Emil Carl Christiaan Tamsen (2 January 1862 – 30 July 1957) was a South African

philatelist Philately (; ) is the study of postage stamps and postal history. It also refers to the collection and appreciation of stamps and other philatelic products. While closely associated with stamp collecting and the study of postage, it is possible ...

, who was entered on the

Roll of Distinguished Philatelists The Roll of Distinguished Philatelists (RDP) is a Philately, philatelic award of international scale, created by the Philatelic Congress of Great Britain in 1921 to honour those who have advanced philately through research, expertise, or service. ...

in 1921.
Background notes on The Roll of Distinguished Philatelists September 2011
', Roll of Distinguished Philatelists Trust, London, 2011
Archived here.
/ref> He was also a signatory, in 1932, to the

Roll of Distinguished Philatelists of Southern Africa The Philatelic Federation of South Africa (PFSA) is responsible for inviting philatelists to sign the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists of Southern Africa (RDPSA) (originally the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists of South Africa). The roll is ...

. Tamsen was an expert in the stamps of Transvaal, about which he researched and wrote, and he was one of the founders in 1894 of the Johannesburg Philatelic Society.

Early life

Tamsen was born in Naby,

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the Northern Germany, northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of S ...

, Kingdom of Denmark, on 2 January 1862, at that time part of Denmark. He was the son of Franz August Tamsen and Friedericke Schuffman. He emigrated to South Africa as a teenager and during the

First Boer War The First Boer War (, ), was fought from 16 December 1880 until 23 March 1881 between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and Boers of the Transvaal (as the South African Republic was known while under British ad ...

(1880–81), he fought for the British and was part of the garrison that held

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

. He was discharged in 1883, and moved to the Waterberg area of the Northern Transvaal. On arrival, he found there were only 25 families in the area and only two houses at

Nylstroom Modimolle, also known as Nylstroom, is a town located near the southern edge of the Waterberg Massif in Limpopo province, South Africa. It is a medium-sized town that focuses primarily on agriculture and farming (citrus, grapes and cattle) as well ...

where he settled.''Rhodesia: The British South Africa Company first provisional issue 1892'' by E. Kenneth Wright in ''

Gibbons Stamp Monthly ''Gibbons Stamp Monthly'' (''GSM'') is a British philatelic magazine which can trace its roots back to 1890. GSM is published by the famous stamps and collectables firm of Stanley Gibbons and each issue includes updates to their various catalogues ...

'', July 1982, pp. 51–55. He became a naturalised citizen of the

South African Republic The South African Republic (, abbreviated ZAR; ), also known as the Transvaal Republic, was an independent Boer republics, Boer republic in Southern Africa which existed from 1852 to 1902, when it was annexed into the British Empire as a result ...

(the Transvaal Republic or ZAR).

Stamp dealing and collecting

Tamsen was a friend of the

Boer Boers ( ; ; ) are the descendants of the proto Afrikaans-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controlled the Dutch ...

leader

Paul Kruger Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger (; 10 October 1825 – 14 July 1904), better known as Paul Kruger, was a South African politician. He was one of the dominant political and military figures in 19th-century South Africa, and State Preside ...

, and he farmed and traded, but his main interests lay in stamp dealing and collecting where he was able to exploit the international interest in the stamps of Southern Africa in the 1880s and 90s. Stamps were issued in the period by

British Bechuanaland British Bechuanaland was a short-lived Crown colony of the United Kingdom that existed in southern Africa from its formation on 30 September 1885 until its annexation to the neighbouring Cape Colony on 16 November 1895. British Bechuanaland h ...

and

Protectorate A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a State (polity), state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over ...

British Central Africa The British Central Africa Protectorate (BCA) was a British protectorate proclaimed in 1889 and ratified in 1891 that occupied the same area as present-day Malawi: it was renamed Nyasaland in 1907. British interest in the area arose from visits ...

, the

British South Africa Company The British South Africa Company (BSAC or BSACo) was chartered in 1889 following the amalgamation of Cecil Rhodes' Central Search Association and the London-based Exploring Company Ltd, which had originally competed to capitalize on the expecte ...

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( ) is a rocky headland on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A List of common misconceptions#Geography, common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Afri ...

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( ; ) was an independent Boer-ruled sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeated and surrendered to the British Em ...

Swaziland Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where ...

, Transvaal, and Zululand. Despite the vast area covered, Tamsen was ideally positioned, either personally or through agents, to obtain information about new stamps. These included many surcharged and provisional issues and Tamsen obtained them either mint or by having them posted to him on

cover Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of c ...

. He was friends with

Friederich Jeppe Friederich (Fred) Jeppe (Rostock, 1834 - 1898, Transvaal) was Postmaster General of the South African Republic.

, the first

Postmaster General A Postmaster General, in Anglosphere countries, is the chief executive officer of the postal service of that country, a ministerial office responsible for overseeing all other postmasters. History The practice of having a government official ...

of the Transvaal who also introduced adhesive stamps there, and Isaac van Alphen, Postmaster General during the Second Republic. He bought the contents of the

dead letter office Dead letter mail or undeliverable mail is mail that cannot be delivered to the addressee or returned to the sender. This is usually due to lack of compliance with postal regulations, an incomplete address and return address, or the inability to ...

and "in ransacking the contents he added treasure after treasure to his collection"."Notable Philatelists: Mr. Emil Tamsen"
in ''The Philatelic Record'', Vol. 22, November 1900, p. 246.

Auctions

The success of Tamsen's activities may be gauged by the fact that he sold over £7000 worth of stamps in London between 1899 and 1905, which represented only part of his collection and stock, a figure that would equate in 2014 terms to around £6-700,000. He did this while living in a remote area of the

veld Veld ( or , Afrikaans language, Afrikaans and Dutch language, Dutch: ''veld'', field), also spelled veldt, is a type of wide-open, rural landscape in Southern Africa. Particularly, it is a flat area covered in grass or low scrubland, scrub, ...

t and during a time which included the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...

(1899–1902). The war may have helped stimulate interest in Transvaal stamps. The first Tamsen auction sale was by Ventom, Bull and Cooper of

Old Jewry Old Jewry is a one-way street in the City of London, the historic and financial centre of London. It is located within Coleman Street ward and links Poultry to Gresham Street. The street now contains mainly offices for financial companies. ...

, London, on 26 October 1899. '' The Philatelic Record and Stamp News'' reported that competition was brisk and: "The war has made sales of South Africans, particularly Transvaals and Orange Free States, very lively, one dealer in the Strand has been completely cleared out of current Transvaals." The second Tamsen sale was through the same auctioneers 9–10 January 1900 and included fine Cape triangulars. His Bechuanaland was sold on 10 May 1900 through the same firm.

Writing

Tamsen was a regular writer for ''Stanley Gibbons Monthly Journal'' and its successor ''Gibbons Stamp Weekly'', both predecessors of the current ''

''. He wrote of the latest stamp finds in the Transvaal and elsewhere in Southern Africa, and gave reports on the health, or otherwise, of philatelic societies in the region. In November 1904 he wrote from Nylstroom that it was not easy to report on current philatelic events when the nearest collector lived 100 miles away.

Publications

*''From cover to cover''. Privately produced and circulated, 1940. (With Park Smith)

Personal life

Tamsen married Clara Pauline Richter (1866–1963) and they had a son, Adolph Carl Tamsen (1892–1961). He was a freemason.The Evolution of Stamp Dealing in South Africa
, Paul van Zeyl, ''

The South African Philatelist ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

'', Vol. 92, No. 2 (April 2016), Whole No. 935, pp. 49-53. Tamsen died on 30 July 1957 in Pretoria.