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Sunday 6 March 2016

Women - Sunday Stamps II

I'm surprised how few women appear on stamps. Of course no-one can beat Queen Victoria's record of being first; our current Queen must hold the record for appearing most.

But do you know who was the first woman to appear on stamps from the USA?

Even there only four First Ladies have appeared on a stamp at all - Martha Washington (1902, 1923 & 1938), Eleanor Roosevelt (1963, 1984 & 1998), Dolley Madison (1980) and Lady Bird Johnson (2012).

The old album I mentioned last week had two blocks of four stamps depicting a woman who had been the leading actress in Norwegian theatre for half-a-century.


Norway - Johanne Dybwad, stage actress and producer
The other block is the 40 ore denomination, the same design in blue - issued 2 August 1967 on the 100th anniversary of her birth.

In 1963 Carole Joan Crawford had reason to pleased with herself and on 14 February 1964 she appeared on her country's stamps.


Jamaica - 1964
 I have two of the First Lady stamps I mentioned.

Martha Washinton - 1923
Eleanor Roosevelt -  1998 
That damaged stamp is from the 'Celebrate the Century' series.

But the USA stamp I'd really like to find is that of a Queen who was the first woman on their stamps. 

Queen Isabella of Spain appeared in 1893 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Columbus's discovery of the New World.

 To celebrate other women today just visit the links at Sunday-Stamps-II-64.

8 comments:

Ana said...

yeah, your Queen really holds the record for her appearance on stamps...well it is the definitives which are kinda annoying..the other stamps portraying her are usually nice.

As for the ones here...thank you for pointing out Johanne Dybwad to me....everything related to Norway just fascinates me, and haven't heard about her...well, until now :)

Joy said...

I'd only have guessed two of those American first lady stamps (Martha and Eleanor) and have never heard of Dolley Madison, or to be truthful President Madison.

Heleen said...

Wow, 50 years on stage! A honourable effort, nice to see a stamp has been issued (although I never had heard of her also).
The Eleanor-and-girl stamp I think beautiful!

Author R. Mac Wheeler said...

Kilroy :)

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Bob - interesting to read about the ladies appearing ... Emily Hobhouse appeared on a South African stamp .. in 1976 ... 50 years after she died ... I see I only used the stamp in part 8 of the series, and that's in a collage.

Thanks for posting about Martha Washington and Eleanor Roosevelt ... and appropriate today as they've just announced Nancy Reagan's death ...

Cheers Hilary

Jo said...

Didn't know about the Queen of Spain stamp. I would like to see that too.

VioletSky said...

Yes, how appropriate to have some First ladies shown today.
I wonder how Miss Jamaica 1962 and 1964 felt about 1963's extra crown on a stamp?!

Mail Adventures said...

It's not only that few women appear on stamps, it's also *why*. I'd like to see more women appear on stamps because they are scientist, artist, change makers, explorers and so on. Not first ladies or queens of beauty. Happily, things are changing!