Category: History

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Wednesday/ postcard from Cape Town ✒️

Here’s another postcard that the hopeless romantic (me) had bought on Ebay for a few dollars, and that landed in my mailbox. 
(The seller is actually from Vancouver, Washington State).

The postcard features Victoria Road and the mountain range called The Twelve Apostles from outside Cape Town, South Africa, from the late 1920s. At the time, the typical method for printing colored postcards was lithography, specifically the photo-lithography process. This involved creating multiple printing plates, with one plate for each color, and running the paper through the press multiple times to build up the final image.
Victoria Road was first constructed in the late 1800s by Thomas Bain. The original purpose was to connect the city of Cape Town to the growing suburb of Camps Bay, following the coastline. Later, the road was extended to Hout Bay. -Google AI Overview.
The Twelve Apostles are part of the Table Mountain complex overlooking Camps Bay in Cape Town, South Africa. The mountain range stretches 6 km almost to Hout Bay. They actually consist of eighteen peaks. From north to south they are named Kloof, Fountain, Porcupine, Jubilee, Barrier, Valken, Kasteel, Postern, Wood, Spring, Slangolie, Corridor, Separation, Victoria, Grove, Llandudno Peak, Llandudno Corridor, and Hout Bay Corner. The average height above sea level is 2,460 ft (750 m), compared to 3,478 ft (1,060 m) for Table Mountain. – Wikipedia
The postcard was written on 28 Nov. 1929 and has a Cape Town postmark of 29 Nov. 1929. A penny and a half took it all the way to Oberburg near Bern, Switzerland. This would be by ship. Airmail was available but was almost ten times more expensive.
The stamps are from South Africa’s Second Definitive Series that were issued in 1926.
The sender’s address is from the suburb of Tamboerskloof on the slopes of Table Mountain in the city (Cape Town).

Here is a translation of the German:
Cape Town
November 28, 1929
Dear Family!
Very soon it will be the end of the year again.
Contrary to what you might think, I do not only ever remember you at this time of year. Very often, I find myself talking about you here in a faraway country, especially when we talk about our old school days.
Furthermore, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year with only the best of health.
Your ever-grateful former student,
John Blaser.

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Friday/ stock transfer tax stamps 💸

Happy Black Friday.
The stock markets in the USA were open for a short session today.

The mailman delivered a large set of stock transfer tax stamps that I had bought from a seller in Luxembourg.
I stumbled upon the stamps on Ebay and could not resist.
Below is a sample. I will post more of them when I have sorted and arranged them on pages.

Here’s what I have found out so far:
Tobey & Kirk was a prominent stockbroker firm located at 52 Wall Street, in New York’s financial district.
Pantepec Oil Company was an oil company founded by William F. Buckley Sr. in 1913, with operations primarily in Mexico and Venezuela.
This transaction show the sale of 200 Pantepec Oil shares for $8.125  for a total amount of $1,625.
The stock transfer tax stamps on the paper slip were first issued in 1936.
If I read the perfin (pin hole) cancellation on the stamps correctly, they indicate a transaction date of 1.13.37 (Jan. 13, 1937).
In 1937, the United States had a federal stock transfer tax in effect, which had been significantly increased in 1932 as part of the government’s response to the Great Depression.
The red stamps (2x 4c) are for federal stock transfer taxes. I suspect there were more federal stock transfer tax stamps on the slip that are now missing. (The federal transfer tax was typically roughly equal to the New York State transfer tax at the time. )
The green stamps (2 x $3.00) are the NY State stock transfer tax stamps.
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Monday/ Cambodia 🇰🇭

Well he was Thailand based
She was an Air Force wife
He used to fly weekends
It was the easy life
But then it turned around
And he began to change
She didn’t wonder then
She didn’t think it strange
But then he got a call
He had to leave that night
He couldn’t say too much
But it would be alright
He didn’t need to pack
They’d meet the next night
He had a job to do
Flying to Cambodia
– Lyrics from the single ‘Cambodia’ by British singer Kim Wilde, released Nov. 2, 1981

The song “Cambodia” by Kim Wilde is about a woman whose pilot husband is sent on a mission to Cambodia and never returns, leaving her in a state of longing and unanswered questions. Written by her father, Marty Wilde, and her brother, Ricky Wilde, the song is a tragic love story about loss, separation, and the enduring pain of waiting for someone who is gone. The lyrics depict the woman’s emotional journey from hope to the realization that her partner is never coming back. [Google AI Overview]

Cambodia is on the itinerary for my upcoming Princess cruise out of Singapore.

