ScottV Stamps

I was scanning a collection from Trinidad & Tobago tonight, and this set came up, one which I have wondered about for a while now. I have only seen the set a few times since it came out in 1998, but I always wondered if there was a story here. It is Scott #593-596, showing Wendy Fitzwilliam, Miss Universe from 1998. One can argue these days that beauty pageants are just exploitative.  But sometimes, careers are made and the women go on to have great success.  Judging from wikipedia , it looks like Wendy has done well.  She was "honored by the United Nations and bestowed the title of UNAIDS and UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador for her work in HIV/AIDS education and awareness," and went on to champion AIDS awareness in the Caribbean.  She was Red Cross Ambassador of Youth for the Caribbean, regularly hosts and judges other competitions to give more women visibility in the world, and has had many other honors. She has become a lawyer, entrepreneur and jazz singer....

Here's a set that always brings back memories for me: Angola #362-381.  Here is a mint set that I am listing for the Philatelic Library soon.  The first few stamps in this set were some of the most iconic and common animal topicals when I was growing up.  Almost every starter packet of animals had these included.  100 different animals?  You will probably find the 5c leopard or stately 10c antelope, or the 20c elephant ... or all three of them.  Almost every starter collection I have seen since then that had only a handful of stamps from Angola would have a few of these. The graphics were really special for their time period: crisp and colorful and reasonably accurate portrayals of each animal.  Back then, every color plate had to be minutely aligned, and I don't recall having ever seen any color ink shifted or missing. I have a special fondness for this set, and always set aside the full sets when I find them.  They list for $10 to $12 ...