Members of the Lanarkshire Philatelic Society were taken on a trip to South America – without leaving local soil.
Guest speaker Dr David Cumming gave a “fascinating insight” into history as he presented the display Argentina Revisited at the group’s latest meeting.
Dr Cumming explained that Argentina is “very possessive of the land it deems belongs to them”.
The first stamps presented (1936 to 1953) depicted maps showing South Adriatic and Antarctic Claims, followed by stamps with further maps of the Argentinian expedition to the South Pole.
More maps showcased a complete view of Argentina and the Antarctic claims, including the Falkland Islands, which they continue to claim as their property.
Various stamps highlighted Argentinian Antarctic bases – and Dr Cumming informed Society members that these bases were large, complete with a shop, church and school.
Dr Cumming then flagged up how after the Falklands War in 1982, Argentina faced heavy economic problems.
This led to changes in currency of the country, with the Austral replacing the Peso in 1985.
In 1991, the currency changed to equal value to the US Dollar, and went back to the Peso a year later.
But the economy was still troubled and through the following years, prices rose beyond the reach of the ordinary citizen.
As shown by Dr Cumming, beautiful stamps were issued – flower definitives, traditional musical instruments, tourism etc – but fewer appeared each year.
Walter Simpson gave a vote of thanks to Dr Cumming for his “excellent talk and for presenting a most interesting display”.
The Society’s next meeting will be held on Friday, November 8, in Hamilton’s Caledonian Bowling Club at 1.30pm.
Two members will present displays – Iain English ( Serbia 1860 to 1918 ) and Derek Wiltshire ( World War 1 East Africa ).
Anyone with an interest in stamps, postal history or postcards is “very welcome to attend”; further details of the Society’s programme is available online.
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