Cover from Lithuania no. 1

A cover received in July 2010 from the historic town of Trakai near Vilnius. The great stamp, issued on 3 July 2010, commemorates the 600 anniversary of the Battle of Žalgiris, one of the most important historical events of Lithuania and one of the largest battles, which took place in the Medieval Europe. It took place on 15 July 1410 between the Teutonic Order and the joint forces of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland led by the King of Poland Jogaila and the Grad Duke of Lithuania Vytautas. In the history of Poland, the Battle of Žalgiris is known as the Battle of Grunwald and in Germany and other Western countries it is known as the Battle of Tannenberg (info courtesy of the Lithuanian Post). Print-run: 300,000.

Thank you, Yuri!

Postcard of the Big Cypress Swamp in Florida, USA

Zvětšit mapu


A postcard showing the Big Cypress Swamp in the Everglades National Park in southern Florida, one of the US UNESCO World Heritage Sites, consisting of subtropical wetlands designated as one of only three wetland areas of global importance.

The two first class (44c) stamps are taken from a set of ten stamps with homeless pets photographed for a project called Animal Rescue issued on 30 April 2010. Another one is here.
Thank you, Erin!

Cover from Italy no. 9

Another surprise from Giovanni! This year's Inter Milan stamp PLUS a special postmark used in Florence on 13 June 2010, commemorating 2nd Grassroots Football Festival on the youth level which stresses the importance of having a large base of footballers on the community level. Of note is also the new small Italian self-adhesive definitive of 5 eurocent.

Grazie, Giovanni, come sempre:)

Postcard from Australia no. 2

Zvětšit mapu




A fantastic postcard received today from Western Australia, showing three views from around Cape Naturaliste near Dunsborough: Sugarloaf Rock, the lighthouse and a beautiful sunset. The lovely pictures are accompanied by equally lovely stamps, hand cancelled at Perth Mail Centre on 30 August 2010. The stamp on the left shows The Indian Pacific train from a series called Great Australian Railway Journeys issued on 7 May 2010, the stamp in the middle was issued on 6 April 2010 on the occasion of Queen Elizabeth's birthday, and the self-adhesive stamp on the right is part of a series from 25 May 2010 dedicated to Australian World Heritage Sites and shows Purnululu National Park. The other stamps present Kakadu National Park, Gondwana Rainforests, and Tasmanian Wilderness.

Interestingly, the withdrawal from sale for these stamps is set for 30 November 2010, apparently an Australian specialty.

Thank you Heather, for this perfect card:)

Cover from Ukraine no. 2

Another nice cover received in July from Irina in Kyiv... with two pretty train stamps issued on 22 September 2009 in the ongoing series "Locomotive Engineering in Ukraine", showing engines of the series 2TE 121 and VP 41, both with the nominal value of 1.50 hryvnia; the other two stamps from this 4-part series shown below. There is also a portrait stamp of the Pope John Paul II, issued on 15 June 2001 in commemoration of his visit to Ukraine on 23 - 27 June 2001, 3 hryvnia. The pictorial envelope commemorates the painter ("maljuvalnitsja" - I hope I read and translate the Cyrillic correctly:) Yavdokha Poshivaylo (1910 - 1994).

Postcard from Tuvalu

Zvětšit mapu



The other day I was lucky to receive this nice postcard from the remote Tuvalu in the Pacific Ocean showing Funafala Lagoon in Funafuti, as part of a project organised on the occasion of Earth Day called "Send Tuvalu to the world", consisting in sending 422 postcards to all over the world sharing thoughts of local students about Tuvalu. A special stamp was made for this purpose, with the text "40th Anniversary Earth Day" (which fell on 22 April 2010). More about this interesting environmental issue is here.

Cover from Finland no. 7

Two colourful and cheerful 0.80 euro stamps on this great cover from Finland, sent from the town of Mikkeli on 4 May 2010, the very day these stamps were issued, in the EUROPA project, this year with children's books as the main theme. The fantastic illustrations are by Leena Lumme. Thank you, Liisa:)

New Czech stamps - May 2010 - II.

Here's a continuation of the presentation of new Czech stamps. Let's go back to May where I left off... before these two self adhesive stamps were issued on 26 May, both in booklets of six, as part of the new strategy of the Czech post to produce stamps in new, attractive, ease-to-handle formats. And I love these stamps! They show the famous works by Alfons Mucha, Czech painter and graphic designer, Gismonda - originally a poster for a Sarah Bernhard theatre production (E type = Europe rate), and the Zodiac (Z type - Zámoří = Overseas rate). Europe rate is now 17 Kč (20 Kč from 1 September 2001), Overseas rate is 18 Kč, and from tomorrow 1 September 2010 it goes up to 21 Kč.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Always on 26 May the Czech Post issued this 10 Kč stamp in the For Children series, showing an elf by Helena Zmatlíková (1923 - 2005), a leading Czech illustrator of children's books with a very distinctive style, known to everyone here also due to her television work.

Cover from Italy no. 8

Zvětšit mapu

And another greeting from Giovanni, this time from Umbria, from the town of Foligno, where the knight historical ring jousting tournament Giostra della Quintana has been held annually since 1946. This event has been commemorated in 2010 by a special postmark, used here together with a stamp of the Roman Odeon in Patras (Greece) taken from the booklet issued on 25 October 2009 on the occasion of "The Day of Europe" (Giornata dell'Europa). Grazie, Giovanni:)

Postcard from Italy no. 5

Hello again! After a summer pause, I am back...

... with this splendid postcard and stamp celebrating the victory of Inter Milan in the Serie A 2009-2010, issued on 24 June 2010. There are two special postmarks: the first "Giorno di emissione" (first day of issue) with a footballer reflecting the footballer in the stamp and the other one, cancelling definitives, of a philatelic counter in Milan. Thank you, Giovanni, for this great souvenir!