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.
Switzerland 2021
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.
Mali 1978
From Mali 1978 we have two stamp featuring dominoes and playing cards.
Poland 1999
The artist and graphic designer Jacek Konarzewski created the images seen on the above Polish stamps from 1999.
Netherlands 1973
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.
Sweden 1985
The 60 ÖRE stamp in this set of indoor games definitives from Sweden (1985) features dominoes.
Norfolk Island 2011
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.
Cuba 1977
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.
Brazil 2009
Finally from Brazil in 2009, ‘Popular Games’ set of 1 Real stamps including, top right, a domino stamp.
A specialised world stamp exhibition, with FIP (Fédération Internationale de Philatélie) Patronage and FEPA (Federation of European Philatelic Associations) recognition, was held in May 2022 to celebrate the 160th anniversary of the “Sitting Helvetia”, the first perforate Swiss stamp and the first to bear the title Helvetia, still used today. organised by the Swiss Federation of Philatelic Societies in cooperation with the Philatelic Society of Lugano. The stamp above was produced by Swiss Post for the event. During the exhibition Swiss Post had a sales stand that offered a special cancellation service offering an exclusive silver overprint for the stamp – as seen on the stamps below.
Switzerland 2022Switzerland 1881
And here we have a definitive set of “Sitting Helvetia” stamps from 1881, the image retained the original 1862 design.
August 20th marks the day in 1897 when the British physician Ronald Ross confirmed that the female anopheles mosquito transmitted malaria to humans. Each year that day August is commemorated as World Mosquito Day. Dr. Ross’s research and discovery earned him a Nobel Prize for Medicine. His discovery laid the groundwork for scientists to understand and deal with the Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes that spread the parasite that causes malaria. Stamp at top, issued by India in 1997, with portrait of Sir Ronald Ross, celebrated the centenary of the discovery.
Haiti 1949
The air mail charity stamps from Haiti (1949) show a sanatorium in Port au Prince where patients with malaria and tuberculosis were treated.
In 1960, the 26th Executive Board of the World Health Organisation (WHO) resolved that postage stamps devoted to the Global Malaria Eradication Programme would stimulate interest in the battle against malaria. A plan was approved for the issue of malaria eradication stamps and Member States were invited to take part. It was hoped that Member States would be able to give the Organisation either a percentage of the proceeds from the sale of such stamps, provide quantities of stamps for the WHO to sell internationally to philatelists, or make other suitable donations.
Iran 1960
Here is a small selection of stamps issued in support of the 1960 initiative.
Afghanistan 1961Poland 1962
The Polish issue had an error showing only white cells and no parasites in the microscopic image of a blood film seen on the middle stamp.
The two stamp sheets from Gabon (1966) feature Red Cross first aiders administering treatment, on the right a nurse is seen providing anti-malaria medicine.
Solomon Islands 1977
During the 1970 and 1980s there was less international support for malaria control and fewer countries produced stamps highlighting the problem. Despite this there are still very many anti-malaria stamps to be found if the subject is of interest to the collector, including the last three items seen here from the Solomon Islands (1977), Botswana (2011) and Angola (2019).
The artist responsible for the images on these stamps from Curacao, Mirjam Griffioen, loves to paint animals and she finds goats particularly interesting. Goats, like many other grazing mammals, have horizontal eye pupils that allow their eyes to stay level with the horizon when they bend their heads down to graze. This gives them a better view of encroaching risks and danger. Mirjam chose vibrant background colours for this very attractive stamp set.
Japan 2022
Japan has produced some brilliant stamps over the years. The two 10-stamp sets above depict important cultural items connected to the Edo period in Japan’s history and Tokyo landmarks. The history of the city of Tokyo stretches back some 400 years. Originally named Edo, the city started to flourish after the warlord Tokugawa Ieyasu established the Tokugawa Shogunate there in 1603. As the centre of politics and culture in Japan, Edo grew into a huge city with a population of over a million by the mid-eighteenth century. Throughout this time, the Emperor resided in Kyoto, which was the formal capital of the nation. The Edo Period lasted for nearly 260 years until the Meiji Restoration in 1868, when the Tokugawa Shogunate ended and imperial rule was restored. The Emperor moved to Edo, which was renamed Tokyo. Thus, Tokyo became the capital of Japan.
