Boat # 341, Monaco - Highlights from the Plymouth Stamp Show, Day Five

Chaos, carnage, heroism, defeat—this stamp's got it all.

Boat #342, Isle of Man - Highlights from the Plymouth Stamp Show, Day Four

Shipwrecks are great, but so are sunsets. I thought we'd spend one more day soaking up the scenery on the Isle of Man.

Philip

Boat #343, Isle of Man - Highlights from the Plymouth Stamp Show, Day Three

Shipwrecks make great stamps. I think sometime soon we ought to have a whole week of shipwrecks.

Philip

Boat #344, Comoro Islands - Highlights from the Plymouth Stamp Show, Day Two

Boat #345, Turks and Caicos - Highlights from the Plymouth Stamp Show, Day One

On Saturday I visited the Plymouth Stamp Show in Plymouth, Michigan—one of the biggest stamp shows in the midwest. It'd been 20 years or so since the last time I'd been to the Plymouth show, but little changes in the world of stamps. A lot of the same dealers were there that I used to visit when I was a kid. The prices are pretty much the same too. For twenty dollars I walked away with more than fifty great boat stamps. With most of my stamp collection packed in boxes, waiting to be moved to a new apartment on May 1st, I thought we'd take a couple weeks and focus on the highlights from Saturday's show. Enjoy.

Philip

Boat #346, Ireland

A request came in via the 365 Boats 24 hour call center that we visit Ireland. I was surprised to learn that I only have one Irish boat stamp in my entire collection. A situation I'll be looking to remedy in the future. In the meantime we'll have to settle with this Irish cruise ship.

Boat #347, Paraguay

True stamp collectors prefer a flawless stamp. My favorite thing about this stamp though is the off-register purple overprinting. I'll never get rich this way.

Boat #348, Greece

Anybody out there speak Greek? This stamp appears to be commemorating the sesquicentennial of some important Greek naval battle. Any idears?

Philip

Boat #349, Australia

With this stamp we've now been to all seven continents! Where shall we go next? Send me your requests.

Philip

Boat #350, China

This boat has traveled a long way and a long time—90 years—to end up here at 365 Boats. It's kind of amazing that a little scrap of paper can have such a long and interesting life. Inspiring.

Philip

Boat #351, United States

Another Cold War era stamp today, this one with a much different feel.

Philip

Boat #352, USSR

This is easily my most intimidating stamp. There's no need to worry though. He's lived in relative peace with his alphabetical neighbors in my collection for almost two decades. If you're still nervous just remember, he's only an inch tall.

Philip

#353, Antarctica via Chile

Chile—our first stop in South America. Also, a bonus detour down to Antarctica! Tomorrow we're back in the USSR (insert Beatles tune here).

Philip

Boat #354, Nyasaland

We're still hanging out in Africa today. Lake Nyasa, also known as Lake Malawi, is located between Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania. It's the 7th largest fresh water lake in the world. Unfortunately, as a Michigander, this doesn't impress me. Globally speaking, I live a stone's throw from three of the four largest fresh water lakes in the world—Lakes Superior, Huron, and Michigan.

Boat #355, Dahomey

Where the heck is Dahomey? Well, wikipedia tells me:

Dahomey was the name of a country in west Africa now called the Republic of Benin. The Kingdom of Dahomey was a powerful west African state founded in the seventeenth century which survived until 1894. From 1894 until 1960 Dahomey was a part of French West Africa. The independent Republic of Dahomey existed from 1960-1975. In 1975, the country was re-named "The People's Republic of Benin".

So it turns out Dahomey is nowhere anymore. I wonder if I've got any boats from the Republic of Benin?

Philip

Boat #356, Maldives

Erin Stead, a good friend of mine, has recently declared this to be her new favorite stamp. For those of you not familiar with Maldives, it's an island nation in the Indian Ocean, a few hundred miles southwest of Sri Lanka. Some interesting facts about Maldives: It's the smallest Asian nation in both size and population (approximately 400,000). Also, it's the lowest country in the world with an average land height of only 1.5 meters. It has the lowest high point of any country in the world—the highest point in Maldives is only 2.3 meters (7 feet, 7 inches)!

Boat #357, United States

The weather is becoming more agreeable here in Ann Arbor which sets my mind to canoes. The Huron River flows lazily right through town (about 100 feet from the apartment we're moving to in May) and is a great place to bird watch, cloud gaze, or just let the current take you where it will. Can't wait to get out there.

Philip

Boat #358, Isle of Man

Boat #359, Norway

Bob Stead of Dearborn, Michigan was the winner of Friday's trivia question (the answer was the Black Sea). So Bob won the right to choose today's destination. He chose Norway, our first first stop in Scandinavia. I had quite a few options here, but I settled with this one, a close up action shot. Just makes you want to shout something maritimey, eh?

Philip

Boat #360, United States

This stamp was a real work horse in its day. He's enjoyed a long, leisurely retirement as part my collection though. But I bet he's just waiting for the opportunity to haul some more mail.

Boat #361, Ecuador

Boat #362, Bulgaria

Another one of my favorites today. In case you're not familiar with the Cyrillic alphabet, this one is from Bulgaria. It's part of a great set, the rest of which I hope to get back to later in the year. Can anyone name the major body of water that Bulgaria borders? No cheating. The first person to guess correctly will earn the right to choose tomorrow's country.

Boat #363, Spain

I think if I were around in medieval Spain I would ask why nobody thought to build bigger boats.

Philip

Boat #364, Samoa

Well, we've arrived in Samoa. This stamp is a relative rarity in my collection, a combination steamship-tall ship. There are several more nice stamps in this Samoan set. Hopefully there'll be enough days in the year to get to them all. But for now we keep moving. Tomorrow, Spain!

Philip

BOAT #365, USSR

Hello, and welcome to 365 BOATS. For the next 365 days we'll be counting down one postage stamp boat a day until the release of my next picture book, Jonathan and the Big Blue Boat. I've collected boat stamps since I was 10 or 11 years old so there should be no shortage of great stamps to choose from. It seems appropriate for a project of this scope that I begin with my favorite boat stamp at all. So here it is, sailed all the way from the lovely USSR.

Hope to see you all back here tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day...

Philip