CartoPhilatelic Issues of Note for 2008

New Caledonia Issue Marks World Heritage Registration

The beauty of the reefs are visible in this May 2001 Landsat 7 image of Northern New Caledonia, shown on the right.

[thanks to European Rep. Mark Honig for the image of this important new issue. -- web admin]

Tristan Da Cunha Issue Honors Life of Allan Crawford, MBE

European Representative Mark Honig informs us of this August 1st, 2008 issue from Tristan Da Cunha (TDC) that features two map stamps, one of which is sure to be of keen interest to fellow CartoPhilatelits. Mr. Allan Crawford, a prominent figures in the history of TDC, passed away in 2007, and this set of stamps celebrate his life and relationship to the island. First coming to TDC as the only British member of the 1937/38 Norwegian Survey Team, the first scientific expedition to the island, Mr. Crawford later made the first detailed map of TDC. Returning a third time tot he island in 1946/4 he designed the islands first set of 10 postage stamps. Only the single 1p design was issued, but its significance was important for TDC and established Mr. Crawford as the founder of Tristan Da Cunha philately. Shown below, the set of 6 stamps has both

Summer Isles - An Artist's View of Tanera Mòr

The Summer Isles Postal Authority has issued a new set of stamps on August 7, 2008 depicting a unique map of the largest of the Summer Isles Tanera Mòr. The set of stamps were designed by Tokyo born artist Saki Satom during the 2007 International Artist's Workshop, which was held on the Summer Isles. Ms. Saki, who resides in London, created a map of the island that could be used as the design for a future Summer Isles stamp issue. In researching the cartography and history of the area Ms. Saki noticed inconsistencies on recent maps, including those of the Ordnance Survey, which had differing positions of landmarks and spellings of Gaelic place names.

The set of four stamps when placed together in a 2x2 block depicts Tanera Mòr along with two historical sailing ships a fish, a compass rose, a scale bar and the flag of Scotland. The four stamps are in denominations of 15sg, 27sg, 55sg and 1PS. A perf or imperf mini-sheet of 4 is also available, along with two FDCs, one of which also has the 1996 1PS value of the Summer Islands third definitive issue attached to the cover.

France Marks Presidency of the European Council

Map Stamp Issues from New Zealand

Christmas Island Marks 50th External Territorial Anniversary

Recent New Issues from Russia, Indonesia and Monaco

Our European Representative, Mark Honig, has submitted some new issue images that will be of importance to fellow members.

The stamp on the right, from Russia, marks the summer 2007 expedition by a Russian mini-sub to plant a flag on the sea bed under the North Pole, reiterating Russia's 2001 claim to the land under the North Pole, and also to presumed oil and gas deposits under the sea bed. More recent news on this issue can be found here. This stamp is from a larger set which contains a tab-like non-denominated stamp showing the ice-breaker used during the expedition. The other stamp in the set, shows the mini-sub which visited the ocean floor under the North Pole.

The next new issue, shown on the right, is from Indonesia. Mark tells us that this issue is from a larger souvenier sheet. This 2008 issue depicts an ancient ship and antique map possibly related to Portuguese exploration or discovery of Indonesia. The inscription on the right side of the stamp reads "Peta Nusantara Zaman Portugis." Dan Nelson tells us that the translation reads "Indonesian Archipelago in the Portuguese period." Thanks Dan! If anyone knows more about this issue or has a link, please let us know.

An April 21, 2008 issue from Monaco Post shown on the right, commemorates the 100th anniversary of the founding of the city of Cap d'Ail. Today Cap d'Ail is a modern seaside resort located about 1.5km to the west of Monaco. The border of Monaco can be seen on the right hand side of the map. If any of our members have any additional information to add about this issue, please let us knw.

New Norse Mythology Issue from Iceland Contains Map

The March 27, 2008, the third and final issue in the Joint Nordic series of Norse Mythology was issued. This souvenir sheet shown below is from Iceland Post and depicts an antique map of the Snæfellsnes peninsula of Iceland, with Snæfellsjökull, a volcanic mountain. Around the map are a number of images showing mythological people and animals. An inset map with the location of the peninsula in Iceland is shown in the upper right corner.

