Stamp Collecting as a Pastime | Page 6

to indicate the first victories of the
reign, won in the war with Austria, was added to the Emperor's head. In
1870 the Franco-German War resulted in the downfall of the monarchy,
and the head of Liberty reappears on a series of postage stamps issued
in Paris during its investment by the German army. The issue of the
stamps of Alsace and Lorraine in 1870 marks the annexation of the
conquered territory.
Italy in 1850 was a land of many petty states, each more or less a law
unto itself, and each, in the fifties, issuing its own separate series of
postage stamps. The stamps of the Pontifical States are made familiar

by their typical design of a tiara and keys, and pompous King Bomba
ordered the best engraver to be found to immortalise him in a portrait
for a series of stamps. The other states had each its own heraldic design
till the foundations of the Kingdom of Italy were laid, in 1859-60, by
the union of the Lombardo-Venetian States, the Kingdom of the Two
Sicilies, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the Duchies of Parma and
Modena, the Romagna and the Roman (or Pontifical) States with
Piedmont. The first issue of stamps of the newly formed kingdom bore
a portrait of King Victor Emmanuel II. with profile turned to the right.
In 1863, after the Kingdom of Sardinia had been merged in the
Kingdom of Italy, a new series was issued for united Italy. The same
king's portrait appears, but turned to the left. In 1879 King Humbert
succeeded Victor Emmanuel, and his portrait appeared on an issue in
the year of his accession. The assassination of King Humbert and the
accession of his son as Victor Emmanuel III. are followed by the new
portrait of the new king on the current series of the stamps of Italy.
The stamps of Germany tell a somewhat similar story. They mark the
stages of gradual absorption into a confederation of states, and the
ultimate creation of a German Empire. The postal issues of Baden
ceased in 1871, when the Grand Duchy was incorporated in the Empire.
Bavaria, though also incorporated, holds out in postal matters, and still
issues its separate series. Bergedorf was in 1867 placed under the
control of the free city of Hamburg, and thereupon ceased issuing
stamps. Bremen, Brunswick, Hamburg, Lubeck, Mecklenburg-Strelitz,
Oldenburg, Prussia, Saxony, and Schleswig-Holstein formed the North
German Confederation, and closed their postal accounts with collectors
in 1868. Hanover became a province of Prussia after the war of 1866,
and thereupon ceased its separate issue of postage stamps; and Thurn
and Taxis followed suit in 1867. In 1870 the North German
Confederation was merged in the German Empire, which issued its first
postage stamp with the Imperial eagle in 1872. But the Empire is not
yet sufficiently united to place a portrait of the Emperor upon its
Imperial postal series.
Indian postage stamps, overprinted with the initials "C.E.F.", for the
China Expeditionary Force, i.e. the Indian troops sent to China in 1901

to relieve the besieged Embassies, mark an historical event of no small
import.
The early provisional issues of Crete of 1898 indicate the joint
interference of the Great Powers in its affairs, and the later issues, in
1900, bear the portrait of Prince George of Greece as High
Commissioner of Crete.
The Confederate locals of America, issued, in 1861-3, by the
postmasters of the Southern States when they were cut off by the war
from the capital and its supplies of postage stamps, and each town was
thrown upon its own resources, proclaim the period of the great
American Civil War.
Collectors are all familiar with the long series of portraits of past
Presidents of the United States, from Washington to Garfield.
The stamps of Don Carlos mark the Carlist rising in Spain in 1873.
But amongst the most interesting of all stamps that may be classed as
historical finger posts, none equal in present-day interest the stamps of
the Transvaal, for they tell of the struggle for supremacy in South
Africa. In 1870 the Boers issued their first postage stamp, and a crude
piece of workmanship it was, designed and engraved in Germany. Till
1877 they printed their supplies of postage stamps in their own crude
way from the same crude plates. Then came the first British Occupation,
when the remainders of the stamps of the first South African Republic
were overprinted "V.R. TRANSVAAL," to indicate British government.
Then, in 1878, the stamps of the Republic were replaced by our
Queen's Head. In 1881 the country was given back to the Boers, when
they in turn overprinted our Queen's Head series in Boer currency, to
indicate the restoration of Boer domination. And now, finally, in 1900
we have the second British Occupation, and a