COVER N. 596 - CZECH REPUBLIC

Postmark: 95 Let-  A Born - Praha 1 12.06.2025

Posted on the 12th June; Received on the 18th June 2025

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A man is his moustache! At least that's what the nice first day postmark on the cover I got from  The Czech Republic, seems to state: and there's an element of truth in it, says I, who, for many years, proudly wore a moustache before letting the rest of my facial hair claim its territory, thus saving me the daily trouble of shaving...

Thanks a lot Ivan!

Adolf Born (1930 – 2016) was a Czech painter, caricaturist, filmmaker and  illustrator who devoted much of his talent to the illustration of children's books and who also designed at least two stamps for the Czech Postal Administration since  his was the hand and the talent behind  the Czech 1997 EUROPA/CEPT issue, illustrating the common theme "Tales and Legends". 

On 20JAN2019 the Czech Postal Operator issued a Tariff A (Domestic, Standard, up to 50g) stamp honouring his life and work the stamp featuring his portrait and some illustrations (a dog and a boy and a girl) which I presume were authored by Born for one of his children's books.

95 years past his birth date, on 12JUN2025, Czech Post issued the special commemorative cancellation on the cover, which features Born's signature over his distinctive moustache.

Postage was completed with a 12 Koruna stamp issued on 20JAN2011, celebrating the 800th anniversary of the birth of St. Agnes of Bohemia, who was canonised by Pope John Paul II in 1989.

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.

POSTCARD N.172 - CZECH REPUBLIC 

Postcard sent on the 29th November, received on the 10th December 2024

Postcard image: Hluboká Castle

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Michal surprised me with another of his beautiful and always appreciated postcards. Děkuji mnohokrát, Michal.

This time he sent me a beautiful image from the Tudoresque looking castle of Hluboká, located in the town of Hluboká nad Vltavou, in south Bohemia.

For ease of explanation I'll quote directly from the postcard's legend:

"Originally royal castle from the 13th century, later reconstructed. The present neo-gothic appearance dates from  reconstruction in "Tudor Gothic" based on Windsor Castle and comes from the period of culminating romanticism."

In fact I wouldn't be surprised to see Henry the VIII chasing a potential 7th wife in the castle gardens, given the decidedly Tudoresque aura of the building.

Michal used a tariff E stamp part of a two same tariff stamp set issued on 12OCT2022 in celebration of LIBEREC 2002 European Stamp Exhibition and Polar Salon, held in Liberec between 13 and 16 October 2022.  Faithful to the theme of the exhibition, the stamp is illustrated with a bunch of stamp and letter carrying emperor penguins.

The companion stamp on the set can be seen here, on postcard 163 .

The postmark hails from the city of  Cesky Budejovice.

COVER N. 537 - CZECH REPUBLIC

Postmark: ORLI Praha 8 22.11.2024

Posted on the 22nd November; Received on the 3rd December 2024

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Děkuji mnohokrát, Ivan, for  another cover graced with the lovely nature history stamps the Czech Republic has been issuing for some years now. I really like them!

This year, the lovely natural history souvenir sheet was dedicated to "the young in our nature" and the stamps ares thus superbly (as usual) illustrated with paintings of juveniles of several mammal species, under the caring gaze of their mothers.

The sheet, issued on 04SEP2024, comprises 4 stamps (34, 27, 31, 38 koruna) and two vignettes. The 34 k stamp, on the cover features a lovely red squirell (Sciurus vulgaris), a common sight in much of Eurasia, in coniferous forests in northern europe and siberia and broad-leaved woods in western and southern Europe. 

In my own country red squirrels were extinct by the 16th century. Still they made a comeback, after the 80's of last century, when they started to be seen again in the forests up north, bordering the Spanish Galicia region. 

In Lisbon, following a successful intrductuon programe that took place in the 90s,  they can also be found in Monsanto Park, the city's largest green "lung".

The vignette attached to the stamps bears an image of mama garden dormouse (Eliomys quercinus) and one of her babies (its siblings must be hidding somewhere for litters have up to seven little mice). 

As usual, the frame of the sheet is also magnificently illustrated and on the particular piece attached to the stamp on the cover, further to papa squirell, a baby Eurasian golden oriole (Oriolus oriolus) rests in its nest under the protective watch of its father. Golden Orioles in Portugal are called papa-figos (fig-eater) for they love to feed on these sweet fruits.

