"The most interesting thing about a postage stamp is the persistence with which it sticks to its job." - N Hill
June 3, 2009 5:57 AM   Subscribe

 
For such a teen heartthrob, Martin Luther sure looks grumpy.
posted by Uppity Pigeon #2 at 6:00 AM on June 3, 2009


sigh... Bogie...
posted by Joe Beese at 6:38 AM on June 3, 2009


Incunabula are usually defined as books printed before the beginning of the sixteenth century. However, in this section, I will use the term to refer to printed books of whatever age which were designed to imitate the illuminated manuscript.

Then you and me are going to have to rumble.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 6:41 AM on June 3, 2009 [3 favorites]


Diebold Schilling page: Pope Callixtus III excommunicated the comet as an instrument of the devil.

Apparently that's a myth, but this stamp page isn't the only place that repeats the story. New Scientist, for example: "in 1456, Pope Callixtus III is said to have excommunicated it."
posted by pracowity at 6:56 AM on June 3, 2009


Why does Sierra Leone have a stamp depicting the Bayeux Tapestry? Can someone please explain?
posted by mattoxic at 7:08 AM on June 3, 2009


The stamp commemorates the flyover of Halley's Comet (1985)...as does that section of the tapestry.

There are many 1985 commemorative stamps for Halley's Comet that year. For example, check out the Marshall Islands Halley's Comet commemorative stamp (1985).
posted by ericb at 7:41 AM on June 3, 2009


I can tell my grandkids that I once spent twenty minutes of my life, on the web, looking at a collection of South Dakota stamps, few of which had anything remotely to do with South Dakota. They'll ask me why I did this and I'll say "I don't really know."
posted by Xurando at 7:49 AM on June 3, 2009 [1 favorite]


philately, i have had the strangest feeling with this unique site on my mind.
posted by the aloha at 8:01 AM on June 3, 2009


This post reminded me of the great graphic design on stamps.
posted by rageagainsttherobots at 8:44 AM on June 3, 2009


way too many topics, there...
posted by sexyrobot at 9:29 AM on June 3, 2009


Ah, stamps. Long before computers, when I was a kid, growing up in the frozen north, where civilization was only a rumor ... I collected them.

The earliest were just outlines of famous people, more like charcoal outlines of shadows. But slowly they began to tell of heroic feats, heroic peoples.

Stamps were my Google Earth. I didn't know any better, so it wasn't sad at the time. They were narcissistic as hell, and so ... full of insights.

If tourist aliens came to find out about us, and were looking for something to take home that would help convince their kind to believe their amazing stories ...
posted by Twang at 11:09 PM on June 3, 2009


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