POSTCARD N.17 - USA
Postcrossing postcard posted on the 19th July; received on the 28th July
Potscard image: Ben Houstie - Ravens
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Ben Houstie is a well established artist, born in Bela Bela, the central community of the Heiltsuk Nation, of which Mr. Houstie is a member. His is the outstanding painting of three ravens that grace the postcard I received from Lisa, who lives in Alaska. Thank you so much Lisa, for such a beuatiful card.

3 forever self-adhesive Stamps issued in 27JAN2019, with the American flag, were used to mail this postcard from the Alaskan Frontier, as can be read in the machine applied cancelation.

COVER N.28 - Sovenia
Postmark:  - 21JUN2021, BLED
Posted on the  21stJuly; received on the 28th July.
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A big package from Slovenia reached my mailbox with some very nice items inside, sent by Janez, who had already sent me a very nice cover before. Three amazing stamps were used. Thanks a lot again, Janez.

Stamps, lef to right

With the help of "Deepl", I can make out that this stamp was issued on the occasion of the European Rowing Junior Championship that took place on Lake Bled from the 8th to the 10th June 2012. But, I could not find the stamp on any catalogue online, so I presume this to be a special edition of some sort, I'm also presuming the D on the stamp to be it's tariff indication, but I'm clueless... Any help solving this enigma would be highly appreciated.

the other two amzingly beautiful stamps are the 2012 Slovene Europa emission, issued on 28MAY2021. The 1,37€ stamp features a Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus)a species once native to all Western Europe and which due to hunting was brought to the brink of extinction. Successful reintroduction programmes have again made it possible to see this amazing bird in many European countries (still not in mine, sadly) the species now falling under the  "Least Concerned" category regarding its general conservation status.

The 1,22€ stamp has a lovely image of a wild cat (Felis Silvestris), a species that was also featured on the Europa stamp of the Czech Republic. The wild cat is sometimes taken for a normal domestic cat though it is bigger and furrier. Hybridization with domestic cats is one of the main threats to its conservation, although this is also a species categorised as "Least Concerned", regarding its general conservation status.

COVER N.27 - Italy

Postmark:  - 21JUN2021, Milano Roserio CMP,
Posted on the  21stJuly; received on the 28th July.
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Manuela sent me this cover with a Postcrossing postcard (postcard #16) for me and also some vintage postcards with vintage stamps on them. Thanks a lot Manuela, I really appreciated it.

A cover from Italy, with a machine applied cancellation on a commemorative stamp issued on 02SEP2020 on the occasion of the EuroScience (European Association for the Advancement of Science and Technology) Open Forum that was held in the Italian city of Trieste from the 2nd to the 7th September 2020..

POSTCARD N.16 - Italy

Postcrossing postcard posted on the 21th July; received on the 28th July
Potscard image: The village of Cunardo, Lombardia
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I write Cunardo in the Google earth box and see the pointer heading straight in to the mountains in the North of Italy, not very far from Lago Maggiore. How lovely this region must be....

Checking the Cunardo community website, I learn that this is a place famous for its ceramics, and for the distinctive shade of deep blue (my favourite colour) used on it the blu Cunardo.

Thanks a lot for your nice card Manuela, that was posted inside Cover #27

POSTCARD N.15 - Germany

Postcrossing postcard posted on the 20th July; received on the 26th July
Potscard image: images of Hanau, left to right: City Hall; A statue of the Grimm Brothers; the old City Hall now the German Goldsmith's House; Schloss Philippsruhe   The old Horse riding arena.
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Hanau, in the State of Hesse, Germany. Another city totally unbeknown to me, something that is now a lesser fact, since receiving this beautiful postcard from Elo, made me go and look to discover that it was the birthplace of none other than the famed authors of ....horror stories, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm.

I can still remember the fear I felt , listening to little red ridding hood on my father's old Phillips tape recorder, when the hunters would slay the wolf to save granny and little red ... :-)

Thanks for the card and the memories, Elo.

Elo used a very nice 0,95€ stamp issued on 04FEB21, commemorative of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Friederich Ebert, a member of the SPD - Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands - the first President of the German Reich, a title he held from Feb.1919 until his passing away, on the 28th Feb. 1925. The stamp includes a photo of Ebert as well as a famous phrase of his "Demokratie Braucht Demokraten" - Democracy needs Democrats.

The postmark tells us that the card was mailed through BriefZemtrum 63, Offenbach am Main and the associated vignette in use since 25APR05 reads "schrift leger druck design www.offenbach.de". Not being German fluent I ran it through deepl and I got the impression that  "schrift leger druck design" is the name of a typeface, (but any help explaining this would be most welcome), while the URL takes us to the official site of the City of Offenbach am Main.

