COVER N. 595 - LITHUANIA

Postmark: Europa Nacionaliniai Archeologiniai Atradimai Šilalė, 25.04.2025

Posted on the 25th April; Received on the 17th June 2025

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A nice surprise from Lithuania. Thank you so much Leonardas. EUROPA/CEPT issues are always a very welcomed  treat.

Hills and elevations have often been chosen by our ancestors to implant their dwellings and fortresses, since they afford a more unimpeded line of sight  and also because they are easier to defend from attackers.

But what if there are no natural elevations? What if you live in a region that is mostly flat?

Well, as the saying goes, if the mountain will not come to Muhammad, then Muhammad must go to the mountain... that is to say, if you do not have a mound, you create one, shaping the landscape with what I'd imagine would be quite a few buckets of elbow grease.

That's what I read happened in Lithuania and the other Baltic States, in a period that goes back to 1000 BC and on to the Middle Ages, with several artificial elevations having been created for use either as dwellings or defensive structures, or both.

This year's EUROPA/CEPT stamps theme being National Archaeological Discoveries, Lietuvos paštas, the country's postal operator, chose the Mounds, of which some 850 examples have been identified in Lithuania alone, as the subject for the country's issue, comprising the two se-tenant 2,10€ stamps issued on 25APR2024, on the beautiful FDC that Leonardas kindly sent me.

The stamp on the left of the pair is illustrated with a photograph of Bilionių Mound, believed to date from the 1st millennium BC, situated close to the city of Laukuva, in the north of the country.

The stamp on the right showcases  the Medvėgalis Mound, which at 234,6 m is the highest elevation of the Samogitian Upland, whereupon a hill fort was built in the 14th century.

The First Day Postmark on the official First Day Envelope  was issued at Šilalė, in western Lithuania, part of the Samogitia region. 

POSTCARD N.182 - GERMANY

Postcrossing Postcard sent on the 8th June; received on the 13th June 2025.

Postcard image: A (much transformed...) view of Downtown Essen showcasing Garner Hotel 

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It has been a while since I received a Postcrossing postcard. Thanks a lot, Anne.

Essen is an important city in central west Germany, with a population of about 600000 inhabitants, in the  North Rhine-Westphalia Region.

Anne sent me a postcard with  a strange, highly digitally modified, I believe,  image of a part of the city relevant for the building of a hotel featured on the postcard: the former Handelshof hotel, built in 1913, nowadays the Garner Essen Hotel.

The postcard designer thought it a good idea to splash a couple of inverted ice cream cones into the hotel towers, a tight rope walker, and a few splashes of  virtual colour to the streets, under the warming yellow rays of a timid sun.......

There's a QR code on the back of the card that leads us to Essen's Theatre - Theatre und Philarmonie Essen -  webpage, so I presume that the postcard is a promotional vehicle for the institution.

Anne used stamps from the World of Letters definitive series, to send me the postcard: two 0.15 € - Letters Peacock - issued on 10AUG2024 and one 0,95 €  - Letters balloon - issued on 04AUG2022.

The mechanical Postmark reads Briefzentrum 45, which is also located in Essen.

 My National Covers

Every now and then I have the opportunity to add what I call a "National Cover" to my collection.

These are nothing fancy. In fact they are but covers that I print  at home with the flag and coat of arms of a specific country and which I then either send to a fellow collector who is willing to help or give to friends or family or take my own self whenever travelling abroad, in the hope that these might find a way to a local post office to get a stamp and a postmark.

I will be adding these to a new "My National Covers" section in this blog.

If you don't see your country here and are willing to help me add your own country's national cover to my collection, please email me at pnsoares1@gmail.com. 

You'll get a cover from Portugal (if you want I'll be happy to print a Portuguese National Cover just like the ones I print for myself, although in a somewhat larger envelope) and a printed envelope with the relevant symbols printed, so that you can then return it to me.

Thanks a lot.

Note: Whenever possible I will try to transcribe the flag and coat of arms information from the relevant national site. Failing that I'll transcribe from Wikipedia.

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Republic of Latvia / Latvijas Republika

The Flag

The flag of the Republic of Latvia is a carmine red with a white horizontal stripe.

The flag of Latvia has a long history, as it was first mentioned in the chapters of the Rhymed Chronicle of Livonian in the 13th century.

Having regard to that historical record, both patriotically minded individuals and organisations used the flag in the 19th century. In 1917, a red-white-red flag was used in several events aimed at uniting the regions of Latvia. Under the influence of those political processes, the issue of the appearance of the Latvian flag was raised. The debate resulted in a sketch prepared by artist Ansis Cīrulis that gained the most popularity.

On 15 June 1921, the Constitutional Assembly adopted the Law on the Flag and Coat of Arms of the Republic of Latvia.

