Tall Ships Race Commemorated

A new set of stamps will be issued on 4th July by AN Post to mark the annual Cutty Sark Tall Ships Race which begins on 6th July in Waterford, Ireland and ends in Fredrikstad, Norway on 3rd August.

The race generally attracts between 70 and 100 ships ranging from 30ft yachts to 300ft rigged ships and takes competitors through several hundred nautical miles of European waters.

Three stamps and a first day cover make up the issue and feature the following ships:

48c – Dunbrdoy
60c – Tenacious
65c – Eagle.

GIBBONSSTAMPMONTHLY.COM
May 30, 2005

Australia Post mark release of new Star Wars film

Australia Post issued a new souvenir sheet featuring characters from the new Star Wars movie on 25th May.

Episode III – Revenge of the Sith has broken box office records in USA and is currently playing in cinemas around the world. It tells the story of how the young Jedi Anakin Skywalker is seduced by the Dark Side of the Force and how he is transformation in to the evil Darth Vader.

The sheet consists of stamps featuring the following characters:

- Darth Vadar
- Yoda
- Obi-Wan Kenobi
- Anakin Skywalker
- C-3PO & R2-D2
- General Grievous
- Clone Trooper
- Padme Amidala
- Chewbacca
- Darth Sidious.

GIBBONSSTAMPMONTHLY.COM
May 27, 2005

Helsinki 2005 stamps and coins launched

Tourists coming to Helsinki for the 10th IAAF World Championships in Athletics this summer will have plenty of souvenirs to choose from. Some are more likely to retain their value and are more official than others: a postage stamp celebrating the Championships and two specially minted coins will be available to collectors.

Finland Post published a special postage stamp with three sprinters rushing to the finish line. Finnish top sprinters Markus Poyhonen, European 100m and World Indoor 60m finalist, and Heidi Hannula, European Indoor women’s 60m finalist, were present at the publication of the first day cover, but the runners depicted in the photomontage are the artist himself, Pekka Piippo, and two of his colleagues. The denomination of the stamp is 0.65 euro.

IAAF.ORG
May 25, 2005

Henry Fonda joins U.S. Postal Service Legends of Hollywood stamp series

The U.S. Postal Service is honoring the late Henry Fonda on the 100th anniversary of his birth as part of the USPS Legends of Hollywood stamp series.

The Henry Fonda commemorative postage stamp was dedicated during a special Friday ceremony at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles.

"Kind-hearted; trustworthy; heroic -- these are the iconic American traits that Henry Fonda brought to his roles on the stage and on the big screen," said John Walsh, vice chairman of the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors. "He was the kind of hero everyone rooted for."

Previous Legend of Hollywood honorees include Marilyn Monroe (1995), James Dean (1996), Humphrey Bogart (1997), Alfred Hitchcock (1998), James Cagney (1999), Edward G. Robinson (2000), Lucille Ball (2001), Cary Grant (2002), Audrey Hepburn (2003) and John Wayne (2004).

PITTSBURGHLIVE.COM
May 23, 2005

Late F1 Legend Commemorated

A new stamp is to be issued on 11th June in Austria to commemorate the late Formula One legend Karl Jochen Rindt who died racing in 1970.

Born in 1942, Rindt worked his way through the ranks of motor sport, winning the Le Mans 24 Hour race in 1965 before graduating to Formula One with Brabham and then Lotus.

He was contesting the 1970 Formula One Championship with Ferrari's Jacky Ickx and had already decided to retire from the sport at the end of the season. Having been beaten by Ickx at his home Grand Prix at the Osterreichring the pressure was now on to win at Monza to secure the Championship.

During the Saturday practice session on 5th September, Rindt’s Lotus veered sharply into the Parabolica under heavy breaking, lost it's front end and was catapulted back onto the track. Rindt died having sustained serous chest and neck injuries.

Rindt's Lotus teammate Emerson Fittipaldi went on to beat Jacky Ickx at the US Grand Prix which confirmed Rindt as the sport's first, and to this date only posthumous champion.

GIBBONSSTAMPMONTHLY.COM
May 22, 2005

Audrey Hepburn to star at Naposta

A stamp, estimated at a value of 20,000 euro, will be the "star" exhibit at Naposta '05. Discovered in 2004 by a Bavarian collector, this celebrated postage stamp, featuring a portrait of the actress Audrey Hepburn, should never have been released—the Hepburn heirs objected to the stamp just before the issue date in 2001 and it was withdrawn by Deutsche Post before being released as reported previously in GSM (Newsdesk, February 2005).

At least two copies, however, were released—the first one was discovered at a company in Wolfsburg, and is the one to be displayed at the Naposta '05 National Postage Stamp Fair which runs from 2 to 5 June at the Hanover Congress Centre, Germany. Werner Durrschmidt, the discoverer of the stamp, will be at the show to talk about his 'treasure'. Meanwhile the second copy will be auctioned in Wiesbaden on the first day of Naposta '05.

