Liechtenstein stamps feature birds' eyes, bird's-eye photographs

New Stamps of the World – By Denise McCarty 

Three new stamps from Liechtenstein focus on the eyes of birds. Called Artistic Photography: Birds Eyes, the set of stamps was issued Sept. 3.

The designs reproduce close-up photographs taken by Sven Beham of birds indigenous to the principality: the gray heron, great crested grebe and cormorant. All three live near or on the water.

The yellow eye of the heron is featured on the 1-franc stamp, the bright red eye of the grebe on the 1.30fr, and the blue eye of the cormorant on the 1.50fr.

Hans Peter Gassner and Beham designed the stamps. Cartor Security Printing of Meauce, France, printed them by a combination of offset and embossing in sheets of 16.

Instead of featuring birds' eyes, another recent set of stamps from Liechtenstein shows photographs of bird’s-eye views from mountain summits.

Issued June 4, the four stamps continue the Summit Crosses series that started in 2009 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Liechtenstein Alpine Association founded in 1909 (Scott 1440-1443).

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Like the 2009 issue, the new set depicts photographs of summit crosses taken by Marco Nescher.

In announcing the new stamps, the philately division of Liechtenstein Post said, “The current four peaks also give a vague idea of just how impressive the alpine world of the small state is.”

The 1fr stamp depicts the cross on Kelche, a rock formation that rises more than 580 feet above sea level.

The rocky peak of Klausli, at almost 780 feet above sea level, is featured on the 1.50fr stamp. This stamp is inscribed “Sepac,” referring to the multination stamp series of the Small European Postal Administration Cooperation. The theme for this year’s Sepac stamps is spectacular views.

The remaining two stamps in this set from Liechtenstein show crosses on Mittlerspitz (6,224 feet); and Hubel (7,050 feet), also called Silberhorn. The denominations are 2fr and 2.60fr, respectively.

Cartor printed these stamps by offset in sheets of 16.