We will stop at the port by the city of Sihanoukville for only one night and one day, though.
I signed up for the excursion to Ream National Park with its mangrove forests, wildlife and pure stretches of white beach.

C A M B O D I A
Capital: Phnom Penh
Currency: Cambodian riel
Official language: Khmer
Population: 17.6 million
Government: Unitary state, Parliamentary system, Constitutional monarchy, One-party state, Elective monarchy
King: Norodom Sihamoni

Cambodia—officially the Kingdom of Cambodia— is somewhat larger than the U.S. state of Missouri. It is bordered to the west and northwest by Thailand, to the northeast by Laos, to the east and southeast by Vietnam, and to the southwest by the Gulf of Thailand. The Khmer language is one of the major tongues of the Mon-Khmer subfamily of the Austroasiatic language family and is spoken by nearly all people in Cambodia, including the Cham-Malay.

The people of Cambodia suffered under the Khmer Rouge, the radical communist movement that ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 after winning power through a guerrilla war. The Khmer Rouge government under Pol Pot was responsible for the Cambodian genocide (1976-78), during which up to three million people were murdered.

Tourist-wise (‘Quick Facts’ from Google Maps):
Cambodia has a landscape that spans low-lying plains, the Mekong Delta, mountains and Gulf of Thailand coastline. Phnom Penh, its capital, is home to the art deco Central Market, glittering Royal Palace and the National Museum’s historical and archaeological exhibits. In the country’s northwest are the ruins of Angkor Wat, a massive stone temple complex built during the Khmer Empire.

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Wednesday/ the last penny minted 🪙

The American penny died on Wednesday in Philadelphia. It was 232.
The cause was irrelevance and expensiveness, the Treasury Department said.

Nothing could be bought any more with a penny, not even penny candy. Moreover, the cost to mint the penny had risen to more than 3 cents, a financial absurdity that doomed the coin.

The final pennies were minted on Wednesday afternoon in Philadelphia. Top Treasury officials were on hand for its final journey. No last words were recorded.

– Victor Mather writing for the New York Times

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Tuesday/ Veterans Day 🇺🇸

Happy Veterans Day to all veterans of the United States Armed Forces.

Sunset tonight (now at 4.37 pm), from my vantage point on the Melrose Avenue overlook near Interstate 5. The Stars and Stripes (the American flag) flies from the Space Needles’s flagpole.
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Sunday/ Gracie Mansion beckons 🏡

Reporter Eliza Shapiro writes for the New York Times:
Zohran Mamdani, the mayor-elect of New York City, recently spent a weekday morning blanketing the floor of his $2,300-a-month apartment with towels. The sink was leaking, and the super had been summoned.

That wasn’t the only frustration.

“My wife and I have just talked about the fact that a one-bedroom is a little too small for us now,” he said recently on “The New Yorker Radio Hour,” after detailing the plumbing troubles.

Assuming Mr. Mamdani decides to move into Gracie Mansion, New York City’s official mayoral residence, he is unlikely to be dealing personally with such workaday problems much longer. Nor will his new digs feel quite so snug.

It is hard to overstate the difference between Mr. Mamdani’s current home, a modest rent-stabilized apartment in Astoria, Queens, and Gracie Mansion, a 226-year-old, 11,000-square-foot home on the Upper East Side, with gleaming mirrors reflecting the light of chandeliers, faux mahogany doors, a vast lawn with apple and fig trees and a vegetable garden occasionally plagued by rabbits.

‘Gracie Mansion, on the other hand, was once described by a New York Times reporter as a “pale lemon cake of a house.” It sits at the top of Carl Schurz Park, abutting the F.D.R. Drive, and offers sweeping views of the East River from its summertime veranda.’ – from Eliza Shapiro’s report for the NYT
_________________________________________________________________________
The federal-style mansion was built in 1799 and consists of the original two-story house and an annex built in 1966.
The original house is a New York City designated landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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Monday/ shades of King George V 👑

I have long been unhappy with my pre-printed Leuchtturm stamp album pages for the first definitive issue of stamps for the Union of South Africa*.

The old pages are in bad shape, with bare-bones headers, and my South African Color Catalogue lists several more shades of the King George V issues, as well as a few with inverted watermarks.

