Overview
Our annual Christmas stamp issue celebrates the Christmas holiday, highlighting both traditional and secular themes.
This year’s two traditional Christmas stamps present religious artworks featuring the Madonna and Child. The artworks were made from terracotta clay and glazed in a technique first introduced in Renaissance Italy by the Florentine della Robbia family of artists.
The other three stamps in this issue are secular in theme, highlighting the custom of celebrating Christmas with sugary gingerbread treats – a tradition with a very long history, with various recipes recorded in Europe for more than a millennium.
Technical specifications
- Issue date
- 1 November 2021 *
- Issue withdrawal date
- 31 December 2021
- Denomination
- 65c x 3, $2.40 x 2
- Stamp & product design (secular)
- Sonia Young, Australia Post Design Studio
- Stamp & product design (religious)
- Jo Muré, Australia Post Design Studio
- Paper: gummed
- Tullis Russell Red Phos
- Paper: self-adhesive
- Arconvert Securpost MC90
- Paper: s/a sheetlet of 10
- Raflatac Cast
- Printer: secular
- Egotrade
- Printer: religious
- RA Printing
- Printer: s/a sheetlet of 10
- Rapid Labels
- Printing process
- Offset lithography
- Printing process: s/a sheetlet of 10
- Inkjet 1200 dpi
- Stamp size (mm)
- 26 x 37.5
- Minisheet size (mm)
- 135 x 80
- Sheetlet size (mm)
- 120 x 192
- Perforations
- 14.6 x 13.86
- Sheet layout
- Module of 50 (Cold foil – s/a sheet)
- FDI Postmark
- Merrylands NSW 2160
- FDI withdrawal date
- 30 November 2021
65c Gingerbread tree
Like several other Christmas traditions, such as the Christmas tree, the custom of making decorated gingerbread houses originated in Germany, in the early 19th century. This was possibly a result of the popular success of the Grimm fairy tale “Hansel and Gretel”, where two lost children were enticed into a house made of gingerbread and topped with sweets.
65c Gingerbread gift
Gingerbread was particularly popular in France, the Netherlands, Britain, Sweden and Germany, where in the 15th century a guild controlled its production. In the 16th century, the retinue of Queen Elizabeth I of England included a royal gingerbread maker. The Queen would hold banquets, where the easily moulded gingerbread was playfully formed into figures representing people at her court. During the Elizabethan era, gingerbread men were also sometimes presented as love tokens. This stamp features gingerbread baked in the shape of a Christmas gift.
65c Madonna and Child rectangular plaque
This stamp design shows the Madonna tenderly cradling the infant Jesus in her arms, with the Latin posuerunt me custodem (they have appointed me as guardian) inscribed below. This plaque was made in the Italian Umbrian town of Deruta in the 17th century. The plaque measures 52 x 37 centimetres and is in the Australian Catholic University Art Collection.
$2.40 Gingerbread star
The association between gingerbread and Christmas is not clear. Possibly the custom arose because of the belief that spices were warming in the cold northern winter, but probably also because a gingerbread house elaborately decorated with sweets and sugary delicacies is an indulgent extravagance permitted only once a year. This stamp design showcases a star shape, the star being a popular choice to top the Christmas tree.
$2.40 Madonna and Child tondo
The round plaque or tondo represented on this stamp was made in the late 19th century by Florence manufacturers Figli de Giuseppe Cantagalli. It shows a crowned Madonna as Queen of Heaven, clasping the standing Christ Child, with four cherubim in the background, encircled by a festoon of decorative leaves, fruit, pinecones and flowers. This relief, which is 38 centimetres in diameter, is in the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria.
Shop our stamp collectables
Set of stamps:
Set of Christmas 2021 Gummed Stamps
This set of stamps contains all five stamps from the Christmas 2021 stamp issue.
Stamp pack:
Christmas 2021 Stamp Pack
The Christmas 2021 stamp pack contains all five stamps and minisheet from the stamp issue presented in high quality folder.
Minisheet:
Christmas 2021 Minisheet
The Christmas 2021 minisheet consists of the two religious stamps from the issue incorporated into a miniature stamp sheet.
Maxicard set:
Set of Christmas 2021 Maxicards
This maxicard set contains the five maxicards from the Christmas 2021 stamp issue.
- Set of stamps
- Stamp pack
- Minisheet
- Maxicard set
Additional products:
- Christmas 2021 Postal Numismatic Cover
- Pictorial Envelope for the Christmas 2021 Stamp Issue
- Christmas 2021 Embellished Sheetlet Pack
- Sheetlet of 10x 65c Gingerbread Tree Stamps
- Sheetlet of 10x 65c Gingerbread Gift Stamps
- Booklet of 20x 65c Secular Christmas 2021 Stamps
- Booklet of 20x 65c Religious Christmas 2021 Stamps
- Sheetlet of 5x $2.40 International Secular Christmas 2021 Stamps
- Sheetlet of 5x $2.40 International Religious Christmas 2021 Stamps
- Gutter Strip of 10x 65c Gingerbread Tree and Gift Stamps
- Gutter Strip of 10x $2.40 International Gingerbread Star Stamps
- Gutter Strip of 10x 65c Madonna and Child Stamps
This content was produced at the time of the stamp issue release date and will not be updated.
*The on-sale date for international-rate Christmas stamps was 1 October 2021. This is to help ensure that our customers’ international Christmas mail reaches its intended destination on time, in light of the impacts of COVID-19 on worldwide mail delivery.
