Description: This original 3-Lari commemorative postage stamp was issued by the Republic of Maldives. Offset lithographed by Format International Security Printers Ltd., the horizontal design features a detailed, three-quarter portrait of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin dressed in his iconic orange SK-1 pressure suit with an open collar revealing a green undershirt. Floating in the starry purple background of outer space is the Vostok 1 spacecraft, showing its spherical descent module and cylindrical instrument section drifting above the swirling white clouds of Earth's atmosphere. The left margin contains the stacked vertical text "USSR. VOSTOK-1", while the top border displays the pioneer's name "YURI GAGARIN". The base of the stamp frames the country name "REPUBLIC OF MALDIVES" alongside the denomination "3L" inside the lower-right corner.
Circa: 1974
Condition: MNH
Notes:
This piece belongs to a highly popular 1974 topical omnibus series titled "Space Explorations of US and USSR," which celebrated the historic milestones of the Space Race by pairing American and Soviet space achievements side by side. Designed by the famous graphic artist Maxim Shamir, this specific value honors the April 12, 1961 mission where Gagarin became the first human to journey into outer space and complete a single full orbit around the Earth. The small icon nestled in the bottom-left corner of the frame represents the historical crest of the Maldivian postal service.