September 11 stamp raises 10.5 million dollars

A commemorative U.S. postage stamp honoring the heroes of September 11, 2001, has raised $10.5 million for the families of rescuers killed or permanently disabled in the terrorist attacks.

The government estimates that approximately 1,000 people or families are eligible for the money, meaning claimants would receive approximately $10,000 each.

The U.S. Postal Service sold the stamp -- which featured the iconic image of three firefighters raising an American flag amid the World Trade Center ruins -- for 45 cents. The price differential between the cost of a first class stamp and the "Heroes of 2001" stamp, after expenses, was designated for the fund.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is responsible for distributing the money and says it will be given to the families of emergency relief personnel killed or disabled in the line of duty at the World Trade Center, Pentagon and Shanksville, Pennsylvania, sites.

Firefighters, police, paramedics, emergency medical technicians, clergy and possibly others who responded to the attacks the morning of September 11 and the subsequent four days are eligible to apply for aid.

CNN.COM
July 28, 2005

Royal Mail release Motorcycle stamps

Six stamps depicting motorcycles from 1914 to 1991 went on sale on 19th July.

The stamps, designed by Ian Chivers of Atelier Works and illustrated by Michael English, continue the series featuring transport. They have been printed in lithography by Walsall Security Printers.

Stamps have been issued to post offices in sheets of 25. Sheets of 50 with gutter margins are available from Post Office philatelic outlets and Royal Mail Tallents House. The usual philatelic accompaniments are also available: blank first day cover envelope, stamp cards and presentation pack.

GIBBONSSTAMPMONTHLY.COM
July 27, 2005

Aviation sheet takes off at Wisconsin air show

The "American Advances in Aviation" commemorative sheet, featuring 10 classic aircraft from the 1930s, '40s and '50s, will be dedicated Friday at the world's premier air show, the 2005 Experimental Aviation Association's AirVenture Oshkosh fly-in convention in Oshkosh, Wis.

Another "First Day of Issue" dedication ceremony will take place the same day during the Americover 2005 Stamp Show in Vienna, Va.

The stamps will be available at post offices and philatelic centers nationwide Saturday.

A description of each aircraft appears on the back of the stamp sheet.

The planes depicted are Boeing's 247 and B-29 Superfortress, Consolidated's PBY Catalina and B-24 Liberator, Lockheed's P-80 Shooting Star, Grumman's F6F Hellcat, Republic's P-47 Thunderbolt, Northrop's YB-49 Flying Wing, Engineering and Research Corp.'s Ercoupe 415 and Beechcraft's 35 Bonanza.

The header illustration at the top of the sheet pictures a Hughes H-1 racer and Boeing's YB-52 Stratofortress.

SUN-SENTINEL.COM
July 26, 2005

Canada Post issues stamp to mark Saskatchewan's 100th Birthday

Canada Post issues 50-cent stamp to mark Saskatchewan's 100th Birthday.

The stamp image will compress in time and space three uniquely Saskatchewan vignettes that portray this land of hope and promise under a single great canopy of blue sky.

Saskatchewan is the heart of the Canadian prairie.

CANADAPOST.CA
July 24, 2005

Dicing with death: Austrian custom celebrated

Austria Post release a new stamp on 29th July featuring a custom which dates back to the 17th century - the Frankenburger Game of Dice.

The game originates from an uprising during the Thirty Years' War where 5,000 men revolted after a Catholic priest took control of the Protestant parish in Frankenburg. The angry mob laid siege to Frankenburg Castle for three days but were lured to Haushamer field after they agreed to lay down their arms.

Having been tricked by the Governor of Bavaria, half of the thirty six leaders of the uprising were sentenced to death whilst the other half were pardoned. The men were divided into pairs and were forced to play a game of dice for their lives, with the losers being hanged immediately (and you thought Yahtzee was tense).

The game has been performed since 1925 once every two years by the Wurfelspielgemeinde Frankenburg, based on a play by Karl Itzinger. Around 400 actors take part in the open air spectacle which has become highly popular over the last 80 years.

GIBBONSSTAMPMONTHLY.COM
July 22, 2005

Fire Brigade Olympics commemorated

Croatia Post are issuing a new stamp to commemorate the Fire Brigade Olympics which the country will be hosting later in the month.

Over 40 teams from 30 different countries will be competing in a series of fire service-related events including the obstacle course, knot tying and equipment recognition. The main competition starts on 24th July and is taking place in Varazdin.

GIBBONSSTAMPMONTHLY.COM
July 19, 2005

Stamp honoring Fairclough unveiled

A new postage stamp featuring former Hamilton West MP, the Right Honorable Ellen Fairclough (1905-2004), was unveiled at McMaster University June 27.

Ms. Fairclough was the first woman federal cabinet minister, the first woman in Canadian political history to serve as Acting Prime Minister and the only female postmaster general.

A lifelong Progressive Conservative, Ms. Fairclough was initially reluctant to enter the political arena. Her first foray into the world of public service was at the municipal level, when in 1946, she was elected to the Hamilton city council, serving as alderman, city controller and deputy mayor.

