Leif Erikson

Leif, son of Erik the Red lived in the 10th and 11th Centuries. His family was from Norway, where Leif’s grandfather was banished. The grandfather took his family, including Erik the Red to live in Iceland. While there, Leif was born in the 970s. Erik the Red was later banished from Iceland. He sailed west and discovered Greenland and founded the first settlement there in 986.

When Leif was older, he returned to Norway and served the king, Olaf Tryggvason in the late 990s. Leif was converted to Christianity and later sent back to Greenland and Iceland to help convert others. During his jounreys between Greenland and Norway, he landed in the Hebrides where he met a woman he married and with whom he had a child.

During this time, some Norse men sailing to Greenland lost their way in the fog and landed somewhere in North America. When they returned to Greenland, they told of their adventure. Based on this account, Leif organized a ship with a large crew and set sail in search of this new land. They landed in what is now Newfoundland. They stayed for many months and discovered many vines bearing grapes – they brought crates of grapes and other goods back with them. Leif named the area Vinland – wineland in English.

These early explorers were the first Europeans known to come to North Aerica, about five hundred years before Columbus arrived in the West Indies. They established the first European settlements in the Americas.

Note

There are so many interesting stamps from my boyhood here, commemorating people and stories I knew well growing up: Daniel Boone, Walt Disney, Leif Erikson, as well as the Battle of Bunker Hill (see page 61 in the previous sub-album). Maybe it’s because it’s familiar to me, but I like the style of these stamps. They seem good and wholesome.

Contains 17 spots: own 17 – 17 unused, 0 used.
Page is finished.
Album or Web Page Last changed Apr 26, 2025

Stamp Details

The table below lists information about the stamps shown on this page of Lighthouse’s stamp album. For more details about a particular stamp, click on its description. That will take you to the related web page of Colnect.

spot	own	catalog	subject	description
1.1	✓	1360	Cherokee Strip	6c (oct 1968) comm., brown
1.2	✓	1359	Leif Erikson A. Stirling Calder	6c (oct 1968) comm., multicolor
1.3	✓	1357	Daniel Boone	6c (sep 1968) comm., multicolor
2.1	✓	1339	Illinois Statehood	6c (feb 1968) comm., multicolor
2.2	✓	1343	Law & Order	6c (may 1968) comm., multicolor
2.3	✓	1340	Hemisfair 1968	6c (mar 1968) comm., multicolor
2.4	✓	1355	Walt Disney	6c (sep 1968) comm., multicolor
2.5	✓	1344	Register & Vote	6c (jun 1968) comm., multicolor
3.1	✓	1342	Support our Youth	6c (may 1968) comm., ultramarine & orange red
3.2	✓	1356	Father Marquette	6c (sep 1968) comm., multicolor
3.3	✓	1358	Arkansas River Navigation	6c (oct 1968) comm., multicolor
4.1	✓	1362	Wood Duck Aix sponsa	6c (oct 1968) comm., multicolor
4.2	✓	1341	Airlift for Servicemen	$1 (apr 1968) air mail, multicolor
5.1	✓	1364	Chief Joseph Cyrenius Hall	6c (nov 1968) comm., multicolor
5.2	✓	1363a	The Annunciation Jan van Eyck	6c (nov 1968) comm., multicolor
5.3	✓	1363	The Annunciation Jan van Eyck	6c (nov 1968) comm., multicolor
5.4	✓	1361	Battle of Bunker Hill	6c (oct 1968) comm., multicolor

Footnotes

Spot refers to the postion of the stamp on the album page (e.g., 3.2 indicates row 3, position 2).
Amt. is an abbreviation for the face amount of the stamp.
Own indicates the stamp status: ✓ for unused; ✗ for used or canceled; ⭑ signifies I ordered one; ; ✨ indicates it was bought recently; ✠ means an auction bid is pending; and ◎ is used, and it costs too much for unused.
To search by catalog number, go to the search box and enter it in the catalog number box. However, it’s a bit broken; I need to fix it.