The Winton M. Blount Postal History Symposia - Smithsonian ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

7 2 • s m i t h s o n i a n c o n t r i b u t i o n s t o h i s t o ry a n d t e c h n o l o g yFigure 1. Envelope posted aboard the Australian light cruiser HMAS Hobart on September 2,1945, the day the instrument of surrender was signed aboard USS Missouri. From the collectionof Janet Klug.Australia, whose war efforts against the Japanese hadindeed been formidable, presented a winning case for Australianleadership in Japan, and BCOF came under thecommand of Royal Australian Army Lieutenant GeneralJohn Northcott, who was recalled after four months tobecome governor of New South Wales. Northcott wasreplaced by Royal Australian Army Lieutenant GeneralHorace “Red Robbie” Robertson, who remained BCOFcommander through the end of 1951.The internal BCOF negotiations delayed BCOF deployment.Months passed, and the Australian- dominatedBCOF did not arrive in Japan until February 1946. It wasthe dead of winter, and most of the forces had been awaitingdeployment in tropical holding areas in Northern Australia,Borneo, Malaya, and India. 6military. Coincidently, these necessities of life were alsoneeded by the local Japanese survivors of the Hiroshimaattack (Figure 2).This created a perfect formula for trouble. Add a suddeninflux of abundant military supplies, plus extremelocal need, plus ingenious, underpaid soldiers, and all ofthat equals a thriving black market where “acquisitioned”military goods were sold to locals. Although both BCOFThe Black MarketBCOF forces arrived in Japan ill equipped for the coldweather. To make matters worse, BCOF was assigned theHiroshima prefecture, where conditions were bleak. Themilitary squarely addressed the occupation force needswith shiploads of supplies necessary for basic survival.Food, warm clothes and blankets, tents and shelters,water, vehicles . . . all of these things were required by theFigure 2. Hiroshima in 1946. From the collection of Janet Klug.
n u m b e r 5 5 • 7 3and U.S. administrations attempted to control currencyexchanges through the use of military scrip, the AustralianBCOF contingent found a loophole (Figure 3).It is at this point that postage stamps became an instrumentto facilitate the black market.It’s All About Postage StampsThere were nineteen Australian military post officesin Japan. 7 The bases served the Australian military’smailing needs by selling then- current Australian regularissue postage stamps. The face values of the stamps thatwere stocked by the military post offices were those mostneeded for both concessionary and non- concessionaryrates and fees available to the military, that is, half penny,one penny, threepence, sixpence, one shilling, two shillingand five shilling values.Australian military serving in Japan could send lettershome to Australia by surface mail for free. This concessionaryrate remained in effect for the duration of theoccupation. Stamps were needed for airmail, registration,parcels, and non- concessionary overseas mail. 8Those members of the military who were engaged inblack market activities discovered they could convert theirillegal black market windfalls into currency by legally purchasingpostage stamps from the base post office usingmilitary scrip, then sending the stamps home to friends orfamily in Australia. Once the stamps arrived in Australia,the recipients could take them to their local post office and“cash them in” for face value, less 5%. This long- standingAustralia Post policy accommodated individuals and corporationsthat had acquired unneeded surplus postage.Thus, Australian postage stamps became a key ingredientin maintaining the thriving black market.By September 1946, BCOF command reviewed waysto eliminate the black market. Command’s idea was tooverprint all of the postage stamps sold by the Australianmilitary post offices, making the stamps invalid foruse outside Japan so they would have no exchange valuewithin Australia.In October 1, 1946, four proof sheets of overprintsconsisting of three lines of serif type and one proof sheetof san- serif type in three lines were made under militarysupervision at the Hiroshima Printing Company. 9Serif Type OverprintsTwo BCOF officers and the managing director of theHiroshima Printing Company co- signed and dated thefour serif- type proof sheets. Two of the four sheets wereprinted entirely in gray- black type. One of the sheets wasprinted in red type. The final sheet was printed with theleft “pane” in a color called “gold” but actually brownishand the right “pane” in red (Figure 4).a) b)Figure 3. a) One- shilling value British Military Authority payment certificate scrip note. Allied Occupation scrip notes produced by the U.S.government were also circulated by occupation personnel. b) Scrip tokens created by the Australian Canteen Services (ACS) were used by AustralianBCOF troops to purchase refreshments in ACS canteens. From the collection of Janet Klug.
