Belarus Azerbaijan Joint issue

On December 3rd 2015 Belarus and Azerbaijan jointly issued a stamp on "Space for IT - Technologies".  The miniature sheet contains 2 oval shaped stamps and they used the technology of Thermal stamping by metalized foil of silver colour. 

One stamp depicts Azerbaijan's telecommunications satellite "Azerspace1" and the other depicts the Space Craft of Belarus "DZZ".  I got this Miniature sheet from Karina Borisevich of Belarus for our swap. Unfortunately, the letters printed with silver colour are looking black in the scan :-(.

Thanks a lot Karina it is a nice addition to both "Flights of Fancy" and "Odd and Unique stamps" themes. 

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.

Austria - Slovenia Joint issue - Postojna Cave

Thanks to Gudrun Lambert of Austria, who has sent me a Joint issue MS of Austria - Slovenia on cover. Another great addition to my joint issue collection and with your cover my Postojna cave joint issue is complete. 

Earlier in July, I got the Slovenia - Austria issue from Mateja, Slovenia.  You can see the brief write-up about the Postojna cave at:

http://philateli.blogspot.in/2015/07/slovenia-austria-joint-issue-postojna.html

Slovenia - Austria Joint issue - Postojna Cave

Thanks to Mateja for sending this lovely stamp on cover. Another great addition from my want list. I am looking for Austrian side issue. If any of you ready to trade Please contact me through snail mail.

Postojna Cave is located in Western Slovenia and it is a network of 20 Kilometers of Passages, Galleries, Chambers and of course, a Post office. It is the largest cave in the "Classic Karst". Karst means landscape formed by the dissolution of a layers of soluble bedrock, such as limestone or dolomite. This cave was first discovered in the 17th century and opened to the public in 1819.  

The cave management asked Austria to open a post office inside the cave.  In 1899 August 15th, Austria finally opened the first underground cave post office in the world, near Kongresna Dvorana 500m inside the cave from the entrance. Until 1911 the post office was operated only on special occasions. Even during WWI the underground post office stayed open and continued to operate till 1927.

After the Annexation of this cave to Italy, in May 1927  Italy replaced this stone post office with a new building 1.4 Km away from the entrance.

In the last 196 years, more than 3.5 crore people visited the cave and the Cave Post Office.  It  is the most visited cave in Europe. 

At first the mails carried the special cancellation "Adelsberger Grotte - Postojnska Jama" and after it came under the Italian authorities it carried "Postumia (Grotte)" special cancellation. 

Even though the cave is in Slovenia, Austria Post opened the First under ground cave post office. So no wonder that Slovenia and Austria joint hands to issue the Joint MS on this historical Postojna Cave on 6th April, 2013.

In 1872, railway lines were laid in the cave and railway cars were pushed by the cave guides. Then they used gas locomotive to carry the tourists. In 1884, electricity connections arrived. Today, tourists take the electric train.

The cave was used for many purposes.  It was used as a storage room, a hideout, a bunker, and of course a concert Hall.  During World War II Germans used this cave as a fuel depot.  Since the Italians took all the maps of the cave, the Germans with limited knowledge about the cave were not aware of the back side entrance and they didn't guard it. The partisans took this opportunity to enter the cave through Crna Jama and used the artificial tunnel dug by the Italians to enter the cave from behind and set the fuel alight.  The fire took seven days to die out and it destroyed a huge part of the cave.  After the war, the cave became part of Yugoslavia and remained so until Slovenia gained independence in 1991, making it officially a part of Slovenia.

                             

India's First Miniature Sheet with QR code

In 2015 India Post issued its first Miniature sheet with QR code . This India - France joint issue M/S with a QR code describes how the satellite Megha-Tropiques (2011), Saral-Altika (2013) were launched through the joint efforts of both countries.

If you scan the QR(Quick Response) code you will get the below text message.

"India and France have cooperated in space exploration for fifty years now. The Cooperation is best illustrated by two missions that were developed and operated in partnership: a tropical atmosphere observation satellite, Megha-Tropiques, launched in 2011, and Saral- Altika, an oceanography and localization satellite, launched in 2013. These missions aim to observe climatic phenomena in order to understand the mechanisms and anticipate their consequences on a planetary level."

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.