Somalia (Italian Somaliland) - Bud's Big Blue

1903-1922 Somalia in Bud's Big Blue

Bud's Big Blue

Bud's Observations

(From Jim: Bud is well, but has a lot of non philatelic obligations and responsibilities at the moment. With his permission, I will upload  country pages in his complete '69 Big Blue that so far has not been shown. He might add his observations later. Enjoy!)

Jim's Observations

taly was feeling left behind, as the other major European powers were more aggressive and successful in expanding their holdings during the "Scramble for Africa", beginning in 1881.

Consequently, Italy entered into a protectorate treaty with the Sultanate of Hobyo and the Majeerteen Sultanate in 1889 in the "Horn of Africa", mainly to have access to ports along the Indian Ocean. With the granting of a concession of Benadir coastal land by the Sultan of Zanzibar, the port of Mogadishu became the Italian focus. This gave them easy access to the Suez Canal and the Gulf of Aden.

Italian immigration were promoted. Stamps for "Benadir" (Administered by "The Benadir Company") were issued October 12, 1903.  By 1905, Italy formed a colony in southern Somalia, and in 1908 all parts of Southern Somalia were united under "Italian Somaliland". But effective Italian control was limited to the coastal strip until the 1920s.

In 1925, Trans-Juba was ceded by the British (as a reward for Italy joined the Allies in WW I), and this strip of land was added to Italian Somaliland. 

By 1930, there were 22,000 Italian colonists in Italian Somaliland, (2% of the population), mainly around the capital Mogadishu.

The Fascist Italian Government then combined Italian Eritrea, the Ethiopian Empire, and Italian Somaliland into Italian East Africa (1936-41). After WW II, Italian Somaliland became the Trust Territory of Somalia in 1949, and finally achieved independence in 1960.

The 2014 Scott Classic Specialized 1840-1940 catalogue has, for Somalia 1903-1940, 355 major number descriptions. Of those, 46 are CV <$1-$1+, or 13%. There are not many inexpensive stamps for Somalia in particular, and Italian colonies in general for the WW collector.

Big Blue '69, on six pages, has 156 spaces for the regular, semi-postal, air post, semi-postal air post, postage due, special delivery, and parcel post issue categories for Somalia. Coverage is 44%. And the coverage will be expensive to fill as we will see in a moment.

The coverage in the '69 is after "Sierra Leone". The 1940s editions have the coverage under "Italian Somaliland", and is placed after "Italian East Africa". The '69 BB has an extra space for the 1926-30 issue. The 1940s editions have their spaces arranged differently for the first three pages, and offer two more spaces for the 1934 "Mother and Child" issue.

As far as expensive stamps, 38 spaces require CV $10+ or more, with 8 of these @ CV $47+- $87+. !!!! 

For more on the stamps themselves, as well as the (expensive) checklist, see the link below.

Somalia (Italian Somaliland) Blog Post & BB Checklist

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Sierra Leone - Bud's Big Blue

1884-1911 Sierra Leone in Bud's Big Blue

Bud's Big Blue

Bud's Observations

(From Jim: Bud is well, but has a lot of non philatelic obligations and responsibilities at the moment. With his permission, I will upload  country pages in his complete '69 Big Blue that so far has not been shown. He might add his observations later. Enjoy!)

Jim's Observations

Sierra Leone ("Lioness Mountains"- Portuguese/Spanish) is located on the tropical West African coast between French Guinea (now Guinea) and Liberia.

Under British protection, freed African-American slaves were transported to Sierra Leone in 1787 after the American Revolutionary War, and founded Granville Town. Ironically, but not surprising, the settlement was opposed by the indigenous Temne and Mende peoples.

Freetown was founded on March 11, 1792 with the settlement of 1,200 Black Loyalists, who came via Nova Scotia.

Beginning in 1808, following the British Empire's abolition of the slave trade in 1807, thousands of liberated people from confiscated slave ships were brought to Freetown.

The Sierra Leone Company, formed by abolitionists, then turned the territory over to the African Institution in 1807 (recognized by the British Crown).

The returning freed Blacks, adopting the southern U.S. (western) habits in culture and dress, and mostly Christian (Methodist), formed the Krio (Creole) people, with Krio as the trading language. They were the Black ruling and educational elite. Naturally, conflict eventually developed with the native peoples of the interior, who were mostly Muslim. Today, the Krio people comprise about 4% of the population.

English is still today the official language, but Krio is the trading language for all ethnic groups.

In 1896, the British expanded into the interior, and declared the additional territory a British Protectorate.

Conflict with the native peoples (Temne-Mende) escalated, leading to the Hut Tax war of 1898.

In 1924, Sierra Leone was administratively separated into a Colony (coastal area and Freetown), and a Protectorate (the interior, dominated by ethnic tribes and chiefs).

The 2014 Scott Classic Specialized 1840-1940 catalogue has, for Sierra Leone 1859-1949, 194  major descriptive numbers. Of those, 51 are CV <$1-$1+, or 26%. As Sierra Leone is a British Colony, the stamps are relatively expensive. 