The distinctive (carmine) red colour of the flag was described in the government document for the first time in 1922 so that the flag could be more easily distinguished from the similarly coloured national flag of Austria.

Following the occupation of Latvia in 1940, the use or possession of this flag was considered punishable by law. The flag reappeared in the second half of the 1980’s when it was widely used during the Awakening movement, and its status of the national flag was restored on 27 February 1990.

Source: National symbols | Valsts prezidenta kanceleja

The red-white-red Latvian flag is first mentioned in the medieval Rhymed Chronicle of Livonia (Livländische Reimchronik), which covers the period from 1180 to 1343, and is thus among the oldest flags in the world. The chronicle tells of a battle that took place around 1279, in which ancient Latgalian tribes from Cēsis, a city in northern modern-day Latvia, went to war, bearing a 'red flag with a white stripe'.

A separate popular legend recounts the story of a mortally wounded chief of Latgalians who had been wrapped in a white sheet. The part of sheet on which he was lying remained white, and the two edges were coloured by his blood. During the next battle, the bloodstained sheet was used as a flag. According to the legend, this time the Latgalian warriors were successful and drove the enemy away. Since then, Latgalian tribes have been using these colours as their symbol.

Source: Flag of Latvia - Wikipedia

The Coat of Arms

The Great Coat of Arms of the Republic of Latvia was approved in 1921 and reapproved in 1993. The shield on the herald is divided into segments: half of a golden rising sun against a blue background is seen in one section, a red lion against a silver background to represent Kurzeme and Zemgale is in the second section, and a silver griffon with a blue tongue and a silver sword clutched in its right paw represents Vidzeme and Latgale in the third section. There are three golden stars above the shield. The shield is held by a red lion with a golden tongue on the right and a silver griffon with a golden tongue on the left. They stand on two green oak branches with a red-white-red ribbon that has the proportions of the Latvian national flag. 

Source: National symbols | Valsts prezidenta kanceleja

The three golden stars above the shield represent the three historical regions of Latvia: Vidzeme (Swedish Livonia), Latgale (Latgalia or Polish Livonia) and Kurzeme (Courland, also Zemgale or Semigallia as the Duchy of Courland and Semigalia) and their unity.

The golden sun in a blue field represents freedom. The sun was also used as a symbol of distinction and national identity used by the Imperial Russian Army's Latvian Riflemen units during World War I. During the war, the sun was fashioned with 17 rays that symbolised the 17 Latvian-inhabited districts.

The bottom part of escutcheon is divided into two fields:

The red lion from the Coat of arms of Courland represents Courland and Semigallia.[6] The symbol appears as early as 1565 in the coat of arms of the former Duke of Courland and Semigalia.

The silver griffin from the Coat of arms of Livonia represents Vidzeme and Latgalia.[6] The Gryf coat of arms as the heraldic symbol of the Duchy of Livonia was granted in 1566, when the territories known today as Vidzeme and Latgale had come under the control of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Source: Coat of arms of Latvia - Wikipedia

The Stamp

Latvia Post initiated an annual series in 2016 dedicated to the development of shipbuilding and seafaring in Latvia in the 19th century. The stamps carry  very beautiful illustrations of ships built in Latvia, during that period.

The 1.71 @ stamp on the cover is the 2023 issue, issued on 27JAN2023, featuring the brigantine Anna Wictoria, a two-mast sailing ship built in Ainaži in 1878 by master builder Mihkel Margins (1845–1914).

The Anna Wictoria would ship for 20 years all around the ports of Europe. Its sad demise occured in 1898, when it was wrecked in the east coast of  England.

The Postmark

Applied at Talsi, a town in the Courland region, in the north west of Latvia.

My thanks to my wife for taking the time to go to the Post Office when visiting Latvia for professional reasons to make sure I'd get this cover.

 My National Covers

Every now and then I have the opportunity to add what I call a "National Cover" to my collection.

These are nothing fancy. In fact they are but covers that I print  at home with the flag and coat of arms of a specific country and which I then either send to a fellow collector who is willing to help or give to friends or family or take my own self whenever travelling abroad, in the hope that these might find a way to a local post office to get a stamp and a postmark.

I will be adding these to a new "My National Covers" section in this blog.

If you don't see your country here and are willing to help me add your own country's national cover to my collection, please email me at pnsoares1@gmail.com. 

You'll get a cover from Portugal (if you want I'll be happy to print a Portuguese National Cover just like the ones I print for myself, although in a somewhat larger envelope) and a printed envelope with the relevant symbols printed, so that you can then return it to me.

Thanks a lot.

Note: Whenever possible I will try to transcribe the flag and coat of arms information from the relevant national site. Failing that I'll transcribe from Wikipedia.

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Oriental Republic of Uruguay / República Oriental del Uruguay 

The Flag

The national flag of Uruguay, officially known as the national pavilion (Pabellón Nacional), is one of the three official flags of Uruguay along with the Artigas flag and the flag of the Treinta y Tres. 