POSTCARD N.14 - Germany
Postcrossing postcard posted on the 21st July; received on the 26th July
Potscard image: A guest house at Bosau, Plöner See, in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.
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I'm not really a fan of publicity postcards, but this one besides being the obvious publicity vector for a guesthouse, had the plus of introducing me to an area of Germany that I was totally unware of and regarding which I became pretty curious, after reading the description article in wikipedia (where else?) . Natural parks, plenty of bird and fish life, bathing sites.... worth making  note of it.. maybe one day,.. who knows? Thank you Marc-André!

The stamps, on the other hand had me rejoycing because of the large 0,80€ Beethoven Stamp, commemorative of the 250th anniversary of his birth, issued on 02JAN2020. This lovely stamp was issued in a pair with another with the high facial value of 2,70€, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the birth of sculptor Ernst Barlach, a name, I confess, tottaly unknown to me. Again Wikipedia came to the rescue...

Ludwig van Beethoven on the other hand is, of course,  no stranger to me,  neither to all Portuguese children who now learn to play his most famous composition on a recorder while on elementary school. Ode to Joy it is and Ode to peace should we all make it, we, Europeans, united under a common theme song... who can deny the power of music? 

The two other stamps used on this card are a  0,10€ stamp issued on 08JUN2017 with a photo of a Winter Aconite (Eranthis hyemalis), part of definitive "flowers" series, started in 2005. 

The 5 cent stamp with a photo of a Phlox is also part of the same series, and it was issued on 13APR2017.

The machine applied cancelation tells us that the card was mailed from Briefzentrum 10, corresponding to Berlin-Zentrum. Once again the postmark includes the  vignette   "Gemeinsam Gegen Corona sich selbst und andere Scützen..." (Together against Corona, protect yourself and the others...) which began to be machine applied on correspondence in Germany on the 1st June 2021.

image credit: Deutsche Post

COVER N.26 - Iraq

Postmark:  - 15JUN2021, probbaly Karbala, but I can't read Arabic...
Posted on the  15th june; received on the 22nd July, via the US (postmark US Postage 25JUN)
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Iraq… Mesopotamia, the Cradle of Civilisation, nestled between the Tigris and the Euphrates, we heard it said many a time in the history classes, the place where writing and reading was invented, where the power and convenience of the wheel was brought to light, a melting pot of cultures, civilisations, creeds, evolving over the millennia and then…. 

Weapons of mass destruction, someone said…true, mass destruction it was and in a way it still is, since the collateral damages (one has to love the euphemism) of decades of a war that, if nothing else, paved the way for the emergence of the obnoxious terrorist group that is now massacring people in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique, and will take ages to soothe.

I pity the people. Those who had little and now have less, as opposed to those that I’m sure hugely profited from the immense geopolitical conundrum  into which their country was transformed.

Not that I have any sympathy for the tyrant that ruled the country; but I don’t have any sympathy for the way he was ousted, neither for the aftermath of his disposal.

Who won?  

Those who were left to live in a destroyed country, ridden by corruption, where even oxygen bottles have the habit of exploding at hospitals, as if killing and maiming were a distinctive trait of civilization?

God? in whose name thousands marched eager to foster Creation's antonym?

The Free world? Are those that had to stay not part of it?

Anyway, all this has little if anything to do with Stamps and Covers, but a stamp is a dangerous time capsule, ready to trigger trains of thoughts...

Thank you so much, Roland. I said it before, I say it now: my small (but steadily growing) collection owes you a lot, and in some way, so does this blog, for how else would I be writing an entry about Iraq, if not for your moving mountains so that an Iraqi cover would fall on my mailbox?...

Stamps left to right, top to bottom:

The 1000 Dinars stamp, commemorative of Bagdad having been designated the Capital of Arab Media for 2018 by the Council of Arab Information Ministers of the Arab League, on a meeting chaired by Tunisia, that took place on13JUL2017, in Cairo, was issued on 13FEB2018, paired with another stamp of the same denomination, with the same design, although with a green background.

The 250 and 500 Dinars stamps, are part of a 5 stamp set dedicated to "ancient means of transport" issued on January 2004, although the stamps bear the inscription "Postage 2003".

An horse drawn tram is depicted in the lesser value stamp while the 500 Dinars stamp shows a local type of  canoe, called a Tarada, used to transport reeds, it seems.

The images on the other two stamps in the set are what is called a Guffa for the 50 Dinars stamp: a type of coracle, made from grasses and palm, braced with pomegranate stems and waterproofed with bitumen; an horse drawn carriage for the 100 Dinars stamp and, finally, a Dromedary Caravan for the 5000 Dinars stamp.

