For all “budding super-sleuth” and topical stamp collectors,

I have quite a treat today:

a mystery story

and a philatelic premiere with..

 

The Sherlock Holmes Mystery Pack!

This superb presentation pack was issued in 2009 by the Guernsey Post Office in commemoration of the 150th Anniversary of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s birth.

“Where in the world is Guernsey?”

Guernsey is a group of islands in the English Channel, dependent of the British Crown.

Part of the Guernsey bailiwick and situated at the northernmost of the Channel Islands, is the Alderney Island, who started issuing their own postage stamps in 1983.

Beautifully illustrated, the Alderney set of six stamps are housed inside  the “Mystery Pack” – a philatelic first – which tells the story of Sherlock Holmes and the curious Case of the Alderney Bull.

“These postage stamps were designed by Keith Robinson in the style of Sidney Paget who illustrated Conan Doyle’s original works.”

Now let’s see how this works…

“By reading the story, studying the pictures and scouring the stamps for clues, can you crack the secret code and beat Holmes to work out “whodunnit”? ”

 

Unlike reconstructions of classic literature, the new Holmes story provided material for the carefully drawn stamps.

A Holmes enthusiast, it was Robinson’s idea to enrich the commemorative issues with a new Holmes plot.  The story starts with the theft of an Alderney bull, a breed of livestock much valued in the 19th century for the quantity and richness of milk produced by the cows.

The drawings incorporate buildings and landscapes from Alderney, an island within the Guernsey boundaries.  By writing his own version of the great detective, Robinson was able to make connections between Holmes and Alderney, links that do not exist in the original stories.

Source: http://thiswritelife.wordpress.com/tag/the-curious-case-of-the-alderney-bull/

 

Curious Case of the  Alderney Bull Mystery Pack – Only $29.95!  Free Shipping Worlwide 

 

 

Let me know how you make out…because as I write these lines…I haven’t found the clue! Hum…

Talk soon,

Janice

Topical Stamp Collecting Queen
ATA and APS Member

PS: Want to discover the #1 Secret About Stamp Collecting? Easy…just click on the banner below and watch the short video!

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