The new page that I created is a difficult assembly and not yet complete, though. The black-and-white images are placeholders.
Will I ever get my grubby hands on one each of the two £1 stamps at the very high end of the set?
I doubt it. The catalog values for perfect specimens of these are US$800 and US$ 1,000 respectively.

*The Union of South Africa was the historical predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on May 31,  1910 with the unification of the Cape Colony, Natal, Transvaal, and Orange River Colony.

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Wednesday/ wholesale destruction 💀

Headlines and picture from the New York Times.

Jess Bidgood writes for the New York Times, referring to the destruction of the East Wing of the White House:
It wasn’t so long ago that Trump was promising his plan to build a 90,000-square-foot ballroom on the grounds “won’t interfere with the current building.” In fact, my colleague Luke Broadwater reported today that the entire wing, which is historically the domain of the first lady, will be razed in the project.
Images of the demolition, which began on Monday as a precursor to the construction of a $200 million ballroom, have rocketed around the globe, swiftly becoming political fodder and a perfect Rorschach test for a deeply polarizing presidency.

Jess Bidgood writing for the New York Times: Trump, ever the developer, has certainly spent a lot of time building things at the White House. He paved over the lawn in the Rose Garden to create a patio. He has added gold filigree to the Oval Office and ornate chandeliers to the Cabinet Room, remaking the White House with an indelible imprint of Mar-a-Lago maximalism that is all but certain to outlast his presidency.
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Sunday/ the bloody battles of the American Revolution 🎖️

I got these ‘USA forever’ stamps on Friday.
It never costs me just one stamp when I take something to the post office, because I always buy a whole sheet of stamps! 🤗

From Wikipedia:
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which American Patriot forces organized as the Continental Army and commanded by George Washington defeated the British Army. The conflict was fought in North America, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic Ocean. The war’s outcome seemed uncertain for most of the war. But Washington and the Continental Army’s decisive victory in the Siege of Yorktown in 1781 led King George III and the Kingdom of Great Britain to negotiate an end to the war in the Treaty of Paris two years later, in 1783, in which the British monarchy acknowledged the independence of the Thirteen Colonies, leading to the establishment of the United States as an independent and sovereign nation.

Battlefields of the American Revolution (1775-1783)
Issued Apr. 16, 2025
Perf. 11 serpentine die-cut |Self-adhesive |Design: Derry Noyes (from watercolor paintings by Greg Harlin) |Sheet size: 15 stamps |First-Class Mail® ‘FOREVER’ stamps (75c) | Engraving: Banknote Corporation of America | No watermark
[Source: stampworld.com]

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Sunday/ the release of the hostages 🕊️

A hostage and prisoner exchange

By Jodi Rudoren reporting for the New York Times, Monday morning NY time

I am the former Jerusalem bureau chief.

They’re free. Two years — 737 days, to be exact — after the Hamas terror attack that set off the war in Gaza, the last 20 living Israeli hostages left Gaza this morning. In exchange, nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees are being let go; the first buses filled with them just started arriving in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

The releases are part of the first phase of a cease-fire deal that took hold Friday. A triumphant President Trump, the force behind the deal, flew in Air Force One over jubilant crowds in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square and timed the plane’s touchdown to coincide exactly with the first hostages’ arrival in Israel. He is about to address Israel’s Parliament and then will head to a summit of world leaders in Egypt, where the agreement was negotiated.

It’s Monday morning in Gaza. The release of the hostages (and Palestinian prisoners) is imminent, it seems.
May the war and the destruction and the famine and the killing of civilians stop now.

Reporting from the New York Times:

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Monday/ postcard from Seoul 🇰🇷

Hey! The postcard I had mailed to Seattle from the top of Seoul tower made it into my mailbox.

Gyeongbok Palace
Situated at No. 1 Sejong Road in the Jongno District of Seoul, the palace was originally built in 1395 as the palace of the King of Choson. It was listed as a cultural property on Jan. 1, 1963.
Mailed on Sat. Sept. 13, and processed on Mon. Sep. 15 at Seoul Yongsan Post Office, a stone’s throw from Seoul Tower.
2021 Republic of Korea Definitives
Issued Dec. 17, 2021
Perf. 13½ |Design: Ryu Ji-Hyeong |Engraving: Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation |Litho. |No watermark
#3555 500₩ Multicolored |Fruit cluster of bunge (Crataegus pinnatifida)
This tree is also called Chinese hawthorn and is known for its bright red fruit that is used in traditional East Asian medicine and foods (like candies and teas).
500₩ = US$ 0.36
[Source: stampworld.com]
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Tuesday/ more Expo 2025 Osaka 🏯

I walked over to the West Gate today (both days I had entered at the East Gate), where I found Astro Boy.

