The Gibbons catalogue notes that these
stamps have what it terms a “network background”,
which in practice means a pattern of wavy lines in a different
colour from the stamp. On the 5s stamp the background pattern
is in yellow, on the 12s stamp it is in blue.
Estonia 1932 – Tartu Observatory
Tartu Observatory, originally known by its
German name of Dorpat, was founded in 1811 as part of Dorpat
University when Estonia was under Russian control. Its name
changed to Tartu in 1917. The observatory’s most famous
director was F.G.W. Struve (1793–1864) who served from
1818 to 1839, building it into one of the world’s leading
observatories of the time. (Struve went on to found Pulkovo
Observatory in Russia; he is featured on a 1954
stamp from the USSR.) In 1964
the observatory moved to a new location at Töravere about
21 km from Tartu but the old observatory building still
remains, now a museum and science centre. The round turret
shown on these stamps houses a 20-cm (8-inch) Zeiss refractor
opened in 1911. These two stamps were part of a set of four
commemorating the 300th anniversary of Tartu University; the
two other values in the set depict the main university
building.
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