Year of Ram Transition sheet

Canada Post issued a transition sheet this year (8th January, 2015) to commemorate the Year of Ram, Lunar year.

In the Lunar cycle, the Horse is the 7th creature and the Ram is the 8th creature.  The year 2015 is Lunar year of Ram.  Canada Post has issued a miniature sheet on 8th January, 2015 showing the transition of Horse year to Ram year.   The transition sheet  has a hot foil stamp of emerald Green Ram with gold embosing on the ram's horns of value 2.50 Canadian dollar and the Golden coloured embossed stamp of galloping Horse of value 1.85 Canadian dollars.  Left of the souvenir sheet has the picture of horse facing backwards looks like it is welcoming the Ram and at the same time it is passing out of the sheet to indicate symbolically that Year of Horse is ending. 

Below is the scan of souvenir sheet of Year of Ram - Transition :

Philharmonic Gold Coin Stamp

The World famous Vienna Philharmonic or simply Philharmonic Gold coin has turned 25 in 2014.  To commemorate its 25th Anniversary Austria Post has issued a set of Gold foil stamp.

On 10th October 1989 Austrian Mint introduced a bullion coin and named it after a Vienna Orchestra "Wiener Philharmoniker" .  Philharmonic (philmarmoniker) means "devoted to music".   Because of the Orchestra's inspiration, on one side of the coin depicts the "Great Hall" of Viennese Music Association, Wiener Musikverein which is the home to the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (Wiener Philharmoniker).  This hall is considered as one of the finest concert halls in the world along with Berlin's Konzerthaus, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw and Boston's symohony Hall.  The other side of the coin has various musical instruments like the Vienna horn, Bassoon, Harp, Violin (4 of them) and  the Cello.

Until 2002 one ounce coin was denominated in Austrian Schillings (ATS) and after the introduction of Euros it changed into Euros.  It is considered as a purest gold bullion coin in the world and it fetched the best selling gold coin in the years 1992, 1995, 1996 and in 2000 from the World Gold Council.

Every year the design of the coin remains the same but the year only differs.

Thanks Mr. Markus for these beautiful stamps. Nice addition to my circular as well as Gold foil stamp collection.

Europe's First pure Cotton Stamp

Alderney issued a miniature sheet made of 100% pure cotton in the year 2014 and it has become the first European Nation to issue a stamp on cotton. The M/S contains some portions of 58 scenes of Tapestry showing the Norman conquest of England, including the Battle of Hastings.

The MS is shown below and the MS is coming along with a Certificate of Authenticity with unique number for each MS.

The MS is being displayed at the Bayeux Tapestry Museum to celebrate the special collection of Alderney stamps (in the museum).

Braille Stamp - Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka Post issued a beautiful elongated Braille stamp on 17th June 2012.

The stamp was issued to commemorate the Centenary of  the Ceylon school of Deaf and Blind-Rathmalana . You can easily feel as well as see the embossed Braille texture.

Given below is the stamp:

And a cover with the Braille stamp on it:

The Braille script on the stamp mean the words "I Love You".

Odd Shaped Air Plane MS

South African Post issued an Odd shaped miniature sheet, shaped like an air craft for the World Post Day. The stamp depicts the first South African airmail flight - Belriot monoplane. An apt way to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the First Air Mail Flight of Africa (1911 - 2011).

Evelyn Frederick, on 27th December 1911 carried first airmail in his monoplane, Bleriot (named after the French Aviator, Louis Bleriot) from Kenilworth Race Cource to Oldham's field near Muizenberg.  It took seven and a half minutes for him to cover the 13Km distance and Muizenburg Post Office became  the first Post Office to receive the Air Mail in Africa.  Postmaster P J Hutchings received the first Airmail bag with 729 Post Cards.

You can see the picture of the monoplane down below.  

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The stamp is shown below:

                               

1980 12th Summer Olympic games

Today I got a wonderful First Day Cover from Beate Tauscn who is in Germany. 

