SOLILOQUY OF A POSTAGE STAMP # 94 - THE 1979 INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF THE CHILD /Fouad Kronfol

This week I come back to the philatelic materials issued by countries to commemorate the 1979 International Year of the Child (IYC). The items are from countries starting with D and E in my collection.

Denmark; this semi-postal stamp shows the smiling face of a young child with the IYC logo. Most countries used the surcharges on such stamps for funding social programmes.

Denmark; this is one of a number of First Day Covers I have showing the IYC stamp. The cachet is a photo of a lovely girl. The two post marks show the IYC logo and were mailed from Copenhagen on 25 January 1979. Note the sender was the UNICEF IYC Secretariat in Geneva which, with the similar one in NYHQ, were in charge of managing the IYC activities globally.

Denmark; this FDC also has the photo of an Asian child a a cachet. The two post marks are the same as the FDC above, dated 25 January 1979 and sent from Copenhagen. The addressee is the Danish National Committee.

Denmark; another FDC with the IYC stamp has a different cachet which mirrors the two post marks dated 9 August 1979 issued from Copenhagen. The cachet has the drawing of a child's head and the Red Cross emblem ; the addressee is the Danish Red Cross Society.

Republic of Djibouti; these two stamps issued for IYC show drawings by R.Lambert ; the first has two children reading and a mother with a baby on her back.

The Commonwealth of Dominica; here we have four stamps issued for IYC. They show; a young boy and a fishing boat; two children hauling bananas on their heads; a boy on the cricket pitch ; a young boy feeding rabbits.

Commonwealth of Dominica: this is the Souvenir Sheet of the set above. It has the stamp showing a young boy with a pole on which are three fish which he caught?

Commonwealth of Dominica: here is a "fun" set of of nine stamps issued for IYC. They represent various characters from the Disney world of cartoons.

Dominica; this is the Souvenir Sheet of the above set and shows Mickey Mouse playing a grand piano with musical notes all around the sheet.

Dominican Republic: here we have a four air mail stamp set issued for IYC. The designs show an emaciated child ; a drawing of a child reading a book with the IYC logo on it; an eye (or is ir a fish?) in a child's profile with two hands in front; and another set of hands with three jars.

Ecuador; a very pretty young girl is in this photo on the stamp issued for IYC. It is also an air mail stamp printed in Quito. The border of the stamp has inscriptions about children being the future of the country, the child as king of the universe and the treasure of the nation.

Egypt; this stamp for IYC shows a drawing of a child student with a" thumbs up" sign holding a flower.

Egypt; here is the First Day Cover with the same stamp ; the cachet is simply the IYC logo, as are the two post marks issued in Cairo on 14 October 1979.

Equatorial Guinea; this attractive five stamp set shows children with different animals. Note that although the inscription is for the International Year of the Child, the stamps show the UNICEF logo on the stamps. It is an unlisted series, probably was not issued for mailing purposes.

Equatorial Guinea; here three of the above stamps are on a FDC with a cachet showing a photo of two children. The post mark indicates that this was a "Certified Air Mail" issue from Malabo dated 16 May 1979. However there is no addressee on the cover!

Ethiopia: the last item is this five stamp set for IYC with various designs inspired from the IYC logo by the artist A. Redoa.