Japan 2017
The first stamp sheets in the series “My Journey” were issued by Japan Post in 2016. Here we have the two 10-stamp sheets from 2017. And below 2022’s production.
Japan 2022
Austrian Post is famous for presenting very special, exclusive stamps and in 2016 produced a glass stamp, the first stamp valid for franking ever made out of glass anywhere in the world. The glass stamp shows one of the famous “Sandlbilder” – a reverse glass painted Pietà from the Upper Austrian municipality of Sandl. The traditional design of the Pietà (also known as a Vesperbild in German) dates back to the 14th century. The stamp shows the Virgin Mary weeping over the dead body of her crucified son, Jesus. In reverse glass painting the design is painted on the back of the glass, enabling the front to be cleaned easily, which was a big advantage in the smoke-filled farmhouse parlours of bygone years. There is a long tradition of reverse glass painting in Sandl. This is because there were many glass works in the nearby Bohemian forests, from which sheets of glass could be acquired easily and cheaply.
Austria 2016
Ten years after the world’s first postage stamp, the Austrian Empire produced its first stamps. They showed the Austrian coat of arms with the double-headed eagle. Values of 1, 2, 3, 6 and 9 Kreuzers were issued. The stamps for the Kingdom of Lombardo-Venetia, which also belonged to the Habsburg Empire, showed the same motif in the same colours but with the denominations of 5, 10, 15, 30 and 45 centesimi – they were valid throughout Austria, while the Austrian was not allowed to be used in Lombardy and Veneto. The first day of issue was June 1, 1850. Initially, the stamps were printed on hand-made paper with sheet watermarks, then from 1854 on machine-made, smooth paper without watermarks. The stamps were not yet perforated, they were cut off the sheet with scissors. Depending on how carefully the stamps were cut off and the different types of paper and printing methods, there are many colour and quality variants of the coat of arms edition. As Austria’s first stamp issue, it is extremely popular with philatelists and collectors today. The stamp block shows the Austrian issue with a value of 2 Kreuzer and an issue from Lombardo-Venetia with a value of 15 centesimi. The background is a 1 Kreuzer stamp, entwined with flowers and oak leaves, as depicted on the stamps. Austria’s first perforated postage stamp was the “Kaiserkopf issue” of 1858, which followed the coat of arms issue. This stamp sheet is also shown below.
Austria 2016Austria 2016
Some wonderful bird stamps have recently been acquired and a small selection is shown here. As I write there are 15,405 stamps featuring birds in stock, to view go to postbeeld.com or freestampcatalogue.com.
Czechoslovakia 1965
In 1965 Czechoslovakia issued a “Mountain Birds” stamp set. In order of value they depict: 30 haléřů the Eurasian Dotterel (Charadrius morinellus), 60 haléřů a Wallcreeper (Tichodroma muraria), 1.20 Korun the Lesser Redpoll (Acanthis cabaret), 1.40 Korun a Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), 1.60 Korun a Ring Ouzel (Turdus torquatus) and the 2 Korun stamp a Spotted Nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes).
Thailand 1967
Thailand 1967, from top left: Talking Mynah (Gracula religiosa), White-rumped Shama (Copsychus malabaricus), Diard’s Fireback Pheasant (Lophura diardi), Spotted-necked Dove (Spilopelia chinensis), Sarus Crane (Antigone antigone), White-breasted Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis) and Great Hornbill (Buceros bicornis).
Kyrgyzstan 2021
A more recent issue from Kyrgyzstan, a beautiful stamp sheet featuring the European Bee-eater (Merops apiaster).
