Sunday Stamps II A-Z 'W' - French West Africa, Wales

I really struggled with this letter so much so that I got quite wild. So it seemed natural to look for something different. Eventually I came up with not one but two - 

Wildebeest

Not being able to find stamps from the states of Wisconsin or Wyoming I settled for a President's wife.

Martha Washington

I did not think Senegal would come to my rescue until I realise it used to be one of the colonies making up -

French West Africa

I have got so used to looking at stamps from Great Britain I forgot that we have a 'W' on our doorstep.

Wales - Wilding Definitive

And later from decimal currency - 

Which Welsh dragon do you prefer - Wilding or Machin?

Select your choice with an 'X' - sorry that's next week!

For more 'W' stamps cross over to Sunday-Stamps-II-161.

Orange or Yellow - Sunday Stamps II

Colours are not always what they seem to be. 

The earliest 'yellow' in my collection is the Golden Jubilee issue for Queen Victoria of January 1,1887.

Great Britain

The Stanley Gibbons catalogue describes this as purple 0n yellow.

On May 5, 1937 the first 15 definitives for George VI were issued and included a 2d orange stamp.

6 February, 1952 saw the issue of the Wilding definitives for Queen Elizabeth II. The lowest denomination of 1/2d is described as orange-red.

I had to wait until 25 February 1976 for a Machin derivative in a colour to meet the theme - 10.1/2p yellow.

The capital of Gambia was founded by the British in 1816, before the reign of Queen Victoria began and of course well before the first postage stamps. Founded as a trade post or base to suppress the slave trade it was named after the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, the 3rd Earl of Bathurst.

In 1966 (on 24th June) a set of stamps commemorated the founding of Bathurst.

Gambia

Bathurst was renamed Banjul in 1973.

This is an orange or yellow post for Sunday-Stamps-II-93. Don't forget to check the links there for other contributions.

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.