Thailand (Siam) - Bud's Big Blue

1883 Thailand 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

Note: The Big Blue 1969 edition album lists "Siam" as the country name, but now the Scott catalogue lists the country as "Thailand".

Thailand is the only Southeast Asian nation that was never colonized, and served as a buffer state between French Indochina and the British Empire.  And Thailand has always had a king as head of state since Bangkok was established as the capital of the Chakri Dynasty under Rama I in 1782. Granted, the king sometimes had authority, sometimes not, depending which dictator or government was in power at the moment. A major change occurred in 1932 when the king lost his absolute monarchy, and there has been some nineteen constitutions/charters formed since then through various military dictatorships and democracies.

Then known as Siam, the country joined the UPU on July 1, 1885. (Siam was the official name until 1939, and again between 1945-49.)

Actually, Thailand's postal service was launched earlier on August 4, 1883, with the five definitive stamps of King Chulalongkorn in profile.

In 1909, Thailand lost their four southern provinces, which were mostly ethnic-Malay, to Malaysia.

During WW II, Thailand and Japan had a military alliance, although clearly Japan dictated the terms.

The 2014 Scott Classic Specialized 1840-1940 catalogue has, for Thailand (Siam) 1883-1940, 286 major descriptive numbers. Of those, 64 are CV <$1-$1+, or 22%. Thailand is somewhat more expensive than most countries for the WW classical era collector.

I should mention again that "Siam" was the name on stamps until 1939 for the stamps of Thailand- essentially all of the classical era period (and again between 1945-49). But Thailand is the common and preferred country name now, so I will use it here.

Big Blue, on five pages, has 118 spaces for the stamps of Thailand. Coverage is 41%.

The '69 BB still labels the country "Siam", and it is placed between Somaliland Protectorate and Sierrra Leone.

There are eleven stamp spaces requiring stamps @ CV $10-$20+. There are no "Most Expensive " stamps ($35+).

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

Thailand Blog Post & BB Checklist

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Tasmania - Bud's Big Blue

1855-68 Tasmania 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

Tasmania, an island just off south-eastern Australia, was one of the six British colonies that merged to form the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901.

The capital was Hobart, and the population was 172,000 in 1901.

But Tasmania, as the other Australian colonies, has a prior rich philatelic history, with stamp issues from 1853-1912.

Van Diemen's Land, the second British colony after 1788 New South Wales, was established in 1803.

In 1812, British convicts were sent to the island as a "prison without walls".

The first settlements include Hobart Town, Launceston, and George 

The engraved Chalon Heads (portrait by Edward Chalon 1838) were issued in 1855, and used for the next 25 years. They are the "meat and potatoes" of Tasmania specialty stamp collecting: I count some 132 major/minor varieties in the Scott catalogue. They are also generally expensive for the WW collector, and, except for a representative collection, may need to be left alone.

Van Diemen's Land was changed to Tasmania in 1856, which appears on the Chalon Heads in 1858.

The 2014 Scott Classic 1840-1940 catalogue has, for Tasmania 1853-1912, 123 major number descriptions. There are also many minor numbers because of perforation changes and color shade variations. For the major number count, I did not include the 35 "AR" postal fiscal stamps stamps in the catalogue.

Of the major number count, only 5 (4%) can be found @ CV $1+. Raising the bar to CV $10, yields 35 stamps, or 28%. Clearly, the early classical era Tasmania issues are somewhat expensive for the WW collector who wishes to obtain a representative collection. The very early 1853-1868 issues (50 major numbers) are expensive ( $27-$60+) to very expensive ($ Hundreds- $ Thousands). But those early listings are specialty territory anyway.

Be aware that some eleven different watermarks were used, and there can be many different perforation varieties. All in all, a pretty complicated and expensive country. 

Big Blue '69, on one page, located between Tannu Tuva and Thrace, has 27 spaces.

Coverage is 22%.

