Sunday Stamps I4 Iceland, Ireland, Sweden

I could have show this under H - for but saved it for this week.

Iceland - 6 October 1961

This commemorated the 50th Anniversary of the University of Iceland. Björn M. Ólsen was the first rector in 1911.

Another 50th anniversary occurred on 21 January 1969 - for the Irish Parliament.

Ireland 

On 5 September 1969 Sweden issued a set of stamps - Three Swedish Artists - which included --

Karl Isakson

Karl Oscar Isakson was a Swedish painter who spent much of his professional life in Denmark where he is considered to be one of the fathers of Modernism.

For other 'I' related stamps please visit Sunday-stamps-i.

Sunday Stamps B4 - Argentina

When I was a boy a favourite book of mine was -

What has this to do with Argentina you might ask.

Well William's surname was Brown and two of my stamps showed an Argentine personality as Guillermo Brown - I suppose we might call him a celebrity today.

Argentina - 17 June 1971

Argentina - 28 October 1956 

Guillermo lived from 1777-1857; both these stamps appear in 'Pesonalities' series of stamps. He is regarded as the father of the Argentine Navy and he served also on British and American ships.

What I haven't told you was that he was Irish born - as William Brown.

I then discovered that the 100th anniversary of his death  was commemorated by stamps from Ireland.

Ireland - 23 September 1957 

For other 'B' stamps you should check out the links provided by others at Sunday-stamps-b starting with a large butterfly.

Sunday Stamps G3 - France, India, Ireland

In the 1960s President de Gaulle visited the Dunkirk steelworks where I was on a industry exchange scheme from Britain. The night before his visit I was woken up in my hotel by armed police checking on foreigners in the town - a rude awakening indeed.

When he arrived at the works the next day, the workforce left the site!

The President died in 1970, 10 years later this stamp was issued.

France - 8 September 1980

Also in the 1960s, India issued a stamp depicting a plane.

India - Gnat plane - 1967

Apart from Olympic stamps I only have a few stamps with a sporting theme.

Ireland - 27 July 1934
50th Anniversary of the Gaelic Athletic Association

I guess that shinty is the sport depicted.

For more 'G' related stamps please visit Sunday-stamps-g.

Sunday Stamps II A-Z 'X' Hungary, Ireland

'X' always seems to be a difficult letter in any A-Z theme. The last time it came up in Sunday Stamps I had to be a bit inventive using stamps like this - 

Ireland - 2 December 1963:
100th anniversary of the Red Cross

To find a true 'X' I had to go fishing for a green-tailed swordfish in Hungary.

Hungary - 9 May 1962
Xiphophorus helleri

In Ancient Greek ξίφος (ksíphos) means a kind of double-edged sword and -φóρος (-phóros) means bearing. This alludes to the presence of an anal fin in male fish which enables it to hook into the vent of a female fish to deposit sperm.

hellerii: honours the name of Austrian botanist and naturalist Karl Bartholomaeus Heller (1824-1880), who explored Mexico between 1845-1848 and brought the type series of X. hellerii to Vienna.

The fish has been widely introduced into Mexico river basins and now occurs in rivers on all continents except Antarctica.

For other stamps from the 'X' files visit the links at Sunday-Stamps-x.

Sunday Stamps II ; A-Z 'I'

Back home from our travels, our plane's route from the USA took us to the south of Iceland.

The 150th anniversary of the birth of Icelandic poet, Grimur Thomsen was commemorated by this stamp - 

Iceland - 19 June 1970

Thomsen was the son of a goldsmith - this provides me with a link to Ireland. Oliver Goldsmith was an Irish novelist, playwright and poet.

However it's a different literary giant from Ireland whose birth was commemorated by this stamp - sorry about the postmark -

Ireland - 30 Nov 1967
300th anniversary of the birth of Jonathan Swift

It's Swift's famous work, Gulliver's Travels, that provide me with a link to last week's post - Hungary and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs fairy tale.

I'm sure you all remember Walt Disney's version of Snow White, but how many of you have heard of the link to Swift via Gulliver Mickey, a Mickey Mouse short animation. 

For more 'I' related stamps don't forget to visit Sunday-Stamps-II-147.

Christmas on Sunday Stamps II

Happy Christmas, everyone.

Today's stamps have a Madonna theme and I don't mean Madge.

Malawi, in 1972, had the Madonna and Child Enthroned from a painting of the Florentine school.

I have been unable, so far, to establish who painted it.

Vincenzo Foppa's wood panel from the Bottigella altarpiece now resides in the Musei Civice in Pavia. Malawi showed this on a Christmas stamp in 1977.

The first Madonna painting by Raphael to enter a North American collection sits in the Walters Museum in Baltimore and appeared on the USA's 2011 Christmas stamp.

Ireland's Christmas stamp of 1999 depicts children in a nativity scene and provides a less formal view in a clear cut design.