I also tracked down the Japan Pavilion with its beautiful ‘golden hat’ design. The Golden Surface of the Japan Pavilion was created by the designers Nikken Sekkei. They used an iridescent color shining technology— a technique that involves engraving microgrooves onto the surface, which interact with light to produce a dynamic, multi-colored sheen that changes with the viewing angle.

As the sun was setting, everyone went up to the Grand Ring, to watch the daylight end.

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Friday/ Shinjuku 🚆

The rain was relentless on Friday here in Tokyo.
I ran out to Shinjuku train station in the morning and got lost inside the enormous station— before getting soaked in the torrential rain outside of it. 😱

Come early evening the rain was over, though, and I went back to see if I could navigate the station better, and to take a few photos.

The view outside my hotel room in the morning. The top of Tokyo Tower is hidden in the low clouds.
Ooh! .. not looking good out here on the ground, I am thinking.
It is mid-morning and I am on the way to Shinagawa station on the hotel’s shuttle bus.
A colorful mural inside Shinjuku station.
There is no lack of directions to the myriad train lines and exits in Shinjuku station, but Shinjuku Station has over 200 exits and many platforms of different shapes, spread out over a large area, along with department stores covering nearly all sides.
I tried to have Google Maps give me walking directions, and it worked— until it said ‘If there is no GPS signal, navigation may stop working’. Yes. No sh**.
A mural inside Shinjuku.
Looking for a used car? Use the Car Sensor app.
The characters and manga style are from the iconic series City Hunter, which is being used here in a parody/comedic fashion to draw attention.
All right! By sunset (6.02 pm) the rain was gone, and now I’m going to run out to Shinjuku one more time.
This is the exit I had looked for in vain this morning: the South East Entrance by the Lumine 2 store. I am on my way to Takashimaya Times Square nearby.
A street-level view of the pedestrian crossing at the South East Entrance.
I walked several hundred yards now, further to the south, where there is an overlook of the railway lines going into the station.
The clock tower located near Takashimaya Times Square is on the NTT Docomo Yoyogi Building. It’s just a day or two until September’s full moon.
I made it back to Shinagawa Station and now heading back to the hotel. No rain!
Check out the sleek billboard above the Hollywood pachinko parlor. It advertises an even sleeker, faster bullet train that is coming— able to fly at 500 km/h (311 mph) on the tracks.
The almost-full moon over a gate in the Japanese garden on the hotel grounds.
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Saturday/ India’s flag in Seattle 🇮🇳

India’s flag was hoisted up on top of the Space Needle for the first time on Friday.
It is a nod to India’s Independence Day, celebrated annually on August 15 as a public holiday.
The day commemorates the nation’s independence from the United Kingdom on August 15,  1947.

Approximately 83,000 King County residents were born in India, constituting 14% of the foreign-born population. China closely follows at approximately 80,000 residents, and the list continues with Vietnam securing the fourth position, the Philippines at fifth, South Korea at sixth, and Taiwan ranking ninth.
[Northwest Asian Weekly, Dec. 11, 2023]
[Stills from a video posted @IndiainSeattle on X]
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Friday/ a time of empires 👑

The Alaska Purchase was the purchase of Alaska from the Russian Empire by the United States for a sum of $7.2 million in 1867.
The purchase of Alaska marked the end of Russian efforts to expand trade and settlements to the Pacific coast of North America, and became an important step in the United States’ rise as a great power in the Asia-Pacific region.
-Office of the Historian (.gov) and Wikipedia

Happy Friday. It is wet here in Seattle with drizzly rain that started last night and continued on and off all day.

With Trump and Putin’s meeting in Anchorage today, I was reminded that Alaska was bought from the Russian Empire (in 1867).

Here is a map from 1815 that showed the empires of the world at that time .. and why it was said ‘the sun never sets on the British Empire’.

