The last commemorative stamps of which we shall speak were issued in 1913 by Russia to honour the House of Romanoff. The adhesives are printed in attractive colours, with bold designs, indicative of Russian art. The heads revealed to us in this striking portrait-gallery are those of Nicholas II., Peter I., Alexander II., Alexander III., Peter II., Katherine II., Nicholas I., Alexander I., Alexei Michaelovitch, Paul I., Elizabeth and Michael Feodorovitch.
Many other celebration stamps have appeared from time to time in various countries; notice of them may be found in any postage stamp catalogue.
CHAPTER XI
INTERESTING PICTURE STAMPS
That the picture stamps reposing in our collections are highly instructive as well as interesting needs little argument. We can sit in an armchair and learn the geography of half the world by means of the stamps bearing maps; we may wander, mentally, as far as the Antipodes, thanks to the stamps bearing views; we may learn about the birds of the air and the beasts of the forests from the stamps bearing animals. Matters of architecture, heraldry, local customs, mythology, and history, are other subjects which we may become acquainted with from our postage adhesives.
Perhaps the most interesting labels are those which portray the natural wonders of the wide-world. Let us turn first of all to the specimens from New Zealand. What delightful views the 1898 stamps give of Mount Cook, Lake Wakatipu, Mount Ruapehu, Lake Taupo, the Pink Terrace of Rotomahana and Milford Sound—names which to many of us are mere places mentioned in dry geography manuals, but here revealed in all their glory!
From New Zealand let us wander to Tasmania. On these pages of our album we find interesting pictures of Lake Marion, Mount Wellington, the town of Hobart, Russell Falls, Lake St. Clair, and the waterfalls of Dilston.
