180th Anniversary of Penny black

On 6th May, 1840, The world's first adhesive postage stamp "Penny Black" was born officially. Even though The British Postal System introduced it on 1st of May, the official usage of Penny Black started only from May 6th.

Earlier the postage had to be borne by the recipients.  In 1937, to reform the British Postal system Rowland Hill suggested the use of pre-payment of postage and it was accepted and the Penny Black with the profile of Queen Victoria born after 3 years. There were around 68 million Penny Blacks printed on 2,86,700 sheets. The only known complete sheets of the Penny Black are owned by the British Postal Museum.

To prevent the reuse of the same stamps they introduced a red colour franking. It rubbed off easily and failed in its purpose. This led to the introduction of black colour franking and the colour of the stamp was changed to Red in 1841.

Below Souvenir sheet was issued on April 30, 2015 by Pos Malaysia (Malaysian Post) to commemorate 175th Anniversary of The Penny Black .  The Souvenir sheet depicts the portrait of Sir Rowland Hill, who is instrumental in bringing out the fist pre-paid postage stamp and the Penny Black and Two Pence Blue stamp.

Cold Foil Stamp - Spain

To commemorate 35th Anniversary of the Constitutional court, Spain Post has issued a single stamp Miniature sheet on 23rd July 2015.  The uniqueness of this Miniature sheet is the cold foil printing technique. I have many hot foil stamps, but this is first one for cold foil.  (It seems recently Liechtenstein issued three cold foil stamps under 'Princely treasure' theme - I don't have them yet).

Brief look at Cold foil and Hot foil techniques:

In cold foil technique, gum is applied to the area where foil has to be placed and then the foil is pressed with the help of UV light.  Then colour is applied on the paper and foil through ordinary printing. Since the technique is very simple, the cost is less. Cold foil technique is preferred when large area needs foiling or when precision is needed. 

Whereas in Hot foil technique the design block (mould-like) has to be made and the foil is pressed on the paper with the help of this block. The colour is restricted to the colour of the foils available. Embossing can be done along with foil pressing.  It is not recommended for tiny area.  The block making and special printing make this technique costly.

Great Canadian Goalies Playing Card like Stamps: Canada

Canada Post had issued 6 stamps on Canadian Ice Hockey Goalies who had made a huge difference to the game.  This Playing card size sturdy stamps is a perfect way to honor the legendary goal keepers of Ice hockey. Each card stamp carries the picture of a Goalie in action and the top right corner of the stamps bear the logo of the main club the goalies are playing for.

The stamps show the following legendary goalies:

Bernie Parent ( represented Philadelphia Flyers )

Johnny Bower ( represented Toronto Maple Leafs )

Gump Worsely ( represented  Montreal Canadians )

Tony Esposito ( represented Chicago Blackhawks )

Martin Brodeur ( represented New Jersey Devils ) 

Ken Dryden  ( represented  Montreal Canadians )

Statistics and Highlights of the players are printed on the reverse side of the sheet (backing paper). I was keen on keeping the stamps with these stats. Mark from Canada kindly agreed to my request and sent this Goalies set for my Odd and Unique stamps collection.  Thanks Mark.

Sometime in 2014, Canada Post had honored defense personnel through stamps.  I am looking for them to add to this collection.  If anybody has the excess set and I am willing to swap with Indian Stamps. Please contact me.

Pandas from Mali

I got the 2015 issue of Panda Miniature sheets from Danny Meng of USA through a swap.  But unfortunately I couldn't get any information about these cute little Panda issues.  If anyone come across any information please share with me.  Anyways they are nice addition to my Odd and Unusual stamps collection, Thanks a lot Danny Meng.

I just want to share one amazing thing about Pandas. Like our fingerprints, Panda's bite-prints are unique.  Even though the number of Giant Pandas are increasing 17% per year it is still an endangered species.  China is home to most of the Pandas.  Right from Tang Dynasty, China is gifting Pandas to other countries to increase awareness and save the unique ancient bears.

Foil stamp issued by Finland in 2015 !!

Finland has a lot of skaters and skating teams, hundreds and hundreds of them. One amongst them is the "Marigold Ice Unity". It is one of the most successful teams. The team won it's 4th world championships with ease in April 2014.

Jane Erkko, a Finnish synchronized skater who established the Helsinki Figure skating club in the year 1972 introduced synchronized skating in Finland in 1985. Finnish Post issued a foil stamp in the year 2015 to mark the 30th anniversary of the laying the foundation of synchronized skating groups in Finland.  The stamp is printed on a glossy foil with glowing Silver Varnish coat.

Many thanks to Susanna Mylly from Finland. She used this beautiful stamp on a cover to help enrich my collection. Along with the 2015 stamp she used one of the Water and Archipelago cross shaped stamp. Thanks once again Susanna.  

