COVER N. 719 - BRITISH OVERSEAS TERRITORIES - GIBRALTAR

Postmark: Gibraltar 06.05.2026

Posted on the 6th May;  Received on the 26th May 2026

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Concorde... a beautiful name for a beautiful aircraft and one that fully echoes the fact that its design and construction transcended boundaries, languages and, most of all, metric systems, no mean feat when maximum tolerances have to be probably kept in millesimal (or even smaller) figures....

This outstanding piece of machinery first took to the air in 1969 while its first commercial flights occurred on 21 January 1976, when at 11h40 F-BVFA for Air France and G-BOAA for British Airways took off, the former  from Paris - Charles de Gaulle bound to Rio de Janeiro and the Latter from London Heathrow bound to Barhein.

This year thus marks the 50th anniversary of these first commercial flights, so receiving a cover with a full set dedicated to this outstanding landmark in aviation history feels like a way of celebrating the feat.

The culprit for this is none other that my friend Eric, the Flying Dutchman, and there must some sort of a celestial bodies alignment right now because yesterday, the day after the cover landed on my letterbox, I had the pleasure of spending an entire afternoon with Eric himself, which we made sure we made the most of, touring around the coast, so that I could show him some of the local sights.

So Muito obrigado Eric pelo belo envelope. Foi um gosto passar a tarde na tua companhia.

As stated above, Concorde's maiden flight took place in 1969. 50 years later, on 20APR2019, Gibraltar Postal Administration issued the set of four stamps on the cover, illustrated with excellent photos that indeed do justice to the aircraft's superior aesthetics,  by way of celebration of this event.

POSTCARD N.229 -  CHINA

Postcard sent on the 9th April; received on the 22th May 2026

Postcard image:  Somewhere in Shangai, I presume....

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Postcrossing meet-ups are popular within the Postcrossing community and many times custom postcards are printed for the occasion. Still I guess minimum quantities apply whenever printing a custom postcard, and so some are always left over. 

Circular economy should also be popular, not only amongst the Postcrossing community, but in the Human Community at large, for by now everybody should have a clear notion that resources are scarce and we keep wasting them as if we did not know better....

So I am more than happy to get a Postcrossing meet-up postcard even though the meet-up it was printed for took place some three years ago. What was once a timely postcard is now an historic one, and this adds a whole new layer of significance to it.  非常感谢 Monica!

What I do regret is not having any information as to where the images on the card were taken, apart that they show a "Spring view of Shangai during floer blossom", so Monica tells me. My take would be a train or metro station, but I really have no idea.

Monica used a very nice single 5 Yuan stamp with an image of some bamboo plants, part of a set of six (20; 30; 40 fēn; 1; 5 yuan) issued on 15JUN1993, dedicated to this icon of Chinese flora.

Postmark quite nice, but my linguistic ignorance steps in....  ah wait... Google translate  Shenzen in the top of the circle and Han Da in the bottom... does it make sense? Well Schenzen is the third largest Chinese city and is located in the province of Guangdong  but Han Da is a mistery to me.... could anyone help?

COVER N. 718 - UNITED KINGDOM

Postmark: Didcot (?) 16.05.2026

Posted on the 16th April ; received on the  22nd May, 2026

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It has been a while since I last got a letter from the UK, so it is good to see one flying into my mail box. Thanks a Lot Faisal.

- The stamp on the top right corner of the envelope is part of a set of  9 1st Class stamps issued on 15MAY2012 dedicated to British fashion designers. on this particular stamp the designer honoured  is Ossie Clark (1942 – 1996) whose creations made him a central name of the 60's fashion in the UK.

- The Black and White 1st class stamp was part of a 12 1st classs stamp set issued on 07JAN2014, themed on Classic Children's TV series.

The series highlighted on this particular stamp is Andy Pandy, an originally Black and White series that was first aired in 1950, with 26 episodes.

