Peculiar Odd Shape Stamps - Youth Sports - Canada

A youthful snowboarder sweeps across a mountainside in a spray of glittering powder. A helmeted boy flies up a ramp, spins in mid-air and lands with a rumble of skateboard wheels. On a winding trail in a pine forest, a boy on a mountain bike hurtles around a curve. And in a cavernous indoor wall climbing gymnasium, a young competitor inches her way up a towering wall of artificial holds.

On October 1, 2005, Canada Post issued four domestic rate (50¢) snowboarder shaped stamps (Odd Shaped Stamps) to commemorate these youth-oriented, high-energy sports. It's an issue whose time has come, because the popularity of these activities - especially among the young - has been increasing by leaps and bounds for the past 20 years.

"These partially perforated odd shape stamps represent the excitement, the attitudes and the risks involved in these sports," says Alain Leduc, Manager of Stamp Design and Production at Canada Post. "This new issue has been specially created to be attractive to young people, and we think the style will draw their interest."