Philately Fridays: Bulgaria, 1971

Wishing you peace in the new year!

Designed by the incomparable Stefan Kanchev.

Philately Fridays: Portugal, 1978

Three gorgeous stamps from Portugal with huge graphic numerals and a shout out to the Portuguese postal system. Salute!

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Philately Fridays: Mexico, 1976

Stamps about stamps! Mexico steps up with a great design based on stamp perforation gauges in honor of the International Philatelic Exhibition held in Philadelphia in 1976.

Related: More stamps about stamps.

Philately Fridays: United States Commemorative Mint Stamp Set, 1974

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My good friend Joe recently gave me a few of these gorgeous commemorative stamp sets for my birthday. Each set contains a selection of stamps issued by the United States that year in a folder (front and inside shown above) with info about each stamp. Here's the set from 1974 which features a bunch of stamps I'd never seen before.

Philately Fridays: United States, 1975

Philately Fridays: United States, 1983

Designed by the legendary Saul Bass*, this couldn't be any more 1983 if it tried. Reminds me of TRON and Marble Madness... but also Joy Division.

* Thanks to Pileup reader Blair Thomson for the Saul Bass credit ID on this one!

Philately Fridays: Two from Switzerland

Here's a duo of stamps from Switzerland, both celebrating advancements in communications technology while exemplifying classic Swiss design sensibilities.

1972

1976 (Is Big Brother watching?)

Philately Fridays: United States, 1972

It's hard to go wrong with a stamp design when you're starting with Otl Aicher's outstanding and timeless icons for the 1972 Olympic Games.

Philately Fridays: United States, 1973

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Philately Fridays: Switzerland, 1974

Philately Fridays: New Zealand, 1978

Six stamps for New Zealand's huge agricultural industry. Loving the fat outlines and the metallic gold ink.

Philately Fridays: New Zealand, 1977

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Five connected stamps all about teachin' the youngsters, all done up in a perfect late 1970's illustration style.

Philately Fridays: New Zealand, 1971

I really love the use of mix-and-match patterns along with the minimal illustration style in this cool ass Christmas stamp from New Zealand.

Philately Fridays: Singapore, 1981

Philately Fridays: Germany, 1972

Nice one from Germany with the shoutout to "Invincible Vietnam." Excellent deliberate use of halftone dots.

Philately Fridays: Maldives, 1974

Here's a small batch of islands making their Philately Fridays debut - the Republic of Maldives. For a tiny little collection of land, they sure cranked out some great design work. Here's their 1974 World Cup stamp. Stay tuned for more Maldivian mayhem soon!