EF Indochine French Governor General, Naturalist, Explorers in Indochina - 1944

EF INDOCHINE (French Indochina) commerative postage stamps issued during Vichy period in 1944. Printer/Designer was Ideo/Chuoc.

Top row: Joost van Vollenhoven, who was the acting Governor-General of French Indochina from January 1914 to April 1915. 

Middle row: Jean Marie Antoine de Lanessan, a French naturalist, politician, and Governor-General of Indochina. 

• Bottom row: Auguste Pavie, a prominent French explorer and diplomat, honoured for his role in the exploration and expansion of French influence in the Indochina region. 

Slovensko 10th Death anniversary of the Reverend Jozef Murgaš

SLOVENSKO stamp issued in 1939 to commemorate the 10th death anniversary of the Reverend Jozef Murgaš (1864–1929), a Slovak inventor, architect, and botanist. The design incorporated communication towers, reflecting his work in radiotelegraphy.

Protectorate Of Bohemia And Moravia

PROTECTORATE OF BOHEMIA AND MORAVIA, a territory established by Nazi Germany during World War II, issued stamps in the early 1940s.

Left stamp issued in 1940 features a view of Kroměříž, a town in the Zlín Region of the modern-day Czech Republic, with a value of "8K" (Czech Koruna). 

Right stamp issued in 1943 depicts a scene from the opera "Siegfried" by Richard Wagner, celebrating his 130th birthday, with a value of "250" (Czech Koruna). 

Both stamps bear the inscription "Böhmen und Mähren" (German) and "Čechy a Morava" (Czech).

Slovensko Slovak Folk Series - 1939-1945

SLOVENSKO (First Slovak Republic 1939–1945) was part of the Slovak Folk series issued during the Nazi occupation. Shown is two of three stamps in the set: A Slovak woodcutter in traditional attire in a forest setting and  Slovak peasant woman (campesina)  in traditional attire working on a farm or in a harvest scene.

Serbian Royal Post King Peter I

SERBIAN ROYAL POST issued in circa 1914 a stamp depicting a portrait of King Peter I (reigned 1903–1918).

Ukraine People's Republic Bohdan Khmelnytsky

UKRAINE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC  issued in 1920 a stamp with a face value of 10-hryvnia stamp, depicting Bohdan Khmelnytsky (1595–1657), a leader of the Zaporozhian Cossacks. 

This series was ordered by the Government of the People's Republic but did not enter circulation due to military actions.

Postes Republique Francaise (Nouvelle Caledonie Et Dependance) -1905

 

POSTES REPUBLIQUE FRANCAISE" and "NOUVELLE CALEDONIE ET DEPENDANCES (New Caledonia) issued circa 1905 this black illustration of a Kagu bird (Rhynochetos jubatus) on a green background.

Tuvan People's Republic Definitives 1927

TUVAN PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC (Tannu Tuva) on 1927 issued a series of definitive stsmps, depicting various aspects of Tuvan culture and wildlife, including tribal people, a stag, and a yurt. 

• Tuva was a short-lived republic located in central Asia between Russia and Mongolia. The republic was later absorbed by the Soviet Union and is now a part of the Russian Federation. 

USSR 15th Anniversary of the October Revolution

Почта СССР (Post of the USSR) issued in October 1933 a postage stamp commemorating the 15th Anniversary of the October  Revolution (1917-1932). This grey coloured stamp with a face value of 30 kopeks featured a radio transmitter mast and globe to propagate the modernisation of the state to all Soviet people. The designer/ engraver was Ilya Alekseyevich Sokolov (1890-1968). The stamp was printed using a Collotype technique. It was gummed and had watermarks with meanders and flowers. It had a print run of 200,000.

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.

USPS 1970s-1980s Cover

USPS  cover features a variety of stamps from the 1970s and 1980s.

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.

United States Department Of Post Air Mail Beacon 1928

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF POST on 25 July 1928 issued a  5-cent airmail stamp,  featuring the beacon light atop Sherman Hill, Wyoming in the Rocky Mountains. The 5-cent denomination was the domestic rate for sending a letter via airmail at the time.

This particular cover is dated 5:30pm, 20 September 1928, posted from Springfield, Massachusetts to Livingston, Montana. It arrived at 7:00am, on 23 September 1928.

The design depicted an early airmail plane flying past a navigation beacon tower. This specific beacon was part of the Transcontinental Airway System, which used a series of lights to guide pilots flying at night.

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.

Italian Colony of Eritrea

ITALIAN COLONY OF ERITREA postage stamps, issued in 1930, featured evocative images of African locations and colonial figures. Among three were the "Colonial Institute" or "Native Types" issue, depicting indigenous figures. 

 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.

USSR Defense of Leningrad 1942

Почта СССР (Post of the USSR) issued on 30 November 1942 a stamp entitled "Defense of Leningrad". It was the first stamp dedicated to the heroic defense of Leningrad in the series “The Great Patriotic War 1941-1945.” The stamp depicted Soviet soldiers participating in the Defense of Leningrad. The text on the flag translates to "Death to the German invaders". The artist/engraver was N. Borisov. It had a face value of 60 kopek and a print run of 2 million copies.