From the Archive:

September 2013 Review

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In April Canada issued a pane of five stamps for 'Adopt-a-Pet Day'; two showed dogs, two cats — one of which we picture here (left) — and the fifth had a green parrot. The dog stamps were also available as self-adhesives. Also in April, there was a pane of four self-adhesive stamps depicting kittens, under the title 'chats de compagnie' or 'companion cats', from France (right). These are permanent or 'forever' priority stamps, and there was a similar set of dogs.

As I mentioned before I have not been keeping up with every single cat stamp issued by Japan; I find them too numerous and much too expensive. For those who are interested:
1) in November 2012 there were two sheets of Disney characters, with Marie from The Aristocats on one stamp and a small Cheshire Cat in one of the margins.
2) in June 2013 there was yet another set of 'Hello Kitty' stamps.
3) in June also Doraemon the robot cat appeared on several of a sheet of 10 self-adhesives, and his sister Dorami (have we seen her before?) was also on one.
4) in August 2013 there were another two sheets of Disney characters, self-adhesives, again including Marie and the Cheshire Cat.

Latvia produced two nice cat stamps in July, one showing a basketful of multi-coloured kittens (pictured, left). In March there appeared from the Marshall Islands a strip of six, Oriental (Chinese?) paintings on stamps, which are quite attractive and have titles such as 'Cats with blue flowers and butterflies' (pictured, right).

Also from the Pacific area, Palau came up with another 'Cats of the World' set (there was one in 2009: see March 2010 review), consisting of two sheets, each with four named breeds, and two very attractive MSs — one shows a Japanese 'Maneki-Neko', or waving cat, and the other has a depiction of Bastet the Egyptian cat god (pictured). I don't have an issue date for this set.

Still in the Pacific, now the Solomon Islands' stamps have been taken over by the Stamperija agency there's been a flood of new issues, including various sets of paintings. One such features a sheetlet of four stamps and an MS of work by Mary Cassatt; one stamp has 'Children playing with a cat' from 1908.

Back in Europe, Slovenia released a set of self-adhesive dog and cat stamps in May; there were 16 altogether, of which five are cat portraits. The breeds aren't named, but the one shown looks like a Maine Coon.

Tajikistan issued a set of three cat stamps this year, although again I don't know the date they appeared; I can't even be sure that they are genuine. One shows a LaPerm cat (left), a breed that hasn't appeared very often on stamps. The set is also available imperforate. Swedish author Astrid Lindgren's 'Karlssen on the Roof' children's stories were adapted for animation and later for TV in Russia, with the addition of a tan-and-white female cat, which belongs to the housekeeper Miss Block. A set of four stamps from that country in December 2012 illustrates the series and includes the cat on one (right).

There are two 'island' issues from islands around the UK, one from Alderney and one from the Isle of Man that include cats, but I haven't yet acquired them so will describe them next time. The Alderney stamps relate to Beatrix Potter, and the IOM has a 'stamp on stamp' showing one of the original IOM Manx-cat stamps. There is an interesting cats set of local stamps from Hawai'i, too, but the Hawaiian Post are taking their time about sending them to me so they too will have to wait.