Big Blue 1840-1940: February 2020

Zebra, Lemur, and Traveler's Tree (Ravenela)

Scott #73

Bud's Big Blue
Bud's Observations

When a country’s stamp bore me, I usually default to interesting pics of post offices or mail carriers to illustrate Bud’s Big Blue observations. Madagascar has both handsome stamps and impressive colonial post offices, so I’ll use one of each for this post.

Although Madagascar’s 1930-44 series has the more artful designs, featuring, as they do, Madagascar’s diverse peoples of East Asian descent and their Zebus (see page 3), I find the earlier (1903) series with a zebu, traveler’s tree, and lemur more intriguing. Perhaps it’s because my uncle had a nasty Brahman bull when I was a kid, the hump shouldered American Brahman breed being a relative of the zebu. Moreover, anthropologists say the lemur is a distant cousin of all human beings. So, for me, it’s a picture for my family album. A lemur can be found on no other classical era stamps and, sadly, is currently endangered.

Towering over the zebu and lemur is a traveler’s tree (ravenala), so called because its gigantic paddle-like leaves usually grow in an east-west line, a handy compass for those without one. The ravenala also stores rain water at the base of its leaves. It’s potable, perhaps, but blackish and foul smelling. The lemur climbs what appears to be a gravestone reminiscent of Madagascar’s famous pirate cemetery. No visible cross bones, though, nor sculls.

Ben Damman provided the illustration. His signature (right bottom) is barely discernable. Not one of his better efforts, this stamp was probably engraved in Paris as was his several other French colonial stamp designs. Damman’s talent shows to better advantage in his illustrations for Edgar Allen Poe’s books.

Damman’s signature, the clearest I could find.

The post office I chose, another French colonial gem, is located in Antsirabe, a city with many pulled rikshaws and about a $40 taxi ride south from Antananarivo, Madagascar’s capitol. It got tarted up after Madagascar’s liberation (1960), and lost its verandas.

Pre-liberation, about 1910

Post-liberation, about 2010

Scott #600, 1979

Census: 144 in BB spaces, one tip in, 25 on the supplement page Ferris wheel plus eight others waiting to ride. (Madagascar has many hand-powered Ferris wheels, but none showing on stamps.)

Jim's Observations
Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world, and is located off the coast of southeastern Africa. More importantly, Madagascar detached from India 88 million years ago, and consequently 90% of the wildlife is found nowhere else. 615 orchid species, 165 palm species, and 6 of the iconic baobob tree species are endemic to Madagascar. And lemurs, rather than monkeys, are found there.

The Malagasy people who now inhabit Madagascar arrived from South Borneo by outrigger canoes up through the sixth century.

But the French, in the scramble for Africa, beat out the British and established a protectorate in 1885 in a rather strong-armed way (Franco-Hova Wars). And, finding continued Native resistance, they exiled Queen Ranavalona III to Reunion island, then Algeria, and dissolved the Merina monarchy.

Madagasgar Blog Post & BB Checklist

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Supplements
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Comments appreciated!

General Post Office, Macao

Bud's Big Blue
Bud's Observations

I’m attracted to colonial post office architecture. Macao has preserved a gem! Many of BB’s Macao’s stamps passed through this grand old GPO. Built in 1929, it still functions as the city’s main post office.

Neighboring Hong Kong knocked down their GPO in 1976, replacing Edwardian gingerbread with modernist brutalism. Now the replacement faces demolition too, its harborfront real estate being too valuable for mere postal transactions (I suppose).

Macanese affection for their GPO led to a souvenir sheet featuring it -- issued in 2019 for the 135^th anniversary Macao’s postal service. The sheet depicts a side view while the postcard focuses on the tower and corner entrance.

Issued in 2019 for the 135^th anniversary Macao’s postal service.

Harbors, channels, and rivers played important roles in Macao’s postal history; much of the international mail was transported by steamer (paquebot) to Hong Kong or up the river to Canton. As a consequence, Macao cancels often appear on Hong Kong stamps. The reverse is true, too, although less frequently. Sometimes a Chinese (Canton) cancel can be found on a Macao stamp.

Macao (Macau) cancel on Hong Kong, Paquebot cancel,

Canton cancel on Macao

I found BB’s Macao spaces difficult and often expensive to fill, likely because the Macanese, and the Chinese in general, have become avid stamp collectors. For 1884-5 issues, mint stamps are more readily available than are interesting used examples. The number of world-wide stamp collectors in the 1880s exceeded the stamp-using population of Macao.

Bisects, as is common in Portuguese colony collections, are plentiful. But the supplement pages (below) show only one such.

Census: 148 in BB spaces, 1 tip-in, 71 on supplement pages

Jim's Observations
Macao (Macau) , a small 6 square mile Portuguese Overseas Territory during the classical period, is located at the mouth of the Canton River off the coast of China, and close to Hong Kong. Today, along with Hong Kong, it is a special administrative district of the People's Republic of China.

(Note: Macao is the spelling used in the Scott catalogue, but Macau seems more prevalent.)

Macao today is known for tourism, and especially gambling casinos. Both Cantonese and Portuguese are official languages.

But back to history. The Portuguese had a permanent settlement by 1557. Portuguese trade and commerce was then restricted to the port of Macau in 1631 by the Chinese. In 1887, an agreement was reached with China that allowed a permanent occupation and government by Portugal in Macau.

During WW II, Macau was not formally occupied by the Japanese, but was required to have Japanese "advisors", none the less.

Portugal finally relinquished all sovereignty in 1999 to China.

Macao Blog Post & BB Checklist

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