Newfoundland Airmail With Swastika In Design

Now, I know that the swastika was a symbol of good luck long before the nazis hijacked it. When I became interested in Newfoundland I picked up some airmails and was somewhat surprised to find that symbol as part of the design of the 1931 $1 C11 C8 stamp. I did find this reference to it.

http://www.rpsc.org/Library/Swastika/Swastika.htm



Apparently there is still a city named Swastika in Ontario.

Thank you for the post. I had wondered about this stamp myself, but never researched it.

Cheers!

Brian

The swastika, by the way, was a symbol of good luck to some American Indian tribes long before the Civil War, and it is a design element found on vintage blankets and pottery.

The top bar on a swastika bends to the right...in the Indian good luck symbol, the top bar bends to the left. It's the mirror image of a swastika. There may be instances of the Indian symbol being the same as a swastika (such as two mirror images in a design, or the reverse side of a tapestry or something) but I am not aware of them.

Aside: Ira Hayes was a Pima Indian and was one of the U.S. Marines who is pictured raising the flag on Iwo Jima (also shown in Scott 929). Pimas did not believe in war and ordinarily did not serve in the military. When Ira was drafted in WWII he asked the tribal elders if he should go or if he should resist. After a day of thought, the elders replied: We hear that a crazy man in Europe has stolen our symbol. We think you should go get it back.

As already stated, yes, the swastika was definitely a symbol of good luck. The Town of Gravenhurst, 14 miles S of me used to have this symbol at their gateway into the town. However, once WW II started, the swastika was later removed.

What I can't understand is, after WW I, the name Berlin, in Ontario was changed to Kitchener. However, there is a town in northern Ontario that still goes by the name "Swastika" to this day.

Here are a couple of scans of the gateway I was referring to.

Chimo

Bujutsu

Great post.

Fascinating history here, including the link and the gate.

For Buck49, a swastika's arms can face either direction; the Indian symbols I have face left, the Nazi symbol faces right.

Well, you learn something every day. I thought swastika was a German word. A little Googling shows it to be from a Sanskrit word. In my previously post, I used "swastika" to mean only the Nazi symbol. I stand corrected. My left/right explanation still holds to the best of my knowledge. There may be other occasional uses. But I was using the word swastika incorrectly.

I believe that the swastika in the opposite direction was spelled 'sawastika' instead of 'swastika'. It is also my understanding that the 'sawastika' had a 'positive' direction, whereas the 'swastika' had a 'negative' direction.

Not 100% sure on this though.

Chimo

Bujutsu

Now comes a cover from my Newfoundland collection of the stamp at the top of the post.

Ironic in a way that a "swastika" stamp was returned to sender. seriously though, at the time, I don't believe the good folks of Newfoundland had any idea of the future terrible nature of the simple.

For those of you who care--this is a first flight cover on June 24, 1939 listed in Air Mails of Canada and Newfoundland as FF-59 or in the NSSC as FF43b)

In my opinion, some really rare cachets/cancels like the "Not Called For", the "Return to Sender" and all the registration markings ("R", blue pencil and numbering"). And a tiny black ink blot on the stamp between the "N" and "E"--what the heck is that?

A sweaty, dirty but tasty little envelope.

tommy, I do not have an answer to your question, but I do like the cover!

I am not sure either Tommy, but, it looks like it might just be a 'flyspeck' variety cause by a foreign object on the plate while the stamp was being printed? I am not aware of any constant varieties for this issue.

That is a very nice cover.

Chimo

Bujutsu

Hope you don't mind me adding a few images in here yakboomer?

I was indexing my postcards and came across this postcard showing a swastika on the Indian teepee. This is a 'novelty' card that opens up. I have shown front and back as well.

Chimo

Bujutsu

I figured I might as well show all the swastika postcards that I have. Only a handful.

Chimo

Bujutsu

Bujutsu, I don't mind in the least. Those postcards are truly interesting. If I had seen those 40 -50 years ago, I would have been really confused. Nazis in the early 1900's? I did not learn of the history of the swastika until the internet came around.

I agree yakboomer, the internet has been a boon for me with all sorts of information on different topics I am interested in.

I was doing some research a few years ago on the swastika and was amazed with the number of sites with history and background of it.

Some ancient cultures also used a variation of the swastika several hundreds of years ago.

Too bad the Nazis had to put a bad mark on it.

Chimo

Bujutsu