Upper Volta 1965
Then back to 1965 from Upper Volta (now known as Burkina Faso), left to right: the Pygmy Sunbird (Hedydipna platura), an Olive-bellied Sunbird (Cinnyrischloropygius), the Splendid Sunbird (Cinnyris coccinigastrus) and an Abyssinian Roller (Coracias abyssinicus).
Hungary 1952
Above, just added to stock, one set mint never-hinged and another unused (hinged) set of bird stamps from Hungary. From top, left to right are: Great egret (ardea alba), Glossy ibis (plegadis falcinellus), European bee-eater (merops apiaster), Red-footed falcon (falco vespertinus), Great Bustard (otis tarda), Lesser grey shrike (lanius minor), Black-winged Stilt (himantopus himantopus), Kentish Plover (charadrius alexandrius), Eurasian Golden Oriole (oriolus oriolus), White Stork (ciconia ciconia) and Pied Avocet (recurvirostra avosetta).
Denmark Air Mail 1934
PostBeeld has used and unused (hinged) sets of these 1934 “Airplane over Copenhagen” air mail definitives.
Excuse my ignorance but I’d never heard of Underwater Orienteering before I came across the stamps featured here! Organised in bodies of open water over courses of various shapes and distances it is a combination of underwater diving and orienteering. The sport was developed in the Soviet Union during the late 1950s and competitions are currently played mainly in Europe. Known as Orientation Sub in French and La Orientación Subacuática in Spanish. Above is a stamp from 1968 produced by the Soviet Union in recognition of the Scuba Diving European Underwater Orienteering Championship held in Alushta, Crimea, that year.
East Germany (DDR) 1985
Held every two years and organised by the Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (CMAS), the Underwater Orienteering World Championship is the highest international competition. The stamps here, issued by East Germany (DDR) in 1985, commemorate the 2nd World Championship in Underwater Orienteering held at Neuglobsow, DDR, in August 1985.
Below is an article from January 2018 with Orienteering as the theme.
The origin of the Maltese bus service dates back to 1905. The buses were often owner-driven, thereby fostering a friendly rivalry leading to the heavily-customised buses endearing themselves to the public at large. Unfortunately, age took its toll on a good number of these buses thereby bringing about their replacement by modern models. Despite their discontinuation, quite a few were sent to the UK and restored by enthusiasts there while a number of these are still in use for tours and other events around the Islands. In 2021 the latest of many issues, the subject being Malta’s old buses, was produced. The 30c stamp shows a 1953 Ford Thames (registered as Bus No.2501), with coachwork by Joseph Micallef. It worked the Sliema routes in its two-tone green livery until 2011, when it was painted in the yellow and orange livery seen here. It is still being used as a vintage city tour bus. The middle stamp is a 1950s Bedford OB, coachwork by Michael Debono, originally registered as Bus No.3119, later changed to Y-0676 and rebuilt in 2011. It also serves as a vintage city tour bus with the registration plate ZXY676. The 86c stamp shows a Ford Thames chassis and cab with coachwork built by Michael Barbara in 1953. Following decommission, it was rebuilt and repainted in the attractive red and blue Zabbar route livery. Currently another a vintage city tour bus. It was first registered as Bus No. 3299, then FBY732, and finally FXY732.
Malta 2011
The History of Buses in Malta began in 1905 when the first vehicles were imported to run between the capital, Valletta, and St. Andrew’s. They began to dominate local transport in the 1920s, eventually leading to the demise of both the Malta Tramways service in 1929 and the Malta Railway service in 1931, which together had been the mainstay of public transport since the turn of the century. On the 2nd of July 2011, Malta’s iconic buses, reminiscent of another age, were withdrawn from service and a new era of public transport began. The set of 20 stamps above, issued by MaltaPost in 2011 and entitled ‘Malta Buses – The End of An Era’, marked the event and depicts vehicles that were in operation over the years.
