Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
I think this is probably applicable to many countries, but in the USSR 70 years ago the fashion was for elaborate bordering, as shown in these two stamps from 1950 and 1951:
..... 
...where the border (in the second stamp) takes up more than half of the design area. (54.2% in my measurement!)
The second fashion was for text-heavy designs. Stamps were, in fact, little more than huge posters scaled down to traditional size. Here are two examples from the same period:
.....
The first one, according to automated translation, reads:
‘Peace will be preserved and consolidated only if the peoples take the cause of preserving peace in their hands and defend it to the end. – J.Stalin’ and, further down, ‘Soviet people again express their unshakeable will for peace by signing the appeal of the World Peace Council’. Lesson learned, I know you will agree, comrades!
I haven't even tried to translate the scrolled speech featured in the second stamp, contenting myself with the following note in my album:
"The Stockholm Appeal (19 March 1950) was initiated by Frédéric Joliot-Curie of the WPC (see 1643-46 above) and called for the abolition of atomic weapons (the main substance of the text on the stamps). It was denounced by the USA as ‘a propaganda trick in the spurious peace offensive of the Soviet Union’."
Fast forward fifty years to this not untypical 2003 issue:
The design now extends right through the perforations - no borders here! Furthermore, no identifying text, either, apart from "St Petersburg 300 years old". That serves a purpose, of course, but unless you are familiar with that city, or have a catalogue to hand, no-one is going to tell you that it is the famous Winter Palace that is depicted.
I'm sure you could offer similar contrasts from other countries, but the amount of automated translating I have to do with modern issues is thankfully far less than for those of the 1950s.
Mind you, my Russian is improving!
6 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
What is also noticeable on the most recent stamp is the trend to create a colourful, polished / photoshopped image rather than a graphic design. This is a global trend, probably encouraged by the availability of digital imaging software like Photoshop.
The result is a beautiful picture, but somehow it lacks a certain je-ne-sais-quoi....
4 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
And this is precisely why I do not collect modern stamps. Either a picture with poor imagination, a a stamp sometimes without the country name (almost), no nothing, just a number or a class number, etc. A waste of money
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
"... This is a global trend, probably encouraged by the availability of digital imaging software like Photoshop ..."
Perhaps even more important is the proliferation of easily-accessed imagery.
In the Bad Old Days, we would call a stock photography agency, describe our requirement, and they would send a batch of prints - by courier, if they were in the same city.
These days, I can find the image I want more easily than I can find the phone number of the agency.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
"And this is precisely why I do not collect modern stamps. "
The older stamps captured the history and passion of the people and the time. They are historical artifacts, often works of art. In contrast, contemporary stamps are usually vapid images of very little interest. Cynically cranked-out souvenirs.
Login to Like
this post
I must confess that I like the clear design of the 2003 stamp shown above (although they could have left that statue out and moved the slogan to the left) much better than the designs of the 1950s stamps - too text heavy in the case of the "mini posters", too ponderous and rigid in the case of the portrait stamp. The stamp with the view of Baku isn't too bad, although IMHO it looks rather cluttered.
As for "polishing" images, this was done even in the old days, perhaps even more so than today. Typography and recess printing simply required that sort of intervention in order to prepare the plates. With offset printing or photogravure, however, practically any picture can be scaled down to postage stamp size. This way, one can easily produce rather dignified designs (as on various stamps from the 1950s), but it can just as easily be abused - and I agree with RickP here - to produce uninspired "souvenir stamps" of little philatelic interest (increasingly so, it seems).
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
I am of the opinion that Russia issues some of the best stamps in reference to design and events commemorated especially their space program. I only wish the United States would issue relative stamps as far as history and events here in the United States. I also think the United States should go back to one or two printers. Ever since the United States changed printers and their distribution rules, some post offices do not get every issue like it was in the past. These are my opinions as a retired postal worker. 
Login to Like
this post
The US now uses mostly two printers: BCA/SSP (now together) and Ashton-Potter. I do not think any issues are related to the printers. It gets back to the specs they are given to meet. For scenics, the USPS tends to like drawn illustrations (stylized not life like) without a lot of fine detail. These tend to work great for Litho printing.
My example is the current Landmark series. They have used images.
Login to Like
this post
"... not untypical 2003 issue ..."
Notice also the use of white space.
It takes some courage to leave white space in a design, but it can do such wonders for the eye appeal of a stamp (or just about anything else).
I could see starting a topical collection of White Space Stamps, but I think they would need to be on an album page or stock sheet interspersed (checkerboard pattern) with gruesomely heavy designs to best make their point.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
Login to Like
this post
Having just completed the (fairly substantial) task of assembling all the stamps issued during the rule of Josef Stalin, and then started on a small collection of stamps featuring St Petersburg (which I visit next week), I could not help noticing the remarkable change in fashion of Russian stamp designs.
