DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hilo artist John Dawson displayed a large replica yesterday of the stamps he created depicting life on a Pacific coral reef. The stamps were unveiled yesterday during a First Day of Issue ceremony at the Waikiki Aquarium.
Coral reef stamps
make a splashThe Postal Service unveils
pieces created by a resident
of Hilo
More than 200 people turned out in pouring rain yesterday morning for a Waikiki Aquarium ceremony unveiling 10 new Pacific Coral Reef U.S. Postal Service stamps.
Artist John Dawson, a Hilo resident, said he used sketches and photos of some of the species housed at the aquarium to help him complete the acrylic painting that is the model for the stamps.
Although Dawson's painting depicts plants and animals from a Pacific coral reef in Guam, a number of them also are found in Hawaii waters, he said.
"This is one of the greatest jobs I've ever had in my whole life," said Dawson, who painted all six installments in the Nature of America stamp series, which promotes appreciation of the country's major plant and animal communities.
Yesterday after the ceremony, Dawson said he has completed a seventh painting in the series but could not reveal what ecosystem it depicts. The first five stamps showed the Sonoran Desert (1999), Pacific Coast Rain Forest (2000), Great Plains Prairie (2001), Longleaf Pine Forest (2002) and Arctic Tundra (2003).
University of Hawaii professor Charles Birkeland said he was impressed with the accuracy in the painting and hopes it will inspire preservation of coral reefs. Some of the species shown in the painting already are rare, mainly because of high-tech fishing techniques that allow overfishing, he said.
At the aquarium yesterday, postal workers sold a total of 1,410 panes of 10 stamps each, or 14,100 stamps, said Marc Dixon, a Postal Service spokesman. The sales of stamps at the 22 Honolulu post offices offering them yesterday were not available, he said.
The stamps go on sale in the rest of the country and at other Hawaii post offices today.
Stamp collectors stood in line yesterday under outdoor canopies outside the aquarium to have their newly purchased stamps given a first-day cancellation.
Collector Evan Tector, of Honolulu, bought 37 panes of the stamps and attached them to cards with art by Wyland. Tector, 38, said he has been collecting stamps since he was 6 and likes to attach stamps to something with matching art.
Though heavy rains made logistics of the unveiling yesterday a little slippery, "We can't cancel because of weather -- we're the Postal Service," Dixon said.
