Shown here is the 2017 local stamp issue for Coquet Island, Northumberland. The 2017 issue is a very limited commemorative issue, overprinted on a 2016 issue, to mark the elimination of a rogue rat which had threatened the breeding season of the rare roseate tern colony.

No one knows exactly how Roland the Rat got to the remote island. Some believe he stowed away on the ship and escaped other believe he swum there. He was nicknamed Roland the Super Rat because he manages to survive in harsh conditions and because he is very large. Birds disappeared from an area of the island and eventually his lair was found. He, however, was nowhere to be seen.

Coquet Island is known for it’s population of Puffins and the Roseate terns and their breeding season was approaching. During breeding season visitors are not allowed to land on the island and crews are assigned to protect the breeding areas around the clock via CCTV Cameras and inspections.

After three months, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) which manages Coquet Island searched for the rodent with no success. They set traps traps with baitssuch as pork pies, pâté, fish, Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate, smelly cheese and even the musk of another male rat. At every turn, Roland the Super Rat avoided capture. Finally Great Britain decided to pit it’s impressive military might against the beast.

The Duke of Northumberland sent in two of his best dogs which were quickly deposited on the island. Surveying the island, the lead dog, Ben, used his superior olfactory senses to ferret out the furry monster. After a short but high speed chase Ben, a one-year-old Patterdale terrier who does not like to be called by his full name, Benjamin, put the vile creature out of his misery.

Such is the stuff of Legends. Songs will be sung, poems written and plays performed. The groundskeeper, a weathered man with a raspy voice who they call “Mr. Morrison” has worked on the island for 33 years has stated that no rat had been reported previously on the island in records going back to 1841.

He said: “We tried everything but the rat’s tastes were not what we were offering. “We needed to catch it because otherwise you could kiss the last roseate tern colony goodbye. One rat would just take all the eggs.”

Thus ends the tale of Roland the Super Rat and the stamp which bears his name. May he rest in peace and eat all the tern eggs he wants in rat heaven.

And, yes, while strictly not a postage stamp, more a Cinderella, I think it deserves a place here for having an interesting story behind it.

Two stamps I will probably never own!

The United States issued its first postage stamps on July 1, 1847. The stamps were designed by the artist John Vanderlyn and printed by the firm of Rawdon, Wright, Hatch, and Edson. The stamps were issued in two denominations: a five-cent stamp featuring a portrait of Benjamin Franklin, and a ten-cent stamp featuring a portrait of George Washington.

The stamps were printed in sheets of 200, with each stamp measuring about one inch by three-quarters of an inch. They were printed in black ink on bluish paper, with the words “U.S. Post Office” and the denomination printed in large letters.

The 5-cent stamp was intended for use on letters weighing less than one-half ounce that were sent over a distance of up to 300 miles. The 10-cent stamp was for letters weighing less than one-half ounce that were sent over a distance of more than 300 miles. These first stamps were used primarily for the transportation of letters and documents, which was a crucial means of communication and commerce in the mid-19th century.

The design of the stamps was simple and elegant, with the portraits of Franklin and Washington surrounded by decorative lettering and border. The stamps were an instant success, with people eager to use these new symbols of national identity and efficiency.

Over the years, the United States has issued many more stamps with a wide variety of designs and themes, from famous Americans and national landmarks to pop culture icons and historical events. But the first stamps remain an important milestone in the history of American postal service and a reminder of the power of a small piece of paper to connect people across vast distances.

I figured I would be amiss if I did not write a post about this, the worlds rarest stamp.

The world’s most expensive stamp is the British Guiana One-Cent Magenta. It was printed in 1856 in the British colony of Guiana, which is now the independent country of Guyana.

The stamp was created as a temporary solution when a shipment of official postage stamps failed to arrive from Great Britain. The local postmaster hastily commissioned a batch of one-cent stamps featuring a simple design of a sailing ship and the colony’s motto, “Damus Petimus Que Vicissim,” which means “we give and expect in return.”

Only one example of the British Guiana One-Cent Magenta is known to exist, making it incredibly rare and valuable. The stamp was rediscovered in 1873 by a young collector named L. Vernon Vaughan and it changed hands many times over the years, eventually being bought by wealthy collectors and investors.

In 2014, the stamp was sold at auction for a record-breaking price of $9.5 million, making it the most expensive stamp ever sold. The buyer was an anonymous bidder who was willing to pay an astronomical sum for this rare and historic stamp.

Today, the British Guiana One-Cent Magenta remains one of the most sought-after stamps in the world, with a value that far exceeds its humble origins as a makeshift stamp for a British colony. It is a testament to the enduring fascination and allure of postage stamps, and the passion that collectors have for these small but fascinating pieces of history.

