Small Animals

 

2015: Flora and Fauna of Alderney (Design - Petula Stone)

Hello Mr Mole, look at those cute feet. May be tunneling under a lawn near you.

Another cutie - a Blonde Hedgehog. Hedgehogs were brought to Alderney as pets which subsequently were released or escaped into the wild. Their genetic diversity is low and an inherited rare genetic trait means their spines are blonde.  60% of the 400-600 hedgehogs on Alderney are like this. Unlike an albino hedgehog (a different gene) they have dark eyes.

2018: Introduced Species (Illustrations - Tanya Lock)

The beaver became extinct in Britain in the 16th Century but since 1999 they have been reintroduced as a keystone species to create wetlands and increase biodiversity with the added benefit of reducing water flow. Two were introduced not too far away from me last year as a scientific trial. They arrived from Scotland, one of them (Glen) had been rescued from a outflow of a hydroelectric plant  after becoming trapped. Another lover of wetland on the other stamp is the Pool Frog, which was presumed extinct in 1995 and reintroduced into East Anglia from Sweden.

Endangered Fauna

Say what you see - its a Geometric tortoise. Sometimes called the 'Faberge egg' of tortoises. It is an endangered species, much of its decline is due to habitat loss.

Sunday Stamps II theme this week is - Small Animals -at See It On A Postcard. . 

Queen

 

2000: Definitive (From a photo by Rigmor Mydtskov Designed and Engraved Martin Morck)

Queen Margrete II in her Greenland costume with an eagle soaring above water and cliffs.

2012: 40th Anniversary as Queen (Design - M Melbye)

 

 

She must like a bit of symbolism. My first thought was there were three lions but no, the one at her feet looks like a very big dog; Irish wolfhound?. Her own real dogs are dachshunds just a little different. The same stamp was also issued in Greenland and the Faroe Islands.

 

Sunday Stamps II theme this week is - Royalty - See It On A Postcard.

Portugal

 

2014: Year of Crystallography (Design - P Antunes)

I struck lucky with this stamp for the letter P , there are quite a few in the Patterson function. Not only solving my problem but in crystallography as  it solves the phase problem in crystal structure analysis of molecules containing heavy atoms. A bit of mathematical brilliance from Arthur Lind Patterson (1902-1966).  Portugal were very enthusiastic about the Year of Crystallography as they issued 5 stamps and a souvenir sheet.

1979: Europa - Post and Telecommunications

Only one P for Portugal on these stamps but the subject is one we all love - the post arriving.

 

Sunday Stamp II theme this week is - the Letter P - pop over for more at See It On A Postcard

Buildings

 

2001: Botanic Garden (Design Bent Olesen Hystrom; Engraver Arne Kuhlmann)

In the centre of Copenhagen is this palm house in the Copenhagen University Botanical Gardens. There are a complex of glass houses in its 10 hectares of informal gardens.. The Palm House is the oldest, constructed in 1874, and it comes with a cast iron spiral staircase. I wondered whether I had any other glasshouse stamps, alas it seems not so instead I turn to houses with gardens

or at least from the pictures, lawns.

2014: Jersey Architecture Manor Houses (Design - Nick Shewring)

But I spot a fine wisteria on Longueville Manor.

Sunday Stamps II theme this week is - Buildings - at See It On A Postcard

 

Labour

1952: May Day(Design - S Legrady)

Workers of the world unite for May Day although the person with the military helmet at the back is a bit of a worry however the man with the big hammer looks as though he can take care of things.

1950-53: Five Year Plan (Design - S Legrady)

I like how they use the 5 in this design showing factory workers and draughtsmen.

1952: Miners Day (Design - F Gal)

Miners get their own special day when they can leave their mechanical coal cutter. behind.

1953: Budapest Underground Railway (Design - J Vertel)

Still in the depths with continental Europe's oldest underground system (only London pre-dates it).  The original M1 line of 1896 is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The stamp shows work starting on the extension Line M2 in the 1950s, an east-west route.

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1954: Definitive stamp

 

Lets come out of the dark and into the bright light of the Nile valley with an agricultural worker

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

Olympics

 

1924: Olympic Games (Design - E Becker; Engraver - E Dausay)

I think this is the oldest Olympic Games stamp I possess, issued for the 1924 games in Paris. The stamp shows Notre Dame and Pont Neuf in the background.  I'm guessing the woman is Marianne holding a statue of winged victory.  Paris will host the Olympics for the third time in 2024.

1953: Sports ( Design - Andre Jacquemin; Engraver - Charles-Paul Dufreone)

 

 

I always start off watching the swimming but soon get bored but I do like swimming stamps. The link with the previous stamp is Johnny Weissmuller won 3 swimming gold medals and a bronze for water polo in 1924 but went on to be more famous as Tarzan. He was at his best when the plot demanded he jump in the water and swim.

1960: Winter Olympics (Design - J Vertel)

The era of the winter and spring games being held in the same year. 1960 saw them in snowy Squaw Valley, USA.

1960: Summer Olympics (Design - Sandor Legrady; Engraver - Janos Zsigmond)

Hungary went classical with the Summer Games in Rome.

The stamp designer Sandor Legrady (1906-1987) worked for the Hungarian Post for 50 years, he liked the theatrical and historic

so the symbol of the Eternal City also appeared in this set of stamps.

Sunday Stamps II theme this week is - Sports - run over to See It On A Postcard
   
 

Scandinavian Kings

 

2017: 450th Anniversary - City of Fredrikstad (Design Magnus Rakeng)

 

The statue of Frederik II of Denmark and Norway (1534-1588) stands in the city he founded - Fredrikstad.

2017: Maximum Card 1 of 1. (Card Illustration - Annikan Riiser)

I  acquired this Maxi Card when buying something else and at first sight had an irresistible urge to add to my basket. So we have the city of Fredrikstad personified and named after Frederik II'  Like father like son

2000: Oslo 1000 Years

Christian IV of Denmark and Norway (1577-1648) rebuilt the town of Oslo after a fire and renamed it Christiana. He came to the throne aged only 11 and is considered a renaissance king who brought prosperity to his nations.  The statue was erected in 1888 and the city reclaimed its name of Oslo in 1925.

Lastly is a king that lives on through the sagas. This is King Olaf II or Olaf Haralsson, King of Norway (the Faroe Islands were part of the Kingdom of Norway at this time).

1995: St Olaf (Design and Engraver - Martin Morck)

King Olaf died at the battle of Stiklestad in 1030.  He was later canonised and became St Olaf and is the patron saint of Norway.  The Faroe Islands National Day of 29th July is his saints day although they celebrate for 2 days, and why not it is high summer.  The stamp shows the wooden sculpture from Sund Chuch, Aland with a map of 1570. This was a joint issue between Aland and the Faroes on the Millinery of his birth. 

There are many churches today that bear his name and indeed we have one locally in the valley of Wasdale where the Vikings settled.. St Olaf is England's smallest church, near its deepest lake and its highest mountain.  There have been earlier churches on the site but the present one is though to date from the 16th Century.

St Olaf surrounded by Yew trees with the appropriately named Kirk Fell in the background.   

Sunday Stamps II theme this week is statues or monuments - See It On A Postcard.

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