Friday, May 4, 2012

Odd stamps : 08 Stamps with special cuts - 06 a

Although it was not mentionned to become a blog on 'odd stamps' alone, and I'm doing my best to post as many other subject as possible, but 'odd stamps' are very frequently googled and still very popular.

I wrote in previous articles about round, triangular, square and pentagonal stamps.
Another (new) shape is the hexagonal stamp (hexa = Greek for 6).
Hexagonal stamps have, as the name say, six sides.
A very easy shape, as hexagonal stamps fit together in a sheet perfectly, withou loss of space.

The bees knew that already long time ago.
If you ever visited a beekeeper, or enjoyed the tast of honey, you will have seen the honeycomb structure that can be found in a beehive and that is often depicted on the packing of honey.


Nature is smart and taught us how to use small spaces in the most economical way.
The special cuts at the 6 corners of the stamp, gives a special effect that can only bee seen when more stamps remain together.

Swiss honeybee stamp in sheet
A full sheet with 19 stamps was issued in 2011 by the Swiss Post.

Swiss honeybee full sheet (2011)
Because of this useful shape, many countries issued hexagonal stamps.
So...  to be continued ...

No comments: