Iceland issues stamps made with Eyjafjallajökull ash

nOne of the commemorate Eyjafjallajökull ash stamps being issued by the Icelandic Post – made with ash from the eruption itself.

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Many Eruptions readers would consider themselves volcanophiles (or volcanificiandos?) and I would venture to guess there is a subset of volcano enthusiasts who are also philatelists as well. A philatelist (for those of you out of that select circle) is a stamp enthusiast – a stamp collector. Now, in our modern interwebbed world, I wonder if stamp collecting as a hobby has diminished, but that doesn’t stop countries from still trying to make some money from stamp collectors (and that is not necessarily a bad thing).

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Why this sojourn into philatelia? Well, Dr. Robert Zierenberg here at UC Davis (of the “drilling into active magma” fame) just sent me an article link that mentions that the Icelandic Post will be issuing a set of stamps commemorating the Eyjafjallajökull eruption. The three stamps have artistic rendering of the fissure and central vent phases of the eruption.Now, what is really interesting about these stamps is they will be made using the trachyandesitic ash of the eruption itself. Yes, you can buy stamps made with ash silkscreened onto the stamp – so not only will the stamp commemorate the eruption, but it will also contain (albeit trace amounts) of the eruption itself. Now, this isn’t the first time something like this has been tried – there are apparently stamps that have been issued with trace meteorite dust, soils, granite and gems – so you never know what bonuses you might be getting when you open your post box (and try that with email).