Monday, March 18, 2024

USA OSIRIS-REx

Some OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return stamps from 2023 decorate this tidy cover from Alaska.

Friday, March 15, 2024

Italy's Zucchelli Station

Sent back to me from Italy's Antarctic station Mario Zucchelli via nearby US McMurdo Station. Signed by expedition leader Dr Gianluca Bianchi Fasani. I like the look of the colourful 2022 US Mariachi stamps on the yellow envelope.

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Flowers from Finland

I know spring is coming when I start to get covers with flower stamps in my mailbox. Although it has felt like spring here off and on for the past couple of months. We barely had a winter.

Monday, March 11, 2024

New Zealand Queen Elizabeth II stamps

On this cover from Whanganui are stamps featuring the Queen of England and one of her mother.  Clockwise from upper left, a 2001 stamp from a set commemorating the Queen's 75th birthday. This particular stamps shows the Queen during a Royal visit to New Zealand in 1986. A stamp from a 2023 memorial set. A 1997 stamp commemorating the Queen's 50th wedding anniversary. And a stamp from a set issued in 2000 showing  the Queen Mother at age 7, from a set commemorating the 100th birthday of the Queen Mother.

Friday, March 8, 2024

Mandarin Phonetic Symbols, Taiwan FDC

On this first-day cover from Taiwan is a recent set of 10 stamps designed to "increase children’s interest in learning and their appreciation of the beauty of Taiwan". Each stamp depicts a Mandarin phonetic symbol with an image of a highlight from an administrative region, the name of which contains the phonetic sound represented by the symbol. 

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Pro Juventute and Pro Patria

A pair of semi-postals from the 1980's make an appearance on this cover from Riva San Vitale, Switzerland. On the left is a 1985 children's charity stamp with the theme "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves" and to the right is a 1987 national interest charity stamp showing an antique wardrobe. And the final stamp on the right is 2022 river landscape stamp that shows the Aare river near Rubigen in the Canton of Bern.


Monday, March 4, 2024

Spring Greetings from Osaka

Annual spring greetings stamps on this first-day cover from Osaka. On the left is are horsetails and on the right are violets.

Friday, March 1, 2024

Algerian Customs Agents

This FDC commemorates Algerian customs officers and the difficulties they face protecting the borders of Africa's largest nation.

Wednesday, February 28, 2024

Turin, Italy

Lots of stamps on this cover with a Torino philatelic bureau handstamp. From left to right: a 1974 stamp commemorating the 200th anniversary of the Italian financial police, a 1974 stamp commemorating the European Athletic Games, a pair of 1975 stamps commemorating the Holy Year, a 2009 stamp commemorating the 200th birth anniversary of Charles Darwin, 2023 Europa stamp and a 2004 stamp commemorating the 600th anniversary of the University of Turin.

Monday, February 26, 2024

Port Menier, Quebec

Canada's Anticosti Island sits in the gulf of St Lawrence and is part of the province of Quebec. Nearly the entire coastline of the island is a UNESCO world heritage site. I always thought it was off-limits to tourism and was uninhabited so I was a little surprised when I saw that there was a post office there that now uses this postmark. 


The fishing village of Port Menier is home to a little more than 200 people and it is the only real population center on the island. In the past the island was privately owned and exploited for it's resources. The government of Quebec purchased the island in 1974 with the intention of maintaining the island as a nature reserve. It is a popular destination for hunting and fishing and outdoor tourism.


In the center of the postmark is the Vauréal Waterfall in Anticosti National Park. The stamp from 2023 shows a northern bottlenose whale. Although they do live in the northern Atlantic and have been know to frequent the waters off the coast of Canada, they are not usually seen in the gulf of St Lawrence.

Friday, February 23, 2024

Port Louis, Mauritius

Some savage postal employee thoroughly defaced the wonderful stamps on this nice cover from Mauritius. I wonder sometimes if it's just done out of spite. From bottom left to right, a cowrie shell from a 2017 sea shells set, a 2022 stamp commemorating the 200th anniversary of the municipal theater in Port Louis, a 2023 stamp commemorating the 50th anniversary of the State Bank of Mauritius, and a Mauritius Blue Pigeon from a 2022 extinct species definitives set.

Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Italian Food Companies

The stamps on this cover from Colnago, Italy, commemorate Vismara, a cured meat company that has been in operation since 1898. And Cirio, a company that has specialized in canned tomato products since 1856.