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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Supplements

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