Page 1 and 2:
Smithsonian InstitutionScholarly Pr
Page 3 and 4:
smithsonian contributions to histor
Page 5:
ContentsLETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR OF
Page 9:
AcknowledgmentsThe symposium would
Page 12 and 13:
2 • s m i t h s o n i a n c o n t
Page 14 and 15:
Page 16 and 17:
Page 18 and 19:
Page 20 and 21:
1 0 • s m i t h s o n i a n c o n
Page 22 and 23:
1 2 • s m i t h s o n i a n c o n
Page 25 and 26:
“Little Colored Bits of Paper”C
Page 27 and 28:
n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 7as something
Page 29 and 30:
n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 9protest came
Page 31 and 32: n u m b e r 5 5 • 2 1nals I revie
Page 33 and 34: WWI Philatelic Censuses of East Afr
Page 35 and 36: n u m b e r 5 5 • 2 5Table 1. GEA
Page 37 and 38: n u m b e r 5 5 • 2 7Figure 5. MA
Page 39 and 40: Explorations in the Official Regist
Page 41 and 42: n u m b e r 5 5 • 3 1receipts. De
Page 43 and 44: n u m b e r 5 5 • 3 3TABLE 2. Pop
Page 45 and 46: n u m b e r 5 5 • 3 5different ge
Page 47: Introduction to the Second Symposiu
Page 50 and 51: 4 0 • s m i t h s o n i a n c o n
Page 59 and 60: “Food Will Win the War”: Motor
Page 61 and 62: n u m b e r 5 5 • 5 1business tha
Page 63 and 64: n u m b e r 5 5 • 5 3support for
Page 65 and 66: n u m b e r 5 5 • 5 53. “Postal
Page 67: n u m b e r 5 5 • 5 7“Farmers W
Page 81: Picking Up the Pieces: The Aftermat
Page 85 and 86: n u m b e r 5 5 • 7 5September, 1
Page 87 and 88: n u m b e r 5 5 • 7 7Figure 9. Th
Page 89: n u m b e r 5 5 • 7 9“B.C.O.F.
Page 101: Introduction to the Fourth Symposiu
Page 110 and 111: 1 0 0 • s m i t h s o n i a n c o
Page 131 and 132: “Why Is a Raven Like a Writing De
Page 133 and 134:
n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 2 3and prepai
Page 135 and 136:
n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 2 5Figure 3.
Page 137 and 138:
n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 2 7Figure 5.
Page 139 and 140:
n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 2 9A Final No
Page 141 and 142:
America’s First Carrier Service:T
Page 143 and 144:
n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 3 3Figure 3.
Page 145 and 146:
n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 3 5The glazed
Page 147 and 148:
n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 3 7Intercity
Page 149 and 150:
n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 3 9The End of
Page 151 and 152:
The U.S. 1847 Issue:Stamps That Cha
Page 153 and 154:
n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 4 3the positi
Page 155 and 156:
n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 4 5stamps as
Page 157 and 158:
From the Pulpit to the Post: Anti-
Page 159 and 160:
n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 4 9The allege
Page 161 and 162:
n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 5 1Individual
Page 163:
n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 5 337. Archiv
Page 166 and 167:
1 5 6 • s m i t h s o n i a n c o
Page 168 and 169:
1 5 8 • s m i t h s o n i a n c o
Page 170 and 171:
1 6 0 • s m i t h s o n i a n c o
Page 172 and 173:
1 6 2 • s m i t h s o n i a n c o
Page 174 and 175:
1 6 4 • s m i t h s o n i a n c o
Page 176 and 177:
1 6 6 • s m i t h s o n i a n c o
show all

The Winton M. Blount Postal History Symposia - Smithsonian ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?