Purple

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is looking for purple

1935: Silver Jubilee

One of the extensive George V Omnibus editions of a common design celebrating his Silver Jubilee.  Issued May 1935 in Great Britain and spanning across her 54 colonies and four dominions coming to a total of 249 stamps. Collectors of these sets enjoy finding printing errors and  varieties such as extra flag poles.

On the card the fish basket is deep purple as is the clothing on the arm upper left. The card is of Scots College in Rome a seminary for the priesthood for the dioceses of the Catholic Church in Scotland. There are 20 stained glass windows created by Giovanni D'Aloisio. The one shown is behind the altar although the postcard cuts off the whole scene which includes the fishing boat. The full version can be seen on the header of Scots college's Facebook page. On the right is the miraculous catch of fish, the disciples are called to become fishers of men. On the left it says Ecce Agnus Dei - Behold the Son of God. The photo on upper left is of the Theological Library

Kosmos

 

1993: Birds

Karemkerem is the Swahili name for Bee-eater and this one lives in the upland regions of East Africa.  

1976: Space Flight

Christina Koch, Artemis II crew member said "The thing that changed for me looking back at Earth, was that I found myself not only noticing the beauty of Earth, but how much blackness there was around it and how it just made it even more special"

A Korean artist brought a little bit of colour into Outer Space.

Sunday Stamps A-Z for Kenya, Korea and keremkerem - See It On A Postcard 

Kudu

1966: Wildlife (Design - Rena Fennessy)

The distinctive patterns of a kudu appear in all their glory in this stamp, these 'pencil' stripes can vary in number from 4 to 12. The artist is Rena Fennessy who created art for most of the post independent East African countries for about 25 years. She also drew birds and animals for field guides while creating her own art work of East African wildlife and scenery.  The only other thing I could find out about her was she lived in Nairobi and was possibly British. Must be quite a thrill to be able to stick one of your own stamps on a letter.  Well you see one Kudu and then two more come along at the same time...

1964-66: Definitive (Design - Victor Whiteley)

An alert kudu in a forest of young trees showing off its spiraling horns and

1998-2000 Endangered species (3rd Series)

South Africa also chose a similar front view when they issued 'standard postage' booklets of antelope definitives.

While browsing my Ks I came across these which I thought would be rather topical this week with the talks between North and South Korea just ending.

1966: Reunification of North and South Korea

Lets hope for a more peaceful coexistence and something less bellicose.  Build and not destroy.

1965: Drawings of Kim Hong-do

The artist Kim Hong-do (1745-c1806) painted beautiful landscapes but also everyday life, the stamp features his drawing of building a house.

An entry to Sunday Stamps II prompt of the Letter K - for Kudu, Kenya and Korea - See It On A Postcard
  

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 

East Africa

How useful my set of Operation Drake covers are being for Sunday Stamps tour of the continents.  We are in  Africa this week, which was the last stop for the 'Eye of the Wind' before returning home. Although the ship left Mombasa on 8th August 1980 the Operation Drake contingent remained in Kenya from mid July for three months. The expedition was asked to do various tasks and one of these was to complete an ecological survey of Lake Turkana (formerly Lake Rudolph) in the north of Kenya. The lake is 160 miles long and 35 across at the widest point and although it is fed by three rivers there is no outlet, the level being maintained by evaporation. The resident birds include flamingo, pelican, ibis and spoonbill and during the migration season thousand of waders an waterfowl flock to the shallows making it an ornithologist's paradise.  What a wonderful three months that must have been.

The stamp used is a celebration of the Flying Doctor Service (their badge appears in the artwork portraying Lake Turkana).  This service operates over an area of a million square miles.  I don't think I can imagine an area so vast, it makes our own air ambulance distances seem like a hop and a jump.  I wondered if I had any other medical stamps for Africa and found one

issued in 1969 by the Republic of Burundi for the 50th anniversary of the League of Red Cross Societies. 

As this started off with a lake maybe I should continue the theme with

a dhow on Lake Victoria.   Then perhaps a bird that might be seen there

not King George VI but the Kavirondo or Crowned Crane, and animals that might come to drink at the edge of the water -

A journey round the world with Viridian Postcard's  Sunday Stamps

Kenya Coast

A white sandy beach on the Indian Ocean. All along the  Kenyan coast are lovely beaches, old towns, overgrown and deserted ruins, and Arab and Portuguese ports. There is no indication on this card of where any of these photographs are but who can resist a beach.

The stamps on the card were two of the definitive 2001 Crops series.

Kenya's horticultural sector is the economies fastest growing sector and their third largest foreign exchange earner.  With all flight in and out of Europe grounded due to the Iceland volcano the flowers and vegetables that Kenya exports to Europe are deteriorating in storage.  The airports north of Blackpool are supposed to be opening tomorrow which will be good news for the Kenyan growers.

Another of their top foreign exchange earners is tourism and this card was sent from Andy and Jo who were on a December holiday in Kenya a few years ago, and got married on one of those lovely white sandy beaches.