Feeling guilty for not posting a stamp last week, so this week I’m posting a whole series. From left to right, top to bottom: the owlfly, threadwinged antlion, Rosalia longicorn, cricket, Mammoth wasp, wheat grain beetle.
Country: Bulgaria
Issued: 1964
Designers: M. Peykova, V. Vasileva
Michigan Department of Agriculture Feed Inspection Revenue Stamp
Issued: circa 1939
This is a Christmas Seal from Denmark, but the words are Greenlandic (a language that only about 50,000 people speak) so it was incredibly difficult to learn anything about this stamp. “Kalatdlit-nunat” refers to Greenland, but I still don’t know what “jûtdle” means. At any rate, it’s an image of two cute seals and a kayaker, brought to you by the crazy amounts of snow and slush we’ve been dealing with in Philadelphia recently.
As far as I can tell, this is a charity stamp for the Hungarian Red Cross from WWII, when semi-postal stamps were sold at a premium over the postal value to raise money. Seems surprising to go the extra length for such incredible embossing during wartime, but maybe people were willing to pay even extra for it.
“Under the protectorate of his Royal Highness the Prince Ludwig of Bavaria: GERMAN BREWERY EXHIBITION with special exhibitions Bavarian barley and hops.”
Designer: Franz Paul Glass (based on a poster design)
I bought this at a recent stamp show simply because I like the way it looks (Egyptian-revival maybe?), so I got a real kick out of finding out this was an advertisement for a beer expo (thanks to Google translate). The designer also seems to have an interesting history as part of a German graphic design collective called “Die 6” although there isn’t too much information on them online.
Pennsylvania Vehicle Inspection sticker
Issued: 1956
“Telegraph stamps were used by private companies for use on their own telegrams. The stamps showed payment for the telegraph service fee had been collected. Customers filled out a form, submitted it with payment, and the clerk applied the stamp and cancelled it to show payment had been received.” – Mystic Stamp Company
Issued: 1883
For the tax on hollow tubes of paper.
Pan-American Exposition Issue: 2c Train
Issued: 1901
14c American Indian
Issued: May 1, 1923
Designer: Clair Aubrey Huston
Engravers: Louis Schofield, Frank Lamasure, Edward M. Hall, Joachim C. Benzing
Trivia: Image based on De Lancey Gill’s photograph of Hollow Horn Bear (1850-1913), a Brule Sioux.
Gotta love the yellow-on-blue cancellation, note the way it accentuates his schnozz. Snuff indeed.
Totally into this large black & white fruit stamp, but I’ll admit that I got stamp envy when I looked this up and found that each year came in a different color.
State of Indiana Case Stamp
Fermented Malt Beverage
Circa 1955-1959