Angola, officially the Republic of Angola is a west-coast country of south-central Africa. It is the seventh-largest country in Africa, bordered by Namibia to the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Zambia to the east, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west.
Angola was first settled by small tribes before coming under control of the Kingdom of Kongo in the north. The Kingdom of Kongo was divided into six provinces and included some dependent kingdoms, such as Ndongo to the south. Most of the kingdoms wealth came from agriculture.
Reunion can be found floating in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar.
Not much is known about Reunion before the Portuguese stumbled on it in 1513 although Arab traders may have known it as “western island”. The French landed there in 1638 when they deposited a dozen mutineers there from Madagascar. Later those convicts were brought back to France and in 1649 France officially settled in and named the island Ile Bourbon after the Royal House of Bourbon, not after the drink.
In August of 1865 the local post distribution company “Liannos et Cie” was established to distribute the mail arriving at Constantinople which was not addressed in Arabic as the staff of the Ottoman Postal Service were not able to do so.
Heligoland is a tiny archipelago in the southeastern corner of the North Sea.
The name Heligoland is generally thought to mean “Holy Land” but others believe it to mean “land of banks, which cover and uncover”. Originally property of the Danish king Valdemar it was inhabited by people who worked the sea and the copper mines on the island. It was also a haven for smugglers until the island turned into a resort for wealthy European clientele.
In 1936, Herman Knaust, paid $9,000 for a depleted iron ore mine and 100 acres of land so that he could have more space to expand his families business, growing and marketing mushrooms. But by 1950, the mushroom market had declined, so Mr. Knaust decided upon a new business venture—one that would make good use of his mine, which he named “Iron Mountain.”
Mr. Knaust sponsored the relocation to the United States of many Jewish immigrants who had lost their identities because their personal records had been destroyed during the war. At this time, the world was also entangled in the Cold War. Paranoia was at a high point. Mr. Knaust realized that protecting vital information from war and other disasters was of paramount importance and decided to put his mine to good use.
Original Iron Mountain storage facility
Iron Mountain Atomic Storage, Inc. was founded in 1951 and the first “vaults” inside Iron Mountain and a sales office in the Empire State Building were established. Having a knack for publicity, he persuaded luminaries such as General Douglas MacArthur to visit the Iron Mountain site.
Soon businesses realized the importance of storing their documents and data in a secure location. Iron Mountain’s first customer was East River Savings Bank, which brought microfilm copies of deposit records and duplicate signature cards in armored cars to the new mountain facility for storage.
Storing valuables in the Iron Mountain vaults.
Iron Mountain soon expanded into a depleted limestone mine close to New York City and opened a site in New England as well. Through further expansions and acquisitions Iron Mountain grew to a $3.0 billion company and services more than 95% of the Fortune 1000 companies.
Bill Gates stores his Corbis photographic collection in a refrigerated cave 220 feet underground and Universal Music Group stores its United States masters with Iron Mountain. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management leases another cavern to store, and process government employee retirement papers and the wills of Princess Diana, Charles Dickens, and Charles Darwin are locked away in secure Iron Mountain vaults as well
Truck inside one of Iron Mountains underground facilities.
Herman’s brother, Warren served in the Corps of Engineers in the United States Army during World War II. Following the war’s end, he became an important part of the family business. Warren was an avid fisherman, alpine skier, and stamp collector. As the company expanded and built secure facilities in locations closer to metropolitan areas the original Iron Mountain location fell more into disuse. Realizing the importance of preserving his personal stamp collection, Warren built a vault there to store it in.
During the 1960s, stamp collecting was at its peak. Many of the same wealthy business owners who used Iron Mountains services had accumulated large and valuable collections as well. Warren would use business meetings with these businessmen and collectors to acquire rare, expensive and one-of-a-kind items for his personal collection. No one knows for sure the value of his collection and few have seen it in person but those that have have described it as “significant and historically important, containing many rarities.
Warren Knaust died of natural causes on Sunday, Sept. 19, at his home in St. Petersburg, Florida at the age of 85. His personal collection, stored in a secure, climate controlled vault in the original Iron Mountain Livingston County, New York location has never been seen since. Only Warren had the access information to the vault and it was not mentioned in his will nor disclosed to anyone. It has been decided that shutting down services, such as fire, electrical and climate control infrastructure, in order to attempt access to the vault could potentially damage other items in linked storage vaults. Brute force methods such as drilling or the use of explosives have also been ruled out.
One can only imagine what may be found in the walls of that vault but it will keep collectors wondering for a long, long time to come.
*Note: This is, of course, fiction. While the history and details of Iron Mountain is true the idea that Warren Knaust was an avid stamp collector and his collection is somehow lost within Iron Mountain was created for entertainment purposes only. It was also to see who, if anyone, actually reads anything I write until the end.
Aitutaki is a tiny island in the South Pacific. It is one of the Cook Islands and is a dependency of New Zealand.
