COVER N. 560 - CZECH REPUBLIC

Postmarks: 119 00 Praha 022 22.02.2025 / Praha 012 Hrad 22.02.25 / 222 00 Praha 022 24.02.2025

Posted on the 22nd February; Received on the 4th March 2025

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Quite a strange letter from Alex, this time, in that it shown nothing less than 3 different postmarks, all applied at different stations. Danke Sehr, Alex. Quite an uncommon letter....

The small, but quite beautiful, stamp used is the "Pampeliška" (Dandelion) Tariff E definitive, issued on 23MAY2019, part of the definitive series started in 2002, dedicated to the beauty of flowers.

What I find odd, apart from the obviously unnecessary mechanical postmark applied upside down and totally obliterating the interesting Prague castle pictorial cancel, is the coexistence of the latter with the manual postmark over the stamp, both dated of the same day. This seems to indicate that the Castle postmark was first applied on the bare envelope, the  stamp and 119 00 obliteration having probably been applied at a different P. O.  on the same date. Pity about the upside down postmark..... :-(.

A simple cover, and yet interesting, nonetheless.

COVER N. 348 - FRANCE

Postmark: Jouets Anciens 39 Moirans-en-Montagne La Poste 08.11.2023

Posted on the 8th November; received on the 13th November 2023

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Jouets anciens, antique toys...I can't remember ever playing with a Diabolo when I was a kid, nor do I remember having a Teddy bear, far too elaborated... 

I was the type that would spend my time playing the "Bilharda" (a game that was played with sticks cut to size and shape by the players themselves, from a tree branch or a bit of scrap dowel), "Caricas" (beer and soft drink bottle caps, smashed flat,  that we would race on kerbs by propelling them forward with a  flip of the index finger, pretending them to be great cyclists on the tour de France or Portugal, for instance), watching frogs and butterflies in ponds, fishing, riding my bicycle....

Looking back on my youth days, boy, was I lucky. My father always took me into the outdoors. To the horror of my mother, my present for graduating from primary school at 10 was not a watch or a pen as it was then the norm, but a "Champion" spear fishing gun, and "Simotal" snorkel mask and flippers.

The soles of my feet were much like goat hooves, due to walking barefoot on lava rock and sand all the time... and my legs (and sometimes my head) were often beautified by bandages, and Band-Aids.... so I think it is understandable why a Teddy bear would not be an usual part of my everyday life.... 

But I do concede to the beauty and even brilliance of some of these ancient toys, often made by artisans, so far from today's mass produced Barbies and Kens, and one has to marvel at the superior craftsmanship involved in producing them.

Thaks a lot for the nice FDC Eric.

The two stamps on the cover are part of a 12  "Lettre Verte" (domestic up to 10g) stamp set dedicated to antique toys issued by La Poste on 13NOV2023 (the FDC dates of the 8th November, date of advance sale, presumably).

The toys in the photographs that illustrate the stamps are part of the collection of the Toy Museums of  Poissy and Moirans-en-Montagne, the latter being also the place of issue of the nice First Day Postmark.

As often is the case with circulated FDCs, La Poste showed little care in the handling of the cover, with a rather unnecessary and unfortunate mechanically applied postmark doubly obliterating the stamps.

COVER N. 340 - USA

Postmark: Carol Stream IL 21.10.2023

Posted on the 21st October; received on the 31st October 2023

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It had to happen ... a nice cover, with very interesting stamps, one in particular, and all of them hand cancelled with a ....pen! I hate it when this happens, the more so since there is a mechanical cancellation on the cover so what's the use of scribbling over the already cancelled stamps....

Anyway, Thanks a lot, Felice, for this nice cover and especially for using an Amelia Earhart stamp on it, Amelia being one of my aviation heroes.

Left to right we have:

- USPS began issuing a series dedicated to American Design in 2002. Over the years additional stamps were issued and others  were reprinted featuring new dates on their frame. Such is the case for the 1 cent stamps illustrated with a Tiffany lamp, which were first issued in 2003, although those on the cover are 2008 reprints.

Conversely, The silver coffepot stamp was first issued in 2005, but the stamp of the cover is the 2007 reprint.

