Quote from Jamie Smith on October 21, 2026, 10:37 pm

Nice cover, would be proud to have it in my collection. Although Smuts was a Field Marshall in the British Army he was a General in the South African Army and prefered the later title.

Quote from Steve on October 21, 2026, 11:09 pm

Thanks. I have just added a link to your display so anyone wanting to see it can just click on the link above and here.

Egyptian Salt Tax Fiscals

1952. Cover. ALEXANDRIA '13 x 52' to NEW YORK, USA.
Presumably sent surface mail. No US receiving datestamps.
This is the year of the revolution that overthrew King Farouk.

This letter suggests a relationship between Egyptian industry and US capital via Messrs Lionello Perera and Co Bankers, Wall Street, New York. There is no record of a Silvio Perera, Esq. at the bank. It appears that he was not related to the influential Lionel Perera, 1871 – 1942, an Italian-American Jewish  banker, philanthropist and patron of the arts and music active in New York from the beginning to mid-20th century. He was a significant figure in the Italian American Community then dominated by Mafia gangsters and Mussolini's apologists. A naturalised American, Perera campaigned against Mussolini in the USA before WW2. While Mussolini's Italian fascism was relatively more tolerant of Jews than Germany's, two of Perera's Italian sisters and their children died in the Auschwitz. Holocaust deniers can put that in their hookah and smoke it!.

The sender of this letter appears to be W (?) R Frascolla who used the printed stationery of of 'The Egyptian Salt and Soda Cy. Ltd. Alexandria, Egypt'. This company provides me with a cue to introduce Egyptian salt tax stamps. Egyptian Salt Department revenue stamps were first issued in 1892 when the Egyptian government established a wholesale monopoly on the salt trade to generate state revenue. The stamps were sold through local post offices. They were cancelled on signed salt requisition forms. The completed forms were handed to postal or government clerks for validation, allowing retailers to collect their allocated salt purchase from government stores. In 1899, the government monopoly was transferred to the Egyptian Salt & Soda Co. in exchange for fixed annual payments.

There were several issues of Salt Tax stamps between 1892 - 1899. This limited period of their use makes these fiscals uncommon compared to Egyptian postage stamps of the period. Below is the first issue of 4 values from 1892.  I have downloaded these from the Internet as I have never seen them before. Being the earliest and used for less than a year they are the scarcest of the Egyptian salt tax stamps.

Below are three examples of the second issue, also of 1892. Four values were issued. These  were also downloaded from the Internet.

1892 Second Issue: Egyptian Government Salt Tax Revenue stamps.

As I am currently moving house, much of my stuff is currently in boxes. However, a quick search revealed a few examples of my own. These are of mixed quality which I show below. As these Egyptian salt tax stamps were sold in post offices, some are cancelled with relatively rare Egyptian village postmarks. A good postmark definitely adds a lot of interest and value to these wonderful fiscals.

1892 Second Issue: Egyptian Government Salt Tax Revenue stamps.

Quote from Steve on October 23, 2026, 7:07 am

The Red Fez

1945. Corner Blocks of EGYPT 10 Mills stamps
Left sage green Khedive Ismail Pasha and right King Farouk purple.
Both men are wearing the fez, a symbol of authority.

The paper-covered tin cigarette box below is a product of its time, probably between 1900 - 1920. It comes from the Age of Cigarette Smoking, Empire and Philately, now as out-of-date as the Khedive and King of Egypt who are wearing a fez, originally a symbol of  bureaucratic power in the Ottoman Turkish empire and by extension the Islamic world. It subsequently became an Islamic fashion.

As a boy and a young man I recall seeing many Moslem men in Cape Town in finely tailored suits wearing the fez as a snappy symbol of their culture. (At this time the required headgear of 'European' men was either a Homburg, Fedora or a Trilby hat, etc. PW Botha's 'boerekroon' [Afr. Boer crown] was a Homburg!) The fez is seen on Egyptian and other stamps of the Arab world. The popularity of the classic fez declined in the 1960s but is now possibly making a comeback. Perhaps Tommy Cooper has something to do with it!

Circa 1900 - 1920. Egyptian Cigarette Tin Showing Khedive Ismail Pasha.

In 1860, the Ottoman Empire was a centralised, reform-minded transcontinental state known as the "sick man of Europe" due to its declining military and economic power. (Britain suffered the same tag in the 1980s. It is worthy of reintroduction today!) Egypt was a province of the Ottoman Empire. In the 1860s Egypt was ruled by the Muhammad Ali Dynasty as an autonomous state within the Ottoman Empire with Sa'id Pasha and Isma'il Pasha serving as the country's leaders. Sa'id Pasha ruled until January 1863. It was he who granted the initial concession for the construction of the Suez Canal by the French civil engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps.

Isma'il Pasha began his rule in 1863. In 1867, Ottoman Sultan Abdulaziz officially recognised him as the ruler of Egypt by granting him the title of 'Khedive' (Viceroy). This elevated the status of the Muhammad Ali Dynasty under Ismail Pasha aka ('Ismail the Magnificent'). He was the grandson of Muhammad Ali Pasha, the founder of modern Egypt. He was Khedive from 1863 to 1879 and is remembered for modernising Egypt by expanding infrastructure, establishing modern ministeries and the building of the Suez Canal. Much of this came with the accumulation of massive national debt that led to his downfall.

Ismail Pasha's heavy spending and foreign loans bankrupted Egypt, forcing him to sell the country's shares in the Suez Canal to Britain. Under pressure from France and Britain he eventually abdicated in 1879. He died in exile in 1895. Ismail Pasha was the father of King Fuad I (who later became King of Egypt). King Fuad I was the father of King Farouk who reigned from 1936 until the 1952 Egyptian Revolution. All these rulers wore the fez as a symbol of their authority.

British rule in Egypt began in 1882 when British forces occupied the country following the Anglo-Egyptian War. It established a veiled protectorate while leaving the local Ottoman rulers nominally in power. During this period, Britain prioritised controlling the Suez Canal to secure its vital maritime trade route to India and SE Asia. It heavily restructured the Egyptian economy around cotton production. The British dismantled the old Egyptian military and rebuilt a new Anglo-Egyptian army under colonial oversight. The 'Sirdar' was the official title of the British Commander of the Egyptian Army during the Anglo occupation.

Although Egypt gained nominal independence in 1922, British military occupation and political influence persisted there until the 1956 Suez Crisis when the Americans forcefully ended all British and French influence in the region. It was the start of Britain's decline as a global power.

Below are two images that shows the wearing of a fez. The postcard is a Cairo street scene probably circa 1910. I count at least 12 men wearing a red fez. The stamp is from the Sudan, a country that Egypt has coveted since the time of the Pharoahs. It shows the British Governor, the ill-fated General 'Chinese' Gordon, wearing a fez, no doubt as a symbol of British authority. Unfortunately the Mahdi disagreed.

 

Quote from Jamie Smith on October 23, 2026, 7:24 pm

And I thought, I was the only idiot1  Very nice, bring it on!