A photograph of a Robin (Erithacus rubecula) adorns the last stamp, with a face value of 750 Dinars)  part of a 5 "Birds" stamp set, issued on 21JAN2015 (although the stamps bear the inscription Postage 2014). The other stamps on this nice set are an Eurasian Tree Sparow (Passer montanus) - 250 Dinars; a Blue-cheeked Bee-eater (Merops persicus) - 500 Dinars; a Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) - 1000 Dinars; an European Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis), also denominated at 1000 Dinars.

COVER N.25 - United Kingdom
Postmark: Windsor - 19JUN2021
Posted on the  19th july; received on the 21st July.
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Great Britain... It used to be part of a greater idea..., it's an island..., again. I still remember as a kid, in 1973, the TV airing a soccer match to commemorate the UK joining the Common Market... I don't know why I remember it, I'm not even a soccer fan, my own country was still ages from joining the EEC, but the fact is that I do remember it, as clearly as the day I woke up to find on the 7 o'clock news, again on TV, that the "No" had won.

People made the choice, one can only respect (although disagreeing with it...)

Anyway, Simon sent me this very nice cover, with three stamps that fit my bill for defining what makes a great stamp. Thank you so much Simon.

The three se-tenant 1st class stamps (domestic; up to 100g) were issued on 17SEP2009, in the company of another 3 stamp se-tenant set with an individual face value of 90p, dedicated to Royal Navy Uniforms of yore and today.

The beautiful images show a Flight Deck Officer from one of the three aircraft carriers operational in the UK in 2009 (HMS Invincible; HMS Illustrious and HMS Ark Royal) marshalling an aircraft on the deck; a 2nd World War Royal Navy Ship Captain in 1941 attire, and a  2nd Officer of Women's Royal Navy Service, popularly and affectuously known as Wrens, in the closing year of the War to end all wars,  1918.

The very clear and carefully applied postmark lets us know that this beautiful cover was mailed from Windsor.

POSTCARD N.13 - Austria
Postcrossing postcard posted on the 14th July; received on the 20th July
Potscard image: Celebrating Postcrossing 
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I only came across Postcrossing after I started this humble blog of mine, about three months ago. But as many a believer in the power simple things have to make a better world and to bridge differences and create common grounds, I joined the moment I took notice of it.

In fact, writing someone you don't know a simple postcard is much more than a hobby or a way to fill in some free time. It is an act of citizenship, of welcoming, of culture, much the same as reaching out or lending a hand. 

When I started this blog I wrote that I was doing it because I missed finding correspondence in my mailbox; i missed the pleasure of seeing an envelope with an handwritten address, my address, on it, with the promise of news from someone I knew or knew not, mundane as they might be, therein inscribed, in a sheet of handwritten paper.

I knew at heart that there had to be  a great many people who felt much the same way I did, but where were they?

I wasn't looking for friends. I know how elusive the notion of "friend" can be when perceived against the backdrop of an electronic application or the vast wasteland of social media. I guess I was looking for humanity nodes; synaptic points of interconnection with my own species.

And Postcrossing proved to be just the right tool to achieve this goal, making it possible to turn my mailbox into a library of Man. With each postcard I receive, my world simply grows bigger, wider, more knowledgeable.

To learn that such a brilliant idea originated in the mind of a fellow countryman,  and that it grew up to be the amazing platform we now profit from, is inspirational and a mailbox opened into the future...

Anita, whom I thank,  sent me this terrific card, issued, just as it reads, to celebrate the issuing of a second postcrossing themed stamp by the Austrian Post (the first one having been issued in 2016)

The 1,00€ stamp is cancelled with the first day of issue postmark, dated of 14JUL2021, and was sent from Vienna

COVER N.24 - Slovenia

Postmark: Bled - 09JUN2021
Posted on the  9th june; received on the 13th July.
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Again, a new country for my collection - Slovenia - thanks you so much Janez, for a cover full of beautiful stamps. carrying postcard n.12 inside.

Memories,as we all know, can easily be triggered by artifacts. that's what happened to me when I inspected the postmark on this very nice cover. Bled, it read, and I was immediately taken back to the gorgeous afternoon my wife and I spent walking around and bathing in lake Bled, after enjoying the pleasure of a glass of cold white wine in the castle that overlooks it. 

Hopefully we will all be able to get back to regular programation soon (I already have my 2 jabs) so that we can all go and get to know the world further away from your doorstep....

Stamps, left to right:

The beautiful  0,05€ and 0,10€ stamps are 2018 reprints (01JUN2017 and 28JUN2019, respectively) of similar stamps (but with differing perforation) issued in 2015.

The 5 cent stamp shows a Black stork, an elusive and generally endangered species, which can also be found in my own country and that I once had the pleasure of photographing from a river boat on the Tagus.

The 10 cent stamp shows another bird that can be seen in Portugal, a wader this time, the Kentish Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus).

Focus on environmental awareness is also the leit motiv for the 2 vertical stamps, part of a 5 (5, 10,20,35,50 cents) autoa-dhesive stamp definitive set, issued on 09NOV2018.

