Year of the Ox

1999: Lunar New Year Cycle (Design - Kao Tai-kung)

 I only have one Year of the Ox stamp which as I was born in the year of the ox is rather an oversight on my part, no wonder this ox is looking quizzical.  The Ox is on the earthly branch of the Chinese zodiac and this year is the Year of the Metal Ox so

1973: Centenary of Nordic Museum (Design - Nils P Blix; Engraver - Cz Slania)

happily this stamp combines both elements of earth and metal with the lone ox leading the plow.

1959: 1st World Agriculture Fair, New Delhi

Two working in tandem in India

1938-1952: Definitive 'Sugar Industry'

I wonder if these two chew on the sugar cane or prefer something more healthy.  It is said that oxen are good for the soil for they are soft footed and nimble so don't impact the soil like tractors and heavy machinery and they also come with their own supply of fertilizer.

Happy Lunar New Year

Sunday Stamps II theme this week is - animals of lunar new year - See It On A Postcard
 

Insects

2010: International Year of Biodiversity (Design - H Ólafsson)

The UN raised awareness in 2010 with an International Year of Biodiversity, this looks the perfectly balanced ecosystem.  I noticed something important was missing, insects, although it does depends on whether the white cloud on the right is a hot geyser or a cloud of midges.  Iceland has midges and black flies but impressively

1955: Five Year Plan

no pesky mosquitoes.  It also lacks

1999: Europa - National Parks 'Herm, Our Island Jewel' (Design - Colleen Corlett)

butterflies so an Icelander would have to travel to another island to see them. A nice destination would be Herm, a tiny island off the Guernsey coast. The stamp combines a new design with one of Herm's carriage labels on the 50th anniversary of their introduction. The labels paid for the journey from Herm to Guernsey where British stamps were affixed to the letter or package to journey onward (this continued until 1969 when the Guernsey Post office took over control of the post). The stamp shows a Small Heath butterfly while the carriage label shows a Red Admiral and a Painted Lady.  Iceland may have no butterflies but it does have

1974: Butterflies and Moths (Design - Éva Zombory)

lots of moths so hours of fun with a moth trap recording them. This Purple Tiger Moth will not be found unless it has hitched a ride from warmer climes.

1964: Insects

I stay in Eastern Europe with a Turkish Lacewing and a Bush Cricket which according to the story

1959: Fairy Tales (Éva Gabor)

sang away all summer while the ant was storing grain and on the stamp winter is coming.

Sunday Stamps II prompt this week is the Letter I - here for Iceland, India, insects, island and international - investigate See It On A Postcard for more

Icy Lands

1957: Glaciers

Oraefajökull is an ice covered volcano in south east Iceland of 6870 ft (2110m) whose height varies with the seasons with Spring being the time the ice is at its thickest and it is at its highest.  The area is a national park and popular skiing and climbing area.

1972: Herðubreið

Another volcano but this time a flat topped one which are called tuya. Herðubreið in the highlands of Iceland is considered the most beautiful mountain by Icelanders but because of its steep and unstable sides its first ascent was only in 1908.

1986: Europa - Protection of Nature

The Skaftafell National Park whose landscape has been compared to the Alps but of course its geology is very different. It is popular for it is an area of sunny days and I quote "an agreeable climate" and more importantly "a breathtaking collection of peaks and glaciers", waterfalls, rivers and birch woods.

I thought I would have more Iceland stamps featuring ice but there were not as many as I expected however some icy peaks came from an unexpected direction

1975: 5th Series of Definitive Stamps 1974-76

with this Indian stamp featuring the Himalayas.  But lets head to the high seas

2013: 50 Years of Tarmo

and the ships that keep them open in the icy north. Estonia celebrated the Tarmo reaching 50 with this stamp and a Maximum Card.  Built in Finland by Wärtsillä in 1963 it served under the Finnish flag until Estonia acquired it in 1993 when it was the only icebreaker in Estonia. The quote on the front of the card is from Lennart Meri, writer, filmmaker and politician who served as the 2nd president of Estonia in 1993 and seems to translate as "Breaking the ice and sea lanes for the ships and the states of Europe. Take care every Estonian sailor will be proud to act: Farmo!"

I rather like the linking chains cancel. Estonia bought another icebreaker in 2012 so now both the Botnica and Tarno keep the sea lanes open.