- Amelia Earhart (1897-1937) was a legend on her days, and I think she still is, particularly due to all the theories and opinions regarding her disappearance in the vicinity of Howland Island, in the Pacific, while trying to circumnavigate the globe in a twin engined Lockheed Electra, in the company of Fred Noonan, her navigator and radio operator.

Before this last fatal flight, Amelia had logged a lot of brilliant flights the most famous of them being the first solo crossing of the Atlantic by a woman. As a curious note,  she had also been the first woman to fly across the Atlantic, although that first time, purely as a passenger.

On the 25th anniversary of her disappearance, the United States Postal Services issued the 8 cent air mail stamp on the cover, illustrated with an image of Amelia with her Electra in the background.

- On 09MAR2023, USPS issued a set of 5 self-adhesive "Forever"  stamps dedicated to historical Train stations. One of these stamps, illustrated with an image of the Union Station in Cincinnati, Ohio,  can be seen on the cover.

. -  Chief Standing Bear (1829-1908), was a Ponka tribe Native American who would distinguish himself in the fight for civil rights for  Indians, having been the first native American to be granted civil rights under American law, when Judge Elmer S. Dundy ruled on 12 May 1879 that "an Indian is a person"... 

Honouring his legacy, 115 years after his demise, USPS issued on 12MAY2023 the single Forever self-adhesive stamp with his portrait which can be seen on the cover.

- The stamp illustrated with grapes was issued on 24FEB2017 and it is part of a definitive series themed on fruits, started in 2016.

COVER N. 268 - AZERBAIJAN

Postmark: Azerbeijan - Baki A71000 - ?-05.2023

Posted somewhere between 14 and 19 May; Received on the 19th June 2023

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Who would have thought? How could I forget to include the country name while addressing this cover to my own self? 

The great thing is that, in spite of it all, it did find its way home, probably because on the back there is also my own full address, this time not forgetting to end it with a capitalised PORTUGAL.

My wife attended a conference in Baku and I couldn't let go the opportunity, so I prepared a couple of addressed envelopes and gave them to her, asking if she wouldn't mind, if the opportunity arrived, to pass by the Post Office and mail them.

This she kindly did, but the lady at the counter, to whom she gave the envelopes to affix the stamps and postmark them, made sure I'd not only get two quite imperfect stamps with missing corners, but she also managed to glue them juxtaposed (what is understandable because there was little available space in the envelope 😀).

My wife also told me that in spite of the sender's address being written on the back of the envelope, she asked her to write her name and address on the front of the envelope, since it seems to be mandatory... pretty unusual, If I may say so, but if those are the rules...

 

Huseyn Javid or Hüseyn Cavid in Azerbaijani, (1882-1941) was a prominent Azerbaijani Romantic poet and playwright who was also a victim of Stalin's purges, being labelled as a counterrevolutionary, in spite of him being a well known and beloved man of arts, and sent to exile in Siberia, where he would eventually die on December 5, 1941, in the village of Shevchenko, province of Irkutsk, near Lake Baikal.

As a matter of curiosity, Javid was the first Azerbaijani poet to introduce the sonnet form in Azerbaijani poetry.

On 16DEC2022, Azerpost issued a single 0,50 manat stamp, commemorative of the 140 years of the birth of the poet, illustrated with his portrait, based on a photograph that is also easily found on internet.

COVER N. 204 - SPAIN

Postmark:  no postmark 

Posted in ? January; Received on the 16th January 2023
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Another cover from Spain, and another philatelic mishap....

When I was a kid I was really happy when such a thing happened.... it meant un-cancelled stamps for the album (even if without glue on their backs...)

Nowadays it really annoys me. A circulated envelope without the postmark is unsettling to say the least, and it's not that it hasn't completed the journey for which it was stamped, nor the stamps are the less interesting, no. It's just that ... as if it misses a limb,... 

The postmark, is much more than ink and a graphic design. It is a sign, an evidence of purpose, of achievement, much like the old days (for us “Schengenites”) passport stamp....

So it really annoys me when I get a letter without it, like this one, (although I know that the sender is not to be faulted in any way:

Stamps, left to right:

- The Castle of Jadraque, a little  town in the  Castilla - la Mancha autonomous community, some 80 km from Madrid, as the bird flies, is the subject of the 0,45 € stamp, part of a set of 4  stamps, issued on 20APR2001, themed on castles.

