The 1950s are a decade wedged into obscurity by many stamp collectors.
The fans of big, bright, colorful stamps don’t find fifties stamps sufficiently attractive. Topical stamp collectors, for the most part, find the subject matter somewhat limited. And other collectors see an outpouring of dull, commonplace and poorly produced stamps from Latin America and an ever accelerating explosion of questionable material from the Iron Curtain countries.
But the fifties are a fascinating decade for tracking dramatic changes in design and production over a single ten year span.
Naturally, one of the joys of stamp collecting is the search. And the search for good, interesting fifties material leads us along many a fascinating path. One of the better known paths leads to Germany, actually both Germanys, where limited printings, a disheveled domestic collecting community and erratic distribution combined to create some highly desirable stamps.
The GDR began the decade with politicized releases, with topics such as a “Fight for Peace” campaign and the country’s links with the People’s Republic of China. By the end of the fifties the GDR was in a somewhat different topical focus, commemorating wildlife protection, native birds and glassware. In many instances, the lower values of these sets are more difficult to obtain than the higher values.
Some countries seemed to give their philatelic programs a breather during the fifties. Mexico released one definitive set with a reprint and about fifty other stamps, including airmails. By comparison, Mexico released more stamps between 1940-42 than the entire decade of the fifties. For former French and British colonies the fifties were also relatively quiet.
The arrival of Queen Elizabeth II brought the usual releases of fresh definitive sets and omnibus issues for the Coronation, Royal Visits and for appropriate colonies, the West Indies Federation.
The French Community had six omnibus issues. The Europa stamp series was launched in 1956 with seven nations participating. There were no Europa releases in 1957 and 1958 was the only year Saar participated. By the end of the sixties there were 26 nations releasing Europa stamps.
Looking back we can see clues suggesting the shape of things to come. Japan, for example, released an art stamp based on a woodcut in 1955 that could easily have been a stamp of the late eighties. We see the bold, graphic breakthroughs of Israel.
We see Spanish Andorra getting using definitives issued in 1948 that would continue in use through 1963. And we see the last gasp of the Belgian Congo, where it seems as if the government knew its time was at hand, and rushed to release all it could before the arrival of democracy in 1960.
And then, in the sixties, in stamp collecting as in most other aspects of life, came swift, dramatic change.
As a stamp dealer, and as a stamp collector, I wonder why is it that when we compare a stamp of 1956 with 1966, the difference seems so much more pronounced than the difference between a stamp of 1996 and 2006?
