Stamps for Potatoes
Allan B. Crawford a British meteorologist in  1946 made the first attempt to draw attention to issue first postage stamp of the
remote island of Tristan Da Cunha.On the 8th May ,1946 Crawford submitted a petition for first postage stamps of the
island to the South African Post Master General who forwarded it to the Colonial Secretary in London, which was signed by
2 members of the Island Council.
Along with many pages of petition it contained deign of 9 postage stamps which was atached as an appendix.These stamps were
designed by Crawford himself.what was strange and funny was the denomination of the stamps...and Guess what!!!

Allan Crawford on Tristan stamps issued in 2008

An example of Tristan Times - Source: http://www.rhodesianstudycircle.org.uk/


During time of WWII the newspaper "Tristan times" used to get sold at the island at "3 cigarettes or 4 large potatoes".
and here each stamps were denominated by number of Potatoes as local currency. The 1D (4 potatoes) was the postcard rate
it was showing a rock hopper penguin standing in front of a silhouette of Tristan island.The rates were as followed below:
1.5D -local letter rate
2D - empire letter rate
3D - Foreign letetr rae
4D - registered rate
6D- parcel rate/pound

Picture above shows the facsimile of the design by Crawford.

Picture shows the facsimile of 1D design by Crawford,and signed.

The petition was turned down for some reasons in September 1946.
However philatelists started to write to Tristan enclosing potatoes in payment for the 'stamps'. By the time the parcels of
potatoes reached the island most of them were mouldy, and there was a real risk of blight affecting the Tristan crops.
Imagine the post office of the island was full of potatoes on the premises

However 1D stamp is proven to be very rare . might be only very few local use you would find,as stickers.Crawford got 1D stamp

printed 20,000 copies earlier.In 1962, Allan Crawford allowed his essays to be reprinted in miniature sheets and sold to collectors provided the islanders would benefit from the sales. The firm Cluett Burns Ltd of Southampton printed two imperforated, gummed sheetlets which were placed on the philatelic market by "Rembrandt Philatelics" of Southampton/Hants. The above pictures are 

exa,ples of the same.These designs were reprinted on 2015 London stamp exhibition sheet along with the first postage stamp 

of Tristan Di Cunha , which was overprinted on St.Helena Stamp.

Light Camera Action!!!!

India Is a Country of several Ethnic community and we all have our different ways of expressing ourselves and movie is one of the reflection of our daily lives and several movies reflect and upscale Indian Culture in Global Stage. Bollywood is one of most popular name in world movie industry after Hollywood, and India Post have honored Bollywood in several stamp issues . Bengal's contribution to Bollywood industry is astonishing . Bengal is one of most culturally rich ethnic community and their contribution to industry is astonishing be it a movie direction /actors/Singers/Music directors. i am trying to put some stamps issued in remembrance of Bengal's Contribution to Bollywood and Indian Movie industry !!!

Ritwik Ghatak with Scene from "Meghe Dhaka Tara" in back drop

Satyajit Ray with Oscar and scene illustration from "Pather Panchali"

let's start with movie direction the one of best ever produced by Bengal ever : Ritwik Ghatak and Satyajit Ray stamps issued respectively in 2007 and 1994 , here you See Ritwik Ghatak in the background with his famous movie : "Meghe Dhaka Tara" released in 1960 and Satyajit Ray won Oscar for his movie "Pather Panchali"(Song of Road) based on award winning novel of Bhibhutibhusan Bandyopadhyay .

Bimal Roy was honored in 2007 stamp issue 

I like to mention here another famous Bengali Director Bimal Roy Who have produced such master piece of movies like: "Do Bigha Zamin","Parineeta","Biraj Bahu" and Nitin Bose,Tapan Sinha,Hrishikesh Mukherjee who were honored in stamp issues too .

Let's take you to the music industry where several Bengal based Singers enriched the Indian music by their timeless Songs .India Post rightly respected several of them in several Stamp issues namely on Kishore Kumar,Manna Dey,Hemant Kumar,Bhupen Hazarika ,Salil Chaudhary,Sachin Deb Burman and his son versatile Rahul Deb Burman. Sachin and Rahul Deb Burman were one of most pioneers brought western punch in Indian music and were able to make perfect fusion.Below few stamps and postcards shows the people behind Indian music industry.

