Classic Car Stamps: Aland salute vintage automobiles

Aland Post issue a set of four stamps on 4th March depicting four classic automobiles.

The first class stamps are presented in a booklet which also contains information regarding each of the cars featured, which are as follows:

1st Class: Volkswagen Beetle
1st Class: Ford V8 from 1939
1st Class: Oakland Sport Convertible from 1928
1st Class: Buick Super 4D HT

The stamps have been designed by Cecilia Mattsson based upon the photography of Lasse Karkkainen.

GIBBONSSTAMPMONTHLY.COM
February 27, 2005

Dutch to issue Entrepreneur Stamp

TPG Post are to issue a new stamp on 22nd March to celebrate the Week of the Entrepreneur. The 39c stamp has been especially designed for small and medium sized businesses and will be available in sheets of 50.

The stamp itself has been designed to illustrate the different aspects of modern business, with clocks and the globe depicting the 24 hour, international nature of trading. Meanwhile, the computer, files, telephone and transport are used to demonstrate the logistics of selling products within a marketplace.

Graphic Designer Saskia Wierinck is responsible for the stamp, a new challenge for the former graduate who is more used to producing editorial design for magazines.

GIBBONSSTAMPMONTHLY.COM
February 24, 2005

New Greek Issue: Ancient jewellery on stamps

Greek Post issue a new set of stamps on 25th February featuring five examples of ancient Greek jewellery.

The five designs are as follows:

Necklace with tiles and cylindrical parts. 730 b.c. Athens (National Archaeological Museum)

Snake shaped bracelet. End of 3rd - beginning of 2nd century b.c. (National Archaeological Museum)

Necklace with acorn and bull head. First quarter of the 5th century, Athens (National Archaeological Museum)

Central part of crown with Heraclion node. First quarter of the 2nd century, Athens Benaki Museum)

Omega shaped ear-ring with cone endings. Last quarter of the 8th century b.c. (National Archaeological Museum)

Myrsini Vardopoulou is responsible for designing the stamps, which will be accompanies by a first day cover and maximum cards.

GIBBONSSTAMPMONTHLY.COM
February 20, 2005

Spring flowers blossom on stamps from the U.S. Postal Service

Mainstays in gardens coast to coast-irises, hyacinths, tulips and daffodils-are featured on stamps to be issued by the U.S. Postal Service at an 11 a.m. ceremony March 15, 2005, at the Chicago Flower & Garden Show.

"The gorgeous Spring Flowers stamps, and the millions of flowers in the Chicago Flower and Garden Show, remind us that spring is on the way-winter is almost over," said Jo Ann Feindt, Area Vice President, Great Lakes Area, for the U.S. Postal Service, who will dedicate the stamps. "The Postal Service is delighted to commemorate the beauty and bright promise of spring through these new stamps."

USPS.COM
February 17, 2005

2005 Pacific Explorer issue

Singapore Post are to release a new issue to commemorate the 2005 Pacific Explorer stamp exhibition which is taking place in Australia from 21 to 24 April.

The exhibition is being organized by the Federation Internationale de Philatelie and is the first major event of this nature to be held in Australia since the hugely successful Australia '99 event, which took place in March of that year.

Singapore Post will be attending the event and issue a miniature sheet and special theme day cancellations to commemorate the event.

GIBBONSSTAMPMONTHLY.COM
February 15, 2005

Stamp would mark bridge's 50th year

The first time the Mackinac Bridge was depicted on a postage stamp, it had just opened for business in 1957.

Postage then for a first-class letter was three cents.

Nearly 50 years later, a campaign is on again to convince the U.S. Postal Service to issue a commemorative stamp to honor the five-mile span that unites the Upper and Lower peninsulas of Michigan.

One remaining question will be to decide whether to have the actual re-dedication ceremony on Nov. 1, 2007, to mark 50 years from the date the bridge opened, or June 28, 2008, to commemorate 50 years from the date the bridge dedication was held in 1958.

CHEBOYGANNEWS.COM
February 13, 2005

Reagan postage stamp is rolled out

President Reagan's famous smile and blue eyes shine from a new postage stamp issued Wednesday in ceremonies across the country. It's the latest in an already high stack of honors bestowed on the former president since his death eight months ago.

The new stamp shows Reagan's smile, tilt of head and twinkle of eye in a way that captures the "warmth, personality and humanity of Ronald Reagan," James Miller, chairman of the Postal Service board of governors, told a crowd of about 200 at an unveiling ceremony at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center.