The flag was first adopted by law on 18 December 1828, and had 19 alternating stripes of white and blue until 11 July 1830, when a new law reduced the number of alternating stripes to nine. The flag was designed by Joaquín Suárez.

The horizontal stripes on the flag represent the nine original departments of Uruguay, based on the U.S. flag, where the stripes represent the original 13 colonies.

The golden Sun of May represents the May Revolution of 1810; the Sun of May is a figurative sun that represents Inti, the sun god and mythological founder of the Incan Empire. 

Source: Flag of Uruguay - Wikipedia

The Coat of Arms

The coat of arms of Uruguay was first adopted by law on March 19, 1829, and later on had some minor modification in 1906 and 1908. It was supposedly designed by Juan Manuel Besnes Irigoyen.

It consists of an oval shield, which is divided into four equal sections and crowned by a rising golden sun, the Sun of May, symbolizing the rising of the Uruguayan nation and the May Revolution. The oval is surrounded by a laurel branch on the left and an olive one on the right, symbolising triumph and peace respectively, tied at the bottom by a light blue ribbon, the former uruguayan cockade.

In the upper left quarter there is a golden scale on a blue background, symbol of equality and justice.

The upper right quarter contains the Cerro de Montevideo (Montevideo Hill) with its fortress on top on a silver background, as a symbol of strength.

In the lower left, also on a silver background, there is a galloping black horse, symbolizing liberty.

The lower right quarter holds a golden ox on blue background, as a symbol of abundance and plenty.

Source: Coat of arms of Uruguay - Wikipedia

The Stamps

- José Gervasio Artigas (1764 – 1850) is considered the father of Uruguayan nationhood.

Born in Montevideo, Artigas enlisted in the Spanish military in 1797 and fought the British in the Anglo-Spanish War. At the outbreak of the Spanish-American wars of independence, Artigas supported the Primera Junta in Buenos Aires against Spain. He defeated the Spanish royalists at Las Piedras and laid siege to Montevideo, but was forced to withdraw in the face of Portuguese intervention. Artigas subsequently broke with the centralist government of Buenos Aires and took over Montevideo in 1815. He then oversaw the creation of the Federal League, an alliance of six provinces under a federal style of government. In 1816, the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves invaded the Banda Oriental, eventually annexing it as a province. Artigas was driven into Paraguay, where he lived in exile until his death in 1850. His remains were re-interred at the Central Cemetery of Montevideo in 1855, and in 1977 they were transferred to the Artigas Mausoleum.

Source: José Gervasio Artigas - Wikipedia

On 02JUN2014, Correo Uruguayo issued a definitive set of seven self-adhesive imperforated stamps honouring José Artigas, of which the 1 peso stamp can be seen on the cover.

The stamps, carrying the quote "Sean los Orientales tan ilustrados como valientes" (may the Orientals be both wise and valiant), are illustrated with the effigy of José Artigas. The name of the stamp designer, Miguel Ángel Tuala, is also inscribed on the stamp. All the seven stamps are equal, but for their colour and face value

- The national symbols of Uruguay illustrate the very nice se-tenant pair of stamps (12 and 37 pesos) issued on 08NOV2010, which constitute the country's 2010 UPAEP issue.

The 12 peso stamp carries the left half of the flag overprinted with the score of the national anthem, while the 37 peso stamp has the right half of the flag as a background for the national coat of arms. Both stamps carry the legend America, followed by the Upaep logo.

 On the occasion of the 190th anniversary of Uruguay's Postal Service, Correo Uruguayo issued on  21DEC2017 a 2 x 20 pesos celebratory se-tenant stamp set. 

The stamp on the left of the pair is illustrated with an image of a horse rider and the legend Francisco de los Santos, Ultimo chasque de Artigas (Francisco de los Santos, Artigas'  last messenger)

As it stands, Francisco de los Santos was a peasant follower of José Artigas whom he charged with the task of liberating some of his men who were imprisoned in Rio de Janeiro

To that end, Artigas, before escaping  to exile in Paraguay after having been defeated by the Portuguese,  gave dos Santos the last 4000 patacones he had and charged him to go to Rio de Janeiro, a very difficult and dangerous journey of several hundred kilometres that would take several days to accomplish on horseback, to trade his men for the money.

The result was that the money was lost to the jailers and dos Santos would join the other men in prioson.

After the independence of Uruguay, Francisco dos Santos would follow his career in the Uruguayan army, rising to the rank of Lieutenant-colonel, before dying in 1855.

The stamp on the right of the pair, is illustrated with a contemporary mail delivery van, featuring on its side the slogan El Correo Uruguayo llega hasta donde quieras (The Uruguayan Post will deliver wherever you want it to).

