For some reason I got curious about giraffe and elephant art on postage stamps and started googling around looking for what existed. It turns out that just about any cool animal that you can imagine probably has a postage stamp dedicated to it (okay, probably not everything - I haven't looked for tenrec stamps yet). The next thing I knew I was hunting for Loxodonta cyclotis stamps from Gabon (issued in 1988) and a 1937 giraffe stamp from Mozambique (inspiration for the cover art for the first #1 Ladies Detective Agency). After finding the stamps on Ebay I found myself opening an Ebay account and starting a stamp collection that I didn't really intend to start. Now I find myself coveting a 40 cent giant squid stamp from New Zealand that I can't seem to find anywhere, and seriously considering buying a colossal squid stamp from the South Georgia Islands. Is anybody else here into wildlife postage stamp collecting? If so, is there any known cure for breaking the addiction?
I used to collect wildlife stamps, mostly from New Zeland, but also a few from Australia and other places too. Haven't really done any collecting for the last ten years or so though. Interestingly, both Australia and New Zealand have had zoo-themed stamp sets released over the years. For NZ's Year of the Monkey 2004 stamp set they released five stamps, each with a captive animal found in NZ (https://stamps.nzpost.co.nz/new-zealand/2004/zoo-animals-year-monkey). In 1994, NZ did a "Wild Animals" series, which included both giraffe and African elephants (https://stamps.nzpost.co.nz/new-zealand/1994/wild-animals). Australia did a series celebrating Australian Zoos in 2012 (Australian Zoos recognised with a new stamp issue release - Australia Post), also including a giraffe stamp.
Mmm could be goodbye Zoochat hello philately chat collecting anything can be a slippery slope as I know only too well! The UK has produced some interesting stamps over the years with native wildlife. I used to have a small collection of frog stamps mainly from S America, some are lovely art works in their own right. I don't know if we still do, but you could buy copies of UK stamps enlarged as postcards
I own a set of UK WWF stamps with endangered animals and a set with rainforest animals. The ones I own are currently in my house in the UK (and I'm in Poland) so I can't photograph my own, but here are some pictures of the exact same ones that I've got from the internet. The endangered animals one: http://www.worldstampnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/WWF-stamp-card.jpg The rainforest animals one: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_0X6-0PjkzBA/TR2nIsQJbZI/AAAAAAAACAc/CsEnAjCiUjQ/s1600/110322wwf-ms.jpg
if you can find any David, you might like the tuatara stamps which were released in 1991. Although the stamps themselves did depict tuatara, the promotional pamphlet was slightly incorrect:
found it for you - it's a bargain at only NZ$150 for the commemorative set! The Complete Stamp Company NZ -- New Zealand, Stamps, New Zealand stamps, NZ stamps, Covers, postal history, auctions, sales, world stamps
I've definitely got that set in my collection, not as a minature sheet set though. NZ does have quite a lot of nice stamps of animals, plants and landscapes, so its quite a good country to collect. Plus they do an Antarctic themed set each year, which are usually very good.
Did you check TradeMe? Answer - NO! You can get that same minature sheet for just $40! 2213a. NZ - 1998 Underwater - Limited Edition MS | Trade Me And the full stamp set for like $5. Cheap as. TradeMe.co.nz - underwater for sale, New Zealand I think TradeMe is the thing I miss most about NZ...
Stamps are an interesting art form. I do not collect them per se, but my brother gave me two bookmarks that are made by laminating a row of wild cat stamps. I assume there are probably lots of these stamp bookmarks in specialty book stores.
