Catalogue Number: 2384 First day postal cover for a 1948 stamp commemorating William Farrer wearing glasses Category: Painting or other art work Sub-Category: Philatelic item Government body: Austrailan Post Office (Designer and engraver F D Manley) Year Of Publication/Manufacture: 1948 Time Period: 1940 to 1999 Place Of Publication/Manufacture: Australia Publisher/Manufacturer: Austrailan Post Office Description Of Item: A first day postal cover, cream colour, 144 x 87 mm, with a block of four red 2 1/2 pence stamps featuring William Farrer wearing glasses with printed illustration featuring Farrer and wheat sheaves and the words FIRST DAY COVER, postmarked 12 July 1948 Castlereagh Street Sydney and typed address to Mrs M M Smith Liverpool Road Croydon NSW. Historical Significance: William Farrer was born in the north of England in 1845 and migrated to Australia in 1870. He is especially remembered for developing strains of wheat resistent to rust. This stamp has been added the Kett Museum because it is one of very few Australian stamps featuring people wearing glasses. He is depicted on this stamp wearing oval-eye rimless pectacles typical of the mid- 19th C. A similar portrait appears on the Australian $2 bank note. How Acquired: Purchased by Kett Optometry Museum Date Acquired: Jan 2014 Condition: Good Location: Archive office. South wall. Cube 14. Stamp Album |