TAAF Cover - Europa

Île Europa is the largest of the îles Éparses (Scattered islands of the Indian Ocean) that are part of French Southern and Atlantic Lands (FSAT or TAAF). The island is a nature reserve and also home to a met station. It is uninhabited but routinely visited by scientists.

TAAF Stamps for 2011

Details regarding the 2011 TAAF stamp issues have been released on the TAAF website. These stamps will be available 4 Jan 2011

The Rest of the 2010 British Antarctic Stamp Issues

The Falkland Islands Philatelic Bureau has provided details regarding the 2010 British Antarctic stamp issues. All three were issued on 3 December 2010. Here are some enlarged images of the stamps.

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.

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.
 

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

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.

Carcross Yukon Maxi Card

I'm not a huge fan of maximum cards but sometimes, with the right combination of stamp, cancel and postcard, they look alright. While looking through some of the commemorative cancels available in Canada I came across one from Carcross YT for the White Pass 'Golden Spike'. The White Pass is a rail line that runs from Skagway Alaska to Whitehorse Yukon. Although Carcross lies about 2/3 of the way from Skagway, the last spike or 'Golden Spike' was driven here 29 July 1900. The cancel on this card commemorates the 100th anniversary of the event.

I found this postcard which apparently is of a locomotive traveling on the White Pass line. Finding a suitable stamp wasn't easy and it never seems to be really. I wish Canada Post would put out nice generic 'Canadiana' definitives that just have a flag or maple leaf on them. These days it's all about flowers and flags over mills and such. Anyhow, the Red Fox stamp from the recent Wildlife Photography booklet seemed to be a good choice since their range does extend that far north.

The post master in Carcross did an excellent job getting the cancel on the card for me. No smudging and well placed. I've received a few covered from Carcross and the cancels always turn out looking great.

New Canadian Beneficial Insects

On October 19, Canada Post issued a new series of low value definitives to extend the existing series of low value stamps depicting beneficial insects. This time the values are 4,6,7,8 and 9 cents showing the paper wasp, assassin bug, large milkweed bug, margined leatherwing and the dogbane beetle respectively. As with the first series, these are available together on a limited run souvenir sheet (400k) and also 5000 uncut press sheets. Each uncut sheet has full panes of each value. But unlike the previous issue, these sheets are not signed or numbered.

Hopen, Norway

I received this back from the the MET station on Hopen Island. Hopen is part of the Svalbard archipelago. The Norwegian Meteorological Institute has had a weather station operating on the island since 1948. The station is manned with a staff of four in six month rotations with the Coast Guard resupplying the station twice a year, usually n July and September. This cover was cancelled on September 16.

New TAAF stamp for November 2010

This TAAF stamp is being issued to coincided with the stamp show to be held at "Espace Champerret" in Paris 4 to 7 November 2010. What's interesting about this stamp is that it will be issued in perforated and self-adhesive formats. Both in sheets of 10 stamps. This will be the first self-adhesive TAAF stamp.

Hay River, Northwest Territories

Hay River is a community of 3500 in the Northwest Territories on the south shore of Great Slave Lake.