Here’s a small sample of stamps from the thousands added to PostBeeld’s vast stock in the last weeks.
With cancellation of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the possibility of the games taking place this year we begin with a set of stamps from 1964, produced by Egypt to celebrate the 1964 Olympic Games which were also held in Tokyo.
From the Solomon Islands in 2001 a beautiful stamp sheet, if snakes are your thing, to celebrate the Chinese New Year 2001 – the Year of the Snake. From left to right we have a Red-banded tree snake, a whip snake, a Pacific boa and a Guppy’s snake.
The New Hebrides Condominium was the old colonial name for the islands in the South Pacific Ocean that are now Vanuatu. People native to the islands existed for a few thousand years before a Spanish expedition arrived in 1606. In the 18th Century the islands were colonised by both the British and French and were named after the Scottish islands. The two countries eventually signed an agreement making the islands an Anglo-French territory. That divide continued even after independence, with schools teaching in either English or French, and with different political parties. The agreement lasted from 1906 until 1980, when New Hebrides gained its independence as the Republic of Vanuatu.
The stamps above and below from New Hebrides are joint issues from 1911 when a specific new design was introduced, being denominated in both British and French currencies and featuring the coats of arms of both countries.
The Russian city of Krasnoyarsk in Siberia hosted the 29th Winter World University Games. Here we have a stamp set featuring the architecture of some of the event’s locations. Top left is the Sopka sports complex, top right is the Crystal Arena ice rink. The bottom pair are the Yenisei stadium and the Winter Games’ Congress Hall.
Below is a set of 4 self-adhesive values titled “Animal Families” featuring a Goosander and two fledglings (85) then
a Marmot (100) a Lynx (150) and an Ibex (200) with their young.
Staying with the animal theme, a stamp pair from Iran (2016) featuring the beautiful Eurasian Lynx. The Eurasian lynx is listed as a protected species under Appendix II of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora).
French fashion designer André Courrèges was a symbol of a futuristic style revolution in the 1960s and synonymous with mini-skirts and little white boots. He died in 2016 at the age of 92 and La Poste, France’s postal service, issued souvenir sheets with special plexiglas-covered heart-shaped stamps to commemorate the life of the famous designer.
From Peru 1966, these stamps pay homage to the culture of the Chimú people, who resided mainly on the northern coast of Peru. They were known for their fine metal working of gold, silver, copper and bronze and for their fine earthenware pottery.
