General items of interest.

#431 · June 5, 2023, 9:49 am

This is superb. I have not seen this cinderella before. That said, cinderellas are not my field of study. I know some cinderella collectors who I will refer to this very interesting piece. I like that this is going to Burmeister in East London and that it has the 2d Banatam sailor on it. It is "so South African" and redolent of the period. Burmeister & Co. created a family business out of providing tools, clothing, fencing, seed, barbed wire, etc., to the farmers of the interior. I wonder what the connection is between these two companies who obviously share the same farming market? Maybe Cooper and Nephews in Jo'burg are looking to get Bermeister to stock and supply Cooper's Dip? Wonderful!

#432 · June 11, 2023, 8:05 am

Falkland War.

Uploaded files:

#433 · June 11, 2023, 4:30 pm

Newfoundland.

Uploaded files:

#434 · June 12, 2023, 3:56 pm

Southern Rhodesia - Egypt.

Uploaded files:

#435 · June 12, 2023, 5:37 pm

Sudan.

Uploaded files:

#436 · June 13, 2023, 9:50 am

Crash Cover.

Uploaded files:

#437 · June 16, 2023, 11:16 am

New Zealand.

Uploaded files:

#438 · June 20, 2023, 5:00 pm

GB - Brazil.

Any information welcome.

Uploaded files:

#439 · July 8, 2023, 7:06 am

Sudan - Mahdist War.

Uploaded files:

#440 · July 8, 2023, 10:16 am

Quote from Steve on July 8, 2023, 10:16 am
This is exceptional. Wonderful! Thanks for sharing with us, Jamie. It would be great if someone could share a Sudan Postal History display with us? If they did, they would surely be envious of this piece?

I hope the following does not comes as an intrusion.

Your 'Soldier and Seaman's Envelope' predates the Battle of Omdurman (2 September 1898) which we used to believe was Britain's revenge for Gordon's death. As a boy in SA I had seen the 1939 movie 'The Four Feathers' at a Saturday matinee in the Savoy bioscope in Rosebank (Cape). In 1965 or 66 I saw 'Khartoum' with Charlton Heston as General Gordon on its release in SA. Both made an impression on me as a boy, basically one that said British Christian liberal warriors good, Muslim Fundamentalist resistance fighters bad. What's has changed in 60 years? On reflection, there were no historic truths to be learned from either movie which were essentially just propaganda as 'entertainment'.

The British public was shocked by Gordon's death. News of it led to national mourning across Britain. The British public and Kitchener himself saw his 1898 campaign as one to "avenge Gordon". The 'Mad Mahdi' had died in 1885, some four months after 'Chinese Gordon', a nickname given to him following military victories in China. After victory in the Battle of Omdurman, Kitchener blew up the Mahdi's tomb and decapitated his corpse. (Gordon had also suffered decapitation.) Kitchener's revenge was nothing less than an attack on Islam and the spritual values of the Mahdi and his followers. The headless body of the Mahdi was thrown into the Nile. Kitchener kept the Mahdī's skull and was rumoured to use it as a drinking cup or ink well. (How offensively civilised!) After the shouting and clamouring had died down, after the Captains and the Kings had departed, Kitchener learned that the real reason for the war was not to avenge Gordon but to block Britain's great imperial rival, France, from occupying the Sudan. When Sudan became independent the Khartoum mob threw General Gordon's statue into the Nile where it remains to this day.

Much of our glorious imperialism and colonialism is a dirty story. Postal History is a good way to keep it honest. Of course, you may disagree with my interpretation of the facts. However, on the SAPC we encourage debate and freedom of speech. Over to you.

This is exceptional. Wonderful! Thanks for sharing with us, Jamie. It would be great if someone could share a Sudan Postal History display with us? If they did, they would surely be envious of this piece?

I hope the following does not comes as an intrusion.

Your 'Soldier and Seaman's Envelope' predates the Battle of Omdurman (2 September 1898) which we used to believe was Britain's revenge for Gordon's death. As a boy in SA I had seen the 1939 movie 'The Four Feathers' at a Saturday matinee in the Savoy bioscope in Rosebank (Cape). In 1965 or 66 I saw 'Khartoum' with Charlton Heston as General Gordon on its release in SA. Both made an impression on me as a boy, basically one that said British Christian liberal warriors good, Muslim Fundamentalist resistance fighters bad. What's has changed in 60 years? On reflection, there were no historic truths to be learned from either movie which were essentially just propaganda as 'entertainment'.

The British public was shocked by Gordon's death. News of it led to national mourning across Britain. The British public and Kitchener himself saw his 1898 campaign as one to "avenge Gordon". The 'Mad Mahdi' had died in 1885, some four months after 'Chinese Gordon', a nickname given to him following military victories in China. After victory in the Battle of Omdurman, Kitchener blew up the Mahdi's tomb and decapitated his corpse. (Gordon had also suffered decapitation.) Kitchener's revenge was nothing less than an attack on Islam and the spritual values of the Mahdi and his followers. The headless body of the Mahdi was thrown into the Nile. Kitchener kept the Mahdī's skull and was rumoured to use it as a drinking cup or ink well. (How offensively civilised!) After the shouting and clamouring had died down, after the Captains and the Kings had departed, Kitchener learned that the real reason for the war was not to avenge Gordon but to block Britain's great imperial rival, France, from occupying the Sudan. When Sudan became independent the Khartoum mob threw General Gordon's statue into the Nile where it remains to this day.

Much of our glorious imperialism and colonialism is a dirty story. Postal History is a good way to keep it honest. Of course, you may disagree with my interpretation of the facts. However, on the SAPC we encourage debate and freedom of speech. Over to you.