On this day 21 May, 1927, American aviator Charles A. Lindbergh made history when he successfully completed the first nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. The transatlantic flight left from New York and landed in Paris and was made in the monoplane Spirit of Saint Louis and took about 33.5 hours to complete the journey.
At the time of his record breaking flight, Lindbergh was an unknown 25-year old U.S. Air Mail pilot and became a national hero literally overnight. Lindbergh was also a U.S. Army reserve officer and as a result was also awarded the nation's highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his historic flight. From that time on Lindbergh was rarely out of the news. Sometimes, he was a tragic figure - the kidnap and subsequent murder of his infant son in 1932 is still remembered today as the "Lindbergh Baby Case" and at the time was dubbed the "Crime of the Century" - whilst what was seen as his overly enthusiastic initial support of Fascism in Europe in the late 1930s saw him suspected of being a racist and Nazi sympathizer. From the 1960s onwards, however, ever the multi-faceted personality, Lindbergh championed far nobler causes campaigning to protect endangered species like humpback and blue whales and stressing the need to regain the balance between the world and the natural environment. After campaigning so fervently in his youth to encourage commercial flight, as an old man he spoke against the introduction of supersonic airliners.
This 1 cent stamp was issued by Grenada on 15 March 1978 and was part of a seven stamp set celebrating both the 75th Anniversary of the first Zeppelin flight and the 50th anniversary of Lindbergh's transatlantic flight. Quite why these stamps were issued in 1978 I'm really not sure - Lindbergh's flight occurred in 1927 and the first Zeppelin flight on on 2 July 1900! 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 »
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!
I've always liked this rough cut South Korean stamp with its strong central motif of a germinating seed cupped in a pair of hands with industrial smoke stack chimneys and a huge dam set against the natural landscape of mountains - representing here the Rebirth of Industry in the country. The landscape looks rather like the historically important Heaven Lake of Baekdu Mountain, where the father of Dangun - the founder Gojoseon - is said to have descended from heaven. Although it falls in North Korea it is seen as the place of Korean ancestral origin. If anybody can add more information about this please feel free to leave a comment!
The stamp was designed by Chung Sung-cha, issued in 1955 and printed on watermarked paper - clearly visible wave-lines - by the Government Printing & Mint Agency of the Republic of Korea. The print run was 3,000,000 so it is of no great value or scarcity today although it still has a story to tell...
The name of the country written across the top of the stamp - as was the case with all stamps issued between 1953 and 1955 - is Tae-han Min-gook Oo-jong (Republic of Korea Postal Administration). From 1956 onwards the name would be changed back again to the version used on earlier stamps - Tae-han Min-gook Oop-yoe (Republic of Korea Stamp).
Issued as a definitive stamp the mauve version was the highest value of a set of four with a face value of 50 Hwan. The remaining values in the set are the 10 Hwan (brown), 15 Hwan (violet) and 20 Hwan (blue). Read the rest of this entry »
Whilst the rest of the world took decades to begin to acknowledge the importance of the pioneering work of Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose (November 30, 1858 – November 23, 1937) a commemorative Indian postage stamp had been issued to celebrate the centenary of his birth in 1958 with a portrait of the Bengali polymath. He worked as a physicist, biologist, botanist, archaeologist, and was even known as a writer of science fiction!
Although he did patent one of his inventions after heavy peer pressure to do so, throughout his life he strongly objected to the concept of patenting on moral grounds. His lasting place in history has now been assured, however, and he is recognised as the inventor of the first wireless detection device and for his discovery of millimetre length electromagnetic waves.
This 15 np stamp reflects the recent decimalisation of the Indian currency - the year before in 1957, the rupee had been divided into 100 naye paise.
The stamp was printed on watermarked paper with the multiple Lion Capital of Ashoka design (see below).
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