Both stamps also carry the commemorative  legend "Correo 190 años".

The Postmark

The very clear postamrk reads Administracion Nacional de Correos Montevideo Uruguay, Filatelia vendas  (National Postal Administratio Montevideo, Philately, Sales) and is dated of  01FEB2024.

My thanks to my daughter Marta, who managed to find some time during her passage through Montevideo to  do dad a favour. 

COVER N. 594 - FRANCE

Postmark: Bureau Philatélique 69 - Lyon Bellecour 07.06.2025

Posted on the 7th June; Received on the 11th June 2025

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Batman and Super Girl... oh, I hear another of my childhood memories coming up....

Un grand Merci Eric!

There were things that I wasn’t especially keen of, when I was a kid, just six or seven years old.

I still remember my mother calling me frantically from the balcony to get back home for it was bath time, something I considered the last of my priorities whenever I was out on the street playing with my friends. 

Cowboys and Indians or Super heroes and villains we were and it is well known, Matt Dillon (not the actor; the real one, the one in the comics strips) Cisco Kid or Batman never took a bath or even a shower… at least I have no recollection of ever seeing a square of a comic strip of any of these monuments showing them wasting time with their mothers scrubbing the hell out of their backs and heads….

Another of the dreaded wastes of time (not to mention dignity) was the regular visit to the barber, with my father, in order to get the hair cut. 

Not that I had already made my mind about letting my hair grow to keep pace with time and fashion, as I would some years later. What annoyed me most, was the itching sensation on the back of my neck I was always left with after the barber had finished his job and talcum powered it to quench the burning sensation caused by the razor on my tender child skin.

One day my father called me: “Pedrito, let’s go to the barber’s”. 

Knowing there was absolutely no point in refusing the invitation, I put on my most fastidious face and went along down the stairs into the street with him. 

At the end of the street we took a left turn….

Usually we would turn right, whenever going to the barber’s…

My father noticed my amused look, and told me we would go to another barber, this time.

And so we walked for a while longer. My father was a keen walker and I got this habit from him, I guess, as I too am quite fond of getting from here to there by putting one foot ahead of the other in sequence….

After a while we reached our destination.

Both barber chairs were taken, so we would have to wait for our turn.

The barber looked at me: “Do you like to read comics?”; “Yes, sure.” I answered him.

“While you wait, pick any of those and enjoy it” said he pointing to a pile of comic magazines on a table.

I was flabbergasted. Boy, this was even better than the library where my father and I would sometimes go, to get books to read.

When finally my turn came, I did not even noticed that my hair was being cut and, in the end, I did not feel the dreaded itching either, for I was anticipating  the moment I would arrive in the room I shared with my sister and lay on my bed reading the second hand SuperMan comic that my father bought from the barber to offer me.

From that day on, visiting that Barber, Mr. Buchinho, If I still remember his name correctly, not to have my hair cut, but to buy another of the second hand magazines he sold, would be one of my permanent aims in life.

Batman, Superman, Archeiro Verde (the Green Hornet) Flash in their Brazilian issues  and especially Mundo de Aventuras, a Portuguese magazine that published many of the King Features Syndicate strips, would be piled on my bedside table and inside the drawers where I kept my most precious treasures.

 All the coins I managed to collect would be converted into comic magazines, and I was such a good customer of Mr. Buchinho, that he even, now and then, offered me the odd magazine, free of charge.

One day, my father, for Christmas, gave me an illustrated book with the history of Buffalo Bill. Classy thing it was, half text and half illustrations. I absolutely loved it. There were three more in the collection David Crocket, Daniel Boone and Kit Carson. For my birthday, I got the first from my parents and the second from a friend. But there was one still left, and I simply had to have it. More: I knew where to get it. There was one available at the local bookshop, downtown just a couple of kilometres from where I lived.

But I had no money. I had to gather 20 Escudos, an exorbitant sum  for my standards…..

Close to my school, the owner of a shop (I can’t remember what was sold there) had a card overhanging the door where it was stated that comics were bought and sold.

I reunited all my magazines, my most precious treasure, and put them into several plastic bags. Sweating from the effort of walking from home to the shop with the added weight, I came to this shop and asked the owner how much he would be willing to offer me for all my books.

I was counting on 50 Escudos, for there were much more than a hundred magazines there and if he would sell them at the price I had payed for them - 2,5 escudos each - he would have a decent profit.

He looked at me, passed and enquiring look through my plastic bags and said “20 escudos”.

I was being robbed, but he had hit the magic button…. I took the banknote with the effigy of Saint Anthony on it and ran as fast as I could to the book shop downtown.

That night, Superman was dead and Kit Carson was the name of the Kryptonite.

DC Comics, the publisher that holds the rights to Batman and Super Girl (and a number of other icons of the comics universe) was founded in 1935 as National Allied Publications.