Full resolution of this map online at ‘Wikimedia Commons World Map 1815’.
The saying “The sun never sets on the British Empire” refers to the vast geographical reach and global dominance of the British Empire at its peak. It means that at any given moment, the sun would be shining on at least one part of the British Empire’s territories around the world. This was due to the empire’s extensive colonies and possessions across multiple continents and time zones. – Google AI Overview
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Tuesday/ stamps from Belgium 🇧🇪

There were several stamps from Belgium on the outside envelope from my Ebay vendor in Antwerp, and I looked them up in the Scott stamp catalogue.

P.S. —The stamps that I buy on Ebay from overseas still come through without getting a tariff slapped on them. The de minimis exemption* for goods purchased from overseas suppliers will end soon, though.

*Historically, the US has had a de minimis exemption that allowed goods valued below a certain amount (currently $800, subject to change) to enter duty-free. However, the US eliminated the de minimis exemption for products from China and Hong Kong on May 2, 2025, and plans to eliminate it for all countries on August 29, 2025.
– Google AI Overview

1989 Belgium: Young Philatelists
Issued Oct 9, 1989
Perf. 11½ |Photogravure |No watermark
#1328 A575 9Fr Multicolored |Mr. Nibbs
*”The Adventures of Nibbs” is a Belgian cartoon series that was also adapted into a Brussels cartoon mural by the cartoonist Marc Sleen.
1991 Belgium: Tourism
Issued Jun. 17, 1991
Perf. 11½ |Design: Jacques Doppée & Paul Deweerdt |Photogravure & Engr. |Engraving: Patricia Vouez & Guillaume Broux |No watermark
#1406 A603 14Fr Multicolored |Neptune’s Grotto, Couvin
2016 Belgium: Qualifying Education (from minisheet of 5)
Issued Mar. 14, 2016
Perf. 12 |Design: Bart Van Leuven & Wim Vandersleyen |Litho. |No watermark
#2791a A1370 1.00€ Multicolored |Dredge near island, Abu Dhabi
[Sources: stampworld.com, Scott 2018 Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, Vol. 1]
1976 The 25th Anniversary of King Baudouin’s Regency
Issued Jun. 26, 1976
Perf. 11½ |Design: Anton Luyckx |Photo. |No watermark
Se-tenant pair from mini-sheet
#952a A374 20Fr Yellow-green |King Baudouin, in profile
#952b A374 30Fr Prussian blue |King Baudouin, in profile
[Sources: stampworld.com, Scott 2018 Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, Vol. 1]
1999 Belgium: Greeting Stamps
Issued Jan. 23, 1999
Perf. 11¾ |Design: Karl Meersman |Photogravure & Engr. |Engraving: De Schutter |No watermark
#1722 A738 17Fr Multicolored |Heart-shaped head on woman ‘Happy birthday Mama/ Long live Mama’
#1723 A738 17Fr Multicolored |Heart-shaped head on man ‘Long live Papa/ Happy birthday Papa’
[Sources: stampworld.com, Scott 2018 Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, Vol. 1]
2005 Belgium: Greeting Stamps
Issued May 9, 2005
Perf. 9 ¼ on 2 or 3 sides |Booklet panes of 10 |Design: Myriam Voz & Thierry Martin |Photogravure |Engraving: Offset |Self-adhesive |No watermark
#2095 A915 0.80€ Multicolored |Doves and wedding rings
#2096 A916 0.80€ Multicolored |Wedding rings
[Sources: stampworld.com, Scott 2018 Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, Vol. 1]

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Sunday/ it’s World Lion Day 🦁

World Lion Day is celebrated annually on August 10th. 

It’s a day dedicated to raising awareness about the challenges lions face in the wild and supporting their conservation. The day was founded in 2013 by Derek and Beverly Joubert to highlight the declining lion populations and the threats they face, such as habitat loss and poaching. 

