Zululand - Bud's Big Blue

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.

Zululand Blog Post & BB Checklist

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Zanzibar - Bud's Big Blue

1896-98 Zanzibar 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

Stone Town,(old part of Zanzibar Town), on the main island (Zanzibar Island) of the Zanzibar Archipelago (Spice Islands in the Indian Ocean, off the eastern African coast), was the 19th century home to the Zanzibar Sultanate, the spice trade (cloves), ivory trade, and, of a more sinister nature, the center of the Arabic slave trade. Every year, 40,000 slaves from East Africa were packed into Dhows for Zanzibar, where they were stripped, inspected, cleaned, sold, and transported to Persia, Arabia, the Ottoman Empire and Egypt. Some worked the clove and coconut plantations of Zanzibar and Pemba. The conditions were so harsh, a third of the male slaves died every year.

The British became involved for humanitarian reasons ( abolishing the slave trade by agreements with the Sultans (1822 - 1897)), and.naturally, for commerce.

Britain had recognized the sovereignty and the sultanate of Zanzibar in 1886.

But then Germany and the British Empire mutually played the East African lands like it was a monopoly board (Scramble for Africa), and, with the 1890 Heligoland-Zanzibar treaty, the British had clear access to Zanzibar.

Zanzibar became a British protectorate when Ali bin Said ascended to the Sultanate in 1890.

The population was estimated at 60,000 in 1891 (17,000 slaves).

Hamid bin Thuwani was the successor Sultan in 1893, and he established a close relationship with the British - too close in the eyes of many of his subjects.

Stamps (British India-Overprinted) were introduced November 14, 1895.

Overprinted stamps from British East Africa were issued on May 23, 1896.

The Sultan Hamid bin Thuwaini was honored (posthumously) with Zanzibar's own vignette issues of 1896 and 1898.

Sultan Hamid bin Thuwaini died unexpectly (poisoned?) on August 25, 1896, and his nephew (the suspect), the anti-British leaning Khadid bin Barghash, moved into the palace complex to assume the sultanate.

As Khalid had not obtained permission of the British consul to assume the sultanate, as required by the agreement (treaty) of 1886, the British issued an ultimatum for Khalid to leave the palace.

What followed was a bombardment and subsequent fire of the palace complex by the British on August 27, 1896, which lasted all of 40  minutes (shortest recorded war in history), and caused 500 to be killed or wounded (mostly as a result of the fire) among the sultan's forces, and men and women who inhabited the palace.

The British then installed Hamud bin Muhammed Al-Said as nominal head Sultan, with the British retaining the real power.

The vignette stamps of 1899-1901 show him.

Of interest, there was no further rebellion during the remaining years of the British protectorate, lasting until 1963.

n 1963, the protectorate was ended. There then existed a short one month constitutional monarchy, then the Zanzibar Revolution, and then the short lived three month People's Republic of Zanzibar and Pemba. In April, 1964, the Republic joined with mainland Taganyika (United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar). The country was renamed the United Republic of Tanzania, of which Zanzibar remains a semi-autonomous area.

The 2014 Scott Classic Specialized 1840-1940 catalogue has, for Zanzibar 1895-1952, 238 major number descriptions. Of those, 84 are CV <$1-$1+, or 35%. Although a reasonable selection is available to the WW collector without much expense, the truth is, as a former British protectorate, interest is high, and expense is likewise for the earlier and higher denomination stamps.

To say nothing about the attraction of an exotic name and location. Zanzibar- the very name congers intrigue as the former center of the Arab slave trade and clove producer.

Stamps of India were used in Zanzibar from 1875-1895.

Stanley Gibbons lists some 108 catalogue numbers for known "Zanzibar" cancellations on various regular and official India stamps from 1865-1895.

The initial issues (1895-1896) were overprints of British India and British East Africa.

British East Africa took over responsibility of the postal service from India on November 10, 1895.

The Zanzibar stamp designs betray their British roots (De la Rue & Co.), and bear some similarities to those from the Federated Malay States, including the "Rosette" and "Multiple Rosettes" watermarks.

Big Blue '69, on two pages, has 66 stamp spaces. Subtracting for the 24 stamps post 1940-52 in the Scott 1840-1940 catalogue not covered in BB, yields an overall  coverage of 31%. Not too bad for a representative album for a popular British protectorate. Most of the issue spaces stop well short of completeness, but Zanzibar's higher denominations tend to be expensive ($hundreds). 

There are five spaces that require a CV $10-$30+ stamp, but none cross into the "most expensive" (CV $35+) category.

As typical, there is competition for a BB space from multiple watermarked varieties.

For more on the stamps and checklist, click on the link below.

Zanzibar Blog Post & BB Checklist

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Yemen - Bud's Big Blue

1930-31 Yemen 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 Arab Kingdom of Yemen (aka Hashemite Mutawakkilite Kingdom, North Yemen) existed as a state between 1918-1962 in the northern part of what is now called Yemen. It declared its independence from the Ottoman Empire on October 30, 1918.

Prior to WW I, the Vilayet of Yemen and the Vilayet of the Hejaz were under the nominal control of the Ottoman Empire. As mentioned, the Vilayet of Yemen would became the independent Kingdom of Yemen in 1918, while the Vilayet of the Hejaz became part of Saudi Arabia.

