Talk on orchid stamp collecting Saturday, 4 November 2017

This Saturday the International Stamp Club will meet, in the housing complex between 1st/2nd at 24th Street in Manhattan. President Dan Rieber has asked Ken Gibson to be the speaker, who will show & tell his orchid stamp collection. Like many topicals, the majority of issues were from the 1960s on. Orchid stamps started in 1905, with the appearance of vanilla vines on Guadeloupe Scott 54-62. For many island nations, especially in the French domain, vanilla was a major crop. Madagascar, Reunion, French Polynesia, Guadeloupe and others raised this fragrant monocot for the pods which were then fermented and sold for sweets and perfumes. The use in the latter takes some by surprise, but it is actually quite a common fragrance ingredient in both mens' and womens' scents, being the long lasting bass note in such products. Other orchids came into the picture decades later, one very memorable stamp is the Costa Rica issue of 1937, which depicts a Cattleya. This was in vivid colour, albeit only two, green and violet. It set the tone for artistic representation of orchids, and like most orchid stamps, depicts one from the issuing country. In the 1960s orchids and other topicals became quite common. By 1990 it is estimated that 2,000 such existed, and a complete count can be made by checking the 1990 American Topical Association list. Presently, it is estimated that there are 5,000 orchid stamps to collect, which may seem a lot, but consider that there are over 25,000 naturally occuring species, and over 100,000 hybrids. Which makes study of orchids a hard task! Books on orchids tend to be large photographic, 'coffee-table' works, which give the reader a sample of orchids, and usually the more common ones, including lots of Phalaenopsis amibilis and its hybrids; this is the world's second most cultivated plant. Thus an orchid stamp collection has practical and educational value, in fact, many rarer species not depicted in the large, showy tomes for mass market consumption may be viewed on stamps. One set that is especially useful to orchidologists is the Guyana issue of stamps from Reichenbachia, the 19th century set of engraved illustrations which is so expensive to obtain, either in the original or as a reprint, found in few libraries. And quite often a country issues stamps of its own native species, sometimes all in one genus, as is often the case with stamps of Asian nations that depict Dendrobiums. This is a large genus with over 1,000 species, and having a set of the world's complete Dendrobium stamps is like having a miniature monograph in hand. Thus the value goes far beyond the catalogue price! The ISC will be hosting future talks by philatelists, so stay tuned. For more information on the ISC, email Phil at nycphilatelic@gmail.com and we'll be glad to welcome you to the club!