The 40s editions offer two less spaces for the 1870-96 issue, and three less spaces for the 1892-99 issue, compared to the '69 and later editions.

There are eight "expensive" (CV $10+-$20+) stamp spaces, and one "most expensive" (CV $35) stamp space. See the specific listing under the "comments" section after the checklist.

The "1892-1911" BB section have up to three issue choices for one space.

The "1865-68" one penny (illustrated) space has ten choices!

The "1870-96" one penny (illustrated) space has six choices.

For more on the stamps themselves, see the link below.

Tasmania Blog Post & BB Checklist

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Tannu -Tuva - Bud's Big Blue

1927 Tannu-Tuva Issue 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

Exotic doesn't describe the stamps of Tannu Tuva. The 1926-1936 issues are found multi-colored, with scenes such as a Tuvan impaling a bear, all on diamond, triangle, and rectangle shapes.

What schoolboy would not want these stamps?

The Bolshevik supported Tuvan People's Republic, located in southern Siberia in the Tannu-ola Mountains, forests, and steppes, on the northwestern border of Mongolia, existed between 1921-1944, when it was formally annexed into the Soviet Union. It's 1926 affirmation of independence was recognized solely by the Soviet Union and the Mongolian People's Republic.

The issues of Tannu-Tuva were considered of dubious legitimacy by some, but there are enough (mostly philatelic) covers from Tannu-Tuva to Moscow to establish that the stamps were postally used in the mail, and all the major catalogues now list the stamps.

The reality, of course, is that almost all of the stamps were produced in Moscow, and sold directly through the philatelic trade to collectors for hard currency.

The 2014 Scott Classic Specialized 1840-1940 catalogue has, for Tannu Tuva 1926-1943, 141 major descriptive numbers that are in the regular or air post categories. There are, in addition, some 24 bolded minor numbers that are varieties (imperforate, different perforation).

Of the major numbers, 55 are CV <$1-$1+, or 39%. The WW collector should want to have a nice representative selection from this interesting part of the world. For a few dollars more, there is even more selection available.

Russian or Soviet stamps were used in Tuva prior to 1926, and after 1944.

Most Tuvan stamps, except for the 1942 Scott 117-123 & overprints, were printed by the State Security Printers in Moscow.

Big Blue '69, on one page located between Syria and Tasmania, has 20 spaces for the 1927 (actually 1926) and 1932 issues. All very colorful designs!

Coverage is 14%.

The 40s BB editions have the same coverage.

For some reason, BB does not have any spaces for the 1934, 1935, 1936 regular issues, and the 1934 & 1936 air post issues. These inexpensive releases have 52 stamps @ CV $1-$2+. I wonder if the question of legitimacy (at the time) had to do with the fact that there are no spaces for these issues? 

BB does have spaces, as mentioned, for the 1932 surcharged issue. The inclusion yields six stamps @ CV $10 or $10

Tannu-Tuva Blog Post & BB Checklist

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Tanganyika - Bud's Big Blue

1922-1931 Tanganyika 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

Tanganyika consisted of the largest section of the former German East Africa, and was occupied initially in 1916, then administered by the British from 1922-1946 as a League of Nations Mandate, and subsequently as a United Nations Trust Territory until 1961.

In 1935, stamps of the mandate were replaced by those of a combined postal administration known as Kenya, Uganda, and Tanganyika ( Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania section of the Scott catalogue).

Tanganyika became independent in 1961, but kept an affiliation within the British Commonwealth.

With the addition of Zanzibar (which remains semi-autonomous), Tanzania was formed in 1964.

The 2014 Scott Classic Specialized 1840-1940 catalogue has, for Tanganyika 1921-1931, 44 major descriptive numbers. Of those, 13 are CV <$1-$1+, or 29%.

