The 2009 Legends issue celebrates four Academy Award winner actors.

• Nicole Kidman (1967-) is one of the highest paid actresses in the motion picture industry. She is also a UNIFEM and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. Kidman won an Academy Award for her role in The Hours (2003).
• New Zealand born Russell Crowe (1964-) started his acting career on Australian television. Since his Hollywood break he has received three Academy Award nominations for best actor winning with Gladiator (2001).
• Cate Blanchett (1969-) made her international film debut in Paradise Road. She won an Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her role in The Aviator (2005).
• Geoffrey Rush (1951-) was the first Australian-born person to win an Academy Award for acting, for his role in Shine (1996).

Issue Information
This issue consists of two stamps for each actor: a portrait and a film scene. This issue is notable for the number of formats the stamps were issued in, along with colour and printing changes.

Gummed Sheet Stamps
The sheet stamps were issued in two blocks of four.

One oddity of this issue is the block of four film scenes used on first day covers and in stamp packs. Both blocks of four have Nicole Kidman in the top right hand corner. However, Nicole Kidman only appears in the top left hand corner of the portrait complete sheet, with Crowe appearing in the top left hand corner of the film scene complete sheet. The complete sheets were probably laid out in this fashion so each actor appears an equal number of times over the two sheets, with the blocks of four in the design sets, covers and packs produced separately to show each actor in the same position in the block for consistency.

The information on printer and paper for the gummed and self-adhesive stamps is from Stamp Bulletin No. 297, and is assumed to be correct. The Australia Post website continues to note that this information is 'to be advised'.

 
Sheet stamps

The left and right selvedge of the film scene sheets included copyright statements. These have been called tabs by some, and due to the sheet layout, only the Crowe and Blanchett stamps exist with these 'tabs'. Those who collect all possible tabs and positions need to purchase a complete sheet to obtain all four strips of four (the Crowe and Blanchett stamps exist with each of the four 'tabs', on either the left or right hand side).

Film scene stamps with tabs

Gummed Gutter Strips
Each of the sheet gutters features an octagonal design, which is likely to be a geometrical representation of a camera lens.

Gutter strips

Prestige Booklet Panes
The eight stamps also appeared in four prestige booklets - one for each Legend. The pane containing the four portraits appeared in each prestige booklet.

   
Blocks unique to the Nicole Kidman Prestige Booklet

   
Blocks unique to the Russell Crowe Prestige Booklet

   
Blocks unique to the Geoffrey Rush Prestige Booklet

   
Blocks unique to the Cate Blanchett Prestige Booklet

Pane common to all Prestige Booklets

Gummed Booklets
For the first time, Australia Post issued a prestige booklet for each legend.

 

 
Prestige booklet covers (click on each cover for an enlargement)

Self-adhesive Booklet Stamps
The eight designs were also issued in self-adhesive booklets. The phosphor tagging on the film scene stamps covers the white border, while on the portrait stamps the phosphor covers the grey-blue background, but not the Legends' names.

The Legends under UV light, showing the phosphor tagging

Self-adhesive Booklets
Just like the prestige booklets, a separate booklet was issued for each Legend containing five portrait and five film scene stamps. In addition, a booklet of 20 was released containing twelve portrait and eight film scene stamps.

 
Two of the individual Legends booklets

Cover of the booklet of 20

Gummed Miniature Sheet Stamps (with Silver Foil)
Miniature sheets containing the four portrait stamps appeared in November and December 2009. The first miniature sheet was issued in a numbered limited edition miniature sheet (500 only) inserted in the hard cover version of the Our Legends - Australia's Greatest book.

There are five distinct differences between these miniature sheet stamps and the regular sheet stamps:

• the blue-grey background is missing
• surname in grey, rather than purple-grey
• Kidman and Rush's jackets are noticably darker
• the faces of all four legends are lighter
• the first name of each Legend is die-stamped in silver foil

Block of four stamps from Legends book

Gummed Miniature Sheets (with Silver Foil)
This limited edition miniature sheet (500 only) was inserted in the hard cover version of the Our Legends - Australia's Greatest book.

