P.I. Postage Stamps: If you can’t lick ’em, join ’em?
Really! These are all actual postage stamps by actual countries, paying tribute to the writers, the actors, the filmmakers and even, amazingly, occasionally the detectives themselves of the Shamus Game. Honest!
Or at least sorta. Some countries have legitimate reasons for honouring various detectives on postal stamps, such as France honouring Nestor Burma, or Botswana honoring Mma Precious Ramotswe. I mean, really, wouldn’t you?
But others? Well, some countries print postage stamps solely to sell to collectors, with stamps saluting Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes springing out of countries I’ve barely heard of, with no real connection to the authors or detectives at all.
Like Nicaragua. Okay, I know where that is, but can anyone tell me what on earth the link is between Nicaragua and Sam Spade or Perry Mason? And where the hell San Marino is? And what the hell’s wrong with the U.S.? I mean, it’s cool to have multiple stamps honouring Humphrey Bogart, but none for Chandler or Hammett? Really?
Or has that changed? I’m no philatelist. Maybe I should call up stamp-collecting crime writer Lawrence Block. (And hey, why not a stamp for him?)
If this topic interests you, do not hesitate– head right on over to Detective Fiction on Stamps. Stamp guru Steve Tussel maintains this fascinating site that’ll just boggle your mind.. Granted, it’s a relatively small topic (sorta like this site, so who am I to judge?), but given the number of countries issuing postage stamps (and other philatelic items), hoping to cash in on the lucrative collector’s market, there just might be something to it.
BOTSWANA
DATE OF ISSUE: 2008
This 2008 issue pays tribute to British author Alexander McCall Smith’s Mma Precious Ramotswe, who runs the No. I Detective’s Agency in Gaborone, the capital of Botswana.
CANADA
DATE OF ISSUE: 2008
Okay, this is a stretch. Los Angeles criminal defense lawyer Perry Mason, created by American writer Erle Stanley Gardner, has no real connection to Canada–except that he was played to perfection by Canadian-born actor Raymond Burr for nine regular television seasons and more than 20 made-for-television movies. And never lost a case. But I’d love to see a stamp honouring, oh, Howard Engel’s Benny Cooperman or even Louise Penny’s Ganache.
DOMINICA
DATE OF ISSUE: 1996
The Commonwealth of Dominica, an island republic in the Caribbean, is sandwiched between Guadeloupe to the north and Martinique to the south. In 1996 it released ten stamps paying tribute to 100 Years of Cinema: Legendary Sleuths of the Silver Screen, including some of filmdom’s most popular depictions: Bogart as Sam Spade, Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes, Robert Mitchum for Philip Marlowe (Bogart having already been taken for Space, although I think Dick Powell would have been a better choice), William Powell for Nick Charles and Peter Ustinov for Hercule Poirot.
ENGLAND
DATE OF ISSUE: 2016
To mark some anniversary or another, England released six postage stamps, each devoted to one of Agatha Christie’s beloved novels, including two featuring private investigator Hercule Poirot, The Mysterious Affair at Styles and Murder on the Oriewnrt Express. Even better, each stamp in the series had clues cleverly hidden in the moody, grayscale artwork.
FRANCE
DATE OF ISSUE: 1996 (Nestor Burma)
Part of their ten-stamp French Heroes of Detective Fiction series, this 1996 issue saluted Léo Malet’s cocksure, cynical former activist turned private eye Nestor Burma, the godfather of French noir.
DATE OF ISSUE: 2003 (Vidocq)
François Eugène Vidocq wasn’t just another fictional detective–that alone would be cause for celebrating this postal tribute from France. Nope, he was also a real-life detective who established the Brigade de la Sûreté, the French national detective police force, and went on to become (arguably) the world’s first private detective. And with his autobiography, he was also (given the elasticity of some of his “facts”), the world’s first writer of private eye fiction.
INDIA
DATE OF ISSUE: 1994
This 1994 stamp honors filmmaker and writer Satyajit Ray and his beloved master detective Pradosh Chandra Mitter (more commonly known as “Feluda”), star of short stories, radio, television and film.
NICARAGUA
DATE OF ISSUE: 1973
To mark the 50th Anniversary of Interpol, Nicaragua for some reason issued a large set of the “The 12 Most Famous Fictional Detectives.” Six of them are P.I.s–or at least P.I. adjacent: Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Nero Wolfe, Perry Mason, Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe.
SAN MARINO
DATE OF ISSUE: 1979, 2009
Apparently San Marino is a tiny, mountainous microstate in north-central Italy, one of the world’s oldest republics, and one of the wealthiest countries (per capita) in the world. It’s great that in 1979 they celebrated three great private eyes, and they followed up in 2009 they honored three great mystery writers, but their detective heroes as well (Uncle Sam, take note!), but given that they’re one of the wealthiest countries (per capita) in the world, maybe they could have spent a little more on artwork? And was there a sale on yellow ink?
SWEDEN
DATE OF ISSUE: 2010
This is more like it! In August 2010, Sweden issued a five-stamp set honouring “Swedish Crime Writers”: Maj Sjöwall-Per Wahlöö, Henning Mankell, Liza Marklund, Håkan Nesser, and the late Stieg Larsson, the creator of Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist, first introduced in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2005).
UNITED STATES
DATE OF ISSUE: 1997 (Humphrey Bogart)
Okay, it’s good to see Humphrey Bogart honored in his home land–he virtually defined American masculinity (and the private eye persona) for generations of movie goers, playing Dashiell Hammett’s Sam Spade in John Huston’s version of The Maltese Falcon, and Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe in Howard Hawks’ take on The Big Sleep. But no love for the iconic detectives (or their creators)? What is wrong with you people?
DATE OF ISSUE: 2009 (Perry Mason)
The Perry Mason series, based on Erle Stanley Gardner’s bestselling Los Angeles-based defense attorney who never lost a case, ran from September 1957 to May 1966, with Mason played by Canadian-born actor Raymond Burr (Canada also honored Burr). But come on! Couldn’t we just honour a detective without piggybacking on a film or television adaptation.
DATE OF ISSUE: 2012 (John Huston)
Part of the United States Postal Service’s Great Film Directors series, honouring four great American filmmakers (the others are Frank Capra, John Ford, and Billy Wilder), this2012 issue celebrated filmmaker John Huston, whose 1941 adaptation of Hammett’s novel definitely should be honored. But come on–the actor? The director? How about Sam Spade himself? Or the man who actually wrote the fucking book? Doesn’t anybody read anymore?
USSR
DATE OF ISSUE: 1989
Yeah, shortly before the collapse of the Soviet Union, they released this five-stamp set, each stamp illustrating one novel in the Leatherstocking Tales, featuring oh-so-American proto-private eye Natty Bumppo. Strange but true. You can read all about it on “Natty Bumppo, Soviet Folk Hero”, a September 15, 2014 article by Dan Piepenbring from The Paris Review.
Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith, with a very special thanks to Steve Tussel, who runs the amazing Detective Fiction on Stamps.