We don't need icebreakers in the Irish Sea and indeed if the sea freezes it only does so at the edges and on those rare occasions everybody goes out to have a look at it. 

2012: Christmas Scenes. A Time Gone By

I wonder what this winter will bring?  The artist of the Isle of Man stamp Michael Starkey "works from old black and white photographs of old buildings and streets that no longer exist and brings them back in colour with memories and research".  This set of stamps featured lots of snow and ice but of course my favourite includes a postie, van and postbox.

An entry to Sunday Stamps II this week's letter is I for - Iceland, Ice, India, Islands and Isle of Man -  See It On A Postcard   

 

Ancient Statues

Definitives issued 1914-1922

The mysterious Great Sphinx of Giza, in Arabic Abū al-Haul, which translates as The Terrifying One believed to have been created circa 2558–2532 BC. Photographs of the Sphinx from all its giant angles can be seen here.   A mythical creature with the head of a man and the body of a lion. So what about seeing some lions

1950s: Official Stamps

which at 7ft (2.15m) are small in comparison to the sphinx but this once stood on a tall pillar in Sarnath (Uttar Pradesh) and this polished sandstone capitol is now in the museum there.  It is the most important of many lion columns that were put up by Ashoka and the most elaborate, there are four lions which symbolise the four noble truths of Buddhism.  Today it is also a national emblem of India

1984: Parthenon Marbles

Next we have a human statue although not quite for this is Dionysus, the god of the grape harvest or more particularly wine, but also madness, vegetation and the theatre

1959: Ancient Greek Theatre

where this fellow would perform because this 3rd Century statuette portrays an actor.

An entry to Sunday Stamps II theme - Statues or Monuments -  at See It On A Postcard

 
    

Worshipful Places

1938: Tourist Propaganda

Norway's medieval stave churches always look as though they are part of a fairy tale and this one at Borgund is no exception, considered the best preserved (but not the oldest) it dates from 1150. 

1961: Tourist Publicity

Built on a far grander scale but one could say with the same stacking instinct Borabudur Temple in Java  has nine stacking platforms topped with a central dome which is surrounded by 72 Buddha statues.  The world's largest Buddhist temple it was built during the 9th Century and is a UNESCO  World Heritage Site.  Indonesia's most visited tourist attraction it is also a site of pilgrimage once a year at Vesak (Buddha's birthday and enlightenment).

1946: Views

Another pilgrimage site is Roc-Amadour in the Lot area of France where it sits above a gorge of a tributary of the Dordogne River, the churches and cathedral being at the top of the hill above the town.  A UNESCO World Heritage Site it is also part of the St James' Pilgrimage Way.

1949-52: Archaeology Definitives

For pure scale travel to the ancient capital of the Kallinga Empire, Bhubaneswar where there are a myriad of Hindu temples spanning the centuries.  The one portrayed on the stamp is the 11th Century Lingaraj temple, the most prominent landmark of the city at 180 ft (55m) tall and a major tourist attraction.  The largest festival celebrated here is Maha Shivaratri, which unusually is celebrated at night, the translation of the name is  "The Great Night of Shiva".  The stamp is from one of India's first set of definitives issued after independence which featured archaeological monuments from the country's historical and cultural history.  This particular denomination would have been used on air mail postcards.

An entry to Sunday Stamps II theme - Worshipful Places - visit them At See It On A Postcard

  

Queen of Post

I'm combining the stamp royalty of Roland Hill with Queen Victoria in this, a recent acquisition, celebrating the issuing in 1840 of the penny black which brought the joy of post to everyone. A number of postal authorities are commemorating the occasion this year but I fell for Guernsey's action packed FDC. How could I resist a combination of pen, ink and postie with a commemorative sheet. The designer is Keith Robinson.

In contrast to the modern reproduction of a penny black lets travel to India and see those images of Victoria that were around when she was alive and the postal system was in full swing. 

The stamps from the 1880s feature the same portrait but the one on the left with its On HMS (On Her Majesty's Service) overprint could only be used on official mail by civil servants whereas we will never know who used the one anna stamp.

Lastly another stamp featuring royalty but in this case an imaginary one -

the The Queen of Hearts. It's from this year's  Alice's Adventures in Wonderland set whose 150th anniversary of publication falls in 2015. The artist is the award winning Grahame Baker-Smith

An entry to Violet Sky's Sunday Stamps II theme of - Royalty - see more crowns here