The Twelve Days of Christmas

I’ve always loved these 1977 Christmas stamps because they were one of the first sets I collected as a child, eagerly waiting for different images to arrive on letters and then steaming them off Christmas card envelopes to make up the full set of six.

GB Christmas Stamps 1977

The five 7 pence stamps represent different lines of the Christmas song The Twelve Days of Christmas:

“Twelves Lords a-leaping,
Eleven Ladies dancing,
*
Ten Pipers piping,
Nine Drummers drumming,
*
Eight Maids a-milking,
Seven Swans a-swimming,
*
Six Geese a-laying,
Five Gold Rings,
Four Colly Birds,
*
Three French Hens,
Two Turtle Doves…”

whilst the 9 pence stamp represents the repeated chorus:

“And a Partridge in a Pear Tree”.

The 7 pence stamps were printed horizontally in a se-tenant strip.

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