Stamp: Year of the Snake (Gibraltar 2013)

Year of the Snake (Gibraltar 2013)

30 January (Gibraltar ) within release Chinese New Year goes into circulation Stamp Year of the Snake face value 1 Gibraltar pound

Stamp Year of the Snake in catalogues
Michel: Mi:GI 1525
Stanley Gibbons: Sg:GI 1489

Stamp is square format.

Coiled snake with fireworks behind. Right hand image of se-tenant pair. Designed by Stephen Perera. Printed by Cartor.

Also in the issue Chinese New Year:

Data entry completed
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Stamp Year of the Snake in digits
Country: Gibraltar
Date: 2013-01-30
Print: Offset lithography and Embossed
Size: 32 x 32
Perforation: Unknown 12½
Emission: Commemorative
Format: Stamp
Face Value: 1 Gibraltar pound

Stamp Year of the Snake it reflects the thematic directions:

Chinese New Year or the Spring Festival (see also § Names) is a festival that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar. Marking the end of winter and the beginning of spring, observances traditionally take place from Chinese New Year's Eve, the evening preceding the first day of the year, to the Lantern Festival, held on the 15th day of the year. The first day of Chinese New Year begins on the new moon that appears between 21 January and 20 February

Snakes are elongated, limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes  Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more joints than their lizard ancestors, enabling them to swallow prey much larger than their heads (cranial kinesis). To accommodate their narrow bodies, snakes' paired organs (such as kidneys) appear one in front of the other instead of side by side, and most have only one functional lung. Some species retain a pelvic girdle with a pair of vestigial claws on either side of the cloaca. Lizards have independently evolved elongate bodies without limbs or with greatly reduced limbs at least twenty-five times via convergent evolution, leading to many lineages of legless lizards. These resemble snakes, but several common groups of legless lizards have eyelids and external ears, which snakes lack, although this rule is not universal (see Amphisbaenia, Dibamidae, and Pygopodidae).

Fireworks are low explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large number of devices in an outdoor setting. Such displays are the focal point of many cultural and religious celebrations, though mismanagement could lead to fireworks accidents. 

Stamp, Year of the Snake, Gibraltar,  , Chinese New Year, Snakes, Firework