It went colour in 1970 with a total of 13 episodes, and in 2002 a revival set of 16 episodes was produced and aired.

The Postmark although hard to read seems to be from Didcot, in South Oxfordshire, England.

POSTCARD N.228 - U.S.A.

Postcard sent on the 9th May; received on the 18th May 2026

Postcard image:  1928 Model T Touring  

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"Any colour as long as it is black...".The famous quote is attributed to Henry Ford who, for production standardisation and  rationalisation reasons elected a fast drying type of paint, that was only available in black, as a way to increase production of his high demand sales champion, the Model T.

This mono colour policy became effective in 1914, and so between 1908, the year when the first model T was produced and 1914, many a Ford T left the factory works in other colours.

This might be the case with the posh 1908 Model T Touring, featured on the postcard that Ravi sent me from The United States.  Bohomȧ  sthoothi, mate.

Out of curiosity I looked up the total production number for Model Ts in all its variants and Wikipedia states a whopping  15 007 003 units, assembled between 1908 and1927...

Ravi used a "Forever Global" self-adhesive stamp issued on 24Jan2025, illustrated with a 1794 Compass Rose that was drawn in 1794 by "...Lucia Wadsworth — the aunt of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow — in her school geography notebook...", according to Wikipedia.

The mechanical postmark was applied in the city of Sacramento, State of California.

COVER N. 717 - USA

Postmark: (Mechanical) Milwauke WI 530 05.05.2026

Posted on the 5th April ; received on the 12th May, 2026

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A nice cover with nice stamps, pity the mechanical cancel. Anyway, thanks a lot, Norbert, this goes great with the Ali cover you also sent me. 

I have to confess my ignorance regarding the personality that is honoured in this stamp of the Black Heritage series that USPS has been running since 1978. so, I had to look the name up on wikipedia to learn that Phillis Wheatley, (c. 1753 -1784) was the first published afro-american female poet.

Born in western Africa, probably in what is now Gambia or Senegal, and brought to America as a slave some years before the USA independence, 1761, to be more precise, Phillis life story is sadly one of going full circle. 

In fact, she would in time acquire a level of education uncomparable to that of other persons sharing the same origins, for her owners, John and Susanna Wheatley, and especially their daughter Mary and son Nathaniel, tutored her and later acknowledged her writing abilities to the point of seeking support for the publication of her first poetry book in London, something that would come to fruition in 1773, thanks to the interest of   Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon, who subsidised the publication.

Phillis would be manumitted by the Wheatleys in 1873, and after their death she would marry a  free black grocer with whom she had three children, all of which sadly died still in their  infancy. 

John Peters, her husband, who  further to his job as grocer also worked  as shopkeeper, lawyer, and physician to provide for his family, was emprisoned for debt in 1784, what caused Phillis to start working as a scullery made at a boarding house to make ends meet, something she barely was able to do. It was during this time that she contracted Pneumonia, the cause of her death on December the 5th 1784.

Honouring her legacy as the first Afro-American published female writer, USPS issued the "Forever USA" stamp on the cover, on 29JAN2026.

Postage was completed with two 10 cent stamps of the “Flowers”! definitive issue dated of 18JUL2024. The flowers illustrating the stamp are Poppies and Cornflowers.

COVER N. 716 - INDIA

Postmark: Ahmedabad G.P.O. 38000 Philatelic Bureau 24.04.2026

Posted on the 24th April ; received on teh 12th May, 2026

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Once again I am humbled by the perfect handwriting on the address line of this cover from India, graced with quite an interesting two stamp souvenir sheet dedicated to what must be a quite complex, yet fascinating theme: India's cultural heritage.

 आपका बहुत-बहुत धन्यवाद, Dilip. 

The souvenir sheet featured on the cover, comprising two stamps (5 and 20 rupee) bearing images of two Indian temples, was issued on 11APR2013.

I will, of course, not discourse on the theme these stamps are meant to illustrate, given my absolute ignorance of it, but I think it is pretty safe to say that religion in its many declinations, plays a very important part in India's Architectural heritage.

