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Aside from collecting stamps and paper money of Portugal and colonies (my main collecting focus) I am also very interested in the secessionist states of Biafra, Katanga and South Kasai in Africa.

The history of these break-way states is fascinating and their stamps are readily available and affordable.

For some historical background on each country:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biafra

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Katanga

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Kasai

I am also very interested in Rhodesia and South Vietnam, but that is a story for another day.

While these areas interest me, they have sort of fallen along the wayside for me over the years, as I have focused on Portugal and colonies mostly.

However I have read just about everything I could lay my hands on about both Biafra and Katanga, including fiction and film.

For those of you who may collect banknotes, I highly recommend "The Bank Notes of Biafra" and "The Bank Notes of Katanga" both by Peter Symes.

All three were short-lived countries and their philatelic production was brief, but very interesting and readily obtainable for the most part. Used postal history, on the other hand, is a bit harder to find.

My apologies for using photos, but I do not yet have a scanner.

The State of Katanga seceded from the Congo on July 11th, 1960 and existed until January 15th, 1963 as an independent state. It was headed by Moise Tshombe, a charismatic politician who was connected to the Lunda tribe royal family. Tshombe was elected president of Katanga in August 1960, and declared that "we are seceding from chaos".

Katanga initially overprinted Congo stamps, but soon issues it's own postage.

Overprinted Congolese stamps:



and original Katangan issues:



Katanga also issued first day covers.

Katanga postal stationary I believe was limited to overprinted Congo issues. Used postal covers are highly sought by collectors.

Congolese and Katangan currency. Katanga also issued a 5 Francs gold coins, for sale to collectors.




The 100 Katangese Francs note is from the second series.

The firsts series was of inferior quality printing and all notes had a portrait of Moise Tshombe.

I no longer have any of these in my collection, unfortunately.

They have appreciated in value quite a bit.

The Autonomous State of South Kasai existed very briefly as an autonomous state, from August 8th, 1960 to December 30th, 1961.

It was ruled by Albert Kalonji, a chief of the Luba tribe.

Like Katanga, South Kasai initially overprinted Congo stamps until it could issue it's own designs.



There is also a souvenir sheet, depicting Albert Kalonji.



More information on South Kasai stamps is available here:
http://www.imperial-collection.net/southkasai01.html


Some Congolese stamps:

The Republic of Biafra was a secessionist state in south-eastern Nigeria which existed from May 30th 1967 until it's surrender to Nigerian forces on January 15th 1970.

The secession was lead by the Igbo tribe, based on economic, ethnic, cultural and religious differences with the predominantly Muslim peoples of the northern region of Nigeria.

Biafra was recognized by Gabon, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Tanzania and Zambia.

It received covert help from France and Portugal, and some very adventurous volunteers (like Rolf Steiner, who's book "The Last Adventurer" I highly recommend) and Count Carl Gustaf Ericsson von Rosen (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Gustaf_von_Rosen ).
Biafra's leader was Odumegwu Ojukwu, a military officer of the Igbo tribe and former governor of the eastern region of Nigeria.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._Odumegwu_Ojukwu

The Biafran government issued banknotes and postage stamps. The postage stamps were used mostly within the country. The stamps are not recognized as legitimate by the major stamp catalogs and were not valid for international mail.

Biafran stamps were initially just overprinted Nigerian stamps (overprinted SOVEREIGN BIAFRA), but the newborn country soon issued it's own designs.

The first stamps of Biafra were issued on 5 February 1968. These were printed in Portugal, as were the initial series of bank notes.

This issue consisted of three values honoring Biafran "independence".



and First Anniversary Independence issues





Butterflies and Flowers, Mexico Olympics, 2nd Anniversary of Independence and Papal visit to Africa issues:



A couple of souvenir sheets:

Some Biafran currency;



There was also a silver 1 pound coin, which I no longer have in my collection. I do not believe it ever circulated but was a collector issue.

Bank notes of the first and second series.





and a 1000 Pound bond.


More information on Biafran stamp issues is available here:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/World_Stam ... gue/Biafra

This issue is from Gabon, but has a Biafran connection.



I hope you enjoy this little trip back in time and snapshot of history.

Great overview of these states! Even a few stamps in there I haven't seen before.

If "bond king" Bill Gross had been around during the days that Biafra existed, I wonder if he would have bought any of the Biafran bonds.

The great thing about short-lived places is a collection can cross different fields of collectables, so a display can be both philatelic and numismatic, without becoming 'bogged down' in thousands of pieces.

Now the challenge, to display postal history.

