Monsters Of The Deep

I'm not certain which is cooler. Arguably New Zealand's Aotearoa from 1997 #1470 which is approaching the beach ready to kill or Monaco's Jules Verne 1955 "A Floating City" #341. Though the 1954 movie classic inspired the Moroccan stamp, I think I have to favor the Aotearea only because the Moroccan doesn't depict the kracken. Floating city? Where's even the damn submarine?

JimmyB

King Kamehameha Statue

 The original statue of King Kamehameha was commissioned in 1878 and sculpted in Italy. Put on a ship bound for Italy, the ship sank off the Falkland Islands and was presumed lost. Insurance money was collected and a new one arrived in Honolulu in 1883. A few weeks later the original statue arrived in Hawaii, having been salvaged and bought by King Kalakaua who had bought it from an English Captain who had found it in a junkyard in the Falklands. This is Hawaii #76 in my catalogue.

JimmyB

Brown vs Education

 Last night my Uncle posted a comment on my FB wall last night telling me he enjoyed our communication through FB even though our views differed at times but said that my stamp posts were "boring" for him even though he knew that I found stamps interesting. He's actually going to change his privacy settings so as not to see my stamp posts. I could have posted some FDR stamps that may have been to his liking today but instead I've chosen "Education" as a topical. Not only because he worked in the education field before retirement, but because he loves anything political, I chose this stamp. I can think of no stamp that covers both of his main interests better than this one remembering the 1954 Brown vs Board of Education. It won't get better than this for him. The stamp may be boring in itself to him, but it's certain to stir thoughts in his head.
 This was released on a sheet of 10 different stamps subtitled "Seeking Equal Rights For African Americans".
I wasn't born for another 8 years, but to this day the landmark decision stands as one of the last big equal rights cases fought and won. Same sex marriage is another equal rights cause that has yet to be worked out. The U.S. has come a long way as far as equality, from abolishing slavery to giving women the right to work. It's still got a long way to go however.

JimmyB

Lorrin Thurston

Who is Lorrin Andrews Thurston? How many men do you know named Lorrin to begin with? Basically a businessman/politician Hawaiian born who led the Hawaiian Annexation Club which conspired to make Hawaii a U.S. Territory. He was a conservative who thought that the hula was "suggestive" and "indecent". I'm certain he's rolling in his grave. A man of high values who wanted to overthrow the Hawaiian gov't. Rather contradictory in my view of things. Want more info on him? Doubtful, but here it is. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorrin_A._Thurston  This is an official stamp. #O2 in my book.

JimmyB

America Man?

 The world philatelic exhibition was in Washington D.C. in 2006. I nabbed 2 souvenir sheets from a friend at the club.  http://stampsandcovers.blogspot.com/search?q=washington+2006       I came across this used $5 stamp today which is the same $5 stamp on the souvenir sheet. I guess it's a personification of America. Perhaps one of the countless native North Americans that was slaughtered and gone to the great unknown and crowned in glory with stars and feather headdress. The style of the print reminds me of the U.S. Lewis and Clark stamps released by the U.S.P.S.. I'm not going to soak this off the thin cardboard it was affixed to for now, I'll just keep it as is, maybe trim up the boardpaper.

Edit...Gordon from FB's stamp collecting group came through once again for me on this blog and pointed out to me that the emblem beneath the "America Man" is an error. It's actually the freedom statue depicted. Here's what he shared a link of. Thank's Gordon, http://stampsandcovers.blogspot.com/2013/07/america-man.html?spref=fb

JimmyB

The Federation

The hot chic again, this time dressed very smartly and appearing even better than ever on this West Indies Federation(is it an omnibus?) design. Maps are nice on stamps and make a great topical for someone who's a completionist and wants to pick a topic that could actually be possible to finish filling in a lifetime. This is St Vincent #'s 198-200 in the West Indies Federation common design, valued at $1.50 for the complete set.

JimmyB

Mixture reviews

 I've always enjoyed reading the "anonymous" mixture purchase reviews in Linn's weekly stamp magazine/paper. I've decided to begin my own personal mixture purchase review from it's advertising section at the back of the paper. I'm going to begin the same such style review, albeit on a monthly basis rather than their weekly review. Tomorrow I'm sending off for a mixture and after I receive it I'll dissect what kind of a "deal" I received and I'll let everyone see what I really got and give my opinion and let everyone else put their own 2 cents in.
 I try not to make multiple posts in one day, but since I've decided to make a second post today I feel the need to show a stamp, or shall I say stamps.
 These are 3 stamps from one of those countries which is so insignificant that it probably generated more revenue from stamp collectors by having stamps printed and sold to them than it did by any other source. It existed for a mere 15 years and on a map basically looks like a small township in the Northeast corner of South Africa, of which it is now a part of. This is Venda # non existent in my catalogue. Venda does not even exist in my catalogue which shows how insignificant this stamp and country are. Hell, it must not have BEEN a country, but here is it's stamp.

 Edit.... OK, I found it in my book under South Africa. #'s 5,6 and 7.

JimmyB

Visions of peace

 1946, the world was recovering from a massive war which spanned the entire globe. Hopes were high that never again would we see such devastation. Well over 60 million had died in less than a decade previously and symbols such as these represented our dreams of world peace.
 These are the first 3 denominations in a set of 6 stamps from Mexico. #'s 813-815

JimmyB