Orson Welles greatest man in the world today

Hope you are ready for another guest post here 😀! Today is real birthday of one of the most influential but also very controversial personalities of past century. He was an politician, millwright, war commander and a leader. Some call him dictator and a war criminal too but opinions on him are heavily divided.

Orson Welles called him greatest man in the world today (or at least it is considered to be Orson Welles words as I couldn't track down right quote source)

If you still didn’t got it I’m talking about Josip Broz Tito, leader and lifetime president of Yugoslavia. When I mentioned real birthday it is because it is not very well known fact since his birthday officially in Yugoslavia was considered 25^th of May even though he actually came upon this world on today’s date  7^th May 1892. This comes from the fact that in those times documents were often incomplete and birth dates often incorrect in different documents, mostly due to the facts that lot of peasants were illiterate (his parents were presents in small village of Kumrovec in today’s Croatia). 25^th May was his birth date in some documents from Austro-Hungarian   army (which he served since Croatia was part of their empire and under Hungarian dominion). This even led to the Nazis launching attack at Yugoslavian partisan’s army command in Drvar on 25^th of May 1944. Obviously Tito survived and that day was officially taken as Tito’s Birthday and celebrated as Youth day in entire country.

From 1952 till 1990 Yugoslavian post office was issuing stamps depicting Tito on 25^th May on jubilar birthday years.

This is just one stamp from a set of three issued in 1952 for Titos 60^th birtday with topic of Tito in works of contemporary artists. This one is painting of well known Yugoslavian painter and graphic designer Đorđe Andrejević Kun (also did design for first Yugoslavian partisans postage stamp which was never issued but there is a proof print in museum in Belgrade and few examples whose locations are unknown if even still in existence).

In 1962, on Titos birthday Yugoslavian post issued set of four stamps and one imperforated souvenir sheet, recess printed based on Tito bust made by famous Yugoslavian sculptor Augustin Augustinčić.

 

In 1967 post issued set of ten stamps to commemorate 75^th birthday. 300.000 sets were printed in form of a mini sheet of 15 stamps each. Later on they reprinted values from this set as well as some additional values in same design as definitive stamps, this were issued in form of 50 or 45 stamps sheets so this turn out to be most common stamps with Tito face on them due to high print numbers and heavy use for franking letters and cards.

This same design was used for wending machines coil stamps (vertically imperforate) and some of the reminders were used for overprinting with new values when there was a demand for them in postal traffic.

1972, on occasion of 80^th birthday post issued set of two stamps and imperforate souvenir sheet printed in offset technique.  

This is just a few stamps about Tito, so stay tuned as I might soon make another post about his life and work.

Canadian Pride - Flag of Canada, Canada

After almost a year, here is a new post for the Sunday Stamps edition, which seems to have gone back to themes after the alphabetic posts :)

Today's theme is Water - and even though the primary topic of this issue is the Canadian flag, there is pretty much water on the sheet, to make it eligible for today :)

In this set, issued 14th of January, 2013, the designer Karen Smith said that they tried to represent as many different regions of Canada as possible as well as different seasons. There are images from the prairies, inland, and the coast, as well as summer, fall and winter, where the Canadian flag is shown in abstract, unusual ways.


The set of five stamps features essentially Canadian scenes with the flag uniquely displayed. In one, three Muskoka chairs lounge on a dock facing a lake in early fall, evoking Canadian cottages from coast to coast. The chairs reappear on the souvenir sheet, this time with the puffy, whimsical clouds of summer dotting the sky. The fall colours are recalled by the golden hue of a very Canadian hay bale that waits in a prairie field at harvest time. On the East Coast, just outside Halifax, a spinnaker fills with a summer breeze representing the Canadian sails and flags that fill the waterways each season. This same spinnaker is shown again on the OFDC, this time with an iconic East Coast lighthouse in the background.
During Canada Day celebrations in Winnipeg more than 3,000 patriotic Canadians gather on the lawn of the provincial legislature to form a living flag, challenging a record held by Victoria, British Columbia.
Finally, a lone fishing hut brings a splash of colour on a clear day to a frozen Lake Scugog, Ontario.

So, dear Canadians, do you find pride in your flag? Or your maple syrup? Or is it something else? Feel free to share your thoughts, im curious to know :)

Seeing those chairs... not really fitting into the social distancing concept nowadays, eh?

For more calming water stamps, visit today's Sunday Stamps edition

Lighthouses, Algeria

Well hello there! It's been a while, no?

After having updated my postcards' blog the other day, it would be fair to post something here as well, right?
So after a little bit more than four months, here comes something I received this year (before all the worldwide havoc which included the postal services as well).

And quite a perfect cover, so enough to get me motivated to blow the dust off... plus seems it is my first ever post regarding Algeria here, so even more reasons to have it posted :)

Turns out Algeria has quite a few lighthouses (around 30), most of them seem to be commemorated on stamps, and this seems to be the last issue (even though it was issued on 27th February 2013).
This set of three stamps features the following lighthouses:

- Ile Srigina
Established in 1847 while the present tower was built in 1906. It is a white square tower rising from a 2-story keeper's house, on the summit of the island, with a red lantern dome. It has a Red flash every 5 seconds, visible for 13 nautical miles.
This lighthouse marks the western entrance to the Golfe de Stora. Located atop a steep-sided island about 4 km (2.5 mi) north of Stora. Accessible only by boat


-Cap Bougaroun
There are two lighthouses with this name, so I will assume this is the active one (the other one is said to be inactive).

Established 1869 while the present tower was built in 1911. There are two white flashes every 10 s. visible for 10 nautical miles. Its octagonal tower with lantern and gallery is attached to the front of a 2-story keeper's house. The lighthouse painted white.
The lantern appears to have been transferred from the historic lighthouse. It is located on a steep bluff at the northernmost point of the province, about 15 km  northwest of Collo.


-Cap Ivi
Established in 1898,  It has a  white flash every 5 s. visible for 18 nautical miles. Its octagonal stucco-clad masonry tower with lantern and castellated gallery rises from a 2-story keeper's house. The lighthouse is painted white; formerly it was painted yellow with brown trim.
Located on a headland about 25 km  northeast of Mostaganem, directly on the N11 coastal highway. The site is open, but the tower is closed.



Nice to add all these to the bucket list. With the current travel restrictions though, and with the uncertainty of the future of cheap flights, this one surely wont happen in the foreseeable future.
But at least an update has happened, haha :D


Stay well and stay safe!