It has always been surprising, that until now, Swaziland unlike most other colonial African countries never renamed themselves on independence. For example, Bechuanaland became Botswana, Basutoland became Lesotho, Southern Rhodesia is now Zimbabwe, etc.
On a somewhat related note; in 2004 a joint issue mini-sheet was released by SAPOA (Southern Africa Postal Operators Association) countries. Some countries issued a very limited number of these attractive sheetlets, for example Zambia issued only 3000, Malawi 2000 and right at the bottom of the list with only 1000 issued was Swaziland.
As I only became aware of this joint issue some months after release I thought that I had missed the boat especially with regard to Swaziland. Nevertheless, determined to get my hands on a sheetlet I emailed the philatelic section of Swaziland Posts and Telecommunications to ask if they had any sheetlets left, and if so what would the cost be for 2 of these as well an FDC posted to Canada.
A few days later I received a response requesting that I send US$10 cash to the attention of the person who responded and in return, depending on the prevailing exchange rate, he would send me an unspecified number of sheetlets and FDCs.
I was a bit taken aback by this unorthodox arrangement but nevertheless went ahead and popped a US$10 banknote into the post half expecting that to be the end of it.
A few months later, not having heard anything I emailed him once or twice to ask if the money had arrived but my emails went unanswered. I eventually chalked it up to experience and moved on to better things.
About a year later a large brown official envelope with the words "On His Majesty's Service" boldly emblazoned across the top arrived in the mail. Inside were three of the mini-sheets and two FDCs. Needless to say I was more than a little surprised.
Clive
Posted 04/21/2018 1:19 pm
