95th Birthday of
H.M. Queen Mother
95th Birthday of HM Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother

            4 August 1995        $5.00 Souvenir Sheet                                Mint and CTO        $5.00
                                                                                                           FDC                       $5.50


Technical Details

        Release Date:                            4 August 1995
        Tablet Values:                           $5.00 Souvenir Sheet
        Artist:                                        Jennifer Toombs
        Printer:                                      The House of Questa
        Process:                                    Lithography
        Paper:                                       CA Watermark
        Stamp Size:                               30.56 x 38 mm
        Perforation Gauge:                    14 per 2 cm
        Souvenir Sheet Size:                  75 x 90 mm
        Mint and CTO:                          $5.00
        First Day Cover:                        $5.50


Despite (or perhaps because of) being the United Kingdom's most distant Dependent Territory, Pitcairn Island has featured members of the British Royal Family on its stamps many times.

For example, according to our calculations, an image of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother appears on at least eleven Pitcairn Islands stamps:

        1 August 1949:    Royal Silver Wedding - 1½d and 1/-
 
        21 April 1986:     HM the Queen's 60th Birthday - 9c
 
        4 August 1989:    The Queen Mothers 80th Birthday - 50c

        7 June 1985:        The Life and Times of HM the Queen Mother - 6c, 35c, 70c, $1.20, $2.00

        4 August 1990:    Ninety Glorious Years - 40c, $3.00
 

Jennifer Toombs' design places the new stamp on a sheetlet with the background depicting the grain on a piece of Miro wood.  Miro (Thespesia populnea) is one of the main woods used in carving the artifacts which are eagerly sought as momentoes by visitors to Pitcairn.

Among the flowers featuring on the sheet are rose apple, mountain apple, frangipani, miro, lata (rata), oleandor and burau - all of which are common on the island.