Batman appeared for the first time in a DC comics magazine in 1939, fathered by Bob Kane (drawings) and Bill Finger (text).

The first story of Super Girl, the cousin of  Super Man, conceived by  Otto Binder (text) and Al Plastino (drawings) was published in 1959.

La Poste issued a Collector's four stamp set (Letrre Verte 20 g) dedicated to DC Comics heroes on 19MAY2025. Further to Batman and SuperGirl, the set comprises stamps illustrated with Wonder Woman and SuperMan.

POSTCARD N.181 - CROATIA

Postcard sent on ?, received on the 9th JUne 2025.

Postcard image: Aerial view of Dubrovnik

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Another of Ravindra's stops on his European journey: Dubrovnik, Croatia. Bohomȧ  sthoothi, Ravi!

One has to agree: Dubrovnik is a lovely place. Totally encircled by the city walls, built between the 8th and 16th centuries, which attain  25 metres at their highest points and can be as thick as 6 metres, the old city,  the part of Dubrovnik that gave it the notoriety it enjoys, greets the visitor with a vast and diverse group of edifications from the renaissance and baroque periods.

The relevance of the old walled city buildings, of which many were preserved in spite of a terrible earthquake in 1667  was acknowledged by the UNESCO, who declared it a World Heritage Site in 1979, well before the war in which Dubrovnik and its inhabitants were sadly involved during the dissolution of Yugoslavia.

During the conflict, Dubrovnik was heavily shelled what caused the destruction of a large percentage of one of the city's trademarks: its distinctive terracotta orange roof tiles, centuries old.

Finding such roof tiles for the reconstruction proved to be an difficult task, but luckily, it was discovered that this type of tiles were still being made in France, in Toulouse. As such, under the coordination of UNESCO, the  restoration of the buildings and roofs damaged by the war could be carried out, returning the city to its former glory.

Several shades of roof tiles are apparent to the viewer, some noticeably more on the red side of the orange spectre. When I visited Dubrovnik a number of years ago, someone told me that this is due to the fact that the newer tiles are darker than the original... if this is true or untrue I do not know, but it is a plausible explanation...

Dubrovnik, the Pearl of the Adriatic has in recent years been shown as an example of overtourism. It easy to understand why: it suffers from the same set of circumstances that afflict Venice or Santorini or so many other places... it falls prey to its own fame... with every new day, especially in the high summer season,  thousands  of visitors  pass through the arch of the Pile Gate, the main entrance into the old town, many driven by the social media fuelled curiosity of visiting one of places where Game of Thrones was filmed.

Still, crowds or no crowds, one has to agree: Dubrovnik is a lovely place!

On 28Jan2020 Croatian Post issued  a set of three stamps (in regular and self adhesive versions) highlighting some of the Natural Beauties of Croatia. Further to the C tariff stamp used on the postcard, illustrated with an image of Telašćica Nature Park, in the Adriatic Island of  Dugi Otok, the issued comprised a tariff A stamp, dedicated to Kopački Rit Nature Park, and a Tariff B stamp, showcasing the Blue Cave at Biševo.

The postmark is illegible but I suspect it hails from Dubrovnik too.

 My National Covers

Every now and then I have the opportunity to add what I call a "National Cover" to my collection.

These are nothing fancy. In fact they are but covers that I print  at home with the flag and coat of arms of a specific country and which I then either send to a fellow collector who is willing to help or give to friends or family or take my own self whenever travelling abroad, in the hope that these might find a way to a local post office to get a stamp and a postmark.

I will be adding these to a new "My National Covers" section in this blog.

If you don't see your country here and are willing to help me add your own country's national cover to my collection, please email me at pnsoares1@gmail.com. 

You'll get a cover from Portugal (if you want I'll be happy to print a Portuguese National Cover just like the ones I print for myself, although in a somewhat larger envelope) and a printed envelope with the relevant symbols printed, so that you can then return it to me.

Thanks a lot.

Note: Whenever possible I will try to transcribe the flag and coat of arms information from the relevant national site. Failing that I'll transcribe from Wikipedia.

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Republic of Finland / Suomen tasavalta 

The Flag

The Finnish parliament debated the flag issue in spring 1918, and on 28 May approved the proposal of its constitutional committee for a new national symbol. The act, making the design of Eero Snellman and Bruno Tuukkanen the official Finnish flag was issued two days later, and even though some of its provisions have been amended slightly since then, the design itself, a blue cross on a white field, remains unchanged.

Source: History of the flag - Ministry of the Interior

Blue is said to represent the country's thousands of lakes and the sky and white the snow that covers the land in winter.

Source: Flag of Finland - Wikipedia

The Coat of Arms

The Act on the Coat of Arms of Finland (381/1978) describes the emblem as follows:

"A crowned lion rampant on a red field holding a raised sword in an armoured hand replacing the animal's right front leg, and trampling a sabre with its hind legs; the lion, the crown, the hilts and the joints of the armour being in gold, and the blades of the weapons and the armour itself being of silver; nine silver rosettes being scattered in the field."

