Page 89 - Demo

Nuclear Weapons of the Atomic Age%u201cChristmas Island%u201d Poster Stamp, attributed to Jim CzylThis poster stamp offers a macabre yet humorous look at Santa Claus delivering an atomic weapon. Purchased on eBay in October 2022 from a seller who had several hundred items that originally came from Czyl, he noted that he had %u201ca quantity%u201d of this design. Czyl was a leading authority and collector of poster stamps who also produced his own, so it is very likely that he created this one. He died in 2014, after which his collection was sold through five major auctions.Between May 1957 and September 1958, the British government tested six thermonuclear weapons on Christmas Island (and three on Malden Island) through its Operation Grapple. Then during 1962, the UK and the US cooperated on Operation Dominic for a further 24 detonations on the island, which is also know as Kiritimati in the local Gilbertese language. Thousands of islanders and servicemen were subjected to radioactive fallout during the tests and suffered from radiation effects in the years following. Great Britain%u2019s first thermonuclear explosion%u2014at Christmas Island on November 8, 1957. Afterward soldiers were ordered to clean up piles of dead birds and bomb debris. Some men went swimming in the lagoon, ate fish they caught in the blast zone, and drank rainwater collected in tarpaulins %u2013 oblivious to any risk from radioactive fallout.