Practical Hats

 

1947-48: Allied Occupation Zones Definitive Issue

Always good to have a hat to have shade in the sun whether sowing,

planting a tree

or labouring. Today in construction and definitely underground one might be required

1968: Swiss Accident Insurance

to wear a hardhat for protection.

1965: 25th Anniversary of Women's Army Corps

This does not look like a very practical hat

1986: Paintings

and neither does this but it is beautifully whimsical. 'The Violet Hat' by Cuno Amiet

Sunday Stamps theme this week is hats, headgear or helmets - See It On A Postcard

Athena

 

1968: Hellenic Fight for Civilization

Athena, protector of Athens and goddess of war and wisdom attired for battle. Bronze 340-330BC, the so called Piraeus Athena, which can be seen at the Piraeus Museum near the port.

The striking bronze Athena makes another appearance on this Maxi Card with

 

1982: Europa - Historic Events

a stamp of the bust of Miltiades and shield commemorating the Battle of Marathon (490BC).  Miltiades devised the tactics that defeated the more numerous Persian force. A pivotal moment in the history of Greece and its civilization.

1961: 150th Birth and 75th Death Anniversary of Liszt

Well after all that talk of war lets have some soothing piano music from Franz Liszt. The stamp shows the statue outside the Hungarian State Opera in Budapest, not surprisingly there is more than one statue to Liszt in Budapest.

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

Paintings

 

1979: International Year of the Child - Jersey Artists

John Everett Millais was a child prodigy so rather apt for this issue's theme.

He and his wife Effie Gray had eight children, their third child (and first girl) Effie appears on the painting 8p -  'My First Sermon' (1863), he later painted a companion piece of her called 'My Second Sermon', no longer attentive but fast asleep. 10½p Orphans (1885), Millais had a fondness for painting children and animals

11p The Princes in the Tower (1878) (that is not going to end well). 25p Christ in the House of his Parents, first exhibited in 1849 when Millais was only 20 and a pre-Raphaelite. Denounced by critics of the time as "too life-like" and referred to as the Carpenters Shop.  In fact it was exhibited without a title but accompanied with a biblical quote 'And one shall say unto him, What are those wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.' (Zech. 13:6). Today it hangs in the Tate

Time to head outdoors

1988: Danish Painters

and as we are having a hot spell here at the moment something to cool one down - 'The Hill at Overkaerby, Winter 1917' by Fritz Syberg and Bathing Boys 1902 by Peter Hansen.

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - Fine Art - enjoy more at  See It On A Postcard

Underwater Sights

 

2000: World Tourism Day. Diving Sites

Time to travel to the warm, clear waters of the Caribbean and these Cuban stamps suggest some diving locations to try.  The fish await.  65 - French Angelfish at Santa Lucia a "diving paradise"; 75 - Black margate at Maria la Gorda, Cuba's most western tip

10 - Hawkbill Turtle at Guardalavaca, one of the first ports Christopher Columbus visited and once a refuge for pirates, today it is a refuge for  tourists. 15 - Nassau grouper at El Colony

1998: Deep Sea Fish

A deep submergence vehicle would be required to be able to see these weird and wonderful fish of the deep but without going to all that effort we can  enjoy through the pleasure of stamps.

Top:  Skate and a Gulper; Bottom, lots of teeth - Caulophryne and its illuminated 'fishing lure' and Sloan's viperfish in the twilight zone. Oh no now the  twilight zone theme music is now in my head

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