COVER N. 749 - AZERBAIJAN 

Postmark: Azərbaycan Şuşa MXŞ 05.06.2026

Posted on the 5th June;  Received on the 10th July 2026

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Danke Sehr Alex, for this cover from the Nagorno-Karabah region of Azerbaijan.

The Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan was until 2023, a self-proclaimed, albeit not internationally recognised state, designated as the Republic of Artsakh, its history goingt back to 1918, when both the recently established  Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and the First Republic of Armenia, claimed the territory, an enclave inside Azerbaijan, mostly populated by ethnic Armenians, after the fall of the Russian Empire.

The conflict went cold during the period when both Azerbaijan and Armenia were part of the USSR, only to erupt again after the Soviet Union too came to an end, and both Azerbaijan and Armenia became independent states again.

The contention (and the so called Republic of Artsakh) ended when in 2023 Azeri forces expelled all the Armenians from the region, in conditions that motivated strong remarks by International Human Rights organisations, forcing them to flee into Armenia.

As in the other cover Alex sent me from Azerbaijan (#748)  two 0,5 manat stamps featuring a photo of Heydar Aliyev (1923-2003), the third President of Azerbaijan and the father of the current President, Ilham Aliyev were used as postage.

Heydar Aliyev served for a total of 23 years as the most important dignitary of Azebaijan, first, for 13 years (1969–1982), as  First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan. and later, for another 10 year period (1993–2003) as President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, until his resignation in October 2003.

The stamp is part of a vast multiple format issue marking the 20th anniversary of Heydar Aliyev passing, dated of  10MAY2023, all stamps being illustrated with his portrait. 

The Postmark was issued at the city of Şuşa.

COVER N. 751 - JORDAN 

Postmark: Amman City Centre (?)  Reg. Mail 13.04.2026

Posted on the 13 April;  Received on the 12th July 2026

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The second cover I got from Talal, from Jordan. Shukran jazeelan.

- On 13JAN1993, Jordan Post issued a definitive set comprising 9 values (5;80;100;125; 160;240;320; 500 fils; 1 dinar), illustrated with an image of the Arch of Hadrian in the city of Jerash, all stamps being equal safe for the value and colour.  

The monumental structure was constructed in 129-130, honouring the visit of Emperor Hadrian to the city where it now stands, which was then called Gerasa and was subject to reconstruction in 2007.

A block of 4 x 160 fils  stamp was used on this cover.

The series would be continued in later years either with new values or with surcharged stamps.

- 40 piastre stamps are part of a set of 5x40 piastre stamps issued on 21NOV2017, highlighting World Heritage Sites in Jordan. The stamps on the cover feature:

The Umm ar-Rasas site, located in central Jordan,  renowned for its Roman, Byzantine, and early Islamic ruins, including 16 churches and a famous mosaic floor in the Church of St. Stephen;

Al-Maghtas, The Baptism, a site located on the east bank of the Jordan River, reputed to be the location of the Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist and venerated as such since at least the Byzantine period.

- The 60 fils stamp is part of a set of 3 (20;30; 60 fils)  issued on 18SEP1973, celebrating the Day of Familywood as indicated by the legend on the stamp.

- Petra needs no presentation. The famous city cut in  pink sandstone dating from the 4th century BC, lay  in the desert forgotten to the eyes of the world until its rediscovery in 1812 by  Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, but its true call to fame came more than one and a half centuries later, when Indiana Jones entered one of its most famous buildings - Al-Khazneh, the treasury - only to almost never exit it again.

Another of the city's famous buildings, Ed-Deir, The Monastery, is featured on the 1fils stamp, on the back of the envelope, in a block of 4.

The stamp is part of a set of 4, issued on 09FEV1954. The stamps in the set were either illustrated with the image of the Monastery (1;3;5 fils) or of King Hussein II (2; 4 fils).

The Postmarks indicate that the letter was mailed from Amman, the Capital of Jordan.

COVER N. 750 - JORDAN

Postmark: ?

Posted on the 11 March;  Received on the 12th July 2026

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It has been a while since I last added a new country to my origins list. Well, this time, the Postman did not ring twice, as some say he always does, but thrice, withe three covers from a country in the troubled Middle East that had not yet made the rounds into my letterbox: Jordan.

So, Shukran jazeelan, Talal. It is a pleasure to add Jordan to my collection and I hope that peace may soon prevail.