You may see another Irish stamp and what others have chosen by following the links at Sunday-Stamps-II-Christmas

Jewelry - Sunday Stamps

A search for cultural items and especially jewelry took me to the stamps of four countries although you will see a similarity between two of the items shown.

On 23 August 2011 Great Britain issued a  set of eight stamps about the Crown Jewels. So far I have only the first of these.

Great Britain - The Sovereign's Sceptre with Cross

The stamp from Germany issued in 1976 has a Celtic connection and shows a neck ring or torc.

Germany - Silver Neck Ring found at Trichtingen in 1928

This insignia of a Celtic Prince is made of silver and gold, with copper making up the rest around an iron core.

I suppose you would expect a Celtic connection for an Irish stamp.

Ireland - Jewelry bracelet

Finally from the USA a silver and turquoise necklace on a stamp issued on February 8, 2011.

USA - Navajo Jewelry

Artist Lou Nolan painted this detail  of the necklace from a photograph. The sand-cast blossom is set with polished blue turquoise nuggets. The necklace itself is believer to have been made somewhere in the 1940s or 1950s.

To view other cultural items/jewelry on stamps just follow the links at Viridian's Sunday-Stamps-186.

Folk Art - Sunday Stamps

Some of the themes set by Viridian force me to find out more about the stamps in my collection. This week's theme of folk art is no exception as I knew nothing about the ones I have to show other than where they came from.

Ireland - Winged Ox

Ireland - Eagle

Apparently both these image appear in the Lichfield Bible. Ireland issued a prehistoric art series in 1969. I haven't traced the issue  of these two denominations to that date but the art series definitely contains a lower denomination winged ox. I'm still investigating the two above.

For more art shows visit the links to be found at Sunday-stamps-156.

Definitive Ireland - Sunday Stamps

It seems appropriate that Viridian chose stamps from Ireland (or green stamps) for the theme on St Patrick's Day.

I shown all my stamps from Eire two years ago but my friendly stallholder came up trumps again with some of their early definitive stamps issued in 1922.

The low value definitives included these:

Eire - The Sword of Light

An Claideam Solius - The Sword of Light or Shining Sword - appears om a number of Irish folklore tales.

The Map of Ireland needs no explanation

Eire

Nor does the Celtic Cross on the right.

Eire - Arms of the Four Provinces & The Celtic Cross

The four provinces of Ireland  shown on the shield are Leinster (top left), and clockwise, Connacht, Munster and Ulster.

 

As you can see from the scan these stamps have seen better days so, thanks to wikipedia commons, here is the set of the 12 low value definitives to admire.

 

Eire - 1922 Low value definitives

 For more stamps to make you green with envy, Irish or otherwise, take a look at what others have shared over at Sunday-Stamps-114.

Huntington Castle - The Wailing Wife and the Phantom Bishop

A-Z Challenge 2012 - H

Huntington Castle - The Wailing Wife and the Phantom Bishop

Huntington Castle stands in Clonegal, County Carlow, Ireland. During his conquest of Ireland Cromwell captured the castle in 1650.

Back in the 13^th century there had been a Franciscan monastery on the site. The Jacobean castle built in 1625 by Sir Laurence Esmonde replaced an earlier stronghold on the site of the monastery.

Huntington Castle - 2008

Huntington is a site that abounds with ghosts. The original monks planted a yew tree walk which survives to this day. It is there that you might just come across their ghostly forms.

The marriage of the Protestant Sir Laurence and his Catholic wife, Ailish had its problems. It’s said that one night Ailish took her baby son and stole away to her Connaught family. Sir Laurence promptly took a new wife. Ailish’s wraithlike spirit sometimes stands in the garden combing her hair and wailing in anguish at the unfairness of it all.

The tale is also told of the ghosts of Barbara St Lege and her maidservant, Honor Byrne. They wander the corridors, keys jangling and Honor polishing door handles with her hair.

Should you hear a knock on the castle door it may turn out to be a spectral soldier from Cromwell’s time. Sent to gather information from the enemy his comrades did not recognise him when he returned, still in disguise. His ghostly face may be seen at the grille through which he was shot.

The Bishop of Limerick died at the castle in 1770. Occupants of the Four Poster Room in the bedroom wing have claimed to see his ghost standing at the foot of their bed. From time to time his friendly face is said to replace that of a Spanish flower girl in the portrait by Murillo above the fireplace.

At ground level stone steps lead down to the space which in 1640 Cromwell’s men used as a dungeon. In modern times (1976) Lawrence Durdin-Robertson, his wife and sister converted the cellars into the head-quarters of the Fellowship of Isis which now has a worldwide membership.

Hilary Melton-Butcher's Castle G - Grimsthorpe Castle, Lincolnshire

Attribution

• Image - Huntington Castle 2008 by Liam Hughes, Milwaukee, WI, USA; the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

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