POSTCARD N.38 -  Germany

Postcard sent on ?; received on the 29th October
Postcard image: Heringsdorf
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Heringsdorf is a seaside town bathed by the Baltic sea and neighbouring Poland. The postcard Eve sent me inside cover #46  contains vintage views of the beachfront and also of 4 of the many hotels in the area: the Neptun (top right of the card);  the Camara M'Balia (bottom, left corner); the Guiseppe de Vittorio (bottom centre) and The Einheit (bottom right corner).

It seems Heringsdorf has been a very popular seaside resort ever since the 19th century, when it was one of the favorite summer destinations of the aristocracy. It is also famous for  having the longest promenade pier in Germany, built in 1995 to replace the original Emperor William Pier, built in 1893, that fell pray to fire.

COVER N.46 - Germany

Postmark: No postmark
Posted on the 4th October; received on the29th October
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A simple, rather naked C5 envelope, originated in Germany, with what I believe is a self-printed postage label, ended what was already feeling like a "cold turkey" period, after weeks without Mr. Postman making good use of my letterbox.

Inside  a Postcrossing postcard (#38) and another envelope witha gift of stamps. Thank you so much Eve. 

I've already written about it here. Generosity is a quality that really bewilders those who are at the end of the magnificent gesture..., the more so when it comes from someone you never met, and will probably never meet... fine gestures are the mark of fine people, I believe! 

Not much to say about the envelope, but its contents do say a lot about who sent it!

COVER N.45 - Thailand

Postmark: No postmark
Posted on the 23rd September; received on the 14th October
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Another uncancelled cover, which is a pity on the one side, because nice covers should have postmarks, but, on the other hand, allows the stamps to be appreciated in their full glory: And no less than 4 beautiful stamps were used on this cover that will allow me to add another entry to my country roster: Thailand. Thank you so much Chakorn.

It is the second cover I receive in one of those beautiful classic red white and blue bordered envelopes which is something that we don't see anymore in my home country, at least, but which were the norm for airmail before the advent of letters through electrons.... I remember using them to write to my pen pals and also to my father when he was living in the Azores and I was studying and working in the mainland... time flies... and so do covers...

Stamps, left to right:

Bhumibol Adulyadej ruled Thailand for 70 years, between 1946 and his passing in 2016. According to wikipedia he was the second longest reigning monarch in history, only surpassed by le Roy Soleil, Louis XIV. He was loved by his people even though during his long reign Thailand was often ruled as a military dictatorship, with about 20 coups d'état having occurred ever since the beginning of the constitutional monarchy in 1932.

On the occasion of his cremation, that took place on the 26th October 2017, Thai Post issued, on the 25th, a stamp set in minisheet from with 9 painted portraits of His Majesty the King Rama IX (as he was also known), probably based on photographs of the monarch. The nine stamps all have the same face value of 9 Baht. The two stamps on my cover are  the left and centre items of the first row of the minisheet.

The 5 Baht black and white stamp was issued on 01AUG2008 as part of a 5 stamp set celebrating the 125th Anniversary of Thai Postal Services. As far as could investigate the stamp therein depicted is the 1 Att carmine stamp with the effigy of  King Chulalongkorn, part of the first set of stamps (6 values) issued by the Kingdom of Siam (as Thailand was then called) on 04AUG1883. There's also the image of a building on the stamp, which I unfortunately was not able to identify. Help, anyone?

The last 5 Baht stamp was part of a 4 stamp set (2,3,4 and 5 Baht), issued on 02 APR1991, dedicated  to Hanging Decorations, commemorative of the 1991 Heritage Conservation Day. The stamps were also issued in minisheet form, each containg the four different items.

COVER N.44 - Romania

Postmark:  Oneşti 1, Ghiseu 1  06OCT21
Posted on the 6th October; received on the 13th October
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Romania! Thank you, Nicolae, for allowing me to add another country to my cover collection!

One of the last summer trips I took before the pandemic was to Romania, where my wife and I sojourned for about a forthnight, travelling around the country. and what an experience it was. Romania is really a great country with warm and kind people and full of interesting sites to see be it man made or natural. There's much more to see and enjoy than the "mamoothal" parliament building built by the infamous dictator which on par with Dracula are perhaps the 2 most iconic things that come to everyone's mind when thinking of Romania. Magnificent monasteries, amazing wooden churches, fortified medieval churches, a good-humoured graveyard, an amazing mountain road, mountains, bears what is not to like...? And then there's this:

My suggestion? Go there, get out of Bucharest and travel around. You'll love it!