The only difference between this miniature sheet and the sheet issued in the AFI Film Lovers Pack (on 3 December 2009) is the silver foiled first names, and silvered foiled 'AUSTRALIAN/LEGENDS OF THE SCREEN' inscription in the sheet margin. This is the first time a 'limited edition' version of a stamp or miniature sheet has been released before the regular edition.

Limited edition miniature sheet

Our Legends - Australia's Greatest book

Gummed Miniature Sheet Stamps (from Film Lover's Pack)
This is the second time Australia Post has released an item in connection with the Australian Film Institute (AFI).

The Film Lover's Pack contains two miniature sheets containing the Legends portrait stamps. The first sheet is similar to the one issued in the above Legends book, but without the silver foil. The second sheet contains a block of four Rush stamps - Rush won the Raymond Longford Awad for Outstanding Achievement in the Australian Screen Industry in August 2009.

As with the silver foiled sheet, there are four distinct differences between these miniature sheet stamps and the regular sheet stamps:

• the blue-grey background is missing
• surname in grey, rather than purple-grey
• Kidman and Rush's jackets are noticably darker
• the faces of all four legends are lighter

Block of four stamps from AFI Film Lover's Pack miniature sheet

 
Enlarged sheet stamp (left) and miniature sheet stamp (right) showing the colour differences

Gummed Miniature Sheets (from Film Lover's Pack)
The Film Lover's Pack contains two miniature sheets containing the Legends portrait stamps. The first sheet is similar to the one issued in the above Legends book, but without the silver foil. The second sheet contains a block of four Rush stamps - Rush won the Raymond Longford Awad for Outstanding Achievement in the Australian Screen Industry in August 2009.

The two Legends miniature sheets from the AFI Film Lover's Pack

Robin Hood Stamp Pack
On 6 May 2010, Australia Post released a presentation pack containing two sheetlets of ten, showing the Russell Crowe stamp with attached tabs. More information, with an issue summary, is found on the Robin Hood Pack page.

Presentation Pack

Postal Stationery
Four maximum cards (each with two stamps) were released. It is also believed that four postcards were released, but were not sold through post offices.

Maximum cards (from Australia Post website)

Issue Summary
The table below summarises the above information. The cost of each item is given, along with a total for each section. In some cases the stamps are only available from self-adhesive booklets (sold at face value), or from prestige booklets, souvenir sheets or folders (sold above face value).

Item and Description	Cost
For the General Collector
Gummed sheet stamps 2 blocks of four (8 x 55c) Miniature sheets Film Lovers sheets will be listed with other Impressions Items Self-adhesive stamps 8 values from booklets (8 x 55c)	$4.40   -   $11.00
Total	$15.40
For the Specialised Collector
Miniature sheet stamps 4 values from AFI miniature sheet (no overprint) 4 values from AFI miniature sheet (with silver overprint) Overprint sheet will be listed with other Impressions Items Stamps with tabs Vertical strip of four with tabs (on left or right) Gutter Strips 2 gutter strips of 10 (camera lens pattern) Blocks, pairs and strips Blocks of 4 from prestige booklet panes (12 blocks) Block of 4 Geoffrey Rush stamps (white background) Booklet panes 13 panes from prestige booklet Booklets 5 booklets with philatelic barcode 5 booklets with general barcode Prestige booklet Postal stationery Maximum cards Postcards	$12.95* $49.95     $2.20   $11.00   $43.80 *   $43.80   $27.50 $27.50 $43.80   $5.20 Unknown
Total	$267.70
Grand Total	$283.10
* These two items could be obtained from a single AFI Pack.

References
Australia Post, Australian Stamp Bulletin, No. 296, January-February 2009, No. 297, March-April 2009, 2009 Impressions Catalogue

If you have more information, or spot an error, please e-mail me.