Butterflies arfe also the kind of creatures that really tickle my fancy.... not only the gracefully fly  as if untouched by gravity, but most of the times their wings are absolute masterpieces of abstract art.

 Beginning in 2020, Czech Post has been issueing every once in a while a series of definitive stamps featuring butterfly illustrations (again, superb, in spite of their small size). The 1 koruna stamp  featuring  an Orange Tip (Anthocharis cardamines), a member of the Pieridae family which can be found all over Europe was issued on 15FEB2021; The 4 koruna stamp, issued on 07OCT2020 bears the illustration of a Colias croceus, a member of the Pieridae family present all over Europe and is a large part of Asia;  The 5 koruna stamp was issued on 18OCT2024, showcases a silver-washed fritillary (Argynnis paphia), a member of the  Nymphalidae family which is also a common sight in much of Europe and Asia, up to Japan.

The special postmark, dated of 22.11.2024,  was issued in connection with an issue of  a booklet of personalised stamps dedicated to Eagles (Orli, in Czech). 

COVER N. 513 - CZECH REPUBLIC

Postmark: 10 00 Praha 18.09.2024

Posted on the 18th September; Received on the 23rd September 2024

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A very neat Cover from the Czech Republic with a beautiful postmark. Děkuji mnohokrát, Ivan.

Prague's Botanical garden formally came into being on the 1st January 1969, in the  Troja - Podhoří area. Today it occupies some 50 hectares being open all year to the public to visit its exhibition grounds which include varied nuclei devoted to flora not only of the Czech Republic but also of the whole world.

On 10APR2024  Česká pošta issued a three stamp souvenir sheet illustrated with fern species from Prague's Botanical garden. The 31 Koruna stamp on the cover bears the image of a Dipteris Conjugata,  of the Dipteridaceae family, native from tropical and temperate Asia, northern Queensland in Australia and some islands in the Pacific Ocean.

Karel Svolinský (1896–1986) was a painter, graphic artist, illustrator, set designer and university teacher who was also responsible for designing and engraving several stamps issued by the then Czechoslovakia.

On the 120th anniversary of his birth and the 30th of his passing, Česká pošta issued the 13 Koruna stamp on the cover, graced with his effigy and a reproduction of one of his beautiful illustrations.

The postmark carries a coat of arms which at first I believed to be that of Prague, but on close inspection I could not match it to the image I found on the internet...can anyone help?

POSTCARD N.163 - CZECH REPUBLIC

Postcard sent on the 6th September, received on the 16th September 2024

Postcard image: Vitkov castle 
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Another of Michal's great high ground lookouts and castles postcards from the Sumava mountains. Bardzo děkuji, Michal!

Vítkov castle (Vitkův Hrádek - The little castle of Vitek), dating from the 13th century, is the highest located castle in Bohemia (1053 m) and in the 50s of the 20th century it served as a military watch-post, a steel tower having been built alongside it for this purpose. It is now a visitable space.

The E tariff stamp was issued on 12OCT2022 as part of a se-tenant pair of E tariff stamps issued on the occasion of  LIBEREC 2022, an European postage stamp exhibition held in the city of Liberec, Czech Republic, between 13 and 16 October .

COVER N. 495 - CZECH REPUBLIC

Postmark: Joachim Barrande . 225. Výroči Narození Jince 08.08.2024

Posted on the 8th July; Received in (?) August 2024

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Joachim Barrande.... Once again stamps and postmarks make me learn something, and that can only be good. Děkuju mockrát, Ivan, for a  very fine cover.

Joachim Barrande (1799 - 1883) was a French engineer who ended up becoming a well respected palaeontologist, and this because he, at one point in his long life, became the tutor of the grandson of France's sovereign, Charles X.

When Charles X abdicated in 1830, Joachim in his capacity of tutor of Henri d'Artois, accompanied the former king in exile, first in England then in Scotland and finally in Prague.

There, working as an engineer, he developed an interest for fossils of the Palaeozoic, found in the rocks of Bohemia, during the  construction works for a railroad.

Over the years he would amass an immense collection of fossils and during his life time he would publish 21 volumes of text and plates of his fundamental work "Système silurien du centre de la Bohême", dedicated to trilobites of several species.

