One of the highlights of high society on Laernu must be the annual Hat Festival or Sombrero Laernu. This is more than a competition to see which participants have the most elaborate or inventive headwear. There are celebrations regarding the news of the leading Laernu families, and performers will recite traditional stories of Laernu. But the hats are the star turn. A set of six stamps, bearing an uncanny likeness to the Penny Black, shows some of the more noteworthy hats. If you look at the six stamps on the sheets you will see that the top cartouches have the letter LAE on the left and RNU on the right, and this lettering is in different styles for each stamp design.

The Hat Festival stamps were the first Laernu stamps to have a variant stamp: a single stamp within each sheet where a small detail, such as a missing earring, distinguishes it from the rest. This is not the only feature of the issue. Each value appeared in limited numbers as a coloured version, as oppose to the regular black, in the first month of issue.
What else? The letters in the lower cartouches are consistent for all stamps in the regular sheets, but it is unknown why the letter combinations (HE, AD. ON, MY and CE) were chosen, but undoubtedly these letters are not random, but deliberately chosen. But occasionally you may find one with the SL pairing. It is believed that this may refer to Sombrero Laernu. Look again and with these stamps you see the upper cartouches have a geometric pattern. It is probable that all examples of these came from limited edition miniature-sheets of four stamps.

Evidence for the cross-over of culture between our world and Laernu can be found in the most unlikely sources.

What to look for ?

• The sheet variant stamps
• The colored limited editions
• The mini-sheets of four
• and single stamps from these.

Now bring on the boys Colin!