Sunday Stamps D4 USA, Great Britain

The 200th anniversary of the British assault on Fort Duquesne, held by the French, was commemorated  in 1958.

USA - 25 November 1958

The British were led by Brigadier General John Forbes. Among his troops was a contingent of Virginians under the command of Colonel George Washington who later became one of the founders of the USA, and President of course. 

The French abandoned the fort which was subsequently rebuilt as Fort Pitt (named after the British Prime Minister at the time.) Now it is the location of the city of Pittsburgh. PA.

With pride and without prejudice my second 'D' is a character from Jane Austen.

Great Britain - 22 October 1975
Mr Darcy

No damp shirt there for him as depicted on TV

And much drier here - 

Great Britain

This was from a set of 4 (issued on 9 March) depicting Geographical Regions. I have been unable to find the location of the desert on the stamp. That year all but 15 of the countries in the Commonwealth issued stamps for Commonwealth Day.

Finally there is a bird that would not be happy in the desert - 

Great Britain - 16 January 1980

It would have been much happier in that lake where Mr Darcy got his shirt so wet.

You can dip into other 'D' related posts at Sunday-stamps-d.

Sunday Stamps C4 - Great Britain via Concorde to the USA

Fifty years ago last weekend saw the first flight of - 

Great Britain - 3 March 1969
First flight of Concorde

This set consisted of three beautifully designed stamps. a true tribute to this magnificent plane.

Fuselage and plan view

Nose and tail

Concorde's first commercial flight was on 26 January 1976. London to New York was first flown on 22 November 1977. It had the fastest Atlantic crossing of 2 hrs 52 mins 59 seconds on 7 February 1996. The last NY to London crossing was on 24 October 2003.

Prior to the existence of Concorde, 1958 had seen the centenary of completion of the cable across the Atlantic - commemorated by this stamp -

USA - 15 August 1958

That's Neptune and a Mermaid on either side of the globe.

I guess that the cable had handled more traffic before Concorde even flew.

For other 'C' stamps take a look at  Seeitonapostcard.blogspot.com

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 A-Z - A4 USA, Australia

To begin our 4th round of A-Z I've chosen the 100th anniversary of the American Institute of Architects.

USA - 23 February 1957

The stamp depicts a Corinthian capital. Corinthian is the last developed  of three classical orders of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. The style is characterised by slender fluted columns and elaborate capitals decorated with ancient leaves and scrolls.

In recent rounds of A-Z I've tried to avoid the names of countries to matching the week's letter. However for Aboriginal Art I had to pick - 

Australia - August 2002
International Personalised Post

This is 'Puia' by Tommy May (Ngarralja). For more information on the artist visit Tommy May (Ngarralja).

To see a splendid Canadian stamp and find links to the 'A' related stamps please visit Sunday-stamps-a. and follow the links in the comments by participants.

Sunday Stamps Z3 - Tanzania, Switzerland

To bring this A-Z to an end I had to chose two countries with a 'Z' in their name but than found an extra 'Z' associated with them.

Switzerland - 4 February 1963

This building, Zunfthaus zu Waldlueten in Biel, is a guildhall for craftsmen - I haven't discovered which. But now you can see my hidden 'Z'.

I used a butterfly from Tanzania when doing 'X' but you have to look at this stamp to find the 'Z'.

Tanzania - 9 December 1967

The Yellowback Fusilier is a fish on the endangered Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
If you look closely 'Kijakazi Mrembo' appears at the top of the stamp. I have not succeeded in tracing this so far but is it  the name of the stamp's designer? The language appears to be Swahili for beautiful (mrembo) slave (kijakazi). Can anyone help me decipher this?

For other 'Z' stamps please visit Sunday-stamps-z where Zambia may be seen.

Sunday Stamps - Y3 China, Yugoslavia, USA

I have had  to revert to a country name this week by choosing Yugoslavia for one of my stamps.

Yugoslavia - December 1951

The country broke up in 1992 and the area has had a turbulent history since.

Another country that has seen major changes in my lifetime is -

China - 6 January 1949

The gentleman on the stamp is Dr Sun Yat-sen, once leader of the Chinese National Party known as the father of modern China. He served as the first provisional president of the Republic of China in 1911/1912 and as defacto ruler 1923-1925.

I have never had the chance to visit any of the National Parks in the USA but here is one that is known worldwide.

USA - 24 February 2006
Yosemite National Park

For other Y related stamps check out the links at Seeitonapostcard-y.

Sunday Stamps X3 - Denmark, Tanzania

A Danish King provides me with an X (and by chance the only King of Iceland too as Kristján X from 1918-1944).

Denmark - 1942

King Christian X of Denmark became the symbol of Danish resistance to German occupation during WWII and helped finance the transportation of Danish Jews to neutral Sweden. He reigned from 1912 to 1947.

A Tanzania butterfly's Latin name provides me with two Xs - 

Tanzania - 10 December 1975

Axiocerses styx 

For other X related stamps cross over to seeitonapostcard.blogspot.com x.