28 April 2009

Ramses II - Egypt

Egypt, 1971, SG 1103
Stamp showing the colossal statue of Ramses II in Cairo Square
The statue was found in 1882 at the Great Temple of Ptah in Memphis, broken into several pieces.

POSTCARD, early 20th Century

It was restored and placed on the square, near Cairo railway station in 1955.

Following concerns that the statue was suffering from the effects of pollution and vibration, in 2006 it was decided to move it to the site of the new Grand Egyptian Museum (due to open in 2010), near the Pyramids.

For more details and pictures of the move, see this very good article.
Also some more pics of the move on the BBC News website.

Nubian Monuments - Egypt

Egypt, 1975, SG 1264
"Touristic Egypt" stamp, showing the Great Temple of Abu Simbel in the bottom right-hand corner

Rosetta Stone - Japan

Japan, 1990, Yvert #1880
Stamp issued for the International Year of Literacy
Shows the character "ji" on Rosetta Stone

Ramses II - Korea


Cover from Korea, 01 March 2002


Postmark


Detail

Champollion - France

Postmark, Champollion Museum, France, 1993

Champollion - France

France, 1999
Homage to Champollion
Stamp showing the Champollion Museum in Figeac, Lot (France), birthplace of J-F Champollion.

First Day Cover issued 26 June 1999 in Figeac
Silk print illustration of the Champollion Museum

Proof

27 April 2009

Nubian Monuments - Egypt

Egypt, 1979, SG 1378
Statue of Ramses II's daughter, Meritaten

Nubian Monuments - Egypt

Egypt, 1979, SG 1379
Statues of Ramses II, entrance of small temple of Abu Simbel

17 April 2009

Nubian Monuments - Egypt

Egypt, 1972, SG 1171
One of a set of 3 stamps depicting the Temple of Abu Simbel (the other stamps show the Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo and the Pyramids of Giza).

UNESCO/Nubian Monuments - Egypt

Egypt, 1969, SG 1033
Submerged pillars of Philae Temple


14 April 2009

Nubian Monuments - Wish List



UNESCO/Nubian Monuments - United Nations Geneva FDC

United Nations Geneva, 04 August 2005

These are two really beautiful FDCs I recently received.

The top one shows the Temple of Philae on a 0.20 Swiss Franc stamp. It also has a stamp showing the site of Abu Mena and Memphis and its Necropolis, with the Sphinx of Giza and one of the Pyramids.

The bottom one shows the same view of Philae on a 1,00 Swiss Franc stamp and Islamic Cairo.



United Nations, 2005

UNESCO Campaign - Korea

Mini Souvenir Sheet

Korea, 1963, SG 485a

Two stamps, se-tenant

Korea, 1963, SG 484-5

Great Rock Temple of Ramses II at Abu Simbel

UNESCO/Nubian Monuments - Abu Simbel (no longer) Mystery Stamp!!


These were sold to me as "Unrecorded Revenue Stamps", issued in 1982. Originally with a value of 10 Dollars, they are overprinted "2 Dollars". I only bought them because they depict the Temple of Abu Simbel but I cannot find any information about them anywhere...
So if you know anything about these stamps, do post a comment :¬)

April 2012 update - I now have it on good authority that these are consular stamps used when granting visas.

April 2019 update - thanks to Jerry who pointed me in the direction of the Egypt Study Circle and the information below (Source: http://www.egyptstudycircle.org.uk/QCs/QC261.pdf).  

In March 1960, just two months after work on the Aswan High Dam was started, the Director-General of Unesco, the United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organisation, launched a worldwide appeal to save the 3,000-year-old monuments of Nubia from being flooded up to 50 metres deep by the dammed waters of the Nile.  Over the next 20 years money and aid of all sorts were gratefully received in a defining example of international solidarity, and dozens of temples and monuments, including the two temples of Abu Simbel and the temple complex on the island of Philae, were rescued for posterity. 
As part of its economic contribution, the Egyptian Government required all of its visitors to pay a nominal $2 fee, in the shape of a consular revenue stamp to be placed in each and every arriving passport: remarkably, the only Egyptian stamp with face value in a foreign currency. Peter Feltus, in his Catalogue of Egyptian Revenue Stamps (1982) listed three issues, but more recent discoveries have added greatly to our knowledge. Here is a full listing as far as is known:


Fig. 1, 1962 (Feltus p.51), or perhaps 1964, dull purple and pale green, inscribed UAR and equivalent at top left, watermarked UAR, face value $2. 

Fig. 2, 1971 (Feltus p.53), as last, but inscribed ARE and equivalent at top left instead of UAR. 

Fig. 3. 1981 (Feltus p.54), colour changed to greenish blue and dull orange, design redrawn but essentially same, perforation changed from 13 ½ x 13 to 11, watermark large eagles sideways. 

Fig. 4, 1983 (so unrecorded by Feltus), as last, but with inscriptions redrawn, most obviously in shape and curvature of the figure 2 in both European and Arabic languages. 

Fig. 5, 1985, colour changed to blue-green and yellow, and face value increased from $2 to $10. But this may have been a step too far – was it visitor pressure or a government realisation that a mistake had been made that led to the $10 value indicator being surcharged with bars and lettering indicating a return to the original $2 value? This stamp has not yet been recorded on passport pages or other documents. Was the unsurcharged stamp ever used? 

Fig. 6, 1988-89, colour changed to brown and buff, but like the last, with original face value of $20 surcharged back to original $2. This issue has been seen on a 1988 passport page.

UNESCO Campaign - Jordan

Jordan, 1964, SG 595-7
Colossal statues of Ramses II at Abu Simbel

UNESCO Campaign - Qatar

Qatar, 1965, SG 48-53

UNESCO/Nubian Monuments - Egypt

Egypt, 1980, SG 1413-16


Set of 4 stamps depicting the Qortasi monument, the Temple of Kalabsha, the Temple of Philae and Trajan's Kiosk, with a central label bearing the UN emblem issued se-tenant, to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the campaign to save Nubian Monuments.

UNESCO Campaign - Cote Francaise des Somalis FDC

Cote Francaise des Somalis, 1964, SG 481



First Day Cover
Issued in Djibouti on 28 August 1964

UNESCO/Nubian Monuments - Egypt


Egypt, 1971, SG 1118

Partly submerged pillar, Philae

UNESCO/Nubian Monuments - Egypt

Egypt, 1973, SG 1212

UNESCO/Nubian Monument - Upper Volta







These are really lovely, big, colourful stamps, issued in 1978 for the UNESCO Campaign to Save Philae, showing Horus and Cartouches, and the Goddess Isis. (SG 504-5)