Knowing I like stamps with local costumes, Nicolae used as the main stamp on this lovely envelope a stamp issued on 11SEP2013 with people wearing traditional costumes. This was a joint emission with Poland and I was lucky enough to already have received the Polish version on another cover I have in the collection. 

The Romanian costume featured on the left side of the stamp is typical of the region of the Bistrita-Năsăud, whose capital Bistrita, I had the pleasure of visiting on my journey through Romania, while the Polish costumes, on the right, are typical of the Krakow region.

The remaining two stamps that Nicolae used were issued on 21AUG1970 and are part of a 6 stamp set dedicated to Roses. Other than the Vienna Charm (35 Ban) and the Pink Lustre (55 Ban) varieties, the set also included the Iceberg (20 ban); Piccadilly (1 Leu); Orange Delbard (1,5 Leu) and  Sibelius (2,40 Leu) varieties. I really like the design of all of these stamps and it is amazing that I am now receiving a cover stamped with stamps that were issued when I was 10 years old...

The very clear postmark states that the cover was mailed from the city of Oneşti, a region on the centre East of the country.

COVER N.43 - France - Conseil de l'Europe

Postmark: Conseil de l'Europe Strasbourg  10OCT21
Posted on the 10th October; received on the 6th October
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Freedom of Speech! Undoubtly one of the most dear rights of the Rule of Law.

The one that has cost, and continues to cost so much to so many... On the day I write this, the Nobel Peace Prize has just been announced: Maria Ressa and Dmitry Andreyevich Muratov. Two journalists who chose the hard, non-compromising way, for the benefit of us all, for the advancement of democracy,  for a better and freer future for present and coming  generations. I salute them and all that fight for a world where opinion and voicing it are as normal as the sunrise and the sunset.

Freedom of Expression! Article 11 of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights:

Freedom of expression and information 

1. Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers. 

2. The freedom and pluralism of the media shall be respected

Until the day before yesterday, I didn't know the European Council issued its own stamps, as "Timbres de Service", issued by la Poste, so I was really surprised to see this amazing cover that Mr Postman dropped on my letterbox. The more so since it was completely unexpected. Thank you so much Pierre!

It seems that Conseil de l'Europe stamps began to be issued in 1958 with one or two stamps being issued on what is now a yearly basis. A far as I could find on the internet, the stamp on the cover Pierre send me is the first and probably only issue for the year. 

One thing I noticed that I found odd, when trying to get some information on the stamp, was that the stamps sheets mentioned article 10 of the CEDH on one of their margins, not article 11, which I believe is really the one that relates to Freedom of Expression... But we are talking freedom of expression so if someone says the right article is n. 10, we can disagree, but we must respect. 😀

Image Credit: La Poste

The First day cancellation is very simple but effective, in that it is built around the European logo,  with information about the date and place of issuance, which, of course, could only be the beautiful city of Strasbourg.

 

COVER N.42 - Switzerland

Postmark: 6442 GERSAU 17SEP21
Posted on the 17th September; received on the 6th October
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Same as Germany, Switzerland chose to focus the limelight of the EUROPA 2021 stamp emission on the often forgoten and even maligned insects, dedicating the two se-tenant stamps that comprise the set, issued on 06MAY2021, to two beautiful butterflies that have endangered status in Switzerland.

These are the stamps that grace the cover I received from the land of the cheese with holes and evergreen pastures. Thank you so much, Rosmarie!

The woodland brown (Lopinga achine), a member of the Nymphalidae family rests on the stamp on the left side of the pair. It can be found in warm openings of damp unmanaged mature forests. The scarce large blue (Phengaris teleius) is the subject of the right side stamp. Like other Lycaenidae butterflies it relies on a parasitic association with a specific species of ant to thrive.

Both of then cannot be found in my own country.

The very clear postmark tells us that the cover was posted in Gersau, a city in the canton of Schwyz, on the shores of Lake Lucerne.

