Lighthouses

 

1998: Lighthouses (Design - Dick Davis)

The original Eddystone Lighthouse of  1698 built on a small rock in dangerous seas (first of four). This was a wooden structure built by Henry Winstanley it experienced many storms in the next few years and was showing wear and tear.. A great storm five years after being built was its last and killed  Winstanley who had gone out to make repairs on the structure. Ironically it fulfilled his wish to be in it during "the greatest storm there ever was"

1978: Lighthouses of the Bailiwick

Views of calm seas but dangerous rocks and tides in the Baliwick of Guernsey

2002: 100th Anniversary of ICES (Council for the Exploration of the Sea)

A joint issue of  the same miniature sheet by Greenland, Faroe Islands and Denmark. Each country had two stamps. I have a Danish stamp which was used for postage but it is the one with the ship and fish without the attached lighthouse so post the full expanse with a lighthouse showing the way. I like to think that is the Skagen Lighthouse in the far north of Jutland, once Denmark's tallest lighthouse which today also houses a migratory bird center.

Sunday Stamps theme of  - Lighthouses - follow the light to See It On A Postcard  

Queen

1990: Greeting Stamps - Smiles

Queen of Hearts by Colin Elgie.

1991: Europa - Europe in Space

In August 1846 Queen Victoria was the first monarch to visit Guernsey. The attention of European astronomers, and no doubt Price Albert, was on the hunt for a previously unknown eighth planet, in fact this planet, later named Neptune, was seen twice in August but mistaken for a star and was not identified as a planet until September 1846.

2020: Queen

Queen Live - Freddy Mercury at Wembley Stadium, 1986; Roger Taylor at Queen's free London concert, 1976; The full band photographed at Primrose Hill, 1974; John Deacon at the Hammersmith Odeon, 1975 and Brian May at Nepstadion,Budapest, 1986

Sunday Stamps A-Z and here at Q for Queen - See It On A Postcard  

F is for Flowers

 

1999: Folk Art

Traditional Aland folk art on furniture usually features vibrant flowers. A wardrobe from 1785

and a chest from 1788

1990: Thinking of You

Land of the vibrant flower, Australia

1992: Guernsey Flowers

Guernsey with its mild maritime climate is perfect for growing flowers and famous for the Guernsey lily (Nerine sarniensis) featured on he cancel, sometimes referred to as a jewel lily

Sunday Stamps A-Z - Flowers and Folk Art - See It On A Postcard 

C is for Cattle

 

1955-56: Five Year Plan

A dairy herd 

2000: Shangri-La

Grazing in green pastures somewhere below the Meri Snow Mountains, Yunnan

1946: Local Motives (Design and Engraving - Gabriel-Antoine Barlangue)

The Zebu and herdsman. A breed that will be well adapted for global warming as they were bred to be productive in hot, humid climates. Smaller than other domestic cattle they have a low metabolic rate and efficient sweat glands.

1979: Definitive - Coins 

Cow on a coin, and what better one than a chunky old 'thruppenny bit'.

Sunday Stamp's A-Z - C is for cattle, coins, China and Cameroun - See It On A Postcard 

Take a Seat

 

1989: Royal Visit

A Queen's chair

1997: Danish Design

The Faaborg chair of 1914 design by Kaare Klint (1888-1954)

1999: Furniture

An uncomfortable chair

1996: Endre Nemes (1909-1985)

A surreal chair - "The Baroque Chair" painted by Endre Nemes.  A Hungarian Jew living in Vienna he fled to Sweden (via Finland and Norway) during WW2 and would become a Swedish citizen.

Sunday Stamps theme of - Furniture - more at See It On A Postcard 

Military Siege

 

1993: 350th Anniversary of the Siege of Castle Cornet (Design - Clive Abbott)

Scenes from the English Civil War. Castle Cornet was a Royalist stronghold however the population of Guernsey were for the Parliamentarians, they called on the Lieutenant Governor to surrender but he fired on them.  The population were not equipped to storm the castle as they discovered after one abortive attempt. The defensive batteries around St Peters Port originally built to protect Guernsey from the French directed their fire at Castle Cornet.  The guns on the castle fired back. Today archaeological excavations regularly find musket and canon balls fired from the castle.  Cornet was supplied by ships throughout the Civil War which were sent by the Lieutenant General of Jersey.  I liked the story portrayed on the 28p stamp of the three local officials who were tricked aboard one of the enemy ships thinking it was one of their own but the captain had switched sides. Imprisoned for 43 days they managed to escape by making a hole in the wooden floor to the room below where they found a supply of flax which they made into ropes and escaped.

