Blood banking and philately

Philately is often considered to be no more than an interesting hobby but it can be a power-ful public relations tool. A well designed stamp

John W. King, M.D., Ph.D. not only attracts the eye of the collector but is

Department of Blood Banking a l s ° s e e n b y m i l l i o n S o f P e o P l e receiving and sending mail. Blood banking is a specialty that can benefit particularly from this exposure be-cause of the continuing need for blood donors. A review of Scott's Standard Postage Stamp Cata-logue1 shows that postal services around the world have issued a considerable number of stamps depicting blood transfusion activities or bearing designs related to this field. Stimulated by an early interest in stamp collecting and by an arti-cle by Kyle and Wolman,2 I have collected these stamps for my own pleasure, for use in blood donor recruitment, and to decorate the blood bank donor room. Reproduction of stamps is now permitted and photographs make excellent visual aids and attractive wall decorations.

Because of the large number of stamps issued annually, many philatelists have given up trying to collect every stamp issued by every country but instead have limited their collections to a par-ticular country or topic. Favorite subjects for topical collections are animals, sports, aerospace, religion, science, and particularly medicine. From

149

150 Cleveland Clinic Quarterly Vol. 41, No. 3

the philatelist's point of view, a collec-tion limited to blood banking has many advantages. Because of the sub-ject, no stamps in this category were issued before 1940; therefore the ex-pense of obtaining old or rare items is not a deterrent. Most of the stamps are attractive, since they have been designed for their advertising value as well as for their primary function as an indication of postage paid.

In 1968, 39 stamps related to pro-moting interest in blood donations or to honor blood donors were listed by Kyle and Wolman.2 These stamps were issued by 22 postal administra-tions. I have chosen to include com-memorative stamps issued in honor of scientists whose works have contrib-uted to progress in blood banking, such as William Harvey and Karl Landsteiner. Others such as Pasteur could be included, but the collection would be increased by hundreds of issues. There have been a number of

y o u n g .

blood bank stamps issued since 1968, so that the list now numbers 60 stamps issued by 33 postal administrations. Most numerous in the collection are stamps issued to honor donors or to publicize donor recruitment. Fre-quently, they are part of a series issued to show Red Cross activities; transfu-sion activities appear on one or two stamps of the series. Those Red Cross series which fail to show blood trans-fusion activity are excluded. T h e old-est stamp in the list is the Hungarian stamp of 1942; it depicts a transfusion scene and is one of a series of four is-sued to honor and to raise money for the Red Cross. Other designs on the stamps in this series are wounded soldiers, war orphans and widows, and, somewhat inexplicably, carrier pi-geons.

T h e pelican stamp issued in 1957 by the Netherlands is part of a series which depicts Red Cross activities. T h e ancients believed the pelican fed its young on its own blood, and hence it was used to symbolize blood donors. These stamps were issued to commem-orate the 90th anniversary of the Netherlands Red Cross. They were is-sued with a surtax designated for Red Cross activities. Belgium had also used the pelican motif previously on a sin-gle stamp issued in 1956 (Fig. 1) to commemorate the centenary of the In-ternational Red Cross.

T h e only stamp issued by the United States which pertains to blood donors or blood banking is the hand-some blue and red blood donor stamp of 1971 (Fig. 2). The six-cent stamp "commemorating blood donors and to urge increased participation in this vi-tal program" was issued on March 12 in New York at the opening day of the Interpex Stamp and Coin Show. T h e

Fall 1974 Blood banking and philately 151

horizontal design was created by How-ard Munce of Westport, Connecticut. The print order for this stamp was 130 million.3 It was issued as a conse-quence of the interest and consider-

able effort of the American Association of Blood Banks and others.2, 4 The United States Postal Service attempts to limit its new issues to a reasonable number and is under considerable

Fig. 2. United States, 1417; commemorative blood donor stamp, first day cover.

4 0 k ^ c c c p Fig. 3. Left, Argentina, 682; right, Russia, 1947; commemorative, William Harvey.

