Santa Claus cover from Finland no. 3

And Santa Claus remembered us again, as can be seen on this gorgeous cover sent from Santa's Office in Napapiiri:) Via Giovanni. Grazie mille!!!

Cover from Aland no. 6

A lovely Christmas greeting from Mariehamn in the Aland Archipelago, with a special postmark from 14/15/2012. Thank you, Liisa!

And all the best in 2013!!! Best wishes for everyone reading this blog. Thank you all:)

Czech cover no. 7

This is a cover of a small registered packet sent in November 2011 from Brno 12 Post Office to Kromeriz. The delivery cost 64 CZK (approx. EUR 2.5) for a 660 gram shoebox. The first stamp on the right shows Alois Musil, Czech traveller, from a series of stamps dedicated to explorers, the 3 CZK stamps is a Christmas stamp from 1995, the 10 CZK is a Baroque stove from 2008 (located in Castle Sternberk), and on the left there's a quartet of Christmas stamps issued in 2007 with a painting by Josef Lada.

Postcard from Spain no. 4

A nice postcard showing the major sights of Madrid, sent from Ciudad Real on 22 December 2010.

The 0.64 euro Christmas stamp was issued on 3 November 2010, and is a painting by J. Carrero, a variation on Christmas themes.

Gracias Aurora!

Cover from Latvia no. 9

An adorable rabbit cover received at the end of January from Helena:) Quite surprisingly, the Latvian post joined the many, mainly Asian, postal authorities, to issue a stamp to greet the year of the rabbit, with a cute photo of a "trusis" with cabbage. The same animal is also depicted on the special cover issued as an accompaniment to the stamp. The rest of the postage is covered by the also supercute Christmas stamps from 2004, with more rabbits:)



The cover contained also an interesting postcard showing a piece of a facade in Riga, made in the Art Nouveau style, called also "Mucha style", after the famous Czech artist Alfons Mucha. What a great connection between the two countries!

Thank you so much, Helena, this is just fantastic!!

Cover from Austria no. 6

A lovely Christmas greeting from Florian in Austria, with a special postmark (Sonderstempel) from Christkindl dated 30 December 2010. The cover has another postmark too, from the previous day, from the post office of Ilz (8262) in Styria. The Christmas stamp, which is connected with the Cistercian abbey in Rein also in Styria, was issued on 19/11/2010 in 4,000,000 copies. Apart from that, the Austrian post issued two more Advent/Christmas stamps, one of them self-adhesive.

Danke schon, Florian!!

Postcard from Chile

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A lovely postcard received a few days ago from Santiago de Chile showing Bellavista Hill in Valparaíso, in central Chile, one of the its most important seaports and the seat of the National Congress of Chile. Since 2003 the Historic Quarter of Valparaíso has been on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.

The postage of 310 pesos is covered by a 290 pesos Christmas stamp (issued on 26 November 2010) and a se-tenant duo of definitive stamps from 2008 showing typical Chilean characters, organillero (organ-grinder) and palomita (not sure about this one, heh, maybe popcorn vendor?, my dictionary does not help me:)).

The print-run of the Christmas stamp was 50,000. Out of curiosity, I checked the print-run of the last year's Czech Christmas stamp, which was... 15 million pieces! Mind-boggling difference, especially since the population of Chile is 17 million, and of Czech Rep. 10 million. The explication might be the tradition of sending greeting cards which is very strong here, but still...

Thank you, Hernán, for this beauty!!

Cover from Italy no. 17

Received from Giovanni at the end of 2010, with many wishes for 2011. The playful 0.65 eurocent stamp, issued on 29 October 2010, shows a toy train in a winter landscape, and there was another stamp in this Christmas series, with the painting called Adarazione dei Magi by Sandro Botticelli. Giovanni, grazie! E tanti auguri a Te!! In gamba!

Cover from Bulgaria no. 5

Christmas stamps were used also on this nice cover sent from Sofia, Bulgaria, two years ago. Bulgaria, just as the Czech Republic, issues only one Christmas stamp, so here are two of them, with traditional religious themes, to reach the necessary postage. The left-hand stamp was issued on 30 November 2005, the right-hand one on 21 November 2008, and is accompanied by the first day of issue postmark. Interestingly, the Bulgarian word for Christmas "koleda" means "carol" in Czech (Christmas in Czech is Vánoce)...

Thank you, Lilia:)

Cover from Estonia no. 5

Received today, another pretty Christmas stamp:)... This time from Jarvakandi in Estonia, issued on 25 November 2010 (print-run 400,000). There is also another stamp for domestic use. Thank you, Cindi!

Postcard from Great Britain no. 6

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A nice postcard received a few days ago from souther Wales, showing the the promenade and the bay of the town of Porthcawl in the county borough of Bridgend, not far from Cardiff. Porthcawl is a holiday resort.

