COVER N. 599 -  SRI LANKA

Postmark: Illegible 11.06.2025

Posted on the 11th June; Received on the 20th June 2025

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Come to think of it, when I had the pleasure of meeting Ravi here on my side of the turf, a couple of months ago, we did not talk much about stamps.

Still, I asked him about  the very curious Sri Lanka Post issue comprising no less than 18 stamps  dedicated to healing masks that he kindly and generously had sent me on a cover and a postcard, since I wanted to know that I had got the story behind those masks right. 

I also mentioned that for some unknown reason one of the stamps was missing from the postcard, since there were only 17 stamps on the cover and postcard.

Now, I'm sure that the first thing he did when he got back to Colombo was to mail me a cover with the missing stamp on it. And not only did he do that, but he also added what must be a rarity: a pair of stamps, with one suffering from a printing error, i.e., the omission of  the yellow legend that is present on the lower right corner in all the stamps of the series. What a treat, Bohomá Sthoothi, my friend!

Further to the two mask stamps on the top right corner, issued on , we have, left to right, top to bottom:

_ Sri Lanka holds the distinction of  having launched the first regular radio broadcasting service in Asia, from Colombo,  in 1924. The following year, what was then Radio Colombo and is now Radio Ceylon, was established, its regular broadcasting having begun in December 1925. 

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of  radio communication in Sri Lanka, the 15 rupee stamp on the top left corner of the cover was issued on 16DEC2024. the building on it being the original Radio Ceylon's facilities which still exist, albeit with a slightly modified facade, from what I could see in photographs I consulted on the internet.

- The National Hospital of Sri Lanka, located in Colombo,  opened its doors in 1864, during the office tenure of   Governor Henry George Ward. 

From its initial capacity of 200 beds, in one and a half centuries  the facility grew to the present 3,404 beds, which temporarily accommodate some of the more than 2 million patients that year after year benefit from the services its medical staff provide to the population.

Celebrating its 150th anniversary, Sri Lanka Post issued on 20MAR2015 a 10 rupee stamp illustrated with the still existing first building of the hospital, which is now called the Historical National Hospital and a typical staff group - doctor; nurse and helper -  talking to a hospitalised  patient.

- World Children's day is celebrated each year on the 20th November, the day when  the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, in 1959, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in 1989.

Celebrating World Children's Day 2024, Sri Lanka Post issued a 50 Rupee stamp on 01OCT2024, illustrated with a drawing with children playing together.

- Claiming to be the "largest and most prominent educational institution in Sri Lanka", the Royal College of Colombo was founded in 1835, following the Eton School model, as the Colombo Academy, by  Sir Robert Wilmot-Horton, the Governor, between 1831 and 1837, of what was then the colony of Ceylon.

In 1881, following the approval of Queen Victoria, the Academy would be renamed the Royal College of Colombo, thus becoming the only School outside England to be granted the use of the Royal epithet in  its designation.

On the occasion of the 175th anniversary of its establishment, Sri Lanka Post issued, on 16JUL2010, the celebratory stamp on the cover.