Irish stamps 2021 program will issue 15 sets this yar. Topics will cover a couple of interesting Irish history anniversaries as well as this years’ Europa “Endangered National Wildlife” theme.
If you collect art on stamps, Ireland has one to look for. An Post issued a tribute to artist Patrick Scott on what would have been his 100th birthday.
More than just a stamp, the commemorative pack, designed by Oonagh Young and described by An Post as “a miniature artwork” in itself, incorporates two €3 stamps reproducing one of the artist’s trademark abstract compositions, Meditation 28. The exceptionally large stamps flank a reproduction of another work, Gold Painting 21. It all comes packaged in a lush grey card folder with a gold seal and retails for €7.
Throughout his long, immensely productive career, Scott was a major modernising influence in Irish art and design through his multiple roles as artist, designer and, in the best sense, consultant. He had an unerring instinct for achieving an elegant simplicity of form in virtually everything he did and, as many observed, he had impeccable taste.
Patrick Scott: New An Post stamp marks centenary of the artist’s birth (irishtimes.com)
It’s a beautiful stamp and reminds me of Belgium’s creative offering from artist Thierry de Cordier.
Country touchstones
The delightful part of writing about stamps is enjoying the touchstones that make each country unique. Whether it’s history, culture or nature, every nation offers up a slice of their country via postage stamps. This project has become a substitute for travel in this Covid world, and entirely enjoyable way to pass an afternoon.
So, what can we look forward to for Irish stamps 2021 subject wise?
- important moments in Irish history
- literary figures
- art on stamps
- endangered wildlife
- music and theatre
- Pride
- sports
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Irish stamps 2021 for Jan
Disestablishment of the Church of Ireland
January 1, 2021 marks the 150th anniversary of the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland, resulting in the dissolving of the union between Church and State in Ireland that had existed since the 16th century Reformation.
We mark this important milestone by issuing a special stamp on January 7.
The Collector, An Post Stamps 01/21
1 stamp, sheet, FDC, cancel
Designer: Vermillion Design
Previous stamp designs include 2019’s Irish Coast Guard, featuring the art of Caitriona Lucas
as well as the Carnegie Library stamps with illustrator Dorothy Smith.
Artwork: William Burges
Release date: Jan. 7, 2021
Centenary of the birth of Patrick Scott
1 souvenir sheet
Scott’s painting “Meditation Painting 28” is featured on the stamp. “Gold Painting 21c 1975” is featured on the souvenir sheet.
No idea why I forgot to include this link when I posted this site: Patrick Scott | IMMA The Irish Museum’s page showcases quite a number of his artworks and it’s a good site to lose yourself in.
Designer: Oonagh Young
Artist: Patrick Scott
Release date: Jan. 21, 2021
Love & Marriage
1 stamp, FDC, cancel, booklet of 10, strip of 2
Designer: Design HQ
Release date: Jan. 28, 2021
Feb 2021
International Stamp (Stamp for Ireland)
Gaelic word ‘Fáilte’ meaning ‘Welcome’ in English. Together with numbers that relate to the famous Gaelic saying, ‘Céad Míle Fáilte’ the latter translates as ‘one hundred thousand welcomes’,
The Collector, An Post Stamps 01/21
1 stamp, sheet, FDC, cancel
Designer: The Stone Twins
Previous design 2013 City of Literature stamp
Release date: Feb. 18, 2021
Mar 2021
Bicentenary of the birth of Jane, Lady Wilde
1 stamp, sheets, FDC, cancel
For an interesting article on Lady Jane Wilde read Eleanor Fitzsimons’ A Noble Woman: Lady Jane Wilde (irishphilosophy.com)
Designer: Design HQ
Illustrator: Brian Cronin
Release date: March 4, 2021
For People For Planet (Ireland’s Sustainability)
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
2 stamps, FDC, cancel, sheets of 8
You can learn more about this initiative at the UN’s page Home | Sustainable Development (un.org)
Designer: Unthink
Check out their website. You have to admire any design company who’s first page states this:
To unthink is to lose one’s preconceptions, in order to achieve a truly unique outcome. As an agency, we are inquisitive, open minded, and approach every new project with a sense of adventure.
Release date: March 25, 2021
Apr 2021
Ice Men – Irish Antarctic Explorers
- Edward Bransfield (from Ballincurra, Co Cork)
- Patrick Keohane (Courtmacsherry, Co Cork
- Robert Forde (Bandon, Co Cork)
- brothers Mortimer and Tim McCarthy (Kinsale, Co Cork)
- Francis Crozier (Banbridge, Co Down)
4 stamps, FDC, sheets of 16 (pairs)
“Like most people I was aware of the Shackleton and Crean expeditions, it was fascinating to delve into the adventures of a figure like Francis Crozier, who set out in 1839 as commander of HMS Terror on the Ross expedition. Crozier, his ship and all of his crew were subsequently lost, along with Sir John Franklin, on their ill-fated search for the North West Passage in the Arctic just a few years later.”
