FOR STAMP COLLECTORS

Evening Star, Issue 23124, 25 November 1938, Page 3

FOR STAMP COLLECTORS

UNITED STATES “PRESIDENTS” , SERIES. The White House at Washington, the official residence of the Presidents of the United States, appears on a postage stamp for the first time, in the new regular series of U.S. stamps, the first values of which are now appearing. The White House is on the 4Jc value. • The full series is designed to give a complete chronological record of Presidents from George AVashington to Calvin Coolidge. By the addition of certain nek' values the portrait of Each of the first 22 Presidents actually appears On the stamp ..whose face value coincides with the order of his term of office. Thus George Washington, the first President, appears on the 1c value, John Adams, the second President, on the 2e, Jefferson,, the third President, on the 3c, and so on up to Cleveland on the 22c. There are two “non-President” features in the series, apart from the AA’hite House stamp. These are the Jc and lie values, showing respectively portraits of Benjamin Franklin, founder of the American postal system, and Martha AVashington, wife of George Washington. Martha AA’ashington played a great part in the success of her husband’s administration, and her name, has been honoured throughout American history. The complete set of 32 denominations will bEar designs as follows:—jc, Benjamin Franklin; Ic, George AVashington; lie, Martha AVashington; 2c, John Adams; 3c, Jefferson; 4c, Madison; 4jc, White House; oc, Monroe; 6e, John .Quincy Adams; 7c, Jackson; Bc. Van Buren; 9c, AA’illiam H. Harrison; 10c. Tyler; 11c, Polk; 12c, Taylor; 13c. Fillmore; 14c, Pierce; loc, Buchanan; 16c, Lincoln; 17c, Johnson ; 18c, Grant; 19e, Hayes; 20c, Garfield; 21c. Arthur; 22c, Cleveland; 24c, Benjamin Harrison; 25c, M’Kinley; 30c, Theodore Roosevelt; 50e, Taft; Idol, AA’ilson; ■2dol,_ Harding; odol, Coolidge. The list, it will be seen, features every past President except Herbert Hoover, who is still living. It is part of American law that living ex-Presidents may not be featured'on postage stamps. The designs of the new stamps should prove exceedingly popular, for in conformity with modern ideas,they have been stripped of all minor embellishments. Each stamp will show a simple portrait on a plain ground, relieved only by the name of the President, dates indicating the period in which he held office, the words “United States Postage,” and the value across the foot.

CENTENARY OF THE “PENNY BLACK.” No official pronouncement has yet been made as to plans for the celebration of the centenary of Britain’s introduction of the first postage stamps, which falls in 10-10. There is therefore no certainty that the occasion will be marked by a British commemorative stamp.

, Whatever British, plans are made, nowever, it is clear that other nations intend to share the celebration. That is inevitable, for the centenary has an international significance as the outstanding event in postal history. Both France and the United States of America have signified their intention to issue special stamps, and, with so powerful a lead, it may be expected that many other countries will do the same. Nevertheless, stamp collectors in Britain and elsewhere are not happy as they regard the prospect of a huge flood of commemoratives. After all there is a limit to what the stamp collecting world can absorb, and those countries that derive no small part of their postal revenue from the sale of new issues to collectors, and who feel tempted to exploit this occasion, might well pause to consider the fable of the goose that laid the golden egg. FLOODLIGHTING ON STAMPS. I do not recall any previous issue of stamps -with views of floodlit buildings, but on tlie new 3d and 2s of the very handsome King George VI. set from Malta you will see St. John’s Cathedral and part of Mdina, the old capital of the island, under the glare of the floodlights. Malta has an intensely fascinating history, and the new stamps recall St. Paul, who M’as shipwrecked there, Publius, who was his host and afterwards became the first Bishop of Malta, the Knights ot St. John, and the British Navy, while two of the designs take us back into the Stone Age and depict relics of neolithic man. FROM NORTHERN RHODESIA. Northern Rhodesia is one of the parts of the Empire which are continuing their old design and altering the portrait only, hut whereas George V. looked towards the left on his stamps, our present King has turned to the right. t EUROPEA N-A MF.tR T C A N COMMEMORATIVES. The tri-centenary of the founding of the Swedish colony in North America on April 8. 1(i37. was celebrated in Sweden by the issue of a special series of five commemorative stamps, of 5, 15, 20, 30, and CO ore values, with designs symbolising incidents in the foundation of the settlement. The 5 ore value shows Johan Printz, the leader of the settlers, negotiating with an Indian chief for the purchase of land on which to found the settlement. The two ships. Kalmar Nyekel and Fagel Grip, in which the colonists sailed from Gothenburg, are shown on the 13 ore stamp, while the 20 ore value depicts the landing of the colonists at a point on the Delaware

River. where the town of Wilmington now stands. This design also shows the settlers driving into the soil a post hearing the arms of Sweden, while, on the left a Red Indian smokos the pipe of peace. The 30 ore stamp gives a picture of the old Swedish church, which still stands at Wilmington, and the 60 ore a portrait of Christina, Queen of Sweden from 1632 to 1654. The 20 ore and GO ore stamps are to remain on sale for six months, but the other three are to be withdrawn in June to make way for another commemorative issue celebrating the eightieth birthday of King Gustav, who was born on June 16, 1858.

The great part played by the Polish General Kosciusko in America’s fight for independence is recalled by the Polish Iz stamp, issued to commemorate the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the U.S,.A. Constitution. ’ The design shows statues of General Kosciusko. George Paine, and George Washington grouped under a rainbow arch, and at the foot of the arch a shadowy representation of the republican troops marching into the future, represented bv a misty picture of the New A T ork skyline.