World's First Leather stamp with Swarovski Crystal

Today I received a cover from Vienna, Austria from my friend, Mr.Marco Ramirez. Thanks Mr. Marco for using World's first Leather stamp with Swarovski Crystals.

The stamp was issued this year (2015) by Austrian Post as part of the traditional Wiener Wiesen Festival. The stamp is made of Alcantara leather decorated with Swarovski crystals and it is shaped like a Alpine Lederhosen.

It is a nice addition to my Unique and Odd shape collection.

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.

12th January : National Youth Day (India)

Since 1985, Government of India is celebrating "National Youth Day" on 12th January. 12th January is the birth day of Narendranath Datta aka. Swami Vivekananda.

He was an Indian Hindu monk and an ardent follower of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa.  He is the one who  extolled Hinduism at the Parliament of the Worlds's Religions in Chicago in 1893, at the age of 30.  He started his opening speech at the Parliament with "Sisters and Brothers of America....". This opening line exemplified the tolerance and brotherhood of Hinduism and he received a standing ovation for more than 3 minutes.

He strongly believed that youth are the pillars of the future.  Once he said that "Give me few men and women who are pure and selfless and I shall shake the world". His quote: "Arise, awake and Stop not until the Goal is reached" is the inspiration for many Indians.

After his foreign tour he returned to India through Ramanad.  The young King of Ramanad, Bhaskara Sethupathi who funded Vivekananda's trip to Chicago, knelt before Swamiji and offered his own head to step on before it touches the Indian soil. In memory of this incident, the site is called "Kunthukaal". From this we can understand that how deep he inspired the youth of our nation, regardless of status in the society.

Shown below are few stamps depicting Swamiji and King Sethupathi. Also shown are commemorative coins issued in 2013.

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.