Gordon Lee's Search for Ugly Hidden Stamps

Greetings Fellow SB Boarders
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If you ever wondered why few children take up the hobby of stamp collecting you can take one quick glance at this next stamp and know one reason why. Even though it is an attractive stamp in it's own way, and the subject of the stamp is majestic it does fail in the attempt to attract aspiring younger collectors.
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AUSTRALIA -- SCOTT 2002
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On 11 September 2001 Australia issued four lithograph stamps (Scott 2002-2005) commemorating Birds of Prey. All of them are denominated 49-cents. The first two designs show a Wedge-tailed Eagle (depicted above) and a soaring Nankeen Kestrel. They are both in a landscape layout and are perforated 14x14-1/2. The remaining two are the Red Goshawk tending it's young and a soaring Spotted Harrier, perforated 14-1/2x14 and are in the vertical portrait layout. All four are on unwatermarked paper.
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I reckon there must be some sort of prey involved if one wants to be a genuine bird of prey. However, do the postal authorities really think they need to display the prey on a stamp. All it needs is a piece of gut stretch from the prey to the eagle's beak. Not. At first when I looked at this stamp I thought, "Oh my gosh, that bird is eating Pooh's little friend, Roo!!" However, with it scanned and enlarged I can tell that it is not little Roo but the Easter Bunny. Either way that is just not the right thought for little kids to start wanting to collect stamps, in my opinion.
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Other than that, I think it is a kewl stamp.
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Respectfully,

Gordon Lee

PS:  No Wedge-tailed Eagles were harmed in the creating of this post.

Greetings Fellow SB Boarders
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Sometimes it is not what is depicted on a stamp, nor how it is depicted, nor the message behind the depiction that is ugly. Sometimes it is just the stamp itself. Case in point:
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ROMANIA -- SCOTT 4217
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This particular surcharged was overprinted and re-issued 6 July 1998, along with 15 other photogravure stamps during that year (Scott 4204-4219).   The original of this violet five-leu is part of a 21 stamp set commemorating Hotels, Lodges and Resorts issued during 1991 (Scott 3664-3684).  What makes this stamp, and the other twenty stamps in this set, ugly is the paper.  It looks and feels like a piece of cheap, low grade newspaper.  Surely the Romanian postal authority could have used a better paper medium in 1991 than the spongy, paper towel-ish stuff they printed to advertise their hotels, lodges and resorts.  It makes me want to put the advertisement on the bottom of a bird cage.  To be honest, the first look at this stamp while identifying it made me look in the 1940 to 1960 part of the catalog.
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I hope the Lebada Hotel does not look so blurry in real life.   A google search did not provide anything definite.  (I did find a Lebada Hotel in Bucharest, but not in in Crisan.  The picture of the Bucharest hotel does not look exactly like the one on the stamp, but I doubt anything looks like the stamp.  ( www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g294458-d455273-Reviews-Lebada_Hotel-Bucharest.html .)  If this is the same Lebada, it looks attractive.
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Now, the best thing about this stamp is the overprint.  It is nice and crisp.  The obliteration of the denomination is accomplished by a heart.  Other shapes of the obliteration used in the 1998 set included diamonds, spades and clubs.  That suits me just fine.
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Respectfully,

Gordon Lee

Greetings Fellow SB Boarders
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One can look at a stamp and think, wow, that's an attractive stamp. But upon closer inspection one might just change their mind. Case in point:
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BULGARIA -- SCOTT 167

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In 1921 Bulgaria ten engraved stamps were issued depicting a View of Sofia, the Liberator Monument to Alexander II, a View of Trnovo City, Shipka Pass Monastery, a Portrait of Tsar Boris III, the Tsar Assen's Tower, the Rila Monastery, and this almost attractive brown two-lev Woman Harvesting Grain.  All of these stamps are unwatermarked and perforated 12.
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Now take a close look at that lady's mug.  One can tell right off that she is not whistling while she works.  Geesh, this stamp would have been a real beauty if only that frown could have been turned upside down.
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Respectfully,

Gordon Lee