100 years of Sinking of RMS Titanic: Theme Specific Stamps

Before 2012 fades away in the history a few days from hence, let me write about RMS Titanic tragedy and the postage stamps issued in the memory of the great sunken ship and perhaps the deadliest tragedy that occurred at sea. 

Titanic [Photo: Wikipedia]

It was year 1912, just a hundred years from the present time that this large vessel, considered to be the largest ship afloat at the time of her maiden voyage, sailed from London to its maiden journey to New York. 

The ship that left Southampton on 10 April 2012, carried carried 2,224 passengers and crew and all went right till the fateful 15th April 1912, when amid the cold waters of the North Atlantic Ocean, the ship struck a huge iceberg that caused it to sink. The tragedy that occurred at night caused 1502 passengers and crew members to die in the frozen water.

The passengers included some of the wealthiest people in the world, as well as hundreds of emigrants from Great Britain and Ireland, Scandinavia and elsewhere throughout Europe seeking a new life in North America - but their destination lied somewhere else. 

For almost a century, the tragedy was almost forgotten, and the ship wreckage lied on the bottom of the sea some 12, 000 feet below the surface. A number of expeditions were mounted to find Titanic but it was not until 1 September 1985 that a Franco-American expedition succeeded.

And it was this discovery that led to the making of the Oscar awards studded film 'Titanic' that immortalized the sinking of the ship in the backdrop of a fiction love story.

Many countries have since issued postage stamps commemorating the great tragedy. Some of these stamps are as under:

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via My Philatelic World
For details about Titanic, read Wikipedia

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Theme Specific Stamps: Road to London Olympic 2012

London Olympic games 2012 are nearing and the hear beats are rising as each day goes by - both for the participants and for those who will be lucky enough to watch it live.  Rest of us would of course get a chance to watch the proceedings of the games on our TV sets, laptops, desktops or even smartphones, wherever we may be.

While the preparations continue, letters from friends keep pouring in bearing London Olympics specific stamps - stamps specially designed and crafted for the occasion. Herein under are some of the stamps issued by the Royal Mail and one from Australia - announcing 'Road to London Olympic.'

The Road to London 60 cent stamp features several iconic London landmarks and pays tribute to the hard work and dedication of our Australian athletes by featuring the official logo of the Australian Olympic Team.

The set of ten stamps issued by Royal Mail depicts various sport events that would be the hallmark of the London Olympic games, as can be seen on each stamp above and below.

The Britain’s Royal Mail has also announced that it would issue stamps recognizing the achievement of each British gold medal at the London Olympics. The stamps of gold-medal winners will be on sale by lunchtime the following day at 500 select post offices around the U.K.—the first time the company has ever issued next-day postage.

We at Hobby Shobbys will continue to add more postage stamps from around the world as these continue to get published before, during and after the games.

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Theme Specific Stamps: A first class portrait of Britain

British Mail unveils stamps displaying Britain's Landmarks: This was the post I wrote last year, 17 October 2011 to be precise,  about a set of stamps issued by the British Post displaying important and famous land marks of the country. The first  batch of stamps issued in 2011 stamps consisted of 12 stamps in the series, covering A to L, launched on the steps of 10 Downing Street (the ‘D’ stamp) by the Palace of Westminster postman, Martyn Hardy, and Prime Minister David Cameron.

Four of the 12 new stamps added to last years collection by British Mail

Now this year, the album of landmarks stamps seems to have completed with issue of a set of another 12 stamps from the letter O - Z, the last stamp being the ZSL London Zoo.

The hobbyists can see all the stamps, including the set of 12 stamps issued last year and the new set of 12 stamps issued this year along with details on each at: Mail Online

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Theme Specific Stamps: Charlie Chaplin

Whenever comedy is talked about, Charlie Chaplin’s name is remembered in golden words. It was in the Golden Age of Comedy that actors like Charlie Chaplin made people laugh out loud even when the movies were silent.  Charles Spencer Chaplin aka Charlie Chaplin, is considered to be one of the most original, creative and imposing celebrities of the film world. It may not be wrong to say that he pioneered humour when the world was in depression and crippled by the WW-I.  

Charles Spencer Chaplin

Born in 1989, his 88 years of life was fully devoted to the entertainment of the people and the film industry. But his earlier life specially from 1914 to 1920 when he starred in the silent movies made him to be remembered for the rest of his life and even after his death in 1977. His famous films include The Tramp, City Lights and Modern Times. He also composed the music for both films with the theme song from A Countess From Hong Kong (1967), "This is My Song", reaching number one in the UK as sung by Petula Clark. 

Many famous roles of Charlie Chaplin in the Golden Age of Comedy films

In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Chaplin the 10th greatest male screen legend of all time.In 2008, Martin Sieff, in a review of the book Chaplin: A Life, wrote: "Chaplin was not just 'big', he was gigantic.

It may sound strange to many that despite his popularity and unique acting skills, he never won an Oscar award for writing, directing or acting in his famous movies, he wasn't even nominated for most of them. He was also nominated once in 1948 for Best Writing, Original Screenplay for the movie, Monsieur Verdoux(1947), and twice in 1941 for Best Actor in a Leading Role, and Best Writing, Original Screenplay, both for the movie, The Great Dictator (1940). However he won an Honorary award in 1972, and in 1929.

It was only in 1973 that he won an Oscar for Best Music, Original Dramatic Score for Limelight. The film produced in 1952 was not released in Los Angeles until 1972. Under the Academy rules at the time being, this permitted it to be eligible despite of being 20 years old.

However, the highest honour conferred upon him came at the age of 85 when he was knighted for his outstanding performance in the art of entertainment.

Like everyone else, many countries have commended Charlie Chaplin by issuing commemorative stamps from time to time. Here are are some of these:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Besides postage stamps, here are  a few FDC (First Day Covers) of stamps issued commemorating Charlie Chaplin:

 

 

 

Reference:

Charlie Chaplin (Wikipedia)

Awards for Charlie Chaplin

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Theme Specific Stamps: Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States. Lincoln secured the Republican nomination and was elected president in 1860 and remained the US president from March 1961 for next four years till he was assassinated in 1865.

Lincoln is famous for his Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. He also promoted the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, abolishing slavery. He is also attributed to the exercise of unprecedented war powers, including the arrest and detention without trial of thousands of suspected secessionists.

Due is popularity both within and without USA, many a countries has printed commemorative postage stamps in his favour, some of these are given below:

Republic of Rwanda

Argentina

Cameroon

Haiti

Taiwan

Khatiri State

Ajman

Republic of Central Africa

India

Honduras

Haiti

 Obviously, most of the stamps come form USA. In fact Abraham Lincoln seems to be the only US president who has figured out on so many US stamps as well as the world over. Some of the US stamps bearing head / portrait of Lincoln are given herein under:

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