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Ross Burden on his penguin collection |
 Since 1985, I’ve had an abiding passion for penguins – through continent and career changes. Since the days of the first Polar explorers, the penguin has been burnt into the collective minds of the Western World. Although true that they were, and are, known to the native peoples of the Southern Hemisphere, the squat waddler in dinner dress is known to us all.
Penguins branched off the avian tree of evolution early on in the piece, around 50 million years age. The Southern waters, from the Equator South, are their home and this has always been true. The fossils we have, have been found in New Zealand, Australia and South America. The fossil record points to super penguins over one and half metres in height and weighing over 70kg.
At present they range from a height of 40cm (the Little Blue) to 130cm (the Emperor) which weighs around 38kg before the winter fast. The 17 extant species are distributed from the Equator (the Galapagos) to the wastes of the Antarctic Ice, (the Emperor and the Adelie). Most of the species live in the sub-Antarctic and temperate zones, being most populous on the Falklands and Tristan da Cunha. Hence there have been many penguin philatelic issues from these territories.
Survival adaptation
Penguins form a substantial part of the diet for orca, fur seals, leopard seals and their eggs feed sheathbill, cats and rats. In their turn, the penguin eats enormous amounts of krill (a prawn-like crustacean, also eaten by whales), squid and fish. Therefore the whaling industry has an effect of penguin populations. The fewer whales there are, the more krill there is available for penguins to eat. The Discovery II expeditions worked extensively on the krill populations of the times. Through this connection I use a cover of the South Georgia 2 1/2d overprint, which was needed for the foreign rate (mainly to Norway) after the South Georgia post office ran out of 2d and 1/2d stamps. Only a dozen were sold on the first day and under 1,200 were sold at all, including those to collectors. A neat inclusion of a great rarity. Whaling itself forms a great possibility for collecting, but where possible, I’ve tried to work in classical pieces to increase the ‘seriousness’ of a thematic collection.
The other obvious connection between whales and penguins is the Falklands issue of 1927, which had a whaler, a whale and two penguins at essay stage, changing to the image we now know at die proof stage. The 4d was issued later and is a brilliant orange, there are changes of colour perfs etc which make a fascinating specialist study, now so important to glean essential points out of thematic juries. One of the other fascinating Falklands penguin stories is that of the 1933 centenary issue 5 shilling. The 5/- value features a lovely penguin in engraved glory. It proved to be so popular another 12 sheets were printed and sent to the Postmistress, Maud Carey. Fortunately for us, the yellow was mis-mixed to a yellow orange shade which is now much scarcer than the original.
Family tree
It was the great 18th century naturalist Carl von Linne, or Linnaeus, was the man who created the binomial system of nomenclature we use today – it gives us the family tree of all living things, including penguins. The King and Emperor are the largest of the 17 species and are recognisable by their large size and ear patches. The King is slightly smaller and having a comma-shaped orange patch. The medium sized species are the Gentoo, the Chipstrap and the Adelie; named for Dumont d’Urville’s wife. All are sub to fully Antarctic, monochrome and medium in size but form a large chunk of the over numbers in the penguin stakes.
The Crested penguins, Rockhopper, Macaroni, Royal et al are the most decorated of the group, having elaborate yellow crests and being slate and white similar to the gentoo. There are six species. The next in the taxonomy is the Yellow-eyed which is also the most endangered, being threatened by habitat destruction and predation of its young and eggs. The Little Blue is also from New Zealand and Australia where it’s called the Fairy penguin. The last group are the four tropical penguins – the African, the Humbolt, the Magellanic and the Galapagos. All are banded, black and white and have fleshy pink wattles at the base of their beaks. Most of these species have juveniles which are non-descript and brown, the yearlings are the first to show specific differation. and if you’re considering approaching them during moult, don’t. The worst temper in the animal kingdom is contained in a moulting penguin. This is an aspect of penguin life not depicted philatelically, for obvious reasons. Not only are they bad-tempered but profoundly disarrayed!
