STAMP COLLECTOR'S CORNER

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 23 July 1938, Page 13

STAMP COLLECTOR'S CORNER

POSTAGE STAMP “SHOCKS” I am not going to tell you anything startling, but merely give you an idea of how largely electricity has figured in stamps. Almost all the famous men connected wtih discoveries in the field of electricity have been honoured on postage stamps. Franklin’s picture appears on several United States issues. Volta (whose name gave us the word “volt”) is seen on an Italian stamp issued to commemorate the centenary of his death in 1827. Ampere (who gave us the other familiar word “amp”) is pictured on a French stamp, Gramme on a stamp from Belgium, Tesla on a Jugoslavian issue and Pacinotti on a 1934 Italian stamp. Antonia Pacinotti invented a dynamo in 1859. Apart from the big men of electricity, the first electric lamp is shown on a United States stamp issued in 1929, to celebrate the golden jubilee of Thomas Edison’s great discovery of the way to light a room by electricity. An electric train appears on a French stamp, 1937, issued on the occasion of the 13th Congress International Des Chemins de Fer. The Boulder Dam, which is utilised to general electricity, is shown on an American Stamp, and another famous dam the Shannon Barrage, is pictured on a stamp issued in South Ireland. The opening of the Moscow Underground railway, called for a special set of stamps, one of which shows clearly the type of trains used. Electricity has provided plenty of scope for designers.of postage stamps all over the world, and you might start a separate collection of such issues. Also you should watch out for new stamps that “deal” with achievements in the field of electricity.