The celebrants were shown a video tribute to the former president that noted he wrote more than 10,000 letters during his lifetime. Lee Greenwood sang the national anthem and his hit Proud to be an American and Crystal Gayle sang a medley of patriotic songs.

AZCENTRAL.COM
February 10, 2005

Reclusive Nobel winner declines postage stamp honor

Austrian writer Elfriede Jelinek, winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize in literature, has turned down a rare honor for a living writer – to be featured on a stamp.

Austrian postal officials reportedly offered to feature Jelinek's likeness on a stamp along with a mention of her Nobel win.

However, the reclusive author has turned them down, saying she sought "no personal honors" and was uncomfortable with the idea of her face on a stamp.

Some countries, like the U.S., have developed a policy that no living person shall be honored on postage, and that prominent individuals are only eligible for commemorative stamps 10 years after the person's death, with the exception of former U.S. presidents.

Canada Post no longer has such a policy but tends to issue stamps commemorating people only after their deaths, with the exception of living monarchs.

CBC.CA
February 08, 2005

Stamps to feature camera phone snaps

A new series of stamps featuring photographs taken with camera phones is to be launched in Switzerland.

The Swiss postal service say the collection, to be issued in September, will be the first of its kind in the world.

Swiss citizens are being urged to send in their pictures which will be displayed on website www.mms-stamp.ch.

The public will then be asked to vote for their favourite photos by sending a text message to a special number.

The four most popular pictures will be chosen and issued as stamps for the collection, entitled Swiss Mobile - A Country on the Go.

ANANOVA.COM
February 07, 2005

Latest stamp to mark St Valentine's Day

Norwegian Post issue a new stamp on 4th February to commemorate St Valentine's Day. The stamp focuses upon communicating with loved ones, depicting a heart placed over a poem.

Communication has been selected as the theme because of its importance in maintaining relationships, and whilst the way in which we communicate may have changed as technology has developed, the basic message remains.

The 6 NOK stamp has been designed by Gina Rose and is accompanied by a first day cover, presentation pack, collectors' sheet and collectors' pack.

GIBBONSSTAMPMONTHLY.COM
February 06, 2005

British Journeys stamps series continues

The latest stamps in the British Journeys series will be issued on 8th February with the south west of England the subject of this fourth instalment.

Designers James Phelan and Lisa Barker have chosen the following six landscapes to feature on the stamps:

2nd - (Second class inland letter rate): Old Harry Rocks, Studland Bay
1st - (First class inland letter rate): Wheal Coates, St Agnes
40p - (European basic rate up to 20gm): Start Point, Start Bay
43p - World postcard rate): Horton Down, Wiltshire
57p - European airmail rate up to 40gm): Chiselcombe, Exmoor
68p - Airmail basic letter rate 10gm -20gm): St James’s Stone, Lundy

In addition to the six stamps, a presentation pack, first day cover and six postcards will also be made available.

GIBBONSSTAMPMONTHLY.COM
February 04, 2005

New Ronald Reagan stamp

A new stamp honoring Ronald Reagan, the former U.S. President who died in June last year is due out on 9th February.

The stamp features a portrait of Reagan painted by award-winning artist Michael J. Deas and is based upon a photograph taken by White House photographer Jack Kightlinger in 1981.

In addition to the stamp, a first day cover, press sheet and various keepsakes will also be made available.

GIBBONSSTAMPMONTHLY.COM
February 03, 2005

Stamp honors Jewish moon boy

More than 60 years after Petr Ginz died in a gas chamber at Auschwitz, the Czech Republic is finally paying homage to the brilliant teenager by publishing his recently found diaries. Recalling the diaries of another teenage victim of the Holocaust, Anne Frank, they reveal a budding Czech literary and artistic genius whose life was cut short by the Nazis.

Earlier the Czech Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp bearing the boy's photo and his famous drawing.

The drawing, by Prague schoolboy Petr Ginz, depicts a view of the Earth as imagined from the Moon.

As a boy, he was obsessed with science and space travel, and drew his now famous Moon Landscape aged 14.

The black-and-white pencil drawing shows mountains on the Moon with the Earth shining far away in the distance.

BBC.CO.UK
February 02, 2005

Love bouquet stamp perfect way to send love

A hand extending a bouquet of colorful spring flowers, symbolic of the warmth, hope and happiness of love and friendship, appears on the U.S. Postal Service 2005 Love stamp to be dedicated during the American Philatelic Society's AmeriStamp Expo, the largest winter gathering of stamp collectors in the nation.

The stamp dedication will take place at a noon ceremony Feb. 18, at the Cobb Galleria Center, Two Galleria Parkway, Atlanta, GA.

USPS.COM
February 01, 2005