Talal used a full set of stamps on his cover. The stamps, with face values of 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 piastre, are illustrated with several citrus varieties and were issued on 23OCT2013, although they carry the legend 2012 on the top left corner.

Some of the varieties depicted are complete strangers to me, but I think I can identify the oranges (40 pt), lemons (30 pt) and mandarins (20 pt).

The postmark is illegible with exception of the date.

COVER N. 748 - AZERBAIJAN 

Postmark: Azərbaycan Naxçivan Muxtar Respublikasi

Posted on the 6th June;  Received on the 10th July 2026

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It seems that The Ghost Who Walks, the restless wanderer, my friend Herr Phantom, went to the South Caucasus, specifically to places that have been has restless as himself..... Danke Sehr, Alex. These make interesting additions to the collection.

The Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic is an Azerbaijani landlocked exclave separated from Azerbaijan by Armenia in the North and East; by Iran in the South and West and by Turkey in the West.

Given that relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan have been quite tense, especially in what concerns the Nagorno-Karabah region, (which was populated mostly by ethnic Armenians)  the location of the exclave has put it under pressure by Armenia during the active confrontations between the two ex-Soviet Republics.

These had their apex in 2023, during the so called second Nagorno-Karabah war, when Azerbaijan expelled all the Armenian population from what was until then the self-proclaimed Artsakh Republic, which had no international recognition, forcing it to flee into Armenia under conditions that motivated the remarks of several International organisations like Human Rights Watch or Amnesty International.

Nowadays  a de facto peace exists between the two countries, even though a formal peace treaty has yet to be signed.

The cover was stamped with two 0,5 manat stamps featuring a photo of Heydar Aliyev (1923-2003), the third President of Azerbaijan and the father of the current President, Ilham Aliyev.

The stamp is part of a vast multiple format issue marking the 20th anniversary of Heydar Aliyev passing, dated of  10MAY2023, all stamps being illustrated with his portrait. 

The postmark was applied at Nakhchivan, the capital if this  autonomous region of Azerbaijan.

COVER N. 747 - SPAIN 

Postmark: Correos CTA Valencia 08.07.2026

Posted on the 8th July;  Received on the 10th July 2026

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Gosh, this one travelled fast. Moltes Gràcies, Eva. M'ha agradat molt la postal també. (And I hope Google got it right, though it does look the part, to me....)😉.

It is 70 years past the first Europa stamp issue, a decision taken in 1956 by the postal administrations of the countries partaking in the  European Coal and Steel Community, the embryonic pan-european organization that would later be subsumed into the EEC (1957), which in time (1993) would become the now existing European Union.

The Postal Services of Belgium, the Federal Republic of Germany, France, Italy, Luxemburg and the Netherlands, were thus the original six issuers of the first common Europa Issue, which highlighted the theme "Europe, Community of Interests and Objectives".

The issue shared a common layout, featuring a scaffolded tower constructed with the letters EUROPA, a symbolic way of portraying  European nations working together to build a shared future.

From 1960 on, the stamps would be issued under the auspices of the recently created European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations, and the stamps would then feature the legend  CEPT.

The practice of issuing a stamp with a common design, although printed in different colours, was carried on until 1973. 

From 1974 the common design stamp practice was abandoned in favour of a common theme, the participating postal administrations being free to design their own stamps.

With  the coordination of European postal policies having been removed from the scope of action of CEPT in 1993, a new organisation, PostEurope, was established to this end, and so, from 1993 on, all common themed issues would feature the EUROPA logo that is now in use.

As far as I can remember only in the year 2000 and 2023 (and quite justifiably so, for this particular issue, in my opinion) was the Common theme  abandoned in favour of a common design.

What was generally an exception became the norm again  this year with PostEurope organising a contest to chose a common design for the stamp celebrating the 70 years of EUROPA issues.

The winning design was the proposal presented by Posti (Finland), authored by Finnish designer Klaus Welp and accoding to the PostEurope Press Release presenting the results of the competition 

"The design of the 2026 EUROPA Stamp combines abstract and symbolic elements. The diagonally ascending dotted line represents both the perforation of a stamp and the progressive work of the PostEurop . The seven dots, connected by a straight line, symbolize seventy years of unified effort by postal operators across the continent. The blending gradients and dotted patterns in the background form a cohesive and vibrant surface, reflecting the joyful mix of colours from the European flag and symbolizing the unity of all member nations.”

