COVER N.52 - Germany

Postmark: Kiel, 12OCT2021 
Posted on the 12 October; received on the 16th November
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Lovely cover, said I to none other than myself upon opening my letterbox to find this nice clean and simple envelope inside. Thanks a lot, Andreas!

I believe, from consulting the philatelic information sheets that Deutsch Post publishes, that Germany has a very prolific special commemorative postmark yearly programme. I don't know if this has anything to do with the fact of it being a Federal Republic with events, personalities, occasions worthy of special note at State level feeding into the Deutsch Post philately department, but the truth is that it only takes a glimpse of those information sheets to notice that month after month a lot  of nice commemorative postmarks are used on a varying selection of German cities.

The beautiful postmark was issued in the city of Kiel on 12OCT21 for the Day of the Postage stamp (Tag der Briefmarke) and as far as I could understand it was promoted by the Philatelic Society of Kiel 

(Kieler Philatelisten-Verein von 1931 e.V). The personality it honours is that of Heinrich von Stephan (1831-1897) who organised the German post under the German empire and who was also a key personality in the foundation of the General Postal Union (1874) that would evolve to become the Union Postale Universelle (1878).

The two stamps used are part of a series that began in 2014 dedicated to "Baby animals", the 80 cent stamp with the image of a baby otter (Lutra lutra) was issued on 03SEP2020. 

The European otter has a very wide distribution and it can be found from Ireland and my own country, Portugal,  to Japan, and from as far North as Finland to Indonesia on Southeast Asia. It has a lifespan of 6 to 8 years and it has a Near Threatened global conservation status.

The 60 cent stamp featuring the photograph of a baby hamster (Cricetus cricetus) is half of this year's emission of the series (the other stamp presenting the photo of an Alpine Ibex) at it was issued on 10JUN2021.

The European Hamster is now considered to be Critically Endangered as far as its global conservation status is concerned, with populations dwindling due to habitat loss and hunting for fur collection.  According to Wikipedia it  can be found in  Belgium and Alsace in the west, to Russia in the east, and Bulgaria in the south. It has a lifespan of up to 8 years.

Of note is the fact that the 2021 stamp is already fitted with the special code that allows tracking of the letter it has been used on.