Sunday 15 October 2017

Kingpin

1938-1954 Definitive Stamps (Design RC Luck)
The postal systems of Kenya, Tanganyika and Uganda were brought together in 1933 with an issue of definitive stamps of local scenes featuring King George V, on the succession of his son the stamps remained the same except as can be seen with a portrait of George VI.
The stamp designs were done by numerous designers each with their own touches.  The 15c on the right designed by G Gill-Holmes introduces a figure who seems to be holding a scroll (unfortunately Mount Kilimanjaro is hidden under the postmark).
R C Luck obviously had a love of bulrushes or stretches of water and their bird life.
RN Ambasana must have been a bit of a royalist as the portrait dominates the Jinja Railway Bridge over the Ripon Falls(constructed in 1926 with some cracking photographs here)
The three countries gained independence in the early 1960s, Kenya being the last in 1963.  All the Star Trek fans out there will recognize the word uhuru (Uhura) as meaning freedom.  I'd forgotten about Prime-Minister and President Joma Kenyatta's fly whisk until seeing this stamp.  I always thought I would like one of these as buzzing things like me a lot but it has a dual purpose in this context for it is also a mark of authority in Maasai society.
1993: Birds Definitive
Here is something that likes insects which in Swahili is called the keremkerem (bee-eater). in particular this is the cinnamon-chested bee eater.
2017: Europa - Castles
Lastly every king needs a castle and Kosova shows a dramatic one on top of a hill which I think may be a re-imagining of the layers of history of the Kalaja Fortress, the castle on the hill overlooking Prizren.


An entry to Sunday Stamps II prompt of the letter K for - Kenya, King, Kenyatta,  Kosova and keremkerem - keep clicking to See It On A Postcard 


6 comments:

VioletSky said...

How cool - between you and Bob I have now learned about this threesome with Uganda/Tanganyika/Kenya!
Now I will need to google these bee eaters to find out they manage to do that without getting their poor little throats stung.
(I also like that they are called 'cinnamon' breasted.)

Mail Adventures said...

Nice to read more about these stamps and kingdoms. Also nice to see a stamp from Kosovo.

Heleen said...

Interesting information and nice stamps!
How good you found so many extra k's!

As the Dutch word for 'castle' is 'kasteel', I posted some Europe 2017 castles today, too. The one from Kosovo I never have seen so far, thank you fo sharing this one, too!

By the way (concerning the last picture) a crow in Dutch is named 'kraai'. Alas I've never found stamps about these, 'alas' as I think them smart and beautiful animals.

Bob Scotney said...

The Kenya Uhuru stamp of 1963 is the only one of these I have. The others are truly great stamps to see.

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