The year 2006 was declared the International Year of Deserts and Desertification by the United Nations General Assembly. Several countries issued stamps that year in an effort to raise awareness of the problem of increased desertification in the world.
In 2013 the enduringly-popular British BBC television series “Dr. Who” celebrated its 50th anniversary. And Great Britain’s Royal Mail issued many commemorative items that year, including the above booklet with portraits of the first actor to play the part of Dr. Who, William Hartnell (right) and the actor who in 2013 took the role, Matt Smith (left). In the centre are four First Class stamps featuring the Tardis, the Doctor’s space-travelling time machine. The Tardis resembles a London Police Box. These were introduced in London the end of the 1920s for the use of members of the police, or for members of the public to contact the police. It was also used in other parts of the United Kingdom. Unlike an ordinary telephone call box, its telephone was located behind a hinged door so it could be used from the outside, and the interior of the box also acted as a miniature police station in which police officers could fill in reports or take meal breaks.
Take a close look at these USSR stamps, issued in December 1984 for the New Year celebrations, which depict Moscow’s Spasskaya Tower. The tower’s clock reads ‘5 before 12’, but the stamp’s designer made a mistake by showing six o’clock on the dial twice!
As the second highest value of a stamp series in honour of famous musicians/composers, this stamp from Paraguay appeared on July 1, 1980 with an edition of 35,000 copies. The stamp shows a reproduction of the painting ‘Dancers, Green and Pink’ by Edgar Degas in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Above right is the striking portrait of the composer Richard Wagner (1813–1883) as everyone knows him. But underneath is the inscription: ‘ADOLPH WAGNER (1835-1917)’.
It was 03:30 on Christmas Day 1954 in driving rain when a British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) Boeing 377 Stratocruiser aircraft crashed on landing at Prestwick Airport, Scotland. Twenty-eight of the thirty-six on board were killed. A horrible accident and a terrible loss of life. However some items survived the disaster, including mail and a consignment of diamonds!
PostBeeld continues daily to add hundreds of new stamps to its vast stock, hopefully with many items of interest to its customer base. Here is a small selection:
Vanuatu, the independent island group in the South Pacific Ocean, issued this fine set if birds native to the islands in 1999. From left to right you have the Vanuatu Kingfisher, Shining Cuckoo, Peregrine Falcon and the Rainbow Lorikeet.
Scott Joplin (1868-1917) was an African-American composer pianist and music teacher. Joplin achieved fame for his “ragtime” compositions and was known as the King of Ragtime. During his brief career, he wrote over 100 original ragtime music pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas. He began publishing music in 1895 and publication of his “Maple Leaf Rag” in 1899 brought him fame. This piece had a profound influence on writers of ragtime. He died in 1917 at the age of 48.
Before we continue with this article featuring a selection of 2020 Christmas stamps, I would like to take the opportunity to offer seasonal greetings from all of the staff here at PostBeeld to all readers of the Freestampmagazine and all visitors to the PostBeeld Webshop and Freestampcatalogue.
This Polish stamp sheet was issued in 1946 with education as its subject. The letters B, I and E in the bottom right corner of the stamps indicate that Poland was then a member of the International Bureau of Education (BIE = Bureau International d’Education). What is now known as the IBE was founded in 1925, as a private non-governmental organisation, by leading Swiss educators to provide intellectual leadership and to promote international co-operation in education. Since 1969, it has been part of the UNESCO Secretariat with its own statutes.