Ahobila Mutt - Special Cover

On 22nd June, 2015 on the Occasion of 60th Birth Anniversary (Shastiapdhapoorthi) of the current Pontiff HH Sri Ranganatha Yatheendra Mhadesikan, India Post has issued a special cover.  You can see the Pontiff on the MY STAMP.   He took charge as the 46th "Azhagiyasingar of Ahobila Mutt" on 23rd May 2013 at Sri Rangam.

Below information is printed on the backside of the cover.

Vatican City : Card and Cover

I got a few surprise mails from Vatican City.  Thanks to Woomik of Britain for sending me these nice mails for my "Around the World Cards and Covers" collection.  He thoughtfully used Pope Francis stamps on both card and envelope which was issued in 19th February 2015 by Poste Vaticane under the series "Pontification of Pope Francis".

On both the envelope and the card, there is an imprint mentioning "Misericordes Sicut Pater" - meaning 'Be Merciful, As Your Father Is". This is the official hymn for the "Holy Year of Mercy" that runs from Dec 8, 2015 - Nov 20, 2016.  The postcard itself features various Vatican landmarks like San Angelo bridge, a silhouette of the Dome of St. Peter's Church etc.

Rio Olympics 2016 : Brazil

Rio Olympics, the 31st Summer Olympics is going to be held in Brazil from August 5th to 21st, this year(2016).  To commemorate this event Brazil issued several stamps and Miniature sheets in 2015 including the below two Miniature sheets which  Ms. Jose Paulo sent me for our swap.  It has Braille inscription on it, Nice addition to my Odd and Unusual stamps collection.  

Thanks a lot, Jose Paulo.

EuroVision stamp: Austria

In the recent 2014 Eurovision Song Contest, the Austrian band Makemakes took part with the song" I am Yours". "I am Yours" by The Makemakes won the contest after gaining majority from the audience. This was Austria's 48th appearance in the Eurovision contest.

The Eurovision contest was held for the 60th time in 2015.

Following it's victory in 2014, Austria was the venue for the 2015 contest and so issued a stamp on 24th April 2015 showing the logo of 2015's Euro Vision Song Contest. The stamp shows the logo for the 2015 contest entitled "The Sphere". The speciality is the type of printing- offset printing on silver foil.

This beautiful cover with the Eurovision stamp came all the way from Austria into my letter box. Thanks  Danubia for the fabulous cover.

Joint issue stamps: India - Singapore

On November 24th 2015, Singapore Prime Minister Mr. Lee Hsien Loong along with Indian Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi jointly issued 2 stamps ( issued by both Sing Post and India Post - a joint issue) one featuring Istana (The Singapore President's house) and the other featuring the Rashtrapati Bhavan (The Indian President's house) on Mr. Modi's official visit in Singapore marking the 50th anniversary establishment of diplomatic relations between Singapore and India.

Recently I received a beautiful cover from Singapore from my friend  Lee Shiou Ming. She has used the stamps beautifully on cover in such a way that on the left hand corner is the India's version of Rashtrapati Bhavan and Istana and in the right hand corner Singapore's version but the order is the other way around- Istana first and then Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Thanks a Ton, Shiou Ming for such a wonderful cover.

Cards from Sri Lanka

Tabu, a friend of mine visited Sri Lanka and was kind enough to mail me some picture postcards from different cities across Sri Lanka. The cards illustrate various aspects of the country, the picture-perfect beaches, the rich Buddhist heritage, the diverse land and sea creatures found there etc.

Seeing these wild animals in-person (safaris) takes a lot of effort and time. As Tabu rightly notes, "in the world of instant coffee & internet, Miss Patience has sort of gone into hiding". 

Thanks Tabu.

Asterix miniature sheet

Recently I got a surprise from Ane, Germany. She sent me a beautiful Asterix miniature sheet issued by Germany this year, 2015.

Children my age are fascinated by Asterix as well as the Tintin series.  Both the comics heroes are courageous and both own a white fluffy dog. Tintin's dog is Snowy  and Asterix's dog is  Dogmatix. The comic strips were published in more than 100 languages!!! I have the entire Tintin series and most of Asterix's.

In many ways I feel these books to be somewhat similar. For example, in Tintin you have Cuthbert calculus, a genius and in Asterix you have Getafix. Same way Snowy-Dogmatix, Haddock ( Tintin's best friend) and Obelix ( friend of Asterix).  And I think both of them are originally French.

I am happy that I received the German miniature sheet of Asterix, would love to add the Asterix Miniature sheet issued by France to my collection.

The stamps depicted in the miniature are those of Asterix, Obelix and Dogmatix. Other main characters are also depicted in the miniature sheet.

India's First Hot foil and Embossed Miniature Sheet.

The 3rd "India Africa Forum summit" was held in New Delhi on 27th, 28th and 29th of October.  On the closing day of the summit, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has released set of 7 stamps, a miniature sheet and India's first Hot foiled  "Innovative Miniature sheet".  All stamps in this Innovative Miniature sheet are embossed. 