I think this is probably applicable to many countries, but in the USSR 70 years ago the fashion was for elaborate bordering, as shown in these two stamps from 1950 and 1951:
.....
...where the border (in the second stamp) takes up more than half of the design area. (54.2% in my measurement!)
The second fashion was for text-heavy designs. Stamps were, in fact, little more than huge posters scaled down to traditional size. Here are two examples from the same period:
.....
The first one, according to automated translation, reads:
‘Peace will be preserved and consolidated only if the peoples take the cause of preserving peace in their hands and defend it to the end. – J.Stalin’ and, further down, ‘Soviet people again express their unshakeable will for peace by signing the appeal of the World Peace Council’. Lesson learned, I know you will agree, comrades!
I haven't even tried to translate the scrolled speech featured in the second stamp, contenting myself with the following note in my album:
"The Stockholm Appeal (19 March 1950) was initiated by Frédéric Joliot-Curie of the WPC (see 1643-46 above) and called for the abolition of atomic weapons (the main substance of the text on the stamps). It was denounced by the USA as ‘a propaganda trick in the spurious peace offensive of the Soviet Union’."
Fast forward fifty years to this not untypical 2003 issue:
The design now extends right through the perforations - no borders here! Furthermore, no identifying text, either, apart from "St Petersburg 300 years old". That serves a purpose, of course, but unless you are familiar with that city, or have a catalogue to hand, no-one is going to tell you that it is the famous Winter Palace that is depicted.
I'm sure you could offer similar contrasts from other countries, but the amount of automated translating I have to do with modern issues is thankfully far less than for those of the 1950s.
Mind you, my Russian is improving!
6 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
Approvals
re: Changing Fashions in Stamp Design
What is also noticeable on the most recent stamp is the trend to create a colourful, polished / photoshopped image rather than a graphic design. This is a global trend, probably encouraged by the availability of digital imaging software like Photoshop.
The result is a beautiful picture, but somehow it lacks a certain je-ne-sais-quoi....
4 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
03:15:37am
re: Changing Fashions in Stamp Design
And this is precisely why I do not collect modern stamps. Either a picture with poor imagination, a a stamp sometimes without the country name (almost), no nothing, just a number or a class number, etc. A waste of money
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
re: Changing Fashions in Stamp Design
"... This is a global trend, probably encouraged by the availability of digital imaging software like Photoshop ..."
Perhaps even more important is the proliferation of easily-accessed imagery.
In the Bad Old Days, we would call a stock photography agency, describe our requirement, and they would send a batch of prints - by courier, if they were in the same city.
These days, I can find the image I want more easily than I can find the phone number of the agency.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
re: Changing Fashions in Stamp Design
"And this is precisely why I do not collect modern stamps. "
The older stamps captured the history and passion of the people and the time. They are historical artifacts, often works of art. In contrast, contemporary stamps are usually vapid images of very little interest. Cynically cranked-out souvenirs.
Login to Like
this post
04:38:59am
re: Changing Fashions in Stamp Design
I must confess that I like the clear design of the 2003 stamp shown above (although they could have left that statue out and moved the slogan to the left) much better than the designs of the 1950s stamps - too text heavy in the case of the "mini posters", too ponderous and rigid in the case of the portrait stamp. The stamp with the view of Baku isn't too bad, although IMHO it looks rather cluttered.
As for "polishing" images, this was done even in the old days, perhaps even more so than today. Typography and recess printing simply required that sort of intervention in order to prepare the plates. With offset printing or photogravure, however, practically any picture can be scaled down to postage stamp size. This way, one can easily produce rather dignified designs (as on various stamps from the 1950s), but it can just as easily be abused - and I agree with RickP here - to produce uninspired "souvenir stamps" of little philatelic interest (increasingly so, it seems).
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
re: Changing Fashions in Stamp Design
I am of the opinion that Russia issues some of the best stamps in reference to design and events commemorated especially their space program. I only wish the United States would issue relative stamps as far as history and events here in the United States. I also think the United States should go back to one or two printers. Ever since the United States changed printers and their distribution rules, some post offices do not get every issue like it was in the past. These are my opinions as a retired postal worker.
Login to Like
this post
re: Changing Fashions in Stamp Design
The US now uses mostly two printers: BCA/SSP (now together) and Ashton-Potter. I do not think any issues are related to the printers. It gets back to the specs they are given to meet. For scenics, the USPS tends to like drawn illustrations (stylized not life like) without a lot of fine detail. These tend to work great for Litho printing.
My example is the current Landmark series. They have used images.
Login to Like
this post
re: Changing Fashions in Stamp Design
"... not untypical 2003 issue ..."
Notice also the use of white space.
It takes some courage to leave white space in a design, but it can do such wonders for the eye appeal of a stamp (or just about anything else).
I could see starting a topical collection of White Space Stamps, but I think they would need to be on an album page or stock sheet interspersed (checkerboard pattern) with gruesomely heavy designs to best make their point.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
Login to Like
this post