Defeated in her federal election bid of 1949, she was successful in a by-election the following year and entered Parliament as MP for Hamilton West, a seat she held until 1963. In her first term, she was the only woman with a seat in the Commons.

When John Diefenbaker formed a minority Progressive Conservative government in 1957, he appointed Ellen Fairclough Secretary of State, making her the first woman in Canada's history to be sworn into the federal Cabinet.

In 1958, she became Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, and from 1962 to 1963, served as postmaster general. Along with those portfolios, she was also responsible for a number of agencies including the National Film Board, the National Gallery and the Royal Canadian Mint.

DUNDASSTARNEWS.COM
July 16, 2005

Royal Mail unveil Christmas stamps

This year's Christmas stamps will be religiously themed with images of the Madonna and Child as portrayed by a number of different cultures from around the world.

The move follows criticism Royal Mail received last year from the Church of England for not issuing a religious stamp in 2004. Royal Mail argued that as Britain is a multi-faith society it was not necessarily appropriate to issue Christian themed stamps.

The fact that different cultures are featured on the stamps seems to suggest something of a compromise has been struck, with Christianity appearing but without the limitations of traditional imagery.

GIBBONSSTAMPMONTHLY.COM
July 12, 2005

Controversial Mexican comic book re-issued, but stamps won't get a second run

A re-issue of the controversial "Memin Pinguin" comic book went on sale Thursday in Mexico, just a week after a postage stamp depicting the cartoon character with exaggerated black features stirred anger in the United States.

But the Mexican post office announced it will not re-issue the series of five stamps that the Mexican government hotly defended as part of the country's culture, and which many U.S. black activists called offensive.

Assistant Director Gustavo Islas of the Mexican Postal Service said that no further printing beyond the original 750,000-stamp issue was scheduled – in line with original plans.

He said that almost none of the service's other commemorative series "have received as good a reception as we have had with Memin."

The stamps sold out within a few days of their release. Many buyers were drawn by reports that Internet auction site eBay had bids of as much as US$200 (euro167) for a booklet.

AP
July 09, 2005

Blacks Demand Fox Apologize for Stamps

A group representing about 50,000 black people on Mexico's Pacific coast demanded that President Vicente Fox apologize for a set of postage stamps featuring a black comic book figure that U.S. civil rights groups have called racist.

In a letter, the group said that the character "Memin Pinguin rewards, celebrates, typifies and cements the distorted, mocking, stereotypical and limited vision of black people in general."

Fox and other Mexican officials have defended the new series of postage stamps as a beloved part of the nation's culture.

The five stamps released last week depict a hapless boy drawn with exaggerated features, thick lips and wide-open eyes.

Hundreds of people lined up at Mexico City's post office to buy them Thursday night. By Friday, all 750,000 stamps had been sold. Friday afternoon, people were bidding more than $125 on the Internet auction site eBay for the complete set of five stamps - each of which has a face value of 6.50 pesos, or about 60 cents.

LATIMES.COM
July 06, 2005

Japanese Once Again Honor Sharapova

It has recently been reported that the Japanese love Maria Sharapova. So much, in fact, that they came up with the Sharapowan, a pillow shaped like the tennis star's breasts. Their latest endeavor to honor her is coming in the form of a postage stamp.

The Japan Post has recently said that it will start getting advanced orders later this week for stamps bearing the image of 18-year-old Sharapova, who has captured three of her 10 singles titles in the country.

Each sheet will cost 3,150 yen, or $29, and will include 10 stamps of 80 yen each along with a collector's picture of the sexy tennis player.

DOUBLEAGENT.COM
July 04, 2005

Falkland Islands mark end of WWII

A new set of stamps was issued by the Falkland Islands on 29th June to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II.

Over 150 men and women from the Island served in the Allied forces and everybody on the island was affected by the conflict in some way. This special issue consists of the following stamps and first day cover:

Walrus Seaplane & Presentation Spitfire
HMS Exeter and King Edward Memorial Hospital photo
Operation Tabarin I, 1943-44
The Fitzroy and HMS William Scoresby.

GIBBONSSTAMPMONTHLY.COM
July 03, 2005

Mexican stamps cause controversy

The Mexican government issued a series of stamps depicting a dark-skinned Jim Crow-era cartoon character with greatly exaggerated eyes and lips, infuriating black and Hispanic civil rights leaders for the second time in weeks.

Mexican postal officials said the five-stamp series features Memin Pinguin, a character from a comic book created in the 1940s, because he is beloved in Mexico.

But the leaders of the NAACP, the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, the National Council of La Raza and the National Urban League denounced the image in strong terms, calling it the worst kind of black stereotype. The curator of a Michigan museum that collects Jim Crow memorabilia said the Memin Pinguin caricature is a classic "pickaninny" -- a black child, oafish and with apelike features.

"It is offensive," said the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, who like other leaders called on Mexican President Vicente Fox to apologize and stop circulation of the stamps. Jackson vowed to lead a demonstration at Mexican consulates if Fox does not do so.

It was the second time in seven weeks that Jackson called on Fox to apologize for a racial offense. In May, Fox apologized for saying that Mexican migrants in the United States work jobs that "even blacks don't want," a comment he said was taken out of context.

WASHINGTONPOST.COM
July 01, 2005