Today I received two stamps which will serve as the start of a sort-of new collection — Ireland. I made the mistake a few years ago of selling a very nice collection of mint and used Ireland, housed in Lighthouse albums. I've regretted it ever since.

Previously, I aimed for "completeness," and just about went broke buying new issues and album pages for them. This time around, I'm going for mint and used once again, but limiting my purchases to the period between the first overprints of the new Irish Republic in 1922 to the change to decimal currency in 1970. The majority of stamps issued in this period are attractive representations of Irish culture and history, and I'm fascinated by Irish history.

The cancellations on the stamps I received today are quite typical of Irish stamps of this period, which is another reason I like them. To my mind, sock-on-the-nose CDS cancellations complement rather than detract from used stamps:



John Barry was born on March 25, 1745, in Tacumshane, County Wexford, Ireland. Barry's family was driven from their ancestral home by the British. He was an officer in the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War and later in the United States Navy. He is widely credited, along with John Paul Jones, as "The Father of the American Navy". He was the first captain placed in command of a US warship commissioned for service under the Continental flag.
After the war, he became America's first commissioned naval officer, at the rank of commodore, receiving his commission from President George Washington in 1797.

Bob

www.ephemeraltreasures.net