The little souvenir sheet with a 0,82€ stamp was issued on 25SEP2020 to commemorate the International Year of Plant Health, the adopted logo also being present on the sheet.

POSTCARD N.12 - Vatican

Postcrossing postcard included in Cover n.24 
Potscard image: SSt. Peter's Basilica, a UNESCO WHS
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Janez visited the Vatican and kindly sent me this Vatican City Postcard on his return to his hometown of Bled, Slovenia, in cover n.24

The Vatican, the tiniest state in the world, is also, I'm sure, the one with the most artworks per inhabitant, due to its lavishly stuffed museums being located within the state, in the middle of the eternal city.

I first visited the Vatican in 1980, on an inter-rail trip I did with friends that would take us to Greece. I visited but saw literaly nothing, because on the train to Rome, I put my head out of the window and a piece of dust or earth or whatever flew directly into my left eye, causing some damage to the cornea, I later learned. I remeber being under the columns, at St. Peter's square trying to get a visual impression of it to no avail. I simply could not open my left eye, and it hurt...

I went in search of an hospital to be examined by a doctor. Luckily there was an ophtalmical hospital near the Vatican, so I went there, guided by one of the friends travelling with me. I remember being taken care of by this gorgeous intern Polish doctor and we both had a lot of fun trying to get ourselves understood: she spoke little english, I spoke but a few Italian words and certainly no Polish... all of a sudden two Carabinieri came in to the emergency ward where we were, with a fellow with his eyes badly bruised... Turns out a couple of days before a bomb had been placed in Bologna Central Station, killing 85 people. The guy was suspect of having been one of the terrorists who performed the horrible deed.

Many years later, I was strolling on the street on my way to visit the Vatican Museums when I noticed this yelow building and a strange déjà vu sensation took me by assault....I looked at the sign above the entrance, it read "Ospedale Oftalmico"....It all came back to me... 

POSTCARD N.11 - Finland
Postcrossing postcard included in Cover n. 23
Potscard image: Seafortress Suomenlinna, a UNESCO WHS near Helsinki
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World Heritage Sites always make good postcards to send or receive, such as this one hailing from Finland. Thanks a lot Nina

Suomenlinna Fortress, I read, was built by the Swedes during the 18th century, the decision to build it, having bee taken by Swedish monarch Frederik I, in 1747. The fortress is implanted on a site that is made of six interconnected islands at the entrance of Helsinki's harbor.

UNESCO declared  the fortress of Suomenlinna a World Heritage Site in 1991,  acknowledging it as  an "outstanding example of general fortification principles of the 17th and 18th centuries, notably the bastion system", as can be read in the relevant page of UNESCO's WHS portal.

COVER N.23 - Finland

Postmark: No postmark
Possibly posted on the 30th June; received on the 14th July.
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Another cover with no postmark, also coming from Scandinavia. Could it be that cancelations are no longer used in Finland and Sweden?

Anyway, Nina, whom I thank for the lovely handmade envelope she used to send me a postcrossing postcard (postcard # 11) mailed it from Helsinki, Finland's capital.

The stamp without any facial value imprinted can be used, as far as I grasp, for domestic postage and was issued on 28APR2021. 

Quoting from the Finnish post website: "In April, Posti will also issue the Day of Celebration stamp that is suitable for many kinds of congratulatory messages. The stamp will also celebrate Klaus Welp’s long career as a stamp designer, as it is the 100th stamp designed by Welp."

To complete the postage for international expedition, a 0,10@ stamp was used. This is part of a 4 set stamp issued on 09MAY2017, dedicated to artic birds. The 4 stamps were also issued included in a souvenir sheet. 

the birds depicted were: 0,10€ - Long-tailed duck (Clangula hyemalis): 0,20€ - Velvet Scoter (Melanitta fusca); domestic (no facial value) - Brent goose (Branta bernicla); domestic (no facial value) - Barnacle goose (Branta leucopsis).

POSTCARD N.10 - Germany
Postcrossing postcard posted on the 11th July; received on the 14th July
Potscard image: sights from Nuremberg (left to right: ? - Frauenkirche and Hauptmarkt; Ehekarussell; Henkersteg bridge;Nürnberg Castle; wursten und sauerkraut.. yummy.
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Annette sent me this nice card from Nuremberg, the Bavarian city famous for its association with Albrecht Dürer, and also for its historic role in the years leading to; during and in the aftermath of the 2nd World War. 

The old town, which must be lovely, judging from the pictures in the card, was almost totally destroyed during the war, but thanks to the effort and will of the German people we are now lucky to be able to again stroll past its reconstructed and impeccably maintained sights.