The original name was Ararau ‘Enua O Ru Ki Te Moana but no one could pronounce that so they renamed it Aitutaki which means ‘to keep the fire going’. (kidding).
One of the oldest cities in Indonesia, Palembang is located by the Musi River.
In 1619 the Dutch East India company established a trading post there to capitalize on the Spice Trade. Until 1821, when the dutch assumed control of Palembang, the coins issued were from the local Sultanate.
The walled city of Palembang with its three fortresses in 1682.
Tension mounted between the Dutch and the locals, peaked in 1657 when a Dutch ship was attacked in Palembang. The Dutch East India company launched a punitive expedition in 1659 which burned the city to the ground.
Antique Print of the Naval Battle near Palembang (Sumatra) by J.A. Lütz (c.1823)
Coinage of Palembang is a somewhat overlooked area of coin collecting. However there are many issues and variations to keep a collector busy. They are rarely seen in coin shows or in collections. For example, this lot had an estimate of $2000 and sold for $8500.
A group of 3 of the most common, graded VF, realized $213 in CNG’s 10/12 auction; a 6-piece group of common types, brought $299, Teutoburger 2/14.
Starting in the 1400’s were cast from locally mined tin alloyed with lead. They appear uniface (that is the imprint only appears on one side) and are in Arabic script. The castings were on “trees” similar to how Chinese coins were cast. In fact there are many similarities to Chinese coins and it may be the original coin makers were influenced by Chinese travelers in the area.
The coins are broken off the “trees” and it is common they retain a nub from the stem. Some coins are well made. Others can be rough. Some can have a smooth surface, some a rough textured surface. There are also privately made coins (made with the permission of the Sultan) and unofficial coins which, if discovered, would cost the creator their hands.
The coins are known as “pitis” or “tin pitis”. Varieties with holes at the center are called “pitis teboh” and ones without a hole are called “pitis bountou”. Again, like Chinese cash coins it is likely they were carried on strings and the unholed ones in boxes.
These coins are crude and there are errors including missing dates, backwards dates and such. Also coins can come round or octagonal. Since they are a soft metal (tin) they are easily bent and can be straightened. Additionally Number 6 is a copper coin but quite rare. Coins tend to be small.
The dates on the coins follow the Islamic calendar which begins in 622 AD with Mohammad’s Hijra (AH – After Hijra). The names of rulers do not appear on the coins but can be inferred by the dates on the coins. Coins are generally ordered by dates of Sultanate and range from 1749 to 1804. To calculate dates using the western calendar subtract 3% from the AH date and add 622. Rarity ratings are R1 for common to R10 for rare.
It’s also helpful to be able to read Arabic Numerals so here’s a handy, dandy chart:
The zero appears on these coins as a small “O” rather than a dot; and the 6 can be written like a Western “7” (or reversed Arabic 2). Diameters given in millimeters (“mm”). Catalog numbers are Robinson numbers (Rob). The main integer denotes major type followed by a decimal number denoting variation.
Kajang boats were widely used for transportation in Musi River during colonial times.
These uncommon coins are rarely seen and this particular group was found a long time ago by divers in the Musi River. Examples below:
Undated (Believed to be AH1163 = 1750) “Alamat bilad Palembang”
Rob 4.0, R1
Muhammad Bahudin AH1193 = 1779 “Sultan fi beled Palambang sanat 1193”
Rob 5.0, R2
Rob 5.11, R8 Date: 1193
Rob 5.2, R1 Distinctive crude surface with central casting button.
Rob 5.5, R1
Rob 5.8, R4
AH1200=1786 “Al-sultan fi beed Palembang sanat 1200”
Ile Rouad, presently known as Arwad, is located two miles south of the coast of Latakia, Syria.
Arwad Island also called Arados, Arvad, Arpad, Arphad, Antiochia, Rouad, and Ruad Island is Syria’s only inhabited island. The island is no bigger than 0.2 km2 with being 800 meters from northwest to southeast corner and about 500 meters wide.
The island was settled in the early 2nd millennium BC by the Phoenicians. Under Phoenician control, it became an independent kingdom called ArvadAradus, and it´s thought that it was one of the very first of the first known examples of a republic.
In 1910, the explorer Knud Rasmussen established a missionary and trading post in north-western Greenland, which he named “Thule” (later Qaanaaq).
Thule has given its name to the northernmost United States Air Force airfield, Thule Air Base in northwest Greenland, and to the smaller lobe of Kuiper belt object 486958 Arrokoth, visited by the New Horizons spacecraft (No stamps from there… yet).
The first European to arrive in the area was William Baffin, for whom Baffin Bay was named in 1616. While in the area, Baffin named several places, such as Wolstenholme Fjord, Smith Sound, and Wolstenholme Island. Thule had few other visitors until the late 1800s. The first group of Europeans to spend the winter in the area was the crew of the ship North Star. The bay is named after this ship.
