African Wild Cats on Stamps

There is something mysterious and elusive about cats, which have inspired many writers, poets and even great thinkers for centuries. Africa's wealth of wildlife includes a number of beautiful small wild cats. Many of them are rarely observed, as they are nocturnal, shy and solitary. However, artist, Annemarie Wessels has captured their beauty and mystery skilfully on a set of five Africa airmail rate stamps.

The stamps feature:

African wildcat (Felis silvestris)
Serval (Leptailarus serval)
Caracal (Felis caracal)
Black-footed cat (Felis nigripes)
African Golden Cat (Profelis aurata)

Traditional Female Professions Honored With Stamps

The Faroe Islands' Post has issued two stamps depicting representative of two traditional women's professions - the midwife and the nurse.

Since the earliest days of mankind, experienced women acted as midwives for other women. The Faroe Islands midwife was self-taught women with some knowledge of midwifery, but without much knowledge of complications. After the regular midwifes came, these women often acted as their helpers, or assisted at the birth. The stamp depicts two famous Faroese midwives with children they have delivered. The first is Ebba Wiberg. The other is Astrid av Rogvu, had her own maternity clinic.

The modern nurse roots back to the woman's traditional role as the caretaker for the sick and weak in the family. The first trained nurse on the Faroes was deaconess Mette Cathrine Thomsen, who worked in Torshavn 1897 to 1915, mostly at the Faroe County Hospital. In 1960 a nursing school was established in Torshavn, which has trained Faroese nurses ever since. The stamp depicts two episodes: the man in bed is a young Norwegian, Monrad Jacobsen, who was seriously injured when he was about to unload coal from a Norwegian freighter. The women are nurses at the hospital. The second episode shows little Petra Joensen and her mother Marianna at the Klaksvik hospital. Marianna Joensen worked there all her life. When Petra grew up, she also started to work in the hospital. Petra, who never married, thus spent her entire life at the hospital.

Local Fruit stamp set from Barbados

On February 7th, 2011 the Barbados Post issued a new series of definitive stamps featuring "Local Fruits". This definitive issue showcases a variety of local fruits grown in Barbados.

The stamps were issued in sets of sixteen (16) and depict Golden Apple, Coconut, Cashew, Mammy Apple, Barbados Cherry, Sugar Apple, Sea Grapes, Tamarind, Carambola, Mango, Banana, Guava, Avocado, Gooseberries, Soursop and Pomegranate.

Stamp auction is expected to set new world record in Hong Kong

Hong Kong will hold its largest stamp auction at the Park Lane Hotel from Saturday to Monday, with 3,000 lots and a presale estimate of over $6.45 million, according to the organizer.

The auction will include both rare Classic China stamps from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and 600 lots issued at the beginning of the People's Republic of China.

A three-strip of the $5 inverted surcharge from the 1897 Red Revenue series, which is valued at $619,000-710,000, is expected to set a world record to become the most expensive Classic Chinese stamp multiple ever sold at auction.

Another highlight is the unique four-block 1968 "Chairman Mao's Inscription to Japanese Worker Friends," with presale figures estimating it at up to $1,032,000. The issuance of the stamp was cancelled later but a few had been released from a post office in Hebei, according to the organizer. The owner of this stamp, Ng Siong Tee of Singapore once won a Gold Medal at the International Stamp Exhibition in Beijing in 1999, with his own collection of Cultural Revolution (1966-76) issues.

"As a philatelist, we are seeing in the People's Republic stamps a level of interest and excitement that is absolutely breathtaking, with many increasing 200 percent or more in value in the past two or three years in this white-hot market," said Jeffrey Schneider, the founder of Interasia in Hong Kong, the organizer of this auction.

Last year, the two-day auction realized $7.35 million with 1,940 lots for auction.

Pets on South Georgia stamps

South Georgia has issued a set of postage stamps featuring pets.

During the operation of whaling stations between 1904 and 1965, a variety of animals were brought to South Georgia. Most were brought to the island to provide fresh food. As well as these useful animals, others were kept as pets purely for entertainment and company. Pets have ranged from cats and dogs to parrots and canaries.

45p - This vervet monkey from Africa may have been bought to South Georgia on a ship coming from Cape Town. It was a pet of the doctor at the Husvik whaling station in 1914. It wore a harness and was taken for walks on a lead.

60p - Anne-Marie Sorlle, daughter of the manager of the Stromness whaling station, with a litter of puppies. She was allowed to keep one as a pet because there were no other children on South Georgia for her to play with.

70p - Two whalers show off their pets in their room at Grytviken around 1925. The man on the right has a fox which is being restrained by a collar and chain. This is a unique record of a fox being kept as a pet on the island. It is probably a grey fox or grey zorro, which could have been acquired in a South American port.

95p - Nan Brown ran a 'penguin rehabilitation centre' at King Edward Point to rescue birds fouled with heavy fuel oil. After cleaning they were kept in a pen to recover. One of the gentoo penguins became a pet when it refused to leave after being released. Stugie (an anagram of Gutsie) had a damaged wing and could not fend for itself. It accompanied Nan around the settlement and visited the house daily but, not being house-trained, it was not allowed to stay inside for long. It would follow her to the jetty where she caught fish to feed its prodigious appetite.

£1.15 - The inappropriately named Mrs Chippy is the most famous of Antarctic cats. He was the pet of 'Chippy' McNish, the carpenter on Shackleton's Endurance expedition, and perished on the ice after the ship had been crushed.

Semi-wild cats were common at the whaling stations. They were mostly dependent on human habitation, especially in winter, and were useful in helping keep down the rats that infested the buildings. Cats died out at the whaling stations soon after they were abandoned in the 1960s but some survived at the King Edward Point settlement until 1980.

£1.20 - Sir Ernest Shackleton baths Query aboard Quest on the way to South Georgia in 1922. The German shepherd pup had been presented to him as a mascot when the ship visited Plymouth. Query was lost overboard during the expedition.

Dogs, including sledge dogs left by passing expeditions, were a common sight around the whaling stations. Most were under the control of their owners but a few lived and bred wild. The last dog on South Georgia died in 1974.

The First Day Cover shows Doris Scott with baby Ann in the pram, accompanied by Ring the collie. Ring lived at the administrative settlement on King Edward Point. He belonged to no one but there was always someone who would become a 'foster owner' and look after him. Another dog, Pluto, would visit Ring from Grytviken whaling station (seen in the background).