A link with some images of Biafran postal history.

http://www.biafra.de/letters/index.html

Excellent group of collections.

With your specialty in Portugal and Colonies, do you collect the stamps and coins of the Republic of Cabinda?

I do not. As far as I know Cabinda is part of Angola (de facto) and some might argue still a Portuguese protectorate (de jure).

Given the oil there, I am sure everyone under the sun wants to lay claim to it.

The post-independence issues do not interest me much, way too many, and mostly collector focused designs.

I prefer the classics, and the 1950s and 60s issues.

In any case I have not seen any such issues from Cabinda.

I was lotting up some other weird stuff tonight for sale and saw these among it!

http://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=27100

I am guessing these are POSTAL used?

Glen

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Hi Glen
Yes, postal used Katanga is much more common than from Biafra or Sud-Kasai (the rarer of the three in used condition).

Did the UPU recognise these issues?

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Katanga was not a member state of UPU, but it's stamps seemed to be readily accepted on international mail. Maybe due to the fact that initially they were overprinted Congo issues?

Scott does list Katanga issues, but not Biafra. Also a small mystery..

If you search FleaBay at any given time you will find postal history of Katanga. Biafra only rarely, Sud-Kasai I've never found for sale in over 10 years of searching.

I forgot to list a very well done website on the stamps of the Congo, which covers not only Katanga and Kasai, but much more. Highly recommended. It covers issues from the Belgian Congo, Congo, Zaire, Katanga, South Kasai, etc.. every period, with much detail. Even the issues of the Republique Populaire, established in Stanleyville by Gizenga.

http://www.congostamps.com/

Great website .. hope that chap joins up and adds to this thread!

There are also lots of fairly inexpensive error stamps for the Katanga overprints:

On the other hand, non-philatelic covers are not so easy to get. Here are a couple. The international postal rate was 10F, apparently:





This sort of mish-mash of overprinted stamps to make up the rate is typical of the covers I've seen.

Without a doubt actual postal history is harder to find, however of the three, Katanga is the easiest to find used covers for. There are a handful listed on Fleabay now. None for Biafra or Kasai.

Duarte,

You will need to scroll down a bit but Delcampe at Kasai has at least two covers listed.

Best wishes,
Andrew

Thanks Andrew. I just recently started looking on Delcampe. The last time I checked there were none.

great topic and interesting information. I collect Biafra stamps on the side, used to collect Katanga too...

I was wondering, besides Biafra, Katanga & Sud Kasai, were there any other secessionist stamp issues from Africa? From Somalia, Sudan or elsewhere?

Someone mentioned Cabinda, does anyone have Cabinda stamps? Please share the images...

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to reflect on God's creation is very fruitful meditation, and to reflect on Man's beauty of a creation - stamps - is no less either!

The African continent is rife with actual secessions, attempted secessions, liberation movements, unilateral declarations of independence, etc.

One could argue that Rhodesia, Eritrea, Polisario controlled Western Sahara and possibly a few others could be grouped also in the secessionist states.

There are several Kasai related covers up for auction at:

http://www.daviddelhaye.com/en/vente_publique/pays/sud_kasai/lettres.html

Best wishes,
Andrew

Thanks, Andrew. The prices reflect the scarcity of these.

I should have pulled all of the Portugal, Angola, Mozambique covers and the S. Kasai S/S Missionary cover by tomorrow and can send them off to you. You can be sure that I will be asking considerably less for the Kasai cover than the starting price at the auction as above. Do you collect Rhodesia and Eritrea postal history? By coincidence I lived in both countries during the 60s-70s. Actually at the time Eritrea was a province of Ethiopia - thus, my son, Tim who was born in Asmara is called our Ethiopian offspring.

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Bill Clair

Here is a postal used cover from Sud-Kasai I just acquired from a forumer. It uses a souvenir sheet as postage.
Very interesting...
Thanks Bill!

If you ever consider selling I would offer you a good price...

paleograph

That's a nice collection Duarte. I have the Belgian Congo secessionist republics complete and must say, the Leopard issue of South Kasai is my favorite. On the South Kasai overprints on the flower series, they normaly read "Etat autonome du Sud Kasai" but I remember one time seeing flower series overprints reading "Etat minier Sud Kasai" instead of "Etat autonome". I don't know whether these were fake or proofs or whatever. Have you ever seen them?

I echo a similar concern as above - we know that Sud Kasai stamps were secessionist stamps printed by self-proclaimed faction, but are there deliberate errors and variations that were later also printed under the name of Sud Kasai?

