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Lunar calendar inspires three issues of 'new year' stamps

The year of the ram is approaching, and postal administrations around the world are getting ready.

In Asia, the lunar calendar names the years after the 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac. The year of the ram starts Feb. 1.

The United States will continue its lunar new year series Wednesday with another stamp featuring an intricate paper-cut design.

This is the 11th year the Postal Service has issued a lunar new year stamp. Chinese-American artist Clarence Lee has designed them all. He also has been commissioned to design the Year of the Monkey stamp in 2004, the last in the series.

In addition to the paper-cut figure, the 2003 stamp has "Happy New Year" written in Chinese calligraphy down the left side. It will be issued in a ceremony at John C. Haines Elementary School in Chicago.

Canada's lunar new year stamp has an unusual shape: straight edges on the two horizontal sides with a wavy design at top and bottom.

There are two stamps in the Canadian set. One is in the domestic 48-cent letter rate, and the other is incorporated in a souvenir sheet valued at $1.25, the Canadian overseas letter rate.


 

The artwork is based on carvings by sculptor Chris Reid. He created a ram and a goat, explaining that there is no distinction between the two animals in the Chinese language. The carvings were created in coral and alabaster.

The ram appears on the lower-value stamp and the goat on the other. The stamps were issued Jan. 3.

Chinese tradition assigns certain characteristics to people born under the various signs. People born in the year of the ram are said to be popular, gentle and caring. Some famous people born in the year of the ram include actors Mel Gibson, Nicole Kidman, Bruce Willis, William Shatner and Catherine Deneuve; musicians George Harrison and Mick Jagger; writers Jane Austen and John le Carre; and business moguls Bill Gates and Rupert Murdoch. Also born in ram years were mountain climber Edmund Hillary and Italian artist Michelangelo. 

 

Collector's Target - Your Guide to Philately

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