Two stamps were used to mail the postcard to Portugal

The 0,85€ stamp was issued on 02JAN2015 for the annual series Wild Germany, running from 2013 to 2018 and it depicts a boden landscape on the Baltic sea region. This stamp was issued in both normal and self-adhesive versions, the one on the postcard being the lattter, I believe

The 0,10€ stamp with a photo of a Winter Aconite (Eranthis hyemalis)  is part of definitive "flowers" series, started in 2005. It was issued on 08JUN2017.

The machine applied cancelation tells us that the card was mailed from Briefzentrum 90, corresponding to the city of Nürnberg.

Image credit: Deutsche Post

The vignette on the postmark  "Gemeinsam Gegen Corona sich selbst und andere Scützen..." (Together against Corona, protect yourself and the others...) began to be machine applied on correspondence in Germany on the 1st June 2021.

 COVER N.22 - Italy

Postmark: Verona CMP - 29JUN2021
Posted on the  29th june; received on the 13th July.
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My first Italian Cover. Grazie mille Cristian.

I was taken aback when I took this one out of the mailbox. No fewer than 12 stamps, 8 of each pretty large and 4 in a block and what was more surprising was that they were still denominated in Liras. I didn't know that these could still circulate. In my own country, only stamps issued after 2011 can be used as postage.

Stamps, left to right:

- a stamp block, composed of  four units of the 200L stamp  issued on 05JUN1982, that would  inaugurate an annual series running until 2013, dedicated to Italian folklore and popular festivities. The stamp celebrates the Battle of the Bridge, at Pisa, an event in which 12 teams of the local neighbourhoods, 6 on each side of the river, and thus on each of the 2 opposing teams, Tramontana e Mezzogiorno,  compete. The aim of the contest is like a tug of war in reverse, because here the teams push as hard as they can a strange cart mounted on rails on the bridge over the Arno river, with the aim of overwhelming the opposing team.

 - two 300L stamps, issued on 11MAR1982 constitute the 1982 (and ninth) issue of an annual series dedicated to Italian Painters:

Romantic period painter Francesco Hayez's  (1791-1882) Portrait of Countess Antonietta Negroni Prati Morosini as a Child; 

Rococó Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (1682-1784) a detail of "The soothsayer".

 - a pair of one of the two 1981 stamps of the same series, issued on 07SEP1981:

Modernist painter and one of the names behind the Futurist manifesto, Carlo Carrá (1881-1966) - Lagoon

The last 4 stamps, issued on 31MAR182, celebrate de 7th Centenary of the Sicilan Vespers (Vespri Siciliani), a revolt in 1282 in Palermo against the reign of Charles I of Anjou , who had taken control of Sicily in 1266 with the help of Pope Clement IV (source: Wikipedia)

The machine applied cancellation lets us know that the cover was mailed in Verona, of Romeo and Juliet fame.

COVER N.21 - Czech Republic
Postmark: FC VIKTORIA PLZEŇ 110 - 30JUN2021
Posted on the  30th june; received on the 13th July.
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My second cover from Czechia. Thank you so much, Ivan.

Unfortunately the cover seems to have been caught in the rain sometime during transit and the envelope was a bit wrinkled, but luckily no damage to stamp or postmark.

This year Europa Stamps are simply great, I find. And this is well illustrated by the outstanding single stamp the Czech Republic issued on 21APR21, with a fantastic drawing of two wildcats (Felis silvestris), a most endangered mammal not only in the Czech Republic, but also in other countries like mine, in part due to hybridisation with domestic cats.

quoting from the Czech Post website:

"The wildcat is one of Czech rarest mammals. The difference between the wildcat and the domestic cat is readily apparent: the wild species is larger, mostly due to the longer and thicker hair. The fur colour is typically grey-brown to grey-yellow with distinct stripes on the back, legs, and tail. The shape, length, and the way the wild and the domestic species hold the tail also differ. The wildcat has a larger head, clearly smaller ears, and long sensitive whiskers."

Ivan managed to get a nice commemorative postmark on the cover and even though I'm not a soccer fan, any club that reaches 110 years of history, like the FC Viktoria Plzeň is worthy of admiration.

FC Viktoria Plzeň was established in the city from where it gets its name in the year of 1911. It currently plays in the Czech Republic premier league. 

POSTCARD N.9 - Spain

Postcrossing postcard included in Cover N.  20
Potscard image: Iberia DC-9; Barcelona - The Monumental Plaza de Toros (bullring ) and the Monumental fountain with the Montjuic palace in the background
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Carina and Maria sent me this vintage postcard of a city I (like millions of others) love: Barcelona. They kindly sent me the card inside an envelope, so i could also add another cover to my collection.Thanks a lot, girls.

First thing I thought of, when I looked at the card was that I once flew to Barcelona (el Prat de Lobregat airport) not in a DC-9, but in its younger cousin, the MD-82 of... was it Spanair? Can't remeber anymore.

