The names of our wines are derived from philately.
This postal theme has been taken a step further by naming the wines either after famous stamps or philately terms. Here is a history of some of those wines named after stamps.
Blueish Black
The colors of postage stamps are at once obvious, and among the most difficult areas of philately. Different denominations of stamps have been printed in different colors since the very beginning; postal clerks could distinguish the Penny Black and Two Pence Blue more quickly by colour than by reading the value. In practice, the actual colour of a stamp may vary, which collectors will pay high prices for rare shades, Stamp colours are routinely described by colour name rather with any sort of a numerical system like CMYK. So a stamp which was predominately black may have printed with a slight tinge of blue. This would then be catalogued as a colour variation by collectors as Blueish Black – hence how this wine was named.
Golden Monkey
Refers to a Golden Monkey depicted on a Chinese stamp, the monkey being part of the Chinese Zodiac. The stamp combines three lucky symbols in Chinese culture – the number 8, the colour red and the monkey, making it a truly lucky stamp in Chinese culture and increasing its popularity. It has now become a valuable stamp for philatelists to collect.
Black Mail
The name refers to a famous Black Mailbox. State Route 375 is a state highway in south-central Nevada in the United States and is known as the Extra-terrestrial Highway. There is a lone black mailbox labelled, “Alien.” and known as The Black Mailbox. Its close proximity to nearby UFO hot spot Area 51, it has become an extra-terrestrial meeting spot.
Bulls Eye
The Bull’s Eye postage stamps were the first stamps issued by Brazil on 1 August 1843,. Brazil was the second country in the world, after Great Britain, to issue postage stamps valid within the entire country. The unusual name derives from the ornamental value figures inside the oval settings and the arrangement of the stamps in the sheet permitted se-tenant pairs that looked like a pair of bull’s eyes.
Merry Widow
A U.S. stamp whose nickname is an artistic reference to the 10¢ green Helmet of Mercury Special Delivery Stamp. The Merry Widow, an operetta by Slovak composer Franz Lehar, is one of the most popular operatic works of the 20th century. The special delivery stamp became the Merry Widow through the resemblance between Mercury’s winged helmet on the stamp and Lily Elsie’s operatic hats. British actress Lily Elsie took up the role of the Merry Widow on the London boards in 1907. She brought to the role her fondness for a style of large-brimmed, heavily beplumed hats, which became known forever after as Merry Widow hats.
Penny Black
The name refers to the first ever stamp, printed in 1840. This was a British stamp featuring the head of Queen Victoria, was worth one penny and printed in black hence the nick name Penny Black. Although it is officially the first stamp it is not the rarest stamp as its print run lasted for a decade, so many millions were produced. However there were many color variations and misprints. These individual Penny Blacks have much more value.
Missing Virgin
A Virgin Island stamp whose nickname is reference to the St. Ursula central-figure-omitted error stamp. St.Ursula was a virgin martyr who lived sometime between the third and fifth centuries A.D. She was born in Britain, avoided marriage to a pagan king and is believed to have been slain for her faith with 10,000 virgin companions at Cologne, Germany. Christopher Columbus named the Virgin Islands in her honor, when he made landfall there about the time of her feast day, Oct. 21.
Treskilling Yellow
The name refers to a Swedish stamp considered the most expensive stamp in the world.
The 3-skilling banco stamp was normally printed in a blue-green colour, while the 8-skilling was printed in a yellowish orange shade. It is not known exactly what went wrong, but the incorrect plate was used which resulted in a stamp which should have been green ending up as yellow. The number of stamps printed in the wrong colour is unknown, but as time passed, and no other “yellows” surfaced despite energetic searching, it became clear that the stamp was not only rare, but quite possibly the only surviving example.
Cameo Chenin Blanc
Cameo has many meanings but in philately it refers to a series of stamps depicting Queen Elizabeth 11 in silhouette or Cameo.
The first Gambia stamps, issued in 1869, are famous for their beautiful design – the Cameo head of Queen Victoria embossed in white on a simple coloured ground. This classic design, highly regarded by generations of philatelists, was actually a result of economic necessity!
Stormy Hope Petit Verdot
The Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias rounded Cape Point on the 12 March 1488, naming it the “Cape of Storms”. His King, John 11 renamed it “Cape of Good Hope”, the allegorical figure of Hope being used on the first stamps of South Africa. Post House Cellar is the site of the original Post Office for the local missionary station of Raithby, and it still boasts its nostalgic red post box.
Three Pearls
In 1920 the Coalition Government had Postal stationery produced by overprinting Tsarist Russian postal cards and newspaper wrappers which already had different designs of impressed stamp applied to show that postage had been pre-paid. Similar to the stamps the overprint consisted of the Russian initials ‘DBP’ meaning Far Eastern Republic (Dalne-Vostochnaya Respublika), and was placed horizontally on the imprinted stamp.
Four different postal cards were used. Postal cards of 3 kopeks (1909), 4 kopeks (Romanov card of 1913) 5 kopeks brown (Kerensky card of 1917) and 5 kopeks reply card (Kerensky card of 1917) were overprinted.
Tsarist wrappers of 1890 and 1891, the 1 kopek orange and 2 kopek green were used. Four different wrappers can be distinguished although some catalogues subdivide each 2 kopek wrapper into two types with differences in size, making a total of six different wrappers.
Mailing May
Several children were stamped, mailed and dutifully delivered by the US Post Office between 1913 and 1915, as this was the cheapest travel option. One such girl named Charlotte May, was posted to her grandparents and the story is now recounted as Mailing May.
With stamps attached to their clothing, the children rode with railway and city carriers to their destination. The Postmaster General quickly issued a regulation forbidding the sending of children in the mail after hearing of those examples.
Holy Grail
Various traditions describe the Holy Grail as a cup, dish, or stone with miraculous healing powers, sometimes providing eternal youth or sustenance in infinite abundance, often guarded in the custody of the Fisher King and located in the hidden Grail castle.
By analogy, any elusive object or goal of great significance may be perceived as a “holy grail” by those seeking such.
Admirals Pinotage
In philately the Admirals are a series of stamps issued by three countries of the British Commonwealth which show King George V, King of Great Britain and the British Dominions, dressed in his Admiral of the fleet uniform.