Barrande, a critic of Darwin's evolutionism theory, died in Austria, but conform to his testament, his extensive collection of fossils was donated to Prague, where they are now kept at the National Museum.

Celebrating the 225th anniversary of his birth, Czech Post issued the commemorative postmark illustrated with his effigy, which can be seen on the cover.

The 20 Koruna stamp featuring a family of Orix (Orix gazella gazella)  and another of Lions (Panthera leo leo) is part of a mini-sheet issued on 07SEP2006, dedicated to "Zoos of the Czech Republic"   containing four stamps (16,20,24 and 27 Koruna) and two vignettes, all lavishly illustrated with great images of animals, as is also the frame of the sheet, whose section on the cover includes a Black-tip reef shark (Charcaminus melanopterus), a King vulture (Sarcoramphus papa) and a Ring-tailed lemur (lemur catta).

Over the years Czech Post has issued several of these very beautiful mini-sheets dedicated to fauna and flora and they are all a pleasure to behold.

In 2020 and 2021, Czech Post issued two definitive sets of two stamps each featuring butterflies. The 2021 set (23 and 1 Koruna) was used on the cover,  the stamps being illustrated  with an image of an Orange Tip (Anthocharis cardamines), a member of the Pieridae family which can be found all over Europe (1 Kč), an of a  Peacock  butterfly (Aglais io), also a common European sight, for the 23 Kč stamp.

POSTCARD N.142 - CZECH REPUBLIC

Postcard sent on the 1st June (?), received on the 6th April 2024

Postcard image: Klosterman Watch tower in Javornik
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Another great postcard  with a  watchtower in the Sumava mountains, the Czech Republic.  This time the Klosterman Tower in Javornik.  Děkuju mockrát, Michal!

The tower, located near the town of Vacov can be climbed up to the top, to enjoy the great scenic views, if one is willing to climb the 196 steps that conquer its 39.6 metres of height.

I could not find any particular information of the date of building of the tower, nor about the person after which it is named, a Mr. K. Kosterman, whose statue  is featured in the middle medallion photo on the postcard. 

The Postcard legend  celebrates the 10th anniversary of the restoration of the tower and the two other medallions, the top features the St. Anthony chapel, located just before entering the forest at Javornik, and that on the bottom of the postcard, a wooden cabin, which I presume to be located in Javornik, also.

the postcard features two stamp marks, the smaller one with what I presume is the  tower mascot, and the other with the legend "Reopening ceremony of the Klosterman Tower; Javornik 1066 m above sea level; 5 July 2003.

The tariff E stamp Michal used, was issued on 30NOV2021 and it is illustrated with the image of one of the iconic religious symbols of Prague, the Infant Jesus of Prague,  a wooden statue of the Child Jesus, whose origin can be traced back to 556, which can be seen in the Discalced Carmelite Church of Our Lady of Victories located in the Malá Strana (the lesser town) area of the city.

The postmark hails from the city of Ceske Budejovice.

 

POSTCARD N.137 - CZECH REPUBLIC

Postcard sent on the 2nd April, received on the 11th April 2024

Postcard image: Svatobor watchtower and lodge, near Sušice
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Michal hits me again with  a nice postcard from one of the many treasures in the Czech republic, the Šumava mountains. Děkuju mockrát, Michal!

Following the watchtower of  Polednik, featured in postcard #131, Michal now sent me a card illustrated with a view of the  Svatobor watchtower, located near the town of Sušice, from which in can be reached in about one hour, hiking. 

The stone tower is 31.6 metres high,  its observation platform being located at 26 m from ground level.

The original tower was built in 1898, but it fell to the ground in 1934  as a consequence of structural damages suffered due to a fire in 1905. Three months after its collapse, the now existing tower was completed.

The tariff E stamp Michal used, was issued on 30NOV2021 and it is illustrated with the image of one of the iconic religious symbols of Prague, the Infant Jesus of Prague,  a wooden statue of the Child Jesus, whose origin can be traced back to 556, which can be seen in the Discalced Carmelite Church of Our Lady of Victories located in the Malá Strana (the lesser town) area of the city.

The postmark hails from the city of Ceske Budejovice.

COVER N. 434 - CZECH REPUBLIC

Postmark: Rychnov nad Kněžnou 30.03.2024 

Posted on the 30th March; received on the 5th April 2024

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The Phantom flies Bata, it seems, but he does is in great style... a Lockheed Electra, proof that beauty is not a subject of gravity... provided you are not Amelia Earhart, who sadly lost her life in one of these, when trying to circumnavigate the globe.