This set is part of a series that was issued for a few years with beautifully engraved stamps dedicated to the many beautiful castles that dot Spain's interior.

- The 70th General Assembly of the United Nations designated 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for  Development.

Tourism being such an important sector for Spain (and its neighbour Portugal) Correos de España did not 

let such a relevant decision pass by without honouring it with a 2 stamp set (1,25 and 1,35 €) highlighting it, issued on 17JAN2017.

Both stamps on the set are designed around the same idea, being illustrated with the logo of the International year and photographs where you can only see foot prints on the sand, as if summoning up the famous phrase, "take nothing but photographs; leave nothing but footprints!"

 COVER N.180 - ITALY

Postmark: Pratovecchio AR C 52015 11.11.2022  
Posted on the 11th November, received on the 21st November 2022
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An oddly postmarked cover can add a touch of unexpectedness to the collection, I guess. Grazie Mille Roberto!

The theme for the 2004 EUROPA emission was "Holidays" and Poste Italiane chose to illustrate it on the two stamps (0,45 and 0,65 Euros) it issued on 07MAY2004 with the most iconic graphic representation of holidays that I can think of: a vintage traveller's suitcase, from the time when you could tell that a person was a well travelled  tourist from the number of hotel stickers one had on the suitcase.

The stamps both feature the same  suitcase, which on the 0,45€ stamp is closed and travelling on what is supposed to be some sort of path, a road, for instance, drawn on the background of the stamp which to my eye looks like wallpaper from an hotel room maybe, while on the 0,62€ stamp lays open upon a table, bed, maybe, at the hotel room, exhibiting the usual paraphernalia associated with holidays: hats, reading glasses, books, photo camera, travel guide, etc.

Both stamps are taken from the lower corners of the stamp sheet and on the edges they exhibit the logo of  Vastophil 2004, which I presume was a philatelic exhibition.

The postmark is the usual postmark on Roberto’s letters, from Pratovecchio.  

Given that the current international tariff is higher than the value of both stamps, a 0,18€ mechanical stamp was also applied to the letter, but it is imprinted on the lower left corner and not on the right upper corner as usual, so as not to mess up with the handwritten address, which is occupying this rather unusual position. Given the way the envelope had to be fed to the stamping machine  in order for the stamp to be applied at this position, it resulted in an upside down stamp...odd!

 

COVER N.179 - FRANCE

Postmark: 58 - Corbigny - Nievre - 10.11.2022  
Posted on the 10th November, received on the 15th November 2022
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Another cover from France with quite a recent stamp on it. Thank you so much, Jean-Pierre, for the cover and the contents.

Ada Lovelace (1815-1852), is considered to be the first computer programmer, given her association with Charles Babbage's project, the Analytical engine, and her main claim to fame comes from the fact that she developed and wrote the first algorithm to be executed  by such a machine. No mean feat, considering that it all happened in the 30s...of the 19th century when the role of women in society was, generally speaking, not geared towards such remarkable scientific endeavours.

Augusta Ada Byron, countess of Lovelace, was also the only legitimate daughter of a famous father: Gordon George Byron, the 6th Baron Byron, who would go down in history as Lord Byron, the illustrious Romantic Poet, also famous for his rather colorful life.

Byron left Ada's mother when her newborn daughter was but one month old, never to return to England or meet his daughter again and it is said that Ada's mother fostered her daughter's interest in mathematics as a way to make sure that she would not follow her father's devious steps, even though Ada would always highly regard her father, to the point of asking to be buried next to his grave.

In 2009, Suw Charman-Anderson, an activist of digital rights and freedoms, once considered by the daily Telegraph to be one of the fifty most influential Britons in technology,   established "Ada Lovelace Day" as an "international celebration of the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM)" as can be read on ALD's site. The day is now celebrated  on the second Tuesday of October.

In 2022, the day was thus celebrated on the 12OCT, the date chosen by La Poste to issue the 1,65€ commemorative stamp dedicated to Ada Lovelace that can be seen on the cover.

