Eschen, Liechtenstein

Eschen is a town in the north end of Liechtenstein. In the postmark is an image of the parish chuch and the Pfrundbauten. The stamp on the left is a 2013 SEPAC stamp featuring an alpine marmot. And on the right is a view of Vaduz castle.

USA Year of the Snake with shiny foil

A little cover from the US with a Year of the Snake stamp on it featuring shiny red foil embellishments. Next to that is the 2025 "love" stamp that features a 1985 drawing by American artist Keith Haring. And a little assortment of low value stamps brings it up to the international letter rate. This was postmarked in Mid Island which is a collection of neighbourhoods in the middle of New York City's Staten Island.

World Peace Day in Germany

The postmark says World Peace Day. It's the postmark of the month. I'm not exactly sure what it commemorates because there is an International Day of Peace but that's September 21st. It's a nice postmark though. The stamp on the left is a Europa 2021 endangered wildlife stamp. And on the right is a stamp that shows how the Frauenkirche in Dresden appeared in 1957 and after restoration in 2015.

Year of the Snake from Shizuoka, Japan

First thing I notice about this Year of the Snake self-adhesive souvenir sheet from Japan is the increased postal rates. They went up 30% last October. The 25g domestic letter rate is now 110 yen and the domestic postcard rate is now 85 yen. 

More Solar System stamps from Brazil

This is the third cover I've received from Brazil with solar system stamps on it. I think I'm one short of a whole sheet. On these stamps are Saturn, Neptune and Uranus. And in the label are asteroids Ceres and Hijra.

Pordenone, Italy

A nice pair of stamps from 2023 on this cover from northern Italy. On the left is a stamp commemorating the National University Library in Turin. And on the right is a stamp commemorating the 100th anniversary of Italian Order of Merit for Labour.

Namibia

Sent from Windhoek: the capital of the south-west African nation of Namibia. The souvenir sheet stamp shows the shape of the country in the colours of their flag. That little bit at the north-east corner that juts out between Zambia and Botswana, is known as the Caprivi Strip. It was acquired by the Germans when Namibia was known as German South West Africa. It gave them access to the Zambezi River. From there, technically, you could reach the Indian Ocean but you'd have to somehow manage your way around Victoria Falls. 

The butterfly on the 1993 stamp in the lower right is a Green-veined Emperor. And the minerals shown on the definitive from 1991 are wulfenite crystals.

Flower Stamps from Seoul

The South Korean stamps on this cover are floral commemoratives from 1993 and 1994, from a series that ran from 1990 to 1997. It took me a while to locate the source of the postmark: "SL. MMAA". It's a post office that operates at the Military Mutual Aid Assistance office building in Seoul's Gangnam district. The MMAA provides pension funds for military personal and civilian employees connected to the military. 

Barbary Squirrel, Algeria FDC

The stamp on this cover from Algeria is a depiction of a Barbary ground squirrel. These small stripped squirrels live in the Atlas mountain region between between the Western Sahara and Algeria.

Ciudad Rodrigo, Spain

Ciudad Rodrigo is a small walled city in the Spanish province of Salamanca. I would think the image in the postmark is that of the cathedral of Santa Maria but I can't say for certain. The stamp is from a series commemorating popular traditions in Spain and the subject of this 2023 stamp is the annual Carnival in Ciudad Rodrigo: a five-day bull fighting festival. Muito obrigado Pedro!