Archery stamps from round the world across the 20th century. The image of a bow, usually at full draw, never loses its appeal – and the universality of that image works well at small sizes. Just look at this lot:
Archer using a hunting bow, designed by Belgian artist Émile Vloors (1871-1952), engraved and printed by American Bank Note Company, and issued for use in Belgian Congo in 1923.
Woman archer, printed by photogravure, and issued by Indonesia on May 15, 1996 to publicise the Olympic Games, held in Atlanta, USA.
Traditional archer, printed by lithogravure, and issued by Bhutan on May 16, 1962.
Woman archer, designed by Czech artist Jan Cerny, engraved by Jan Mrácek, and issued by Czechoslovakia on April 30, 1957 to publicize the World Archery Championships, held in Prague.
Stamp depicting a petroglyph of prehistoric archers found in the Ennedi Plateau, designed and engraved by Jean Pheulpin, and issued by Chad on November 19, 1968.
from Ajman
Lithographed in Moscow, 1927
Stamp depicting Rama, the seventh avatar of the god Vishnu in Hinduism, printed by photogravure, and issued by Indonesia on August 31, 1971 to publicize the International Ramayana Festival.
Cyprus stamp for Munich ’72 featuring the pictogram from the famous Otl Aicher set. Read a whole lot more about archery pictograms here.
Issued by Japan on September 6, 1996 to publicise the 51st National Athletic Meet.
Designed by Polish poster artist Waldemar Swierzy (1931- ), printed by photogravure, and issued by Poland on May 20, 1972 to publicise the Summer Games in Munich.
Designed by Russian graphic artist Yuri A. Lukianov, and issued by Russia (USSR) on June 24, 1971 as one of a set of five stamps publicizing the 5th Summer Spartakiad.
from Monaco for the Tokyo Olympics 1964
Woman archer and Mount Nantai, printed by photogravure, issued by Japan on October 11, 1980 to publicize the National Archery Meet, held in Tochigi.
Three archers (wearing some very interesting outfits) and target, designed by Chun Hee-ban, printed by photogravure, and issued by Korea on October 8, 1971 to publicise the 52nd National Athletic Meet.
Stamp depicting Admiral Yi Sun-shin (1545-1598), a Korean naval commander famed for his victories against the Japanese navy during the Imjin war in the Joseon Dynasty, designed by Pak Choon-kyo, printed by lithography, and issued by Korea on October 1, 1949.
Engraved stamp depicting an archer, issued by Japan on August 22, 1954 as one of two stamps in a set publicising the 9th National Sports Festival of Japan, held in Hokkaido.
Kyudo based postmark from Japan.
Moldovan stamp celebrating Natalia Valeeva‘s bronze medal in Barcelona ’92 for the Unified Team.
Painterly London 2012 Paralympic archery logo. (I have a badge of this one…)
There’s many more stamps out there if you want to get Googling. Almost all of the above and much of the text information came from this incredible thread at stampcommunity.org, with special mentions for users rod222 and especially nethryk. The dedication of people on the internet to their particular craft never ceases to delight and amaze me. Thanks very much indeed.