Ceska Republic Christmas 1992

 

The Ceska Republic issued this stamp in 1992. It anguished in the Czechoslovakia book vor years before I image was conveying. There is a small set of similarly designed stamps I think though I have not set out to put them together. These are several interesting elements; I can't tell if it's a mouse of what sort of creature that is at the very bottom of the stamp.

Alderney (UK): Christmas

Alderney issued this set of stamps in 2017 for Christmas. The stamps reference the carol, "The Holly and the Ivy," and illustrate the song. The stamps include a mix of outdoor and indoor scenes. The 73p stamp shows stylized organ pipes, similarly stylized keyboards, and music. The border of the stamp includes the relevant lyric, "...the playing of the merry organ.

Paraguay: Christmas, 1975

The South American nation of Paraguay issued a set of 8 stamps in 1975 for Christmas, showing various paintings related to the season. The stamps are generally collected as an attached set (Scott 1547, a-h), which is what I have. However that strip is rather tall, and doesn't fit into standard binders such as those I use for my collection. Therefore mine is generally folded twice to fit into storage. Though they are on the same sheet of stamps, and strip, each of the 8 stamps is differently denominated, 5c through 50c. There is also a souvenir sheet of a single stamp (Scott 1548). The 15c stamp is a painting by Hans Memling showing the mother of Jesus surrounded by angels in white attire. One of the angels is playing a portatif organ. Memling's painting now is part of the collection at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, Germany.

 

Stockerau, Austria: Pfarrkirche

This cover is interesting for the special postmark. It includes a representation of the organ in the Pfarrkirche in Stockerau, Austria. In 2000 the church celebrated the 275 anniversary of the church tower. Said tower is the tallest, at 88 meters, in Lower Austria. Anniversary celebrations took place in late 2000, culminating according to the postmark on December 1.

The postmark features the organ, the tower, some choristers and a Christmas tree along with stars. This cover has two imprints of the postmark, one each for the postage stamp and for the meter stamp covering additional postage costs. The cover is addressed to someone in Spain. The cover contains the additional notation "drucksache" which means simply "printed matter."

The stamp on the cover is a fairly common stamp of Austria. Part of a set of ten, Scott 1601 is from a set of 10 stamps featuring art from various monasteries in Austria. The present stamp has a sample of stained glass from the Mariastern-Gwiggen monastery in Voralberg. The glass depicts St. Benedict of Nursia. There is in the lower right corner a small rendering of the monastery itself. The stamp was issued in 1993. I can determine no specific relationship between any element of the stamp and the postmark.

The organ was built in 1888 by Johann M. Kauffmann. It is a fairly modest instrument of 25 ranks over two manuals and pedal. The registry does not indicate if and when any repairs, rebuilds or restorations have been done on the instrument.

Also among the items given me by Mark Jameson was this postmark "sampler." It seems to be a 1/2 shilling postage label that has been cancelled by the same postmark. Perhaps one has to pay a token amount for a copy of the postmark; or perhaps it cannot be provided unless tied to a postage indicia of some type. Anyway, another example of the postmark.

Sweden: Christmas 1980

Sweden issued this stamp for Christmas on 18 November 1980. It shows a form of artistic representation of an angel blowing a horn.Scott 1339 was issued as a booklet stamp, not the more common coil format.

For years I have heard that this stamp's design is based on case decoration on a specific pipe organ in Sweden. At this point I don't remember who has said such, or where I might have read it. I have never found any confirmation of this however. I would love to know the details behind the stamp's design. I think I will try to determine who designed the stamp and see if it's possible to contact them. I am willing to concede that the decoration may not be organ-related at all.

Penrhyn: Christmas

Penrhyn is the largest and most remote of 15 islands in the Cook Island system. An atoll, it has a mere two villages. Land area of the ring-like island is not quite 10 square kilometers, and population is less than 300 persons. The postal administration issued a mini-sheet of three stamps in 1980 for Christmas. The three stamps, 20c, 35c, and 50c, are each artistic presentations of the Madonna and Child. The caption describes them as 15th century paintings from the museum in Cataluna (the Catalonia region of Spain). The selvage holds the organ-related interest: angels are depicted on the left and right sides of the selvage, each holds a musical instrument. One of these holds a small portativ instrument.

Malta: Christmas

Malta issued three sets of stamps in 1973 that all utilized the same general look and format. The third set of three stamps includes two stamps that include stylized organ pipes. The first  (Scott B13) features angels singing; the second (B15) shows a building, candles and a tambourine with pipes barely showing behind. The stamps are all artistic renditions, so no specific pipe organ is shown. Scott does not specify the recipient of the surcharge funds.