Cover - South Africa

One more delight from South Africa. Thanks Jane Peacock.

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Cover - Canada

Luckily for me, this one landed undamaged in my hands. Beautiful odd shaped stamps on the cover. Strangely no cancellations though. Thank you Johanne Bruneau.

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Canada Registered Post and A Postal Disaster

Yesterday I received this lovely parcel in my mail. What was really heart breaking was that this cover was also torn. I was even more annoyed and disappointed after opening the cover to find all the lovely odd shaped miniature sheets that Laura had sent me torn.

I have lodged a written complaint with my local PO regarding this and Im just hoping it helps. By myself there is no way I can ensure that this wont happen again so I have a humble request to all my trade friends. Its a lil bit of trouble to ensure that philatelic items are not damaged in transit and worth it. Please enclose the contents in a polythene bag and then wrap in card paper or thick paper.

Thank you Laura for this lovely cover and the odd shaped mini sheets and the christmas stamps. The christmas stamps were safe. I have put the sheets in my stock album as atleast the stamps on the sheets aren't damaged.

I wonder if any of you cover collectors around the world or even here in other parts of India are faced with a similar kind of problem. Your turn to share your experiences.

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Cover - Norway, Country #56

My first cover from Norway. Well, this one was received damaged. There were folds and there was a tear. The stamps are intact except for the second one on the first row that has the fold mark across it. I will have to wait for another cover from Norway.

The stamps on the cover are a complete set. They portray some of Norway’s many skiing activities, with fantastic glimpses of children and elite skiers.

2008 Centenary of Norwegian Ski Federation.

• Thorleif Haug (Olympic cross country and Nordic gold medallist-1924) - A 
• Espen Bredesen (Olympic hill gold medallist-1994) - A 
• Children skiing - A 
• Kjetil Andre Aamodt (four times Olympic alpine gold medallist) - A

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Cover - Spain, Country #55

My first cover from Spain.

The stamps on the cover are from the set of eight, Autonomous Communities (regional governments) of Spain self adhesive stamps with a domestic A rate

Extremadura is an autonomous community since 1983 although the Estatuto de Autonomía has been amended several times since. Its flag is a rectangle divided horizontally into three equal stripes: green, white and black.

The Comunidad Foral de Navarra has its Amejoramiento del Fuero (essential framework for Public Law in Navarre) since 1982. The coat of arms of Navarre consists of gold chains on a red background, with an emerald in the centre as the nexus between the eight links and above them the Royal Crown, symbol of the ancient Kingdom of Navarre. The flag of Navarre is red, with the coat of arms in the centre.

As with Ceuta, the Ciudad Autónoma de Melilla was also granted its autonomous community status by Ley Orgánica 2/1995 of 13th March. Its flag is light blue with the city’s coat of arms in the centre.


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UAR

I have been adding stamps and rearranging a lot many others in my African stamps collection. In my earlier post on, "How I store my stamps"  I had shown how all my stamps are arranged continent, country wise. A separate "stock sheet in  binders" album for each continent. Currently only one such album is dedicated for African stamps. While I continue to pursue my goal of having an extensive all era all year collection, African stamps has been a neglected area for quite some time. Recently though I have been acqiuring quite a few stamps of African countries. Hence this regular posting on them.

Even though I haven't got anything new of UAR, another flip through has got me to putting this up. Well, United Arab Republic was a union between Egypt and Syria. It existed from 1958 - 1961. Syria broke off from the union in '61 and Egypt continued as UAR until '71. 

My knowledge on these stamps is very limited but their unique nature I need to explore.

1959: Definitives, Set of 17 stamps. I have the following three.

2m - Ahmed Ibn Toulon Mosque
15m - Omayad Mosque, Damascus
40m - Statue

1959: 60m - Douglas DC-6B airliner over Al-Azhar University (Airmail)

1964: 50m - Olympic games, Tokyo, Set of 4. Only 1 of the 4 with me.

1965: 10m - Re-establishment of Egyptian Civil Airlines, "MISRAIR". (Airmail)

1967: 80m - International year of Tourism (Airmail)

1967: 50m -15th Anniv of Revolution. (Airmail)

1967: 20m - 50th Death Anniv of Higazi (lyric stage impresario)

1967: 20m - World savings day

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Burkina Faso - Pt2

In continuation to my last post, these are the rest of the stamps of Burkina Faso in my collection.

1985: Fungi
20f - Hypholoma (nematoloma) fasciculare

30f - Ixocomus granulatus
60f - Agaricus campestris
80f - Trachypus scaber
150f - Armillaria mellea

1985: "Italia '85" International Stamp Exhibition, Rome. Paintings by Botticelli.

25f - 

90f - Mars and Venus
100f - Birth of Venus
150f - Allegory of Calumny 

1986: Child Survival Campaign. 90f

1986: Dodo Carnival

20f -
25f - Masked lion dancers
40f - Masked stick dancers and drummers
45f - Stick dancers with elaborate headdresses
90f - Masked elephant dancer
90f - Animal dancers

Stamps below are from 1996. The orchids and Football, France are not listed in Stanley Gibbons. However these are available in Scott and Michel respectively. The Big Cats set is my favourite.