Malta 2013
In 2013 MaltaPost continued its series of ‘Malta Buses – The End of An Era’ with the issue of six stamps illustrating some of the Island’s most iconic buses which are no longer in operation. The stamps are from reproductions of original artworks by Maltese artist Cedric Galea Pirotta. This set includes the first buses to have operated in Malta and Gozo as well as those that were used by the British Services and the British European Airways (BEA) and British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC).
Seen top left above is a Malta Police Bus – When the British Royal Air Forces withdrew from Malta in the 1970s, the Maltese Police Force obtained four short Thames ET6 buses with bodywork built in Malta by Frank Aquilina in the 1950s. Thames, a British-based chassis builder was part of the Ford group. The MP54’s were later replaced during the 1980s.
Top middle is an “Airport Bus” – These unusual looking coaches with bodywork by Park Royal of England, were built on Commer chassis and were released in the late 1940s. The raised-up rear section allowed space for the stowage of luggage underneath the seating area. These vehicles operated shuttles between Malta’s airport in Luqa and hotels in Valletta for overnighting passengers. Initially operated by British Overseas Airways Corporation, in 1949 these Commers passed to the Malta Airways Company, and then in 1954 to the newly formed Malta Aviation Services. Both buses survived until the 1960s, with one remaining in use as late as 1969.
Top right is one of four double deck buses built by Thornycroft , a United Kingdom based vehicle manufacturer. This together with a single deck version, and another which was fitted with a lorry body to carry passengers formed part of the first bus fleet to operate in Malta. The operation started in 1903, running between Valletta and Sliema, but is not believed to have lasted very long, and the vehicles were certainly no longer in use by 1911.
Bottom left stamp, one of Malta’s best known buses was “Maggie”, a Magirus-Deutz O3500 which was fitted with locally-built bodywork by Michael Debono. It was withdrawn in 2003, but unlike many such buses was retained for future preservation and restoration, and is now in the care of the organisation Heritage Malta.
Next, believed to be the first bus to have operated in Gozo, the “Victoria Hire Service” bus was built based on a Ford chassis. Released in around 1925, it was withdrawn and replaced in 1934.
Bottom right is a Royal Armed Forces Bus. The British Armed Forces made use of a number of buses over the years to transport personnel around the island. During the 1950s and 1960s one such bus was the Bedford SB, built with very basic bodywork. Bedford, also a British-based chassis builder formed part of Vauxhall Motors, itself part of General Motors. The Bedford bus depicted here shows what a Royal Navy bus would have looked like. Once no longer required by the Armed Forces, these Bedford SB buses were sold off locally. The bodies were scrapped and new locally-built bodies were fitted. A number of these survived and were in daily use until July 2011.
Malta 1996
A 1996 Malta stamp set “Mechanised Transport” showed four buses with a background featuring old bus tickets. “Diamond Star”, Bus No. 1990 first served in the 1920s. The 5c is a Stewart Bus no. 434 “Tom Mix” (1930s), the 14c shows Bus No. 1764 “Verdala” (1940s) and 30c “Front Control” Bus No. 3495 (1960s).
The impact these old buses have had on Malta’s cultural identity is great. And over the years Malta’s postal service has certainly done its best to make sure the traditional buses of Malta and Gozo are not forgotten.
For railway enthusiasts 12 December 2009 was a sad day, as EuroNight sleeper train 469 Orient Express left Strasbourg on its final overnight run to Vienna. And so the name Orient Express disappeared from official European railway timetables after 126 years. The first stamps seen here were issued by Serbia and celebrate the 125th anniversary of the service. The stamps show a train approaching Istanbul and leaving Paris.
Mongolia 1992
The last train was a true descendant of the first 1883 “Express d’Orient” and it officially carried the name Orient Express. Its evolution can be traced from timetable to timetable, year to year from 1883 to 2009. In 1992 Mongolia produced a fine 8-stamp minisheet featuring two travel poster designs from the years 1931 and 1928 respectively. Below them can be seen two trains (one the famous Golden Arrow) leaving Victoria Station, London. Then a train waiting to depart a station in Yugoslavia and a turn of the 20th Century train and the bottom pair show the Flèche d’Or approaching Étaples, France, and a train approaching Istanbul.
