Swaziland - Bud's Big Blue

1933 Swaziland 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 tiny Kingdom of Swaziland, today still sovereign, and an absolute monarchy, is situated in Southern Africa. The Swazi people, under the leadership of King Mswati II (reign 1840-1868), unified and consolidated the territory, with the borders finalized in 1881.

South African Republic (Transvaal) stamps can be found overprinted "Swaziland" in 1889 and 1892.

In 1894, Swaziland became a South African Republic (Transvaal) Protectorate. The overprinted stamps of Swaziland were replaced by those of Transvaal in 1895.

With the British victory in the Second Boer War, Swaziland became a British Protectorate in 1903. Administration of Swaziland was transferred from Transvaal to the British High Commissioner for South Africa in 1906.

Swaziland's own stamp issues were resumed in 1933.

The administration of Swaziland (and Bechuanaland Protectorate) was assumed by the British High Commissioner for Basutoland in 1934.

The population was 156,000 in 1936, and the administrative capital was and is Mbabane.

I should mention that the lands were partitioned into a European area (two-thirds) and a Native Reserve area (one-third).

Swaziland remained a British Protectorate until 1968, when independence was achieved.

The 2014 Scott Classic Specialized 1840-1940 catalogue has, for Swaziland 1899-1892; 1933-1949, fifty-two major number descriptions. Of those, thirty-three are CV <$1-$1+, or 64%.

The overprinted nine stamps of 1889-92 Transvaal, though, are rather expensive (CV $10+-$175), and the WW classical collector may not have any (I don't). In addition, one has to be aware of overprint counterfeits.

Big Blue '69, on one page located between Surinam and Sweden, has, for 1933-1938, twenty- four spaces. The spaces for BB cover the 1933 "George V" issue, the 1938 "George VI" issue, the 1935 Silver Jubilee Issue, the 1937 Coronation Issue and the 1933 Postage Due issue. Overall coverage in BB for the stamps up to 1940 is 62%.

Big Blue does not provide spaces for the earlier 1889-92 overprinted stamps of Transvaal: probably for the best, as they are rather expensive.

The 1940s editions of BB have identical coverage.

There are no expensive stamps (threshold $10) required to fill BB.

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

Swaziland Blog Post & BB Checklist

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Surinam - Bud's Big Blue

1873-1890 Surinam 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

In 1667, with the Treaty of Breda, the Dutch gave away all rights to New Amsterdam to the British; and, in exchange, they were assured of the ability to colonize Suriname. Clearly, of all the bad trades among nations, this has to be, by any objective measurement, the worst, as any Dutch citizen will ruefully admit as they arrive at the most expensive real estate on earth- Manhattan. 

Suriname, derived from the indigenous Arawak name, or Surinam, what the original British settlers called the area, was taken over by the Dutch, then, in 1667, and became part of a group of Dutch settlements or colonies known collectively as Dutch Guiana. In later years, Dutch Guiana referred to the remaining Dutch colony of Surinam, as the British merged the former Dutch settlements of Berbice, Essequibo, and Demerara into British Guiana.in 1831.

Surinam was a Dutch plantation colony, and slaves were imported by the Dutch West India Company from West Africa to work the sugar cane, cotton, indigo, and (later) coffee crops.

Slavery was abolished by the Netherlands in 1863, but slaves were still required to work on the plantations until 1873.

Stamps were introduced in 1873, showing the portrait of King William III.

With freedom, the slaves left the plantations, and largely moved to Paramaribo, the capital and the largest city.

Indentured contract workers for the plantations were brought in from British India, Dutch East Indies, and to a lesser extent, from China.

The ethnic legacy is that today Suriname is one of the most diverse nations in the world, with Creole (35%), East Indian (34%), Javanese (15%), Maroons (9%), Amerindian (2%), Chinese (2%) and White (1%) populations.

n 1954, Suriname became part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, along with the Netherlands Antilles (Curacao) and the Netherlands.

The 2014 Scott Classic Specialized 1840-1940 catalogue has, for Surinam 1873-1938, 243 major number descriptions. Of those, 95 are CV <$1-$1+, or 39%. Surinam is moderately expensive for the WW collector, but there are enough stamps to form a representative collection, even on a budget.

Big Blue '69, on five pages, has 155 spaces for the stamps of Surinam. Included is a generous selection of the fine semi-postal issues. Overall coverage is 64%.

The 40s editions have spaces rearranged somewhat differently. No formal evaluation was done, but it appears the '69 offers a bit better coverage, with two more spaces for the 1913-31 issue, and two more spaces for the 1936-41 issue.