Of interest, Scott has the 1921 and 1922 "George V" issues from the overprinted "G.E.A." stamps from "East Africa and Uganda  Protectorates" (nine stamps-Wmk 4!) in the catalogue under "Tanganyika".  And to confuse thinks a bit further, the original 1921 "George V" "East Africa and Uganda Protectorates" issue (Wmk 4) is actually listed in Scott under "Kenya, Uganda, & Tanzania".

However, the earlier 1917 "G.E.A." overprinted stamps of  "East Africa and Uganda Protectorates" (seventeen stamps-Wmk 3!)  are listed as British occupation stamps under "German East Africa" in the Scott catalogue. !

To clarify and review, the Wmk 3 "George V" issues are found in the "East Africa and Uganda Protectorates" section. If overprinted "G.E,A.", these Wmk 3 "George V' issues are found in the "German East Africa" section. The Wmk 4 "George V" issues are found in the "Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania" section, while the Wmk 4 "George V' issues that are overprinted "G.E.A" are in the "Tanganyika" section. Got that? 

Big Blue '69, on one-half page (with the end of Transvaal), has 20 spaces for the stamps of Tanganyika. 

Coverage is 45%.

No spaces are included for the 1921-22 "G.E.A." overprinted stamps of East Africa and Uganda Protectorates.

No spaces are include for the larger format Shilling values stamps.

What is included are the lower denomination "Giraffe" and "George V" design stamps.

There are no expensive stamps required ( $10+) to fill the spaces.

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

Tanganyika Blog Post & BB Checklist

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Tahiti - Bud's Big Blue

1903 Tahiti 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 French Polynesian island of Tahiti, 28 miles (45 km) across, with volcanic Mont Orohena rising 7,370 ft (1,332 m) above the green lush vegetation and the black sand beaches, is located in the central Southern Pacific Ocean within the Society Islands archipelago. Far from the hustle and bustle of ordinary base human civilization, 2,700 miles from Hawaii, 4,900 miles from Chile, 3,500 miles from Australia, Tahiti had evoked for many during the 19th century the romantic noble primitive myth set within an island paradise.

Tahiti has been under French influence since 1842, and when the Kingdom of Tahiti, through Pomare V, ceded Tahiti to France in 1880, the island and the island dependencies became a French colony.

Stamps were introduced for Tahiti in 1882 by surcharging stamps of the French Colonies.

In 1903, French Oceania (French Polynesia) was formed  from several groups of South Pacific Polynesian islands. The islands included the Marquesas, the Tuamotu Archipelago and Gambier, and the Austral and Bass groupings. The most important group was the Society islands; and above all Tahiti.

In 1946, French Polynesia and Tahiti became an overseas territory, and French citizenship was granted to all inhabitants.

The 2014 Scott Classic Specialized 1840-1940 catalogue has, for Tahiti 1882-1915, 65 major descriptive numbers. Of those, three are CV $10+, or 5%. The rest range from $40+-$40,000+. Clearly, Tahiti's stamps are expensive, and the general WW collector will need to be content with a few representative specimens. In addition, Scott has a note about surcharges and overprint counterfeits existing for all the Tahitian stamps. Caveat Emptor.

The very early 1882-84 issues (23 bolded numbers) consist of stamps of the French Colonies crudely surcharged in black. They are CV $ hundreds- $ thousands.

Other categories include the 1915 semipostals (2 stamps), and the 1893 postage due (59 bolded numbers). The postage dues must overall be the most expensive postage dues in the philatelic world as they are CV $ hundreds- $ thousands. !

Big Blue '69 has three spaces on one line for the stamps of Tahiti. The country coverage is located after "Trinidad and Tobago", and on the same page as "Turks Islands" and the beginning of "Turks and Caicos Islands".

The 40s editions have the same three space coverage. It is located just before "Tripolitania".

Big Blue provides spaces for the 1903 issue, which are stamps of French Polynesia surcharged in black or carmine. They are also the least expensive for Tahiti, but still are CV $10+.

