Description
Description
Rarely seen set of two Flannan Isles fantasy stamps ( and ) depicting the lighthouse on Eilean Mòr.
The stamps were created by Marius Popa and issued on 26 August 2011.
Just 180 sets of these stamps were produced.
U/M / Unmounted Mint / MNH / Mint Never Hinged.
About the Flannan Isles
Covering a total area of approximately 58 acres, the Flannan Isles are a group of seven small, uninhabited islands located about 32 kilometres west of the Isle of Lewis in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides.
Known for their steep cliffs and seabird populations, the largest of the islands, Eilean Mòr, is home to the Flannan Isles Lighthouse, completed in 1899 and automated in 1971. The islands were last permanently inhabited in December 1900, when the three lighthouse keepers – James Ducat, Thomas Marshall, and Donald MacArthur – mysteriously disappeared, but they have never been home to a permanent resident population.
No official local postal service for the islands has ever existed, but, over the years, enthusiasts have nonetheless created some of their own fantasy stamps bearing the islands’ name. An inaugural 1999 stamp for the Flannan Isles was created by NJS Technical Services, to coincide with a non-profit making expedition there by radio hams (amateur radio operators). The print run was just 500 stamps, with many understood to have been used on QSL cards – postcard-sized written confirmations of radio contact between two hams, which are collectable in their own right. A self-adhesive “Special Handling Fee” stamp for the Flannan Isles – believed to come from a different creator – followed in 2005.
Several further issues, created by Marius Popa, followed between 2010 and 2012, with at least one other release, by Larry Friend, in 2014.
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