Liberia
lib-20030000-g-001
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Stamp picture
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First day of issue: 2003
Width: 140 mm
Height: 200 mm
Perforation: Perforated 13.75 x 13.75
Location: Ice Hockey Volume LXIV
Stamp ID = 2890



From Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalog 2013-Vol 4

During 1999-2004 Liberia was torn by a brutal and chaotic civil war that reduced the nation to a state of anarchy. Government services, including postal operations, functioned erratically, if at all, for months at a time. During this period, overseas stamp agents continued to produce stamps under pre-war contracts, and a large number of issues appeared that were marketed to overseas collectors. It appears that some of these stamps have been released in Liberia since the end of hostilities. These will be listed when their sale and postal use has been confirmed.

This stamp is NOT listed in Scotts.



From "The Journal of Stamps Coins & Collectibles", Summer 2003, Vol. 1, No. 1

Centennial of the Teddy Bear

Seven post offices around the world have chosen to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the creation of one of the world's most popular toys - the Teddy Bear with the issuance of spectacular eye-catching die-cut postage stamp sheetlets.

The Teddy Bear was named for the then American President Theodore Roosevelt. "Teddy" Roosevelt during a 1902 visit to Mississippi, went on a hunting expedition. With the day almost coming to an end, the President had not found an animal to shoot at as

One of the president's aides, however, had spotted a small bear cub and decided to tie the tiny creature to a tree so that his boss would indeed be able to go home with a trophy. However, Theodore Roosevelt felt pity for the tiny bear and ordered that it to be set free. Clifford Berryman, a cartoonist heard the story and was inspired to draw a cartoon of the episode titled "Drawing the Line in Mississippi."

The cartoon was published in many of the major newspapers in the United States and caught the attention of Morris Michtom who owned a candy store in Brooklyn. He quickly designed and had his wife create a stuffed doll toy bear cub and put it into the window display of his shop with a handwritten sign declaring "Teddy's Bear."

People passing by were smitten by the toy. Before the end of the year, Mr. Michtom had sold his candy store and established the Ideal Novelty and Toy Company, a firm that remains today as one of the largest toy companies in the world.

Also, at this time, a Richard Steiff unaware of the excitement in America over the Teddy Bear, was also inspired to create a toy bear as a result of seeing a troupe of performing bears in an American circus that was then touring Germany. Mr. Steiff worked for his family's firm in Giengen. The company introduced their Teddy Bear product to the public for the first time at the 1903 Spring Toy Fair in Leipzig.

At first, there was little enthusiasm. According to legend, at the conclusion of the fair, just as Richard Steiff was putting away the unwanted stock of German manufactured Teddy Bears, an American toy buyer rushed up, grabbed one of the bears and eagerly placed a large order for an additional 3,000. Thus was the now classic Teddy Bear created.

To celebrate the Teddy Bear in this Centennial Year, the postal officials of Antigua & Barbuda, Grenada, Grenada/Carriacou & Petite Martinique Islands, Liberia, Micronesia, Maldives and Palau have all issued eye-captivating sheetlet of stamps in the die-cut form of a Teddy Bear.

Each die-cut Teddy Bear sheetlet contains four different stamps that highlight some of the captivating classic Teddy Bears that have been manufactured in recent years by the world famous firm of the Vermont Teddy Bear Company, which agreed to allow each nation to reproduce some of their designs on postage stamps.

The new stamps focus attention on cute Teddy Bears in such categories as "All-American Bears", "Adventure Bears", "Working Bears", "Sports Bears", "Healthy Bears", and "Family Bears".

More recently, five countries have authorized their postal officials to release the first-ever "Embroidered" postage stamps to commemorate Teddy Bears. Switzerland issued the world's first embroidered stamp in the year 2000. The same Swiss firm that produced that stamp, Bischoff Textil AG in St. Gallen has produced the new Embroidered Teddy Bear stamps for Gambia, Grenada, Grenada Carriacou, St. Vincent and Sierra Leone.

These new stamps differ from traditional stamps printed on paper, in that these embroidery stamps utilize a polyester thread on a high-quality, satin-weave base. The embroidered stamps also offer collectors a raised, three-dimensional image. These new stamps are expected to be especially popular because the stamps will have the unique touch and feel of embroidery, and will be produced in small limited quantities. As many Teddy Bears are actually embroidered, the designers consider them to be an especially relevant method of paying tribute to the Teddy Bear.




From Linn's "Stamp Issuing Entities Of The World" page.

Liberia (1860-)
Stamp-issuing status: active; Population: 2,602,068. A republic on the west coast of Africa, Liberia was colonized after 1822 by freed slaves from the United States.