The stamp is illustrated with the reproduction of Ada's figure from a painting by   Margaret Sarah Carpenter (1836) over a turquoise background upon which  vertical running legends inform the viewer as to who is the  person in the stamp and her claim to fame as informatics pioneer, highlighted by also including the citation of  purely logical and mathematical concepts (as I, the mathematical very challenged, think is the intention...).

Unfortunately again, the post office chose to double postmark the cover, adding a mechanical postmark over the nice original manual one...

COVER N.176 - FRANCE

Postmark: Philatelie - 39 DOLE - 04.11.2022  
Posted on the 4th November, received on the 8th November 2022
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Nothing better than a surprise to start the day, so Many Thanks Eric for the unexpected cover that landed today in my letterbox!

Stamps, Left to right:

- If a dog is said to be man's best friend, guide dogs have to be even more than this. I cannot fail to be truly impressed to see the way users of guide dogs trust their animal's judgment for such common day activities  as crossing streets full of traffic or getting onto a bus,  that I really don't know how I would do if nature hadn't been so kind to me, allowing me to go about my own business without any sensorial challenge.

Labrador retrievers are said to be the best dogs for the task, even though a plethora of other races can do it, provided they receive the necessary training. I, not being a dog expert (not being an expert in anything, for that matter...) am going to believe that the dog seen guiding someone in the illustration that graces the Lettre Verte (up to 20g domestic)  stamp issued on 26SEP2022 dedicated to these unsung heroes is one such puppy. 

Besides the image of the guide and the guided, there is also an imprint of the dog's footprint, which I believe is a logo for a funding campaign, since I found it also in the pages of the "Fédération Française des Associations de Chiens guides d'aveugles FFAC" next ot the legend "Ils nous soutiennent" - They support us.

- Manga... I have to confess my ignorance about a genre that is really not my cup of tea. a quick check of La Poste website, so as to enlighten myself  regarding the character highlighted on  this quite recent Letre Verte stamp issued  on 10OCT2022, didn't provide much, but I at least learned that Naruto, the character, is an aspiring Ninja and the stamp issue aims at celebrating  20 years of the manga series in France, (episodes 1 to 220) with over 20 million copies sold since 2002....

Of note is the fact that La Poste organised some sort of game or raffle running on facebook and twitter with pretty good cash prizes, associated with this stamp.

The stamps are cancelled with the postmark of the Bureau Philatelique de Dole, the birthpalce of Louis Pasteur, Éric tells me. It is quite uncommon and truly special because it comprises the portrait of Pasteur and the coat of arms of the city... nice!

Unfortunately, the cover suffers from over cancellation, and on top of  the lovely manual postmark, it also shows a  rather unnecessary machine cancellation.

COVER N.110 - CZECH REPUBLIC

Postmark: 73984 PISEK 02-05-22
Posted on the 2nd May; received on the 9th May 2022
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One of the film scenes I will never forget is poor old Brian on the cross while the rest of the crucified guys sing  "Always look on the bright side of life".

This is the sort of advice that I really think one should adhere to, even if I understand that life itself can sometimes fully hide its bright side from the most argute view.

All this a propos the cover I received today from someone whom I don't know, but who was immensely kind and whom I truly thank for all the kind collaboration. The story goes like this: my wife was in the Czech Republic with some of her little students in an Erasmus visit and I, of course, would not let her go away without giving her a fully addressed envelope and a plea to go to the post office and get it delivered with a nice stamp back to me.

It so happens that she had a very busy programme and could not do it herself, but she relied on the very kind assistance of one of her colleagues to post the letter, after her departure from the Czech Republic.

This is the letter that was posted with a very nice Tariff E (Europe Priority up to 50g) stamp, issued on 09SEP2020 along with another stamp of the same tariff, as part of a multi issue series dedicated to birds that had 2 stamps issued on 11MAR, plus two other on 17JUN.

The birds on my stamp, and what a beautiful stamp it is, like most of Czech issues, are members of  the Aegithalidae and Passeridae families. The former comprises ten species of smallish long tailed passerines, the sole European example being the long tailed tit whose image features in the stamp and the latter includes the Old World sparrows, snowfinches and relatives, with two very common sparrows being illustrated: the house sparrow (Passer domesticus) and the Eurasian tree sparrow, (Passer montanus).