I ask this because of such material, look at this Sud Kasai leopard set with Inverted Overprints - is this a genuine error while printing the original propaganda stamps released by the break-away faction or have they been just a philatelic reproduction by someone else altogether at a later point? Are there any catalogues that list these items and record/mention such overprint errors?

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to reflect on God's creation is very fruitful meditation, and to reflect on Man's beauty of a creation - stamps - is no less either!

Although the South Kasai stamps overprinted on Belgian Congo issues were all valid for postage, they were not sold within South Kasai. They were used mostly by philatelists who managed to buy them in Brussels and use them (or have them used) in South Kasai. They are relatively common on philatelic covers, and very rare on genuine, non-philatelic mail. The overprinted Lion issues (3 different overprints) are not listed in any catalogue and to my knowledge, nothing is known about their origin. To me, they are purely philatelic. Still, the high quality of the overprint hints at work done by a good printer, maybe Courvoisier who had printed the basic issue. This could mean that they had been ordered by the South Kasai autorities but remained unissued. Inverted overprints like the ones you have are decidedly rare. Were they made on purpose ? Who is to say, 50 years later...

The basic lion issue was widely used in South Kasai during the few months when South Kasai was autonomous. The Kalonji issue on genuine postally used cover is decidedly rare. I saw only 2 copies on the Kalonji souvenir sheet genuinely used on cover over the past 50 years, one on part of a parcel wrapper to the U.S.A., the other (in my collection) on a missionary letter to the U.S.A.

The Etat Minier overprint is contemporary because I have one copy used on cover in the early 1960's. It can be safely assumed that it is an essay.

Around 2005, Bruce Henderson of New Zealand produced a fake set of South Kasai stamps, showing local scenes and animals.

Thanks for sharing all the information, the overprint reads 'pour les rapatries' meaning 'for returnees'?

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to reflect on God's creation is very fruitful meditation, and to reflect on Man's beauty of a creation - stamps - is no less either!

Yes, it means "for the returnees". The other 2 overprints are for the refugees and the world anti-malaria campaign.

Here is a link to a French-language article that I wrote about the South Kasai stamps for the magazine Philatélie-Québec:

http://www.philateliequebec.com/Numeros ... vue292.pdf

Thank you, I have saved the pdf file of the magazine, it would take some effort to figure out the article in French for me, but I guess it's worth it

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to reflect on God's creation is very fruitful meditation, and to reflect on Man's beauty of a creation - stamps - is no less either!

Oops ! One should never rely on one's memory ! I wrote that one of the overprints was for the refugees, actually it is for the orphans, "pour les orphelins". Sorry...

Could the South African homelands (Bophuthatswana, Ciskei, Transkei, Venda) and the Republic of Somaliland be considered as secessionist states?

I found this several websites on stamps of these states:

Biafra:
Stamps - http://www.africafederation.net/Biafra_Stamps.htm
Banknotes - http://www.africafederation.net/Biafra_Notes.htm
from Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postage_stamps_and_postal_history_of_Biafra

Cabinda:
Stamps - http://www.cabinda.net/Stamps.htm
Coins - http://www.africastamps.org/Coin_Cabinda.htm

Katanga:
http://www.africafederation.net/Katanga_Stamps.htm

South Kasai:
http://www.africafederation.net/Autonomous%20State%20of%20South%20Kasai.htm

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The South African homeland states did not secede, the were "seceded" unilaterally by South Africa. The international community did not recognize South Africa's decision to create these homelands and eventually they were merged back peacefully into South Africa. They did exist for a few years as "independant" states, issued stamps that were postally valid and as such, they are interesting.

Cabinda has a secessionist movement, but the Angolan government holds the Province of Cabinda firmly. The stamps purportedly issued by, or for Cabinda are propaganda labels. Somalia is a different story. The country has been in total chaos for many years. The areas called Puntland and Somaliland, among others, have proclaimed their independance and enjoy a certain degree of autonomy. But most stamps bearing their names are "illegals" and they are not issued by the local aithorities and they have no postal validity. On the other hand, most of the stamps of Biafra, Katanga and South Kasai were postally valid and performed postal duty.

How is this cover (from the link in my earlier post) with Cabinda stamps used in Barbados? Appearantly it's paquebot (and philatelic) but how come there are no markings saying the stamp is invalid or something of that sort?

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Totally invalid because the stamp should have been from the country the ship was registered in.

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Ian Billings - Norvic Philatelics GB stamps info: http://www.norphil.co.uk - also /catalog for our ecommerce site, blog.norphil.co.uk, shop.norphil.co.uk and Ian_norvic on twitter

We had a member here a while back who called himself Cabinda, and whose name according to his posts was Mangovo Nogyo. Mangovo was actually located in the UK.

