Upper Volta - Bud's Big Blue

1920 Upper Volta 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

Upper Volta (Haute-Volta) has had an exist/ doesn't exist/exist history, but the classical era saw Upper Volta adjacent and north of the British Gold Coast carved out from a southern section of Upper Senegal and Niger to form a separate colony on March 1, 1919 within French West Africa.

Stamps were released in 1920 using the overprinted Upper Senegal and Niger 1914-17 issue and types.

The colony lasted until September 5, 1932, when, in an economic move, the colony was divided among its neighbors- French Sudan, Ivory Coast, and Niger Territory.

Upper Volta stamps were discontinued on January 1, 1933.

The 2014 Scott Classic Specialized 1840-1940 catalogue has, for Upper Volta 1920-1931, 89 major descriptive numbers. Of those, 58 are CV <$1-$1+, or 65%. Clearly, the WW collector should be able to form a representative collection without too much expense.

The 1920-28 issue uses overprinted 1914-17 Upper Senegal and Niger stamps. Some were issued in a change of color (color types).

Upper Volta had its own issue proper in 1928.

Big Blue '69, on four pages, has 75 spaces for the stamps of Upper Volta.

Coverage is a generous 84%.

There are two "expensive" (CV $10+) stamp spaces for the 1928 postage due issue.

For more on the history of Upper Volta, as well as the stamps, click on the link below.

Upper Volta Blog Post & BB Checklist

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Upper Silesia - Bud's Big Blue

1920 Upper Silesia 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

Upper Silesia had been part of Germany prior to WW I. It was situated in the far eastern portion of Prussian territory, sandwiched between the newly created Poland and Czechoslovakia.

After WW I, the question was, what do do with Upper Silesia? It was a mineral and industrial rich area, accounting for 20% of German coal production. It had both a significant German and Polish population. Poland laid claim to it, and Germany wished to retain the territory.

North of Upper Silesia to the Baltic Sea, a large swath of West Prussia (including Posen) was transferred to Poland without a plebiscite to give Poland access to the sea via the "Free City" of Danzig.

At the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, the future of Upper Silesia was strenuously contested, and the original draft of the Treaty of Versailles had the area as Polish territory. But the final draft of the Treaty Of Versailles determined that a plebiscite (referendum) would determine the question.

In February 1920, the Allied Commission (with occupation of British, French, and Italian Forces) assumed control of the territory.

The Plebiscite issue "Numerals" were released on February 20, 1920.

Feelings were running high, and there were clashes between Germans and Poles during the plebiscite period. 

A propaganda campaign, backed by the respective Polish and German governments, was instituted.

The plebiscite was held on March 21, 1921 with 1.1 million votes cast, with the vote for German retention winning overall @ 60%-40%.

But the Poles objected to allowing German migrant worker non resident votes. There was a large scale Polish uprising between April-June, 1921. The Germans responded with volunteer paramilitary units. The final position of the opposing Polish and German forces became, de facto, the eventual partition. 

The Allied Commission was unable to come to a decision about Upper Silesia, and turned the question over to the League of Nations in August, 1921.

The League of Nations basically confirmed the new "de facto" border. Germany was awarded two-thirds of the territory, but Poland retained half the population. More significantly, Poland also received 80% of the industrial area.

During WW II, Upper Silesia was the location of the infamous Auschwitz camps.

It became part of the Republic of Poland in 1945.

The 2014 Scott Classic Specialized 1840-1940 catalogue has, for Upper Silesia 1920-1922, 90 major number descriptions in the regular (Plebiscite) and official categories. Of those, 60 are CV <$1-$1+, or 67%. Clearly, a representative collection can be accumulated by the WW collector without much financial outlay.

Big Blue '69, on one page, has 36 spaces for the stamps of Upper Silesia.

There are no expensive stamps.

BB's coverage is adequate, but not great. Missing are any examples of the surcharged 1920 issues (Scott 11 and 12 types are inexpensive), and the overprinted or surcharged 1921-22 issues. The 1920 "Handstamped in Blue" Official issue has no spaces, even though 14 are CV <$1-$1+.