I am not a big fan of modern stamps. I try not to focus on anything past 1960 although my collection is starting to accumulate stamps past it. I don’t really go for the stamps who promote things like movies or celebrities but a stamp is a stamp and sometimes there’s a story to tell.

Back in 1981 when E.T. was in production the screenwriter, Melissa Mathison, wrote that M&Ms, then one of the most popular candies was also to be one of E.T.’s favorites.

The management disagreed saying “We don’t want an alien eating our candy” an “It might frighten kids”. They turned them down.

Still looking for a product placement substitute they turned to Hershey and specifically to Reese’s Pieces. Hersey paid nothing for product placement and agreed to cross promote the movie in their advertising for $1 million dollars.

E.T. went on to win 4 Academy awards and Reese’s Pieces sales skyrocketed. At the time it was called “The biggest marketing coup in history”.

Embarrassed by their decision, Mars, Inc. would go on to try and outdo it by placing M&Ms on the U.S. Space Shuttle and Spaceship One.

I originally posted this on Facebook but decided to put it here as well.

Useless stamp factoid of the day. Burma Shave, which was famous for it’s roadside advertising poems in the 1930’s, was named after the country of Burma because it was originally a liniment whose ingredients were imported from there.

I would write this stuff on my stamp blog but no one visits there so…. I will leave you with 2 original Burma Shave poems.

Does your husband
Misbehave
Grunt and grumble
Rant and rave
Shoot the brute some
Burma-Shave

No matter
How you slice it
It’s still your face
Be humane
Use
Burma-Shave

Burma is now called, Myanmar and this stamp feature a large bell which is frequently called “The Liberty Bell” (No, not the one in Philadephia) but is more properly identified as the Mingun Bell which is presently located in Mingun, Sagaing, Myanmar.

I had originally posted I believed it to be the Great Bell of Dhammazedi, the largest cast bell to ever have been made. At 327.5 tons, it was stolen by a Portuguese warlord and was lashed to a raft tied to the back of his ship. The bell fell off the raft, sunk to the bottom of the river and is thought to be buried there in 25 feet of mud. As a humorous aside, the warlord’s ship was also sunk by the bell. Later he would be captured and impaled on a stake.

I was wrong. Very wrong.

Based on the photo I recently found I believe it is the Mingun Bell. The cross brace and figurines astride the top of the bell look more like the one depicted in the stamp.

The Mingun bell is 97.5 tons (199,999 pounds) and while no slouch in the huge bell department certainly can not compare to the Great Bell of Dhammazedi (which had a much more interesting story).

It was knocked down in 1893 by an earthquake so I wouldn’t let your kids play under it.

It is not the biggest nor the heaviest bell. That title goes to the Bell of Good Luck located in Foquan Temple in Pingdingshan, Henan, China. It is close to the Spring Temple Buddha, the world’s tallest Buddha statue. It comes in at 116 tons.

But wait, there’s more. The Bell of Good Luck is the largest WORKING bell. The largest bell title, although not working, goes to the Tsar Bell in Moscow. While making the Tsar Bell a fire broke out in May 1737. Workers threw cold water on the bell to put out the fire and cracked it in 11 places.

The wooden supports holding the bell up also burned and it fell back into the casting pit. The Tsar Bell remained in its pit for almost a century. Unsuccessful attempts to raise it were made in 1792 and 1819. Napoleon Bonaparte, during his occupation of Moscow in 1812, considered removing it as a trophy to France, but was unable to do so. It was too heavy. Finally in 1936 it was lifted out an put on a pedestal.

My apologies, again, for the mis-attribution (is that a word? Almost every temple in Burma (Myanmar) has a bell and I could find no explanation on what the stamp depicted.

To wrap things up, there was a tongue-in-cheek MAD Magazine article “Postage Stamp Advertising” where the concept was, ads could be placed on stamps to supplement the beleaguered US Postal Service. This is one of them.

Vasco da Gama was a Portuguese nobleman who was born around 1460. His father was the Governor of Sines, Portugal. Teixeira de Aragao, a Portuguese historian, suggested that he studied at the inland town of Evora, where he learned mathematics and navigation and he may have studied under the astrologer and astronomer, Abraham Zacuto .

On July 8, 1497, Vasco da Gama led a fleet of four ships with a crew of 170 men from Lisbon, Portugal in search of trade routes. The four ships sailed a distance of more than 10,000 kilometres for over three months. On the voyage two ships were lost and only 55 men returned.

Da Gama set sail on the first European voyage to India. On his journey, he made stops at Mozambique, Mombasa and Malindi. His voyage opened the first all-water trade route between Europe and Asia.

