New stamps highlight trends, events of three decades

New Stamps of the World by Denise McCarty

The decades of the 1920s, 1980s and 2010s are examined on new stamps from Belgium, Jersey and Spain, respectively.

Belgium’s Bpost issued a pane of five stamps Aug. 31 titled “The Roaring Twenties.” Illustrator and cartoon artist Eva Mouton said that she immersed herself in the decade before she created her designs for these stamps.

Two of the stamps feature fashions of the decade, with a flapper shown on the first stamp on the left and striped suit pants and shoes with spats on the fourth stamp.

The other three designs represent architect Leon Stynen, the growing popularity of automobiles and the introduction of household appliances, such as the automatic pop-up toaster.

Mouton’s illustrations are shown inside picture frames. The stamps are nondenominated, paying the second-class rate for nonstandard-size letters weighing up to 100 grams (currently €1.96).

Belgium’s stamp printing office printed the stamp pane by offset.

Jersey

Six stamps and two souvenir sheets issued Oct. 6 by Jersey Post focus on the popular culture of the 1980s.

These stamps continue a series that began in 2016 with a salute to the 1950s (Scott 1971-1977). Stamps for the 1960s (2108-2114) and the 1970s (2201-2207) were issued in 2018 and 2019, respectively.

Each stamp set includes designs for language, music, fashion, events, food and drink, and leisure pursuits of the decade.

In the stamp set celebrating the 1980s, the designs feature the slang term “rad” (54 pence), the new romantics music movement (70p), shoulder pads (84p), the 1985 Live Aid concert (88p), the pina colada cocktail (£1.05) and the boom box (£1.18).

The stamps are sold in separate panes of 10 and in a souvenir sheet with the six designs se-tenant (side-by-side). A time line is shown in the selvage.

The other souvenir sheet contains a single £3 stamp. Jersey Post describes this sheet as featuring “a playful reimagining of Jersey’s main shopping street in the 1980s reflecting the vibrancy, fashions and colours synonymous with the decade.”

Hat-Trick Design Ltd. designed the stamps and sheets, using illustrations by various artists. Cartor Security Print printed them by offset.

Spain

In 2016 Spain’s Correos introduced a stamp series called “Generations” to honor recent milestones, starting with the 1950s (Scott 4154).

The latest issue in that series commemorates events of the years 2010-19 as selected by stamp collectors and others. That souvenir sheet of three stamps was issued Sept. 21.

The rectangular €0.75 stamp commemorates Felipe VI becoming king of Spain on June 19, 2014, after the abdication of his father, Juan Carlos I.

The round €1.55 stamp in the center of the sheet celebrates Spain’s soccer team winning the 2010 World Cup.

The long €1.45 stamp on the right side of the sheet remembers the April 15, 2019, fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France.

Spain’s Royal Mint printed the souvenir sheet.

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