Stamp Collector

14 MAY 2020 www.allaboutstamps.co.uk THE LATEST STAMPS Australia Post has issued a single stamp to mark the 150th anniversary of the Sydney to San Francisco mail steamer service. On 26 March 1870, the SS Wonga Wonga departed Sydney for Honolulu via Auckland. It was the first steamer to depart from the Australian end of the new Sydney-to-San Francisco route. The following month, the SS City of Melbourne joined the Wonga Wonga on the Pacific route Australia Post Philatelic Manager Michael Zsolt said: ‘The vessel featured on the stamp, the SS Wonga Wonga , was a steamer built by J&G Thompson on the Clyde River in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1854, which underwent significant refurbishments in 1868, prior to being chartered for the Pacific route. The SS Wonga Wonga and SS City of Melbourne travelled as far as Honolulu during the first year of service, where passengers and cargo would then be transferred to American- flagged vessels.’ The watercolour image was painted by maritime painter Dickson Gregory (1871–1947), who was an avid collector of information relating to Australian sea vessels and painted many ships. France pay homage to the Peugeot 204 convertible and the Peugeot 404 Sedan with their latest stamps, issued to coincide with the country’s ‘Fete du Timbre’. Sadly the festival itself, due to be held on 28 and 29 March, was disrupted by the Covid-19 outbreak and the 87 different venues across the country did not host the celebrations after all. At least the stamps are still available and will bring back memories, especially for French motor enthusiasts. The Peugeot 404 Sedan, as featured on the €1.94 miniature sheet stamp, was the main rival for the Citroën DS during the 1960s, and was the first model of the prolific Peugeot ‘04’ series and the first French model to benefit from a petrol injection engine. Meanwhile, on the single 97 cent stamp, we see the stylish Peugeot 204 convertible first produced in 1966. According to La Poste: ‘This convertible is the rarest version of the 204 since only 18,181 copies were produced by Chausson establishments between 1966 and 1970.’ France celebrates vintage Peugeots Sydney to San Francisco IN BRIEF The latest stamp from Serbia marks 180 years of the country’s postal service, which was founded in June 1840. The Ministry of Internal Affairs was assigned to establish public postal traffic in Serbia in 1839, and the first post office was opened in Belgrade in June 1840. The first postage stamps followed in 1866, and in 1891 the Serbian Post became the first institution in the country to train and employ women, as female postal clerks. Initially the postal administration had just seventeen clerks, and sixteen postmasters. Today the number of staff is said to be over 17,000. The cute seal pup on the Faroe Islands’ latest stamp was created by artist Astrid Andreasen, who is described as being ‘a master of portraying a wide variety of natural subjects, especially those of the sea and the ocean floor.’ The grey seal ( Halichoerus grypus ) is the only mammal with flippers that breeds in the Faroe Islands. The 20 DKK stamp is available singly or in a booklet of six and was printed by Cartor Security Printing. Three of Norway’s most significant authors’ lives and works are celebrated on a new set illustrated by Egil Nyhus. The stamps depict Jens Bjørneboe (NOK 27 value), Anne-Cath Vestly (Domestic 50g), and Kjell Aukrust (Domestic 20g). Spain have issued a single stamp marking the 25th anniversary of the Spanish Federation of Coeliac Associations (FACE), which aims to support those with coeliac disease, a multi-system autoimmune disorder caused by gluten. Of course the global pandemic has presented Spain, and the majority of countries around the world, with a much more difficult and dramatic problem. The design at least reflects and commends the hard work of professionals in dealing with the disease, depicting a doctor putting her hand in the way of a wheat branch – a cereal grain which usually represents the presence of gluten. The stamp is completed with the federation’s logo. Spanish stamp fights disease