A letter to Princess Fatemeh Pahlavi

As I collect stamps from Iran, this was one of my lucky finds.

A letter to Princess Fatemeh Pahlavi, a half-sister of the late shah of Iran. She was the elder daughter of Reza Shah, the father of the last Shah of Iran and Reza’s fourth wife, Princess Esmat-ol-Moluk Dowlatshahi.

This letter was written in 1946 by the mother Princess Esmat to her daughter Princess Fatemeh, when Fatemeh studied at the Masters School in Dobbs Ferry, near New York city.

This is a picture showing the daughter (second to the right) next to her mother (third to the right).

This is her father Reza Shah, on stamps.

This is Princess Fatemeh Pahlavi in the 1950’s.

She engaged to an American Entrepreneur from California, Vincent Lee Hillyer, who chooses to convert to Islam. He then adopted the name Ali, so that the Princess could maintain her royal Prerogatives. The couple had three children before divorcing in 1959.

Later that year, the Princess married Iran's air force commander, Gen. Muhammad Khatami, with whom she had two sons. The general was killed in a flying accident in 1975. Princess Fatemeh died at the age of 58 in London in 1987.

The Masters School still exists and is thriving.

See http://www.mastersny.org/about-us/index.aspx

Solidarité Haïti - a new French stamp

Seen this weekend in the French postoffice.

Meeting Aerien Vincennes 1924

Imagine what it must have been like to attend an air show in the beginning of the 20th century. An exiting event! The stamp lovers jumped on the occasion and special "stamps" were created. Some are still to be found. Here is an example of the event that took place 1924 in Vincennes, France.





This one was sent to Mr. Forbin in Paris. Alfred J. Forbin (1872-1956) was a pioneering French stamp dealer who wrote an all-world catalogue of revenue stamps that has never been surpassed. Forbin started as a stamp dealer in 1890 and in 1900 he opened a shop in the Rue Druot in Paris. Later he was at 24 Rue de Milan, 80 Rue Saint-Lazare and 35 Rue de Berne. In 1902, Théodore Champion, his employee and the best man at his wedding, purchased the business from Forbin who afterwards concentrated on fiscal stamps. Forbin's Catalogue de Timbres-Fiscaux was the most comprehensive all-world catalogue of revenue stamps produced up to that time and is still regularly referred to by revenue philatelists as no other all-world catalogue has been prepared since Forbin's third edition in 1915.

And two others from the same event:

Here is one from Geneva, Switzerland.