The Lion Hotel in the city of Springs in South Africa, advertising Lion Beer, circa 1954. Lion Beer would later become Lion Lager. Lion Lager is a popular choice for various gatherings and social events to this day. It’s often enjoyed during braais (South African barbecues), sports matches, and family celebrations.
Lion safety matches. There was a time in the ’50’s in South Africa when an entire little box of 50 matches could be bought for one penny.
I had been to Botswana with my family for more than a dozen times by 1993, and even by then had never seen a lion in the wild from up close there.
When we were there in July 1993, though, one of the locals came to tell us of a lion that they had spotted nearby. Seven or eight of us piled into an open-top Jeep ( ! ), and I took this picture through the mopane leaves with a telephoto lens.
2018 Austria Copper €5 New Year’s ‘A Lion in Winter’ coin.
Artwork by David Pollack, used in Jell-o’s campaign of printed ads in LIFE magazine and others in the 1950s. The lion and a plate of Jell-O appeared in the ads, with the words
“When I’m eating Jell-O, I wish I were a lion .. because then I could roar for more of my favorite dessert! (Jell-O, of course!)”
I took this picture in New York City in 1999.
The Pleistocene Epoch, often referred to as the Ice Age, in Alaska, as with the rest of the world, extended from approximately 2.6 million years ago to 11,700 years ago.
Look at the center of the picture for the lions that once roamed in North America.
The North American lion, also known as the American lion, became extinct around 10,000 years ago along with several other large mammals.
[Picture taken inside University of Alaska Museum of the North, Fairbanks in 2023]
A ‘Hungry Lion’ fast food franchise in Stellenbosch, South Africa, in 2017.
A pride of lionesses inspect a remote controlled camera buggy.
I believe the photographer is Chris McLennan and that the pictures were taken in 2019. I’m sure it is in Africa, but I don’t have the specific location.
On a South African bank note from 1992: lionesses at the water hole, and a regal stare from the king of the beasts.
Luggage locker in Tokyo Station, Japan.
Lion figurine (model #17107) by toymaker Schleich.

 

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Wednesday/ off Gough Island 🪨

Check out this cool 1979 envelope.
It was mailed paquebot off Gough Island, with all kinds of outrageous postmarks on the envelope.

Paquebot cancellations on postage stamps indicate that the mail was posted on a ship at sea and canceled at the ship’s next port of call.
The term paquebot is French for “packet boat” (steam ship, steam vessel) and signifies that the mail was handled according to international regulations for mail posted on vessels. These cancellations are distinct from regular postmarks and are often sought after by collectors. 

Postmarks and stamp on envelope—
S.A. Agulhas is a South African ice-strengthened training ship and former polar research vessel. She was built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Shimonoseki, Japan, in 1978. S.A. Agulhas retired from Antarctic service in April 2012 when the replacement vessel, S. A. Agulhas II, was commissioned. She was transferred to the South African Maritime Safety Authority as a training ship.
Mailed paquebot off Gough Island on Nov. 2, 1979.
Penguin and Gough Island coordinates. Gough Island is home to northern rockhopper penguins (Eudyptes moseleyi).
Neutron research postmark from University of Potchefstroom in South Africa. The main scientific station on Gough Island is a South African weather station, which has been in operation since 1956. The Physics department at Potch University studied cosmic rays. Cosmic rays are primarily composed of high-energy particles, with about 90% being protons (hydrogen nuclei). Neutrons are secondary particles that are knocked out of atoms in the earth’s atmosphere.
The blue helicopter postmark is most likely a commemorative or mission-specific cachet used on mail handled during the 1979 Gough Island expedition. The 22 might refer to a flight number or a team identification.
The Cape Town postmark of Nov. 17, 1979 likely marks the arrival of the vessel there, at which time it was dispatched to the street address in Stellenbosch.
The 4c stamp is from South Africa’s Third Definitive Series
Issued May 27, 1977 |4c Protea longifolia |Perf. 12½ |Photogravure |Fluorescent paper |No watermark
Look at the bottom of this map for Gough Island.
The island is also known historically as Gonçalo Álvares, and is a rugged volcanic island (area 35 mi²) in the South Atlantic Ocean.
It is a dependency of the Tristan da Cunha island group and part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha.
Nobody lives on Gough Island except for the workers of a weather station, which is usually six people. The South African National Antarctic Programme has maintained the island with British permission since 1956.
[From Wikipedia]
[Map in Lambert azimuthal equal-area projection by Rand McNally and published in 1984 in an atlas by Encyclopdia Britannica]
One of these stamps would have fitted the envelope perfectly.
Unfortunately, it would be 18 more years after 1979 before these stamps featuring the Antarctic skua would be issued.