Austria 2010
On its last run, the Orient Express had evolved into an Austrian Railways (ÖBB) EuroNight train, with one Austrian Railways air-conditioned sleeping-car (with 1 & 2 bed compartments, including two deluxe compartments with toilet and shower), two modern air-conditioned couchette cars with 4 & 6 berth compartments, and an Austrian seats carriage. Austria and Romania produced an Orient Express commemorative joint issue in 2010 with two stamps depicting trains leaving Sinaia and Salzburg and a map of various routes the trains covered over the lifetime of the service.
Sierra Leone 2001
Possibly the best stamps featuring the history of the Orient Express were produced by Sierra Leone in 2001 and are shown above and below. The main character on the first stamp sheet is Georges Nagelmackers, a Belgian civil engineer and industrialist. He designed major European luxury trains, in particular the first Orient Express, after being impressed by American engineer and industrialist George Pullman’s luxury railway carriage creations whilst in America in 1867. The stamps show five locomotives and a caboose car and a portrait of the Dutch dancer and courtesan Mata Hari, who had travelled on the train and whose name has become a synonym for the seductive female spy.
Sierra Leone 2001
Mata Hari is also featured here along with the train leaving Constantinople and two travel posters. The stamps at top show the first sleeping car introduced on the service in 1872 and two dining cars. The bottom three stamps depict three later sleeping cars.
Sierra Leone 2001Sierra Leone 2001
In 1934 the book Murder on the Orient Express was published. Written by Agatha Christie, the suspense thriller quickly gained a cult following, inspiring numerous film adaptations and feeding the imaginations of travellers for nearly a century. Agatha Christie (1890-1976) can be seen on the above stamp sheet.
North Korea 1984
This souvenir sheet from North Korea shows the route of the first Orient Express in 1873 with a stamp displaying the luxurious interior of carriages from 1905.
North Korea 1983
From North Korea we have more 100th anniversary of the Orient Express stamps with a connection to railway history – the inauguration of the Paris-Rouen line in 1843, a British railway line in 1821 and an official opening of a French railway line in 1860.
Uganda 1996
Then in 1996 Uganda produced various Orient Express Disney character-themed stamps and stamp sheets.
Uganda 1996
The 700/- value commemorates an accident that happened with the Orient Express when it overshot the buffer stop at Frankfurt’s Central Station and ended up in the station’s Buffet area. The 800/- stamp relates to 1929, when the OE was stuck in a snowstorm for five days.
Uganda 1996Romania 1983
Another 100th anniversary issue in 1983, this time from Romania, showing the train’s 1883 route with a stamp depicting the first train leaving Bucharest’s main station. The 2008 stamps below, were issued by Bulgaria to commemorate 120 years of the inclusion of Sofia on the Orient Express route.
PostBeeld’s Auction section is now live on its website. The Auction section features many special items not normally found in our webshop. Some examples being:
Abnormalities and misprints
Proofs
Imperforated stamps
Personal stamps
Postal history
Postal items
Special postmarks
Small collections
Blocks of four and stamp sheets
Special maximum cards and First Day Covers
Unique classic stamps
Cinderellas
Tax stamps
Philatelic souvenirs
Special thematic objects/compositions
Specimens
Currency notes, etc.
The items can be viewed under the Auction heading as well as on the Thematic or Country pages in the PostBeeld web shop. All conditions and updates regarding future Auctions can be found at postbeeld.com/customer-service/auction
It began with an announcement in the English leisure magazine The Field on 9 June 1877 that “The All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club, Wimbledon, propose to hold a lawn tennis meeting, open to all amateurs, on Monday July 9th and following days”. However, women were excluded and a total of 22 men paid the one guinea entrance fee, being warned to bring their own rackets and “shoes without heels” but that balls would be provided by the club’s gardener. The All England Club was founded in 1869 solely for the purpose of playing croquet on four acres of rented meadow land at Worple Road, Wimbledon, but by 1877 the popularity of croquet was rapidly being overtaken by the new pastime of tennis. By 1920 the championships had outgrown the Worple Road site and land was purchased in nearby Church Road. The first tournament was held there in 1922. Nowadays The Championships at Wimbledon is probably the most popular tennis tournament in the world.