The FDC shows the three shields of Castle Cornet's commanders, Osborn was disliked by both the population and his own side however on surrender Burgess, the last Governor, and his men, were allowed to march out bearing arms and leave the island at the end of the siege in recognition of their humane treatment of prisoners. Here is the story from the FDC insert...

taking us to the present day...

 Sunday Stamps theme - Military - See It On A Postcard

Island Lighthouses

 

2004: Migrating Birds - Passerines

One of our earliest summer visitors, usually arriving in March, flying past Alderney Lighthouse. The Sand Martins will also be one of the first to leave and head south in September. No winter storms for these birds...

2016: Seasons

St Peter Port Harbour Lighthouse

2016: Lighthouses

The tiny island of Sark lighthouse at Point Robert, now automated, but when all lighthouses were manned perhaps

2014: The History of Manx Playing Cards

they would while away the time playing cards although a lone keeper would have to rely on a game of Patience. The playing card shows Bradda Head Lighthouse located on the Isle of Man's coastal footpath and Douglas Lighthouse with the ferry either making its way to England or Ireland.

Sunday Stamps is keeping a watch for Lighthouses at See It On A Postcard

Rememberance Sunday

 

2008: The 90 Years of Remembrance - Lest We Forget

The mini sheet shows the wreaths on the Cenotaph in London which, the national point of remembrance. The stamp shows the Isle of Man's National War Memorial in the village of St John's whose wreath laying ceremony is this afternoon followed by a service of remembrance at the Royal Chapel.

2015: Stories from the Great War (Design - Charlotte Barnes)

The confident "Home by Christmas" was said of the troops at the outbreak of World War One in 1914.  Philip Carré the postman on the island of Sark joined the Royal Guernsey Light Infantry and would return in 1919 when the regiment was demobilized. He would send more than one Christmas card.

The bottom stamp shows the postmen from the Bailiwick of Guernsey who joined the Post Office Rifles, originally a volunteer territorial unit.  That changed at the outbreak of the World War in 1914 when they were called up to serve abroad.  Lawrence Burridge was killed in May 1916, age 23 and Albert Smith died from gunshot wounds in December 1917, age 25. The other three, Privates JG Fowler, AW Smith and HF Taylor's fate is unknown, lets hope they made it home.  I think the reason for the uncertainty is that half the British army's service records were destroyed in 1940 when a German bombing raid struck the War Office in London.

Sunday Stamps theme - Military - See It On A Postcard 

Agriculture

 

1941: Agricultural Development Plan

Surrounded by war  neutral Switzerland started their battle of self sufficiency with the Whalen Plan in 1940, its aim was to increase areas of cultivation in every available piece of land digging up sports fields and gardens. It is sometimes referred to as the 'Battle of the Fields'.  Before WW2 Switzerland imported 70% of its food from abroad, by the time it had ended the potato harvest had tripled, cereal doubled and vegetables quadrupled and with this bounty it managed to feed the entire Swiss population and 300,000 refuges. Switzerland was so successful that it became the only country in Europe that did not need to ration potatoes, vegetables and fruit.

1947: Allied Occupation Zones definitives

Once the war was over thoughts turned to reconstruction, the stamps of the sower and harvester were part of a set showing occupations that would work for that purpose and peace doves for hope. These stamps were used in the British, American and Russian occupation zones.

1965: 75th Anniversary Belgium Farmers Association

Another horse pulled plough, always a favourite motif for stamp designers

1950-54: Occupational Activities and Views

Iceland shows off its dramatic scenery with a tractor

2016: World Stamp Show 'NY16', Javits Center

Meanwhile a Guernsey cow is enjoying the sunshine, sometimes called the 'Golden Guernsey' due to its own and the milk's rich colour. The link with the New York exhibition cover is that Guernseys were first imported into the United States by two schooner captains in the 1830s and 1840s and would become the basis of the American Guernsey herd.

1993: Occupations - Cheesemaker

Happily where there is milk there is also cheese.

Sunday Stamps theme of - Agriculture - crops are growing at See It On A Postcard

Family Men

 

2019: 50th Anniversary Apollo 11 Moon Landings (Design - Edward Fuglø)

The artist Edward Fuglø's earliest childhood memory was of his father holding him up at the window, pointing at the sky and telling him about the men on the moon.

