Cover - Qatar, Country #70

My first cover from Qatar. My cousin Preema was kind enough to send it across. Thanks Preema.

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Cover - USA

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Cover - France

Received this lovely cover from France.
The heart shaped stamp was issued on Valentine's day, 14th Feb 2012. The “Patch d’Amour” is designed a bit like a tattoo. The stamp is a clear sticker and the background depends on the surface on which it is applied.
I have more of the heart shaped stamps issued by La Poste in my collection of odd shaped stamps. Will do a post on it separately some time soon.

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Cover - Belgium

An FDC with two of the paste a leaf self adhesive stamps issued in booklet form from Belgium.

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Cover - Netherlands

A cover with 200 odd stamps from Netherlands sent in the cover. Thanks Henk. One stamps, the semi-postal is slightly damaged and the cancellations are messy. I like the cover though.

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Photo Stamps

Now this is novel and something really interesting that I discovered as I was browsing the web searching and looking for information related to some US stamps. Its amazing how a square inch can become the most powerful marketing tool.

What I am talking about here, is promotional marketing using valid / real postage stamps or use of stamps in general for personal or business usages.

A company called Stamps.com in the US, offers the following services to its customers:
PC Postage Service offers people an easier solution to posting material. It allows you, with an internet connection, to digitally print postal stamps right in the convenience of your own home/office without the hassle of going to a post office. It claims to be around 80% cheaper for businesses who post in bulk and all mail can be easily tracked.
The PhotoStamps is according to me, unique! This feature allows its users to upload they favorite photos, graphics of company logos onto the site. They can also save them for future purchases. There they can edit them (by zooming, cropping, rotating and adding borders) to create professional looking, high-quality, adhesive-backed postage stamps, which I should add, is totally approved by the U.S. Postal Service.This is especially useful for small businesses or offices who want to promote any new products or services in an off-beat manner.
This service however, is limited to postage within the US alone and not international.

I will have to check to see how many more such offerings by how many other companies are out there. In any case I know for sure that such a service is not available in India and think not in many other countries too.

At the same time I'm also wondering now whether these stamps will be of interest to collectors. Someday will they find place in stamp catalogs or will there be a specific catalog of only these photo stamps? Could this be the future of postage stamps? Anyway for now, there are more than 500,000 regular postage stamps from all eras out there and more are being released and issued each year for collectors like me to be interested in and be amused with. So I for one will stick to that. Happy collecting.

Do feel free to add your thoughts, comments or suggestions

Russia - Pt 3

Stamps of Russia -
1993, Feb. 25: Characters from Children’s Books
2r, Scrub and Rub.
3r, Big Cockroach.
10r, The Buzzer Fly.
15r, Doctor Doolittle.
25r, Barmalei.
1993, Dec. 30: Wildlife
250r Phascolarctos cinereus
250r Monachus schauinslandi
250r Haliaeetus leucocephalus
250r Elephas maximus
250r Grus vipio
250r Ailuropoda melanoleuca
250r Phocoenoides dalli
250r Eschrichtius robustus

1999, Jan. 29: Hunting
1r Wild turkey
1.50r Ducks
2r Releasing raptor
2.50r Wolves
3r Bear
1999, Sept. 30: Native sports
2r Kalmyk wrestling
2r Horse racing
2r Stick tossing
2r Reindeer racing
2r Weight lifting
2004, Aug. 12: Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF), Block of four.
8r Gulo gulo: a, With pine branches. b, With dead bird. c, On tree branch. d, With young.

2006, June 6: Flowers, Block of four.
7r a, Spring flowers. b, Summer flowers. c, Fall flowers. d, Winter flowers
2006, Aug. 29: Fauna of Sakha Republic
3r, Rhodostethia rosea. 
4r, Grus leucogeranus.
5r, Ursus maritimus.
6r, Equus caballus. 
7r, Rangifer tarandus.
2008, Aug. 29: Wildlife Definitives. Complete set of 15

Miniature / Souvenir Sheets:
1997, Mar. 20: Coat of Arms of Russia, 500th Anniv.
1999, Apr. 12: Intl. Space Station
2000, Jan. 5: Christianity, 2000th Anniv. 3r. Sheet of 3
a, Mother of God mosaic, St. Sofia Cathedral, Kiev, 11th cent. 
b, Christ Pantocrator fresco, Church of the Savior’s Transfiguration Polotsk, Belarus, 12th cent. 
c, Volodymyr Madonna, Tretiakov Gallery, Moscow, 12th cent.
2003, Apr. 15: Baltic Fleet, 300th Anniv.

2003, Sept. 9: Russia-Iran Joint issue. Caspian Sea Fauna
2.50r a, Phoca caspica. b, Huso huso.
2006, Aug. 29: Fauna of Sakha Republic
2008 Apr. 15: Beijing Olympics

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Russia - Pt 2

1987, July 2: Ferns
1987, Aug. 25
4k, 14th-16th Century Postrider
5k, 17th cent. postman and 17th cent. kibitka (sled).
10k, 16th-17th cent. ship and 18th cent. packet.
30k, Railway station and 19th cent. mailcars.
35k, AMO-F-15 bus and car, 1905.
1988, Jan. 4: 1st Soviet Postage Stamp, 70th Anniv.
1988, May 20: Hunting Dogs

1990, Aug. 15: Prehistoric Animals
1990, Oct. 3:
25k, Killer whales
25k, Northern sea lions
25k, Sea Otter
25k, Common Dolphins
1991, Jan. 4: Marine Life

