Samoa - Bud's Big Blue

1887-1896 Kingdom of Samoa 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 Samoan archipelago is in the South Pacific Ocean, and is one of the centers of Polynesian culture, along with Hawaii and the Cook Islands.

The Americans used the harbor of Pago Pago as a coaling station on Tutuila in 1877, and formed relationships with the local chieftains.

Apparently, there were only 130 Europeans residing in Samoa in 1877, mostly in Apia. Nevertheless, the Kingdom of Samoa "Express" stamps were also issued in 1877.

The British had missionaries since 1830 from the Congregationalist London Missionary Society on the island of Savai'i.

The third colonial presence, and a large one, was Germany. German firms formed large copra and cocoa bean processing operations on the island of 'Upolu.

Malietoa Laupepa (1841-1898), who appears on a stamp issued in 1892, was a devout Christian by upbringing from 'Upolu. He was crowned King of Samoa by the German Empire, and the British and American consuls in 1881.

"Malietoa" is a title given to Samoan Chiefs, and literally means "great warrior". It is from an epic heroic tale when Tongan warriors said, as they rushed to their boats, "Malle To'a Malle tau".."brave warrior, brave fight".

As one can imagine, trying to maintain native influence vis-a-vis the three great colonial powers with their own agendas was difficult indeed for Malietoa Laupepa.

A  treaty was signed among the three colonial powers (Tripartite Convention of 1899) that divided the archipelago into German Samoa ( Savai'i, Upolu), and an American territory (Tutuila, Manua). (These divisions would eventually lead to Western Samoa (now Samoa), and American Samoa respectively).

Britain, as compensation for giving up "rights" to Samoa, obtained the Tonga group from Germany, and an advantageous change in the boundary between the German and British Solomon islands. Germany gave up any rights in Zanzibar.

The Samoan Chiefs and natives had little to say about it. 

In 1911, the U.S. territory was officially renamed American Samoa.

American Samoa has never had their own stamp issues, as U.S. stamps were used from the beginning.

German Samoa came into existence in 1900, and with typical German efficiency, roads, schools, and a hospital were developed. By 1908, German Samoa was a self supporting colony. Two thousand Chinese laborers were imported to work the plantations.

Stamps, typical for a German colony, were issued.

With the onset of WW I, the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (at the request of Great Britain) invaded unopposed on August 29, 1914. Germany had no armed forces on the islands.

In 1914, German stamps were overprinted "G.R.I." for "Georgius Rex Imperator", and surcharged in pence/shilling.

New Zealand occupied the former German colony through 1920. Stamps of New Zealand were overprinted "Samoa".

New Zealand then governed the islands through a League of Nations (later United Nations) mandate until 1962.

The 2014 Scott Classic Specialized 1840-1940 catalogue has, for Samoa 1877-1952, 173 major descriptive numbers. Of those, 50 are CV <$1-$1+, or 29%. Most of the more inexpensive stamps are after 1900, while the 1877-1900 stamps are rather expensive for WW classical collectors.

Samoa is a complicated philatelic country with Kingdom issues (1877-1900), Provisional Government (1899), German Dominion issues (1900-1915), British Dominion issues (1914), New Zealand overprinted issues (1914-1935), and Western Samoa issues (1935-1952).

Big Blue '69, on two pages, has 70 spaces. Of those, 23 are for the 1887-1899 Kingdom issues. There are no spaces for the Samoa 1877 Express stamps. There are 10 spaces for the 1900-15 German Dominion issues. Then there are 37 spaces for the British (New Zealand) Dominion and Western Samoa issues.

Coverage is 40%.

There is only one stamp @ $10 required for the spaces. The 1877-1900 "Palm" issues have many expensive stamps, depending on perforation and wmk 162  types.  But I found minor numbers that are less than $10.

The Samoa 1977 Express stamps, although not in Big Blue, are famous philatelically, but have many forgeries. I do a deep dive into the forgeries in the first link below if interested.

Samoa 1877-1889 and Forgeries (BB Checklist included)

Samoa 1900-1952

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Supplements

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