According to Scott this is a "Scene of Homage, 1718" honoring Prince Franz Joseph II issued on May 29, 1939.

I liked the engraving and got to looking a little bit closer... some of my findings.

First the stamp itself:



Upon close inspection I noticed the fellow holding what I can only assume to represent a Bible:



Is it just me or does that look an awful lot like a devil of some sort? Kind of freaky. Maybe he's just not real happy about Franz Joseph touching his book. Either way why is he the only one not wearing a wig?

Then there's this guy... he totally doesn't look happy about the whole situation.



... and what the heck is this? An 18th century Michael Jackson?



Finally the crowd milling about... the don't look too impressed either...



Then it dawned on me... this may be the birth of rap!



Then there's the ghostly figure to the far right... is that a confessional he/she is standing in? Is it a ghost?



Amazing all the things that can be found on a single postage stamp.

gr8 observation BP, all this devil like guy have color that make him more prominent and eye catching like some one tries to grab all attention on him and when you look on his face the his eye looking into your eyes . btw what's the history behind this whole scene.

I'm actually looking all that up at the moment, Aamer. There was a Franz Joseph II, Prince of Liechtenstein born in 1938 and this stamp was issued in 1939 so that kind of makes sense. The scene depicted, however, appears to be from 1718 so I'm trying to find the connection between the two if one exists at all.

that is really cool man.. kinda makes me want to look a bit closer at some of my recent finds.

All I was looking for, Bear, was some nice engraving for the Stamp of the Week contest and got to looking closer... then the close look made me decide to scan the stamp and look even closer. I tell you, scanning trumps a magnifying glass any time.

Agreed 100% Agreed

bengalpaws wrote:

I tell you, scanning trumps a magnifying glass any time.

in some cases yes i will agree 100% but when its a pain to scan and keep track of everyone (in the case of a newly forming study for example) then i am not so sure. once sorted perhaps ..

Never looked that closely into a stamp, what great finds BP. Thanks for sharing.