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.
Sarawak is on the Island of Borneo. In 1841 Sarawak was proving troublesome and the British adventurer James Brooke helped to subdue the rebellion for the Sultan of Brunei, for which he was given Sarawak to govern. The Brooke dynasty lasted until Sarawak became a British colony in 1946, gained independence in July 1963 and joined the Federation of Malaysia in that September.
French Indochina was officially known as Indochinese Union (Union Indochinese) after 1887 and the Indochinese Federation (Fédération Indochinese) after 1947. This was a grouping of French colonial territories in Southeast Asia that issued postage stamps between 1886 and 1949.
This group comprised three Vietnamese regions of Tonkin (north), Annam (center), and Cochinchina (south) with Cambodia being formed in 1887. Laos was added in 1893 and the leased Chinese territory of Guangzhouwan in 1898. The capital was moved from Saigon (in Cochinchina) to Hanoi (Tonkin) in 1902 and again to Da Lat (Annam) in 1939. In 1945, it was moved back to Hanoi.
After the Fall of France during World War II, the colony was administered by the Vichy government and was under Japanese occupation until March 1945, when the Japanese overthrew the colonial regime. After the Japanese surrender, the Viet Minh, a communist organisation led by Hồ Chí Minh, declared Vietnamese independence, but France subsequently took back control of French Indochina. An all-out independence war, known as the First Indochina War, broke out in late 1946 between French and Viet Minh forces.
In order to create a political alternative to the Viet Minh, the State of Vietnam, led by former Emperor Bảo Đại, was proclaimed in 1949. On 9 November 1953, the Kingdom of Cambodia proclaimed its independence. Following the Geneva Accord of 1954, the French evacuated Vietnam and French Indochina came to an end.
Many of the artworks represented here are housed in prominent museums, such as the Louvre in Paris.
Schall von Bell played a significant role in reforming the Chinese calendar and was appointed Director of the Imperial Observatory and the Tribunal of Mathematics.
Tattered and faded
picture postcards
of nameless maidens,
and forgotten lands
set in exotic climes
and idyllic villages,
all framed in an age
when colonialism,
royalty and wars
reigned supreme.
Cursive impressions,
indigo inked
and penciled,
tell stories
of feluccas on the Nile,
Michaelangelo in the Sistine,
moonlit Balinese beaches,
trekking Machu Picchu,
homesick French soldiers.
Shared testimonials, all,
these timeworn paper tales
for a shilling or more.
Colourfully stamped
with squares,
rectangles,
triangles,
etched images
of Queen Victoria,
Belgian missionaries,
Honai huts,
kangaroos,
edelweiss,
biplanes,
and countless wonders of the world,
all postmarked from a bygone age.
Neither snow nor rain
nor heat nor gloom of night
stayed the Orient Express,
Special Delivery,
Zeppelin Luftpost,
or Boat Mail.
Horseman,
footman,
bicycle courier,
all kept their appointed
destination.
As I read the words,
I hear the voices
of friends,
of loved ones,
of acquaintances.
I imagine these picture postcards
when they reached the letterbox.
What joy,
what excitement,
what incredible news,
each card must have sparked
when remembered by one
who shared thoughts
and feelings from faraway.
© Breyel, Timm. "Old Postcards". 2026.
"The Road to the Polling Station” is a painting by Kim Dae-nyeon, Secretary General of the National Election Commission, and contains the message that “when voters’ desire for good politics is gathered through elections, the Republic of Korea will be filled with hope.”
The stamps were created to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Korean election system, which began on May 10, 1948, and to raise awareness of the upcoming 13 June local elections.
The face value of the stamps were:
- 50 haléřů (indicated as "50h")
- 1 koruna ("1 Kes")
- 2 koruny ("2 Kes")
The first definitive stamps were issued in 1901 and printed by Waterlow & Sons in London.
The stamps feature two main designs: a giraffe browsing a palm tree and a pair of dromedaries or camels (shown here).
Having gained this concession to issue its own stamps, the Nyassa Company issued over 140 different postage stamps between 1898 and 1925, far in excess of the normal needs of postal services in the territory. Many of these issues were beautifully designed and generated great philatelic interest, especially in Great Britain.
The first issues in 1898 were overprints on the stamps of Mozambique, but in 1901 a lovely set of 13 pictorial Nyassa Company stamps featuring a Giraffe and a pair of Dromedaries was issued. The issues popularity was increased by the existence of an “Inverted Centre” error on every value! In fact such was the interest in the philatelic world that the London printers, Waterlow and Sons, reprinted the entire set in 1922.
In 1903 and 1910 the stamps were surcharged with new values, and in 1911 two new designs were added showing a Zebra, and Vasco da Gama’s Ship “Sao Gabriel”, these being overprinted “REPUBLICA” (shown here) to reflect to Portugal’s newly found status as a Republic.
In 1918 the original 1901 set was again surcharged, this time for the new currency of escudos and cents (shown here), and in 1921 the 1911 new designs were also similarly surcharged.
Between 1921 and 1923 a complete new set of twenty stamps was issued in the new currency featuring a reworking of some of the older designs, as well as a Native Dhow, and a portrait of Vasco da Gama (shown here). 1924 and 1925 saw the issue of a triangular Postage Due set, and overprinted Charity Tax stamps, similar to those issued in other parts of the Portuguese Empire.
When control of the area reverted to the Portuguese Colonial Government in 1929, the company lost its concession to issue postage stamps, and the stamps of Mozambique came into use.