Vasco da Gama spent March 2nd to March 29th of 1498 on Mozambique. Fearing unfriendliness from the local population, da Gama impersonated a Muslim. Da Gama sent the Indian king four cloaks of scarlet cloth, six hats, four branches of corals, a box with seven brass vessels, a chest of sugar, two barrels of oil and a cask of honey. The kings men burst out laughing, pointing out that even the poorest Arab merchants knew that nothing less than pure gold was admissible at court. The kings stated that they could sell as ordinary merchants in the marketplace should they wish and dismissed them.

The local population became suspicious of da Gama and his men. This forced them to flee Mozambique, firing cannons into the city on their way out.

Arab traders had been trading in the area for years prior to da Gama’s arrival and the Chinese explorer Admiral Zheng He had landed there no less than seven times with up to 250 ships manned by 28,000 soldiers. It is not surprising that the King was not impressed.

The fleet arrived in Kappadu near Calicut, India, on May 20, 1498. After his reception at Mozambique, da Gama was nervous about leaving the ship so he sent a few of the lesser crew members out to swim ashore to read the mood of the natives. Later he was to go ashore himself in a very theatrical, choreographed entrance.

Vasco da Gama left Calicut (now Kozhikode) on August 29, 1498
Vasco da Gama commanded two more fleets to India.

His fleet on the second voyage consisted of 20 armed ships.

As is common, history tends to distort reality and ignore the cruelty that was the norm at the time. Da Gama was known to loot unarmed Arab ships including one carrying 400 pilgrims including 50 women and children. After taking what he wanted he locked them in the ship and set the ship on fire.

Another story has it that during his visit to Calicut he demanded that the King expel every Muslim from India. The King would refuse. In retaliation Vasco da Gama bombarded the city destroying many houses. He captured the crew of a rice vessel and cut off their hands, nose and ears.  The King sent a priest to speak to Vasco da Gama but da Gama called him a spy and cut off his lips and ears. He then proceeded to sew a pair of dog ears onto his head.

While he is known as hero, he became one at the cost of innocent lives. In spite of all the time he spent away from home he managed to have six sons and a daughter. There is a crater on the moon named Vasco da Gama.

Reunion, 1933, Scott 131, 10c, “Salazie Waterfall”

Salazie Waterfall, locate in Reunion, is now called Brides Veil Falls most likely renamed to attract tourists with the below associated legend.

Many years ago, a rich man fell in love with a poor but beautiful, young girl. The girls’s father opposed the relationship but, despite the father’s robjection, they still decided to marry.

Upon learning this the father of the bride entered the church where the ceremony was taking place and, armed with a saber, tried to kill the groom.

Fleeing the church, the bride slipped and fell from the mountain. Her veil was said to have hung from the rocks as she plummeted into the canyon. The groom is said to have sat there and wept, his tears falling and forming the waterfall.

A similar legend, and waterfall, is the tallest free-falling falls in Colorado is also called Brides Veil Falls. Utah, Oregon and North Carolina also have them. Seems as if lots of brides fall into waterfall lined chasms on their wedding day.

The crown of Portugal appears in the first stamps of Angola in 1870-1877. Interestingly, they aren’t the originals. The crown jewels of Portugal have been sold off and stolen quite a few times.

In 1581 King António ( he was King of Portugal for 33 days in 1580) fled to France after King Philip I was made the King of Portugal and took the crown jewels with him. His plan was to reclaim the throne of Portugal and depose Philip I, To do so he wanted Frances support and sold or gave them some of the pieces. Things didn’t work out the way he would have liked and he ended up selling all of them.

During the Portuguese Restoration War, João II of Braganza sold many of the Portuguese Crown Jewels to finance the war with Spain and in 1755 the Great Lisbon earthquake destroyed Lisbon and the Paço da Ribeira, the Portuguese royal residence of the time. With the destruction of the palace, innumerable pieces of the Portuguese Crown Jewels of the time were destroyed, lost, or stolen.

The crown shown on the stamp is from the reign of John VI of Portugal (1818 – 1825) who had it remade. John VI was a bizarre man. He hated physical activity, suffered bouts of depression, suffered panic attacks when he heard thunder and barricading himself in his room with the windows shut. He also lived in his coat, refusing to take it off and even slept in it. Seamstresses would mend it while he slept in it.

In 2002 a large part of the Portuguese Crown Jewels were stolen from the Museon in The Hague, where they were on loan for an exhibition on European Crown Jewels. They have not been retrieved and the Dutch government paid a six million euros to the Portuguese government for reparation. Since then the Portuguese Crown Jewels are currently kept in a secured vault at the Ajuda National Palace, in Lisbon.

A unique feature of the crown is that it is composed only of pure gold and red velvet, without a single precious stone or gem.

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.

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.

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

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.