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=25413&p=1653949

Norm

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Call it "oversight" from the postal authorities, which is common. I posted elsewhere on this forum covers that made it through the post with stamps from Occussi-Ambeno, Tibet, Hutt River Province Principality, the UNITA, Thomond, Sealand... The fact that it made it through the post does not make it postally valid, but it is an interesting conversation piece and a keepsakes for anyone interested in the postal history of Angola, Cabinda or Portuguese Congo...

Some would call it "rubbish", but I say: if you know what it is and you wish to collect it, then do ! You won't win a gold at the international level, but you will enjoy your collection !

Who is to say what is an "official" stamp.
Katanga, South Kasai, Biafra, Transkei, Venda, Bophuthatswana, Ciskei, Rhodesia (Unilateral Declaration of Independence), none of them recognised states, none with UPU recognition, but their stamps were used on international mail.
Is it the listing in a catalogue that make them OK?
If so, what catalogue - Scott, SG, Michel, Yvert, Zumsteim - the lot or a majority?
If the claim is that they all have/had a "government", then so do Sahara, Somaliland, Puntland, UNITA.
Just where does the line get drawn?

Ralph

SG lists all of them, although the 'propaganda' stamps of Biafra, Katanga and South Kasai are not listed. Technically they were independent states for a period of time - on the other hand Cabinda was never independent (as mentioned earlier in this thread).

As the South African homelands (Ciskei etc.), Biafra and Rhodesia came out of British Commonwealth nations, there is some demand for them and they are listed in Commonwealth catalogues.

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Is it not also an issue of whether there was actual postage use? Rhodesia for example in the UDI period, although a 'rebel' state had lots of post in and out of the country and had an efficient internal postal system. And lasted 1965-1980. (I note Rhodesia for a brief period - 2 years?- was independent after the Rhodesia Nyasaland confederation and before UDI.)

I can certainly understand your way of thought on this, but......for example why would a little state like Ajman (I know it's not in Africa) issue 3,000 stamps in less than 10 years? I'm sure that 95% of thieir material never even saw the Gulf, never mind being used philatelicaly. Yet they are in the catalogue (Michel at least), so they are official or not?

If I may butt in, I would say: of course, they are, or at least most of them are. The criteria should be: is there a government, is there a postal service, will the stamps carry a letter throughout the world ? If the answer is yes, it matters not whether the government is recognized (think of the Turkish Federated State of Cyprus, or Nagorno-Karabakh), or whether the stamps are printed and distributed by an outside agency. If you stick it unto a letter and you drop the letter in a mailbox in the country, will it be carried to its destination, either because the issuing country is a member of the U.P.U, or because it has an agreement with a complacent neighbour ? If yes, it qualifies as a postage stamp.

Should you collect it ? That will be your own personal decision based on your own personal criteria. Some members of this Board will collect only the classics of yesterday, some will collect topicals, or plate blocks, or First Day Covers, some like me will collect the unusual, what counts is that you should know the exact status of what you are buying. Be informed. And enjoy !

BY the way, during the time of Rhodesian UDI I was living in England and received a letter from there. I had to pay the postage due fees as the GPO did not accept the stamps on the letter as legal. However, the catalogues accept them.
I know that this is not Africa, but using the criteria that it is a legal postage stamp if a complacent neighbour allows it through means that the State of Oman and Dhufar stamps are legal, because Jordan allowed their passage.
I gave up collecting official countries years ago because I found this material and the stories behind it a great deal more interesting.

The case of Oman and Dhufar is different: there was no post office in the so-called "State of Oman", nor in the "Green Mountain Principality" (a "dependency" of the "State of Oman") or in Dhufar where you could drop a letter franked with their stamps. But I agree that they are collectible because the State of Oman and Green Mountain Principality stamps had postal validity, although it was confined to the personal use of Tadros and his friends... As to Dhufar, only the first issue did postal duty, and only on the day of issue. Thanks to Joachim, we know a lot more about these issues.

Oman; at the time ( I may be wrong Joachim) I think Oman was not a member of the UPU and perhaps not of the APU. So, in that case, the issue of 'legal' becomes interesting.

' Rhodesian UDI I was living in England and received a letter from there. I had to pay the postage due fees as the GPO did not accept the stamps'

Two aspects of Rhodesian UDI--

one, the UK only 'banned' any stamps with the word 'independence'; they allowed all others for a while.
two, later they banned the lot.

I can check details, but I think the principle is important first.