Source: Coat of arms of Finland - Ministry of the Interior

The Stamps

- Martti Ahtisaari (1937-2023) was the tenth President of Finland, a position he occupied  between March 1994  and March 2000.

He was also a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, a distinction bestowed on him for  "for his important efforts, on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts".

The stamp with no indication of face value, illustrated with his effigy, and the legend "In Memoriam  Martti Ahtisaari  1937 - 2000", was isssued on 15DEC2023

- Sauli Niinistö (1948) was the 12th President of Finland, is office tenure occuring between  March 2012 and  March 2024.

The  "First Class" no face value, stamp illustrated with his portrait and the legend "65 (in roman numerals) Sauli Niinistö" was issued on the eve of his 65th birthday, 23AUG2013. 

The Postmark

Applied in Lempäälä, on 08OCT2024, a city of approximately 25000 inhabitants in the south of the country Capital, part of the Pirkanmaa Region. 

My thanks to Esko for his help, care and attention in my obtaining this wonderful cover.

 My National Covers

Every now and then I have the opportunity to add what I call a "National Cover" to my collection.

These are nothing fancy. In fact they are but covers that I print  at home with the flag and coat of arms of a specific country and which I then either send to a fellow collector who is willing to help or give to friends or family or take my own self whenever travelling abroad, in the hope that these might find a way to a local post office to get a stamp and a postmark.

I will be adding these to a new "My National Covers" section in this blog.

If you don't see your country here and are willing to help me add your own country's national cover to my collection, please email me at pnsoares1@gmail.com. 

You'll get a cover from Portugal (if you want I'll be happy to print a Portuguese National Cover just like the ones I print for myself, although in a somewhat larger envelope) and a printed envelope with the relevant symbols printed, so that you can then return it to me.

Thanks a lot.

Note: Whenever possible I will try to transcribe the flag and coat of arms information from the relevant national site. Failing that I'll transcribe from Wikipedia.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Republic of Slovenia / Republika Slovenija

The Flag

The national flag became established as a symbol of Slovenian identity back in the 19th century. The Slovenians determined the colours (white, blue and red) based on those featured in the coat of arms of the province of Carniola, and submitted them for the approval of the then ruling Austrian administration in Vienna, where the colours were accepted. The first national flag was hung by Slovenian students in Vienna in March 1848 during a period of revolutionary tumult.

In Ljubljana, the flag was first raised on the building of the Zlata riba inn at Wolfova ulica 8 on 7 April 1848 by the patriotic student Lovro Toman and his like-minded colleagues.

With the appearance of the Slovenian tricolour flag, he was responding to the display of the German flag on the tower of Ljubljana Castle. In memory of this act we commemorate 7 April as the day of the Slovenian flag.

The national flag was finally formalised on 24 June 1991 by the Slovenian National Assembly. Immediately before Slovenia gained independence, the new Slovenian national flag replaced the old flag of the Republic.

The Coat of Arms

Slovenia lies at the crossroads of the Alpine, Mediterranean, Pannonian and Dinaric regions. The diversity in such a small area is also reflected in the symbolism of the Slovenian coat-of-arms.

The coat-of-arms of Slovenia has the form of a shield. The centre of the shield depicts Mount Triglav, as a white emblem on a blue background, with two wavy lines below it symbolising the sea and rivers, and three six-point stars arranged above it in the shape of a point-down triangle. The shield has a red border on the left and right sides, so that it has all three colours which also make up the flag. The lower part of the coat-of-arms symbolises the Slovenian landscape, which encompasses Alpine peaks in the northwest, the Primorska region in the south and the Pannonian Plain in the east.

Source: Symbols of Slovenia | GOV.SI

The Stamp

2,06 €, issued on 09MAY2025,  illustrated with a photograph of a  Centaur Archer Brooch,  part of the EUROPA/CEPT 2025 common issue, themed on National Archaeological Discoveries.

Round brooches made of plated bronze over an iron core are relatively common finds in Slav cemeteries from the eighth and ninth centuries in Slovenia’s Gorenjska region. Notable among them, for the quality of workmanship and, above all, for the depiction of a centaur archer, is this brooch from the Brda cemetery near Bled.

In stylistic terms it belongs to Carolingian art, which drew on illuminated manuscripts. Most comparable artefacts are from sites in the Upper Danube basin and the Rhineland. The figure of the centaur archer developed in Babylonian art before 1000 BC as a symbol of the zodiac sign Sagittarius. It entered Roman and medieval astrological depictions of Sagittarius via Egypt and was later adopted in Christianity.