Last row second right Shows music maestro Rahul Deb Burman 

Third Row extreme left Salil chaudhary

S.D.Burman was honored in 2007

Bhupen Hazarika,Hemanth Kumar,Mannadey,Kishore Kumar were 

celebrated in 2016 singers of India Series

Golden Generation Indian Music miniature sheet issued in 2003

 lets talk about few actors namely Uttam Kumar , Ashok Kumar,Dhirendranath Ganguly .Uttam Kumar was a legend of Bengali movie industry who acted a wide range of Bengali movies and was a real legend and India Post honored him in 2009 Issue , below are few stamps and postcards issued to commemorate 100 years of Indian Cinema,hope many more glorious years to come . i am ending this here now as too many stories to tell if i want to continue :)

A Pane of Stamp on Legendary Uttam Kumar 

Last row extreme left Utpal Dutt

First row extreme left :Ashok Kumar/

last row extreme left Dhiren Ganguly and extreme right Hrishikesh Mukherjee

P.S. This article got published in "Chalachitrita" published in June 2019 , on account of  3rd Bengaluru Bengali Kannada film festival organised by "Satyajit Ray Film Society " Bengaluru. 

Here is the Cover picture of the Same .

The Girl with Green Eyes!!!!

Since long i have seen the photograph on internet and National Geographic site,this picture of this girl with green eyes caught my attention!!! It almost became to me the face of Afghanistan since then. So when i got a nice picture postcard featuring this girl i could not help but share this joy with you,you can see my excitement as i am writing in my blog almost after a very long time!!!

like other cards this card also have its own story to tell.. This is the picture of Sharbat Gula. She was photographed back in 1984 by Steve McCurry,which appeared as cover image of 1985 National Geographic Magazine.

Back then she was living as a refugee in Pakistan during the time of Soviet Union occupation of Afghanistan . Her eyes bold,straight looking to the camera was described as most " recognised photograph" in the history of NGM. McCurry made several unsuccessful attempt to locate her during 1990s, finally  in 2002 a NGM team traveled  to Afghanistan and found her. No wonder many girls claimed themselves as Sharbat and many husbands claimed their wives as her :). Finally she was identified at an age of 30 in a remote region of Afghanistan,since she went back to her native in 1992 leaving the refugee camp. She recalled being photographed . And in 2002 she first time saw her picture which was shooted way back in 1984. 

She was happy to pose with the iconic issue of the NGM in 2002.

More about her life can be found @ : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghan_Girl
The pictures i have taken from Google and: NGM page: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2002/04/afghan-girl/mccurry-photography#/29c28178-ccdd-452c-88ee-222992b4a86c.jpg

Well it was quite a search isn't it?

Som

The Girl with Green Eyes!!!!

Since long i have seen the photograph on internet and National Geographic site,this picture of this girl with green eyes caught my attention!!! It almost became to me the face of Afghanistan since then. So when i got a nice picture postcard featuring this girl i could not help but share this joy with you,you can see my excitement as i am writing in my blog almost after a very long time!!!

like other cards this card also have its own story to tell.. This is the picture of Sharbat Gula. She was photographed back in 1984 by Steve McCurry,which appeared as cover image of 1985 National Geographic Magazine.

Back then she was living as a refugee in Pakistan during the time of Soviet Union occupation of Afghanistan . Her eyes bold,straight looking to the camera was described as most " recognised photograph" in the history of NGM. McCurry made several unsuccessful attempt to locate her during 1990s, finally  in 2002 a NGM team traveled  to Afghanistan and found her. No wonder many girls claimed themselves as Sharbat and many husbands claimed their wives as her :). Finally she was identified at an age of 30 in a remote region of Afghanistan,since she went back to her native in 1992 leaving the refugee camp. She recalled being photographed . And in 2002 she first time saw her picture which was shooted way back in 1984. 

She was happy to pose with the iconic issue of the NGM in 2002.