Furthermore, the sense of impotence that ignorance motivates is easily enhanced when one tries to find some information that will at least provide a tiny beacon so as to where begin, when the first paragraph your search returns is

"Srikurmam is the only Indian temple in the world where Vishnu is worshiped in his Kurma avatar. Initially dedicated to Shiva and referred to as Kurmeswara temple, Ramanuja is said to have converted Srikurmam into a Vaishnavite temple in the 11th century AD. Since then, the temple was regarded as an important centre of Vaishnavism in the medieval period along with Simhachalam." (source: Srikurmam Temple, Srikakulam – The Abode of Lord Vishnu in Kurma Avataar – Discover India)

As a matter of fact, the 10 most context significant nouns in these 4 lines, are almost clueless for me, and this is one of the beauties of exposition to foreign cultures: the world is much broader, diverse and richer than our own immediate perception of it. Stamps keep reminding me of it; powerful awareness raisers they are....

Still, I managed to conclude that Srikurman temple is located in the eponymous district,  in the State of Andhra Pradesh, having been built in the 2nd Century AD and that this is the only temple where Vishnu, the God of Preservation and one of the most important deities in Hinduism is worshiped in his Kurma (tortoise) avatar.

Srikurman Temple is represented on the 5 Rupee stamp.

The 10 Rupee Stamp is illustrated with the image of the Arasavalli Sun Temple, Arasavalli being located just one kilometre away to east of Srikurman.

This all white temple is believed to have been built in the 7th century AD and  is dedicated to Lord Surya, the Solar deity.

Postage was completed with a 10 rupee stamp issued in January 2016 as part of the year's issue of the definitive series "Makers of India", featuring the portrait of Indian ruler  and founder of the Maratha Empire, Shivaji Bhosle, (1630-1680), whose royal title was Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj 

Postmark from Ahmedabad, in the state of Gujarat, the fifth most populous city in India with almost 5.6 million inhabitants in its metropolitan area.

COVER N. 715 - BRITISH CROWN DEPENDENCIES - BAILIWICK OF GUERNSEY - GUERNSEY

Postmark: Guernesey Post Post Office 06.05.2026

Posted on the 6th May;  Received on the 12th May 2026

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The second cover I got on the same day from the Channel Islands, courtesy of Roland and another line to add to the list. Un grand merci, Roland!

This was not only my first ever cover from Guernsey, but also the first one stamped with the 2026 EUROPA common issue.

And as much as I don't have  anything against the celebration of 70 years of EUROPA/CEPT stamps or the artwork for the stamp per se, (which results from a design contest organised by PostEurop for its members and won by Finland)  I confess I find it extremely boring to have all postal organisations that participate in this well established philatelic tradition issuing similar, if not almost equal, stamps.

Yes, I know that a common design was used in the early CEPT issues, but even so, if you take a look at any given year of the CEPT issues, all the stamps had different colours in the background and such. It may also be argued that the same happens in many of this year's issues (Portugal, for instance) where the main artwork is complemented by other graphic elements. Still,  the fact is that the main artwork is so graphically striking and prominent in the stamp that, to me, all the rest fades from view, leaving but the square colourful artwork with the seven circles that mimic perforations to impact our retinas.

There is a precedent in the 2023 issue, but that was (and is) a special case. On that particular issue the common design is a statement of unity, of shared intent and hope, so having it affirmed by as many countries as possible only reinforces its message.

The idea, this year, even if truly worth of celebration and full of positive intentions and connections,  is a bit more limited in scope, in ... meta-significance, to use a probably non-existing word.

Anyway, this is of course only my personal opinion and as such absolutely debatable, but I really would prefer to see more diversity in design, as it is customary in the EUROPA issues.

The 1.54 Pound stamp, which constitutes Guernsey Post 2026 EUROPA issue, on the cover, was issued on 01APR2026.