The '69 BB has only eight spaces that require expensive stamps (CV $10-$20+). There are no "Most Expensive" (CV $35+) stamps required. Nice! But here are a number of spaces that will need to be filled with  ~$5 CV stamps.

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

Surinam (Dutch Guiana) 1873 Part A

Surinam (Dutch Guiana) 1923 Part B

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Sudan - Bud's Big Blue

1897 Sudan 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

Sudan is home to the ancient Nubian Kingdom of Kush, at the confluence of the Blue Nile and the White Nile.

But the Suez Canal, built in 1869, meant that, in more recent times, the British and French became interested in the area, mainly to assure security of the enterprise.  

And that most definitely affected Sudan.

Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, on the southern border of Egypt, and tied by the Nile River and culture to Egypt, was a Condominium of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Egypt from 1899-1956. In reality, the British controlled the Sudan: not least because Egypt was occupied by British forces of various strengths from 1882-1936, and Egypt was a British Protectorate from 1914-1922.

Even after 1936, when the British forces withdrew from Egypt proper, with the exception of the Suez Canal Zone, they maintained their forces in Sudan.

Stamps were introduced in 1897 by overprinting Egyptian stamps of 1884-93.

Then Anglo Egyptian Sudan received their own iconic philatelic design beginning in 1898: the "Camel Post". The design was used as late as 1954.

The 2014 Scott Classic Specialized 1840-1940 catalogue has, for Sudan 1897-1941, 180 major number descriptions. Of those, 77 are CV <$1-$1+, or 43%. Sudan's stamps are reasonably affordable for the WW classical era collector.

Aside from the first issue, which consists of overprinted Egyptian "Sphinx" stamps, the overriding design over multiple issues for Sudan is the "Camel Post": and handsome it is.

No doubt because Sudan was jointly administered by Great Britain and Egypt, the script is in both English and Arabic.

Besides the usual categories of regular, air post, and postage due, Sudan also offers official stamps ( overprinted and perforated), and army official stamps (overprinted and perforated) categories.

Big Blue '69,  on two pages, has 61 spaces for the stamps of Sudan.  Coverage is 33%.

The 40s editions have the same coverage, except a space is given for the 1903 Scott 28 5m on 5p (CV $10+). 

The perforated stamps found with the Official and Army Official categories are not included. 

The "S G" Official overprinted stamps of 1936+ are not given a space.

Only one stamp with CV $10+ is required for the spaces.

There is the usual (for BB) one space for watermark different stamps.

For more on the stamps themselves, as well as the checklist, click on the link below.

Sudan Blog Post & BB Checklist

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Straits Settlements - Bud's Big Blue

1882-92 Straits Settlements 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

Straits Settlements (on or near the Malacca Strait, hence the name) was a group of British territories established in 1826 by the British East India Company.

Stamps of India were used in the Straits Settlements from 1854-1867 with octagonal postmark B/172 (Singapore), B/147 (Penang), and B109 (Malacca).

Initially, Penang was the administrative center, but quickly (1832) Singapore, with its advantageous location, became the leading settlement.

In 1867, Straits Settlements became a crown colony, and De la Rue produced new Victoria stamp designs. 

Labuan joined the Straits Settlements in 1907

The 2014 Scott Classic Specialized 1840-1940 catalogue has, for Straits Settlements 1867-1948, 310 major number descriptions. Of those, 93 are CV <$1-$1+, or 30%. As a former British Colony composed of Singapore and parts of Malaysia, there is demand and interest, and consequently cost for these stamps.

Big Blue '69 has just two pages and 92 spaces for the stamps of Straits Settlements  (Malacca, Penang, and Singapore). The '69 editors separated out "Malaya" and gave them their own section.

The 40s BB editions, as noted, had the Federated Malay States, Johore, Kedah, Kelantan,  Negri Sembilan, Pahang, Perak, Selangor, Sungei Ujong, and Trengganu still included under the "Straits Settlements" section.

Subtracting the 46 stamps for the 1942-48 period (which BB doesn't cover) leaves 264 major numbers in the catalogue. Overall, then, coverage in BB is 35%.

To BB's credit (and the fact I altered the 1882-91 issue stamps to 1867-91 dates, there are no expensive stamps ($10 threshold).

There is the usual wmk 2 vs wmk 3; wmk 3 vs wmk 4 choices for stamp spaces to be made.

The '69 editors dropped the postage due category (eight spaces), which was in the 40s edition.

For more on the stamps themselves, as well as the checklist, click on the link below.

Straits Settlements Blog Post & BB Checklist

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