Halloween has always been such an exciting time of year for children and adults alike. Ghosts and goblins roaming the streets, trick-or-treating and enjoying themselves.
Many countries have joined the Halloween fun over the years. In 2016 the U.S. issued four stamps with carved jack-o’-lanterns as the theme, pictured here.
France has issued a number of Halloween stamps over the years featuring jack-o’-lanterns and black cats. These same themes have been carried out with stamps from Belgium, Austria, Guinea Bissau and many more, with tremendous and extremely creative variations in the depiction of the various Halloween standbys: The ghosts, goblins, witches, black cats and monsters.
Canada Post has done a great job with its Canadian Folklore series featuring Legendary Creatures such as the Werewolf in 1990; the Folktales series with the Witched Canoe in 1991 and the Supernatural in 1997 bringing you the Vampire, Werewolf, Ghost and Goblin.
In 2014, Canada Post brought us the Haunted Canada series with five stamps, including “The Ghost Bride of the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel.” In 1995, the Haunted Canada series continued with five more stamps, including the “Brakeman Ghost” in Vancouver; with the series wrapping up in 2016 with another set of five, including the “Phantom Bell Ringers” in P.E.I.
Postage stamps have become a lot more imaginative since the staid old days of just featuring your local royalty. The Medicine Hat Coin & Stamp Club meets every second and fourth Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Victory Lutheran Church. Come visit us some time and discuss your favourite stamp topics.
Dennis Vickery. Collector’s Corner is contributed by the Medicine Hat Coin and Stamp Club. For questions or comments about coin or stamp collection email@medhatcsc@live.com
