Tuesday, November 30, 2010

British Antarctic Territory 2010 Stamp Issues

The BAT stamp issue topics for 2010 are Marine Diversity (set of 4 and a souvenir sheet), the British Antarctic Expedition of 1910-1913 (two sheetlets), and Antarctic Birds.

Friday, November 26, 2010

Palmer Station, US Antarctic Program

Palmer Station is a US Antarctic research base located on Anvers Island, just north of the Antarctic Circle. It is staffed by around 40 in the summer and less than 20 during the winter and the base is normally re-supplied by the RV Laurence M. Gould.




I sent this cover to the base via Punta Areans in mid September. The LMG arrived at the base on 12 October 2010 to 'open' the base for the 2010/2011 season and the Palmer cancel on the lower left corner of this cover bares the date Oct 13 2010. So it was processed during the staff turn over. But why was the stamp on this cover cancelled in Denver? My guess is that all outgoing mail was just loaded up in a sack and brought back to the Raytheon Polar Services Company in Centennial, Colorado (just outside of Denver) where it was then added to the regular mail stream.
 

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Ross Dependency 2010

On 17 November 2010, New Zealand Post will issue a new Ross Dependency stamp issue featuring whales of the Southern Ocean. The issue will consist of five oversized (50mm x 30mm) gummed stamps which will also be issued as in a souvenir sheet. The whales featured on these stamps are Sperm, Minke, Sei, Killer and Humpback. For this release, New Zealand Post is also releasing a limited edition (and expensive) deluxe stamp pack that will consist of a booklet, signed FDC, imperf souvenir sheet, colour separations and the stamp set itself. More info can be found here

Monday, November 1, 2010

McMurdo Station, USA

Got this in the mail the other day which is odd because I don't recall sending anything down to McMurdo this year. I did send one down to the South Pole Station though. Wonder if I got the address wrong. It pretty much looks just like the letter I got from McMurdo last year. Same IPY stamp. The cancel is a bit different though. I'm certain I didn't send anything to McMurdo this year.