On her cover, Eva used this year's Spanish EUROPA issue  - a single tariff "B" (Europe) stamp issued by Correos de Espãna on 05MAY2026.

From a plastic point of view I don't dislike the winning artwork, which I find joyful and uplifting in all its colours and diagonals. Still, I  don't think that the symbology it purportedly affirms is readilly apparent to the viewer (at least I only was aware of it after reading the relesase notes). What I find absolutely boring is seeing it replicated over and over again, although many postal administrations took the opportunity to take an extra buck from the collector's purse by including their own design companion stamps or souvenir sheets in the issue.

Thankfully, next year we take to the ususal practice again with a theme that I am really looking forward to: Street Art... can't wait for it....

Eva's letter was written on the back of a very nice postcard with a photograph  by photographer and illustrator Erica Fustero, taken in Tokyo in 2018. 

The simplicity of the scene, evoking one of the little village shops of my youth that sold all that was needed and more,  is disarming, bathed in the warmness of the dominant colours, only to be disrupted by the outlandish appearance of the scales that take the place of the shop owner that somehow one would expect to be smiling at you from behind the counter.

Photography is really the art of seeing....

COVER N. 746 - POLAND

Postmark: Gdansk 50 ZA 29.06.2026

Posted on the 29th June;  Received on the 10th July 2026

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A change of country, at last 😀. This time Poland, with a cover laden with beautiful stamps. Dziękuję bardzo, Roman.

- The  Poznań Bambers are a Polish ethnic group that was formed when groups of Catholic German settlers from the region of  Bamberg, in Upper Franconia, migrated to  repopulate villages around  Poznań that had been decimated by the Great Northern War (1700-1721), a conflict that opposed Sweden to a coalition of  several countries. namely Russia, Denmark-Norway, Saxony-Poland-Lithuania, Prussia and Hanover, and the plague that ensued. 

Marking the 300th anniversary of the arrival of the Bambers in Poland, Poczta Polska issued on 19OCT2029 a 3.30 Zloty stamp illustrated with a photograph of a group of Poznań Bambers clad in their distinctive festive garments.

~

- On 28DEC2018 Pozcta Polska issued a 4 stamp (2x1.30 + 2x3 Zloty) plus se-tenant vignettes set, themed on "Wild Animals and their Young".

The 1.30 Zloty stamps, one featuring a Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) and the other an Indian Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis) were used on this cover. The vignette that was paired to the Chimpanzee stamp (also featuring a chimpanzee) is also on the cover.

The 3,90  Zloty stamp with a dancer in traditional costume was issued on 08NOV202 in commemoration of the 75 years of the celebrated Mazowsze Ensemble  - Państwowy Zespół Ludowy Pieśni i Tańca "Mazowsz -  The Polish National Song and Dance Folk Ensemble, founded in 1948.

-  The 20 grosz definitive stamp bearing the image of a Saffron plant, Crocus sp, is part of the  flowers and fruits series,  issued on 06JUL2016.

The Postmark as usual with Roman's letters, was applied at Gdansk.

COVER N. 745 - FRANCE

Postmark: Maurice de Vlaminck (1876-1958) La Poste Paris 13.06.2026

Posted on the 13th June;  Received on the 25th June 2026

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The last of Eric's Paris Philex FDCs. What an amazing bunch of covers. Je n'ai pas de paroles pour exprimer le combien j'étais content de recevoir tous ces plis. Un grand Merci, Eric. 

Fauvism is one of the artistic movements that characterised painting (and the arts in general) in the early days of the 20th century, in which  very intense, saturated, high-key and unexpected colours were used to depict simplified or even abstract subject matter.

Henri Matisse was probably the most well known of the Fauves but the style was professed by several other  artists his contemporaries.

One such painter and also one of the leading names in the movement was  Maurice de Vlaminck (1876 - 1958) who was also a musician (violinist) and a writer (with both poetry and prose to his credit).

On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of his birth, la Poste issued a 4 stamp souvenir sheet highlighting Vlanick's work "Still Life", dated of 1907, which can be seen at the fabulous Musée d'Orsay, in Paris.

The Stamp being in-taglio printed, the souvenir sheet illustrates the trichromatic creation  process associated with it, by including not only the end result, but also the results of  separated colour plates, namely Blue; Ochre and Red (on the cover).