GIBBONSSTAMPMONTHLY.COM
May 19, 2005

Walt Disney Hall to be featured on postage stamp

Frank Gehry's Walt Disney Hall, the home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, will be pictured on a postage stamp to be issued by the U.S. Postal Service on May 20.

The stamp is part of a series titled "Masterworks of Modern Architecture." Disney Hall, which opened in 2003, is the most recent building to be honored.

Like Gehry's other trademark buildings, Disney Hall is an idiosyncratic, curvaceous structure sheathed in metal—in this case, stainless steel. The 2,265-seat auditorium, created with acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota, is clad in hardwood.

No other performing-arts buildings are included in the stamp series. Other buildings to be pictured include New York's Guggenheim Museum, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright; Washington's National Gallery of Art, designed by I. M. Pei; and Philip Johnson's Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut.

PLAYBILLARTS.COM
May 17, 2005

Austria scraps plan to produce Dalai Lama stamp

Austria's federal post office has abandoned a plan to produce a line of postage stamps honoring the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, a human rights activist who had campaigned for the stamps said Wednesday.

Heinz Stoff, a Vienna activist, told the Salzburger Nachrichten newspaper he was approached by postal authorities who said they had scrapped the idea of producing the stamps.

Stoff said the post office cited "substantial interventions by the Chinese embassy" as its reason for abandoning the idea of a stamp honoring the Dalai Lama, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.

Austria Post AG spokesman Michael Homola told the Austria Press Agency the post office reserves the right to cancel new stamp issues without explanation. He did not elaborate, and officials at the Chinese embassy were not immediately available for comment.

The newspaper said the idea for the stamp first was proposed last summer to coincide with the Dalai Lama's 70th birthday.

AP
May 13, 2005

Hungary Commemorate Pope: John Paul II honored with stamps

Hungary Post unveil their tribute to the late Pope John Paul II on 18th May with the release of a commemorative block of stamps.

The three stamps depict John Paul II during his visits to Hungary in 1991 and 1996, whilst a special postmark features the papal arms. A first day cover will also be made available adorned by a picture of the late Pope.

GIBBONSSTAMPMONTHLY.COM
May 11, 2005

Battle of Trafalgar Remembered

A new set of stamps are to be issued in Alderney on 9th May to mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar.

One of the most famous sea battles in history, Admiral Horatio Nelson led the British Fleet to victory against the FrancoSpanish invasion on 21st October 1805 before being gunned down by a French sniper.

Six new stamps make up the issue, each feature the bold design of artist Shaun Shackleton. A prestige booklet and first day cover will also be made available.

GIBBONSSTAMPMONTHLY.COM
May 08, 2005

New Zealand salute Cafe Culture

A new set of stamps shaped like coffee cups are to be issued by New Zealand Post on 4th May to celebrate the country's love of "Cafe Culture".

Five stamps will be issued, each focusing on a different decade and highlighting the different role played by the cafe at different times in New Zealand's past:

45c: 1910s
90c: 1940s
$1.35: 1970s
$1.50: 1990s
$2.00: 2005

A first day cover featuring the five cups accompanied by a frothy cappuccino will also be made available.

GIBBONSSTAMPMONTHLY.COM
May 05, 2005

Celebrating more than a century of science on U.S. postage stamps

Four American Scientists - Thermodynamicist Josiah Willard Gibbs, geneticist Barbara McClintock, mathematician John von Neumann and physicist Richard P. Feynman-were honored with postage stamps dedicated in a special ceremony today at Henry R. Luce Hall, Yale University, New Haven, CT.

As host to the event, New Haven holds the unique distinction of being the only city in the nation where the stamps will be available May 4. The stamps will be available at Post Offices and Philatelic Centers nationwide May 5.

"These are some of the greatest scientists of our time, their pioneering discoveries still influence our lives today," said John F. Walsh, a member of the U.S. Postal Service's Board of Governors, who dedicated the stamp.

USPS.COM
May 04, 2005

Songwriter Yip Harburg commemorated

USPS honor legendary songwriter Yip Harburg on 28th April with the release of a new stamp at a special dedication ceremony taking place in New York City.

Harburg won an Academy Award for 1939's "Over the Rainbow" which was used in The Wizard of Oz and went on to write over 600 songs for both theatre and film. Sadly, his liberal views on race were frowned upon in 1950s America and he found himself blacklisted by the film industry following his work on musicals which involved multiracial casts and in the case of "Cabin in the Sky", the first all-black Hollywood musical.

Having been shunned by the Hollywood community Harburg turned to writing for the theatre and played an integral part in transforming musicals from simple vehicles for stars into stories where plots, music and dance all integrate.

Harburg died in 1981 of a heart problem whilst driving on Sunset Boulevard. The stamp design combines a portrait taken by Barbara Bordnick in 1978 with the image of a rainbow and the lyric "Somewhere over the rainbow skies are blue" taken from "Over the Rainbow".

USPS.COM
May 01, 2005