More about her life can be found @ : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghan_Girl
The pictures i have taken from Google and: NGM page: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2002/04/afghan-girl/mccurry-photography#/29c28178-ccdd-452c-88ee-222992b4a86c.jpg

Well it was quite a search isn't it?

Som

Kayaks through stamps

Well this was planned long back,but i could not post due to lack of time and finally i was determined and thanks to some inspiring friends and finally its going to come out.

What is kayak? A kayak is a small, narrow boat  primarily designed to be manually propelled by means of a double-bladed paddle. The word kayak originates from the Greenlandic Inuktitut language, where it is the word 'qajaq'. In the UK the term canoe is often used when referring to a kayak .

Now the type of kayaks: "Sit on tops", as the name suggests, involve sitting on top of the kayak in an open area..."Cockpit style" involves sitting with the legs and hips inside the kayak hull with a  spray deck or "spray skirt" that creates a water resistant seal around the waist. "Inflatables" are a hybrid of the two previous configurations, these boats have an open deck, but the paddler sits below the level of the deck. "Tandems" are configured for multiple paddlers..

Ok now enough technical details...what about some stamps of kayaks?

One of my most favourite is 2011 ms of Greenland showing communication in Greenland..

 The first stamp shows a kay mail..Kay mail was the common way to transport mail
in the old days – this was, of course, as a supplement the dog sledge transport.The kay mail letters
were folded in a certain way so that they would fit into a kamik, the traditional Greenlandic boot.
A few of the kay mail letters, back from the 17th and 18th centuries, are preserved in private collec
tions today.During the 1950s and 60s, as motor boats were more common in Greenland, the need
for kay mail disappeared gradually. In 1994, POST Greenland printed a modern day kay mail letter
which was very popular. The last of these reprints were sold at POST Greenland’s booth during the fair “Frimærkeforum” in Roskilde in November 2010. I tried to find out an example of kay mail letter picture but was not successful.

Greenland issued several stamps on Kayaks in various years below are 2 of them engraved by master engraver CZ Slania..

Kayaks were very much used for fishing in northern regions.typically these kayaks shown in the stamps are "Cockpit style" . Like to share a nice postcard issued by Greenland post showing  Kayaking by a man..engraved from the painting drawn by Martin Morck in 2002

One of another stamp issued by Canada post way back in 1955 shows a man kayaking and on back ground on iceberg...the stamp itself is so cold....

When it comes to Kayaks its prominent in their mythology as well,the 2008 Nordic mythology MS
issued by GL post shows a kayak and a man and rocks.

The legend behind the myth is: The myth of the rocks,The Rocks is a less well known legend about a
kayaker’s meeting with the spirit in the rocks. The legend tells about the many adventures a traveller meets during his some times dangerous and long travels. In the legend it was urgent for the kayaker to row through two rocks before they collapsed around him. In the old days, the kayak was a very important property for a sealer in Greenland, so he could go catching or travel far. It was very important that the traveller was good at paddling and make turns with the kayak alone in order to get above water very quickly if he capsized.  If he came under water, it was
of vital importance to get above water as quickly as possible. Otherwise he would drown.Therefore it
was urgent for the kayakers to be such good kayakers that they could deal with any dangers they might meet.  When a sealer was out kayaking, he was usually alone, and therefore had nobody to help him when the danger was in sight.



Canoeing and kayaking have been featured as competition sports in the Summer Olympic Games since the 1936 Games in Berlin, although they were demonstration sports at the 1924 Games in Paris
Below is the stamp showing Kayaking as race issued by France in 1969

The MS showing coastal life of Aland showing a canoe or a Kayak?i am bit confused here.

Enlarged for close observation:

Last but not least  1981 Falkland 15p issue commemorating 25th anniversary of Duke of Edinburgh's issue shows clearly a Kayak but the Specialized Heijtz  Falkland catalogue named it as Canoeing,may be as in UK they call it as Canoeing?

Sources: Wiki,Greenland Collector Magazine

End of era for Pick Lick & Stick?