1974: Renoir Paintings

Auguste Renoir married his model Aline Charigot and here they are enjoying a sojourn in Guernsey, although the paintings were actually created in Paris.  Renoir had realised that he became so mesmerised by the light painting outdoors that his composition suffered so took his sketches back to the studio.  August and Aline had three sons (one of whom was the film director Jean Renoir) and he often painted his family. There are only 3 portraits of Aline but she would also appear in his other paintings, the most famous one is of her playing with a dog as part of a boating party in 'Le Dejeuner des Canotiers'

1955: Five Year Plan

A sightseeing trip for the family.  This is a bit of an outlier in a set featuring economic and industrial development although one of the results of this experiment/plan was urbanisation.

Sunday Stamps theme this week - Fatherly Men - See It On A Postcard

Happy Easter

 

2014: Easter Surprise

 Time for an Easter egg hunt and our 'bunny' has a variety to choose from

2016: 150th Anniversary of Beatrix Potter's birth

but Benjamin Bunny prefers the lure of vegetables in Mr Gregor's garden and amusing himself by trying on the scarecrow's tam o' shanter hat.

1990: Winter Birds (Design - Wendy Bramall)

The wren will be glad the winter is behind us and is depicted here with rose hips by the Chapel of St Apolline (patron saint of dentists). Appropriately for this Easter season there is a very faded 14th century painting of the last supper inside

Sunday Stamps theme is Chocolate, flowers, eggs and churches - See It On A Postcard

Uniforms and Horses

 

1997: All the Queen's Horses (Design - Jean Luc Benard)

I thought I would combine horses and uniforms this week. Apart from the Queen's horses this issue also celebrated the British Horse Society whose patron was the Queen, famous for her love of horses  (and dogs). We even have the names for these horses 20) - a carriage horse (and uniformed attendant) was a Windsor Grey called St Patrick, 26) a horse of the Lifeguard regiment, Thompson 43) Blues and Royal's drum horse Janus, and lastly 63) the Duke of Edinburgh's horse Janus

1974: Definitives - Royal Militia Uniforms

A little less grand but with a long history are the Guernsey Militia who were unpaid volunteers loyal to the British Crown who defended the islands from foreign invaders. Here, from the 19th Century, are two Royal Guernsey Artillery Field Battery men an officer (50p) and a Driver (20p)

s

Entering at a gallop a Cavalry Trooper of the Light Dragoons

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

Harbour Lights

 

1968: Centenary of Esbjerg Harbour (Design - M Stage; Engraver - Cz Slania)

This harbour light has seen many changes in 100 years, Esbjerg was once home to 600 fishing vessels but in contrast today it is one of the world's largest shipping ports for wind turbines.

1987: Views

Sailing in Havelet Bay, I think the harbour light in the background is the approach into St Peter Port

2003: Europa: Six Decades of Tourism Poster Art

which could be this one which featured on a 2002 poster when Guernsey Tourism's theme was 'Naturally Guernsey'

1986: Tourism Series

The cancel hides the attractiveness of Calella Lighthouse (inaugurated in 1859) which can be seen here, although one of our number will know this already.

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

Trees

 

1998: Definitives - Paintings by Jean-Frederic Schnyder

Trees for all seasons and it looks like summer in Franches-Monagnes but elsewhere we are in winter with a painting of a  'Snowdrift near Neuthal'

1988: Swiss-Chinese Friendship (Design - Xu Yan Bo)

The reflection of trees in Slender West Lake, Yangzhou, China

1976: Bailiwick Views

A sea view from the pine forest on Guernsey

1988: 200th Anniversary of the birth of Joseph von Eichendorff

A sturdy oak.  A woodcut by Ludwig Richter of the poem 'Solitude of the Green Woods' by the romantic poet Joseph von Eichendorff and whose family name means 'oak village'.  I couldn't find the poem but here is an extract from his novella 'Life of a Good-for-Nothing' (Aus dem Leben eines Taugenchts) which contains dozens of poems and where he spends a lot of time wandering around hills and forests and then falling asleep in trees.  Someone once called this novella "far too happy". Trees can have that effect.

"He to whom God Wants to show his favour

God sends him out into the wide world

To him He will reveal his miracles

In hill and woods, stream and field"

Sunday Stamps theme this week - Trees - in bloom at  See It On A Postcard