Danke sehr, Alex. I really appreciate you going through the trouble of getting this cover for me.

Three siblings of the eight generation of a shoemaker family from the city of Zlin in what was then Czechoslovakia  would, in 1894, revolutionise the shoemaking industry, with the creation of a small 10 employee company that  in time would evolve into an immense industrial conglomerate, with interests in such diverse areas as  publishing or air and sea transport, but always solidly anchored in what was its initial area of activity: shoemaking.

Bata´s success (the initial 10 workers were already 600 by 1912)  can also be regarded as the result of a daring use of technologies and work organisation never before tested in shoemaking industry. An example of this can be seen in the fact that Bata, it seems, was first in introducing steam driven shoemaking machines, for instance.

On par with the attention to processes that allowed the company to grow, Bata's workforce also benefited from some measures of what is now called corporate social responsibility like housing, schools, access to health care, sports or leisure facilities, which in the corporate universe of the early 20th century was not that commonplace (and still isn’t, in many places….)

Due to the second world war and the geopolitical order that ensued from then on, the company went through various ups and downs, nationalisation, relocations, atc. But be it as it may, the company founded by Tomáš, Anna and Antonín Baťa still survives to this day, employing some 32,000 workers in 70 countries in the 5 continents,  its headquarters being located in Lausanne, Switzerland. 

Amongst its many innovative business approaches, Bata is also to be credited with the invention of business aviation when, in 1932, a Lockheed Electra painted in  the colours of the company was put to service to ferry  company executives and highly skilled workers to factories of the group in need of technical assistance or to send replacement parts for production line machinery.

This aircraft, which itself has an interesting operational history, having been used by the RAF and RCAF during the second world war, still survives today, in flying conditions after undergoing full restoration in the US,  being based at, Točná Airport, Prague.

On 04SEP2019,  Česká pošta  issued the two tariff E (Europe up to 50g)  self-adhesive stamps Alex used on this nice cover. One of them, printed in colour, depicts Electra OK-CTB flying (Bata also owned OK-CTA, which crashed in 1937, on which Jan Bata initiated a round the world business promotion flight, which he concluded in OK-CTB) while the other, in black and white, depicts presumably the same aircraft, one of its engines being started. 

The cover also includes a stamp mark from  Massarykova Chata, a winter and mountain sports lodge in  Deštne village, Czech Republic.

The postmark hails from Rychnov nad Kněžnou, a city in North-eastern Bohemia. 

COVER N. 424 - CZECH REPUBLIC

Postmark:  Philip J. Currie 75 let Philovenator curriei Praha 1 13.03.2024 

Posted on the 13th March; received on the 18th March 2024

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The Phantom has agents.... only as such can he be everywhere anytime.... I now know this secret to be true, since I received a cover sent from Prague when the Ghost who walks was in Germany.... so much for his secret.... ahahahahaha... you can't escape Poirot....(heck... he was Belgium, wasn't he?... no problem, a lot of Portuguese guys also wear a moustache....)

Anyway, The Phantom pestered his kind mother asking her to go through the trouble of going to the Post Office while away, and all this to send a cover to a stranger. I'm very thankful to Mrs. Pilz for her kind and generous gesture. Hope it did not take too much of her time. Danke sehr!

The cover has a very nice pictorial cancellation, but one that raises a bit of a mystery...

The stamps first, though, left to right:

- The lovely 2 Koruna stamps are part of the "flowers" definitive series issued in the course of several years. this particular stamp dates of 27MAY2011.

- The 20 Koruna  Sagittarius  Stamps were issued on 08SEP1999 as part of the Zodiac themed definitives that were issued in several occasions in different years.

Now the postmark, and in it lies the mystery... Philip J. Currie is a well know Canadian palaeontologist, Wikipedia stating that he was one of the models for "palaeontologist Alan Grant in the film Jurassic Park."

He was also the leader of an important Canada-China dinosaur research project and he has to his credit the description of several dinosaur species new to science.

He his such a relevant name that he his name was given to one of these species, the Philovenator curriei, whose mug shot  features on the pictorial postmark.

I am sure that Mr Currie deserves all the accolades that he gets, but the  mystery to me is what is the connection with the Czech Republic, since I can't find a direct link between Mr. Currie and this particular country.