The following description about the souvenir sheet is from the Iceland Post web site:

The old Nordic gods and other supernatural powers inhabited a mythical realm of their own. However, there were certain places in the Nordic landscape where humans could feel their presence more strongly than in other places, for example cult sites, burial grounds, unusual natural formations or mountain areas. Religious rites could take place beside a sacred tree or a burial place, on perilous mountain journeys or at sea, and create meeting points between the human and supernatural worlds. These were special places; they could be experienced as sacred, salutary or dangerous. This is typical of various places in Snæfellsnes where the sorcerer Bárður Snæfellsás is said to have settled in late 9th century A.D.

[ The Joint Nordic issues are described in the Top of the World web site. We first visited this site because of the International Polar Year (IPY) stamps last year. An interesting site to watch. http://www.topoftheworld.nu --web admin]

Japan Issue Marks Award of First Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize

On May 23, 2008 Japan Post issued a pair of stamps marking the first award of the Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize. The prize honors men and women "with outstanding achievements in the fields of medical research and medical services to combat infectious and other diseases in Africa, thus contributing to the health and welfare of the African people and of all humankind." Born in 1876, Noguchi suffered a serious burn on his left hand as a very young

		Japan 1949 sc480 Cultural Personalities Series
		Current 1000 Yen Banknote

child. It was not until entering elementary school that Noguchi was able to seek advanced medical treatment, with the help of donations from his teacher and classmates, for the prior injury. With the surgery Noguchi regained about 70% mobility of his left hand. The medical treatment had a profound experience on Noguchi, and it was then that he decided to become a doctor to help others, and make the medical profession his life dream. In 1900 Noguchi traveled to the United States to work as a researcher at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research. During this time Noguchi carried out research related to poisonous snakes, smallpox and yellow-fever vaccines. His most prominent achievement was in 1913 when he isolated the bacteria which causes the Syphilis disease. Noguchi traveled extensively in Central and South America and Africa. While in the Gold Coast (currently Ghana) region of Africa in 1928, to prove his theory that yellow fever was caused by a spirochaete bacteria instead of a virus, Noguchi tragically contracted yellow fever and died.

On May 28, 2008 the first recipients of the Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize received their awards at the 4th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) Conference. Dr. Miriam K. Were of Kenya and Dr. Brian Greenwood of the UK each received a citation, medal and honorarium of approximately US$ 1M for their dedicated work in medical services and medical research, respectively.

The first Japanese stamp to feature Noguchi was from the set of 1949 Cultural Personalities, Scott # 480 (above, top right). Noguchi's portrait is also used on the 2004 issue (current circulation series) 1000 Yen banknote of Japan (above, bottom right).

Portugal Marks 500th Anniversary of the City of Funchal

On April 15, 2008 CTT Correios de Portugal, S.A. issued a group of stamps, souvenir sheets and maximum cards to commemorate the 500th Anniversary of the Founding of Funchal, the capital city of Portugal's Madeira Islands. The islands, located about 950 km (580 miles) to the south west of Portugal, have a long and interesting history. Funchal, Madeira's capital

and the largest city of the islands, was an important port of call during the 16th century, between the Indies and the New World, and was known also for Madeiran sugar and wine. Funchal gets it name from the abundance of fennel, "funcho" in Portuguese that was growing in the area.

The set of 4 stamps have denominations of €0,30; €61; €75; €1,00. The left and right side of the stamps have a unique safety perforation. The souvenir sheets and maxi-cards (one of each shown on the right above) may also be of interest to fellow CartoPhilatelists. [ special thanks to our European Rep, Mark Honig for the images and new issue information. ]

Two New Issues from North Africa

Algeria January 16, 2008 2008 Population Census	Tunisia March 23, 2008 World Meteorlogical Day 2008