Carina and Maria tell me that in Catalonia Bullfights are now forbidden, so the bullring (which I also only knew from the oustide, not being a bullfight lover myself) today must have other uses, music concerts being an obvious possibility, I presume...

Montjuic castle ... it's been ages since I visited it with my then little daughters... oh,  nostalgia kicking in.... 😀

COVER N.20 - Spain
Postmark: Sant Cugat del Valles - 02JUL2021
Posted on the  2nd July; received on the 12th July.
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Cover  #20 arrived from our next door neighbours, Spain, from the capital city of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia, Barcelona, with postcard # 9 inside. Gràcies Carina & Maria.

Barcelona is a place of wonder and many are the sights worth visiting, but of course Gaudi's masterpiece, the Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Familia, ranks as n. 1 in the list of jaw dropping artistic, architectural, museological, historical and musical offers. The only problem is having the time (and of course, the necessary ...resources...) to  establish a visit programme. Gaudi alone is enough for a couple of days, at least, but then there's Miró, Tapies, Dali (Figueres is just a hop away)  not to mention  Lichtenstein; Botero ... and all have street works that can be admired foo free... 

and then there's music at the magnificent Palau de la Música Catalana, but even if you do not have the time, music is always around, because Catalan has got to be one of the most musical idioms there is (at least to my ears).

Trust me... you'll like it!

The A2 tariff  (standard letter within Spain from 20 to 50 g) auto-adhesive stamp was issued on 23MAY2018 and celebrates the La Celestina Festival, a theatre festival held each year in August at Puebla de Montalban, Toledo, Castilla la Mancha, named after the major (and sole) literary work of its most illustrious son, Fernando de Rojas, a Spanish writer of the 16th century, 

The 0,70€ stamp, also of the auto-adhesive type, was issued on 26FEB2021 as part of a 2 stamp set (0,70€ and 1,5€) featuring the winners of the VII stamp design contest - Disello,

The Disello contest is promoted annualy by Correos España, the first edition having taken place in 2014.

The machine applied  postmark tells us that the letter was mailed at Sant Cugat del Vallès, a municipality 20 km to the North of Barcelona. The vignette reads "Postal Express, Siempre a tiempo" (Postal Express, always on time).

What makes a stamp great?

Several times I’ve posed myself this question in the last few weeks, ever since I started my blog.

Stamps, as objects of collection, have the obvious inherent quality of being desirable in spite of their physical features. That is to say, any stamp, as long as it fits the collector’s “terms of reference” is worthy of attention and potentially generator of the pleasure and contentment one feels whenever another item is added to one’s stash.

But, are they really all worth the same? (and I’m not talking about financial value, something that, for me, is not a concern, since my interest in stamps is not in any way linked with any type of investment or speculative objectives)

And the answer has got to be No!, they aren’t.

And I suppose the first item of my “What makes a stamp great” checklist is 

Theme

When I rekindled my long dormant interest in stamps, a side-effect of the current pandemic induced confinement periods, I started to peruse websites dedicated to philately, and I noticed my scrolling habits would most always lead me to articles dedicated to stamps themed on aviation, natural fauna and flora and regional costumes.

I had to make a terrible effort to concentrate on these three, though. I admit all types of transportation be it land, sea or air, can easily grab my attention, much the same as any natural scenic wonder or man built structure, like castles and bridges, not to mention the well  loved Lighthouses, to name but a few of the themes that would fit my interest bill.

But one has to draw a line somewhere, so I decided to concentrate on the three themes above mentioned, even if by themselves they are sufficiently open to admit a further need  for specialisation, for natural fauna, for instance has all the ingredients of a never ending story,…

A great stamp, can be quite simple, I believe.
image credit - CTT

Next box to tick?  I’d say

Type of image

Most stamps, whenever conceptually based on an image of something, resort to either photographs or drawings (and here, for the sake of facility of expression,  I include all types of media, like pen and ink, engravings, watercolour, etc).

And the choice here, for me, is also easy to make: Drawings!

Yes, I know, some stamps might have photos that are not only very good technically but which also may include a lot of interesting and contextualising information, but most of the times, I find, drawings are more enticing and adequate to the small size of the stamp.

Don’t get me wrong: I do love photography (in fact It’s another of the hobbies I dedicately pursue), but in my humble opinion, a nicely drawn stamp, especially if the drawing is accurate and real to life, as in scientific illustration, will 9 out of 10 times be nicer than a photograph based stamp.

(exceptions to the rule: even if photography-based, this is a great stamp, for me…)

image credit: CTT

Size

The dimension of a stamp might have a role in the path to greatness also.

The bigger the stamp the better? NO! I don’t think so. I  think stamps are, by definition, a form of miniature art. As such, drawn to conclusion by etymology, I suppose a biggish stamp is  something that somehow seems contra natura.

