Postcard from Ireland

On 6 March 2009, thanks to Stefania, I received a truly great Irish postcard with a truly Irish stamp:-) The views are of the coastal town of Malahide in County Dublin and of Castle Malahide.

The stamp of 82 eurocent shows Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, and was issued on 19 February 2009 with a print-run of 244,000 copies. It is based on a painting entitled St. Patrick Climbs Croagh Patrick by Margaret Clarke.

Grazie:-)

Goblin covers from the Netherlands

On 5 November 2008, 8 and 9 January 2009 I received a trio of Dutch letters with three different stamps from a very nice series of "Nederlanse Kabouters" (Dutch Goblins), issued by the TNT post on 1 October 2008. The stamps are highly stylised and modern looking, but still very charming:-)

Postcard from Thailand

5 different tuk tuks (a motorized version of the traditional rickshaw) on this nice postcard sent from Thailand in 2008.

The 15 baht stamp shows a sunsent over Ko Chang, Elephant Island, the second largest island in Thailand. There are nine more stamps in this Photos of Thailand series issued in 2008; pity that they are so small because the size does not do justice to the view. Thank you, Ratinan:-)

EUROPA cover from Finland no. 2

This is another fine cover from a long series I received from Liisa from Mikkeli, featuring Finnish Europa stamps of recent years. This letter, sent on 21 November 2008 and received on 25 November 2008, bears on the envelope the Europa 1993 stamp of 2 mk with an artwork by the Finnish sculptor Martti Aiha (1952-) (theme: contemporary art), and 2.10 mk stamp from 1991 showing a green map of Europe and human figures walking one way and astronauts the other way (theme: European aerospace). The rest of the postage is covered by a self-adhesive definitive from 2002 with a lily of the valley (one of 5 values issued that year).

Postcard from Lithuania no. 3

A nice view from the northwest of Lithuania. Šventoji is a popular resort town belonging to Palanga town and has a status of neighbourhood. It has approximately 2,000 inhabitants. In the northern part of the town, between the seaside dunes, wooden ritual poles can be seen, forming a pagan Lithuanian temple and paleoastronomic observatory, re-established in 1998. "The poles created by folk artists represent ancient gods of the Balts such as Perkūnas, Aušrinė, Žemyna, Austėja, Patrimpas, Patulas, Velinas, Leda as well as the Sun and the Moon."

The icy 2.45 lt Christmas stamp was issued on 8 November 2008 in 350,000 copies. The card was on 25/2/2009 and arrived on 2/3/2009. Thank you, Egli!

Postcard from India no. 4

Another UNESCO postcard from India, sent by Abhishek from New Delhi, received on 3 February 2009. Thank you!

It shows the tomb of Salim Chisti in Fatehpur Sikri, the state of Uttar Pradesh. A masterpiece of Muslim architecture, the city is unique in India as a nearly intact Mughal city.

The large beautiful Rs.5 stamp was issued on 2 May 2007 along with 5 others is a series dedicated to 2550 years of mahaparinirvana of the Buddha (the final nirvana attained at death of the physical body). About the Rs.10 tiger stamp I wrote here.

Cover from Spain

A cover with two stamps sent from Donostia (San Sebastián) in the Basque Country on 25 February 2009 and received 2 days later.

The larger 57 eurocent self-adhesive stamp was issued on 17 May 2006 in the Sciences series and commemorates the XXV International Congress of Mathematicians held in Madrid in 2006. In the bottom part there is a sequence of ancient Arabic numerals from the Vigilantus Codex kept at the El Escorial monastery in Spain, considered one of the oldest records of these numerals.

The violet self-adhesive stamp was issued on 2 April 2007 in the Nature series, along with a canary.

Thank you, Olaia!

Postcard from Luxembourg

A lovely view of Vianden and its castle and lake, a rural area in the north of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Vianden is the seat of the eponymous canton and home to 1,500 inhabitants.

The 20 eurocent stamp was issued on 1 October 2001 in commemoration of the introduction of the eurocurrency in 1999. The other "A" (50 eurocent) stamp is part of an interesting geology series issued on 27 September 2005 under the name The Colours of Luxembourg, which shows various types of stones and minerals to be found in Luxembourg and which make up its character. This stamp shows "minerai de fer".

The card was sent on 27 February 2009 and arrived on 2 March. The automatic postmark commemorates the International Childhood Cancer Day.

Thank you, Giada!

Cover from Croatia no. 4

Another nice cover from Croatia, this time from Dragan. Thank you! It was sent on 26 January 2009 and received on 2 February 2009.

The postage is here covered by 5 stamps. The 2.30 kuna photo stamp shows a view of the centre of Koprivnica in the north of Croatia and was issued on 30 October 2007, in 2 milion copies, as part of a series of stamps dedicated to various Croatian towns. The trio of the great 1 kuna stamps is part of the Croatian Etnographic Heritage series issued on 30 September 2009 in 200,000 copies and presents a traditional textile fabric from northern Dalmatia (Ravni Kotari). The stamp with the coupon commemorates the 20th Anniversary of the Healthy Cities Movemement, begun in 1998 in Zagreb. The coupon has four interesting logos/emblems, which are the World Health Organisation Europe, International Healthy Cities Conference 15-18/10/2008 held in Zagreb, a symbol of the Healthy City Zagreb, and the coat of arm of this city.

Frankenstein's Curse from Wales

Along with this splendid view of the City Hall in Cardiff Steph sent me, on 24 February 2009, an unexpected continuation of the series of the "Carry On" and "Hammer Horror" films on stamps, begun in my previous post about Dracula's letter from Great Britain. Now it is Frankenstein's turn, again in a movie starring Peter Cushing, and directed by Terence Fisher in 1957. "No-one Who Saw It Lived to Describe It!"