 POSTCARD N.37 -  Spain

Postcard sent on ?; received on the 6th October
Postcard image: Cala d'Hort - Ibiza
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Ibiza, the hippie Island of the 70's (last century, that is...) the island of  everlasting partying and boozing, niched in the warm waters of the Mediterranean with its sisters Mallorca, Menorca and Formentera, forming the Balearic Archipelago, was the place Marta, my younger daughter chose to go on a short stay with some friends. She knew daddy would love a postcard with a stamp so here it is... Thanks Martolas, dad loved it!

The Balearic islands are known for their nice beaches and judging from the one in the picture, it is easy to understand why, even though the water is too warm for my taste. I remember one year in Mallorca, it was so hot and humid that before going to bed i'd go to the beach for a cooling swim, but the water was in the high 20º C, so it was only scant relief....

Marta used a B Tariff self adhesive stamp from the 2017 "12 months, 12 stamps" series, issued on 01SEP2017, most adequately dedicated to the Illes Ballears, in Catalan or  Islas Baleares, in Spanish, the two official languages spoken in the Archipelago.

The background photo on the stamp is of a beach as expected while the IB letters identifying the archipelago are partially made out of iconic elements such as the Ibiza wall lizzard, Podarcis pityusensis, native to Ibiza and Formentera and the delicious Ensaimada, a pastry that is offered with a choice of fillings, the most common, I believe, being cream.

Unfortunately the cancellation mark is totally illegible, so there is not much to say about it...

 COVER N.41 - France

Postmark: First Day Postmark: Fête du Timbre 2021,  21 Venarey Les Laumes 25SEP21
Posted on the 25th September; received on the 4th October
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La Fête du Timbre, the Stamp Festival. Under this epigraph, every year, since 1937, a series of philatelic events take place in a multitude of French cities, with a view not only to provide an occasion for all who  share the passion for stamps to meet, exchange knowledge and exhibit their collections, but also to try and infect others with the benign virus.
The event, initially called la Journée du timbre – The Day of the Stamp – was first organised by the Fédération des Sociétés Philatéliques Françaises in 1937.
Since 1944, La Poste issues on the occasion of  La Fête du Timbre a stamp or a set of stamps to commemorate the event. More recently the stamps have been subject to a theme running for several years. This is the case of this year’s theme –  l’Automobile et le cinema (Cars and movies) – that is now on its fourth iteration, a series that began in 2018, with “l’Automobile et le Sport” (Rally cars), and was continued through 2019 with “l’automobile de style” (Stylish cars) and 2020 with “L’automobile et les vacances” (Hollidays’ cars).
The 2021 emission, issued on 25SEP2021, the day of La Fête du Timbre, comprised  a single 1,08€ stamp (Lettre verte 20 g - France) showcasing a Citröen Mehari and a souvenir sheet, with a 2,16 € stamp (Lettre verte 100 g – France) with an image of one of the most iconic of all French automobiles: the Citröen 2CV.
This was the stamp that was used on the great cover I received from France on the 4th October. Thank you so much jean Pierre.

Given this year’s theme, the Bloc Feuillet was conceived as an homage to French Cinema and  two of its most illustrious comedians: Louis de Funès and Bourvil.  As such, other than the  blue 2CV, driven by Bourvil in the movie “Le Corniaud”, that is the subject of the stamp itself, the souvenir sheet contains a pen and ink drawing of a scene of  the movie, shot in the “Place Sainte Geneviève” in Paris , featuring the front of a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow, driven by Louis de Funès, which, in the movie, collides with the back of the 2CV, this accident being central to the film’s plot.
I have no recollection of ever watching this film, but it is quite  possible that I did watch it, since I saw a lot of de Funès movies in the late 60’s early 70’s.
Besides the First Day cancellation mark issued at Venarey Les Laumes, the cover also contains two other stamp marks, one in red, reading Circuit Postal Automobile “Deuche Sédélocienne” and the other, in black, identifying the circuit the cover was on – CP 1 Venarey-Semur-Saulieu.
After some investigation on the internet, I came to the conclusion that the “Deuche Sédélocienne” is a 2CV (and also all things Citröen)  enthusiast club that associated itself with La fête du Timbre, promoting the transportation of philatelic letters such as my cover on a circuit passing through the three aforementioned localities on the 25th September.