What is present is the 1921 Polish Occupation stamp issue which is no longer listed in the Scott catalogue.  Scott has a note that stamps of this design were a private issue, and not recognized by the Inter-Allied Commission of Government. Value, Set of 7, $65 unused. The '47 Scott catalogue, though, had them included as "N1,N2,N3,N4".

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

Upper Silesia Blog Post & BB Checklist

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Upper Senegal And Niger - Bud's Big Blue

1905-06 Upper DSe4negal and Niger 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

Upper Senegal and Niger (Haut Senegal et Niger) was part of French West Africa, and developed from Senegambia and Niger in 1904. Stamps were issued from 1904-1917. The territory from upper Dahomey was added in 1907. Niger was a separate military district after 1911, and a separate colony after 1922. The Upper Volta was removed in 1919 and became a separate colony. The remaining lands had a name change in 1920 to French Sudan, and stamp production continued under that inscription in 1921.

The 2014 Scott Classic Specialized 1840-1940 catalogue has, for Upper Senegal & Niger 1906-1917, 50 major stamp descriptions. Of those, 11 are CV <$1-$1+, or 22%. Raising the bar to CV $3+ adds 14 stamps for a total of 25, or 50%.

The stamp output for Upper Senegal & Niger was relatively short, both in terms of number and years issued.

The general designs and formats should be quite familiar if one is acquainted with French Colony stamps.

Big Blue '69, on two pages, has 40 spaces for the stamps of Upper Senegal & Niger. Coverage is a remarkable 80%.

The coverage includes twelve spaces for the seventeen stamp 1906-07 issue, twelve spaces for the 1914-17 seventeen stamps issue, the 1915 semi-postal, and all of the 1906 (seven stamps) and 1914 (eight stamps) postage due issues.

With the generous coverage, naturally, there are some expensive (CV $10+) stamp spaces. There are six expensive spaces: one (1906 Scott J7 1fr black/pinkish ($40)) is "most expensive", and two others are CV $20+.

For more on Upper Senegal and Niger, and the stamps, click on the link below.

Upper Senegal and Niger Blog Post & BB Checklist

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Uganda - Bud's Big Blue

1898-1902 Uganda 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 British Uganda Protectorate existed from 1894 to 1962, but stamps from Uganda proper were only issued from 1895-1902.

In 1893, the British East Africa Company transferred the Buganda Kingdom territory to the British, and then the borders were expanded in 1894. A British Protectorate was declared on August 27, 1894.

The Uganda Agreement of 1900 gave the power to govern on a daily basis to the Protestant "Bakungu" chiefs, lead by Apolo Kagwa. The British administered initially with a light hand.

Stamps from 1890 used in Uganda  were issues of  British East Africa.

Then Reverend Ernest Millar at Mengo of the Church Missionary Society produced stamps on his typewriter for internal postage use in Uganda from 1895-1896. These are some of the most crude and valuable pieces of paper ever issued (51 stamps: CV up to $80,000).

Typeset stamps, only slightly less crude and valuable (15 stamps: CV  to $37,000+), were issued in 1896.

Engraved "Victoria" stamps proper for Uganda were issued by London's De La Rue from 1898-1902. And, a two stamp set for 1902 consisted of British East Africa stamps that were overprinted "Uganda".

The 2014 Scott Classic Specialized 1840-1940 catalogue has, for Uganda 1895-1902, 76 major number descriptions. Of those, two are CV $1+, or 2%. !! Wow, let's take a closer look at the CV situation.

The earlier crude typewritten stamps and typeset stamps ( 1895-1896: 66 major numbers) are expensive to very expensive (CV $20+-$80,000), and really specialty territory. There are also forgeries to worry about with these crudely produced stamps.

The last ten major numbers (1898-1902) are the more typically engraved "Victoria" stamps. Of those, eight are CV $1+-$10+. For the WW collector, obtaining a sampling of the 1898-1902 stamps, and perhaps 1-2 of the 1896 typeset stamps might be a reasonable goal.