The Gambia 1990
The Gambia issued a 20-stamp set in 1990 featuring 10 male and 10 female players who had won Wimbledon titles. Two souvenir sheets were also produced (see top of article).
Australia 2003
In 2003 Australia issued stamps entitled “Australian Legends”. The se-tenant 4-stamp block above has action and portrait images of great Australian Wimbledon Champions Margaret Court and Rod Laver. Below is a great stamp sheet from 2016 on the same theme, featuring 10 former tennis greats from the land down under.
Australia 2016
Another pair of Australian tennis stars’ stamps from 2016, featuring former Wimbledon Doubles Champions, Tony Roche and Fred Stolle
Australia 2016Monaco 1977
Above we have two stamps produced by Monaco in 1977. The stamp, shown left, commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Monegasque Tennis Federation, the governing body for tennis in Monaco, founded in 1927. The stamp seen right celebrates the 100th anniversary of the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club, founded in 1877.
Sierra Leone 1987
And then we have stamps from Sierra Leone (1987). They feature Wimbledon winners Evonne Goolagong, Bjorn Borg, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Boris Becker, Virginia Wade, Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe.
Sierra Leone 1987
The above stamp sheets, also from Sierra Leone, depict the German players Boris Becker and Steffi Graf.
Great Britain 2003
To celebrate the Scottish player Andy Murray’s 2003 victory in the Wimbledon men’s final, Great Britain issued the above stamp sheet.
USA 2013
In 1956 Althea Gibson, seen on the imperforate stamp pair above, became the first African American to win a Grand Slam title (the French Championships). The following year she won both ladies’ titles at Wimbledon and the US Nationals (precursor of the US Open), then won both again in 1958. Please follow the link for more about Althea Gibson https://freestampmagazine.com/2022/03/08/black-heritage-part-13/
USA 2019
Maureen ‘Little Mo’ Connolly won a treble of successive Women’s Singles Wimbledon Championships, the first as a teenager, and looked like dominating the 1950s until a broken leg suffered in a riding accident to brought a premature end to her meteoric career.
We begin with the year 2014 in Part 14 of the Black Heritage stamp series with Shirley Chisholm (1924-2005). Known for her ability to break down long-standing barriers, she was never afraid to speak her mind and always supported the disadvantaged. She became the first black woman to be elected to Congress and served seven terms in the United States House of Representatives. She frequently championed the rights of women and minorities during her tenure, exclusively hiring women for her legislative office — half of whom were African-American. Also a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus and the National Women’s Political Caucus, in 1972 Shirley Chisholm became the first African-American woman to campaign for the Democratic Party presidential nomination.
USA 2015
The subject of the 2015 stamp was Robert Robinson Taylor (1868-1942). An architect and educator, he spent much of his career at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, where he supervised the design and construction of many of the buildings on campus while also overseeing the school’s programmes in industrial education and the building trades. He served under Tuskegee Institute’s founder and first President, Booker T. Washington (see article Black Heritage, Part 1). Taylor was the first African-American to graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is thought to be the first academically-trained black architect in the United States.
USA 2016
Richard Allen (1760-1831) was featured on the 2016 Black Heritage stamp. Born into slavery, he was an educator, author, activist and abolitionist whose passionate writings inspired later visionaries. Allen became a church minister after purchasing his freedom from slavery. In 1794, he founded the Bethel Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. However, it was controlled by white church leaders. But in 1816 the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, declared that the church could be independent of the white leaders and it became the African Methodist Episcopal Church. The 2016 Richard Allen stamp coincided with the 200th anniversary of the founding of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
