Butterflies on Early Postage Stamps of the World

• Main Authors: Das, Indraneil, Gee, Genevieve V. A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Journal of Philatelic Society of Kuching, Sarawak 2017
• Subjects: QL Zoology
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/30334/1/503-%20Das%20%26%20Gee%20%28Butterfly%20stamps%29%20-%20Copy.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/30334/; https://myfdc.me/tag/philatelic-society-of-kuching-sarawak/

Butterflies (constituting the insect order Lepidoptera) form a powerful symbol, inspirational in representing freedom, liberty and the human soul (Haynes, 2013). Their bright colours, rarity and fragility have attracted both scientists and collectors of both stamps and the insect itself. Unsurprisingly, therefore, they have formed secondary (as background fillers) or primary themes for philatelic releases by over 100 countries and postal agencies of the world (Domfil, 2002) starting from the end of the Nineteenth Century (Hessel, 1968). In this note, we shall discuss some of the early ones, and ending with the issues from the year 1950, when Sarawak’s iconic butterfly species, the Rajah Brooke’s Birdwing, was released. SG refers to Stanley Gibbons catalogue numbers.