French Southern Antarctic Territory (FSAT / TAAF) Island Issue

On January 16, 2008 French Southern Antarctic Territory (FSAT) / Terres Australes et Antarctiques Françaises issued a new 0.54€ stamp showing a map of Saint-Paul Island. The island, located in the southern Indian Ocean between Africa and Australia, at 38°43′19″S, 77°31′44″E The uninhabitted island is also devoid of trees. Similar in design to some of the previous FSAT island issues, this is a significant cartophilatelic issue. [ wikipedia.org has a brief overview and some nice links and locator maps available for the FSAT/TAAF region, as well as a developing page on Antarctic philately. Two other web sites in French about the Territory are the L'Institut polair

French Issue Commemorating the Globes of Vincenzo Coronelli

On February 11, 2008 France's laPoste issued a spectacular new stamp commemorating the two of the globes which the famed Venetian cosmographer and globe maker Vincenzo Coronelli (1650-1718) created while in France, during the late 17th century. The globes of Coronelli (known as also Earths of Marly) are a pair of spheres, one terrestrial, the other celestial. Each globe is 3.87 meters in diameter and weighs about 2 tons. Coronelli was commissioned by the Cardinal d'Estraes to produce two globes. The celestial globe represents the state of the sky at Louis XIV’s birth, with paintings on a blue monochrome background. They were manufactured in Paris by Coronelli between 1681 and 1683 and presented to King Louis XIV. Originally they were intended to decorate the Palace of Versailles, however they seemed to be placed in the castle of Marly from 1703 to 1715 then stored in Paris until 1901. After 1901, it seems they were lost until 1970. The 0.85 Euro denomination stamp is for overseas use. We have been told the stamp was also sold in a souvenir sheet format of a single stamp, in a special package.

The globes were redisplayed in Paris in September 2005 to mark the reopening of the Grand Palais in Paris. From October 2006, the globes have been on display in the Western wing of the François Mitterrand National Library in Paris as part of a permanent exhibition on the history of cartography. The image on the right shows the setup of the globes for the exhibition at the Grand Palais in 2005.

During Coronelli's lifetime he produced many maps and globes, of which about 100 smaller globes are still in existence today in various museums and libraries throughout the world. In 1984 the US Library of Congress purchased a pair of large, terrestrial and celestial globes constructed in 1688 and 1693, respectively made by Coronelli. Each measures 110 cm in diameter and stands nearly two meters high on heavy mahogany stands. The terrestrial globe is noted for depicting California as an island. Extremely rare, they are the only complete pair of Coronelli globes in North America.

This is the second Coronelli globe to be featured on a stamp. Member Dan Nelson has told us that Austria sc1062 issued on June 17, 1977 to mark the 5th International Symposium of the International Coronelli Society for the Study of Globes, which was founded in Vienna in 1952. Members who have purchased the scanned Carto-Philatelist archive CDROM can learn more about Austria sc1062 in Volume 22. No3 pages 26-27. [ special thanks go to Dan Nelson for supplying the historical background information on this fascinating subject. Dan has also discoverd a miss-spelling on the stamp and is researching a write up for this error. more information will be sent shortly. while searching on the net a number of very interesting items came up. and there appear to be so many non-english pages too. i came across some background information which said the globes were made of wood and plaster. and after that i found a very interesting article presented about their care and preservation in 2007. if any of our members have any stories or pictures, please let us know. --web admin ]

Issue Shows Pitcairn Island in Satellite Images

DigitalGlobe's QuickBird Satellite, shown on the right, provides ground sample distance resolutions of 61cm in panchoromatic mode and 2.44m in multispectral mode (measured at nadir). DigitalGlobe’s image library also houses comprehensive, up-to-date images of the world. Since 2002, the 952kg (2,100 pound) QuickBird satellite has collected imagery covering 340,000,000 square kilometers of land and sea, and collects approximately one million square kilometers of imagery each week. Each circular, self adhesive stamp is 38mm diameter and has simulated perforations. Denominations of the stamps are 60c, $1.00, $2.00 and $2.50 NZD. A first day cover is also available and has what looks to be a postmark depicting the QuickBird Satellite. [ Much of the satellite imagery found in the Google Earth program is supplied by DigitalGlobe. If you have not looked at Google Earth or Googe Maps, the imagery is very striking and it is enjoyable to "wander" about the globe looking at the images. Another very facinating web site devoted to the mapping of islands using satellite images is Peter Minton's EVS-Islands.com Peter is a teacher in southern California and teaches his students about digitizing, cartography and geography. Actively updated, evs-islands is a wonderful and well produced web site to visit. --web admin]

Austria Issues Map Themed European Championship Stamps

Our European Representative, Mark Honig, has sent us a number of new issue images. More details will be forth-coming later on these items. If you have any additional information, please pass that along to us.