Self Adhesive stamps!!!! I was wondering that how popular it is in the world these days!!!!In my recent visit to Scandinavia on a business trip i found it's quite popular and easy to use.When i was visiting different tourist places like Oslo,Bergen,Copenhagen wherever i went i had a plan to send covers and postcards to myself and i succeeded to do so.The all tourist information centers and postcard shops sells stamps. Though i was carrying a glue stick i never had to sue it ,as they were all self adhesives!!! This way it is easy and stamps are accessible to every common people and more popular no doubt.. And it was easy and convenient for me also to remove the paper and stick them on my covers and cards. Below is a cover from Oslo which i posted to myself.

The question in my mind was is it the end of era for traditional stamps with gum on back?Because as a stamp collector specially for used stamp collector the gum in philately is of so much importance.As i also get some covers from my friends around the world which have self adhesive stamps,i often try to soak them in water to get the used stamp sample.But i found in most of the cases it is almost impossible to remove them from cover.And complexity of removing them differed from country to country. Specially i found USA stamps are almost impossible to recover and most of the time they goes in trash and i hope you understand its of a so much pain:(..I understand its a great pleasure for post crosser or postcard collectors  or tourists who really don't care about the gum stuffs, and its honestly easy and convenient way to send cover/cards to their friends and relatives..So whats the use of traditional gummed stamps?Will they really come to an end?I wonder seeing the popularity of self adhesives  ..that the day is not so far.But to my wonder as like the above example of Norway stamp i saw some stamps we got as self Adhesives from the post office but when i bought from Philatelic bereaue they are traditional gummed ones..So may be not the end?There is hope!!!Evn online site of them dont shows the self adhesives either!!!!! Below i sent one cover to myself from Post and Telegraph museum of Copenhagen ,its a combination of both self adhesive and normal gummed one!!! The stamp showing the lady was self adhesive...

Now we just dig a little bit on the history of the Self adhesive stamps!!!!

The pioneer of Self Adhesives were produced by Sierra Leone in 1964,printed in Britain by Walsall Lithographic Co. on paper supplied by Samuel Jones & Co. The stamp shows the map of the country.

Off course by using self adhesives the health risks can be avoided.As most of collectors buy stamps from counter and immediately they lick the back side of it and stick it to the envelope,which may cause spread of bacteria .

Well USA was next in line to issue self adhesives .In 1974 they issued the christmas stamps as self adhesives and it was a great flop :( ,due to die cutting problem and adhesive damaging the design.

Though  the issue was raised in British parliament just after the issue of first self adhesives by Sierra Leone whether GB can adopt such stamps in future,and it was not accepted until  October,1993 when GB came out with their first self adhesive stamps were issued as a booklet of 20 1st class values,as shown below.

and now happily the tradition is being followed in Post and Go stamps by GB. and i think most of all countries are issuing them as a part of their stamp issues.

The problem is to remove them by water.Some tells it can be easily by hot water some says it is not.But my experience is USA stamps are worst in this case,but seems they have been designed such a way so no one can use the uncancelled stamps as new stamps again.
Some collectors of used stamps have discovered that although not readily removable by water, the self-adhesives can be removed with Bestine (a hexane solvent), Benzine (Petroleum Ether), or a natural based citrus solvent containing d-limonene (e.g., Pure Citrus Orange is an air freshener product that works for this purpose).

So what ever it is health issue or bacteria,the debate will be still on ...
So what you prefer self adhesives or traditional gummed ones?
A pain for stamp collectors or paradise for common people??

Note:The pictures of early self adhesive stamps are taken from internet.

Mail from Volcanic Island..

My friends here i share with you my mail from remote volcanic south Atlantic island..Tristan Di Cunha..

I was always curious of getting letter from remote islands and it would be nice if it contained bird stamps on it..and here you go a nice cover and postcard to my address and these Albatross have reached me safely.

The stamps are showing Tristan Albatross issued in 2013 as set and 1 miniature sheet and sheetlet bearing WWF symbol.

Here they go:

Note the color difference of Albatross beak ..the postcard one is yellow and stamps showing one having pink..the later one is called as Southern Royal Albatross ..

Thanks to Post Mistress of TDC post Mrs. Iris Green without her it wouldn't have been possible