AUSTRALIAN ANTARCTIC TERRITORY – Penguins
Issued as a set of four and as a minisheet by Australia Post, these penguins are a welcome addition to collectors as they are shown in a group (also known as a rookery, huddle or waddle) as well as with a close-up headshot. The bird in the left selvage is a chinstrap penguin while the $1.10 stamps show Emperor penguins, the largest of the species with their chicks. The $2.20 stamps depict the Adélie penguins, the most common of the penguin species. The stamps were issued March 22, with designs based on photographs of these, the most southerly distributed of all the penguins. Available from here.
CANADA – Salome Bey
Canada Post has honored Salome Bey, its nation’s First Lady of the Blues, touting her as “an award-winning singer-songwriter, composer, producer, director and actor, who was also widely revered for how she mentored young artists.” The stamp was released April 21 as a booklet of domestic rate permanent stamps. It features an illustration by David Belliveau, based on a photo by Doug Griffin. Bey was born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1933 and toured Europe and North America with her siblings until she met Howard Matthews, who would become her husband, in Toronto in the early 1960s. She received numerous awards and honors over her career. She died August 8, 2020, in Toronto. The booklet is available online here.
REPUBLIC OF CHINA (TAIWAN) – Classical Poetry
Chunghwa Post highlights classical Chinese poetry on stamps with the continuation of a series begun in 2018. Scheduled to be issued July 27, four stamps deal with “the traditional cultured pastimes of music, Go, calligraphy and painting.” The two $8 stamps show an artistic rendering of Liu Changqing’s poem “Zither Played in Tune,” and Wang Anshi’s “Go.” The $12 stamp depicts “Matched Rhyme to Liu Gongfu’s Inscription on Wen Lugong’s Calligraphy” by Su Zhe and the $28 stamp features “Plum Blossoms in Ink” by Wang Mian. Designed by Delta Design Corp. and printed on phosphorescent paper in sheets of 20, the stamps are available in several products from here.
FRANCE – Myths and Legends
Staying with the Europa Myths and Legends theme for the year, La Poste issued a single stamp on May 9 depicting La Fée Mélusine with the 1,65€ paying the priority letter international rate. Created by Daria Schmitt and engraved by Pierre Albuisson, the stamp was printed intaglio in sheets of nine. The story tells of a young lord who comes across a beautiful woman near a fountain. She asks him to marry her, promising happiness and wealth but under the one condition that he never tries to see her on Saturday. What could go wrong? Raymondin became curious and spied on his wife only to discover she was actually half woman, half serpent, resulting in her being denounced and, in some versions of the story, slain. The stamp is available online from here.
GERMANY – Young Wild Animals
The latest additions to Germany’s Young Wild Animals series are two €0.85 stamps issued in sheets of 10 with an EAN code on all four edge pieces of the narrow sheet for letters up to 20 grams. Issued on April 7, the first depicts a young Eurasian lynx in a forest setting where it is raised by its mother alone. The second stamp features a European badger, which remains with its mother for the first year of its life before venturing out to establish its own territories. The distinctive face mask develops within the first week of life. The stamps are available online from here.
ISLE OF MAN – Manx Museum Centenary
The centenary of the renowned Manx Museum was celebrated with a set of stamps on April 28 that invites collectors to delve into the “archives of the museum and discover the wonder of Manx history.” The museum holds only those artefacts directly related to Manx history. Issued in strips of five 73p and five £1.04 denominations, the stamps feature “the oldest surviving Manx motor vehicle, an eight horsepower Renault; a King Sihtric coin, one of the earliest coins to be minted on the Isle of Man; and a pygmy shrew taxidermy – the smallest mammal on Earth and inhabitants of the island,” said Connie Lovell, executive director for Manx National Heritage. For more details on these stamps and the opportunity to purchase them in several products, visit here.
LITHUANIA – Myths and Legends
Lithuania Post’s contribution to this year’s Europa Myth and Legends theme is a pair of 0.95€ stamps issued April 29. The striking green and yellow stamps depict scenes from Lithuania’s folk tale, “Eglė the Serpent Queen,” one of the few Lithuanian folk tales with an unhappy ending, and features Lithuania’s symbolic fern flower that blooms once every 100 years during the Feast of Races, the shortest night of the year. Legend has it that “finding a fern ring means great success – a person becomes omniscient and very happy.” If collectors are unable to find the fern they can at least purchase one on a stamp from here.
NEW ZEALAND – The Nine Stars of Matariki
Māori legend has it that the nine stars of Matariki (the entire cluster of Pleiades) shine at dawn. “The different names of the whetu (stars) in the Matariki group are significant to Māori, as each individual has a defined purpose and is intrinsically connected with the Māori world.” A set of four gummed stamps was issued on May 4 featuring the constellation. The $1.50 shows Tāwhirimātea; the $2.80 features ‘Nga mata o Tāwhirimātea’; on the $3.60 is ‘Te Iwa o Matariki’ and the $4.10 depicts ‘Hei kahu mō Ranginui’. Designed and illustrated by KE Design, Tolaga Bay, New Zealand, the stamps are available in several forms from here.
PORTUGAL – Fantastic Beasts
To compliment the release of the feature film “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore” Portugal issued two booklets, accompanying collector’s sheets and first day covers. The first of the booklets of four N20g self-adhesive stamps contains an assortment of fictional beasts from the wizarding world created by J.K. Rowling: a fwooper behind a niffler holding a watch; an occamy and a bowtruckle; a demiguise and a billywig; and a murtlap and an erumpent. The second booklet of four features wizards Newt Scamander, Albus Dumbledore, Credence Barebone and Gellert Grindelwald as they appear in the film. The eight stamps are repeated on collector’s sheets available from here.