For some unfortunate reason, during traffic part of the stamp was torn off  so it became mutilated  but.. hey.,  always look on the bright side of life... accidents do happen and since this isn’t the first, I think I'll add another tag to the tag rostrum: “Accidents”. I'm sure, in time, I can come up with an interesting collection.   

The very clean and clear postmark tells us that the letter was mailed from Pisek, a city of some 30,000 inhabitants, located in the South Bohemia region.

COVER N.95 - SÃO TOMÉ E PRINCÍPE

Postmark: No postmark
Posted on the ?; received on the 12th April 2022
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Once again my daughter helps me to add another country to my philatelic atlas, by sending me back a self-addressed envelope from where she is now working for a couple of weeks: São Tomé and Princípe. A tiny two islands and quite a few islets archipelago, nested on the gulf of Guinea, right along the Equador, which runs across one of them, the Ilhéu das Rolas, where, incidentally, I already had the pleasure of putting one foot on the Northern hemisphere and another on the Southern, at the same time 😀.

Before becoming independent in 1975, São Tomé e Principe was one of the Portuguese colonies in Africa, and history has it that the inhabited Islands were discovered by the Portuguese sailors João de Santarém and Pedro Escobar in 1470.

The main economic driver of the islands whose economy was for a long period of time based on the slave trade and slave labour was the production of sugar cane first and then of cocoa and coffee.

Although slavery would be officially abolished in the Portuguese colonies on the 25th February 1869, exploitation of the local labour  force under conditions not that different would continue well into the 20th century.

Nowadays, Tourism is becoming ever more important and the oil reserves that were found offshore in its waters will, probably and hopefully, play a vital role in  the development of the country, one of the more political stable in the African continent. As I type I read that the first drilling on the EEZ of S. Tomé e Princípe, that was to have occurred in March, will now take place in May, this year.

A very poor country, facing all the challenges that developing countries have to deal with, both internally and externally, S. Tomé e Principe  and its warm and friendly people have all it takes to becoming the former a visiting destination for all those who love nature or just want to enjoy some days of peace and relaxation on lovely warm and calm sea beaches, and the other, their proud and affable hosts.  I, for one, will never forget the first time I ever saw a baobab ... and I was at a beach... who would have thought that the savannah could go all the way to the sea?  

Stamps

From the sheer number of yearly emisions and the themes thereby covered, São Tomé and Principe is, I believe,  one of those countries that have outsourced their postal stamps to a foreign agency somewhere that sells them by the lot to "collectors". I'm not very well versed on the hows and whys of this trade, but this is apparent just by consulting any online catalogue.

30,000 Dobra stamp, part of a 8 same value stamp minisheet, issued on 16MAR2015, featuring beaches and cliffs of S. Tomé. 

The two 10,000 Dobra stamps are part of a 4 stamp set issued on 20NOV2012 in souvenir sheet format and as single stamps, dedicated to the birds of São Tomé and it depicts a Sao Tome Fiscal (Lanius newtoni). This particular species is endemic to the archipelago and classified as critically endangered by the IUCN.

I have one single regret, regarding this cover and  that is the obvious fact that unfortunately the Post Office did not cancel the stamps... but there's nothing I can do now 😞

COVER N.65 - Colombia

Postmark: P.V. Unicentro - Quatro Setenta y dos - Servicio de Envios de Colombia - 31DIC2021
Posted on the 31th December; received on the 27th January
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What a cover I got this time.... a true Mega-Cover, if not for the size, at least for the sheer number of stamps that decorate it, and what's more, from a country that will fill another gap in my collection...

Thanks a lot Roland. I was speechless, when Mr. Postman rang for the delivery, I still have trouble finding the right words to say how much I appreciated it.

The envelope was so big I couldn't scan it, so it'll have to be a shot taken with my mobile phone:

Stamps. left to right, top to bottom:

Se-tenant 10.000 Pesos stamp pair issued on 09MAY2018, as a joint issue with Mexico, celebrating the year of the friendship between the two countries. Butterflies, common to both Colombia and Mexico, were chosen as the symbol of this friendship, the honour falling on the iconic Monarch (Danaus plexippus) a member of Nymphalidae family, whose trans-american migration is well known and many times cited as one of the most spectacular animal migrations.

