Broken Heart Carved Coral Castle I found the Josef Pilsudski article in the November 2018 issue of The American Philatelist quite interesting, and reflected on how life can take strange twists and turns. Specifically, I thought of Edward Leedskalnin (1887-1951), a contemporary of Pilsudski’s whose life followed a dramatically different trajectory. Leedskalnin was Estonian. Under the influence of his older brother, he took part in “terrorist activities” against the Russian Empire in the very early 1900s to achieve independence. His brother, as I recall, was arrested as was Edward, and eventually his brother died due to these activities. Fearing for the life of Edward, whose heart was broken at the age of 26 the day before he was to wed, the family sent Edward to the United States. After years of working throughout the United States and Canada, and apparently serving in World War I, Edward built the Coral Castle in South Florida for the young lady who broke his heart. He hoped to win her back, but she never returned. The Coral Castle has been referred to as Florida’s Stonehenge. It has appeared in movies such as Wild Women of Wongo (1958), the children’s musical Jimmy, The Boy Wonder (1966), in programs on The History Channel and as “The Castle of Secrets” in Leonard Nimoy’s “In Search of ” series. The castle also inspired Billy Idol and his 1986 song “Sweet Sixteen.” Though no stamps picture his coral creations, Edward Leedskalnin and his castle have left their mark on deltiology, having appeared on numerous picture postcards. Not bad for someone with a mysterious past whose life began like that of Josef Pilsudski, then took a sharp turn. Juan L. Riera Miami, Florida Too Many Firemen I wish to point out an error in the descriptions of the U.S. First Responders Forever stamps shown and described on pages 1092-93 in the November American Philatelist. The third responder shown is not a fireman with axe; rather it is a policeman with flashlight. Lawrence R. Mead Rochester Hills, Michigan Editor’s Note: Mr. Mead is of course correct; captions for the stamp images on both pages failed to identify the policeman. We regret the error. 10 AMERICAN PHILATELIST / JANUARY <strong>2019</strong> Overestimating North Ingermanland The map accompanying my “Worldwide in a Nutshell” column on North Ingermanland in the November American Philatelist (page 1104) was misleading. While it was a good notional representation of the entire area of historic Ingermanland north of St Petersburg, Russia, it went far beyond the tiny area of the Republic of Ingermanland in 1919. The dozen or so villages which Colonel Elfengren conquered for a couple of months in the summer of 1919 were confined to an area I estimate at about 25 square miles in the far northwestern corner of the red area on the November AP map. By the time North Ingermanland began issuing stamps, it had been reduced to the small Finnish village of Kirjasalo. If you look carefully at the red area of the November map, you will see a small point in the far north. That point jutting into Finland represents the entire area of the stamp-issuing Republic of North Ingermanland in 1919. After the Russo- Finnish Winter War of 1939-40, the Russian border was shifted northward. As a result, whatever remains of Kirjasalo today is about 120 miles inside Russia. The small village of Kirjasalo offered the Ingrians a good defensive position for their “Republic.” As a salient in the Finnish border, only the southern edge faced Bolshevik Russia. A glacial ridge offered the defenders natural protection against Russian attackers. It also helped that the Bolshevik forces had to deal with some higher priority opponents elsewhere. Gazetteers tell us little about the republic. Pre-war Kirjasalo had a couple of hundred inhabitants. I don’t know how many of Col. Elfengren’s 580 volunteers remained to defend the enclave, but I suspect the total population never reached 1,000 and was probably much less. Robert E. Lamb State College, Pennsylvania Editor’s Note: North Ingermanland is shown as a much, much smaller dot of red on this revised map of it during 1919-20. We regret the error. ESTONIA LATVIA FINLAND RUSSIA
“Even though I did have mixed emotions, in retrospect, I am glad my lifelong stamp collection was sold and frankly, I am quite glad it was you who bought it. “You were totally professional in your appraisal. There was no bargaining or dickering. I told you what I thought it should bring and you agreed and wrote out a check for $75,000.” Lawrence Gray Delray Beach, Florida
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