COVER N. 553 - BRUNEI

Postmark: Bandar Seri Begawan Brunei Darussalam 04.11.2024

Posted on the 4th November 2024; Received on the 17th January 2025

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Another country joins the fold, again through the generous and kind action of one of the most active supporters of this humble blog, my friend the Flying Dutchman. I am truly indebted to you Eric for again making sure my letterbox is the opposite of a Pandora box... a constant source of pleasure and bewilderment. Muito Obrigado, Eric!

Brunei, a tiny but immensely rich state led by an absolute monarch under a mix of common and sharia law... the man that celebrated his 50th birthday with free for all  Michael Jackson concerts and at some point advocated death by stoning for homosexuals...

Oh this world of ours is a strange place and the problem is that it keeps getting stranger, as money more and more makes the world go round.....

Oil is the source of all the wealth for the tiny Sultanate, independent form the UK, the former colonial power, since 1984, occupying a tiny area of 5,765 km2 in the huge island of Borneo, which is mostly divided between Malasya and Indonesia. 

On a positive note, it should be acknowledged that the country ranks very high in the Human Development Index, with free or highly subsidised housing, health and education being provided to its citizens, what does indeed prove that some of the national wealth has been duly transferred too where it matters most.

UNESCO proclaimed 1979 as the International Year of the Child as a way to draw the attention of the world to the problems that children all over the planet are confronted with.... about time UNESCO does it again, I guess, though no one in the most powerful states in the world seem to give a damn about the UN these days....

Brunei, a member of the UN since the year of its independence, 1984, issued on 14JUN1979, a two stamp set (10 sen; 1 Dollar) celebrating this proclamation.

The one dollar stamp was used on this cover, being illustrated with the logo of the International Year and as in all its stamps, following the practice of the former colonial power, the effigy of its Monarch.

COVER N. 552 - TUNISIA

Postmark: Le Bardo 04.11.2024

Posted on the 4th November 2024; Received on the 15th January 2025

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It has been a while since I received a cover from Tunisia, so today I had the pleasant surprise of getting one in my letterbox. Un grand Merci, Mohamed.

A great and diverse collection of stamps on this nice cover, embellished with a Season's garland topped by some snow, something which one would not immediately associate with the northern African country, although, as far as I could read, the white flakes are not that an uncommon sight in the mountains of the Tunisian North West.

Left to right:

2003 was declared the National Year of the Book in Tunisia. Celebrating this fact, Poste Tunis on 23APR2023 issued a 390 milim stamp featuring an open book from which all sorts of characters emanate, in a clear allegory of the power of the humble book as a vector for culture and development.

On 21OCT2000 Tunis Poste issue a five stamp set (110; 200; 2 x 250; 500 milim) themed on Flowers. One of the 250 milim stamps, illustrated with a beautiful ceramic  vase graced with a bouquet of all the flowers that are represented in this particular issue, features on the cover. 

The desert Rose, is an amazing  barite or gypsum crystal and sand formation which is quite common in Tunisia around the area of the Chott el Djerid salt lake. Although fragile these formations if carefully protected from bumps and will last forever .

This peculiar formation was chosen to illustrate the 250 milim stamp issued on 29NOV1997, on the cover.

Raptors of Tunisia was the theme chosen for a four stamp set (2 x 0,75; 0,9 and 4 Dinar) issued on 26SEP2022. The 0,9 dinar stamp on the cover is illustrated with an image of a Barn Owl (Tyto alba), a species that is distributed in almost all the African with the exception of the Sahara desert and all Europe.

The last stamp on the cover features another common sight in the place where I live: the Red Admiral, Vanessa Atalanta, a butterfly species of the Nymphalidae family. which has a very wide distribution, for it can be found in North Africa, North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and island regions of Hawaii, and the Caribbean.

The postmark indicates that the letter was mailed at Le Bardo a city in the metropolitan area of Tunis, the country's capital.

COVER N. 551 - SRI LANKA

Postmark: Headquarters P. O. Colombo Mail 30.12.2024

Posted on the 30th December 2024; Received on the 7th January 2025

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Ravindra sends me a curious cover with three different  World Post Day commemorative stamps issued by Sri Lanka Post. Bohomȧ  sthoothi, Ravi!.

The Universal Postal Union was created in 1874, in Bern, Switzerland, where it has been headquartered ever since, as the General Postal Union, with a view to harmonising international mail delivery. As of  1878 it changed its name to the current designation, Union Postale Universelle or Universal Postal Union, and in 1948 it became a body of the United Nations.

During its 1969 congress held in Japan, the Indian delegation proposed that the anniversary day for the Union - the 9th of October - should thenceforth be declared World Post Day. 

The proposal having been accepted, the 9th of October has become synonymous with celebrating postal services and their relevance, all over the world.

