Yala miniature sheet

In the year 2013, Sri Lanka Post issued three miniature sheets on Yala National Park. 

Here are the Miniature sheets:

The speciality of this miniature sheets are that they are odd shaped. One shaped like a Sloth Bear, Second shaped like a Leopard and the third shaped like an elephant.  

These Miniature sheets were once again reprinted, but with the Thailand exhibition logo and was issued for the Thailand Exhibition with higher face value.

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 :

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).

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.

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.

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."