John F Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States was assassinated on this day - 22 November - in 1963. He was shot dead in Dallas, Texas, while riding in an open car, in a killing that sent shock waves across the entire world. Less than a year later on 29 May, 1964 the US Postal Service issued this stamp which featured both a portrait of the slain leader and also the John F Kennedy Eternal Flame, the presidential memorial found at the grave-site in Arlington National Cemetery. JFK's widow Jacqueline Kennedy lit the flame on 25 November, 1963, and it has never been extinguished since (barring one accidental dampening of the flame by school children).
The stamp quotes from Kennedy's inaugural address using words that fit the stamp perfectly:
And the glow from that fire can truly light the world
The 5 cent stamp was designed by Raymond Loewy and engraved by M. D. Fenton. It was printed by Rotary Press in a very large run of 500,000,000 stamps. Read the rest of this entry »
I've always loved the dramatic design of this 10 kopeks stamp issued in 1970 by the USSR. Using only two colours - a warm orange-brown for the two Sika Deer at the centre of the design and the surrounding border, and a cooler and darker sage green for the forest in which they inhabit - the image has the striking immediacy of a woodcut.
It was issued as part of a set of six stamps celebrating Tourism in the USSR which included many of the things one most associates with Russia - a performance of Swan Lake (6k); examples of folk art and in particular a Russian Doll (12k); the Cathedral of Vasily Blazhenny on Red Square (4k); the sculpture Let Us Beat Swords into Plowshares which the Soviet Union gifted to the United Nations in 1959, as well as numerous museums (14k); and finally a woman photographer surrounded by Russian cars (16k).
Unfortunately, it turns out that my rather romantic view of this stamp as being a celebration of the beauty of Dybowski's Sika Deer - the largest race of the Sika deer which is found in the cold northern climes of the Russian Far East - was out of place. Using the wonderful Internet resource of Google translate stamp collectors can now easily translate any foreign language text on stamps into their own language, which is how I discovered that this stamp actually commemorates Sika deer hunting! As someone who is opposed to all forms of animal hunting or killing for fun I've decide to post the image anyway as a tribute to these magnificent animals. Read the rest of this entry »
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