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ORCHID STAMPS



Moderator: Nina Rach
Stanhopea Pages
Wed 20 Jan 99



Members present were 14:

BTague (Barbara, N. CA)
gaillevy ( Boca Raton, FL)
nina_marie (Houston TX)
Fleur (Tasmania)
55SS (James in San Jose)
marylois (northern Louisiana)
JCY8S (John in Arcadia, CA)
Ellen,Smithtown,New York
BarbJA (Wisconsin)
UncleEarl (Vacaville CA)
SophieTC (need first name and location)
bradwin (Brad - Sault Ste Marie MI)
Jade from G R (Grand Rapids MI)
jagso (JAGSORCHIDSASIA,Bombay.)

marylois (Topic: Orchid Stamps with Nina Rach)
Nina Rach, accredited AOS Judge, Houston Judging Ctr, author of the 'Stanhopea Page', Houston Judging Ctr homepage and Houston Orchid Society homepage...just passed the Texas bar...and mother of Caroline, an adorable 'about to be two'.

nina_marie ((Visiting moderator))
There are over 3000 known orchid stamps from all around the world.

UncleEarl (Earl in Vacaville, CA)
That many!?

Fleur (Tasmania)
That's a lot of stamps.

marylois
How many do you have, Nina?

SophieTC
So what countries have produced the most orchid stamps?

nina_marie ((Visiting moderator))
I have about 400 different orchid stamps and about 50 orchid covers.

Fleur (Tasmania)
Do you only collect those from the USA?

nina_marie ((Visiting moderator))
Most orchid stamps seem to come from small countries that are dependent on foreign stamp sales for their revenue.

JCY8S (John in Arcadia, CA)
Where can you get the stamps? From Stamp stores, on the internet?

nina_marie ((Visiting moderator))
No, Fleur, I collect from all over the world.

Ellen,Smithtown,New York
Can we see some of your favorites?

nina_marie ((Visiting moderator))
I mostly buy stamps in person. I started out just buying stamps from the post offices when I was traveling abroad, and of course collecting special issues in conjunction with major orchid shows. Then I expanded to hitting regular philatelic supply stores. I have also sent in two orders from the internet.

BTague (Barbara, N. CA)
Yes, from what I saw, the Malaysia, Borneo, have some nice ones. Also the Caribbean area too.

marylois
You collect, Barb?

nina_marie ((Visiting moderator))
Let me show you some covers. this is a se-tenant block of four stamps issued in the U.S. in 1969. It includes the first U.S. orchid stamp, Cypripedium reginae.

BTague (Barbara, N. CA)
No Lois, I don't know anything about them, just knew they are pretty.

Fleur (Tasmania)
You could post a letter for 6 cents??

BarbJA
Nina, that is circa ??

BTague (Barbara, N. CA)
Yes, when the cost was only 6 cents. Not now.....
Fleur, now it cost 33 cents to send first class mail here.

nina_marie ((Visiting moderator))
OK, that was an example of a 'se-tenant' block. That's a term of art among stamp collectors; I'm new to the lingo. Next let me show you the corresponding first-day cover (FDC): Note the cachet printed on the left side of the envelope, and the special cancellation stamped over the stamps.

nina_marie ((Visiting moderator))
What do you mean by 'circa', Barb?

marylois (Topic: Orchid Stamps with Nina Rach)
Bet you can't get that one any more...

nina_marie ((Visiting moderator))
Yes, you can still buy the 1969 cover. I have about ten different cachets for that stamp issue.

BarbJA
What year Nina?

Fleur
Cost is 45 cents here and we don't have first class mail.

BTague (Barbara, N. CA)
That's nice, I understand the cancellation mark adds much to the value.

JCY8S (John in Arcadia, CA)
circa = Latin for about

nina_marie ((Visiting moderator))
The next FDC was the American Orchids set that came out in 1984, released at the 11WOC in Miami. Note that there is another Cyp. in this set: Cyp. calceolus. The other species are Calypso bulbosa, Arethusa lubosa, and Cleistes divaricata. I doubt many people are cultivating those!

marylois
I have a handful - and the 11WOC FDC you just showed - you are making me want to get into it...deep! Fleur (Tasmania)
I like that last one. Nice layout.

SophieTC
What you have shown so far are beautiful....I want to start looking for orchid stamps.

BTague (Barbara, N. CA)
Lois, moderation is the key word.

JCY8S (John in Arcadia, CA)
Barbara - that word doesn't apply to people in orchids!!! We are far beyond that LOL

nina_marie ((Visiting moderator))
The most recent U.S. orchid stamp was issued just this past Christmas, as part of the Christmas wreaths set. Note that it was a set of four, and six stamps are pictured, so ignore the bottom two. The tropical wreath, bearing orchids, is the stamp in the right hand column, in the middle. There are several types of orchids depicted on the tropical wreath.

nina_marie ((Visiting moderator))
Sorry, I know they're hard to see in the jpg, I should've blown it up a bit. But there is a pink phalaenopsis at 6:00, and a yellow cattleya with a red or lavender lip at 2:00 or 3:00.

BTague (Barbara, N. CA)
I didn't realize it had orchids in it.

nina_marie ((Visiting moderator))
Yes, Barbara, most people didn't notice the constituents of any of the four of those wreaths, since the individual items were so small.

BTague (Barbara, N. CA)
Now I'm going to save the last one I have.

marylois
I had 120 of them and sent them all out! Can't get them here now...PO out.

nina_marie
The U.S. Christmas wreath stamps can still be ordered from the USPS Philatelic Service. They have a good website and offer a beautiful (free) quarterly catalog. Shipping is only $1.00 for any size order, at least in the U.S. The stamps are sold for face value.

