Nossi-Be (Nosy Be, "Big Island" in Malagasy) is an island in the Indian Ocean, five miles off the coast of Madagascar.

It was a French protectorate, and had surcharged/overprinted French Colony stamps issued between 1889-1893, and "Navigation and Commerce" stamps issued in 1894.

Interested?

Read and see more!

Big Blue's Nova Scotia

The gorgeous ( to my eyes) Queen Victoria 1860-63 six stamp issue.can be found in either white or yellowish paper. Sometimes one is the minor number in Scott, sometimes another. Interestingly, unused and used values are approximately the same (except for the 5c blue $400/$5+ valuation). Apparently, after Nova Scotia joined the Confederation, most of the unused Nova Scotia stamps became available on the philatelic market. This probably explains the relatively inexpensive CV for unused.

bigblue1840-1940.blogspot.com/2014/09/ClassicalStampsofNyasalandProtectorate.html

The Nyasaland Protectorate, in southern Africa by Lake Nyasa, was renamed on July 6, 1907, being formerly known as the British Central Africa Protectorate.

Cecil Rhodes's British South Africa Company (BSAC) was actually in charge of the protectorate when their authority was withdrawn in 1907, and direct British rule was instituted.

One of the legacies of the British South Africa Protectorate and the BSAC is white settlers were brought in who developed coffee plantations using African labor.

I really enjoy these posts about the tiny stamp-issuing entities that I seldom see in my piles of stuff! Hearty approval for the notion of updating your older posts because it gives me a good chance to look through them at nice pace. And I really enjoyed the post on Japan too. I arrived there in the very late spring once, just in time to catch the last of the cherry blossoms in the Japanese Alps in Nagano Prefecture. I can't remember exactly where, a train station in either Narita or Tokyo, but there was an absolutely massive map of Japan painted on the wall, perhaps 10 feet tall by 50 feet long, with the date for each town noted when the cherry blossoms first appeared - early February in the southern end of Okinawa, mid-May in mountainous areas in Nagano and Hokkaido.

Ryan

bigblue1840-1940.blogspot.com/2014/10/albania-closer-look-at-stamp-issues.html

A six stamp nicely typographed issue was produced in 1913.

A 15th century Albanian nobleman, George Kastrioti Skanderbeg was highly effective in organizing Christian resistance against the Ottoman expansion. He is Albania's most important national hero.

bigblue1840-1940.blogspot.com/2014/10/ClassicStampsofObock.html

Obock was a French seaport on the Gulf of Aden in eastern Africa, and across from the British port of Aden. It was the first French settlement (colony) in the region through a treaty with the local Afar Sultans in 1862. These agreements were strengthened between 1883 and 1887.

The reason for the settlement? The French wanted their own coaling station for steamships (the Suez Canal had opened in 1869), as they did not want to rely solely on the British Aden coaling station.

Stamps were issued beginning in 1892, and consisted of French Colonies stamps that were handstamped "Obock". Stamp issues continued until 1894.

bigblue1840-1940.blogspot.com/2014/10/ClassicStampsof-OltreGiuba.html

Oltre Giuba ( Greater Juba, Trans-Juba, Italian Jubaland) is a strip 50-100 miles wide west and parallel to the Juba River in East Africa that was ceded to Italy in 1925 by the British. This northern portion of the Jubaland territory was a former part of the British East Africa (then East Africa & Uganda Protectorates, then Kenya) colony. One may ask "why", and supposedly it was a reward to Italy for having joined the allies in WW I.

bigblue1840-1940.blogspot.com/2014/11/ClassicStampsofOrangeFreeState.html

The Boers, some 3000 strong, had initially left the Cape Colony area on "The Great Trek" to try to escape from British administration. They originally settled in Natal, but the British had then extended their reach there also. So they again moved in 1843 north to the lands that would become the Orange Free State.

bigblue1840-1940.blogspot.com/2014/11/ClassicalStampsofPakistan.html

The Dominion of Pakistan came into existence as a sovereign country on August 15, 1947, when it and the Dominion of India were partitioned from British India. Both Pakistan and India then joined the British Commonwealth.

The borders of Pakistan separated out the Muslim majority in the northwest and east from Hindu India.

bigblue1840-1940.blogspot.com/2014/11/ClassicStampsofPalestine.html

Between 1918-20, Palestine ( named after the Palaestina province of the Roman and Byzantine Empire) was occupied by the British Army Egyptian Expeditionary Forces as part of the campaign against the Ottoman Empire, which had sided with Germany during WW I. Stamps were issued February 10, 1918.

Then, following the San Remo conference in April, 1920, Syria and Lebanon came under French Mandate, while Palestine became a British Mandate. This arrangement was approved by the League of Nations in 1922. The British civil Mandate administration continued until 1948.

bigblue1840-1940.blogspot.com/2014/12/ClassicalStampsofPanama.html

Panama, located on a narrow strip of land in Central America, was a Department of the Republic of Colombia until 1903, when, with the significant help from the United States, it became independent.

Panama was a member of Gran Colombia (1819-1831), Republic of New Granada (1831-1858), Granadine Confederation (1858-1863), United States of Colombia (1863-1886), and the Republic of Colombia (1886-1903).

Why, then, was the United States interested in Panama?

Geography!!

bigblue1840-1940.blogspot.com/2014/12/angola-closer-look-at-stamp-issues.html

Angola, the Portuguese colony, was located between the Belgian Congo and South West Africa, and the colony had a population of 3,400,000 in the 1930s. The capital is Luanda. The first stamp issue was in 1870.