David Rooney
Illustrator: David Rooney
Designer: Zinc Design
Release date: April 4, 2021
May 2021
EUROPA: Endangered National Wildlife
2 stamps, 2 sheets of 16, FDC, cancel
- white prominent moth
- fresh water pearl mussel
Release date: May 06, 2021
June 2021
Ireland’s Pride Movement
3 stamps, booklet of 5, FDC, framed stamps
Two N and one W stamp
Check out John Mooney from Collecting Stamps of Ireland – Includes Stamps, Postcards, Coins and Collectables (wordpress.com) comments below for details on these stamps.
Designer: Unthink
Release date June 10, 2021
Truce between the IRA and Crown forces (1921)
2 stamps, sheet of 16, FDC, cancel
Designer: Ger Garland
Release date: July 8, 2021
Irish Singer Songwriters at Glastonbury
4 stamps in a booklet, FDC, cancel
Designer: Shaughn McGrath Creative
Release date: July 15, 2021
Oct 2021 Irish stamps 2021
Gaiety Theatre: 150 Years
4 stamps, sheet of 16, FDC, cancel
- ‘Abdication’ (1948) starring Hilton Edwards and Micheál Mac Liammóir
- ‘Dick Whittington’ (1957) starring Maureen Potter and Jimmy O’Dea
- ‘Riverdance’ (2017)
- ‘Sive’ (2018) Druid theatre company’s production of John B Keane’s
Designer: Red&Grey
Release date: Oct. 7, 2021
Nov 2021
Christmas
2 stamps, 2 booklets, FDC, cancel
Designer: Thinkhouse
Release date: Nov 5, 2021
Dec 2021
The Anglo-Irish Treaty 1921
2 stamps, FDC, cancel
Anglo-Irish Treaty on December 6, 1921 – gov.ie – The Treaty 1921 – Records from the Archives exhibition opens at Dublin Castle (www.gov.ie)
The National Archives of Ireland
Anglo-Irish Treaty 1921.pdf (nationalarchives.ie) opens an 11 pg pdf copy of the treaty.
CBP-9260.pdf (parliament.uk) has a good rundown of the negotiations and timeline.
Designer: Ger Garland
Release date: December 2, 2021
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The Scott issue is a souvenir rather than stamp.
It costs €7 and has two €3 stamps…….issued at a time when the national rate was €1 and international €7….so it wont be bought except by avid collectors like myself who will “buy anything”. I already have three copies bought thru An Posts mail order and when covid restrictions end, I will go on the train to Dublin and post a €3 stamp to myself. All pretty pointless as the real point in issuing the “stamp” is to let people SEE Scott’s work. But this guarantees the exact opposite.
Glastonbury stamps were not issued. I can speculate why not.
The Pride stamps were issued today……Five stamps in a booklet costing €6.40 and reflecting postal rate increase. I have already ordered them.
So each booklet has 4x National Rate stamps and 1x Worldwide rate.
Effectively the same design but the “W” rate has the word “Pride” in English only while two “N” rate has “Pride in English” and the other two “N” rate has the Irish word “Brod”.
These should be delivered to me in about ten days. Probably along with the latest issue of An Post’s latest “magazine/catalogue” which is not online yet (it was due at 1st June).There might be an explanation about Glastonbury but more interesting would be the proposed GAA issue.
Four stamps as previously notified would upset people in 28 counties….so I suspect this is a “teaser”.
With no “Stamps on A Roll” notified this year….it seems to me, this might actually be 8 or 16 stamps with a two or four year run. I guess we will know in a few weeks.
Well COOL. Thanks for the information. I’ve collected mostly Canadian and airmail for decades so my foray into different post office websites had been at times confusing. I’ll make the corrections tomorrow. Shame about Scott’s issue. It’s a beauty.
Many thanks for taking the time to supply so much detail.
Oops…there is of course a typo in my comment.
The worldwide rate at the date of the Scott issue was €1.70 so as you see, anyone actually using it would be overpaying.
THank you for mentioning my Blog. I will be updating it over the weekend.
An Post’s “Collector Magazine” arrived in today’s post. Only about 8 pages. Oddly it is the second edition for 2021 but is mistakenly 03/21. Covid has made a schedule pretty impossible.
There are only three issues planned in June/July.
1…PRIDE…already ordered by me and should get to me with the Endagered Species and Preserving the Planet in the next few days. Hopefully I will get to the REpublic on a day trip to post some to myself and also on “PRIDe-related postcards which a friend in USA sent to me last year so I would post to her when the stamps were actually issued.
2…Centenary of the Truce will be issued on 8th July…2 x N Rate….in the same pattern as other recent centenary issues. We are nearly at the end of a Decade of Centenaries,
3…Glastonbury….Singer Songwriters. 15th July.This will be four N stamps in a booklet. The cover of the booklet is shown in the magazine but the stamp designs are not shown. The featured singers will be CHristy Moore, Sinead O’Connor, Lisa Hannigan and “Hozier”….I have only heard of the first two.
No mention of GAA stamps
Oh hey, no problem mentioning your blog. It’s my pleasure. The info you supplied made my day.