Austria Post has issued a number of stamps to mark the upcoming European Championships, in June. There are other non-map related issues, so do check the Austrian Post Philately Shop if you are looking for a complete set.

International Polar Year New Issues

More IPY stamps with maps are becoming known to members of the Society recently. The British Antarctic Terretory (BAT) issued a 2 GBP stamp to commemorate the work of the British Aantarctic Survey (BAS) during the IPY. The first circular stamp by the BAT, was issued on November 14, 2007 and depicts aspects of ice core gathering work in the border of this special souvenir while the circular stamp in the center of the sheet shows a satellite image of the Antarctic continent. [ We are looking for a list or web site detailing all of the new International Polar Year (IPY) stamps. If you know of a list or web site, please send us that information. ]

A new article about the stamps of the current and past International Polar Years is available in the January 2008 issue of Topical Time, from the ATA. This four page article describes the history leading up to the founding of the collaborative scientific efforts behind the International Polar Year. A number of stamps and postal history of the previous IPYs is described in the article.

IPY, organized through the International Council for Science (ICSU) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), is actually the fourth polar year, following those in 1882-3, 1932-3, and 1957-8. In order to have full and equal coverage of both the Arctic and the Antarctic, IPY 2007-8 covers two full annual cycles from March 2007 to March 2009 and will involve over 200 projects, with thousands of scientists from over 60 nations examining a wide range of physical, biological and social research topics.

To commemorate activities with the IPY, some participating nations have issued stamps, and some of them featuring maps will be of interest to our members. Shown below are a few of the IPY cartophilatelic issues. On February 12, 2007 eight countries issued stamps related to their national research projects carried out during the IPY.

Below on the left is Canada Post's issue for the IPY. The mini-sheet freatures two 52cent stamps separated with a special Maple Leaf perforation in the center. The first stamp in the sheet features a male king eider. This avian species is native to Canada, Alaska and Greenland, its migratory patterns are being studied as part of the 2007/08 IPY. The stamp on the right of the sheet shows a brilliant-red deep-sea jellyfish that was just recently discovered on a subarctic polar expedition. The jellyfish appears in actual size -about the size of your thumb. A map focusing on the north pole is situatined in the lower right of the mini-sheet.

Above on the right is Iceland Post's issue for the IPY. This mini-sheet also features two stamps with values of 75 ISK and 95 ISK respectively. The images on sheet depict a volcanic eruption in the Vatnajökull glacier and the Radio-Echo Sounding equipment being used to map the landscape beneath the ice-cap. In the foreground a 3 dimensional surface map is shown.

More information about various polar stamps can be found on Top of the World Stamps [ http://www.topoftheworld.nu ] a portal of joint nordic stamp issues, owned and operated jointly by the postal authorities of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Aland, Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland. [astute internet users will recognize the .nu TLD is for the pacific island of Niue. However, a bit of investigation shows that "nu" means "now" in Danish, Dutch and Swedish and is a very popular TLD to use for nordic web sites. -web admin]

Stamps commerating the IPY were not limited to the Arctic regions. This stunning cartophilatlic issue from Argentine Post shows the southern tip of South America and the Antarctic continent. A single $4 (ARS) triangular stamp is centered on Aregentina's Antarctic claim, which contains most of the Antarctic Penninsula and covers the area between 25° West and 74° West longitude and the from 60° South latitude extending to the South Pole. [unfortunately, I could not find very much information about this issue on the web, one forum web site, said the date of issue was June 2nd, 2007. If any of our members have more information about this issue, please contact me or any of the society officers. - web admin.]