http://www.pennyblack1840.com/blog Postage stamps from around the world Sat, 21 Jun 2008 13:09:04 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en This very curious and hard hitting message stamp was issued on May 31, 1994 in Slovakia on the occasion of the World Health Organisation's International Day of No Tobacco after the idea was suggested by the National Oncology Institute in Bratislava. The stamp was designed by Zdeno Brázdil and was engraved ... http://www.pennyblack1840.com/blog/2008/06/21/international-day-of-no-tobacco-slovakia-1994/ On this day 20th May, in 1932, Amelia Earhart the American aviator, set off from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland on the first solo transatlantic flight by a woman! The flight lasted 14 hours, 56 minutes and she landed in a field in Culmore, north of Derry, Northern Ireland. This 8¢ U.S. ... http://www.pennyblack1840.com/blog/2008/05/20/amelia-earhart-and-us-air-mail-stamps/ Nobody living in Italy could have failed to notice that 2008 is the centenary year of the birth of one of Italy's greatest and best loved actresses, Anna Magnani, with numerous television documentaries, exhibitions, DVD releases and book publications accompanying the event. Sadly, Nannarella as she was affectionately known ... http://www.pennyblack1840.com/blog/2008/04/21/italian-anna-magnani-postage-stamp-1997/ This commemorative stamp from Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) was issued in 1959 to celebrate the Institution of the Pirivena Universities, distinguished Buddhist centres of learning, which had been given university status following the University Act No 45 of 1958, namely Vidyodaya Pirivena, at Maligakanda, Colombo, and the Vidyalankara Pirivena ... http://www.pennyblack1840.com/blog/2008/03/26/1959-ceylon-institution-of-pirivena-universities/ World leaders have always been an obvious choice as subjects on commemorative stamps but this stamp issued on 25 November, 1974 by Dominica on the occasional of the Centenary of Winston Churchill's birth on 30th November, 1874 is unusual in the informality of the setting. The one-half cent issue pictures Winston ... http://www.pennyblack1840.com/blog/2008/03/15/winston-churchill-at-race-track/ This crazy envelope surely has to win some kind of prize for its eccentric mix of British commemorative and definitive stamps from many different years and issues! Posted on 7 October 2003, it carries the following stamps (running clockwise): 11 1/2p - Policeman Directing Traffic issued on 26 September 1979 as ... http://www.pennyblack1840.com/blog/2008/02/22/crazy-gb-stamp-mixture-on-one-envelope/ Did you know that 2008 is The Year of the Frog? Zoos, botanical gardens and aquariums around the globe are joining in a massive public awareness campaign to highlight the amphibian extinction crisis. This 1974 North Korean postage stamp illustrates the Rana catesbeiana ... better known as the Bullfrog! It ... http://www.pennyblack1840.com/blog/2008/01/23/amphibian-philately/ This 1964 stamp featuring the equestrian sport of show jumping was issued by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (CCCP) on the occasion of the Tokyo Summer Olympics (the Games of the XVIII Olympiad). Tokyo had won the rights to hold the games in 1958, having previously been awarded ... http://www.pennyblack1840.com/blog/2008/01/02/1964-cccp-stamp-celebrating-tokyo-olympics/ It probably won't come as a surprise that I have a particular liking for small stamps that have the feel of the very first stamp - the Penny Black! This 4 cent US postage stamp featuring President Abraham Lincoln was issued on 19 November, 1965 as part of the Prominent ... http://www.pennyblack1840.com/blog/2007/12/15/abraham-lincoln-1965-us-stamp/ Merry Christmas from Penny Black 1840! I have just made this little video of the 1973 British commemorative stamps for Christmas telling the story of Good King Wenceslas - Good King Wenceslas, the Page and the Peasant. The stamps were issued as a se-tenant strip with a slightly higher value 3 ... http://www.pennyblack1840.com/blog/2007/12/03/good-king-wenceslas/