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Sunday 20 March 2011

Ireland - Sunday Stamps

Yesterday the Ireland rugby team beat England and prevented them from winning the Six Nations Championship

The stamps below are the whole of my Ireland collection; I even cheated and went out a bought a few in the local market.


Now I had heard of Oliver Goldsmith, but I must confess I didn't know he was Irish. I first came across his works when a local society put on 'She Stoops to Conquer.' 

I've looked up the 2.1/2 p stamp at the bottom and found that it was issued in 1948 (a 150th anniversary stamp) and contains the picture of Wolf Tone who with Lord Edward Fitzgerald established the United Irishmen in the 1770s. When the French tried to land a fleet in Ireland in 1798 Tone was captured on board one of their ships. He was sentenced to death by the English at a court marshall in Dublin and sentenced to death. His request to be shot was refused. He attempted suicide by slitting his own throat after being sentenced to hang.

Not a pretty topic for Sunday Stamps.

The 4p stamp at the bottom right tells of a different battle. CATH  AR OCRAS means, I believe, 'Battle Against Hunger.'

More Irish/green connections at Viridian's Postcard Blog - 11

11 comments:

David Robinson said...

Have to confess, Bob, I find your blog endlessly fascinating.

The "battle against hunger" was it a reference to the potato famine?

Sreisaat said...

Wow, what an impressive collection! Thanks for sharing a bit of history as well. I am really learning a lot through stamps and postcards :)

Have a great Sunday, Bob.

Postcards Crossing: Sunday Stamps: The Wildflowers of Eire

Bob Scotney said...

David, I struggled this week with this post. I've had to start finding out about Irish history - I'm woefully ignorant as I suspect many in England are.
battle against hunger - I don't know the story behind this stamp; I just struck lucky in finding a translation. The ears of corn on it make me unsure about its significance.

Sheila @ A Postcard a Day said...

The Cath ar Ocras stamp will, I think, have been the Freedom from Hunger campaign in the 1960s. almost all my Irish stamps are from postcards, and still attached to them!

Joy said...

Nice collection, the griffin and bull are rather intriguing. The Irish stamps are indeed full of history. The Battle Against huger ones reminded me of the UK stamps in the 60s with sheaves of corn to do with War on Want.

viridian said...

Thank you for participating. Though I feel guilty for 'enabling' you by encouraging more purchases!
Maybe that's a general global war against hunger stamp?

Bob Scotney said...

Viridian; £1 for eight stamps did not bankrupt me. It was the bull and the griffin that caught my eye.

21 Wits said...

Oh my your knowledge and info on these, (endless stunning) collection of stamps is so assuredly wonderful! If I could just run down to the local market I'd probably buy some too. Guess you just need to know where they are! Although the coin collectors I've visited have very few stamps! Great post again Bob!

LiT Web Studio said...

congratulations on sticking so well to the theme ...an impressive selection!

Postcardy said...

I looked at my old stamp album and my "Irish collection" is very small and very boring.

Dorincard said...

Nice stamps with history and stories.

OTOH, Bob, almost any kind of image (photo, drawing, collage, etc.) can be used for a personalized stamp - you objected that you don't prefer photo-stamps.
But not any subject can be featured - historical celebrities are expressly prohibited, out of excessive fear of litigation, political incorrectness, copyright infringement, personal agendas...:)