UNPA 2014 Stamp Program

Wow, finally, India will be on the World Heritage series.  

I am looking forward to it.  I am not a big fan of the coin and flag series, don't know why.  

I wonder how the International Yr. of Family Farming will come out though, think it might be photos?

我的第一次代办邮品-{联合国}6月3日日本和平钟50周年纪念

MsYanWu Jan, 28 2006 

My first assignment of making real posted FDC for the 6/3 50th Annv. of the UN Japanese Peace Bell 

在专题网上看别的邮友代办邮品看多了, 开始心痒痒 的, 也想着自己代办一些邮品. 以前单纯的收藏邮票时, 基本上跟其他世界各地的邮友是没有什么交集的, 顶多也是在邮票店里碰到, 寒喧一下. 怪不 得有人说过, 集邮是"a lonesome man's hobby". 这句话听起来有点道理, 虽然不一定赞同. 

After seeing so many of my fellow stamp collectors trying to help other collectors to get a real posted FDC, I wanted to do it myself too.  Back in the days, I was just collecting stamps, no covers and no interactions with other collectors.  At max, I would just engaged in brief conversation but nothing further.  Stamp collecting is "a lonesome man's hobby".  Well, make sense but hey no I am not by myself.  Yay. 

代办日 记：6/03 纪念封, 白封 已全部寄出!!! 代办过程还算顺利, 就是累了点, 呵呵, 因为卖邮票的柜台离盖戳的有点距离, 为了办得漂亮, 来 来回回跑了很多次.  办的4个钟头里, 碰到无数个中国同胞寄明信片回大陆.......到联合国一游. 呵呵.. 大家看到我一大堆封都很好奇的行注目礼哦!! 我 问过了, 纪念邮戳跟日戳不能同时盖.  所以要求日戳的朋友, 我都是直接把信封放进邮筒里, 收到信封的朋友请传上来看看, 我自己也没看过 噢.  纪念戳盖得非常的满意, 油墨很足, 邮局里的人盖得很仔细, 相信你们会喜欢的.  另外好消息....大家的地址都是手写..

UNPA 2011 stamps program

First UN Braille Stamp

Wow, the UN is issueing its first Braille stamp this June. Although this is not the first and certainly not the least Braille stamp issued around the world, I am pretty surprised to see it coming.

Only one stamp out of the 6 stamps set will be embossed with raised Braille characters.

The stamp will be issued by the NY office. The Braille characters spell the word "UN" and I am going to touch the words and pretend I know Braille. :-P

According to Wikipedia - Louis Braille, born  4 January 1809 in France, was the inventor of braille, a system of reading and writing used by people who are blind or visually impaired. As a small child, Braille was blinded in an accident; as a boy he developed a mastery over that blindness; and as a young man – still a student at school – he created a revolutionary form of communication that transcended blindness and transformed the lives of millions. After two centuries, the braille system remains an invaluable tool of learning and communication for the blind, and it has been adapted for languages worldwide.  

Orchids

Hum..I guess I ran out of ideas and I've been lazy so I just pulled some old covers I made "years" ago to show you. Hehe...

Orchids have a big family. There are white orchids, green orchids, purple ones, big, small and they also come in different shapes. Love their variety but they are usually not fragrant. Or at least not the ones I've seen.

The one Orchid that I always run over to see them are the ones that shape like a slipper. They look really cute and I can put a finger of mine in the little pouch. Not that it's right to do so, but I just couldn't resist..sigh..

Couldn't believe I made this 3 years ago. It was actually my first UN FDC that I made for myself at the stamp show. I got the artist and also Robert Grey, who was the UNPA cheif to sign it.

Next UN issue: 2008 Endangered Spices

The UNPA "Endangered Spices" is a very popular and my favorite stamp series from the UN. The series has been running into its 13th year and still going strong. I guess most collectors have a soft spot for these lovely and amazing creatures living around us. I wish we as human being could have contributed more to help them coexist amongst us.


This year, the stamps will be showing various animals from the sea. I am seeing Seals, corals, whales and sea horses. They are beautiful. Did you notice that all of the endangered spices stamps are actually painted by an artist?  I don’t recall seeing any photos of any sort.

And every year, they also issue a special silk cachet envelope with one stamp from each office cancelled. I usually buy a couple and have the artist signs them.

Since this series is issued in March every year and coincides with one of our semiannual stamp shows here in New Year, the UN also provides a special hand cachet.

50th Anniversary of the Space Age

On October 25th, 2007, the United Nations Postal Administration will issue six commemorative stamps in a mini-sheet format in the denominations of 41¢, 90¢, F.s. 1,00, F.s. 1,80, € 0,65 and € 1,15 on the theme “Space for Humanity—50th Anniversary of the Space Age”.

I think this is a really nice set of stamps. UN has not had a set with a space theme for a while, the last one I can think of right now had something to do with Mars? Quite a lot of countries are issuing stamps commemorating this achievement. Such as this cover from Sebastien, sorry Sebastien, I thought it was from Eric...Um..there seems to be a thousand Erics in France who collect stamps :)

Postmark is quite nice isn't it? I am preparing to mail about 10 covers with the UN stamps tomorrow to collector friends. Honestly, I am sorry to my friends because I have not had time for any philatelic activity for most of this year. I am too busy... :(

I will try to take some pictures, but..I can't guarantee because I might only have 2 hours there then I need to go back to work.

New issues from UN

Just received my new issues bulletin from the UNPA today. In the forth coming months, we'll be seeing some really nice new issues from UN. The watercolor paintings for the “Peaceful Visions" stamps are particularly inspiring and dreamy in a way.



I especially liked the postmark because it's very artistic but simple and clean. The bulletin has mentioned a show cachet, but didn't show the image. I always liked show cachets because it's like a little enhancement to the overall presentation of the cover.

So, the Peaceful Visions stamps are in June, then what's in May? Well, it's the 2nd set of stamps from the coin and flag series. Honestly, I am not a big fan of this series because there were no creativity. I thought that the UNPA can play with it since so many countries will be represented. Oh well, you can't please everyone right? Hehe...