We will probably never know exactly how this brooch ended up in a Slav grave in the Brda cemetery near Bled. It may have been made by a Christian who based the design on an illustration from an illuminated manuscript. On the other hand, the Slavs, who were pagans when they settled this area in the sixth century and whose Christianisation under the Carolingians had only just begun in the eighth century, probably did not see this design as a Christian symbol but as a pagan one. The centaur archer may have reminded them of Perun the Thunderer, the supreme god of the Slavs, who could also be depicted as a horseman with a thunderbolt or bow in his hand.

Source: Dežela znamk - EUROPA - Centaur archer

The Postmark

Applied in Slovenia's Capital, Lubljana, on 05JUN.2025.

COVER N. 593 - USA

Postmark: Powwows First Day of Issue, Celebrating Native American Culture, Albuquerque, NM 87101 25.04.2025

Posted on the 25th April; Received on the 5thJune 2025

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A very beautiful issue on a very beautiful Cover. Thank you so much A. W.!

Also thank you for all the interesting gifts inside the cover, and for reminding me of the place we transitionally occupy on this Earth, with that beautiful Native America proverb, which I can't resist replicating here:

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.

As far as my distant understanding of such a rich cultural moment can be trusted, a  Powwow is an event organised by Native American communities to celebrate their rich heritage and traditions, through singing and dancing.

Honouring this unique tradition, USPS issued on 25APR2025 a set of four “Forever” stamps, illustrated with performing Native American dancers in traditional attire.

The images were based in photographs taken by the designer of the stamps,  native Cochiti Pueblo Artist Mateo Romero, which he then highlighted with brush strokes of bright, luminous colours.

The legends on each stamp  shed light as to the performance illustrated, and so we have from left to right: 

The  Crow Hop

A dance performed by men or women which replicates the movements of a crow, with short side to side hops.

Women's Traditional Dance

This dance celebrating women and their importance in the community, is characterised by the fact that the feet of the dancers never totally leave the ground, what symbolises the connection of women with  Mother Earth.

Women’s Fancy Shaw

A rather energetic dance with elaborate footwork and athletic movement and spinning.

Men’s hoop dance

A dance performed by a solo dancer with hoops, each representing elements of the relation of Man with Mother Earth.

The First Day postmark as well as the regular postmarks were issued in Albuquerque, the most populous city of the State of New Mexico  and also the site of the Gathering of Nations,  the largest annual Powwow that takes place in the United States of America. 

COVER N. 592 - FRANCE - SAINT PIERRE ET MIQUELON

Postmark: 975 - St. Pierre et Miquelon 20.05.2025

Posted on the 20th May; Received on the 26th June 2025

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It is always a pleasure to receive a cover from the small insular enclave encroached in  Canada's vast expanses of land and sea, where baguette and croissant are the proud norm. The more so since almost without exception, the stamps  are always rather beautiful and interesting.

Such is the case with this nice cover I got from Roman,  Dziękuję bardzo, Roman! 

- Tranchage de la Morue, (Fileting cod) reads the caption of the 0,85€ stamp issued on 22MAY2027, illustrated with a photograph of two fishermen preparing cod to be later salted and dried, I presume.

As a side note, this is something that I, as a Portuguese, can immediately relate to, since we are the number 1 consumers of dried cod in the world; so much so that the once humble (and far from that nowadays) main staple of fishermen and other working class families made its way up to our Christmas supper, wherein it has to take centre stage or else it simply won't be Christmas... 

The industrial remains of some "secas do bacalhau" (cod drying facilities) can still be found around here  (in fact I have one not more than a 10 minute drive from where I live), as a reminder of the days when the white luggers of the Portuguese cod fishing fleet would spend months in the treasonous waters of Newfoundland (same as the fishermen of Saint Pierre and Miquelon) and Greenland, until their holds would be filled with salted cod, that would then be sun dried in the drying facilities I mentioned above.

For a number of years Portuguese fishing vessels were barred from fishing in Newfoundland, and most of our cod is imported from Norway  these days, but  the ban was lifted this year, I've read, so who knows if there might be some Newfoundland cod on my table this coming Christmas...?

- Russulas have always caught my eye, ever since I started looking at mushrooms with a more inquisitory and photographic eye, on my walks in the woods nearby.

Although there are many colours for their caps, red, deep red and  very dark red, are quite common on members of these genus and you just can't avoid looking at them, since they so often contrast with the general appearance of the soil from where they pop up.

  

Since 2018, St. Pierre and Miquelon has been issuing an annual stamp illustrated with a local mushroom. 

The Russula peckii was the species chosen for the 2021 issue, with a face value of 1,28€, which began to circulate on 12JAN2021, and which can be seen on the cover.

and here's a Russula from my woods....