Actually The FDC was issued by Russia (CCCP) in 1978 to commemorate the 1980 12th Summer Olympic games held in Moscow, Soviet Union, the present day Russia.  As far as I know Russia has issued Five FDC's on Sailing Olympic games and this is one among them.  He used Germany's Ludwigslust Castle stamp and sent it to me. 

As I am the fan of World Travelling covers, I like this one a lot.

I was surprised to see not one but two "People At Work" themed Cards and whole lot of stamps in the above cover!

First one is  issued under Building Trade - Carpentry.  This one bears 60 Rappen definitive stamp issued in 10th September 1984.

Second one  is Issued in 10th April 1986 under "Youth Hostel" commemorative stamp series.

Thanks a lot, Beate.

International Bio Diversity Day - 22nd May

The United Nations has proclaimed May 22nd as the International Day of Biological Diversity to increase understanding and awareness of biodiversity issues. This has been celebrated since 2001 and there is a different focus area each year.

When it was first established in 1993, the 29th of December was selected to serve as the day to educate the world about the importance of Biodiversity. This was later changed and celebrated on May 22  every year

Biodiversity, or having lots of different kinds of life, is a sign of a healthy ecosystem. Visit a local farmer’s market and see what your area has to offer.

Whatever the case, get out there and celebrate the diversity of our natural world, not just on the International Day for Biological Diversity, but every day!

As individuals, we can contribute to this noble cause by sharing this information widely, planting trees etc.

Below are a few India-issued stamps on the topic of Biodiversity.

Philately in school curriculum

All kids have a curiosity when they receive their new school books. They would want to take a look inside a few books (not only theirs but even their siblings' books) to see what is in there. 

I had the same curiosity that when I opened my sister's Hindi text book there was a page on Philately- The King of Hobbies. 

Few things I found interesting were:

1) There is an English essay on philately in a Hindi text book!

2) Philately is now in school curriculum. The actual Hindi lesson contains a story around on Philately!!

My own Social Studies text book's cover is filled with pictures of various stamps.

All these days, I was worried that Philately may die out over time, I have hope now.

Belgium Airplane stamps and minisheet

Few days back I received a surprise from my friend Joel. It was a cover with airplane stamp on it and inside the cover were a miniature sheet and few stamps  on my topic aviation.

The miniature sheet was issued to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Edgar Pierre Jacobs. The miniature sheet depicts Captain Francis Blake and partner, Professor Philip Mortimer - both are characters from Jacob's comic book. The miniature sheet was issued simultaneously by France (unperforated one) and Belgium (perforated one), on May 17, 2004. The below Miniature sheet is a Belgium issue. 

Below were few stamps on aviation sent by him...

The last stamp on the last row depicts the Belgian pioneer aircraft - the bi-plane dating from 1908.  This stamp was issued in the year 1973 by bpost (Belgium post).

The left most stamp on the last row was issued to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Sabena ( Sabena is an airlines in Belgium) The stamp was issued on 19th of May 1973.

The speciality of the last row is that he sent both perforated and non-perforated stamps :). Only 1000s of non-perforated were printed.

The top row shows the airmail set issued by Belgium in 1951 and commemorates the 50th Anniversary of the Royal Aeroclub of Belgium.

Legacy of Loom - stamps from Malaysia

Today, my day began when I looked in at my post box and found a set of five stamps inside a wonderful cover. The set featured the Legacy of Loom. 

Issued by POS Malaysia on 12th January 2012, this set looked great in my People at Work collection. All thanks to Irene Ang from Malaysia.

Below is the cover and set of stamps that I received.

Burung Betaluk Wood Pecker M/s from Malaysia

Recently I received a very beautiful Miniature sheet featuring the Burung Pelatuk Wood Pecker. The souvenir sheet is embossed and has the texture of feathers.

The Miniature sheet was issued on 13th January 2013 in Malaysia.

I would like to thank Mr. Joel for the m/s as it suits my theme "Odd shaped and unique stamps".

Given below is the Mind Blowing minisheet.

The rear view where you can see the embossing clearly.