The other stamp features the beautiful Blue Morpho (Morpho Pleides), another member of the Nymphalidae family, that can have a wingspan as large as 20 cm, what makes it easy to identify it.

1000 Peso stamp pair issued on 22JUL21, celebrating the 70th anniversary of the La Grand Colombia University, Founded in 1951.

200 Peso stamp se-tenant pair, part of a 8 equally denominated stamp minisheet, issued on 20JAN2021, dedicated to the National Parks of Bolivia. This is listed on several sources as  being the 8th series dedicated to this theme, the first 6 having been issued in 2019. The stamp on the left depicts the locally known as Paingua (Anadara tuberculosa) bivalve clam, which is exploited for food and commercialisation while that on the right shows a photo from a mangrove at Sanquianga Park. Since  Painguas thrive in mangroves, I would believe that the fact both stamps are paired is due to this relationship.

Pair of the 50 Pesos stamp issued on 10JUL20217, celebrating the 90th anniversary of the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia.

pair of 500 Pesos Stamps, part of a minisheet of equally priced 6 stamps issued on 24FEB2021celebrating the Colombian distinguished personalities. The top stamp is dedicated to Enrique Grau (1920-2004), one of the most representative Colombian painters of the 20th century, famous for his portraits of Amerindian and Afro-colombian characters. the bottom stamp is dedicated to Alejandro Óbregon, (1920-1992) another outstanding Colombian painter (although Spanish born) who was also a sculptor, a muralist and an engraver, known for his colourful hard to categorise paintings where the abstract mingles with the figurative and the real with the surreal.

5,000 Pesos stamp se-tenant pair, issued on 04JUL2021, celebrating the 60th anniversary of the San Juan-San Pedro Folklore Festival, that yearly take place in June in Bambuco in the region of Huila in the centre of  Colombia. Honouring both saints this festival is a way to promote local traditions especially dancing.

As a side note, I should say that in my own country,  Portugal, S. João and S. Pedro, (along with S. António) also are revered as patrons of several cities and yearly their days are celebrated with popular festivals,  an occasion for partying with popular music and  dances (Marches) and for indulging in  grilled sardines served on slices of  bread, all washed down with plenty of  red wine.

The last 10,000 Peso stamp was issued on 26AUG2020 with the noblest of intentions: raising funds to support the "Computers in education" programme, an aim that was reinforced by the educational challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and  its implications on face-to-face education...

The legend on the stamp reads Colombia rewrites its history.... I hope Colombia succeeds in doing so!

Unfortunately, a full minisheet fell from the envelope while in transit, so the right hand side has a conspicuous white space that should have been filled with a full set of 9 stamps....

 COVER N.12 - Sweden

Postmark: absent, although the cover circulated normally
Posted on (?), received on the 14th June.
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Something of a mistery. I don't know how common this is, but the very nice cover I got from my good old friend Neil, from Sweden, landed on my mailbox without any postmark. This is a thousand times better than a cancellation by pen or pencil, as we sometimes see, but still it is strange to get a letter with no postmark at all. Makes an even nicer addition to the collection, in the curiosity department, though. Thank you so much, Neil.

Neil and I met because we share a common interest: Plastic scale models. And so he went that extra mile to find an interesting envelope on to glue the very colorful stamps he chose, related to another of his passions: motorbikes and motorbike riding.

The International Plastic Modellers Society was created in the UK, back in 1963, when plastic scale modelling was one of the most pursued hobbies all over the world. Those were the high days of brands that were well known to Santa Claus, so many were the mentions they got in the letters he received each year by November, early December: Airfix, Frog, Revell, Monogram; Aurora, Lindeberg, to name a few...

Neil tells me the envelope dates back to the 70s, so it is a rarity in itself.

The  nice colourful stamps are part of a 2002 (05OCT02) emission of 8 even priced (5Kr) stamps dedicated to Motorcycle sports. Apart from the stamps on the cover, illustrating the Motorcross, Trial, Enduro and Speedway disciplines, the set included 1 more stamp dedicated to motorcross and another 2 on the subject of roadracing.