Anyway, the postmark is quite dandy and again a huge thanks to Mrs. Pilz for having gone out of her way to make sure I had it in my collection.

POSTCARD N.131 - CZECH REPUBLIC

Postcard sent on the 13th February; received on the 16th February 2024

Postcard image: Šumava National Park; Polednik Tower.
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Šumava National Park... hiking in the mountains and getting the opportunity to climb to an even higher vantage point than that already offered by the terrain to enjoy the views... what's not to like.....it was great to hear from a friend again and I'll keep the card as reference for the future.... maybe one day I'll be able to climb to that tower..... Bardzo dziękuję, Michal!

Polednik tower used to be a lookout post for an air defence base back in the days of the Warsaw pact and of Czechoslovakia. Today, after having been totally refurbished and reconverted, it serves a much nicer purpose with its 37 metres of height serving as a belvedere platform for visitors on a day out in the Šumava National Park.

Šumava National Park was established in 1963 as a protected landscape area and has acquired National Park Status in 1991, after having been declared by the UNESCO a Biosphere reserve, in 1990.

The Park occupies an area of 680.64 km2, located along the border with Germany and Austria, in the South of the Czech Republic and within its borders several uncommon or even rare fauna and flora species thrive, like the marsh orchid or the black stork, to name but two.

Michal sent the postcard from the town of Ceske Budejovice; judging from the postmark used to cancel the "Pampeliška" (Dandelion) Tariff E definitive, issued on 23MAY2019, part of the definitive series started in 2002, dedicated to the beauty of flowers.

Of note is also the nice Cachet of the Polednik tower included in the card, which itself  already contained a printed Sumava National Park cachet.

COVER N. 331 - CZECH REPUBLIC

Postmark: Svĕtový den Pošty Praha 09.10.2023

Posted on the 9th October; received on the 13th October 2023

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World Post Day, instituted by the congress of 1969 of the UPO - Union Postale Universelle/Universal Postal Union, commemorates the establishment, on the 9th October of 1874, in Bern, Switzerland, of  this particular organisation, nowadays a specialised agency of the United Nations.

Given the trans-international character of the date, many are the postal administrations that issue stamps or/and celebratory postmarks related to it, such as the ones on the beautiful cover I received from the Czech Republic. Thanks a lot, Ivan!

This time I'll start with the stamp on the right since it occupied a more important place in the context of this particular cover.

- The 21 Koruna stamp was issued on  05OCT2011, in celebration of World Post Day and its beautiful illustration depicts our  planet being orbited by a line of white doves carrying mail on their beaks, while Hermes, the messenger god, takes a rest on top of the world an blows a post horn. The stamp also carries the  legend "Svĕtový den Pošty" (World Post Day).

- Česká pošta has been issuing quite regularly amazingly illustrated souvenir sheets with stamps themed on Czech flora and fauna.

The 23 Koruna stamp on the left is taken from one such sheet, issued on 07SEP2022, dedicated to the flora and fauna of Lake Macha, an artificial pond in the Liberec region, in the north of the country. The stamp is graced with illustrations of a Purple emperor butterfly (Apatura iris), and of a Martagon lily (Lilium martagon).

As can be seen on the portion attached to the stamp, the frame of these sheets also include drawings of plants and animals, the case at hand featuring a Rosalia alpine, a coleopter of the Cerambycidae family, ánd a gulder rose (Viburnum opulus), a member of the Adoxaceae family.

The First Day Postmark was applied at the country's Capital, Prague.

 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!

POSTCARD N.93 - CZECH REPUBLIC

Postcrossing postcard sent on the 24th November inside cover #183, received on the 29th November 2022

Postcard image: Český Ráj
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“Český ráj” reads the main legend of this beautiful postcard I got from Mary, inside cover #183. Not being fluent in Czech, I had to look it up with the use of "deepl" and I learned that this translates into Bohemian Paradise... and I don't dispute it, because the idea I have of the Czech Republic (even though I know precious little more than the charming city of Prague) is that it is a beautiful country, full of outstanding landmarks, both natural and manmade.

Bohemian Paradise, in fact, is the designation of a Protected landscape area , established in 1955, in the north of the Bohemia region, corresponding to the first natural reserve created in what was then  Czechoslovakia and is now the Czech Republic.

