by Vinepa Aiono
This is the first postage stamp issued during the time Samoa became Western Samoa and is dated 1931. The postage stamp was taken by the photographer Tattersall and on it is a picture of Eleitino Iliganoa Vaova'i Seumanutafa Loligi (1910 - 1985), the Taupou of Apia. Eleitino Iliganoa Vaova'i Seumanutafa Loligi was renowned for her skilled Samoan oratory and her ability to facilitate closure in meetings with many skilled male orators of her time. She was the eldest daughter and child of Seumanutafa Loligi and Simeanamulu.
In 2002 while in New York I visited Professor Prettyman of Columbia University and by chance came across this stamp in her book collection. The opportunity to hold an untainted copy of this stamp in my hands was a truly unbelievable experience in that so much folklore was generated around the actual existence of this stamp and as is normal in this branch of my family, no one retains records and few of my generation had even sighted the postage stamp. That I trekked all the way to New York and by accident chanced upon an original unmarked copy of the stamp with my aunt on it, in a place as far removed as Broadway is from Apia was priceless.