Overall, the U.S. has issued only nine orchid stamps, so there really is much better opportunity to collect foreign stamps. Let's look at a few pix of foreign stamps now, starting with Canada. Here's a 5-cent stamp from Canada, also picturing Cyp. reginae.

Ellen,Smithtown,New York
Why is the paph so popular?

JCY8S (John in Arcadia, CA)
Ellen - most colorful of the American species?

Ellen,Smithtown,New York
Thanks, John.

marylois
That's right, John - how many wild orchids are photogenic? ...north American, that is.

Ellen,Smithtown,New York
Nina is it alright, I'm saving them on a disc? They would make a beautiful web page.

nina_marie
Sure, Ellen, save whatever you want. They'll all be posted with my article anyway.

marylois
Marilyn Light sends her regrets: Hello All. Sorry but cannot get on either way. It seems that some others have had success if the sign on list is to be believed. Have a good evening/day! Please pass on my kudos to Nina for an excellent pre-discussion piece. Lots to learn! Marilyn

nina_marie ((Moderator))
Here is one of the most recent stamp issues. This is a miniature sheet of four orchid stamps, jointly issued by Australia and Singapore. There were tow, nearly identical miniature sheets, one bearing postage values for Australia, the other with different postage values for Singapore. Otherwise, the sheets look alike. Be aware of this when you see joint-issue stamps.

marylois
That is just plain WONDERFUL!

Fleur (Tasmania)
I was going to surprise you with that one. I downloaded it at WBS as well.

BTague (Barbara, N. CA)
Nina, the reason for joint issue?

nina_marie ((Moderator))
Sometimes it's diffuicult to determine the origin of a stamp because the name of the country is not written in the English name. For instance, Japanese stamps don't have 'Japan' printed on them; they have 'Nippon', for NipponPost. Here's a nice Japanese stamp from a series they did on butterflies and the flowers they're attracted to. Note that there's a yellow pleione on the right side!

Fleur (Tasmania)
We put out a series on Butterflies but no orchids on them.

nina_marie ((Moderator))
Sometimes, orchid stamps will show the area of origin, rather than a picture of thier pollinator. Such is the case with this stamp from the Republic of South Africa, picturing a nice red Disa uniflora (the 'Pride of Table Mountain'), with a view of the eastern exposure of Table Mountain inthe background, in the area of Kirstenbosch Gardens. picture I was fortunate to have visited Kirstenbosch and hiked around on Table Mt., but I did not see any of these in bloom in situ.

BTague (Barbara, N. CA)
Disa is my kind of plant.

nina_marie ((Moderator))
Here are two stamps issued by Malaysia for the WOC they hosted in the early 1960's. Note that the design is the same on both stamps, but the background color and the face value is different (second stamp)

Let's look at three stamps from Romania: picture This is a nice picture of Stanhopea tigrina (10 Bani value)

Now here's Paph insigne from Romania (20 Bani value)

Fleur (Tasmania)
I like the paphs too.

nina_marie ((Moderator))
And finally, here is a VERY curiously colored cypripedium, labeled 'Calceolus speciosum' with a 35 Bani valuation. I think the artist took a little artistic license with that one.

BTague (Barbara, N. CA)
I like this one the best, really nice.

nina_marie ((Moderator))
There have been many many orchid stamps issued by Colombia. Here is their version of Stanhopea tigrina.

Fleur
Some of these stamps are very good botanical drawings.

BTague (Barbara, N. CA)
I didn't know Stan was so popular with stamps. *LOL*

Fleur
May I show one?

nina_marie ((Moderator))
Odd blue-violet color, wouldn't you say? Sure, Fleur, show us a picture.

Fleur
If I owned that orchid I could make a fortune.

nina_marie ((Moderator))
There are eight stanhopea stamps that I know of, beginning with the 1960 Colombian S. tigrina that I just showed you. Thene Nicaragua (1962), Venezueal (2 in 1962), Romania (1965), Costa Rica (1967), Bolivia (1974), and Suriname (1979).There are probably others, but I have yet to track them down. If you are interested in this genus, please visit my Stanhopea Pages

Fleur
I got it many years ago when I used to collect stamps.

nina_marie ((Moderator))
Here's another interesting stamp. It depicts an Oncidium, was issued (twice) by Venezuela. Although it's hard to see in the scan, it was initially issued at one denomination (2,00), and then overprinted and reissued in another denomination.

Fleur
Nina, the Aust/Sing set that you showed- I have a block of four 45 cent stamps if you don't have them.

nina_marie
Thanks, Fleur, I think I have the new Aust/Sing stamps.

Here's a nice white cattleya stamp issued by Barbados, one of a large set of orchids.

Another cattleya stamp, this one C. dowiana, issued by Colombia.

Fleur Nice colours in that one.

nina_marie And here is a Colombian masdevallia stamp

Fleur Nice coccinea stamp.

nina_marie
Lest you think all orchid stamps are beautifully polychromatic, here's a third cattleya stamp, issued by Paraguay, but printed in a monochrome.

Fleur
I like that, gives a feeling of age.

This picture shows the full Australian/Singapore set, but beware it is a big picture. Fleur
Same stamps, differing denominations. Nice.

nina_marie
Nice double picture, Fleur, of both miniature sheets together.

OK, here are a few more species. First, catasetum stamp from Colombia, interesting because it features a pollinating bee.

Second, a nice lycaste stamp issued by Poland ('Polska')

One more nice species to look at, and from another favorite genus of mine-- sobralia. This stamp hails from Grenada.

Fleur
Nice stamps, the last two, must go through my collection and see what I have. Maybe find a few more pictures to post another day.

That one is lovely.

Ellen,Smithtown,New York
Thanks for a lovely evening, Nina.

marylois
Yes, Nina, an excellent presentation. Many thanks.

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