Cats big or small… on stamps big or small!

Most of my childhood stamps were acquired in those big, mixed country bags, divided by themes rather than country, and mostly date from the mid-1970s and earlier. Animals and birds seem to proliferate and there are a great many stamps featuring big and domestic cats. Here are a just a few […]

Sika Deer on 1970 USSR tourism stamp

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 – […]

Happy Darwin Day!

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 […]

Winston Churchill at Race Track

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 Churchill at the Race […]

Amphibian philately!

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 was part of a set […]

Vietnam & the Tay Son Rebellion

1971 Postage Stamp issued in North Vietnam to celebrate the 200th Anniversary of the Tay Son Rebellion led by the Tay Son Brothers in 1771.