COVER N. 256 - CZECH REPUBLIC  

Postmark: 80 let KF 00-15 Praha 1 13.05.2023

Posted on the 13th May; Received on the 19th May 2023
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A cover full of lovely creatures, celebrating the anniversary of a Philately club. Nice! Thanks a lot Ivan!

I think I have said it before here: I am not that fond of  zoos, even though I understand the pivotal  role they unfortunately play as a reserve for the conservation of endangered species. 

I know things have evolved a lot in later years, but I always remember seeing a chimpanzee locked in a jail many years ago in Lisbon zoo and thinking what kind of life the poor beast led, locked for ever in a naked cubicle, or the sad looking elephant who would ring the bell each time a coin would be dropped into his pit...

I also remember the horrific images of Prague's zoo, totally flooded in 2002, what led to the death of many of  its animals....

The bigger the beast, the more discomfort it causes me, of course... I can't help but put the image of the bell playing elephant in contrast with those we have all seen of  those magnificent beasts roaming free across the large African savannas...

but Zoos can also be the subject matter for beautiful stamps and this I cannot put at fault; on the contrary, I have to thank Ivan for the Very nice stamps he used on this cover, the main one being dedicated to the zoo of Plzeň (Pilsen).

- Animals have always been  a Philatelic favourite of many a thematic collector, and I am sure that the magnificent  four souvenir sheets issued yearly between 2016 and 2019 by the Czech Post, dedicated to the Czech Zoos, must have been highly regarded by this particular philatelic community.

The sheets are profusely illustrated and besides the actual four stamps they contained several vignettes occupying the margins with beautiful images of animals, such as can be seen on the 30 Koruna stamp on my cover, dedicated to the Pilzen Zoo, part of the second group issued on 06SEP2017, depicting an adult and an juvenile Indian Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis) and a blue-spotted tree monitor (Varanus macrarei), a large monitor lizzard endemic to the island of Batanta, in Indonesia.

- The Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus)... the fastest living creature on Earth, capable of diving speeds in excess of 320 km/h is the subject of the 8 Koruna stamp on the upper left corner. it is part of a set of three (6,5: 8: 9 Koruna) issued on 15OCT2003, as the year's issue for the nature conservation series.

- Lepidoptera, Butterflies and Moths... how could someone like me who is marvelled by anything that can conquer gravity not be totally captivated by the ethereal lightness of their flight, the enormous beauty of their colours, the awe inspiring  discovery of their shapes?

In 2020 and 2021, Czech Post issued two definitive sets of two stamps each featuring butterflies. The 1 Koruna stamp on my cover is part of the 2021 set and is illustrated  with an image of an Orange Tip (Anthocharis cardamines), a member of the Pieridae family which can be found all over Europe. The companion stamp in this issue, with a face value of 23 Koruna,  was illustrated with the beautiful Peacock  butterfly (Aglais io).

I don't think I ever photographed an orange tip, but I did come across an European peacock, in Romania, once, who was quite willing to pose for a couple of shots.

The stamps are cancelled with a nice pictorial postmark, commemorative of the 80th anniversary of the KF00-15 Philatelic club. a thematic philately club, with the 00-15 registration number in the then Union of the Czechoslovakian  Philatelists, hence its designation. Congrats to them!