Stamps larger than, say, 6 cm in their longest dimension  are strange beings (of course, as in any other of the features I’ve mentioned, there are always exceptions to the rule…), and se-tenant stamps and souvenir sheets can of course be much wider or taller, but I’m  talking individual stamps, here.

(exceptions to the rule: even if larger that 6 cm, this is a great stamp, for me…)

image credit: CTT

Media

Every once in a while, a philatelic administration innovates with a never before seen media-based stamp. We’ve all seen or heard about stamps with music, scent, in gold, silver, with seeds, etc etc. The Portuguese CTT are quite adept of this trend and they’ve issued some really strange (and well regarded internationally) stamps such as the one recently issued to commemorate the 500^th anniversary of the Portuguese Post, which included a graphene circuit with a coded message with a poem by Portuguese Poet Miguel Torga, that could be transferred to one’s cell phone, or the set issued in  2016, dedicated to the Portuguese canning industry, which could be bought in a can, like a normal can of sardines….

Well, I have nothing against this, (and I do like the can idea) but more often than not, I can’t help but think that these are also  gimmicks to increase turnover from the philatelic section of the postal administration..

So for me a stamp… will be a piece of paper, preferably with lick-able glue on its back. 😉

 

(exceptions to the rule: there’s no way I cannot like this….)
Image credit: Conservas de Portugal

Format

Anything goes, here: square, round, lozenge, rectangular…. As long as the format contributes to the balance of the stamp, it really doesn’t matter.

So...

I’m sure there must be some more items that contribute to the opinion I make of a stamp, but I suppose these are those I consider first, so if a stamp is themed on one of my choice themes, shows a nice and accurate drawing, has a decent size and is made of that most wonderful of all media, paper, I’m pretty sure I’ll be looking at it with admiring eyes….

If you read this, do let me know what makes a stamp great, in your opinion, by dropping a line in the comments box. I’d love to hear other opinions on this.

 POSTCARD N.8 - Poland

Postacard included in Cover N. 19
Potscard image: Kings Castle Wawel, by the Vistula river
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This nice postcard was kindly sent me inside cover n.19. Thank you so much Roman.

COVER N.19 - Poland
Postmark: Gdansk - 21JUN2021
Posted on the  21st june; received on the 9th July.
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And the Atlas continues to unfold... this time, Mr. Postman rang once (he never rings twice, with me...) to deliver a lovely cover hailing from Poland, sent me by Roman, whom I sincerely thank for the stamps used, since I have elected traditional costumes as one of my choice themes.

Before the pandemic hit and turned our world upside down, Poland was on my  list of soon to visit countries, so receiving this lovely cover almost felt like a case of  "If the mountain will not come to Muhammad, then Muhammad must go to the mountain" 😀

The beautiful souvenir sheet with a 4.60ZŁ stamp was issued on 11SEP13 as a joint issue Poland/Romania, dedicated to Folk Art - Traditional Folk Costumes, Roman tells me, adding that the Polish costume is that on the right side, representative of the Krakow region. The Romanian costume is typical of the region of the Bistrita-Năsăud, whose capital Bistrita, I have already had the pleasure of visiting.

The 10 Groszy stamp on the left hand corner of the cover is part of a definitive set of 4 stamps issued in 2001 two (1,9 ZŁ and 3 ZŁ) on 28FEB2001  and the other two (10GR and 1.50ZŁ) on 20JUN2001.

The 3.30 ZL stamp was the first Polish stamp issued in 2020, on 17JAN2020, as part of a definitive series started in 2018, dedicated to the cities of Poland. The other stamp of this series for the year was a 10ZŁ stamp representing the city of  the Żywiec

The postmark tells us that the cover was mailed from the city of Gdansk, birthplace of the Solidarność union, led by the former President and Nobel peace Prize laureate Lech Wałęsa,  that was pivotal in the transition of Poland to  democracy after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

added on 13OCT21: 

The Romanian version of the stamp was used on cover 44.

POSTCARD N.7 - Portugal

Postcard posted on the 6th July, received on the 8th July.
Potscard image:Bom Jesus de Braga, a Unesco World Heritage Site
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A ripe fruit from my blog, it seems. Pedro, another like minded (and like named, for that matter) blogger, visited my "Thank you Mr. Postman" pages and kindly wrote me this postcard (which, of course, will not go unanswered).

Although hailing from Brazil, Pedro Lives up North, at Porto and he has a keen interest not only in stamps and covers but also in postcards, especially those illustrating UNESCO WHS, such as the one he sent me. 

He also has a blog, to prove it.

