The fabled Isle of Man, a
220-square-mile, self-governing island nation in the Irish Sea, is celebrating the
anniversary of its bus services with a six-stamp series showing the first models of its
venerable bus fleet.
Passenger bus service on the Isle of Man, which currently
has a population of 75,000, began in August of 1914, on the eve of World War I. At that
time, the Douglas Corporation supplemented the island's tramway and horse-drawn bus
service with one Tilling-Stevens and one Straker Squire single-decker bus; the Straker
Squire bus is depicted on the 37 pence stamp.
Buses shown on the other five stamps in the series date
from 1922, 1927, 1928, and 1938.
The entrepreneurial Isle of Man Post Office website, www.gov.im/stamps, has also produced finely detailed
models of two of the initial buses with different destination boards.
A first-day cover with all six stamps and an informative
illustrated booklet, plus the mint version of each of the stamps, sells for the equivalent
of about $4 at the current exchange rate (GBP 2.36), while the pair of buses runs GBP 19
($31.50). For information, including shipping and handling charges, visit the website or
e-mail the post office at stamps@po.gov.im.
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