A pair of 2024 booklet stamps from Åland featuring silver jewelry art. The stamps make use of silver foil to give the text a nice shimmer.
A cover from Buenos Aires with 7500 pesos of postage on it. That's a lot. It's slightly more than the international letter rate for Denmark. Here's a postcrossing thread I came across with a discussion about postage rates in Argentina. Looking back over covers I've received from Argentina in the past, I can see the increases getting larger and larger as the years go by. Inflation is so high in Argentina. The postal rate increase so fast that multiple older stamps are always needed to make the current postage rate.
Not much happening on this cover from Taastrup, Denmark (there is a large Postnord terminal there) but the stamp caught my attention. It's the first cover I've received from Denmark with an "Udland" stamp on it. Earlier this year Postnord declared that all stamps produced prior to Jan 1 were no longer valid for domestic mail because they were purchased before a 25% VAT for postage stamps was introduced. Apparently the same will apply to international bound mail at the end of the year. New stamps now bear the word "Innland" on domestic rate stamps and "Udland" on international rate stamps.
Another floral FDC from Osaka. This time it's a pair of recently issued rose stamps.
This cover from the Brazilian coastal city of Florianopolis comes to me with three stamps from a sheet of nine from 2020 that feature celestial bodies from our solar system. From left to right, the Sun, Earth and Mars. It's hard to see but the dark lines in the stamps that trace the paths of the planets around the sun are highlighted with a varnish.
The 150th anniversary of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) was October 9, 2024.
Postmarked at the philatelic bureau in Mende in southern France. The 2024 souvenir sheet commemorates the 80th anniversary of the allies landing on the beaches of Normandy. D-day. June 6. 1944. It was the largest amphibious military landing in history.
On this cover from Taguig is a set of four stamps from 2024 that feature traditional weapons of the Philippines. From left to right: a sinawit ax, a gunong knife, a kris knife and a falfeg javelin.
The stamps are from a 2020 set commemorating the end of the Second World War and the end of Japanese occupation. The well applied spray-on sorting center postmark commemorates World Post Day which marks the anniversary of the founding of the Universal Postal Union on 9 Oct 1874.
There are hawksbill sea turtles on these 2016 WWF stamps from Samoa. The postmark says it was sent from Apia, the capital of Samoa, but it also says Fagamalo which is a village... on a different island. So I'm not really sure exactly where it was postmarked other than somewhere in Samoa.
This stamp is the second in Deutsch Post's "Legends of Rock" stamp series. I don't think Freddie Mercury needs any kind of introduction from me. There was a limited edition version of this stamp made of gold selling for €99.90. It has a postage value of €0.85 so it could be used to mail a 20g letter from Germany. Provided you could figure out a way to attach it to an envelope.
Postmarked at the Berlin mail processing center 10. The stamp commemorates 200 years of German emigration to Brazil. Just a standard postmark but I like the little graphic with the outline of the city of Berlin. Just because it's an everyday postmark, doesn't mean it has to be boring.
From the French research and supply ship Marion Dufresne via Tromelin Island in the Scattered Islands of the French Southern and Antarctic Territory. Sent during it's second rotation of 2024 through the islands of Amsterdam, Kerguelen, Crozet and Tromelin. On the front and back are the handstamps of captain Ganor Ginat, information agent Vanessa Larose, chief mechanic Armel Derrien, telecommunication manager Florent Payet and Crozet island chef Anne-Adelaïde Lasbareilles.
First-day postmarked in Berlin, the stamps on this cover are surcharged in support of youth services. The reptiles featured are all native to Germany. On the right is an Eastern green lizzard, a grass snake top left and a European pond turtle bottom left. All three are considered endangered in Germany.
A nice FDC from the States. Three stamps from a set of 12 issued on 20 June 2024 to coincide with the arrival of the first Shakers in the Americas. Shakers, aka United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, were a Christian sect founded in the mid 18th century. The stamps in the set depict iconic examples of Shaker design: minimalist with high quality craftsmanship.
From the residential area of Toa Payoh in central Singapore. An interesting spray-on postmark. The stamp in the right corner is a 2024 Olympic stamp from a set of 10. This stamp represents sailing.
From Riga, the Latvian capital. On the left is a 2017 stamp commemorating the 500th anniversary of the reformation of the church. And on the right are a pair of Europa "think green" stamps from 2015.
From the Glorieuses: a small group of islands that are part of the French Scattered Islands. Part of the French Southern and Antarctic Territory of TAAF.
Since I'm heading to Osaka tomorrow I should post this Osaka cover I received last week. The stamps are from this year's letter writing day issue, first-day postmarked with the Osaka postmark.
In 2007 the postal administrations a few countries with Arctic interests participated in a joint issue of stamps that recognized the International Polar Year. This souvenir sheet from Finland features a foil snowflake that shimmers. The stamps on the left are from a 2007 set called "Memories of Finland".
The souvenir sheet on this first-day cover from Algeria depicts a caravan of camels carrying weapons for the National Liberation Army across the Sahara desert.
The Indonesian city of Parepare is on the south west coast of the island of Sulawesi. The souviner sheet on the right with the European bunnies is from a 1999 stamp set featuring domesticated animals. And the pair of stamps on the left are year of the rabbit stamps from 2011.
Portugal's greatest poet was Luís de Camões. His death on 10 June 1580 is commemorated every year with a national holiday known a Portugal Day. That's how famous he was. He led an adventurous life and spent many years in Africa and Asia before being taken by the plague. I'm sure some of what I've been reading about his life has been heavily romanticized over the centuries but I still find it very fascinating. Thank you Pedro.
The stamp on this First-Day cover is part of a crypto stamp issue. The stamp features an interpretation of the Cologne Cathedral by the DALL-E AI system. I was confused by the out of place grey box sticking out of the upper left side of the structure but I understand now that it is scaffolding for restoration work. Would have been nice if the AI could have provided an image of what it would look like without the scaffolding.
On July 3rd the Bank of Japan issued three new banknotes with new designs to replace previous designs that were first issued 20 years ago. The new notes are 1000, 5000 and 10000 yen. Japan post issued a sheet of stamps to commemorate this with stamps that feature design elements from the new notes. The stamp on the right features a portrait of Japanese bacteriologist and Nobel prize winner Kitasato Shibasaburō. He is featured on the front of the 1000 yen note with "The Great Wave of Kanagawa" on the reverse. The pattern in the postmark represents one of the anti-theft elements that appears on the notes.
"Baba" referring to Baban-cho: a neighbourhood in the Aoi ward in the city of Shizuoka on the south coast of Japan between Tokyo and Nagoya. The stamps are 2021 Year of the Ox lottery stamps.
