COVER N. 613 - SRI LANKA 

Postmark: Headquarters P.O. Colombo Mail 12.07.2025

Posted on the 12th July; Received on the 17th July 2025

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My friend Ravindra bombards me with one of his highly welcome mail barrages. And I have yet to retribute in kind, something which I hope to  come to terms with soon... things have been a bit on the hectic side, around here....

Bohomá sthoothi, Ravi!

A large C5 envelope was needed to accommodate all the stamps on this cover, particularly due to the fact that they are included in souvenir sheets what always poses some envelope layout challenges.

But  I really appreciate having the frames included with the stamps, for they are either part of the story, such as in the case of the single stamp sheet, or complement it to perfection, as in the case of the spices of Sri Lanka sheet.

Spices, cinnamon in particular,  but also pepper, cloves, nutmeg, were at the root of the Portuguese interest in colonising Ceylon, something which they managed to do, until being replaced by the Dutch who themselves would lose it to the Brits, who finally had to acknowledge the full self-determination of  the Island State.

In a way, the two souvenir sheets tell this history, full circle,  for one is dedicated to the country's spices, which were at the root of the Portuguese colonisation and the other is dedicated to Sri Lanka's declaration of Independence, dated of the 4th February 1948.

I wrote some notes about this particular souvenir sheet on the entry for  cover #606, so I will not repeat them here.

The souvenir sheet in question with a single 110 Rupee stamp was issued on 08OCT2024.

The souvenir sheet with the four 15 Rupee stamps illustrated with Spices of Sri Lanka was issued on 26FEB2019. The beautiful illustrations show both the "fresh" and dry forms of the spices, which is that we are all more familiar with.

From left to right, top to bottom, we have:

Cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum)

Cinnamon harvest is fascinating in that it much resembles the harvest of cork, so here I find another connection between Sri Lanka, the producer of the best cinnamon and Portugal, the producer of the best cork.

The trees are stripped off of their skin (cinammon, as we know it is the inner layer of the cinnamon tree bark, while cork is the actual bark of the cork tree) which will, in time re-grow to be ready for harvest again. The process takes a full 9 years in the case of cork and 2 to 3 years for cinnamon.

Cinnamomum zeylanicum, a synonym for Cinnamomum verum, or true cinnamon is the tree from which premium cinnamon is extracted, Sri Lanka being the world's major producer. 

The other commercially available types of "Cinnamon" are extracted from cassia trees which although in the same family as the cinnamon tree have different properties, being noticeably more spicier that the sweeter true cinnamon.

Pepper (piper nigrum)

Pepper is one of those spices that everybody is familiar with. What people might not know is that black pepper, green pepper and white pepper all come from the same tree, In fact, pepper is a drupe and the way it is processed yields the pepper varieties that we all are familiar with.

To produce black pepper the unripe, still green drupes are briefly boiled in water and left to dry what leads to the skin of the fruit wrinkling and turning black;

Green pepper is the result of pickling or free-drying the still green drupe;

White pepper is obtained by grinding only the seed of the drupe, after removal of the skin of the fruit.

Cloves -. Syzygium aromaticum

Cloves are the dried flower buds of the clove tree (Syzygium aromaticum)

Nutmeg - Myristica fragrans

Nutmeg is the seed of  of the drupe of the nutmeg tree, Myristica fragrans. When fully ripe, the drupe opens up in two, revealing the seed (the nutmeg) which is involved by a sort of net like structure, the mace.

The pulp of the drupe can be eaten and both the nutmeg and the mace can be used in culinary as spices of similar flavours, although mace is more spicy than nutmeg.

Further to the two sheets another two stamps were used to complete postage

:

- Sandaya Kumary (1945-1994) was a very popular Sri Lankan actress who participated in 41 movies throughout her career.

The 5 rupee stamp honouring her is part of a 6 stamp set (3 x 5; 10; 15; 20 Rupees) honouring Sinhala Cinema, issued on 21JAN2012.

- Last but not at all least we have on the cover a 25 rupee stamp with a vignette. The stamp, issued on 13SEP2017, features a painting of Dondra lighthouse, which is particular because it is Sri Lanka's tallest Lighthouse (49 m) and also due to the fact that it is located on the southernmost tip of the Island.

The all important vignette features none other than the Royal Family of Sri Lanka, that is the Ratnapala Family,  and boy do they look a fine bunch! :-)