Crystal Clad Stamp: Austria, HongKong, China

Hong Kong, China and Austria has jointly issued a World’s first Crystal-Clad stamp in August 2006. 

Both Austria and Hong Kong are famous for their panoramic views.  Any festivities or celebrations cannot be complete without fireworks.  And fireworks on the backdrop of beautiful panoramas are a feast for our eyes.  So they selected the fireworks on the backdrop of two important panoramic landmarks of the two countries.

Swarovski is a famous crystal making company in Austria.  This stamp has a fabric covered with many tiny Swarovski Crystals to produce a glittering effect for the fireworks.

The first stamp shows a panoramic night sky view of Victoria Harbour of Hong Kong city.  It is indeed a world famous natural harbour.

The second stamp features Giant Ferris Wheel, Vienna Prater Park, Austria. It is a hunting preserve for the aristocracy opened to the public in 1766.

You can clearly see the crystals in this close-up view. Each stamp set comes with it's own certificate of authenticity.

15th June: Global Wind Day

15th June is observed as Global Wind Energy Day. Wind Energy Day was first observed by the EWEA (European Wind Energy Association) in the year 2007,But in the year 2009 when the GWEC ( Global Wind Energy Council ) joined hands with EWEA ,Wind Energy Day was observed globally as Global Wind Energy Day.This occasion is used to spread awareness on Wind Energy.

Wind Energy is the energy generated by wind mills,turbines etc with the help of wind. National wind energy associations and companies organise various events in different parts of the world.

The below stamp was issued in the year 2004 in India for the occasion of Wind Energy:Renewable Energy Day.

Polyurethane Foot Ball stamp: Austria

On the eve of 2014 FIFA World Cup, what better stamp to share than the 2008 Austrian stamp depicting a football. The stamp is self-adhesive and made of polyurethane.It was released on the occasion of UEFA 2008 Cup. It is a limited edition stamp with less than half-million printed (a small number considering the demand of anything soccer related).

It is unusual to find a corporate name on stamp, and this has one! Adidas has been the official football manufacturer since 1970s. Few people know that this year's World Cup Footbal has a name of it's own. They are called Brazuca - supposed to represent 'Brazilian way of life'.

12th June: World Day Against Child Labour

World Day against Child Labour is observed on 12th June every year by the International Labour Organization (ILO), to raise awareness against employing child labour and for the rehabilitation of child workers. The first World Day against Child Labour was celebrated in the year 2002. Because of poverty, children are forced to go to work and they are paid less.  Every Year ILO is focusing on a certain theme. 

The set of stamps below was issued in the year 2006 under the theme "End of Child Labour: within reach".

Roman mosaic Stamp: Luxembourg Post

In the year 1995, Archaeological research undertaken at Vichten, Luxembourg resulted in the discovery of Roman villas.  Those Roman villas were made around 240 AD.  To commemorate this remarkable event, in the year 2007 Luxembourg Post issued a souvenir sheet depicting the unearthed mosaic which adorned the reception hall of one of the Roman villa. This mosaic stamp has the well-known Greek poet Homer and the Muse Calliope in the middle square box where as other eight muses surrounding them in four octagonal boxes and each box depicts 2 muses.  The muses' names are clearly seen in the stamp. (In the below stamp you can see Muse Polymnia).

Now this unearthed mosaic can be seen at the Luxembourg's National Museum of History and Art. 

8th June: World Ocean Day

World Ocean Day(WOD) is celebrated on 8th June every year.  Ocean gives us everything .The oxygen we breath is mainly from oceans.We are not only getting food, pets,medicine,corals from oceans but also we are using ocean lanes for trading too.  But because of the global warming, over exploitation, over consumption of sea foods, oil spilling  we are loosing many marine creatures.   To remind humans that Oceans are the lungs of our body and create awareness and how to protect it from vulnerability, WOD is celebrated all around the world.

On 8th June, 1992 at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Canada proposed World Ocean Day.  But it was only on 5th December 2008, UN passed a resolution to observe 8th June as World Ocean Day.  Since then it gained its popularity and has been celebrated all over the world.  The theme for last year and this year's WOD are same.  "Together we have the Power to Protect the Ocean". 


The stamps shown was issued by India in the year 2009 as part of a joint issue(India Philippines joint issue). 

Silk Stamp : Hong Kong

According to Chinese Lunar Calender the year 2014 is the Year of Horse. Like previous years this year also Hong Kong post has issued a special silk stamp miniature sheet.  This comes with an authenticity certificate. It was issued on January 11th this year.

 

3D Stamp : Hong Kong

In 2013, Hong Kong issued a lenticular 3D stamp featuring the different types of buses. 

Euro buses are eco friendly buses that do not cause pollution conforming to European emission standards. The fifth edition of this bus that is Euro-V was released in 2013 December and a stamp was also issued on the occasion. The stamp shows the image of three Euro-V buses against the backdrop of  Victoria Harbour at daytime, noon and night.

Lenticular 3D is a kind of picture that if you tilt it two different pictures are shown. A composite picture is printed on paper and then a plastic sheet with angled grooves is stuck on top of it. These grooves act as lenses and show only a part of the printed picture.

In the above scanned image, we can see the grooves on the stamp resulting in alternate bands.

Iraq Palestine stamp - A question

Recently I came across the below stamp which carries both Iraq and Palestine's name.  I tried to get information from internet. But  I got only that the original stamp was issued in 15th May, 1977 and the picture is the "Dome of Rock" in Jerusalem and  many Dome overprints were issued in Iraq during 90's. 
I am not sure about this and if anybody know more about this stamp please send me the details to priyakothai@yahoo.com.

3rd June: Singapore State National Day

Every one knows that the Republic of Singapore's National Day is on 9th August.  But briefly, between 1960 - 1963 the State of Singapore celebrated its National Day on 3rd June.

"State" and "Republic" are different.  Republic means that country is fully independent and country itself is responsible for the conduct of its policies and affairs.  State means that country is fully or partially under the control of another country.

Singapore was under British rule and British Government granted Self-Government to Singapore in 1959.  Still Queen Elizabeth II was the head of defense and foreign affairs.  On 3rd June 1960 their first National Day stamps were issued.  Below is the stamp issued in 3rd June 1961 for National Day celebration.  The stamp has 4 hands clasped together on the map of Singapore to signify the national unity.

Then Singapore became part of Malaysia from 1963 - 1965.  On 9th August 1965 Singapore became Independent and Republic country.

5th June: World Environment Day

World Environment Day(WED) is celebrated all around the world on 5th of June every year.  It was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972.  This day is celebrated to create awareness about our mother nature and to encourage people to take positive action to protect our earth.

First World Environment Day was celebrated in the year 1973 in Spokane, United States.  Spokane is in the state of Washington.  The theme for the first WED was "Only one Earth".  Since then it is hosted every year by different cities with different theme.  The theme for 2013 WED was "Think.Eat.Save" Reduce your food print and it was hosted by Mongolia.  According to UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) every year 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted.  At the same time 1 in 7 people in the world go to bed hungry and many children die daily from hunger. India hosted 2011 WED and the theme was "Forests: Nature at your Service".

The above stamp was issued in the year 2005 by India for World Environmental Day.