Traditional Music in Algeria, FDC

First-day postmarked stamps from a recent set about traditional music in Algeria. The stamp on the left shows a Ghayta which is an oboe-type instrument popular in North Africa. And the stamp on the right depicts Urar l'Khalath: ancestral female singing.

UN World Post Day in Voluntari, Romania

This was sent to me from a Postcrosser in Romania who organized a meetup event at the Voluntari Post Office outside of Bucharest, Romania. The event was held to commemorate UN World Post Day on  October 9. He had a special postmark and postcard produced for the occasion. The pair of stamps on the left are Europa 2008 "Letter Writing" stamps. And the label on the right is an image of the postcard that was included in the cover.

Otfried Preußler, Germany FDC

On this cover from Germany are stamps commemorating 100 years since the birth of famous German children's writer Otfried Preußler. The character on the stamps is "The Robber Hotzenplotz" from his popular book series of the same name. Preußler's image appears in the middle of the postmark.

180th Anniversary of the Brazilian Bull's Eye Stamps

The first postage stamps issued by Brazil on the 1st of August, 1843, had the appearance of bull's eyes. This was the second non-local stamp issue in the world with the first being the Penny Black in 1940. These 2023 stamps commemorate the 180th anniversary of the Bull's Eye stamps as part of the UPAEP joint issue for which this years theme is philately and postage stamps.

The Dresden Frauenkirche, FDC

This stamp is part of a series that shows before and after images of famous places in Germany. On this stamp is Frauenkirche in Dresden. It was destroyed by allied bombing during WW2. The stamp shows a famous image of the church ruins from 1957 on the right. And a modern image of the restored church in 2015 on the left.

Royalty in Malaysia

Postmarked at one of Malaysia's national mail centers. The stamp on the left commemorates the 2015 coronation of Sultan Ibrahim Ismail Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar Al-Haj as the the Sultan of Johor. The state of Johor is at the southern end of the Malaysian peninsula and is controlled by a constitutional monarchy. The 2017 stamps on the right commemorate the state visit of the Prince of Wales & Duchess of Cornwall.

Closure of the Kennedy Space Center Post Office

The contractor-operated post office at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida ceased operations on the 26th of September, 2023. There has been a post office at the KSC in one form or another since 1965. I would guess that most of its customers were space cover collectors. Near the bottom of this thread it mentions there were 663 items hand cancelled on closing day. I found out about the closure at the last minute and managed to get this cover down there for cancellation on the last day. 

Montreal, Canada

From the Canadian city of Montreal. The postmark shows the Montreal skyline at the base of Mount Royal, with its cross at the top of the hill. The stamp featuring Canadian labour activist and feminist Simonne Monet-Chartrand is from a recent set commemorating famous Quebec feminists.

Saint Luigi Orione and the Year of the Ox, Argentina

A Year of the Ox lunar new year sheet on the left. And in the right corner is a stamp commemorating the 150th birth anniversary of Don Luigi Orione. This was a joint issue with Italy, The Vatican and The Sovereign Military Order of Malta. The other stamps are National Park definitives with Sierra de las Quijadas National Park on the bottom and Laguna Blanca National Park in the middle.

ESA Space Mission Hugginn

On August 26th 2023, Danish ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen was part of a crew launched from Kennedy Space Center to the ISS. His six month mission, named Huginn after one of Norse god Odin’s ravens, will include a range of scientific experiments involving virtual reality, sleep and climate science.

Now that I look at it, I think August 27th would have been a better date for the postmark as that was the day the crew orbiter docked with the ISS. A second cover with a postmark from the space center would have been nice too. 

The envelope was used by Tusass Greenland for their Hugginn stamp sheet. Posta Faroe Islands put out an identical stamp with an identical FDC envelope except the text at the bottom was in Faroese instead of Greenlandic.

Bambi 100th Anniversary, Austria FDC

First-day postmarked in Grünau im Almtal, Austria. The stamp commemorates the 100th anniversary of the publication of Felix Salten's original novel "Bambi, a Life in the Woods". Salten was a famous  Austrian writer... and an avid hunter.

The Last Aerogram from Japan

On October 1st, Japan Post officially discontinued the sale and acceptance of pre-paid Aerogram products  due to the rising cost of international postage. In Japan the international letter rate is currently 120 yen but the cost to send this aerogram I received from Yokohama was 90 yen.

An aerogram is a single sheet of paper that you can write a message on. It's gummed around the edges so it can be folded into an envelope and sent through the mail. The postage is pre-printed on the outside and is typically a reduced rate because the aerogram is incredibly light, being only a single sheet of paper. This aerogram from Japan came to me with an ACPC circuit inside.

Equestrian Sports in Sweden

A pair of covers from Sjöbo, Sweden with recent stamps featuring images of equestrian sports. They are from a set called "Hobby Horse to Gold Medal". The first stamp on the top cover shows hobby horses which are used in "hobby horsing" competitions. It's been very popular in Finland for the past few years and gaining popularity in other countries, like Sweden.