This stamp was part of a larger 1933 collection called "Peoples of the USSR". This series was issued by Goznak to publicise the all-Union labour mobilisation and to articulate the vision of the peoples allocated roles in the Soviet economy. This and other Soviet stamps in this series depicted different ethnic groups such as Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Turkmens, Tajiks, Belarusians, Russians, and Jews. The individuals shown on this specific stamp represented some of these typical nationalities participating in the building of socialism.
That said, another source in my research claimed this Soviet stamp was the first to feature a portrait of a Chinese person (lower right corner). The Chinese man on the stamp was a staff member of a newspaper in Harbin, fluent in Russian. His duties included listening to Soviet radio programmes, then writing news articles for the newspaper. This stamp was issued in 1932 as part of a series commemorating the 15th anniversary of radio in the USSR.
The two stamps on the left depict athletes from the 1976 Summer and Winter Olympic Games, held in Montreal and Innsbruck respectively.
The two stamps at the top right commemorate the 1607 settlement of Jamestown, Virginia, by English colonists.
The stamp on the bottom left side was issued in 1982. It portrays a kitten and a golden-colored puppy playing with a stick in the snow. The stamp was based on a painting by British artist Edgar Hunt.
The blue stamp at the bottom center is for the Peace Corps, an organisation created during the JFK era to promote international peace and friendship.
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As day and night airmail developed, the beacon system was expanded. The aforementioned beacon on top of Sherman Hill was built in 1925. At 8,600 feet above sea level, it was at the time reported to be the tallest airmail beacon in the world.
A photograph taken in the fall of that year (and later used on this airmail stamp in 1928) was snapped by Nebraska photographer Nathaniel Dewell. It showed the beacon tower along with the control hut and a giant concrete arrow in the ground.
The arrow used at these beacons were typically between 50 and 70 feet long and painted bright orange, making them clearly visible from today’s standard low altitude of the early airmail pilots. Most pilots of this era would fly at altitudes of 200-500 feet in order to navigate by these ground landmarks.
Readers may notice a slight variation in the photo used for the stamp. In the original photo there is a biplane; on the stamp, it is a single-wing aircraft. Why was plane changed? By 1928, biplanes were obsolete, so the photo was re-touched and the offending wing from the airplane removed.
By the mid-30s, radio and radar were just two technologies, that completely revolutionised how pilots would navigate, making beacons and ground arrows redundant. The beacon on Sherman Hill in Wyoming went dark for good in 1934. So, for a while, there was indeed a “lighthouse on the prairie”.
Today, a small green cinder-block structure as well as a smaller mast is in the same location where the beacon tower once stood. Portions of the 100-year-old concrete arrow in the ground is still visible. Looking east toward Cheyenne, one can still make out the contours in the mountains from Dewell’s 1925 photo.
Source: Brande, Even. "There Was Indeed a Lighthouse on the Prairie". Handel Information Technology Inc. Laramie, Wyoming. 2025.
The stamps shown here include:
- The 2 centesimi stamp depicts an Eritrean Lancer on horseback.
- The 5 and 10 centesimi stamps feature a standing native warrior with a shield and spear.
- The 15 centesimi stamp shows a native archer.
- The 25 centesimi stamp depicts a standing Askari (a native soldier from the Arabic askar), indigenous to Italian East Africa, who were regular members of the Italian colonial troops in Africa.
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The stamps featured an allegorical design of a winged female figure (Victory launching an airplane, with the inscription 'ORO PAŠTO JSTEIGIMAS" (Airmail Establishment) on either side.
- Denominations/Colours:
○ 20 skat (red-orange/green
○ 40 skat (blue/red
○ 60 skat (blue/green
○ 80 skat (yellow/green
○ 1auk (green/light brown
○ 2 auk (orange/light brown
○ 5 auk (grey/light brown
- Four 90 Italian lira stamps of "Completamento Rete Telefonica" (Telephone Network Completion), issued in 1970
- Umberto Boccioni (1882-1916) artwork titled "Woman at Table or Decomposition of the figure of a woman at the table with a face value of 150 Italian lire, issued in 1975
- Artwork by Girolamo Di Castellana titled "Castellana Caves", depicting.
the interior of the Grotte di Castellana, a famous karst cave system in Puglia, Italy. It had a face value of 70 Italian lira, issued in 1977
- "Martyrs of Adreatine Caves" by Francesco Coccia marked the 30th anniversary of the Italian Resistance. The stamp carried a face value of 100 Italian lira, issued in 1975.
- International Women's Year stamp had a face value of 70 Italian lira, issued in 1975
- Europa Majolica plate stamp had a face value of 150 Italian lira, issued in 1976
The set included various denominations and designs: 10, 30, 50, and 60 kopecks, as well as 1 ruble. 500,000 sets were printed.
These stamps were part of a series intended to legitimise the Soviet annexation of the eastern territories of the Second Polish Republic, an action that was carried out in accordance with a secret clause of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact with Nazi Germany. The Soviet narrative presented the move as a protection and reunification of Ukrainian and Belarusian populations.
The Soviets quickly began confiscating, nationalizing, and redistributing all private and state-owned Polish property. During the two years following the annexation, the Soviets arrested approximately 100,000 Polish citizens across Kresy.
In August 2009, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion, the authoritative Polish Institute of National Remembrance announced that its researchers reduced the estimate of the number of people deported to Siberia to 320,000 in total. Some 150,000 Polish citizens perished under the Soviet rule.