For more on the stamp issues themselves, click on the link below.

Tahiti Blog Post & BB Checklist

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Syria - Bud's Big Blue

1919-1921 Syria 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

Syria, as it is known in modern times, is bordered by Lebanon, the Mediterranean Sea, Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, and Israel.

But the modern day Syrian lands had been part of a much larger Ottoman Syria within the Levant since 1516, and Damascus became the holy entryway for thousands of pilgrims on the hajj to Mecca.

During WW I, the Ottoman Empire  had sided with the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Germany, and was consequently occupied by both British and French troops.

A secret agreement was in place regarding how to divide the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire outside the Arabian peninsula ( The 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement). The British were allowed control of the lands from the Mediterranean Sea to the River Jordan, Jordan, southern Iraq, and the ports of Haifa and Acre. An "international administration" was to govern Palestine (We all know how that worked- or, more properly, didn't work out. )

France assumed control of Syria and Lebanon, south-eastern Turkey, and northern Iraq.

Stamps were issued under French Occupation on November 21, 1919 overprinted T.E.O. "Territoires Ennemis Occupes".

More specifically, the French controlled the sanjaks of Lebanon, Alaouites (later Latakia), and Alexandretta (later Hatay), 

The vilayets of Damascus and Aleppo were allowed to have an Arabian Kingdom government. Stamp issues of the Arabian government were released between November, 1918, and January, 1920. 

But King Faisal I was deposed by French troops from Beirut in July, 1920. (Faisal was subsequently offered the crown of Iraq in 1921 under the Iraq British Mandate. He served as King of Iraq until 1933.)

The Syrian territory was then occupied by the French military. French surcharged stamps now were overprinted O.M.F. "Occupation Militaire Francaise".  

Subsequently, the territory was mandated to France by the League of Nations in July, 1922.

Beginning in 1923, the French Mandate era initially had French stamps overprinted "Syrie - Grand Liban", then just "Syrie".

In 1934, an Autonomous Syrian Republic was established. Stamps were issued as part of the proclamation of the Republic on August 2, 1934.  France and Syria negotiated a "treaty of independence" in September, 1936.  But the French Legislature never ratified it. 

France ceded the province of Alexandretta, which had been part of Syria, to Turkey in 1937. (In 1939, the newly named "Hatay" became a Turkish province.) Syria was not pleased.

Syria was under the hegemony of Vichy France until the British and the Free French occupied the country in July, 1941.

Full emancipation was not realized until April, 1946 when French troops left Syria.

The 2014 Scott Classic Specialized 1840-1940 catalogue has, for Syria 1919-1943, 534 major descriptive numbers. Of those, 239 are CV <$1-$1+, or 45 %. Categories for Syria include regular issues, semi-postal, air post, postage due, and issues of the Arabian government.

Most of the stamps for the classical era of Syria are French derived, as France occupied the territory in 1919, and then was given a mandate in 1922. Partial Syrian autonomy began in 1934, but full independence did not occur until 1946.

Many of the earlier issues are overprinted/surcharged French stamps. Add the Arabian Government issues of 1919-20, and the country offers an intriguing mix of early stamps. And the later pictorial issues are well designed and attractive.

Big Blue '69, on six pages, has 141 spaces for the stamps of Syria, or 27% of the total issue output for this era. Included are some stamp spaces from the Arabian Government.

The good news is there are only two stamps spaces requiring expensive stamps: but one of them (the 1923 Scott 106c 25c on 10c green "error surcharge") is CV $240!!!, Why the editors included this minor number expensive error stamp is puzzling, to say the least. Note: Bud has a copy of this error stamp, and it is illustrated in his Syria collection below.

The not so good news is many inexpensive (CV <$1-$1+) early French surcharged stamps were not included in BB. I count 69 inexpensive regular issue and postage due stamps of the 1919-25 period that have no space.

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

Syria Blog Post & BB Checklist

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