1888-93 Zululand 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
Zululand is the last country to have Bud's page scans of his Big Blue Album uploaded to this site. It is done. During the past ten months, the last 75 counties of Bud's Big Blue were posted. We wanted to make sure that the project got completed, as we all are not getting any younger.
I am very grateful to Bud for choosing this site to display his complete "69 Big Blue album. Thanks Bud!
If you are interested in checking out any of Bud's Big Blue country pages scans, click here.
Zululand in Southern Africa was a Crown Colony of the British Empire from 1887-1897, but prior had been an independent Zulu Kingdom since 1816.
The rise of the Warrior Culture Zulu Empire under Shaka Zulu forced other Chiefdoms and Clans to flee the surrounding area, where they came into conflict with the Voortrekkers and the British Empire.
The Zulu population was 250,000 in 1828, and the capital was Bulawayo, then Ulundi. The currency was cattle.
The Zulus initially fought against the Voortrekkers (Boers) in 1838 (Battle of Blood River).
Then there was the inevitable clash with the British in 1878-79, lead by King Cetshwayo.
At the Battle of Isandlwana, the Zulu 20,000 warriors killed over 1,300 British soldiers in hand to hand combat on a single day (January 22, 1879). This was the worst ever British Army defeat at the hands of an indigenous enemy.
But the Anglo-Zulu War turned to favor the British with the Siege of Ulundi in 1879, and the subsequent defeat of the Zulu Kingdom.
The Zulus were divided into 13 "kinglets" or subkingdoms - and they began to have conflict with each other. The "Zulu Reserve" area was created. The Boers, who had helped Dinuzulu (son of Cetshwayo), fight one of the subkingdoms (Zibhebhu), were given much of the good farmland (Republic of Vryheld).
This alarmed the British, and they annexed Zululand on May 18, 1887, and declared it a Crown Colony. The population was 230,000 (1900), and the capital was Eshowe.
Between May 1, 1888, and March, 1893, an eleven stamp issue was overprinted and released on British stamps.
A Zululand "Victoria" keyplate issue of ten stamps were released between 1894-96.
Zululand was absorbed into Natal on December 31, 1897. Stamps were withdrawn from sale for Zululand on June 30, 1898.
The 2014 Scott Classic Specialized 1840-1940 catalogue has, for Zululand 1888-1896, 24 major number descriptions. Of those, none are CV <$1-$1+. Raising the bar to CV $3-$10, yields six stamps (12%). Clearly, Zululand is not a bargain for WW collectors, but a few stamps can form a small representative collection.
Big Blue '69, on 1/2 page shared with Yemen (last page of BB!), has fourteen spaces, two of which are blank spaces.
Coverage is a rather generous 55%, and includes six spaces for the 1888-93 first issue (Great Britain stamps overprinted), the 1891 Scott 14 1p lilac (On Natal Revenue stamp), and the 1894-96 Victoria keyplate issue- seven spaces.
Because of the generous coverage for a rather expensive colony, there are five stamps with CV $20+, and two additional stamps over the "Most Expensive" threshold ($35+) @ $45 and (forced by a blank space choice) $90. !!
Of interest, the 1940s BB editions had much less generous coverage - one line with six spaces and no expensive stamps. As I mentioned in past blog posts, the common belief that the 1940s BB editions have "better" coverage is not, in fact, true for a number of countries.
And so ends the BB checklist survey. :-) !!!!
Click on the link below for more on the stamps and checklist.
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