The two Rhinos and Black Buck are made of Gun metal foil and the two Lions are Gold foiled and the Thomson Gazelle is a copper foiled one.

Earlier in January 2015, India Post has brought out India's First Miniature sheet with QR code. 

http://philateli.blogspot.in/2015/04/indias-first-miniatue-sheet-with-qr-code.html

SIPA Monthly Meeting Update: Nov-8th 2015

Today being the second Sunday we had our SIPA Monthly Meeting. Since it is raining cats and dogs in Chennai there were only few people present at the meeting. The information discussed in the meeting are as follows:

Mr.Bhaskar & Mr. Das started the session by referring to the unavailability of new issues on the first-day. This has been a perennial issue. He also covered some points about the upcoming TANAPEX exhibition. It seems the number of requests for frames is almost 50% higher than available frames. So, discussions are on to limit the number allotted to participants. To encourage and increase visibility of Philately as a hobby and SIPA as an organization, we are planning to setup a stall during the book fair preceding TANAPEX. He is also solicited ideas for TANAPEX special covers, and also requested for volunteers to man the booth and explain exhibits.

Up next was one of our SIPA member (whose family are into philately for 3 generations!) shared his interests and also enlightened us with efforts at the archaeological department in Chennai  to preserve old documents. There was widespread interest in using similar techniques to preserve philatelic material.

Then it was my turn to speak. I spoke to them about my plan for the Exhibition on the topic Flights of  Fancy.  I am happy to say that they helped me gather more ideas for my exhibit.

That was all we had for today. I wish all my fellow Indians an advance HAPPY  DIWALI.

Mining and Metallurgical Company Norilsk Nickel - Embossed stamp, Russia

I have received a gorgeous card from Marina, Russia illustrating historical places of St.Petersburg.

The stamp she used is a 2015 issue of Mining and Metallurgical company, Norilsk Nickel.  It was issued in June this year to commemorate the 80th Anniversary of Norilsk Nickel, the largest producer of Nickel and Palladium.

They are supplying their products to more than 40 countries and India is the  one among them.  In the year 2014, Norilsk Nickel company has won a trophy in Mumbai at Indian Surface Finishing Exhition (ISF)

The Metallurgist, helicopter and the plant are embossed.  It will nicely fit into my theme "Unusual Stamps" collection.

Thanks Marina.

The card depicts the following historical places of St. Petersburg.

Golden Swan : Finland

I have received the below beautiful card with the "Golden Swan" stamp from Jules of Finland.  It was issued in 8th of May by Finland Post "Posti".  The design of the swan is done with Gold Foil. Nice addition to my Unusual stamp collection. Thanks Jules.

Shekawati - Warli Paintings : Maxim cards

Recently, India Post (Tamil Nadu Circle) has issued two maxim cards along with a booklet on Shekawati and Warli Paintings. The cards have a matte-finish.

Engineer's Day : 15th September

Engineer's Day is celebrated every year on the 15th of September in India, Sri Lanka and Tanzania to honour Sri. Visvesvaraya, who played a key role in India's modernization. Sir. Visvesvaraya, the notable civil engineer, was born on 15th September 1860, at Mysore. 

He was a member of the Governing Council of the Tata Iron and Steel company(TISCO) and the below card was issued for the TATA Steel's centenary year. The Tata group is well known globally due to their TCS (IT services) and their recent Jaguar-Land Rover acquisition. TISCO was established in 1907 and now has a presence in 26 countries.

The stamp was issued to commemorate the Golden Jubilee celebrations of Engineers India Limited - a wholly-owned GoI enterprise that went public in 1996. They play a key role in the Chemical and Petroleum industries. 

Covers from Singapore World stamp Exhibition

World Stamp Exhibition was recently held in Singapore from 14th of August to 19th.  I am happy that I have received 3 covers from the Exhibition venue.  The first two covers were sent by Shiou Ming of Singapore.  The first has the Exhibition special cancellation and the second one with the normal cancellation done at the venue.  Same stamps on covers but with different cancellation. That was really thoughtful Shiou Ming, Thank You.

The below cover sent by Mr.Joel of Malaysia, This year (2015) Singapore celebrates its 50th Year of Independence.  SG 50 is the Special cancellation for that occasion.  The special Exhibition cancellation is on a Kingfisher stamp, since it is on the dark background it is not so visible on the scan. Thanks a lot Joel.

Circular Stamps : New Zealand

ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 was hosted by New Zealand and Australia.  14 teams participated in a month long tournament with 49 matches during the month of February and March.  In this 50 Overs match Australia played against New Zealand in the finals and Australia won by 7 Wickets.

For this spectacular event New Zealand post issued a Miniature sheet on 5th of February, 2015, consists of 14 round shaped (Ball shaped) self adhesive stamps, one for each team that participated in the 2015 World Cup.