The 60p stamp has a picture of Wallace and Gromit at Christmas, from the well-known British TV series. On 2 November 2010 the Royal Mail issued the total of seven Christmas stamps with these characters. Such a pity that these beautiful self-adhesive stamps are so small!

Thank you, Claire!!

Santa Claus cover from Finland

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Received today from Santa Claus Main Post Office in Napapiiri, Arctic Circle, Finland:)

A really beautiful large cover with two seasonal stamps. The Santa Claus 0.55 euro stamp is part of the Finland's Christmas issue (together with Santa's deer), the 1 class landscape stamp is independent, even if issued on the same day (5 November 2010), and offers a view of the magical Lapland countryside complete with Santa Claus and his sledge.

This lovely envelope is a surprise, but there is a slight indication of whom if might have come from, so thank you very much, G.:)

Postcard from Poland

A nice postcard received yesterday from Szczecin (Štětín in Czech) in northwestern Poland, the capital of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, with a view of the breathtaking castle of the Pomeranian Dukes who ruled the Duchy of Pomerania from 1121 to 1637. The 2.40 zloty Christmas stamp was issued on 27 November 2010 together with another stamp for local use. Yes, Christmas time is coming:)

Postcard from Jamaica

Zvětšit mapu

Received at the end of 2009. A postcard showing Fort Charlotte at Lucea in Hanover parish in northwestern tip of the island. The fort was built in 1761 for the defence of the Lucea which, at that time, was in danger of attack by French raiders.

The JMD 50 stamp was issued in 2009 and is part of the Christmas series showing native art. 50 Jamaican dollars are 0.41 EUR.

Christmas greetings from the Czech Republic

A typical Czech Christmas postcard reproducing a paiting by Josef Lada (1887-1957), one of the most popular local artists who somehow managed to capture the atmosphere of idealised Czech winter landscapes.

This postcard I sent to ourselves in an experiment involving also a few readers of this blog. I sent a packet full of covers and postcards to the post-office at Boží Dar (God's Gift) near Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad) where the Czech Ježíšek (Christkindl, Babbo Natale) receives his mail. This is the result; the card with special cancellation which is in use there from 1 to 23 December 2009.

Cover from the Czech Republic no. 2

On 1 December 2009 when a planning a trip to Brno I had a look at the website of the Czech Post if there were any special cancellations to be had en route. I didn't expect anything, but was lucky. In Tuřany, which is one of Brno's districts, they celebrate the 150th anniversary of opening the local post-office. So I made a detour and had a couple of hastily prepared mail items postmarked with the special cancellation with the text "150 let pošty Brno 20 - Tuřany" (which means "150 years of the post-office Brno 20 - Tuřany") and the coat of arms of the district. On the empty cover sent to myself I used the current 10 Kč Christmas stamp. The cancellation is in use between 1 - 31 December 2009.

Postcard from Austria no. 1

A postcard we sent to ourselves from a trip to Vienna to see the city centre and the pre-Advent Market beneath the spires of the Rathaus. As usual, I found a minute to send back home a card, but had to hunt for a stamp because the newsagents in the city don't sell any. Invariably, I was sent to the post-office... which I luckily found, but as it was Saturday afternoon, the big philatelic counter was closed. Finally, I managed to buy a Christmas stamp, issued on 9 November 2007 and showing an icon from St. Barbara Church in the centre of Vienna, in fact a stone's throw from the central post-office. I dropped the card in an ordinary post-box in a street near Hundertwasser houses, and am surprised that it did not receive any automatic treatment and was cancelled by hand (if I did this here in the Czech Rep., the stamp would be "killed" by ugly black wavy lines of automatic cancellation). Apart from all this, I am really looking for further visits, Vienna definitely has its charms:-)

New Czech stamps - November 2009

New stamps issued on 4 November 2009, the last set of stamps to be issued this year in the Czech Republic.



The 14 Kč stamp commemorates 17 November 1938 and 1989, important dates in the Czech modern history. 1939 - outburst of Nazi terror aimed against students (raids on campuses on 17/11/1939) and 1989, the beginning of the Velvet Revolution with a student demonstration commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 1939 events. Stamp printed in offset.

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Engraved Christmas stamp, with the domestic tariff for postcards and light letters, gathering the typical Christmas symbols: a fir twig, mistletoe, and a cosy cottage in a snowy countryside.

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In the series "Works of Art from the Czech Galleries" there is a 24 Kč large engraved stamp (by Miloš Ondráček) with a reproduction of painting "Canal Lock in Loret) by Alfred Sisley (1839-1899), and a 26 Kč stamp (engraved by Václav Fajt) reproducing painting "An Alley" by Czech painter Alfred Justitz (1879-1934), influenced by Cézanne and cubism. The miniature sheet with the 34 Kč stamp presents the monumental and most populat painting "Oldřich and Božena" by František Ženíšek (1849-1916), member of the generation of the Czech National Theatre and the National Museum. As usual, the stamp is engraved (Bedřich Housa), the rest of the sheet is printed in offset.