foreign

Foreign Stamps With Selvedge

Foreign countries certainly do have artistic selvedge on their stamps. This section has a few stamps from countries other than Canada that show some of the selvedge.

Continuous Designs

The first country besides my own that I think of is the United States. The USPS has issued a series of “Nature of America” sheets, all self-adhesive with 10 stamps. Each stamp is continuous with the background. The series covers different environments found in the USA.

#3293 – Sonoran Desert from 1999 with 33¢ value stamps was the first of this series.

On the backing paper, there are line drawings of the scene with identifying numbers for plants and animals on the stamps, and some of the background things too. For instance, the Tarantula in the centre bottom is identified, but not on any of the stamps.

There is also a short description on the back about the environment shown.

Other sheets in this series are:

#3378 from 2000 – Pacific Coast Rain Forest
#3506 from 2001 – Great Plains Prairie
#3611 from 2002 – Longleaf Pine Forest
#3802 from 2003 – Arctic Tundra
#3831 from 2004 – Pacific Coral Reef
#3899 from 2005 – Northeast Deciduous Forest
#4099 from 2006 – South Florida Wetlands
#4198 from 2007 – Alpine Tundra
#4352 from 2008 – Great Lakes Dunes

There are continuous scenes from any number of other foreign countries too. The one below has no selvedge, but it shows a continuous background.

Burundi #356a-d - This strip of 4 stamps from 1973 has 4 animals on a continuous background. They are Hartebeest, Black Rhino, Zebra and Leopard. Burundi issued a number of strips like this.

Traffic Lights

The USPS workers are honoured in a set of 10 stamps in 1973. Below is part of the set where each stamp has a different number in a different colour in the border, which is a version of traffic lights.

#1489 – selling stamps at a counter
#1490 – pick up from collection boxes
#1491 – letters on conveyor belt

The numbers in the border are 34075 in yellow, 34076 in red & 34077 in blue.

Words between the numbers and the stamp mention "Postal People Include" above #1489; "Postmasters and Supervisors" above #1490; and "Letter Carriers" above #1491.

#1491 – repeat of last one, but clearer image of the selvedge
#1492 – parcel post sorting
#1493 – mail canceling

The numbers above are 34077 in blue (again), 34078 in black & 34079 in blue. There are also coloured lines in the “CMYK” colours.

Words between the numbers and the stamp mention "Letter Carriers" again above #1491; "Clerks" above #1492; and "Mail Handlers" above #1493.
There were 10 stamps in this set, but only 5 shown here; you get the idea.

Since this was early in the time when countries started to put things in the selvedge, they are simple numbers and lines, but I imagine the art got more elaborate over time.

Here are some stamps of another foreign country, Germany, with a piece of selvedge attached.

#1876 – Theodor Fontane 1819-1898 has scroll work in reverse in a green border.
#1872 – Mail Delivery (man on skates with a package) has an irregular outline shape in the margin.
#1870 – Hans Sachs 1494-1576 has a figure of a man with a “Court Jester” hat along the border.

More German stamps with selvedge designs:

#B784 – semi postal with 200+100 pf value; the 100 pf surtax is to support the Foundation for the Promotion of Philatelic & Postal History. The person on the bike has bundles in baskets on front & back, and the selvedge shows more packages of mail and parcels.
#1961 – Heinrich von Stephan was integral in the founding of the Universal Postal Union in 1874, and introduced the telephone to Germany in 1877. His picture is in the stamp; it also shows postcards, which he introduced, and the telephone. The UPU symbol is found in the margin, twice.

The UPU is the international agreement between nations to allow foreign mail from anywhere to be delivered in a host country.

Souvenir Sheets

Below are a few souvenir sheets from foreign countries.

Mongolia #1720 – Katarina Witt, who won the Gold Medal for Figure Skating in 1984 at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics and in 1988 at the Calgary Winter Olympics, is on the stamp.

In the selvedge is a sketch of Ekatarina Gordeyeva & Sergei Grinkov, Pairs Skaters from the USSR, who won the Gold at the Calgary Olympic Games in 1988.

This illustrates the fact that foreign post offices sometimes issue stamps with popular topics; the sale of such stamps raises currency for their country.

The British Virgin Islands in 1980 issued a souvenir sheet with the title “Circumnavigation of the World 1577-1580 – 400th Anniversary”. It was an ‘Official Anniversary Tribute Honouring Sir Francis Drake'.

Actual size of the sheet is 6.75" x 4.75" (171mm x 121mm).

There are 4 stamps (all face values say USCy):

#391 - 8¢ - Sir Francis Drake in top left
#392 - 15¢ - Queen Elizabeth I in top right
#393 - 30¢ - Queen Elizabeth I knights Drake at bottom centre
#394 - 75¢ - Drake’s ship the Golden Hinde at top centre

The main body of the sheet is a map of the world in 2 circles, in the style that would have been made by Drake in 1577. The route of the Golden Hinde is traced out as it traveled to foreign regions. It starts at England in the right hand circle; the route goes south and west around South America, then north along the coast of SA and west across the Pacific (which is shown as very tiny) and past Southeast Asia. Australia is shown, called Terra Australis, but much larger than we know it (no one had been around to the south of it at that point). The route continues back on the first circle, going past Cape of Good Hope and north back to England.

Israel #?? – The Wailing Wall, close up, with a piece of paper stuck in a crack between stones of the wall. The stamp portion is not perforated on this souvenir sheet, but it was available singly, because I have a cancelled one.

Below are 4 more foreign souvenir sheets, this time from the USSR.

#3298 - A souvenir sheet from Expo ’67, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The two islands in the St. Lawrence River that held the pavilions and displays are shown on the sheet: Île Sainte-Hélène at the top, and Île Notre-Dame at the bottom. The stamp shows the Soviet pavilion, which was on the latter island, at about the position of the top left corner of the stamp image. It had a “ski slope” roof and glass walls, making it quite memorable. During the Cold War years, Expo was one place we could meet foreign visitors in peace and safety.

#4993 – Issued to celebrate the birth centennial of Pablo Picasso in 1981. The stamp has a picture of the artist, and the selvedge shows a sketch of a bird with his signature. There is also a number along the right edge.

#5498 – Mikhail Somov ship trapped in ice off Antarctica, issued in 1986. The design of the stamp is continuous with the selvedge, but is darker. A map of Antarctica is above the stamp, with the location of the ship, and red stars indicating locations of research stations. There is a number along the right edge.

#5743 – This souvenir sheet celebrates the inaugural (and only) flight of the Buran Space Shuttle in 1988. The name “Buran” (in Cyrillic) is on the side of the shuttle. Take off of the shuttle is shown in the margin art.

This craft was the only completed and operational space shuttle vehicle made in the Soviet Buran program. It clearly resembles the earlier American Space Shuttle design, down to its launch vehicle, the Energia booster rocket.
The Buran launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and completed one unmanned spaceflight of 2 orbits on this flight, but the program was cancelled in 1993. The Buran was subsequently destroyed by a hangar collapse in 2002.

Since I do not collect mint foreign stamps, I am unaware of all that other countries do to enhance their issues. These were only a few to give you a taste. Keep looking for interesting selvedge in any country's postage.

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