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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