Cover - Lesotho, Country #69

This is my very first cover from Lesotho and receiving any cover from African countries is always exciting.

Yes, Lesotho is a small country in Africa. Its capital city is called Maseru, though I am not too sure if there are any other sizable cities there and this cover has come to me from Maseru. Thank you Julius. Formerly Basutoland, this British Crown Colony, became independent on October 4, 1966, taking the name Lesotho.

The stamps on the cover from the flowers definitives set or series of 1998.

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Norwegian Stamps

Just a few stamps here of Norway in my collection. Actually there were hardly any until just recently, when, in an exchange with a trade friend, I got a few more. There are some complete sets in here too.

1941: 20o, Snorri Sturluson
1950-51: 30o, King Haakon VII
1958-60: 1.5k, King Olav V

2001, Jan. 2: Actors and Actresses
7k, Lillebil Ibsen (1899-1989)
8k, Tore Segelcke (1901-79)

2004, Jan. 2: Marine Life, Complete set of 3
5.50k, Periphylla periphylla.
6k, Anarhichas lupus.
9k, Sepiola atlantica.

2006, Sept. 15: Marine Life, Complete set of 2
B, Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis.
A, Labrus bimaculatus.

2007, June 15: Norwegian Light houses

A, Ona lighthouse in Romsdal
A, Tungeneset lighthouse in Ersfjorden near Senja in Troms

 
2007, Sep 21: Marine Life VI
A, Pink shrimp (Pandalus montagui)
A, European lobster (Homarus gammarus)
A, Edible brown crab (Cancer pagurus)
A, Squat lobster (Galathea strigosa)

2008, Feb 14: Norwegian Ski Association centenary

A, Thorleif Haug
A, Espen Bredesen
A, Children on skis
A, Kjetil Andre Aamodt.

Also take a look at the cover, the only one from Norway with the complete set of these stamps I received some time back.

2008, Oct 24: Norwegian art
A, Inger Sitter (b. 1929)
A,  Arne Ekeland (1908-1994)
A,  Kare Tveter (b. 1922)
A,  Terje Bergstad (b. 1938)

2009, Jan 02: Norwegian art II

B, Kjell Nupen (b. 1955)
12 Nok, Irma Salo Jaeger (b. 1928 in Finland)

2009, June 12, Norwegian Year of Cultural Heritage 

A, Kurer radio
A, Telephone kiosk

2010, Feb 05: P.A. Munch and Ole Bull bicentenaries 

2010 18 May  Norwegian popularmusic II - Eurovision Song Contest. One stamp missing from this set
A,  Alexander Rybak (b. 1986)
A,  Jahn Teigen (b. 1949)A, Secret Garden

2010 20 August  50 years of television in Norway
A, 'Icons'
A,  Comedy
A,  Entertainment
A,  Childrens TV

2011 Sep 16: Norwegian popular music III

A, Sissel Kyrkjebo (b. 1969)
A,  Mari Boine (b. 1956)
A,  Inger Lise Rypdal (b. 1949)
A,  Wenche Myhre (b. 1947)

My only official stamp of Norway. Whats an official stamp? Well, simply, a stamp used for sending official mail (mail by government agencies). This one is from 1933-34. There are 12 stamps of different denominations from 2o to 100o in this series. My only hope is to have all the stamps from the series some day.




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Cover - South Korea, Country #68

My first ever cover from South Korea came in just yesterday and that to with odd shaped stamps on it. A lovely cover. Thank you ICCC, Vural and Park Choonjong.

The stamps on the cover are self adhesive stamps from the Korean-Made Characters Series Stamps (2nd Issue). The set consists of 10 stamps each of denomination 270 won and features the character "Pucca". This series was issued on 22.2.2012

On the back, the other stickers (non - stamp) from the sheet were used in sealing this cover. The sheet has 8 such stickers of which 5 are used here.

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Cover - Australia

This is only my third cover from Australia. Nice one but unfortunately no cancellation on the stamps.

The first two stamps are from the set of 4 stamps issued on Australian water birds on 6th March 2012
60c, The Radjah Shelduck
60c, The Pink-eared Duck
The other two stamps are from the Fishes of the Reef Definitives series, first part. The series was released in two parts, the first on 21st June and the second on 28th June 2010.

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Cover - USA

Another lovely FDC from the USA. The stamps on the cover are 

January 19, 2012 Glacier National Park, Montana 

May 2012 Bicycling: 4 designs in this issue of stamps on bicylcing. This one here shows a young child just learning to ride with training wheels.

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USA - Aeronautics Conference - 1928

The International Civil Aeronautics Conference of 1928 was established to commemorate the 25th anniversary of powered flight by the Wright brothers. The conference was attended by delegates from around the world as well as hundreds of American dignitaries and aviation pioneers including Orville Wright.

The Wright brothers success is primarily responsible for about 25000+  commercial flights to USA alone. This is excluding private planes, planes to hire, military and air-cargo flights. 

Two different stamps were issued for the conference, a red two cent stamp featuring the Wright Brother’s airplane and a blue five cent stamp featuring a then current airplane over a globe that you can see in the picture below. Both stamps also feature the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capital building. I do not have the Wright brother's airplane stamp in my collection.

1928, Dec. 12

5c blue, Globe and then airplane

The Conference concluded with a trip to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina (the site of the Wright brother’s first flight) on December 17th, exactly 25 years after their historic flight. After a final trip back to Washington, D.C., the conference ended.

The International Civil Aeronautics Conference has been essentially forgotten over the years, but the two striking postage stamps that were issued to commemorate it remain.

It also looks like an error of a print shift in the stamp above which frankly, I had not noticed before. Actually now, I would like to have both the stamps from this set of two of the 1928 conference.

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Cover - Canada

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Cover - USA

Another great cover from the USA. Two stamps from the set of 5 stamps issued earlier in May this year commemorating the animation studio Disney/Pixar's 25th Anniversary. And one of the stamps from the Aloha shirts set of 5 designs release.

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Cover - Latvia

My third cover from Latvia and from Oleg. Beautiful cover. This time the stamps on the cover are fauna related. The setenant block was issued in April 2012 to commemorate 100th anniversary of the Riga Zoo and the other one depicts the Barn Swallow, a bird commonly seen all over Latvia. Thanks Oleg for the lovely cover

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