COVER N. 214 -  BRAZIL

Postmark: ACC Beira Mar Shopping - Florianópolis - SC

Posted on the 3rd February; Received on the 19th February 2023

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Another Portuguese speaking cover, carefully laid out, flew across the ocean from our brother country.... thanks a lot, Lucia, as I write it's 8ºC outside, so a cover from the tropics can only warm the day....

Cactus... the prickly buggers that manage to withstand drought and which often look like having been invented by a ceramist of the modernist period, at least that's what their strange shapes remind me of... or is it the other way around?

On 22SEP2022, Correios do Brasil issued a set of four 2.6 Reais stamps themed on succulents that constituted the country's  Mercosul issue for the year.

Mercosul is basically a free-trade community formed by South American countries. I couldn't find any particular information on Mercosul stamp issues but they probably follow the pattern of other common stamp issues, i.e. all the members issue a stamp or set of stamps illustrating a common theme.

(Well.. so much for theory. I just checked and if Brazil's issue is themed on succulents, Argentina's was devoted to beneficial insects, Uruguai's to marine life........)

Anyway, on my cover are two of the 4 succulents of the Brazilian set; on the left a couple of Cereus jamacaru, and, on the right, a Uebelmannia pectinifera.

The small 0.2 Real stamp on the lower left corner is part of the definitive series issued between 2005 and 2011, dedicated to Professions. This particular stamp, dedicated to  shoemaker, integrated the first set of three stamps, issued on 30DEC2005.

The nicely applied postmark informs us that the cover was mailed from a post office installed in a shopping centre in Florianópolis, the capital city of the state of Santa Catarina.