Celebrating this date, many postal administrations issue yearly or episodically commemorative World Post Day stamps and /or cancellations.

Sri Lanka is one such case and on the cover we have examples of the last three issues dedicated to the theme, each in the form of one 50 Rupee stamp,  issued on the 9th October 2022 (Post for planet); 2023 (Together for trust) and 2024 ("150 years of enabling communication and empowering peoples across nations”).

As usual the postmark hails from the P.O. Headquaters at Colombo.

POSTCARD N.173 - SWITZERLAND - UNIVERSAL POSTAL UNION

Postcard sent on the 30th December, received on the 7th January 2025.

Postcard image: Voeux Bonne Année 2025 

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A very interesting postcard with best wishes for the year. Mon grand Merci, Roland!

As I read on its website, Philapostel is the most important philatelic association in France. Sadly the website does not have any historical notes on the association itself (or maybe I could not find them), but from what I also managed to infer, the Association congregates chapters in several French regions.

This year, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Union Postale Universelle, UPU, Philapostel issued this very nice "Happy New Year" postcard, which was kindly sent me by Roland from Berne, the Swiss Capital and also the location of the UPU Headquarters.

Of special note is the 90 cents UPU Service Stamp, issued on 09SEP2003, highlighting the commitment to the improvement of service quality in postal services, symbolised by a stamped envelope encircled by the letter Q. 

Since 1957, through an agreement with the Swiss Post, UPU has sporadically issued service stamps, the last issue dating of 2012.

The 1 Franc stamp, on its side, is part of the two Swiss Post two stamp Christmas issue of 1006, which began to circulate on 21NOV2006.

The mechanical postmark which strangely  failed to hit the satmps celebrates the 175th anniversary of Swiss Post, which was celebrated ion 2024.

POSTCARD N.172 - MEXICO 

Postcard sent on the 27th November, received on the 6th January 2025.

Postcard image: Queen angelfish of the Cozumel reefs 

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The Phantom rides on.... and we keep track of him not by his footsteps, for it is well known that phantoms do not leave any physical trace of their passage, but by cards and letters that drop by some time later.... that is the way of the ethereal dimension in which the Ghost that Walks moves.... indeed... he moves in a mysterious way...

Danke Sehr, Alex, and I hope you had a great time in Mexico.

Cozumel is an island in the Mexican caribbean, famous for its reefs, which make it a diver's paradise, judging by the colourful angelfish that takes the centre stage in the postcard.

The Queen angelfish (Holacanthus ciliaris) is a typical dweller of the coral reefs bathed by the warm waters of  western Atlantic from the Gulf of Mexico down to the lower tip of the Brazilian East coast., being an highly prized species for large aquaria, since it can grow up to 45 cm in length.

It is well known that armed violence is something which Mexico has been unfortunately obliged to fight. 

One of the latest strategies to this end is a campaign implemented by the Mexican Government, entitled "Si al desarme, Si a la paz", (Yes to disarmament, yes to peace),  through which people can anonymously exchange weapons for money in local centres where the necessary privacy conditions are granted to those willing to trade their firearms or ammunitions for money.

AS a way of raising awareness to the campaign, Correos de Mexico has issued on 05AUG2024 a three 15 Pesos stamp se-tenant strip themed on it. 

One of the stamps, illustrated with a photo of an army expert  handling a ammunition magazine which he has just taken out of a firearm, was used by Axel on this cover. The stamp also bears the coat of arms and the logo of Mexico city, as well as the slogan of the campaign.

The Postmark bears the location indication of Ventanilla, but I could not find any such place in the island of Cozumel.

COVER N. 550 - FRANCE

Postmark: Philatelie 39 Dole 28.12.2024

Posted on the 28th October; Received on the 3rd January 2025

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Par Toutatis.... No, I´m not afraid that the sky might fall over my head but a nice cover with the likes of two of my preferred heroes did fall onto my letterbox. Un grand Merci, Eric, pour cette jolie lettre.

I first met the hyperfamous Astérix and Obélix when I was 10 or 11 years old. 

A friend just about my age, the son of a French naval or air force officer that would spend the summer holidays in Santa Maria, Azores, where I lived, lent me some French comics books including one called "Le Bouclier Arverne", which would be my introduction to the famous pair of heroes.

I should here say that learning French was mandatory from the 5th grade on, when I was a kid and so, at the time, I was also getting my first notions of Baudelaire's mother tongue. As such, even though I could not read and understand everything in the books, the fact that they were graphic novels helped to put the captions in context and with the assistance of my father and an occasional foray into the dictionary I would understand if not the words the sense of most the plots.

But, this one was tough... "Bouclier", what the hell was that?....and "Arverne"?

