Growing your own philatelic garden, an unissued stamp from Ceylon, and forerunners from Slovenia: Inside Linn’s Stamp News

By Charles Snee

How was your week? Ours, of course, was filled with stamps and all things philatelic. And we wouldn’t have it any other way. The July 31 issue of Linn’s Stamp News just landed on the presses and goes in the mail to subscribers Monday, July 17. If you’re a digital subscriber, you get early access Saturday, July 15. Here we tantalize you with a few previews of exclusive content.

Are you familiar with sprouting stamps?

Wayne Chen, whose peripatetic, philatelic travels have appeared in our pages before, serves up a gardening feast in the form of stamps you can plant. Among the countries that have issued such stamps are Austria, the Netherlands, San Marino, Singapore, and Thailand. Time to start a garden, perhaps?

This stamp from Ceylon was never officially issued

The Sri Pada, or Sacred Footprint, in Ceylon has significance in Buddhism. In late 1968, a 50¢ stamp depicting the stone formation was hastily withdrawn before being officially issued, following complaints about the design. In Stamp Market Tips, Henry Gitner and Rick Miller review how this stamp has fared in the marketplace.

Independent Slovenia’s first stamp in 1991 had many forerunners

In this month’s Stamps of Eastern Europe, Rick Miller explores the philatelic history of independent Slovenia, which issued its first stamp June 26, 1991, the day after it declared independence. This historic first issue follows a long line of fascinating forerunner stamps for a 1920 plebiscite and other pivotal events in Slovenia’s storied past.

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