Some  of its landmarks, located in the Liberec region, in the centre North of  the country, are featured in this postcard, these being, clockwise from the upper left:

- The Pantheon Chapel integrated  into the Vranov rock castle located on a cliff overlooking the town of Mala Skala;

- The Hrubá Skála Palace, which now is an high end hotel and welness centre, in the town of Hrubá Skála;

- Frýdštejn Castle, a rock castle  in Frýdštejn in the Liberec Region,dating from the 14th century, with several rooms carved into the rock;

- Sychrov castle, built in neo-gothic style,  located close to the village from which it gets its name, dating back to the second half of the 19th century;

-  Hrubý Rohozec castle, in Turnov. The current configuration, dating back to the mid 19th century, is the result of a series of refurbishments to an original castle that was built on the site in 1300 AD. It is thus possible today for the visitor to encounter marks and traces of the gothic,  renaissance, baroque and romantic styles;

- Valdstein castle, also located close to Turnov, in the city of Hruboskalsko, considered to be the oldest of the Bohemian Paradise Castles. The original rock castle was built circa 1260.

COVER N.183 - CZECH REPUBLIC

Postmark: V O   Hradiště 2950...
Posted on the 24th November, received on the 29th November 2022
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I wrote it before: it only takes a stamp, a postmark and an envelope to make someone happy at the end of the lelter's journey, after all it seems it has been acknowledged long ago, when someone wrote "Lonely days are gone, I'm a-goin' home /My baby, just-a wrote me a letter..." 😀

Of course, mine was a completely different case, but Mary was kind enought to mail a postcrossing postcard (#93) to me inside an envelope, as I do prefer, and this kind attention deserves to be acknowledged in this blog of mine, so Thank you so very much, Mary! Trully appreciated it.

Dandelions - Taraxacum sp. - everybody knows it, and I'm sure there is no one that hasn't blown one of its balls of seeds into the wind. Still, this humble plant with its yellow flowers. better, its yellow inflorescences, is so common, that we never stop to look in detail at the beauty of them. Next time do pick one up and look at it in detail. it is a thing of wonder!

... And well deserving of a stamp, Czech Post thought, as it selected the " Pampeliška" as the flower to feature in the 2019 single E tarif stamp issue of the definitive series started in 2002, dedicated to the beauty of flowers, which began circulating on 23MAY2019.

The Postmark indicated that Mary sent her letter from Hradiště, a small town which had around 600 inhabitants in 2010, in the west of the Czeck Republic, in the region of Karlovy Vary..

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.87 - Czech Republic

Postmark: UHERSKÉ HRADIŠTĚ  22mar22
Posted on the 22nd March; received on the 28th March
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Another fine cover from the Czech Republic. Thank you so much Ladislav.

Stamps, left to right:

Czech stamps nearly always amaze me. They simply look like tiny works of art, with their carefully elaborated drawings exquisitely detailed. And this is not only the case with commemorative issues but also with their definitive emissions, as the humble but decidedly beautiful definitive Flowers emission, started in 2002 with a 6,4 Koruna pansy stamp clearly proves.

The 3 Koruna stamp of this emission on my cover was issued on 19MAR2019 and it depicts an  Azalka (Rosebay).

One flew over the cuckoo's nest. That's the thought that immediately came to my mind when I looked at the name besides the picture (did I mention that Czech stamps are exquisitely detailed...?) on the second stamp. Miloš  Forman (1932-2018) was the director that led Jack Nicholson into one of the several "roles of one's life", of the acting volcano that erupted in Easy Rider as "George Hanson". The Firemen's Ball; Amadeus; Valmont; Hair... the list of famous films is huge, and it is no wonder that the Czech Post chose to honour his memory on the date of his 90th birthday with this 19 Koruna stamp issued on 16FEB22.

The view of Prague's castle at the top of the hill, with Karlov bridge below, on the foreground, is one of Prague's many iconic views. Prague, the city that makes my neck hurt, from the strain of constantly looking up to stare at the  wondrous architecture that is everywhere to behold....I absolutely love it.

A beautiful line drawing by painter and illustrator Jan Kavan, who himself was already honoured by the Czeck Post with a commemorative postmark celebrating his 75th anniversary takes the limelight on the 17 Koruna stamp issued on 05MAY2010 on the theme of  "Prague Castle in The Art of Postage Stamp"

The Postmark tell us that Ladislav posted this letter in the city of Uherské Hradiště.

