It is commonly thought that the game of Dominoes originated in China in the 13th Century. There is a theory that a form of the game reached Europe in the 18th century via Italian missionaries. Nowadays the game is played worldwide, both professionally and for fun.
The four special stamps on the stamp sheet here, issued by Swiss Post in 2021, each with a value of 50 centimes, are ideal to use together, so that every envelope can be given a personalised design. The domino tiles appear in light colours on the stamps, creating a harmonious effect on the wooden playing table. The stamps were designed to encourage users to affix them in creative arrangements. A particularly attractive feature is that the spots of the dominoes are punched out. The Dominoes World Champion in 2020 was actually Swiss.
From Mali 1978 we have two stamp featuring dominoes and playing cards.
The artist and graphic designer Jacek Konarzewski created the images seen on the above Polish stamps from 1999.
In 1923 the Dutch government became the second country in the world after Switzerland to introduce a special stamp with a surcharge for 'the deprived child'. Switzerland had introduced its Pro Juventute stamps in 1912. The 1973 stamps "Children's" stamps included a domino stamp.
The 60 ÖRE stamp in this set of indoor games definitives from Sweden (1985) features dominoes.
The six Norfolk Islands stamps above show items from the collections held at Norfolk Islands’ various museums. The $1.20 stamp depicts bone dominoes that were originally mounted on wood and were found in the Officer’s Mess, New Military Barracks from the second convict settlement on Norfolk Island.
And these stamps featuring some examples from the body of work of Cuban artist Jorge Arche (1905-1956) were produced by Cuba in 1977. The 30 Peso air mail stamp (bottom right) shows an Arche painting, ‘Jugadores de domino’ (Domino Players), from 1941.
Finally from Brazil in 2009, ‘Popular Games’ set of 1 Real stamps including, top right, a domino stamp.