The Aden colony and the Hadramaut were under British protection.

The capital was Sanan'a 1918-1948, and Ta'izz 1948-1962.

Essentially, after the Ottoman withdrawal in 1918, there was no formal postal system between 1918-1926.

Stamps for domestic postage were introduced in 1926.

International destinations were usually routed through the Aden British Protectorate.

The Kingdom joined the Universal Postal Union on January 1, 1930, and issued a seventeen stamp definitive issue for foreign and domestic postage.

The Kingdom was admitted into the United Nations on September 30, 1947.

On September 26, 1962, the Yemeni monarchy was abolished, and was succeeded by the Yemen Arab Republic (aka North Yemen, Yemen (Sana'a)).

(Kingdom of Yemen stamps continued to be issued between 1962-1970. They are not recognized and not in the Scott catalogue.)

The Yemen Arab Republic united with the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (aka South Yemen - formally the British Aden Protectorate up to 1967 and independence) on May 22, 1990 to form the Republic of Yemen.

This is a fairly superficial quick history summary. In reality, there were civil wars, revolutions, revolts etc which were and are complicated and involuted. For a more nuanced history, see Stamp World History Yemen post and country diagram.

The 2014 Scott Classic Specialized 1840-1940 catalogue has, for Yemen 1926-1940, 40 major number descriptions. Of those, 31 are CV <$1-$1+, or 78%. Clearly, most of the modest Yemen output during the classical era is inexpensive. However, that does not mean the stamps are common in BB feeder albums - in my experience, they are not. One has to go out and specifically search for these issues on-line, or with dealers. But, yes, one can find them.

However, the first issue of 1926 - three typographic imperforates on laid or wove paper- are rather crude in appearance and expensive (CV $60). Also, here are forgeries  - especially on wove paper.

Big Blue '69, on one-half page (shared with Zululand - yes!, the last page in BB!), has nine spaces for the 1930-31 Yemen issue. Total coverage is 23%.

There are no expensive stamps. In fact, the entire group of spaces have a CV of <$1-$1.

But BB's coverage is borderline at best. The 1930-31 issue does not have spaces for four stamps of CV <$1-$1+, while two spaces have choices: leaving out two more stamps of CV <$1.

And the 1939 Issue (five stamps CV <$1-$1+), and the 1940 Issue (twelve stamps CV <$1-$1+), are given no coverage at all.

For more on the stamps and checklist, click on the link below.

Yemen Blog Post & BB Checklist

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Wurttemberg - Bud's Big Blue

1851-52 Wurttemberg 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 Kingdom of Wurttemberg, located between Baden and Bavaria, and on the Bodensee (Lake Constance) to the south, existed between 1805 (after the Napoleonic Wars)  to 1918 in southern Germany. Prior to the Kingdom, it was the Duchy of Wurttemberg from 1495 to 1805.

Wurttemberg was a member of the German Confederation between 1815 and 1866. The Kingdom became a Federal State of the German Empire in 1870, persisted as such until the dissolution of the Empire in 1918.

The capital was Stuttgart, and the population was 2,100,000 in 1900.

Wurttemberg first issued stamps in 1851, having taken over the duties from the postal administration of Thurn and Taxis. 

The postal authority was relinquished on March 31, 1902. German Empire stamps were then used for regular issues exclusively in the territory.

But Official stamps (Two major branches: "Communal Authorities" and "State Authorities" ) continued to be issued by Wurttemberg until 1923.

One should note that only Bavaria and Wurttemberg continued issuing stamps when all the other German kingdoms became part of the North German Postal Union and of the German Empire in 1869, and ceased their own issues.

During the stamp issuing era, (1851-1923), the reigning kings included William I (1816-1864), Charles I (1864-1891), and William II (1891-1918).

Of note, no monarchs of Wurttemberg appeared on stamps- save one (William II on 1916 ten stamp Official issue) -  as they did with the German states of Bavaria, Hanover, Prussia, and Saxony.

William II abdicated on November 30, 1918 following WW I. The kingdom (monarchy) was replaced by the Free Peoples State of Wurttemberg (Democratic Republic). Wurttemberg was re-established as a member state of the Weimar Republic in 1922.

After WW II, the territory was occupied by the Americans (Wurttemberg-Baden) and the French (Wurttemberg-Hohenzollern). These two states were merged with Baden in 1952 to form the present day German State Baden-Wurttemberg.

The 2014 Scott Classic Specialized 1840-1940 catalogue has, for Wurttemberg 1851-1923, 251 major number descriptions. Of those (67 regular and 184 Official), 166 are CV <$1-$1+ (66%).  The Officials, especially, are quite inexpensive. But the 19th century regular issues ( 11 only CV <$1-$1+ (16%)) tend to be much more expensive.

The coverage in the Scott catalogue is divided into three main categories: Regular; Official-Communal; Official-State.

Big Blue '69, on five pages, has 180 spaces for the stamps of Wurttemberg.

Coverage is a healthy 72%.

Seven spaces for the earlier regular issues require an expensive stamp (Threshold: $10+). In fact, four of those spaces require a CV $52+-$160 stamp (In the "Most Expensive $35+" category).

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

Wurttemberg Blog Post & BB Checklist

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