Thomond - The Thomond stamp

The Thomond stamp, 1989

The Thomond featured in the "Irish Motoring Classics" issue of Irish postage stamps, 11 Apr 1989.
These were designed (unfortunately) without my knowledge, and so contain some errors.

The original plan for the stamps

• An Post decided to issue a set of stamps commemorating Irish motoring.
• Their initial choice of stamps was:
  • Benz Comfortable (first petrol car imported into Ireland, in 1898).
  • The Irish-built Silver Stream.
  • The Irish-built Chambers.
  • Ford Model T (commemorating the Ford factory in Cork).

• At the last minute, the Ford was dropped. The Minister for Communications didn't like the idea of commemorating Ford - who had closed their plant in Cork in 1984 with the loss of many jobs.

Change to include the Thomond

• It seems it was Denis Lucey who suggested the Thomond, since I had been in touch with him in recent years.
• According to a Mary Cummins article, An Post said Denis Lucey provided the photograph for the stamp artist to work from. This was the letterhead photo that Mike Dover introduced to the world in 1971, that came from my grandfather's business.
• Unfortunately no one contacted me. I could have given the artist photos from many angles. Instead, he only had the one, sideways-on, letterhead photo.
• Thus, the car on the stamp is (an artist's version of) Dick's Thomond no.2, c.1930.

The "Irish Motoring Classics" issue.
The Thomond was on the 39p stamp.
See larger and full size.

I have a sheet of unused Thomond stamps.
See larger and full size.

The Thomond stamp.
See larger and full size.

The artist Charles Rycraft made a beautiful picture, but there are some factual issues:

• The car is green. This is wrong. It should be dark red and tan.
• The driver has a moustache. This is unfortunate because Dick never had a moustache.
• The windscreen should be split.
• The mesh of the radiator is wrong. It should be honeycomb, not vertical bars.

• On a positive note, the picture is set in the Phoenix Park, since it was a sports car. Note the Wellington Monument. This is perfect, because the Phoenix Park was where Dick did his high-speed runs. See 1963 article. Apparently this is just good luck and the artist was not aware of the 1963 article.