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Thursday, May 26, 2011

Microstates : 08 Sanda Island (bogus)



I do love Scotland, and the Scottish people a lot.
But when it comes to cinderellas, they are truly very active in issuing bogus stamps.
See : Pabay and Staffa.

Next one in the row, is Sanda Island.
Sanda Island is a private owned island, on the west side of Scotland. It's located south-east of the famous Kintyre peninsula. Where the even more famous Mull of Kintyre can be found.
 


Mull of Kintyre was one of the first four lighthouses to be established by the Northern Lighthouse Board in 1786 (although the current tower was built at a later date in the 1820s to a Robert Stevenson design).
The lighthouse is reached by a very winding road down a mountainside. There are great views over to the coast of Northern Ireland.
Sir Paul McCartney even dedicated a song to this lighthouse. I'm not sure if "the long and winding road" was inspired by the same place or not. 

Back to the 'stamps'. Local stamps have been issued for Sanda since 1962. The stamps served the resident staff employed by the Northern Lighthouse Board, the owners and the many visitors to the island who wished to have their mail posted there, and carried to the nearest GPO post box on the mainland.

So in the most optimistic way, one can say that the stamps were used as 'local carriage labels' for a while.
According the website of Pabay (see earlier posts), no stamps have been issued by Sanda Island since 1986.

As an appetizer to start collecting the cinderellas of Sanda Island, a set of Moonlanding stamps.
3 stamps with perforation, 3 stamps without perforation, all dedicated to the first man on the moon, Armstrong.
If you collect space related items, then it might be something interesting.
If not, have a look at the Kityre website, the area is so much nicer then the stamps.




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