 

The existence of a church on the hill where the Sanctuary now stands can be traced back to the 14th century. Over a period of 600 years the site was built, rebuilt and transformed so as to reach the actual configuration, whose works were completed in 1811. The most iconic part of the complex is the gargantuan stairway with 573 steps, divided in 3 flights, that runs up the hill parallel to a funicular line (for those less inclined to take the hard route) on which  the oldest funicular built in the Iberian Peninsula, dating back to the 19th century, still operates flawlessly.

information on the Sanctuary is easy to access on the internet. A good English summary can be found here.

Portugal held the Presidency of the EU Council during the 1st semestre of 2021. to mark this occasion, CTT the Portuguese Post, issued a 2 stamp plus Souvenir sheet set on 14MAY21. Pedro used the 0,54€ (domestic up to 20g tariff) to mail me the postcard. The other stamp is denominated at  0,88€ (Europe, up to 20 g) while the stamp on the souvenir sheet has a value of 2,5€.

The hand applied cancelation proves that the postcard was mailed from the actual city where the monument is located, Braga. A really nice touch.

COVER N.18 - Monaco

Postmark: OETP (Office Emissions de Timbre-Poste). Pricipauté de Monaco - 1JUL2021
Posted on the  1th july; received on the 5th July.
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Another lovely cover, another country, this time Monaco. Thanks a lot Roland, my growing cover collection owes you a lot.

I first recall having heard of the  small but well to do (second highest GDP per capita in the world) Mediterranean state when I was a little boy and visited in my capital, Lisboa, the Aquário Vasco da Gama, one of the oldest Aquariums in the world.

In its inception the aquarium was the showroom for the then Monarch of Portugal, Rei D. Carlos I, to show his sea species collection, gathered in the several scientific campaigns he led on the Portuguese coast, influenced by his friend and correspondent Price Albert I, of Monaco.

I, the 10 year old coming from the Azores  where I was used to snorkel my way through the summer holidays from dawn to dusk, found the collection fascinating. (I still recall the giant squid hanging on the wall…(or was it the ceiling?)

Later, many a Sunday afternoon was spent with my eyes glued on the TV to watch the Lotus 72 and its nemesis Tyrrel  not to mention  the infamous Ferrari vs. McLaren duels at the  Monaco Grand prix.

3 or 4 years ago I finally got to visit Monaco. At one point I felt like being in some sort of silent movie, because several places looked decidedly familiar, whereas  the sounds I recalled from those long gone afternoons were simply not there… I can’t tell you how much I felt like starting to run along the streets making deep roaring sounds from the depths of my Cosworth heart…. 

The lovely 0,10 € stamps showing  a pair of great tits (I know it sounds strange, but that’s what it is….) – Parus major – are part of a most beautiful definitive set of 10 stamps (10€; 5€; 2€; 1€; 0,50€; 0,20€; 0,10€; 0,05€; 0,02€; 0,01€) issued on 01JAN2002, dedicated to Mediterranean Fauna and Flora. No tits on the other stamps but a plethora of wildlife, ranging from flowers to butterflies, and fishes and sea snails, all drawn with exquisite and delicate craftsmanship.

The 1,10€ stamp at the bottom left corner of the envelope is a single stamp set issued on 10APR2018, on the occasion of the 2018 FIFA World Football Cup, held in Russia. I, being no die-hard soccer fan (and, as such, a member of a really minor minority)  nevertheless am quite pleased to see my little flag, amidst the other little flags that grace the stamp.

Of note is also the very clean and precise way in which the stamps were cancelled, a sign of the attention that the Office Emissions de Timbre-Poste devotes to philatelists.

POSTCARD N.6 - Germany
Postcrossing Postcard posted on the 28th June; received on the 2nd July.
Potscard image: pretty obvious, isn't it? :-)
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Another Postcard landed on my mailbox. Thanks Karolina!

Not much to say about the postcard theme, other than coming from Germany, it doesn't come as a surprise. I'd be happy to use the coupon but sadly  it would have to be Alcohol free for me... 

The sender, Karolina, is a honey producer, so it doesn't surprise me to see a stamp with "Maya the bee" and her friend Willy, was used, as well as another stamp with a bee's best friend.. a flower.

The 0,80 stamp is illustrated with the image of Maya the Bee, and her friend Willy.

Maya the bee (Die Biene Maja), was the main character of a children's book published in 1912, writen by German author Waldemar Bonsels. I was familiar with both bee characters because in the late 70's or early 80's, Maya the Bee run as a Japanese anime series on Portuguese TV, and even though I was past the age of watching it, Kids were crazy about it.

The 0,15€ stamp was issued on 18DEC2018, as part of the long standing definitive emission started in 2005 themed on wild flowers. it shows a milkmaid (Cardamine pratensis). 

The postmark reads Briefzentrum 49, what would indicate that my postcard was posted in the city of Osnabrück, a city in the State of  Lower Saxony, birthplace of ErichMaria Remarque of "All quiet in the Western Front" fame.