FOR STAMP COLLECTORS

Evening Star, Issue 22810, 19 November 1937, Page 2

FOR STAMP COLLECTORS

[By Philatelist.] The monthly meeting of the Dunedin Philatelic Club was held on Thursday evening of last week, in the Y.M.C.A. rooms, the attendance being 29. • After the transaction of formal business the President gave a short talk on the stamps of Czechoslovakia, illustrated by his own collection of that country. His talk was supplemented by Messrs A. J. Gillman, J. D. Inglis, and Dr M. N. Watt. Mr A. Clark also exhibited several interesting covers. Stamp sales as between members brought the evening to a plpse. SAINTS ON POSTAGE STAMPS. Some philatelists have a passiou for dividing their collections under subject headings. There can be no end to the wide variety of subjects treated on stamps. Porfraits of monarchs and popular heroes of the past and present are probably no more widely used than representations of wild beasts, birds, stirring events, maps, scenes, and one of the smaller divisions might come under the heading—saints —for religious subjects may be found on stamps in every corner of the globe. In 1895 Portugal took the unprecedented step o£ celebrating. the 700th anniversary of a saint by issuing not merely a new stamp design, but a whole series. The saint in question was Anthony, and the three stamps designed iii his honour showed respectively his vision, his sermon to the fishes, and his ascent into heaven. Three years later the same Government issued a stamp showing the Arhcangel Gabriel, patron saint of the Vases da Gama expedition. In 1853, it may be noted, the Papal States of Italy issued their own stamps. More interesting than these were the issues of Malta, showing St. Paul shipwrecked on the island and the war gallev of the knights of St. John. Red Cross and other charity stamps have made frequent appearances. Naturally it was during the war that these stamps were widely for sale. Rumania, France, Belgium, Trinidad, Bahamas, Liberia, and other countries issued Red Cross stamps, the revenue from which was divided between the Post Office and charitable funds. _ ,

St. Martin appeared on Belgian stamps of 1910, which depicted him giving half his cloak to the poor. Religions other than Christian have also been expressed in stamp issues. The Indian State of Duttia shows on one of its stamps the figure of Ganesh, elephant god of wisdom and good luck. By a curious mistake a watermark was a cause of a religious dispute in the Sudan in 1902. It was found that the watermark on the first dromedary stamps, in the form of a quatrefoil, might easily be taken for a cross disguised. Feeling ran high, and the mark was changed to the star and crescent, symbol of Islam.