STRANGE STAMPS

Waikato Times, Volume 126, Issue 21039, 15 February 1940, Page 3

STRANGE STAMPS

FLOWER AND FISH DESIGNS EXHIBITION DISPLAY A unique exhibition of stamps from all parts of the world will be the next attraction in the Post and Telegraph Philatelic Bureau in the Government Court at the Centennial Exhibition. This display, the twelfth of a series that have attracted much attention since the exhibition opened, is one of remarkable colour and intricate design, and is arranged into various groups.

The marvels of submarine life in the gardens on the sea bed of Nassau Harbour in the Bahamas is shown on one stamp, and on another are Caribbean dolphins. The latter, which grow to a length of six feet and are valuable for food to the Cayman Islanders, are coloured a brilliant blue with golden reflections. Their inclusion in the design of a stamp makes it colourful and most unusual. A Fijian stamp, which illustrates the spearing of fish by torchlight, is another highlight in the display. From Costa Rica From Costa Rica comes a stamp which features the national flower, the Purple Guaria. To botanists this particular variety of flower is regarded as the most beautiful of its family, and Costa Rican country farm houses are made strangely beautiful as the flower grows on their tiled roofs, as well as on trees, rocks and stone walls.

A stamp portraying a rose and a bottle of scent commemorates Bulgaria’s fame for its Attar of Roses. Six thousand pounds weight of oil is exported annually from Bulgaria, and as it takes two or three hundred pounds of rose petals to produce one ounce of oil, it is obvious that rose growing in Bulgaria is not an industry for the average back garden.