There are many postage stamps featuring imaginary characters from children’s stories and in 2002 Australia issued a stamp set showing figures from a book written for kids by Australian author John Marsden. Beginning top left we have: the Gnome; the Wizard and the Sprite. Bottom left the Bunyip – in Australian Aboriginal folklore a legendary monster said to inhabit the reedy swamps and lagoons of the interior of Australia; the Fairy and the Goblin.
A gnome and four-leaf clover represent good luck on a pair of New Year’s stamps issued by Slovenia in 2013.
Danish Post issued a set of stamps in 2016 showing traditional Danish “Nissen” (Gnomes or Pixies) in a variety of comic scenes.
This first day cover from Åland (2013) has a gnome-like figure that was sculpted by the man responsible for the design of the envelope and the stamp, Hakan Sandberg. The blue ribbon represents prostate cancer awareness, the stamp’s designer being a prostate cancer survivor. The Blue Ribbon charity stamp sold for €1.20, €0.20 of which was awarded to Åland’s Cancer Society.
The stamp sheet above entitled “De wereld van de kabouter” (The world of the gnome) was issued in 2020 and commemorated the 25th anniversary of the death of Rien Poortvliet (1932-1995), a Dutch artist and illustrator. Poortvliet saw himself as a storyteller in drawings. His drawings told the tale, and at most he added a short caption. His works were extremely popular and translated in many languages.
More kabouter/gnome stamps from the Netherlands, those above from 2008. Then, below, 12 mini sheets issued in 2016, designed by Rien Poortvliet and Wil Huygen with appropriate themes for the months of the year.
In 2022 the USA produced a “Holiday Elves” booklet with stamps featuring elves, in this case the helpers of Father Christmas, preparing children’s toys for Christmas delivery.
And another Christmas issue from Latvia featuring elf-like characters.
