Dark Forces

 

c1974: Definitive

The sun has gone down. Beware of the things that go bump in the night like a Tentoki Demon

1997: 100th Anniversary of Bram Stoker's Dracula

or the flutter of bat wings at the window "ah the children of the night they make such beautiful music"

1977: Eskimo Mask

Who is out there looking in?

1961: Hansel and Gretel (Design - Bert Jager)

And don't forget be careful of accepting invitations from witches.

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - Halloween, witches or scary - See It On A Postcard

Cats

 

1971: Cats and Dogs

 

Cats have got the ball this week.

1978: Korean Animal Paintings

 

Oh no another dog is muscling in, and a bird too

1999: Cats and Dogs (Design Verèt Lemarinier)

 

Surely there is only room for cats here

1994: Greetings Stamps

I'm going to write a letter asking for some more felines said Orlando the Marmalade Cat.

2011: 50th Anniversary of the WWF

Hello.  Looking for me?

 Sunday Stamps theme this week is - felines - See It On A Postcard

Dogs

 

1960: Postal History (15th Century Schwyz Cantonal Messenger)

Tiny dog and postman. Is it wanting to play and think he is going to throw the stick? If the messenger gets lost in the mountains

1989: St Bernard Pass 2000 Years (Design - Jules-Olivier Bercher)

then here is a sight that would warm the heart, both dog or brandy.

2001: Dogs (Design - I Jacobson)

In Sweden it looks like one would be rescued by Alsatians, not quite as cute.

1993: Definitive Series (Design Celistino Piatti; Engraver M Muller)

 Meanwhile by the light of a full moon this dog is not howling at the moon but perhaps

1964: Forest Animals

listening to the wolves.

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - Canines - See It On A Postcard

Autumn Harvest

 

1966: Harvest Festival (Design - H Matoszewska)

A pretty harvest festival in Poland 

1993: Four Seasons - Autumn fruits and leaves (Design - Charlotte Knox)

and a festival in the hedgerows and woods. Worcestershire is a fruit growing area so presume that is the reason for the Worcester cancel. It is most famous for its early season apple the Worcester Permain which coincidentally is the same colour as the desert pear on the stamp - a Doyenne du Comice.  I like apples much more than pears, unless they are in a perry cider.

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - Autumn/Harvest/Food - See It On A Postcard

Denmark Celebrates

 

A celebration of Denmark's 1000 years as a nation.  The cover features a stamp from the millennial issue

1953-56: Millennial (Design - V Bang)

featuring a Jelling stone, a Jutland runestone from the 10th Century which is associated with the creation of Denmark. Today the stones are under a glass cover to protect them from the elements.

Another piece of Danish history. The cover celebrates the 200th anniversary of the abolition of villeinage, or serfdom, in Denmark

1988: Abolition of Villeinage

Serfdom had ended in 1702 but the landlords imposed a new system which obliged the Danish peasants to remain in their place of birth until the age of 40  which was called adscription (a word I had to look up the meaning - "the quality or state of being added, annexed or bound")  Happily this oppressive condition was repealed in 1788.  (Serfdom: Tied to the Land of Their Birth). The stamp shows Christian VII riding past the Liberty Memorial from a painting by CW Eckersberg for the 50th Anniversary of adscription.

Liberty Memorial Copenhagen

I couldn't resist showing this 1863 view of the Liberty Memorial, my eyes taken with the tram riders.

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - Celebration of a Historic Event - See It On A Postcard