1991, Mar. 14
20k, G. I. Shelekhov (1747-1795), Alaska colonizer.
25k, Yuri A. Gagarin
30k, A. A. Baranov, (1746-1819), first governor of Russian America.
50k, I. A. Kuskov, founder of Fort Ross, California.
1991, Sept. 4: 1992 Summer Olympic games in Barcelona. Complete set in blocks of 2

1991, Oct. 4: Folk Holidays. Complete set. Almost all in blocks of 2
15k, Ascension, Armenia
15k, New Year, Azerbaijan
15k, Ivan Kupala Day, Byelorussia
15k, Berikaoba, Georgia
15k, New Year, Estonia
15k, Kaszakhstan
15k, Kys Kumai, Kirgizia
15k, Ivan Kupala Day, Latvia
15k, Palm Sunday. lithuania
15k, Plugushorul, Moldavia
15k, Shrovetide, Russia
15k, New Year, Tadzhikistan
15k, Spring Tulips, Uzbekistan
15k, Harvest, Turkmenistan
15k, Christmas, Ukraine

Semi-Postals -
1988, Dec. 27: Armenian earthquake relief. Complete set, Block of 4
1990, July 3: Lenin’s Children Fund. Complete set, Block of 4

And the Miniature Sheets -
1977, Sept. 22: Equestrian and fencer.
1981, Dec. 17: 1st direct telephone link with India.
50 k, Kremlin and New Delhi Parliament
1987, Aug. 25
50k, Postal headquarters, Moscow, and modern postal delivery trucks.

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Russia - Pt 1

I am going to have three parts to this post on my collection of Russian stamps. I will start with my stamps of the USSR followed by those of modern day Russia. Since my last post on my Russian stamps, I have been able to make some progress if not a lot and Im more than delighted. And the progress is not only with the number of stamps in my collection but also with the quality of the posts, atleast in my highest opinion. 

And as usual a little history to start off with.....An empire until 1917, the government was overthrown in that year and a socialist union of republics was formed under the name of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The USSR includes the following autonomous republics which have issued their own stamps: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Ukraine. 

With the breakup of the Soviet Union on Dec. 26, 1991, eleven former Soviet republics established the Common wealth of Independent States. Stamps inscribed “Rossija” are issued by the Russian Republic.

Here now are short descriptions of the stamps in complete sets or almost complete sets in the collection. 

1966: Definitives. Short set. 9 out of 12. The ones in red are missing in my collection.
1k, Congress Palace, Moscow, and map of Russia.
2k, Soft Landing on Moon 
3k, Boy, girl and Lenin banner. 
4k, Flag. 
6k, Plane and Ostankino Television Tower. 
10k, Soldier and Soviet star. 
12k, Steel worker. 
16k, “Peace,” woman with dove. 
20k, Demonstrators in Red Square,
30k, Symbols of Agriculture and Chemistry 
50k, Newspaper, plane, train and Communications Ministry. 
1r, Lenin and industrial symbols.

1974, Nov. 20: Flora of the USSR
1976, Definitives. Short set. 9 out of 12.
1k, Armed Forces Order
2k, Golden Star and Hammer and Sickle medals. 
3k, Worker and Farmer by V. I. Muhina.
4k, Coat of arms and “CCCP.” 
6k, TU-154 plane, globe and airmail envelope. 
10k, Order of Labor. 
12k, Space exploration medal with Gagarin portrait. 
16k, Lenin Prize M. N. medal.
20k, Marx and Lenin, by Fridman and Belostotsky 
30k, Council for Mutual Economic Aid Building
50k, Lenin, 1920 Photograph
1r, Globe and Sputnik Orbits

1981, May 20: Flowers of the Carpathian Mountains
1981, Aug. 20: Song birds.
1983, June 14: Spring Flowers
1984, Feb. 16: Moscow Zoo, 120th Anniv.
1984, May 5: Aquatic Plants

1985, July 10: Medicinal plant from Siberia
1986, Jan. 15: Flora of Russian Steppes, different.
1986, May 15: Toadstools

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Sweden

I have started rearranging my stamps since some time now, those that have not been so far, in the chronological order of date and year of release. Recently I finished with the few stamps of Sweden I have.

Most Swedish stamps are not perforated on all sides, if you've noticed. They are either perforated vertically / horizontally or on three sides, reason being that most of them are released in the booklet format.

I am just listing out below some of the complete sets and short sets in my small collection of these stamps.
1963, Sept. 16: 300th anniversary of the Swedish Board of Health. Dr. Du Rietz (1607-1682) was first president of the “Collegium Medicorum,” forerunner of the Board of Health.
Perf. 12 1/2 Vertically
35o dark blue
2k dark red
Perf. 12 1/2 on 3 sides
25o brown

1975, June 13: European Architectural Heritage Year 1975.
75o Skelleftea Church Village, 17th cent.
75o Foundry and furnace, Engelsberg, 18th cent.
75o Gunpowder Tower, Visby.
75o Falun Mine pithead gear, 1852.
75o Officers’ Mess, Rommehed, 1798.

1984, Aug. 28: Medieval Towns. Engravings by E. Dahlbergh or M. Karl.
1.90k Jonkoping
1.90k Karlstad
1.90k Gavle
1.90k Sigtuna
1.90k Norrkoping
1.90k Vadstena

1986, Apr. 11: Olof Palme (1927-1986), Prime Minister

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