Erich von Drygalski postmark

A philatelic postmark from Germany which I believe was commissioned by Arbeitsgemeinschaft POLAR PHILATELY eV, to commemorate 150 years since the birth of Erich von Drygalski.

Drygalski was a German geographer and polar scientist who led the first German expedition to the Antarctic in 1901. They discovered new land before returning home 2 years later. Half of their time away was spent trapped on an ice sheet. This is an aerial photo of their ship, Gauss, taken by a balloon used during the expedition.

450th Anniversary of Rio de Janeiro

Took me a while to realize that the faces on these stamps and the envelope are made of the numbers 450.

50 Years of German-Israeli diplomatic relations

Pori, Finland

From Pori, Finland, with a Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät stamp on it. PKN is a Finnish punk band whose members all have some degree of developmental disability. They represented Finland in the 2015 Eurovision contest but didn't make it to the finals.

  

Dresden, Germany

This is a stamp and commemorative envelope commemorating French aviator and writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's very famous children's book "The Little Prince". He wrote the book while living in exile in the United States in 1942. Around the time of its publication, he left for North Africa to join the Free French Air Force. His plane disappeared during a reconnaissance flight over the Mediterranean in July 1944 and he was never seen again.

Belgium, Earth Hour

From Essen in Belgium. One of the best machine cancels I've seen in a while. The stamp is from a sheet issued by bpost last year to commemorate Earth Hour.

This stamp is watermarked in a unique way. Under UV light, a power switch symbol can be (somewhat) seen in the middle of the Earth and the designers name and year are visible in the bottom right corner. 

World Skills, São Paulo, Brazil

World Skills International is a non-profit association of agencies responsible for professional skills development in countries around the world. They do this through promotion, collaboration, training and competition. And the range of trades covered is huge: from engineering to restaurant services. This year the biennial competition event, which was first held in 1950, is being held in São Paulo, Brazil.

Dutch Bridges

New bridge stamps from the Netherlands. The HSL-brug Moerdijk (on the left) is a 2 km high-speed rail bridge that connects the province of North Brabant with South Holland. It was completed in 2006. Ehzerbrug (on the right) is a pre-fabricated truss bridge (Callender-Hamilton bridge) in the village of Almen, that crosses the Twentekanaal. It was completed in 1946.

Canadian Dinosaurs

Another self-adhesive souvenir sheet from Canada Post. These stamps are heavily embossed, so much so that the dinosaur shadows show up on the scan of the back of the sheet. They also include some metal foil enhancements to make them shine. The booklet versions of these stamps also have a foil finish but without the embossing, they don't quite look right.

Hessisch Lichtenau, Germany

Hessisch Lichtenau is a small town in the German state of Hesse, in the heart of Germany. The stamp on the left is Marksburg castle in the town of Braubach on the Rhine and on the left is Ludwigslust Palace in the town of Ludwigslust in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

War of 1812 - Battle of New Orleans

The Battle of New Orleans was the final battle of the War of 1812 between the British and Americans. It was fought between 24 December 1814 and 8 January 1815. This stamp was issued 8 January 2015: 200 years after the last day of the battle when the British were defeated while attempting to take New Orleans.

Brazilian Prehistoric Animals

These Brazilian stamps feature prehistoric animals that once occupied Brazil from as far back as 270 million years ago.  The animals on the stamps were printed with a high-gloss sheen and two of them have a rough scale-like texture.