Year of the Horse, Mariehamn Åland

Åland Post has been issuing lunar new year stamps in this style for the past 12 years which means this is the final stamp in the 12 stamp series. The stamp sheets are designed to present the new year animal with an Åland feel. This sheet was issued in October 2025 for the upcoming year of the horse which starts on February 17.

The 34th Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference in Åland

This cover is from the Åland capital of Marihamn. The 2025 stamp on the right is an abstract map of the Baltic region, with the countries around the Baltic Sea Represented by the colours of their flags, showing Åland’s location between Sweden and Finland. The stamp was issued to coincide with the 34th Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference (BSPC) held in August of 2025 in Mariehamn. The stamp on the left from 2005 depicts the Schooner "Linden" in the summer.

Åland Architecture

On the 2025 SEPAC stamp from Åland Post is the Åland Lyceum: the senior high school in Mariehamn. Built in 1903, the Swedish manor house style stone building was one of the first of this size in Mariehamn. Pictured in the postmark from Eckerö is the Russian era Eckerö Mail and Customs House built in 1828, now used as a postal museum and art gallery.

Silver Jewelry from Åland: first mail in over a month

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.

Other than ad mail, this is the first letter to be found in my mailbox since the postal strike ended on December 17th. It would have been nice to open my mailbox on that date and find a month's worth of covers waiting for me. But that wasn't the case. It's going to take a while for Canada Post to get through their backlog. Probably a very long while. 

The strike was ended by government intervention, after they determined the two side were too far apart in their negotiations. But it's only temporary. Unionized Canada Post employees are allowed to strike again in May when their temporary work agreement ends. 

Åland's Underwater Flora and Fauna

On this cover from Mariehamn is an Åland 2024 Europa stamp. The stamp features common eelgrass. There are large fields of eelgrass in the Baltic sea, particularly around the Åland islands. It is home to a thriving ecosystem providing food and shelter for several species of fish, crustaceans and invertebrates.

My flatbed scanner does not present the blue-green hot foil applied to the stamp in all its shimmering glory, as you can see in the image below.

Åland, Year of the Dragon

Posted from Åland's capital Mariehamn. On the front of this cover is a colourful Year of the Dragon sheet issued 2023. Additional postage is on the back: Year of the Rat stamps from 2019 featuring harvest mice and a Year of the Rabbit stamp from 2022.

Åland Tattoo Art

The three 2006 booklet stamps on the right are photos of actual tattoos on people from Åland. And the stamp on the left from 2005 shows a Fritz von Dardel illustration of tourists visiting the ruins of Bomarsund fortress.

Titanic Centenary stamps from Åland

A gutter pair of 2012 stamps issued by Åland post commemorating the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic.

 

Åland, The Tall Ship Races 2021

With a nice little Christmas postmark and a 5€ stamp. The annual Tall Ships Races that take place in the Baltic Sea were to feature Mariehamn as one of the host ports during the 2021 races but COVID-19  restrictions changed those plans. The races are designed to "encourage international friendship and training for young people in the art of sailing".

Mariehamn, Åland

On the right is Åland's 2020 SEPAC stamp. It shows a 1976 triptych entitled Sabina by Åland artist Henrik Nylund that is now on display at the Parliament of Åland. The stamp on the left was from a 2002 set featuring Iron Age artifacts. This one is the Persby buckle: a small silver buckle found in an 8th century grave near the village of Persby.

Åland, Life at Sea

Åland "Norden" issued from 2012. The theme that year was "Life at Sea"

Mariehamn, Åland

Sailing ships. From left to right, the brig Altai, the full-rigged clipper Mermerus and the 4-masted barque Viking.

Mariehamn, Åland

Year of the Rat stamps from Åland. The stamps on the left feature harvest mice, or maybe they are yellow necked mice. The little round nest is typical of a harvest mouse. And on the left, the aurora borealis.

Åland, Christmas 2018

Mariehamn, Åland

Mariehamn, Åland

The postmark on this one is for the 20th anniversary of the Åland Peace Institute in Mariehamn.

Preserve the Polar Regions Update

After acquiring the Aland Preserve the Polar Regions and Glaciers issue I realize I now have all of the officially recognized stamp issues from this series. I’ve compiled a list with images of each stamp issue and placed it here. This last one gives me a total of 37 countries. India was suppose to issue a commemorative earlier this year as well but apparently it has been delayed until December 19th of 2009. Other countries that were suppose to produce stamps for this series were Mexico, Paraguay and Uruguay but I’ve not been able to find any information about these.

My First SEPAC Issues of 2009

On 16 Sept 2009, a number of the postal administrations participating in SEPAC (Small European Postal Administrations Cooperation) issued their second part of the initial SEPAC three part series featuring “Beautiful Corners of Europe”. The first of these issues to come my way was from Aland. It consisted of two stamps. A domestic rate stamp featuring Föglö and a European rate stamp featuring Saltvik. This scenery series from Aland has been on-going for some time now, prior to its inclusion into the SEPAC “Beautiful Corners of Europe” series.



This year, 12 countries are participating in the series

Greenland
Iceland
Faroe Islands
Aland
Guernsey
Isle of Man
Jersey
Gibraltar
Luxembourg
Monaco
Liechtenstein
Malta

San Marino is sitting out. In 2007 both Luxembourg and San Marino did not participate in the series.