Year of the Tiger

 

2022: Year of the Tiger (Design - Ana Jaks)

For the Isle of Man born artist Ana Jaks the invitation  to create a set of stamps for the island's Year of the Tiger was 'a dream come true'.  The cancels on the FDC are actually metallic and I do love a gold cancel even though they don't scan as such.

It is the Year of the Water Tiger and Ana has incorporated that into her design as well as plum blossom. The combination of tiger and horse is because of their compatibility, a match made in heaven.  

2022 will be a lucky year for the Ox and the Goat although the Tiger is an auspicious sign for all so a good year for everyone in varying degrees.  I think we all need one of those.

2002: Just So Stories (Illustrator - Izhar Chohen)

Not an auspicious time for the tiger cub in Rudyard Kipling's Just So Story of "The Beginning of the Armadillos" where a clever hedgehog and tortoise outwit a painted leopard cub and become a new species with its scales lying  'lipparty-lapperty'. (The story here)

1975: Nature Protection (Design K Karmachurya)

Nepal has been very successful in increasing wild tiger numbers, the count in 2018 being 235.  Much nicer to prowl in the wild than

1961: Budapest Zoo (Design - Laszlo Kekesi)

behind bars but at least they will be safe from poachers.

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - Year of the Tiger - visit See It On A Postcard

Maps and Flags

 

2020: Europa - Ancient Postal Routes

Winner of the peoples vote for most beautiful Europa stamp of 2020 and it is rather luscious.

1981: Australia Day

A more stripped back map but we do have a flag

1959: 10th Anniversary of the DDR (Design - Grunewald)

East Germany issued a extensive Flags set for their 10th Anniversary, these four feature 20 - Steel Worker, 40 - Leipzig Stadium, 50 - Tractor Driver, 70 - Shipbuilding

1991: Discount Stamps - Skansen 100 Years (Design T Oldenburg)

The Swedish flag flies over Skansen Open Air Museum. The museum shows how life was lived in different parts of Sweden before industrialisation. Sounds like one could spend a lot of time in its 75 acres.

1998: Football World Cup - France (Design Briat)

As we are in a World Cup year here are lots of flags on Cup Winners France's stamp.

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - Flags and Maps - travel to See It On A Postcard

 

Book them Danno

 

1994: 5th Anniversary of Georges Simenon 1903-1989 (Design P Shopper; Engraver D Roegiest)

The prolific Georges Simenon who spent the latter part of his life in Switzerland.  Penguin books have been republishing his Inspector Maigret novels here over recent years. At the moment they number 75, still lots more to go. Satisfyingly short with normally just one murder, no serial killers for Simenon, he liked to write about the ordinary and a wrong decision. It is thought he wrote about 400 books 117 are stand alone darker more psychological novels.

2010: Novels of Crime

The UK loves a Sandi Noir book or subtitled TV series.  Here we have Maj Sjowall and PerWahloo who wrote the Martin Beck novels.  They wrote together each night a chapter each, the next night they would swap chapters and type them up. Ten years, ten novels, a critique of Swedish society. The run ended with Per Wahloo's death.  Next is the behemoth that was Henning Mankell known for his his troubled policeman Wallander.

I have not read any Liza Marklund but she writes about a fictional newspaper journalist called Annika Bengtzon (Marklund is a journalist herself). Another one I've not read - Hakan Nesser, his detectives are Inspector Van Veeteren which sounds like a typical police procedural but he also writes about Inspector Barbarotti which sound more intriguing. Last but not least we have Steig Larsson who died too young, and whose three Millennium novels feature Lisbeth Salander, he had planned 10 books. Apparently he based Lisbeth on how he imagined Pippi Longstocking might have been as an adult. I always think a trilogy is a perfect number so I've never read any of the subsequent novels written by someone else. I also thought I would prefer Larsson's imagination and the ideas and questions he put in my head of where it was going next.

The white bullet holes on the stamps are exactly that, holes in the stamps. Nice touch.

1975: Hans Christian Andersen

A great story teller  of a different genre with tales for all ages.  Denmark did some joint issues with China for a Hans Christian Andersen celebration in 2013 (he is very popular in China) but I have chosen an earlier Chinese issue

2005: Andersen's Fairy Tales (Design - Qiong Liang)

which feature among others The Emperors New Clothes and

The Little Mermaid

2010 Novels of Crime Booklet Cover

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - Writers or Composers - read more at  See It On A Postcard

Cool Blue

 

2000: Millennium - Above and Beyond

Marvel at the sky,

1973: Tycho Brahe - De Nova Stella (Design M Besiakow Engraver Cz Slania

I am sure Tycho Brahe did but he also added to our knowledge. Issued for the 400th Anniversary of the publication of the astronomer's book 'De Nova Stella'.   The stamp features a sextant and the constellation Cassiopeia and the star Nova Stella. This 'New Star' in Cassiopeia was first observed by Wolfgang Schuler in 1572.  A few days later Tycho Brahe saw it too and started making observations. It was as bright as Jupiter, eventually becoming as bright as Venus before fading from view over the next year and a half as it died.  At the time it was thought that the stars were eternal and did not change, Brahe's observations changed all that

1991: Europa - European Aerospace

Entering the 20th Century here is the Ariane 4 expendable launcher known as 'the workhorse' for its delivery of many communication and earth observation satellites from 1988-2003. It was replaced by the heavy lift Ariane 5 rocket.

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1991: Mountain Lakes (Design - M Schelbert)

Coming down to earth and an icy lake

1976: Men's World Speed Championship, Davos 1977

I wonder if it is thick enough to skate on?  

The stamp is designed by Walter Haettenschweiller, most famous for logo, lettering and type design. Plan your visit to Zurich perhaps from October 2022 to February 2023 when a whole exhibition is dedicated to him. Nice to daydream travel.

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

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Stamps of 2021

 

2021: National Parks

 

I share some of this year's GB stamps and start with the first stamp issue in January celebrating 50 years of National Parks.  Here is Wild Dartmoor, inspiration for Conan Doyle's Hound of the Baskervilles, and an early morning mist in the New Forest

with a sunset in Scotland.

March 2021: The Legend of King Arthur

I thought the colour palette was too dark for the size of stamps but the FDC gives a light and misty view of Glastonbury Tor and King Arthur's sword.

For every child that read The Beano comic Minnie the Minx and Dennis the Menace made an appearance on the miniature sheet to go with the 'Dennis and Gnasher' set. Dundee is the home of DC Thompson, publisher of The Beano and many other comics, hence the postmark that tells one everything one wants to know about these two characters.

 

July 2021: Wild Coasts

Never far from the coast in the UK

August 2021: Industrial Revolutions

where cables to and from the world run. Many more have been laid since 1858 and even this year a transatlantic cable came ashore  here

September 2021: DC Collection

There have been heroes aplenty this year working for good

 

and alas villains too, but at  least some kept to the pages of comics and films.

I wish you all A Happy New Year

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - New/Recent Stamps - keep up to date at  See It On A Postcard