South Africa Sixth Definitive Series (Endangered Fauna, Redrawn)
Issued Aug. 27, 1997 |R1.20 Antarctic skua (additional value to series first issued in 1993) |Perf. 14×14¼ |Lithography |Coated paper |No Watermark

 

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Tuesday/ a check with a revenue stamp 💷

As part of the ever-expanding scope of my collection of South African stamps, I have started to collect revenue stamps of the South African colonies.
(Before the establishment of the Union of South Africa in 1910, South Africa consisted of four British colonies: the Cape Colony, Natal, Transvaal, and the Orange Free State.)

Location of the Orange Free State c. 1890 [Source: Wikipedia]
From 1854 to 1902, the Orange Free State was an independent Boer-ruled sovereign republic under British suzerainty* in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century. It ceased to exist after it was defeated and surrendered itself to the British Empire at the end of the Second Boer War in 1902. It is one of the three historical precursors to the present-day Free State province in South Africa.

*A suzerain is a person, state or polity who has supremacy and dominant influence over the foreign policy and economic relations of another subordinate party or polity, but allows internal autonomy to that subordinate.

This yellow revenue stamp with green ink from the Cape Colony is affixed to a checque (using the queen’s English— Queen Victoria) that was issued in 1897 by the Harrismith branch of the National Bank of the Orange Free State.

The Revenue Stamp
First issued in 1865 by the Cape Colony | Perf. 14 |Rotogravure
One penny (1d) | green on yellow paper| Queen Victoria’s profile in classical style* surrounded by grapevine and vine leaves in the corners, symbolizing the Cape Colony’s viticulture | Crown at the top, denoting British authority
*Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, queen from 1837 until her death in January 1901.

The Cheque
Written by the treasurer (Charles Truter) of the Dutch Reformed Church on Nov. 9, 1897 to Esquire J. Theron. (Esquire here is the title of a young nobleman).
The cheque is from the Harrismith branch of the National Bank of the Orange Free State, written for an amount of 11 Orange Free State pounds*, 8 shillings, 6 pennies.
*Like the South African pound, it was divided into 20 shillings, and a shilling into 12 pennies.
On the far left of the check is the coat of arms of the Orange Free State.
The cheque was printed by William Brown & Co. of Old Broad Street in London.
Security features at the time included the fine print at the bottom of the check, and so-called fugitive printing, that would use ink that would change, fade, or disappear under specific conditions, if it was tampered with.
The revenue stamp was affixed to the cheque on Nov. 15.
The check was stamped ‘Paid’ on Nov. 19. It seems Esquire Theron had the amount of the check paid into his account at the African Banking Corporation Ltd. in the town of Worcester in the Cape Colony.
A hole was punched in the check to also indicate it has been cashed.

The signature of Esq. J. Theron on the back of the checque.
Let’s take a closer look at the coat of arms of the Orange Free State printed on the far left of the check.
VRYHEID (freedom) at the top, and GEDULD EN MOED (patience and courage) on the ribbon.
IMMIGRATIE (immigration) at the bottom, presumably a call to Europeans, or settlers from other South African colonies to emigrate to the Orange Free State colony.
The livestock look like cattle (the OFS coat if arms image on Wikipedia shows sheep).
The lion on the right must mean ‘courage’, right?
The ox wagon signifies the trek that the pioneers made from the Cape Colony to escape British rule, to establish their own independent Orange Free State republic.
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Friday/ Nelson Mandela International Day 🕊️

Happy Friday.
It is Nelson Mandela International Day— the annual international day in honor of Nelson Mandela, celebrated each year on 18 July, his birthday.

Inauguration of President Nelson Mandela (May 10, 1994)
Issued May 10, 1994
Perf. 14½x14 | Des. Liza van der Wal | Litho. | No Watermark
882 A293 45c | Photo image of Mandela
[Source: 2021 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, Vol. 6A]
50th Anniversary of the Rivonia Trial
Issued Nov 26, 2013
Perf. 14¾x14½ | Des. Marie Vermeulen‑Breedt | Litho. | 12 Booklet panes of Rivionia trial defendants with 1 stamp each | No Watermark
1510 A547 Standard Postage (R2.80) | Photo image of Mandela as defendant at Rivonia Trial
[Source: 2021 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, Vol. 6A]
P.S. From Wikipedia: The Rivonia Trial was a trial that took place in apartheid-era South Africa between 9 October 1963 and 12 June 1964, after a group of anti-apartheid activists were arrested on Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia. The farm had been the secret location for meetings of uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the newly-formed armed wing of the African National Congress.
Speaking in the dock of the court on 20 April 1964 during the trial, Mandela said: During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.