France issues heart-shaped self-adhesives; animal tails and roses on Greetings stamps

Like the United States, France issued its first cut-to-shape self-adhesives this year in time for use on Valentine greetings.

The U.S. Postal Service's Victorian Love stamps were released Jan. 28.

France's first cut-to-shape self-adhesive stamps were issued Feb. 6. The two 3-franc stamps are shaped like hearts.

Two 3-franc French stamps released Feb. 6 are shaped like symbolic hearts.

One stamp features a rose in the center. The other includes stars and the phrase "Je t'aime" (I love you).

Aurelie Baras, who has designed many recent French stamps, created the designs.

The stamps are sold together in booklets of 10 with five of each design.

The addresses for the French bureau and its agency in the United States are: Service Philatelique De La Poste, 18 Rue Francois Bonvin, 75758 Paris Cedex 15, France; French Stamp Agency in North America, 1 Unicover Center, Cheyenne, WY 82008-0009.

Richard Susilo's Collection - sent from Precy Sous, France to Tokyo, Japan on
February 9, 1999 and received in Tokyo on February 15, 1999

Finland

For the past few years, Finland has been issuing Greetings stamps shortly before Valentine's Day.

The tails of two animal enemies are pictured side by side on Finnish self-adhesive Greetings stamps issued Jan. 27.

In 1998, the stamps featured messages hidden under heart-shaped panels (Scott 1072). The messages were revealed when the panel was scratched off.

This year, Finland Post has hidden designs in another manner. The stamps depict the tails of two animals, but you have to guess what animals they are.

The new-issue announcement from Finland Post says that the two animals on each stamp are natural enemies.

The announcement also reports: "The artist [Harri Granholm] wants everyone to find out for himself or herself which the befriended animals are, so he only shows part of the lower back of both animals, and their quaintly crossed tails.

"There are more clues on the cover of the booklet and the margin of the strip of stamps: points of ears, and tracks, respectively."

Animal ears are shown on a Finnish booklet cover. The tails of the animals are pictured on the stamps inside.

The two stamps, both denominated 3 markka, are se-tenant in a booklet of six. The stamps are self-adhesive.

The ear clues from the front of the booklet cover are pictured nearby, as are the two stamp designs.

My guess is that the stamp on the right depicts a zebra and a lion, and the one on the left depicts a dog and a cat.

The addresses for the Finnish bureau and its agency in the United States are: Finland Post Ltd., Philatelic Center, Box 2, FIN-00011 Posti, Helsinki, Finland; Nordica, Box 284, Old Bethpage, NY 11804.

Ireland's Greetings stamps released Jan. 26 feature pets. All of the stamps are denominated 30 pence.

Ireland depicts a happy dog on a 30-penny Love stamp.

One of the stamps is a Love stamp. This design depicts a gray and white dog with a red heart beside it.

The other three stamps show a yellow striped cat with a ball of yarn, a fish, and a rabbit eating lettuce.

The Love stamp was produced in sheets of 16. It also is available, along with the three other designs, in a booklet containing eight stamps in two panes of four.

A souvenir sheet commemorating the Year of the Rabbit contains the Cat, Fish and Rabbit stamps. Another rabbit dressed in a martial arts robe and headband is pictured in the border area to the left of the stamps.

The addresses for the Irish bureau and its agency in the United States are: Irish Stamps, Box 1991, GPO, Dublin 1, Ireland; Interpost, Box 378, Malverne, NY 11565.

Guernsey calls its Feb. 4 issue a "20th Century Love Story." The issue salutes the life of the mother of Great Britain's Queen Elizabeth. She is known as Queen Elizabeth, the queen mother.

Three of 10 recent stamps from Guernsey that highlight the life of the queen mother. On the stamp on the right, she is holding a newly born Princess Elizabeth, who later would become the queen. The other two show the queen mother as a child in 1907 and on her wedding day in 1923. Click here for a larger image.

The queen mother was born Elizabeth Bowes Lyon Aug. 4, 1900. In 1918, she married Prince Albert, who became King George VI in 1937 after the abdication of his brother, Edward VIII.

The Guernsey Post Office explains why it devoted a set of stamps to her: "To stand a chance of living throughout an entire century involves the sheer fate of being born in its first year.

"To come to represent all that is good in that century means being in a prominent position and universally loved. Such has been the life of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother."

The issue consists of 10 se-tenant 25-penny stamps featuring photographs taken of the queen mother from 1907 to 1990. One stamp also shows her with a newly born Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth) in 1923.

This stamp is on the right in the illustration shown nearby. The other stamps in that illustration picture her as a child and on her wedding day.

In addition to a photograph, each design depicts three strands of pearls because the queen mother is fond of pearls. A special mother-of-pearl style varnish was used when printing the stamps.

The stamps also are available in a prestige booklet that contains text and additional illustrations.

The addresses for Guernsey's bureau and its agency in the United States are: Guernsey Philatelic Bureau, Postal Headquarters, St. Peter Port, Guernsey GY1 1AB, Channel Islands (Great Britain); Inter-Governmental Philatelic Corp., 535 Fifth Ave., Suite 300, New York, NY 10017.