Mar 15, 2016
Happy 150th birthday, Johan Vaaler, purported inventor of the paperclip! Here’s a good example of a stamp design error--the paperclip shown on this stamp is that developed by the British Gem Manufacturing Company (it has the two full loops so essential to functionality), whereas Vaaler’s design had only one full loop when he filed for patents for it in Germany and the United States of America. Nevertheless, the double-looped paperclip (bindersen in Norwegian) came to be a symbol of national resistance during WWII, when people took to wearing them in their buttonholes after national symbols were banned by the Nazi occupiers. I’m good with it.
Stamp details: Issued on: January 2, 1999 From: Oslo, Norway MC #1300