Cover from France no. 15

Here's a beautiful cover from 2009 (postmarked on 18 April in Lyon) that I forgot to show at that time, with the complete French souvenir sheet with two lovely engraved stamps, issued as part of the "Preserve the Polar Regions and Glaciers" project in 2009. Thank you, Eric, also for the careful cancellation!

Postcard from Serbia no. 5

Here's a nice night-view postcard showing the New Palace in Beograde, Serbia, the former royal residence, now the residence of the Serbian president. The first of the three 22 dinar stamps is a definitive with a decorative ring from the 18th century, the second in row is a Herrerasaurus ischigualastensis, an Argentinian dinosaur in Beograde, presumably visiting at an exhibition (2009), and the red car stamp commemorated the 55th anniversary of Zastava/Fiat in 2010.

Thank you, Ana:)

Cover from Italy no. 25

Here's another excellent cover from Giovanni, with a stamp from 2010, from the classical Italian series "Tourism", showing the town of Viggiano in the province of Potenza in southern Italy.

The stamp was cancelled in Pulsano (Taranto) with a special postmark commemorating a feast of the Madonna of Lourdes held on 11 February 2011.

Grazie, Giovanni!!

Cover from Portugal no. 7

A nice cover from Portugal, sent from Loures, near Lisbon in 2009. The 67 eurocent stamp shows an olive oil press (o lagar) from a series of stamps celebrating olive oil (issued on 7 October 2008), the bird definitive is from 2003.

Thank you, Nuno!

Postcard from Aland no. 3

A gorgeous postcard sent from the municipality of Saltvik in the Åland archipelago, Finland, with a fairy-tale snow-covered windmill and a trio of lovely stamps, including a chanterelle, the mushroom featured also on the previous cover from Spain - this Åland one was issued in 2003 along with two other mushrooms. Next to the chanterelle there is a stoat (hermine) from a 2004 series dedicated to animals, and a windmill in Soderby, municipality of Lemland in Åland, on another splendid stamp from the series depicting Åland landscapes and nature (2006).

Thank you, Liisa!!!

Cover from Spain no. 9

This is a lovely airmail cover in the best tradition, sent from Barcelona, Spain, with a complete set of two mycology stamps which were issued on 16 October 2009 in 320,000 copies. The left-hand mushroom is Boletus pinophilus (pine bolete), in Czech hřib borový (yum!), the right-hand one is Cantharellus cibarius (chanterelle), in Czech liška (= fox). Both also very popular and widely used and eaten here.

Muchas gracias, David!!

Postcard from Slovenia no. 3

View Larger Map



When we were returning from our holiday in Croatia this June, we spent a few hours in and around the Predjama Castle in Slovenia. A really impressive building set against a huge rock cavity, part castle, part rock hideout, it's a great place to visit especially since one is free to roam the premises and does not have to follow a guide. At the entrance, in a souvenir shop, we bough a few cards and a few copies of the only stamp available which, as I only later learned, is custom made/personalised and sold only at the castle and at the Postojnska Jama Cave some ten kilometers away (the castle and the cave are connected by an underground passage and also as tourist attractions). The C-rate personalised stamp was issued in 2008 to commemorate the 190th anniversary of the factual discovery of the cave system at Postojna.

We had also a great lunch at a medieval restaurant there with typical Slovenian dishes, and left a baby sweater lying on a bench there:)

Cover from the USA no. 7

A very nice cover received last year from Illinois, USA featuring two 44c stamps of the Cowboys of the Silver Screen series issued on 17 April 2010. The film stars here are Gene Autry and Williams S. Hart... plus a 10c definitive. Thank you so much, Bob!

Cover from Ukraine no. 3

Another colourful cover from Ukraine, sent on 21 November 2009 from Kyiv; and the very first, 80k, stamp is connected to the Ukranian capital city, as it is part of a series called "Kyiv Through Artists' Eyes" (2005). The most conspicuous stamp of all here is the woman with the traditional Ukrainian hat, from a series of 12 stamps showing various examples of ornamental head-dresses (2006). The rest of the postage is made up by two current definitives of a jug and a tile, all of it on the first day cover which accompanied a souvenir sheet dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Kiyv zoo (2009). Thank you Ksenia!

Postcard from Pitcairn Islands

Here's a splendid greeting from Pitcairn Island, the only populated island of the four isles comprising the Pitcairn archipelago in the Pacific Ocean, a British Overseas Territory. The picture shows the local school and a set of shell stamps from 2001.

The NZD 1.80 stamp shows HMS Monmouth from a set of 6 stamps dedicated to the Royal Navy Vessels (2nd series, issued on 9 December 2010), ships that visited Pitcairn and contributed to improving the life of resident Pitcairners, e.g. providing medical services and judicial duties.

Thank you so much, Giovanni!!!

Cover from Bulgaria no. 6

It's not very frequent that Czech people draw attention of foreign postal administrations, but here is an example from Bulgaria that it does happen:)

Here is a cover with the right-hand part of a souvenir sheet featuring works and a portrait of Alphonse Mucha. Mucha was born here in Moravia in 1860 and became famous especially in France due to his distinctive style of Art Nouveau painting and graphic design, and he also designed stamps, and his works also appeared on them, like, for example, here (2010 self adhesive stamps with the overseas rate)


The Bulgarian sheet was issued on 23 July 2010 (the year of the 150th anniversary of Mucha's birth), in 20,000 copies, and the 1 leva stamp on the cover above bears the postmark of Sofia, 21 September 2010.

Thank you, Lilia:)

Postcard from Slovakia no. 7

View Larger Map



Here's a postcard we sent ourselves from a visit to the town of Medzilaborce (pop. approx. 6,600) in northeastern Slovakia, one of its most remote and undiscovered regions. Medzilaborce is now famous for its museum of Andy Warhol whose parents came from the vicinity of the town. There is also a Jewish cemetery and a large white Orthodox Church.

The stamp from 2008 shows a portrait of Slovak poetess Masa Halamova. The T1 100g denomination has been used in the period when Slovakia was leaving its koruna and accepting euro. Now almost all of the new stamps bear only euro denomination.

The 1 koruna definitives are from 1993, part of the long series showing the coats of arms of Slovak towns.

And talking of Andy Warhol I found in my collection of postcards this night skyline view of Corpus Christi in Texas, with the Andy Warhol stamp from 2002, along with a sad-looking dog on a neuter spay stamp from the same year, what a crazy combination of looks...

Postcard from South Korea

This is a nice postcard I received from South Korea in 2010, showing a painting on silk of dogs and peonies from Gaheo Museum. The long stamp is taken from a sheet of four stamps dedicated to Old and Historic Korean trees, second series, issued on 5 April 2010, and the small definitive stamp from 2006 shows a poison bulb (Crinum asiaticum). The machine postmark is illegible.

Postcard from Italy no. 6

Here's a great postcard with the higher value Italy's Europa 2011 stamp, postmarked in Pisa on 23 August 2011, showing a marble quarry in the Alpi Apuane Mountai Range in Tuscany...






As always, my sincerest thanks go to, Giovanni from Milano:)

Cover from Italy no. 24

After the Spanish Europa stamp here are its Italian cousins, on a cover with the set of two stamps issued on 9 April 2011, with no less than four first-day-of-issue cancellations from Roma Filatelico. Grazie mille, Giovanni!!!

Cover from Spain no. 8

Here is a nice cover received from José Luis in Carballo, Galicia, Spain, showing an autumnal view of a beechwood in the province of Segovia (el Hayedo de la Pedrosa). The stamp was issued on 4 April 2011 as part of the Europa stamp project and bears the new logo. Muchísimas gracias, José Luis!