Big Blue 1840-1940

A is for Aden and Z is for Zanzabar

Sunday, January 25, 2026

Switzerland - Bud's Big Blue

1854-1863 Switzerland 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

Switzerland (Helvetia) is at the European junction of Germanic and Romance language and culture, and hence has four linguistic/cultural regions: German, French, Italian and Romansh. Although the majority of the population is German language speaking, the self identity of the Swiss is molded more through the shared alpine geography, the shared historical background, and the long history of direct democracy and federalism. Traditionally, the Swiss have maintained their neutrality as a means to keep their (relatively) small nation from being overwhelmed by their more populous and bellicose neighbors. That, and the self defense protection afforded by the alpine ruggedness and isolation.

By Napoleon's time (1803), Switzerland was a Confederation of 19 cantons, Each canton had a good deal of autonomy within the loose confederation framework. In 1815, the Congress of Vienna affirmed Swiss independence and Swiss neutrality.

From 1843-51, the cantons of Zurich, Geneva, and Basil produced their own stamp issues. These are some of the most valuable stamps ever produced (CV $1,600-$40,000).

A new constitution was formed for the Federal State in 1848, modeled on the U.S.A. example. The constitution provided for a central Federal authority, while leaving the cantons to self-rule on local matters.

Stamps for the Federal Administration were introduced in 1850, as well as the new Swiss franc.

The initial stamps produced between 1850-1852 had a central vignette of the Swiss "Coat of Arms"

This was followed by the "Sitting Helvetia" type from 1854-1864.

Bern was selected as the "federal city" (Bundesstadt), and the Swiss population grew to 4,200,00 by 1941.

The International Committee of the Red Cross was formed in Geneva in 1863.

The League of Nations was based in Geneva in 1920.

Because of Switzerland's firm neutrality stance (and plain good luck!), the country was not invaded in either WW I or WW II.

In 2002, Switzerland became a full member of the United Nations.

The 2014 Scott Classic Specialized 1840-1940 catalogue has, for 1843-1942 Switzerland, 637 major descriptive numbers. The categories include the ultra-expensive Cantonal Administration stamps (1843-1850), regular, semi-postals, air post, postage due, official, official for the War Board of Trade, official for the League of Nations, official for the International Labor Bureau, and Franchise stamps. Of those (all the categories), 323 are CV <$1-$1+, or 51%.

Switzerland has a stellar reputation (and expense!) for the 1843-1850 Canton issues, the early 1850-1852 Federal Administration issues, and some of the non-perforated and perforated 19th century "Helvetia" issues. This is the playground of the philatelic rich and famous.

The 20th century regular issues, though, are generally at modest expense, as many were collected and saved. The semi-postals, which are lovely, are inexpensive to moderately expensive. Other categories ( air post, postage due, official) are a mixed bag: some inexpensive, some fairly expensive.

Big Blue '69, on eleven pages, has 321 spaces for regular, semi-postal, postage due, franchise, and air post stamps. No official stamp spaces were included. Coverage is 50%.

Of the 109 1913-1940 semi-postals in the Scott 1840-1940 catalogue, BB has spaces for all of them after 1918, save for the souvenir sheets. Nice! Of interest, none of the semi-postals in BB reach the CV $10 mark, although some are close.

The "Most Expensive" (CV > $35) eight stamps needed to fill BB spaces include ....

1858-62 Scott 35 2r gray ($275) !

1855-57 Scott 25 5r dark brown ($40)

1862-64 Scott 46 30c vermilion ($47.50)

1862-64 Scott 47 40c green ($65)

1882-89 Scott 75 15c yellow ($40)

1882 Scott 84 40c gray ($50)

1938 Scott 246 10fr green/greenish ($35)

1929 Scott C14 dull green, yellow green, & blue ($57.50)

There are an additional seventeen stamps that are "expensive" (CV $10+-$30+).

For more on Switzerland and the stamps themselves, click on the links below.

Switzerland Blog Post & BB Checklist

Switzerland Semi-Postals

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Supplements

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Note: For discussion of the overprinted League of Nations issues on Switzerland stamps, see this link.

Selected pages from the League of Nations Specialized Album Follow....

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Wednesday, January 21, 2026

Swaziland - Bud's Big Blue

1933 Swaziland in Bud's Big Blue

Bud's Big Blue

Bud's Observations

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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Supplements

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Saturday, January 17, 2026

Surinam - Bud's Big Blue

1873-1890 Surinam in Bud's Big Blue

Bud's Big Blue

Bud's Observations

Jim's Observations

In 1667, with the Treaty of Breda, the Dutch gave away all rights to New Amsterdam to the British; and, in exchange, they were assured of the ability to colonize Suriname. Clearly, of all the bad trades among nations, this has to be, by any objective measurement, the worst, as any Dutch citizen will ruefully admit as they arrive at the most expensive real estate on earth- Manhattan.

Suriname, derived from the indigenous Arawak name, or Surinam, what the original British settlers called the area, was taken over by the Dutch, then, in 1667, and became part of a group of Dutch settlements or colonies known collectively as Dutch Guiana. In later years, Dutch Guiana referred to the remaining Dutch colony of Surinam, as the British merged the former Dutch settlements of Berbice, Essequibo, and Demerara into British Guiana.in 1831.

Surinam was a Dutch plantation colony, and slaves were imported by the Dutch West India Company from West Africa to work the sugar cane, cotton, indigo, and (later) coffee crops.

Slavery was abolished by the Netherlands in 1863, but slaves were still required to work on the plantations until 1873.

Stamps were introduced in 1873, showing the portrait of King William III.

With freedom, the slaves left the plantations, and largely moved to Paramaribo, the capital and the largest city.

Indentured contract workers for the plantations were brought in from British India, Dutch East Indies, and to a lesser extent, from China.

The ethnic legacy is that today Suriname is one of the most diverse nations in the world, with Creole (35%), East Indian (34%), Javanese (15%), Maroons (9%), Amerindian (2%), Chinese (2%) and White (1%) populations.

n 1954, Suriname became part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, along with the Netherlands Antilles (Curacao) and the Netherlands.

The 2014 Scott Classic Specialized 1840-1940 catalogue has, for Surinam 1873-1938, 243 major number descriptions. Of those, 95 are CV <$1-$1+, or 39%. Surinam is moderately expensive for the WW collector, but there are enough stamps to form a representative collection, even on a budget.

Big Blue '69, on five pages, has 155 spaces for the stamps of Surinam. Included is a generous selection of the fine semi-postal issues. Overall coverage is 64%.

The 40s editions have spaces rearranged somewhat differently. No formal evaluation was done, but it appears the '69 offers a bit better coverage, with two more spaces for the 1913-31 issue, and two more spaces for the 1936-41 issue.

The '69 BB has only eight spaces that require expensive stamps (CV $10-$20+). There are no "Most Expensive" (CV $35+) stamps required. Nice! But here are a number of spaces that will need to be filled with ~$5 CV stamps.

For more on the history and the stamps themselves, click on the links below.

Surinam (Dutch Guiana) 1873 Part A

Surinam (Dutch Guiana) 1923 Part B

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