1996: Orchids 

1996: World cup soccer championship. France 1998

1996: Big Cats

100f - Panthera Leo (Lion)
150f - Acinonyx jubatus (cheetah)
175f - Lynx caracal (caracal)

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Burkina Faso Pt 1

Off late I have been going through my collection of African stamps and everytime I flip through this single stock page of stamps of Burkina Faso, I just can't stop myself from wanting to have all the stamps of this country.

Burkina Faso, is a landlocked nation in West Africa. Formerly called the Republic of Upper Volta, it was renamed on August 4, 1984. My stamps are mostly of the year 1985 and some from 1996. The stamps are all CTOs, and as I collect CTOs as well, its not too bad that the real postally used ones are difficult to get. Ofcourse I always prefer the postally used ones but then getting those are the real challenges for any collector.

Here are the stamps and these are all incomplete sets. 

1985: National Symbols

5f - National Flag
120f - National Flag (Airmail)

15f - National arms
150f - National arms

1985: World Cup Football Championship, Mexico

1985: Centenary of Motorcycle

50f - Steam tricycle
75f - Pope
80f - Manet
100f - Ducati (Airmail)

1985: Reptiles and Amphibians

5f - Chameleon Dilepis
85f - Hiperolius marmoratus
100f - Echis Leucogaster (Airmail)
150f - Kinixys Erosa

1985 "Argentina '85" International Stamp Exhibition, Buenos Aires. Horses.

25f - Gaucho on Piebald horse
45f - Gaucho on horse
90f - Rodeo rider

1985: Trains

50f - Electric locomotive no 105-30 and tank wagon
80f - Diesel passenger locomotive
100f - Diesel aircar (Airmail)

1985: Handicrafts

10f - Pot (Tikare)

40f - Pot with lid decorated with birds (P. Bazega)

90f - Bronze statuette of mother with child (Ouagadougou) (Airmail)
 

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Cover - Chile, Country #54

I received my first cover from Chile yesterday. Its a beautiful cover with some really nice recent stamps of Chile, including a christmas stamp too. Thanks Humberto.

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Cover - Japan

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Cover - Vietnam, Country #53

My first cover from Vietnam. Thanks Trieu. This one's got stamps on the back too. The stamps on the front are  a complete set of definitives. Issued on the 16th of January 2012, this definitive stampset “Architectures, landscapes of Việt Nam” consists of 6 values with denominations of 2,000 d; 3,000 d; 3,500 d; 4,500 d; 6,500 d and 10,500 d. All the 6 stamps are on this cover.

2000d One-Pillar pagoda (Ba Dinh, Ha Noi)
3000d One-Pillar pagoda (Ba Dinh, Ha Noi)
3500d Keo pagoda (Vu Thu, Thai Binh)
4500d Keo pagoda (Vu Thu, Thai Binh)
6500d Bridge pagoda (Hoi An, Quang Nam)
10500d Bridge pagoda (Hoi An, Quang Nam)

The two stamps on the back are from the dragonflies set of 4 issued in 2011.

2500d Dragonfly (Trithemis aurora)
10500d Dragonfly (Ictinogomphus decoratus)

The total postage on the cover is 43500 Vietnamese dong which is equivalent to about 105 Indian rupees. This cover was sent by registered post so its comparable with the kind of postage one would pay in India for a cover of the same weight. 

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Cover - Indonesia

Irene sent me this beautiful cover from Indonesia. Just love it. Great stamps, perfectly clear cancellations. Thank you so much Irene Chen.

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Cover - Russia

And this one is my third cover from Russia and from Vladimir. I just love the Castles definitives and Vladimir was kind enough to send me two sets of these wonderful stamps one in mint and the other used. Thanks again Vladimir.

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Cover - Canada

Yesterday was a good day as I received three lovely covers in my mail. One from Canada, another from Russia and another from Indonesia. Here's the Canada cover.
The two stamps on the extreme right are a complete set. The stamps were issued celebrating black history month in February 2011. The two people honored here are, Ferguson Arthur Jenkins and Carrie Best. A nice cover overall.

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Cover - USA

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Cover - USA

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Cover - Canada

I received this cover a couple of days back. One more beautiful addition to my Canadian covers and my overall cover collection. Thank you Eddie.

The stamps on the cover are three out of the set of five stamps on wildlife photography. On May 22nd, 2010, Canada Post began issuing this series featuring some of the winners of the Canadian Geographic Wildlife Photography Contest for 2006. The stamps feature images from photos submitted to various categories of the contest.

The winning photographs featured on the series:
A glorious humming bird by 15 year old Wing Yam Tam
Tree swallow chicks nesting in a pipe by Mark Bardley
Majestic great blue heron - this haunting image of a heron perched on a boulder in the mist was captured by Martin Cooper.
Red fox by Ben Boulter
Katydid - this colourful insect was photographed by Julie Bazinet of Gatineau. 

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Cover - France

Another lovely cover from France. This one was sent from Trigny. Trigny is a commune in the Marne department of North Eastern France. Both Trigny and Marne can be seen on the clear cancellation on the stamps.

The stamps on the cover are two out of the set of six stamps issued commemorating the journey of the evolution of bicycles from invention till date. ''Les Velocipede des Origenes a nos jours'' in French. Velocipede literally means fast foot.

The stamps on this series are:
The Draisienne
Velocipede Pedals
Bicycle chain
The Penny Farthing
The bicycle tyre
The city bike.

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