Big Blue '69, on two pages, has 59 spaces for the stamps of 1884-1938 Sierra Leone. Coverage (subtracting the eleven post 1940 stamps in the Scott 1840-1940 catalogue) is 32%. Although the coverage is not generous, considering the relatively high valuations for this British colony, it is certainly a reasonable selection for the WW collector.

The coverage is located between "Siam" and "Somalia" in the '69, and between "Somaliland Protectorate"  and "Somali Coast" in the 1940s editions.

The coverage is the same for the 1940s editions as the '69..

Remarkably, BB manages to have all spaces under CV $10. (No expensive stamps!)

For more on the stamps themselves. click on the link below.

Sierra Leone Blog Post & BB Checklist

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Shanghai - Bud's Big Blue

1877-1893 Shanghai in Bud's Big Blue

Bud's Big Blue

Bud's Observations

(From Jim: Bud is well, but has a lot of non philatelic obligations and responsibilities at the moment. With his permission, I will upload  country pages in his complete '69 Big Blue that so far has not been shown. He might add his observations later. Enjoy!)

Jim's Observations

The Chinese government allowed a number of ports ("Treaty Ports") to be opened for foreign trade between 1842-1860. Shanghai became the leading port, with British, French, and American settlements established in 1843, or shortly after that.

In 1854, the Shanghai Municipal Council was formed to administer the foreign settlements, essentially independent of Chinese oversight. The Shanghai Local Post was established in 1863, and the first "Local Post" stamp was issued in 1865. Other Treaty Ports also joined the Shanghai Local Post, and more mail was handled by them than the Imperial Customs Post and the Hong Kong Postal Agency combined.

The Scott 1840-1940 catalogue has 183 "major number" stamps issued during the years 1865-1893 for the Shanghai Local Post. Over 35 stamps were issued in 1893. On November 1, 1897, the Imperial Chinese Post Office took over the mails from the Shanghai Local Post.

For the WW classical era collector, the Shanghai Local Post stamps (1865-1896) and the other Treaty Port stamps ( Amoy 1895-96, Chefoo 1893-96, Chinkiang 1894-96, Chungking 1893-95, Foochow 1895-96, Hankow 1893-97, Ichang 1894-96, Kewkiang 1894-96, Nanking 1896-97, Wei Hai Wei 1898-99, Wuhu 1894-97) are really more specialist territory, and also rather expensive. But Big Blue devotes a page to the Shanghai Local Post stamps, and therefore a representative selection can and should (considering the history) be collected

The 2014 Scott Classic Specialized 1840-1940 catalogue has (in the China section), for Shanghai 1865-1896, 183 major descriptive numbers. Of those, 14 are CV <$1-$1+, or 8%. If one raises the CV bar from $2 to $10+, 64 more stamps can be added (35%). Shanghai stamps are fairly expensive for the WW classical collector. And some are very expensive- up to CV $28,000. 

Big Blue '69, on one page, has 31 spaces for the stamps of Shanghai in the regular and postage due categories. The page is located after Seychelles in the '69, and after Serbia in the 1940s editions. The coverage is the same for all editions.

The coverage is 17%.

Only two stamps cross the $10+ threshold.

Although the coverage is objectively meager, BB manages to present a representative selection that is not very expensive. 

For more on the stamps themselves, click on the link below.

Shanghai Blog Post & BB Checklist

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Seychelles - Bud's Big Blue

 1890-1900 Seychelles in Bud's Big Blue

Bud's Big Blue

Bud's Observations

(From Jim: Bud is well, but has a lot of non philatelic obligations and responsibilities at the moment. With his permission, I will upload  country pages in his complete '69 Big Blue that so far has not been shown. He might add his observations later. Enjoy!)

Jim's Observations

Seychelles is an 115 island archipelago in the Indian Ocean, 900 miles (1500 km) from Southeast Africa. French and English and Seychellois Creole are the the spoken languages. 

The Seychelles were uninhabited during historic times, so all current inhabitants are descendants of those that were brought to the islands. The British gained control over the French by 1810, but allowed the French settlers to remain.

The islands were attached to the colony of Mauritius from 1810 to 1903. Seychelles became a crown colony in 1903.

Stamps for the Seychelles were introduced in 1890. Prior to that, there are examples of Mauritius stamps cancelled (B64 Obliterator) from 1861-1887.

The 2014 Scott Classic Specialized 1840-1940 catalogue has, for Seychelles 1890-1952, 175 major number descriptions. Of those, 78 are CV <$1-$1+, or 45%.

Of interest, there are 58 "A" prefix numbers of stamps from Mauritius used (cancelled) in the Seychelles between 1861-1887. These are expensive, are specialist territory, and I will say no more about them.

Big Blue '69, on two pages (Tobago has one line), has 56 spaces  for the Seychelles. Coverage = 40%  (I subtracted the 35 stamps issued after 1945).

There are two "expensive" stamps and two "Most Expensive" stamps (CV $45-$70) required, all from the "1938" issue. This is because of color specifications by BB, although there are less expensive stamps of the same denomination issued in the 1940s in different colors.

1939 Scott 142 75c gray blue ($45)
1938 Scott 144 1r yellow green ($70)

For more on Seychelles (including Die varieties), click on the post below.

Seychelles Blog Post & BB Checklist

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