This particular connection  would only become clear to me some years later, when I was introduced in school to the Roman empire and to historic figures like Vercingétorix and Julio Cesar.

Still the amazing quality of the drawings, the immensely funny names of the characters as well as their personal characterization, the tremendously creative foundations to the stories, like Panoramix’s magic potion, the continuous feud between Cétautomatix and Assurancetourix, the everlasting love between Monsieur et Madame Agecanonix, Obélix's crunch for beautiful Falbala, hooked me from the very beginning, as they have hooked millions of other kid and adults all over the world, the saga having been fully or partially translated into 112 languages, so far.

Astérix and Obélix, written by René Gosciny (1926-1977) and illustrated by Albert Uderzo (1927-2020), first saw the light of day in Journal Pilote, a weekly comics magazine which began to be published in 1959. 

The series which now numbers 40 volumes, was continued by Uderzo, acting both as writer and illustrator, after Gosciny's death, in 1977. After Uderzo's retirement in 2009, the series was taken over by a new writer/illustrator team made up of Jean-Yves Ferri  and Didier Conrad, but the last book published, dated of 2023, features the artwork of another illustrator: Fabcaro (Fabrice caro)

Celebrating the 65th anniversary of these true French Ambassadors, la Poste issued on 15OCT2024 a collector's series minisheet comprising 4 lettre verte (domestic up to 20g)  stamps illustrated with the three more important characters of the series: Astérix (who gets the honour of being featured on 2 stamps), Obélix and Panoramix, the Druid.

Two of these stamps were used on this cover which features a very nice postmark of the Philatelie Bureau of the city of Dole. On it, the coat of arms of the city is shown side by side with the bust of someone whom I think is Louis Pasteur, who was born in this city. 

On the back of the envelope, Eric included part of the backing frame  of the collector's sheet, and from looking at it, I realised that Astérix is only slighter older than my own self, for I too will be turning 65 this year...

Unfortunately, as usual, the French Post office chose to obliterate the stamps again with a totally unnecessary mechanical postmark....

COVER N. 549 - SOLOMON ISLANDS

Postmark: Solomon Islands - Use your 3 word address - Postage paid - 09.10.2024

Posted on the 9th October; Received on the 3rd January 2025

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And so I write 2025 for the first time on this blog and things couldn't have turned out any better for I do it adding another country to my list, this time the island state of the Solomon Islands, right across next door to Papua New Guinea, so named in honour of the wealthy King Solomon, for it is said that the Islands were believed to be the location of the rich biblical city of Ophir (all this courtesy of Wikipedia, for although  I knew who King Solomon was, I confess my ignorance as to the rest).

A former British Protectorate since the last decade of the 19th century, The 900 + islands archipelago became independent in 1978, although in  Constitutional Monarchy format, it's head of state remaining the British Monarch and the State becoming a member of the Commonwealth.

The history of the Solomon Islands has been permeated with political unrest ever since independence and to that one must add the ever growing concerns of the impact of climate change, mostly in what concerns the problems brought about by the rising sea level.

Although not a location often mentioned on the news, the Solomons were the location for one of the most famous battles of WW2, the first land offensive of the allied forces against the Japanese army: the Battle of Guadalcanal, which took place in and around the Island of the same name between August 1942 and January 1943.

As usual, exotic covers such as the one that this post is about have a well known suspect behind, even if the envelopes often come with no return address, as was the case.

But the cover spelled "Flying Dutchman" through all its pores, and all it took was a message to my friend Eric to ascertain its origin.

So Hartelijk dank nogmaals, Eric, and also Thanks a lot Marianne, for this great cover, that I'm really happy to include in my collection

Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Guadalcanal Battle, ´the Postal Service of the Solomon Islands issued, on 07AUG1992 two souvenir sheets, themed on the said military campaign, one comprising five 30 cent stamps and a painting depicting American Grumman Wildcat aircraft operating at Henderson Field and another with ten 80 cent stamps and a painting entitled Night action off Savo island, showing a sea battle scene.

The 10 stamps of the latter were used on the cover and, from left to right top to bottom, they bear illustrations of: 

- Japanese Mitsubishi Zero (Zeke) fighter;

- Japanese Mitsubishi G4M Betty bomber;~

- Japanese destroyers of the Tokyo Express (the name given to the convoys of logistic support to the Japanese fleet)

- Japanese Heavy Cruiser Chockay

- Henderson field under construction and attack;

- US Heavy Cruiser Quincy;

- Australian Navy heavy Cruiser Canberra;

- U S Marines landing at Guadalcanal;

- Japanese aircraft Carrier Ryujo;

- US Marines Grumman  Wildcat fighters.

The Postmark is rather curious in that it contains no other local information than the country name - Solomon Islands -  and a curious instruction reminder - Use your 3 word address….