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 »
This United States postage stamp (Scott #1371) was issued on 5 May, 1969, just months before the Apollo 11 mission and the first moonwalk. Apollo 8 was, instead, the first manned mission to orbit the Moon and the first manned voyage to return to planet Earth from another celestial body i.e. Earth's Moon.
The design is based on a stunning photograph taken by astronaut William Anders on December 24, 1968, which shows the Earth appear to rise above the surface of the Moon. In Life's 100 Photographs that Changed the World, photographer Galen Rowell called it "the most influential environmental photograph ever taken." In fact, this Earthrise can only be seen from someone in orbit around the Moon. Mission Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot James Lovell, together with Lunar Module Pilot Anders may not have been the first to walk on the lunar surface, but they were the first humans to set eyes upon the far side of the Moon.
The words "In the beginning God..." refer to the Apollo 8 Genesis reading during the television broadcast on Christmas Eve 1968, when each of the crew of Apollo 8 read from the Book of Genesis as they orbited the Moon.
This Bruce Lee miniature sheet was issued by Abkhazia for the China '96 9th Asian International Philatelic Exhibition. China '96 took place in Beijing from 18 May to 24 May 1996 and celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Modern Chinese Postal Service.
The four stamps all feature an iconic image of Bruce Lee in a white vest as he appeared in the 1972 martial arts classic movie Way Of The Dragon (the film in which he fights Chuck Norris at the Colosseum in Rome).
Whilst Abkhazia has been issuing stamps for collectors for many years, at present Russia, Georgia and the UPU say that Abkhazian stamps are illegitimate and they cannot be used outside Abkhazian borders. Certainly the country has fallen victim to several fake stamp issues, most notably the 1999 stamps featuring a caricature of President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky!
With 19th century Japanese artists of the floating world very much in vogue this spring with two major exhibitions running in European capital cities at the moment - Utagawa Hiroshige in Rome and Utagawa Kuniyoshi in London - I thought I'd share this 1971 Hungarian postage stamp featuring the work of another master of Japanese woodblocks - Utagawa Toyokuni (1769 - 1825). Toyokuni I - (the Roman numeral is used to distinguish him from the later artists who, following Japanese tradition, also used the art-name of their master) is probably best known for his portraits of Kabuki actors.
Issued by the Hungarian Postal Service and instantly identifiable by Magyar Posta written in white letters at the bottom of the stamp (Hungarian for Hungarian Post) this large stamp features a work by the Toyokuni School - A Walk in the Garden (Toyokuni Iskola - Seta a Kertben). Read the rest of this entry »
Darwin Day is a global celebration of science and reason held on or around February 12, the birthday anniversary of evolutionary biologist Charles Darwin.
2009 marks the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth.
In his On The Origin of Species, published in 1859, Darwin outlined how life evolved through natural selection over millions of years and these British Post Office commemorative stamps - issued on 10 Februrary 1982 in the centenary year of Darwin's death - each celebrate a different area of Darwin's study.
15 1/2 pence: The giant tortoises of the Galapagos islands;
19 1/2 pence: The Dark Marine Iguana and the Land Iguana of the Galapagos islands;
26 pence: The Cactus Ground Finch and Large Ground Finch from the Galapagos islands now known as Darwin's Finches;
29 pence: Prehistoric skulls.
The stamps were designed by David Gentleman and printed in photogravure by Harrison and Sons. The Stanley Gibbons stamp references are 1175 to 1178 inclusive.
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