COVER N. 590 - ALGERIA

Postmark:  Annaba 13.05.2025

Posted on the  13h May; Received on the 27th May 2025

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Thanks to a bit of good string pulling by my friend the Ghost Who Walks, I opened my letterbox to find this beautiful cover sent from Algeria. Thanks a lot, Alex and let me also extend my thanks to Khaled, for a great cover to my collection. 

The Algerian War of Independence,  lasted from 1954 to 1962, the year when France finally decided there was no point in going against the tide of history and Algeria obtained its independence following negotiations that De Gaulle had started with the FNL, the Algerian National Liberation Front, in 1960.

During its course, the terrible Algerian war caused a number of Algerian causlaties that is estimated to be in between 400,000 and 1,500,000 (depending on whose numbers you give more credit, the French, or the Algerian) as well as 25,600 French Soldiers.

Its effects, though, transcended the battlefield having caused the fall of the 4th Republic in France, and the replacement of a largely parliemantary regime, (the prime-minister, head of the government, was chosen by the parliament)  with the current semi-presidential system, the 5th Republic, wherein  the president has the prerrogative of naming the head of the government .

Also the social consequences of the war arising from the unexpected and sudden return into mainland France of about  1 million descendents of  European French, those that would be pass on to history as the Pieds-Noirs, fleeing the war, were many, something we portuguese are also well aware of, since we had to deal with the same situation when about 500,000 portuguese, the so called "Retornados" returned to mainland Portugal, following the independece of our former colonies in Africa.

The main opponet of the French Army during the Independence war was the Algerian National Liberation Army, the armed wing of the FLN. 

Given the desert nature of large extensions of the Algerian territory, camel caravans were used to to ferry weapons and other essential supplies for the members of the NLA.

This fact is highlighted in the one stamp (100 Dnar) souvenir sheet issued on 04JUL2024 on the cover, which bears the legend Caravans of the National Liberation Army transporting Weapons Across the Sahara..

It should also be noted that the envelope is in total agreementg with the stamp since it is also illustrated with a similar scene.

The postmark was issued at Algerias third largest city, Annaba, located on the mediterranean coast, close to the border with Tunisia. 

COVER N. 589 - FRANCE

Postmark:  Bureau Philatélique 48 Mende RP 12.05.2025

Posted on the  12h May; Received on the 19th May 2025

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I do find the souvenir sheet that La Poste has issued for the celebrations of that Opera of all Operas, Carmen, Bizet's chef d'oeuvre, absolutely delightful, so I was very happy to get another outstanding cover with this piece of philatelic art on it.

Un grand Merci Daniel.

I've written about this particular issue on the entry regarding cover #571. At the time I mentioned that the flower in the bottom centre of the illustration was that of an eucalyptus.

Well, on one of my recent walks along the Portuguese coast, I came across a bunch of trees in several towns through which I've passed on the way that made me think I was completely off the mark here. 

I now believe this to be a flower of a Metrosideros species plant, like the one I shot in Praia de Santa Cruz (Photo at the bottom of the post).

These look absolutely amazing when in bloom, especially in the warm light of the end of the day, with the red glowing in stark contrast with the rich, dep green of the foliage. a great sight!

The souvenir sheet, here obliterated with a postmark from the Bureau Philatélique of the city of Mende, in region of Occitania, in the South of France, was issued on 27MAR2025, celebrating the 150th anniversary of Bizet's Carmen

Time for a Seguidilla, I'd think....

COVER N. 588 - GERMANY

Postmark:  Dachau 10 85221 08.05.2024

Posted on the  8th May 2024; Received on the 13th May 2025

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Alex sent me Germany's EUROPA issue for the year. Nice! Danke Sehr, Herr Phantom!

The Swabian Jura is a mountain range located mainly in the state of Baden-Wuttenberg, but which also extends  into Bavaria .

In the caves of its valleys, our ancestors took shelter from the harsh elements during their migration into Europe coming from Central Asia and the Middle East, some forty thousand years ago, as proven by the most ancient mobiles and musical instruments ever found, unearthed by archaeologists in the valleys of Ach and Lone.

The Common theme for  the EUROPA/CEPT stamp issues of 2025 being National Archaeological Finds, Deutsch Post chose to highlight these findings in the German issue with a single 0.95€  stamp miniature sheet, issued on 08MAY2025, illustrated, both sheet and stamp, with artefacts recovered in this region, itself a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a status that acknowledges its importance as testimonial grounds for the evolution of mankind.

This fact is also highlighted in the stamp, which carries the legend: UNESCO - Welterbe Höhlen und Eiszeitkunst der Swchäbischen Alb. (UNESCO World Heritage Caves and Ice Age Art of the Swabian Alb).

Alex completed postage with two 0.15 € stamps of the World of Letters definitive series. This particular stamp featuring a Letters Peacock was issued on 10AUG2024

The Postmark issued at Dachau is dated of the 8th May, thus making the cover an FDC for the Europa Issue stamp.