Last week we asked you to tell us what curious, but almost unnoticed, event took place in 1994 in the self-styled Republic of Abkhazia in the Caucasus. Well, unnoticed except to philatelists – stamp collectors!
In case you didn’t know – and why would you, it’s a useless, albeit compelling, fact – Abkhazia is on the eastern coast of the Black Sea and the southwestern flank of the Caucasus. Abkhazia considers itself an independent state, but the Republic of Georgia considers Abkhazia to be a part of the Republic of Georgia. Georgia officially characterizes Abkhazia as the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia, whose government sits in exile in Tbilisi.
In 1994, officials in the self-styled Republic of Abkhazia issued a postal sheet containing two postage stamps depicting John Lennon and Groucho Marx – an obvious play on Marx and Lenin of Communist-era fame, and presumably a spoof of (or slap at) Abkahzia’s past.
The actual stamp design appears below.
