My National Covers
Every now and then I have the opportunity to add what I call a "National Cover" to my collection.
These are nothing fancy. In fact they are but covers that I print at home with the flag and coat of arms of a specific country and which I then either send to a fellow collector who is willing to help or give to friends or family or take my own self whenever travelling abroad, in the hope that these might find a way to a local post office to get a stamp and a postmark.
I will be adding these to a new "My National Covers" section in this blog.
If you don't see your country here and are willing to help me add your own country's national cover to my collection, please email me at pnsoares1@gmail.com.
You'll get a cover from Portugal (if you want I'll be happy to print a Portuguese National Cover just like the ones I print for myself, although in a somewhat larger envelope) and a printed envelope with the relevant symbols printed, so that you can then return it to me.
Thanks a lot.
Note: Whenever possible I will try to transcribe the flag and coat of arms information from the relevant national site. Failing that I'll transcribe from Wikipedia.
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Republic of Latvia / Latvijas Republika
The FlagThe flag of the Republic of Latvia is a carmine red with a white horizontal stripe.
The flag of Latvia has a long history, as it was first mentioned in the chapters of the Rhymed Chronicle of Livonian in the 13th century.
Having regard to that historical record, both patriotically minded individuals and organisations used the flag in the 19th century. In 1917, a red-white-red flag was used in several events aimed at uniting the regions of Latvia. Under the influence of those political processes, the issue of the appearance of the Latvian flag was raised. The debate resulted in a sketch prepared by artist Ansis Cīrulis that gained the most popularity.
On 15 June 1921, the Constitutional Assembly adopted the Law on the Flag and Coat of Arms of the Republic of Latvia.
The distinctive (carmine) red colour of the flag was described in the government document for the first time in 1922 so that the flag could be more easily distinguished from the similarly coloured national flag of Austria.
Following the occupation of Latvia in 1940, the use or possession of this flag was considered punishable by law. The flag reappeared in the second half of the 1980’s when it was widely used during the Awakening movement, and its status of the national flag was restored on 27 February 1990.
Source: National symbols | Valsts prezidenta kanceleja
The red-white-red Latvian flag is first mentioned in the medieval Rhymed Chronicle of Livonia (Livländische Reimchronik), which covers the period from 1180 to 1343, and is thus among the oldest flags in the world. The chronicle tells of a battle that took place around 1279, in which ancient Latgalian tribes from Cēsis, a city in northern modern-day Latvia, went to war, bearing a 'red flag with a white stripe'.
A separate popular legend recounts the story of a mortally wounded chief of Latgalians who had been wrapped in a white sheet. The part of sheet on which he was lying remained white, and the two edges were coloured by his blood. During the next battle, the bloodstained sheet was used as a flag. According to the legend, this time the Latgalian warriors were successful and drove the enemy away. Since then, Latgalian tribes have been using these colours as their symbol.
Source: Flag of Latvia - Wikipedia
The Coat of Arms
The Great Coat of Arms of the Republic of Latvia was approved in 1921 and reapproved in 1993. The shield on the herald is divided into segments: half of a golden rising sun against a blue background is seen in one section, a red lion against a silver background to represent Kurzeme and Zemgale is in the second section, and a silver griffon with a blue tongue and a silver sword clutched in its right paw represents Vidzeme and Latgale in the third section. There are three golden stars above the shield. The shield is held by a red lion with a golden tongue on the right and a silver griffon with a golden tongue on the left. They stand on two green oak branches with a red-white-red ribbon that has the proportions of the Latvian national flag.
Source: National symbols | Valsts prezidenta kanceleja
The three golden stars above the shield represent the three historical regions of Latvia: Vidzeme (Swedish Livonia), Latgale (Latgalia or Polish Livonia) and Kurzeme (Courland, also Zemgale or Semigallia as the Duchy of Courland and Semigalia) and their unity.
The golden sun in a blue field represents freedom. The sun was also used as a symbol of distinction and national identity used by the Imperial Russian Army's Latvian Riflemen units during World War I. During the war, the sun was fashioned with 17 rays that symbolised the 17 Latvian-inhabited districts.
The bottom part of escutcheon is divided into two fields:
The red lion from the Coat of arms of Courland represents Courland and Semigallia.[6] The symbol appears as early as 1565 in the coat of arms of the former Duke of Courland and Semigalia.
The silver griffin from the Coat of arms of Livonia represents Vidzeme and Latgalia.[6] The Gryf coat of arms as the heraldic symbol of the Duchy of Livonia was granted in 1566, when the territories known today as Vidzeme and Latgale had come under the control of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
The Stamp
Latvia Post initiated an annual series in 2016 dedicated to the development of shipbuilding and seafaring in Latvia in the 19th century. The stamps carry very beautiful illustrations of ships built in Latvia, during that period.
The 1.71 @ stamp on the cover is the 2023 issue, issued on 27JAN2023, featuring the brigantine Anna Wictoria, a two-mast sailing ship built in Ainaži in 1878 by master builder Mihkel Margins (1845–1914).
The Anna Wictoria would ship for 20 years all around the ports of Europe. Its sad demise occured in 1898, when it was wrecked in the east coast of England.
The Postmark
Applied at Talsi, a town in the Courland region, in the north west of Latvia.
My thanks to my wife for taking the time to go to the Post Office when visiting Latvia for professional reasons to make sure I'd get this cover.
