Cover from Spain no. 5

A fantastic cover received a few days ago from Carballo, Galicia, Spain, with three brand new Spanish stamps. The 0.34 eurocent stamps (issued on 20 April 2010 in 320,000 copies) shows Carlos María de Castro (1810 - 1893), Spanish architect and urbanist, responsible for planning the regulated expansion of the city of Madrid in the 19th century. The stamp has a map of this expansion (ensanche) in its background.

The two nice photographic stamps with the nominal value of 0.45 eurocent, issued on 15 April 2010, feature important sights of the towns in Baeza (Palacio de Jabalquinto) and Úbeda (Casa de las Torres), in the province of Jaén, Andalusia. Both were inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2003 thanks to the many well-preserved examples of Italian Renaissance architecture in Spain.

Gracias, José-Luis!

Cover from French Polynesia

A lovely cover received this week from Pirae, Tahiti, French Polynesia, sent on 8 June 2010. The blue stamp (Megaptera novaeangliae) is part of a series dedicated to marine life, issued on 10 January 2008 in 200,000 copies, the self-adhesive no-nominal-value definite is a mystery to me, since I could not find any info about it:) The postmarks are great, classic French school!

Thank you, Magali!

Postcard from Chropyne, Czech Republic

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A postcard I sent home from a trip with our daughter to a nearby town of Chropyne (5,200 inhabitants, 10 km from Kromeriz) famous for its hunting chateau and a protected pond with the largest colony of black-headed gulls in the Czech Republic (the noise was awesome!).
The coat of arms of the town features an otter holding a fish, another reminder of the watery, swampy, flatland character of our region.
The stamp I used is the most common definitive available (together with a 10 Kč rose) with the portrait of the Czech president Václav Klaus (known for his unenthusiastic approach to the EU). The stamp was issued on 2 April 2008. Interestingly, even if I dropped the card to a post-box in Chropyne, it was machine cancelled here in Kroměříž, and what is even more interesting, mail dropped in the post boxes in Kroměříž receives machine cancellation in Olomouc, 40 km away. Crazy! I try to avoid post boxes whenever possible, especially if the cancellation is so unappetizing, uninspired, almost aggresive...

Postcard from Peru

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A postcard from Peru, showing the historic centre of the city of Arequipa (Arequipa Region), in the Andes in the south of the country. In the picture there is the Plaza de Arms and the cathedral, overshadowed by the "El Misti" volcano. The historic centre of Arequipa is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The single stamp of 5.50 Peruvian nuevos soles, postmarked on 26 May 2010 in Arequipa, is taken from a sheet of four stamps issued in 2007 (even if the stamp bears the year 2006) dedicated to viceregal architecture. The viceregal period (periodo virreinal) lasted from 1542 to 1824 when Peru was part of the Spanish empire.

Thank you, Teresa!

Cover from Italy no. 7

I am back after a hectic week or so, with another fantastic registered cover from Giovanni! With the set of two engraved stamps issued on 31 October 2008, in a series dedicated to the Italian UNESCO protected sites... in this case, it is Val d'Orcia (0.60 euro), Tuscan landscape modified in Renaissance times to reflect the ideals of good governance and celebrated by many painters of that period, and the historic centre of Urbino (2.80 euro) in the Marche region, a walled city, another Renaissance place of independent culture and education. I find this light blue Urbino stamp magnificent!

Grazie, Giovanni:-)

Cover from Hong Kong

A lovely greeting from Hong Kong sent by Brian on 27 April 2010, the date of the issue of a 4-stamp set dedicated to Hong Kong's participation in Expo 2010 in Shanghai, China (of which set I can't find a reasonably large photo). The postage is complemented by a 10c bird definitive from 2006 (White-bellied sea eagle).

Thank you very much, Brian, for the stamps and sending the cover on the date of issue!

Cover from Aland no. 5

A very nice EUROPA stamp from Aland, with an illustration from a book about the Sand Wolf by Asa Lind, Swedish-born author living in the Aland archipelago. The stamp was issued on 19 April and the EUROPA rate shown on it is now 0.85 euro. Print run: 180,000. Thank you, Liisa, again:-)

Cover from Latvia no. 5

Another fine cover from Oleg in Riga, Latvia! This time I have here a self-adhesive square stamp of a protected nature object called "Vaiku Dižakmens", issued on 7 June 2008; another stamp from a great quartet of stamps issued on 7 January 2006 and dedicated to the 50th anniversary of EUROPA stamps in Europe, reprinting the Latvian stamps from 1999 (the theme then was nature reserves and parks), and an impressive bird (raven?) coat of arms of the town of Preili, one of the oldest settlements in Latvia. This stamp was issued for the first time in 1996, and here is a reprint issued on 15 February 2010. Great! Thank you, Oleg!

Postcard of the Maine State Capitol

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Another great card from Dulcey from New Hampshire, USA, postmarked on 11 May 2010 at Manchester, NH, showing the capitol building in Augusta, Maine.

I am also very happy to have received another flag from the great US series Flags of Our Nation, this time Nevada from the 4th set issued on 16 April 2010. The other first class (44c) stamp is taken from a set of ten stamps with homeless pets photographed for a project called Animal Rescue aimed to raise awareness of the need to adopt shelter pets, issued on 30 April 2010. The rest of the postage has been covered by the American clock definitive (2003). Thank you, Dulcey!

My collection of US capitols is here.

Cover from Spain no. 4

Received this week from Carballo in Galicia, the children's book EUROPA stamp from Spain, one of the few using photography. Due to the red colour the stamp is pretty striking and original, not bad at all! It was issued on 6 May 2010 in 320,000 copies. Thank you, José Luís! The Czech stamp is on its way to you.