KARL LANDSTEINER 1868-1943

REPUBLIK ÖSTERREICH

Fig. 4. Left, Austria, 813; right, German Democratic Republic, 1025; commemorative, Karl Land-steiner.

Ol" D O

P O S T E S A F G H A N E S

152 Cleveland Clinic Quarterly Vol. 41, No. 3

•HlfSairl PAKISTAN

S t . V i n c e n t « c B a R R E v D C R 0 S S

Fig. 5. Top left, Yugoslavia, RA11; top right, France, 931; left, Indonesia, 94; right, Afghanistan, B72; left, Netherlands, B486; right, Pakistan, 331; bottom, St. Vincent, 302.

Fall 1974 Blood banking and philately 153

pressure to include specific interests of many individuals or groups. T h e United States issued 24 stamps that year beginning with the American wool industry and ending with the two Christmas stamps. In view of the present need for volunteer donors, it would seem that stamps related to this subject are more appropriate than much of the trivia that is selected. Al-

though the blood bank community is grateful for the 1971 issue, the time has probably arrived to consider a new issue.

T h e inclusion of selected scientists (Fig. 3) gave us two stamps honoring William Harvey (1578-1657) who pro-pounded the theory of the circidation of blood. In 1959 he was honored in a series of three stamps from Argentina

STATE OF KUWAIT

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3F LUXEMBOURG

Fig. 6. Top left, German Democratic Republic, 854; top right, Japan, 847; left, Kuwait, 327; right, Luxembourg, 472; bottom, Monaco, 510.

154 Cleveland Clinic Quarterly Vol. 41, No. 3

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Fall 1974 Blood banking and philately 157

issued to commemorate the 21st Inter-national Congress of Physiology in Buenos Aires. Russia's offering was a single stamp in 1957 to commemorate the tercentenary of Harvey's death. Karl Landsteiner (1868-1943) appears on stamps of Austria and East Ger-many (Fig. 4); both stamps were issued in 1968, the centenary of his birth. An Austrian-born Jew, Landsteiner came to the United States where he did most of the work which earned him the Nobel prize. He has not been honored on the stamps of his adoptive country.

Figure 5 shows a group of stamps that are much more interesting than those with stylized designs since they feature actual blood banking activities. The beautiful Yugoslavian stamp of 1953 shows a child receiving a blood transfusion. The tubing used appears to be rubber rather than plastic, al-though the size of the picture makes this identification difficult. The French donor stamp shows blood being drawn from a series of donor arms. The arms are bound with a tourniquet tied with what looks like an unrealistic knot, but this may be just artistic license. This commemorative stamp was is-sued in 1959 to honor blood donors; it is credited with tripling the volunteer donations that year. All of the stamps which depict blood transfusions or transfusion equipment show blood bottles rather than bags. The Indo-nesian series of 1956 shows a bottle

with a screw-on type cap. The bottle is apparently the nonvacuum type, be-cause a tube for an air vent is shown. The Afghanistan stamp of 1964 shows a modern bottle marked with a red crescent, and in addition depicts a pilot tube firmly attached to the bottle.

The recent Dutch, Pakistan, and St. Vincent stamps continue to show bot-tles rather than bags, even though these stamps are only a little more than a year old.

Figure 6 shows stamps which rely on symbolism or design to convey their message. These are attractive and ap-parently serve their purpose but have less scientific interest than the more il-lustrative examples shown in Figure 5.

The Table is a checklist of the stamps we have collected or plan to include in this collection. The cata-logue numbers used are Scott's.1

References 1. Scott's Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue,

130th edition. New York, Scott's Publi-cation Co., 1974.

2. Kyle RA, Wolman IJ: Blood transfusion and philately; encouraging the Post Office to honor blood donors. Clin Pediatr 7: 636-638, 1968.

3. Official Poster Advertising. 6-cent Blood Donor Commemorative Postage Stamp. GPO: OF-415-176,1971.

4. American Association of Blood Banks: Blood bank issuance looks promising. News Briefs, March-April 1969, pp 1-2.