Belgium: Composers

This booklet strip of 5 stamps (Scott #2131) was issued by Belgium 1/23/2006. It features several early composers, on the stamps themselves, and in the selvage. The composers include Josquin de Prez, Guillaume Dufay and Gilles Binchoise (who is holding what looks like a lyre of some type), Johannes Ockeghem (with men gathered around a music desk), Jacob Obreacht, Adriaan Willaert and Orlandus Lassus. And then, most interestingly, in the left-hand selvage is a little positiv organ. It appears that it is actually the left-hand side of the image that includes Dufay and Binchois, but the stamp perforations create a gap. It's difficult to tell how large this instrument is and whether it might actually be movable, and thus a portativ.

Ajman: Schweitzer

Ajman is a Persian Gulf sheikdom that is part of the United Arab Emirates. It issued a few stamps independently in the 1960's, but modern stamps are in the name of the UAE. However, many spurious stamps have been created in the name of Ajman. They are all relatively cheap and are not even catalogued by Scott. This stamp seems to be a photograph of Schweitzer playing at an un-named console. If one knew details about the image, one might be able to determine which instrument it is. As it is, the caption "giving a concert" is not enough to know much more about the stamp.

Great Britain: Lichfield Cathedral

The 1st-rate stamp in the series features the rood screen and choir at Lichfield Cathedral, northwest of London. Established some 1300 years ago, the cathedral began as a shrine to house the bones of Chad, and later was the site of a Norman church and then a Gothic Cathedral, with substantial alterations in the 18th and 19th centuries. The choir program of the cathedral maintains its own website, with information about the organ. The present organ dates from 1884, with the most recent work being done in 2000 by Harrison and Harrison. A nicely detailed specification may be found here. The casework for the choir-facing section of the organ is barely discernible in the stamp image.

Update 4/2011: The current issue of the Jounral of The Organ Club (of Great Britain) has an article that includes information on the Lichfield Cathedral organ. The Club visited the cathedral and other local sites on the 21st of August 2010. The article includes notes on the cathedral itself and information about the organ, including reflections on Club members' playing of the instrument, and a current stop list.

Great Britain: Gloucester Cathedral

This is part of the set of six stamps issued in 2008 marking important organs and cathedrals in Great Britain. It's denominated 50p. It features the organ at Gloucester Cathedral, west of London. You can get a history of the music at the cathedral here. There is a helpful page on the organ here, and a specification here. The current organ is a 1971 Hill Norman and Beard, which underwent renovation in 1999 by the Nicholson firm. Mark Jameson has prepared a helpful article on the entire set of stamps in The Organ Club Journal.

Great Britain: St. Anne's Cathedral, Belfast

The organ at Belfast Cathedral is on the 48p stamp. The organ was built in 1907 by Harrison and Harrison, and rebuilt 1969-1976. You can see a stop list here. The cathedral website has a nicely developed page dealing with past and current musicians, including there organists here. This stamp is part of a set of 6 issued in 2008; Mark Jameson has written a nicely detailed article on the stamps and organs in The Organ Club Journal.

Searching the stamps and images

I have been labeling each post with the country that issues each stamp. In some cases I have employed other labels of interest: Bach, Franck, etc. I realized recently that there is another handy label set I can use: the identifiers used by the ATA for the pipe organ stamp topic. The philatelic list produced by the ATA uses a single-digit number to describe what is depicted on the particular stamp:

1. Portatifs (14th and 15th centuries): short keyboards containing 20 to 28 pipes; carried by a shoulder strap and played by depressing keys or levers with one hand while operating bellows with the other.

2. Positifs (14th to 16th centuries): small ones were set on stands; larger ones rested on the floor; performer played with two hands while a helper operated the bellows.

3. Organ cases of identified organs (either on the stamp, or identifiable using other sources)

4. Organ cases of unidentified organs (one simply cannot determine where the instrument is or who built it)

5. Rows of pipes not in organ cases (I include here abstract artistic renderings of organ elements)

6. Organ consoles: often showing a well-known organist at the console

7. Features of organ cases (details of pipes or facade elements)

8. Street organs

So in the future I will use this numbering system as an additional label. It will take some time to go back and catch up earlier posts, but I'll get those done also, eventually.

By clicking on any of the labels in the right column you can get a list of stamps related to that particular label. In the case of country names, you get all the posts for stamps issued by that country.

Pipe Organ Stamps

"Pipe organ" is a recognized topic of the American Topical Association, a resource for stamp collectors. The organization provides for collectors who accumulate stamps according to the image portrayed, not necessarily by country of origin. New topics are continually be added to the list developed by ATA. One of the primary ways this occurs is by an interested collector developing a list of the stamps he or she believes should be included.

The pipe organ check list produced by the American Topical Association was developed in 1995 by Walter Felton. When I got back into collecting, I joined ATA, got a copy of the list and went to work. I was collecting US and other countries in addition to my topics (organs, ballet, musical instruments, fire and rescue apparatus {for my kids}). I eventually met (via letter and email) another collector, Judy Stewart, who shared my interest and together we set about updating the check list and adding to it. We completed that in February 2004. Our revision is the one still in use by the ATA. Since we completed the list, there have been several additions; at some point I suppose we'll try to update again, but my ATA membership has lapsed.

Finding stamps on the pipe organ topic is not easy. It's a fairly small niche and stamp dealers are not always overtly interested in the narrow needs of topical collectors. One has to scour a lots of bins to find what one is after. On the other hand I work with a new issue dealer in Maryland who keeps new issues from around the world. They keep me apprised of new issues in the "music" area in general and organs (and my other topics) also. I have found a couple of European dealers who can help with stamp-related material: first-day covers, and stamps on piece (still on the original envelop). Also a little word of mouth goes along way: I heard of the newest organ set from Great Britain via an organist colleague there who was researching an article for an organ journal. With Mark Jameson's help I scored a copy of the journal his article appeared in and a set of the stamps!

Pipe organs on stamps was the topic of an article in the ATA Journal in 1965, written by A.G.K. Leonard. I had an article published there in the Sept-Oct 2004 issue. I also had a short article published in The Baton, the journal of the Philatelic Music Circle in the Summer 2004 issue. More recently Mark Jameson has published the first of what will likely be a series of articles in the Journal of the Organ Club in Great Britain. An article on British cathedral organs appeared in late 2009, and an article for early 2010 will deal with the multi-year, multi-set series of stamps from Luxembourg.

The list of organ stamps developed in 1995 ran to about 100 items. Additions made by me and Judy Stewart make the total about 120 and I personally have added another few stamps (still need to collaborate with Judy to make these official) that brings the total a little higher.