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History of Bhutan Stamps
A Legacy of Friendship |
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Although explorers from many countries reached once-remote Bhutan on foot, Burt Kerr Todd is believed to have been the first American to visit the Himalayan kingdom. His first visit, back in 1951, was by invitation, not by exploration. Mr. Todd met Her Majesty Ashi Kesang Choden Dorji when they both were students in England, and the royal family invited him to a Bhutanese royal wedding.
Mr. Todd returned again in 1954 with his own bride, Frances “Susie” Hayes Todd, for a three-month honeymoon. The Todds fell in love with this special land and its warm people, and carried on a life-long friendship with their Bhutanese friends spanning more than 50 years.
When the King of Bhutan wanted the country to become part of the United Nations back in the 1960s, he consulted with Mr. Todd. Mr. Todd didn’t know, so he traveled to New York City to find out how a country gains UN recognition.
After he was turned down at a World Bank meeting, he learned, in an elevator, no less, that Bhutan could issue postage stamps to help fund the national treasury. Before he left the elevator, Mr. Todd, an energetic and pioneering entrepreneur, was in the stamp business to help Bhutan. Bhutan began to open its doors to the world, and unusual postage stamps became the country’s ambassadors.
Mr. Todd traveled the globe to find new materials and printing processes never before used in the production of postage stamps. As a result, this tiny country is known around the world for its innovative postage stamps. Many of Bhutan’s stamps were "world’s firsts":
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The first scented stamps. |
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The first steel stamps. |
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The first "talking" stamps, tiny vinyl records that played Bhutan’s national anthem and a brief history of the country when spun on a phonograph. |
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The first three-dimensional (3-D) stamp. |
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The first silk stamps, made from Bhutanese thangkas. |
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Move mouse over image to enlarge.
Revenue from the sale of the stamps was used for economic development, including roads, schools and hospitals - and Bhutan became a sovereign nation. In all, Mr. Todd was involved in the creation of nearly 60 different postage stamps for Bhutan.
Mr. Todd passed away in 2006, and his daughter, Frances Todd Stewart, is carrying her father’s legacy forward with the creation of Bhutan’s latest “world’s first” postage stamp: mini CD-ROMs that have documentary videos about this fascinating nation.
“I never thought I would be making postage stamps for Bhutan because that was always my father’s role,” says his daughter. “But this is like embracing my genes. Our family is helping Bhutan make its mark in the world and in people’s lives.”
“Bhutan is indeed a country from which we can learn a great deal. Bhutan has chosen to preserve, as a living history, what it has always valued—a strong foundation, spiritual beliefs, respect for their forefathers and His Majesty, and a recognition of the gifts of clean water, air and land.”
All of this is the essence of Gross National Happiness, and it is the story that Frances Todd Stewart tells through Bhutan’s newest documentary CD-ROM postage stamps with web portal.
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