Principality of Thomond Fantasies - Compl. Set "Rockets Toward Peace" ovpts

Description

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Principality of Thomond
Fantasy Issue
The Principality of Thomond is a well-known Fantasy stamp issue, with a long and interesting history.
According to Wikipedia:
Thomond (Classical Irish: Tuadhmhumhain; Modern Irish: Tuamhain) was a kingdom of Gaelic Ireland, associated geographically with present-day County Clare and County Limerick, as well as parts of County Tipperary around Nenagh and its hinterland. The kingdom represented the core homeland of the Dál gCais people, although there were other Gaels in the area such as the Éile and Eóganachta, and even the Norse of Limerick. It existed from the collapse of the Kingdom of Munster in the 12th century as competition between the Ó Briain and the Mac Cárthaigh led to the schism between Thomond (North Munster) and Desmond (South Munster). It continued to exist outside of the Anglo-Norman controlled Lordship of Ireland until the 16th century.
The exact origin of Thomond, originally as an internal part of Munster, is debated. It is generally held that the Déisi Muman pushed north-west starting from the 5th to the early 8th century, taking the area from the Uí Fiachrach Aidhne of the Connachta. Eventually, the Dál gCais rose to power in all of Munster, to the detriment of the Eóganachta. The person most famously associated with this is Brian Bóruma, High King of Ireland, best known for his feats at the Battle of Clontarf. Four generations down the line and after providing three more High Kings, the Dál gCais were unable to hold onto all of Munster and so Thomond came into being as a separate entity.
Between the mid-12th and late 13th century, when much of Ireland came under direct English control and/or settlement, Thomond too came into the Anglo-Irish sphere. The de Clare family established a colony at Bunratty, while the Butler and FitzGerald families also made inroads. However, from the time of the Battle of Dysert O'Dea, Thomond was restored as a kingdom, with its rulers reinstating Limerick within their overrule. Not until the 1540s did the ruling O'Brien dynasty accommodate with English rule.
During the mid-20th century a certain Raymond Moulton Seághan O'Brien appeared and claimed to be "Colonel His Highness Raymond Moulton Seághan O’Brien, Prince of Thomond, Earl and Count of Thomond, Count of Pogla of Clare Castle, Principality of Thomond".
According to an article at the Jewellery Quarter Research Trust website:
This self-styled prince claimed his house was the Royal Dalcassian Legation and the diplomatic presence of his principality in a foreign capital. The Irish Government and most other countries ignored him, but he claimed to have documents proving that Norway, Yugoslavia, Latvia and Estonia had recognised his sovereignty over Thomond.
He bestowed titles, sending out documents and papers from his “Royal Dalcassian Legation” in Charlemont Street, bearing the principality’s coat-of-arms, decorated with a golden crown and a consular seal, and decorated with a golden crown.
He claimed his “country” was Thomond, and that he was directly descended from an Irish royal line that he traced back to 1300 B.C.
O’Brien had arrived in Ireland at the beginning of World War II, claiming he was the Earl of Thomond , although his only supporting documents were a Mexican court judgment and some newspaper cuttings.
He called himself “prince” on his children’s birth certificates, faked a court case of slander against him, set up his own order of chivalry, elicited a blessing from the Vatican, and even attempted to issue his own postage stamps. He registered the birth of his daughter as “Her Highness Princes Grania Bethinn” but was unsuccessful in having his claims recognised by the College of Arms in London and the Lyon King of Arms at the Scottish Office.
Raymond did some very strange things including in 1941 writing to a number of universities asking them to give him a degree because it would help with his secret war work - this got him into a lot of trouble.
In the 1940's, the then Lord Inchiquin declared indignantly that Raymond O’Brien was an impostor, pointing out: “The only person entitled to be called Prince or Earl of Thomond is myself.”
Raymond Moulton O’Brien died in Dublin on 31 March 1977. The notices in the Irish Times, the Irish Independent and the London Times described him as Earl of Thomond for the last time. On the 6th April 1977 he was buried in the Moulton family grave at Key Hill. His name was not added to the large, impressive memorial.
There was a set of 12 postage stamps that appeared in either 1960 or 1961. They were denominated from ½p (pinsin) up to 2/6, and depicted various topics - flowers, horses, football (rugby), birds, aircraft. These stamps also received various overprints between 1961 and 1973, for a variety of subjects. It would appear that the topics on the stamps, and the subjects of the overprints, were carefully calculated to make the stamps as attractive as possible to a large number of topical stamp collectors.
This is a complete set of 12 stamps, with an overprint from 1968, with an image of a rocket blasting off, surrounded by circular text reading: "ROCKETS TOWARDS PEACE ACHIEVEMENTS". The stamps are VF, MNH.
Approximate Image Size: 43 x 43 mm.
* STOCK IMAGE
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After 35+ years I decided to retire from being an active Cinderella Stamp dealer. Most of my working inventory plus backup stock was sold at public auction. However, I have retained some material that I will be offering for sale. In addition, I have some "new" material that was mixed into lots I have bought for my own collections. I will be listing some of the material in my eBay store at fixed prices. I will also be offering some material at auction, either as single items or mixed lots. There will be many bargains available. There will be large and small lots, some containing similar material, some containing a random mixture, and some containing only one or a few items. The condition will be mixed, but none of the lots will be just accumulations of damaged or faulty stamps (unless specifically listed as such).
Items in stockpage or larger lots may be removed and repackaged into glassines to save on shipping costs.
A Note about Poster Stamps and Gum:
Because many poster stamp collectors are primarily interested in the image on the stamp, the absence or presence of gum on the back is of little concern. If no mention of gum is made, then there may or may not be gum present. If you are only interested in poster stamps with original gum, please inquire before bidding. Actual condition issues (that are not apparent from the scan) WILL be described.
A Note about "Stock Images":
Occasionally I will have more than one example of an item in inventory. Rather than scan each one individually, I may use the same image for multiple examples of the item. If that is the case, the item supplied will be in substantially the same, or better, condition than the image. Any such items will have the words:
"STOCK IMAGE"
at the end of the description.
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