Penguin harvest
The indigenous populations of the Southern hemisphere have harvested penguins for their own uses for as many years as pre-history records. The Fuegeans of Tierra del fuego used penguin oil for lamps but mainly treated them as textiles, making footwear, cloaks and leather from them. The Maori of New Zealand ate the Little Blue penguin, as is witnessed by the post office of Kororarika (literally ‘tasty blue penguin’). This office was a outlier of Sydney GPO and had four marks; handling mainly missionaries’ mail. It was destroyed in 1844 and the main office was transferred to Auckland.
In terms of penguins as a larder item there is both the possibility of flesh and eggs. Penguin as meat has been consumed by all the early expeditions to the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic. Nordeskjold of the ‘Antarctica’ wrote that they are: ‘Breast of penguin and dried vegetables, salted penguin and beans’ and all manner of penguin up to and almost including sushi of Adelie! Captain Scott noted that it was better than salt pork (again) but not much to write home about.
I have Antarctic covers amongst my penguin material including a distinctive penguin cancellation from the SY Aurora on its second Antarctic cruise, and a cover from Captain Colbert from the British National Antarctic Expedition of 1902 (which created a penguin label for its post). Also, Chile has issued Emperor penguin stamps which were said to be the diet of the early Antarctic explorers.
My collection also includes proposed penguin designs for Falkland Island George Edward VIII stamps; a variety of other Falkland essays; and an official free cover signed by Ernest Shackleton, written on the SY Aurora after rescue. It includes the phrase: ‘I have a penguin for you’ and may be the only mail of this expedition. |
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Tales by Mail - Book 1, by Karen Cartier
 Tales by Mail is for children of all ages, perhaps up through 60 or so. It brings together stories literally from around the world ... from Botswana to Denmark, from New Zealand to the Faroes, from Saar to Israel.
The stories are short, each with a message, and each illustrated by a stamp issued by the country of the story's origin. Each who reads this book no doubt will develop a different favorite story, which is to be expected. Formatted simply, each story is preceded by a full-color illustration of the commemorative stamp that no only is impressive in its own right but also serves through its design to set the stage for the story that follows.
For those who wonder of the relationship between a stamp design and what is "behind" the design, this book serves as an excellent example.
Teddy Bears Celebrate 100th Anniversary
 Teddy bears, enormously popular symbols of human caring and loving, are being honored by the U.S. Postal Service with the issuance of the Teddy Bears commemorative stamps. The 2002 issuance of the stamps coincides with the 100th anniversary of teddy bears.
The Teddy Bears pane of 20 self-adhesive stamps depicts four lovable, cuddly teddy bears. Photos of the bears appear in the header; details of the photos appear on the stamps. The four stamp designs are repeated five times each on the pane. All four teddy bears were manufactured in the United States and are now owned by private collectors. The Ideal bear dates to circa 1905, the Bruin bear from circa 1907 and the Gund bear from circa 1948. The unlabeled "stick" bear dates from the 1920s. Mass- produced stick bears were characterized by their short arms, thin legs and upright posture. The Ideal bear, the Bruin bear and the stick bear belong to Paul and Rosemary Volpp of Carson City, Nev. The Gund bear belongs to Helen Sieverling of Pasadena, Calif.
The idea of the teddy bear was born in 1902 when President Theodore Roosevelt refused to shoot a captive bear during a hunting trip. Washington Post cartoonist Clifford Berryman depicted the incident on the front page of the newspaper, and soon toymakers began to manufacture the "teddy" bears associated with the president's name. People in all walks of life love teddy bears, and enthusiasts—known in the teddy bear world as arctophiles—pay top dollar for the collectibles.
Today there are teddy bear magazines, clubs, collector shows and programs, both educational and medical, that feature these little stuffed companions. Teddy bears have had endless books, songs and poem written about them. Widely viewed as symbols of security and comfort, teddy bears are often used by police officers and hospital staff to calm the young and old alike in traumatic situations
Second Set Of Penguin Stamps
 British Antarctic Territory has issued its second set of penguin stamps on a miniature sheet and in a booklet from the Port Lockroy Post Office.
The 12 airmail postcard values feature photographs of Chinstrap, Emperor, Adelie, Gentoo and Macaroni penguins, including juveniles.
All the photographs were taken by members of the British Antarctic Survey.
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