COVER N.82 - Czech Republic
Postmark: PRAHA1 - 8.03.22
Posted on the 8th March; received on the 16th March
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Rain has finally come to my country again, after a very dry winter that put our water reservoirs near critical level in a large area of our territory, so I don't know whose rain fell on the beautiful cover I received from the Czech Republic. It could have been Czech rain, it could have been Portuguese rain, but the somewhat wrinkled envelope is keeping the secret to itself, and in all truth it really doesn't matter, because even if a bit crumpled, the stamps it holds are works of art, and a joy to the eye of the beholder. Thank you so much Ivan!

Stamps, left to right:

1 Koruna stamp issued on 15FEB2021, part of a definitive series themed on Butterflies started in 2020 with 3 stamps. The butterfly depicted is the "orange tip" (Anthocharis cardamines), a common species of the Pieridae family, that is present in all of Europe (Portugal included) and Asia, up to the Himalaian region.

B tariff (Standard up to 50 g in domestic Economy service) stamp issued on 26FEB2020, celebrating the centenary of the Czech Constitutional Court. The legend "One Hundred Years of Constitutional Justice is cantered in between the images of the heads of two pillars from the Constitutional Court in Brno. The one on the left bears the inscription "Democracy" and the one on the right claims " The Rule of Law".

19 Koruna stamp, issued on 10OCT2018, to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the National Museum in Prague, the largest of the Czech museums. The main image on the stamp is that of the statue of Čechie, an allegory of the Czech Nation,  on top of the fountain right in front on the National Museum, whose façade can be seen in the background.

Both these very beautiful stamps were designed by graphic artist and stamp designer Jan Kavan. Born in 1947, Jan Kavan has designed many a stamp for the former Czechoslovak and current Czech postal service, so the later decided to honour him with the rather elegant special cancellation mark celebrating his 75th birthday that was used to cancel the stamps on my cover.

Ivan also applied a very nice vignette with an image of god Baco (?) but I could not find any information about it, although I suspect it came from the pen of Jan Kavan too...

COVER N.58 - Czech Republic

Postmark: Betlémské svĕtlo (The Light of Bethlehem) Olomouc 23DEC21
Posted on the 23rd December; received on the 3rd january
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The first cover for the new year, came on the very first day there was postal distribution, hailing from the Czech Republic. Thanks a lot, Ivan, and a very Happy New Year for you and yours.

Ivan used three very nice stamps on this cover, that also features a commemorative postmark.

left to right:

1 Koruna stamp issued on 15FEB2021, part of a definitive series themed on Butterflies started in 2020 with 3 stamps. The butterfly depicted is the "orange tip" (Anthocharis cardamines), a common species of the Pieridae family, that is present in all of Europe (Portugal included) and Asia, up to the Himalaian region.

B Tariff (domestic, Ordinary Letter - Standard up to 50g) stamp issued on 11NOV2021celebrating the  Christmas season, featuring a detail of a Christmas tree with ginger cookies, an apple and a blown glass ball decoration, something for which the Czech Republic is famous for, According to the Czech Post website, this particular stamp also had a special Christmas lavour added, a first for the Czech Post, but I guess this can only be experimented by the person licking the stamp 😅😅😅.

Another B tariff stamp, issued on 23JUN2021, dedicated to the "Ride of Kings", an event that takes place during the annual Kyjov folk festival, which is included on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Citing directly from the Czech Post website "The Rides of Kings, originating as a summer solstice celebration, have a history spanning at least two centuries. The king is a young boy dressed in a girl’s costume, wearing a rose in his mouth and riding a horse. He is accompanied by a large retinue of costumed aids with drawn sabres and scarves carried as banners. They go around the village, begging for money."

After a few hours riding the procession rides back to the House of the king where everything ends up merrily in dancing and feasting.

The special commemorative postmark highlights another Christmas tradition, imported from Austria to the Czech Republic: the distribution of the Bethlehem light. Every year Scouts ensure the distribution of a symbolic Christmas light originated in Autria, all across churches in the Czech Republic, so that believers can also light their candles with the same light. This is the reason why the Fleur de Lis, the symbol of the Scout Movement, is present in this postmark that was available in Brno, Olumuc (the one on my cover) and Prague from the 18th till the 23rd December.