Big Blue, for all the editions 1969 or later, on one page, has ten spaces.  BB, in fact, gives a space to all ten of the 1898-1902 "Victoria" engraved issues. If one excludes the earlier 1895-1896 typewritten/typeset stamps (66 major numbers), which are expensive to very expensive, (and a "representative" album would have no business including), Big Blue actually provides 100% coverage! 

The consequence of BB's generosity is that some of the spaces are rather expensive to fill.

Four spaces require $10+ stamps, while an 1898 Scott 75 1r ultramarine ($55)

and an 1898 Scott 76 5r brown ($90) are also needed.

Of interest, the 1940s editions only have four spaces, and there are no expensive ($10 threshold) stamps. This serves as a reminder, that, although the 1940s editions can have more extensive coverage, the 1969 and later editions sometimes have the better coverage. 

Uganda Blog Post & BB Checklist

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Ubangi-Shari - Bud's Big Blue

1915-22 Ubangi-Shari  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

Ubangi-Shari (Oubangui-Chari) was a central African French territory and colony from 1903-1958, when it became the Central African Republic.

The French had established the Bangi (Bangui) outpost along the Ubangi river in 1889, and the territory was named after the rivers Ubangi and Chari.

Administratively, the territory was attached and detached to other French entities during it's existence. 

Ubangi-Shari was established on December 29, 1903 from the heretofore named French Congo (Gabon-Congo) territory, after the French victory over the Egyptian Abbas II. The French Congo was renamed the Middle Congo (Moyen Congo), also in 1903.

On February 11, 1906, the Lake Chad area was added, and the territory was known as Ubangi-Shari-Chad. Ubangi-Shari-Chad was a dependency, and attached to the Middle Congo. Middle Congo stamps were used there.

On January 15, 1910, the territories of Ubangi-Shari, Middle Congo, and Gabon were administratively merged as the French Equatorial Africa Federation. This was a federation that existed from 1910-1934, similar to the French West Africa colonies federation.

The first issue for Ubangi-Shari proper was released in 1915, and consisted of Middle Congo stamps that were overprinted "Oubangui-Chari-Chad".

Beginning on April 12, 1916, Ubangi-Shari was separately administered.

The Lake Chad portion of the territory was removed from Ubangi-Shari in 1920, and the stamps, beginning in 1922, now were overprinted "Oubangui-Chari".

But, portending things to come, the stamp issues were additionally overprinted "Afrique Equatoriale Francaise", beginning in 1924.

Stamp production for Ubangi-Shari continued through 1933.

From 1934-1958, the territory was merged into the French Equatorial Africa colony.

Ubangi-Shari stamps were replaced by those of French Equatorial Africa in 1936.

During WW II, Vichy France controlled the territory from June-August, 1940, when it was captured by the Free French Forces.

In 1946, Ubangi-Shari becomes an overseas territory.

In 1958, self government was achieved, and, on August 13, 1960, full independence as the Central African Republic.

The 2014 Scott Classic Specialized 1840-1940 catalogue has, for Ubangi-Shari 1915-1931, 109 major stamp descriptions. Of those, 43 are CV <$1-$1+, or 39%. Many of the rest of the stamps are CV only a few dollars more. Clearly, Ubangi-Chari, ( And the classical French colonial stamps in general) are reasonably affordable for the WW collector. (British colonial stamps, while a % are affordable, tend to be more expensive.)

Many of the stamps for Ubangi-Shari are overprinted "types" of the French "Middle Congo" issues. They are "types", because Ubangi-Shari's stamps are in different color combinations compared to the original "Middle Congo" issues. That certainly makes the Ubangi-Shari issues more attractive, and one doesn't have to worry that there could be a fake overprint on a Middle Congo stamp if the Ubangi-Shari stamp is more valuable CV wise.

Big Blue '69 has three pages and 79 spaces for the stamps of "Ubangi". The coverage is located between "Turkey in Asia" and Ukrainia. Coverage is a robust 72%.

The 40s editions have the spaces arranged differently, and there are 77 spaces total.

There is only one "expensive" (CV $10+) stamp required for the spaces.

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

Ubangi-Shari  Blog Post & BB Checklist

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