Russia - Numismatics on Stamps

Recently, I received a beautiful embossed Miniature sheet from Olga in Russia which combines two of my hobbies; Numismatics and Philately ( Odd and Unusual stamps ).

On January 12th 2016, our friendship started with the introduction of our interests.  Nearly a year has gone, we never discussed or negotiated anything. as we know each others interest and tastes very well.  All our correspondence has always been brief - "I got yours, mine is on the way". 

I am very happy with my hobby, otherwise I won't  have met friends like Olga.

Below you can find two FDCs depicting the history of bicycles and a MS showing a few coins.

Issued to commemorate 150th Anniversary of the Bank of Russia, 2010

It is embossed, the scanner couldn't do the justification to show the embossed effect

 History of Bicycles, Issued in 2008

Rock Dust on Miniature Sheet: Portugal

Portugal is one of the largest manufacturers of decorative stones. To commemorate this heritage Portugal Post (ctt) issued a Miniature sheet and stamp on 2nd November 2010.  Sculptor Jorge Pe-Curto made the statue of a traditional messenger on horseback holding a letter in his left hand and a trumpet in his right is portrayed on the sheet. Those days postal workers blew the trumpet to know their arrival.  Even now, our postal workers ring the cycle bell to let others know of their presence.  He actually made the decorative stone with 7 rocks.  But the rock design in the miniature sheet is embedded with Lias and Pink Marble Powder.  Thanks to Sam Lopes from Canada for sending this Unique Miniature sheet for our swap.

Dinosaurs Series - Korea

Korea Post has issued a 3 series of Dinosaurs called "The Age of the Dinosaurs" starting from 2010 to 2012.  Each series has illustrated two herbivore and two carnivore of that era except the 3rd series which depicted one Omnivore, one Carnivore and two Herbivore.

The first of the 3 Mesozoic Era is called "Triassic Period", which is considered as the first dinosaur appearance period is depicted in the 2010 "The Age of the Dinosaurs" series.  The plant eating living things are called Herbivorous animals. 

The herbivorous Plateosaurus and Riojasaurus appeared in two stamps and Carnivorous (Feeding on other animals is called Carnivorous) Herrerasaurus and Coelophysis appeared in other two stamps.  

The second series which is issued in 2011, illustrates Jurassic Period dinosaurs.

They are herbivorous Scelidosaurus and Stegosaurus and Carnivorous Allosaurus and Dilophosaurus. 

The third and final of this series is Cretaceous Period is the theme for 2012 "The age of the Dinosaurs".  It has the image of the Ominivorous (Feeding on both plant and other animals is called Omnivorous) Oviraptor  and Carnivorous Tyrannosaurus and Herbivorous Pachycephalosaurus and Protoceratops.

The beauty of the "The Age of the Dinosaurs" series lie on its Dinosaur shaped perforation.  It is the first country and as far as I heard it is the one and only Se-tenant stamp with animal shaped perforation.

The rose colour Dinosaur at the center is the Perforation.  You can see that clearly in the below picture.

Petit Point - Embroidery stamp: Austria

Austrian Post issued a stamp in the year 2010 depicting a rose using the Petit Point embroidery. 

You all would be wondering what is "Petit Point"?  Well, Petit Point is a French word that means "Little stitch".  Petit Point embroidery is a type of embroidery on canvas ground, consisting of small 45-degree angle adjacent stitches. Usually, even a small embroidery rose like the one in this stamp consists of more than 1000 stitches.

     

Pi Approximation Day - India

 Pi  Approximation Day is observed on July 22 because 22/7 is the approximate value of Pi in the fractional form and in India they write the date first and then the month.

In 1914, the Indian Math wizard Ramanujan published a formula for PI that converges remarkably faster than many other approaches. See here. 

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The above stamp depicting Srinivasa Ramanujan was issued by India in 2010.

In U.S. Pi day is observed on 14th of March (3.14 or 3/14 in the U.S. month/day date format), since 3, 1, and 4 are the three most significant digits of π in the decimal form.