On our forum we received a good question from a reader, who asked for information about famous people known to be stamp collectors. This gave us the idea of producing a ‘Top Ten’ of famous collectors . After some research I came up with the following:
On February the 27th, Pitcairn issued a minisheet containing 3 stamps entitled “Albatross Giants of the sky”.
These magnificent “giants of the sky” roam the southern oceans and Pitcairners are fortunateto experience the thrill of seeing these magnificent birds, mostly out at sea.
On February 20, 2014, An Post has once again issued a stamp to mark Saint Patrick’s Day, one of the world’s best-known national holidays.
Everybody knows about Saint Patrick’s Day, which is named after our patron saint, Saint Patrick (c. AD 385–461). It is celebrated every year, on 17 March, but not just in Ireland. It is a public holiday here and in Newfoundland, Labrador and Montserrat while the parades and celebrations are big events in the United States, Britain, Canada, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand.
Great Britain recently added a new stampset of four to their series of “Classic Locomotives”. Previously released were Classic Locomotives of Scotland (2012) and Classic Locomotives of Northern Ireland (2013).
On the 20th of February Royal Mail issued the set “Classic Locomotives of Wales”, which features all four Classic Locomotives of Wales stamps, together with a dramatic photograph of the BR Class 5101 2-6-2T No. 4126 as it crosses the Crumlin Viaduct with a passenger train in 1963 in its border.
After dogs and cats on postage stamps of the series Children’s World – Pets, there are now also our four legged pets of somewhat smaller size but nonetheless lovable – rodents.
Four new, fanciful postage stamps depicting hamster, guinea pig, European rabbit and chinchilla is in circulation since February, 21.
After kicking off the “Conservation of Birds” series in 2008 with a set of stamps on the Taiwan blue magpie, Chunghwa Post is now following up with another set of four stamps and a souvenir sheet featuring the Swinhoe’s pheasant. This issue consist out of four stamps in a block with a souvenir sheet.
To commemorate the First World War Centenary, Gibraltar issued a stamp set of six depicting images from drafting to embarkation.
World War One gave the Gibraltarians the opportunity to show their patriotism and did quite well out of the war, without the use of guns or Garrison (Spain no longer had the power or facilities to participate on the European battlefield).
On the Rock of Gibraltar, the naval dockyard worked overtime, hospital ships transported the wounded to land for medical care and trade through Spain was flowing well. The Allied navies set up in Gibraltar, including the USA, and pioneered the tourist trade on the Rock, when sailors and soldiers spent time on leave in Gibraltar.
On the 125th Anniversary of the launching of the Peral submarine, a stamp will be put into circulation which reproduces the portrait of Isaac Peral, inventor of the submarine that appears beside him.
Isaac Peral y Caballero (Cartagena, 1851 – Berlin, 1895) features in the pages of history as a renowned scientist, soldier, and sailor of the Spanish Armada who invented the first electric propulsion submarine. Following family tradition, he joined the Armada very young, where he received technical training.
Irish author Bram (Abraham) Stoker, who was born in a coastal suburb of Dublin in 1847, was the man responsible for creating one of the most famous characters in literature – Count Dracula. The book Dracula was first published in 1897 and since then many film and theatre versions have been made. The first was made in 1925 and was titled Nosferatu and featured the character Count Orlock.
Marinus van der Lubbe from Leiden in Holland was the first Dutch victim of Nazi Germany. He was sentenced to death for setting fire to the Reichstag parliament building in Berlin. Van der Lubbe was guillotined on January 10, 1934 in Leipzig – which, by today’s standards might seem rather an extreme punishment for arson.