1996 Nepalese Birds and Butterflies Stamps

On November 20, 1996, a commemorative stamp in se tenant block of four was issued by the Postal Authority of Nepal on butterflies and birds found in Nepal. This mini sheet consisted of 16 stamps. This was by and far one of the most beautiful stamps on fauna issued by the Government of Nepal. The stamps have painting of two butterflies (Papilio krishna) known as Krishna Peacock, and Northern Jungle Queen (Sticopthalma camadeva) as well as two birds Sarus Crane (Grus antigone) and Great Himalayan Barbet (Megalaima virens) with Himalayan mountains, hills and a lake in the backdrop. The design is subtle yet colorful. Any stamps that are colorful, bold in color and have detailed art work are truly beautiful to me. There are lots of beautiful stamps out there from Nepal on various topics and themes but this one can be classified as eye catching and is a top notch.

Printing of these stamps was done in Government Printing Office, Vienna, Austria. Each stamp has denomination of Nepalese five Rupees. The stamps are printed in stamp paper by litho process. The perforation for the stamp is 14 x 14 while the size of each stamp is 30 mm x 40 mm.

Picture of se tenant block is courtesy of rajan.com.

Error in 2007 orchid stamps from Nepal

Interesting set of mini sheets were issued on April 12th, 2007 by the Government of Nepal. This is the 3rd issue on Orchids from Nepalese Postal Authorities. This mini sheet has 16 species found in the Himalayan region of Nepal. Though it is commendable that Nepal is issuing such type of commemorative stamps bringing joy to the thematic collectors on orchid stamps from around the world, there are two concerns that I would like to point out regarding this issue:
1. The nomenclature (Scientific name or Latin name) is incorrect for one of the orchid stamp. See the circled stamp. The picture is of Aerides multiflora but it is written Rhynostylis retusa on the bottom of the stamp. The flowers, shapes, and number of flowers are completely different in two species even though from faraway both the flowers look very much alike. Rhynostylis retusa in its inflorescence has many flowers clustered closely together whereas in Aerides multiflora, flowers are larger and distinctly apart. Even the shape of labellum or lips and the color differ in both orchids when the flowers are placed next to each other.
2. It is just my personal view but the whole design not good. Thanks to the computers nowadays, it is easy for the designer to use Photoshop or any other software to play around with the pictures and lo and behold, the designing is complete. It has become easier and simpler to design the stamps now. They should have added extra effort in making the stamps look better.
I have been able to tell the different since I have been involved with orchids from Nepal for last 16 years and I have had lots of these orchids in my personal collection as well as in photographic collection.