FDC of the day - Sweden: Rococo

1979 Sweden - Rococo Movment

At the beginning of the 18th century, Sweden entered an age of social freedom that is most beautifully reflected in the arts.  The stamps in this issue were designed to honor this flowering of a  new Swedish culture.  And what better way to begin than with an elegant pot-pourri pot which one held fragrant petals and herbs?  Next the portrait by Johan Henrick Scheffel presents the serenity of an ageless woman in a style so life like, you almost expect her to move or speak.  A swirled coffee pot reflects the fast moving times which introduced a brand new drink called coffee.  And finally, the bust of Carl Johan Cronstedt, designer of the first Swedish tiled stove, show not a traditional hot but a beret like cap similar to those once worn during sauna baths.

FDC of the day - Australia: Regional Wildlife

1983 Australia - Regional Wildlife

The comical Light-mantled Sooty Albatross, the stately Macquarie Island Shag, the elegant Royal Penguin, the graceful Antarctic Prion, and the massive Elephant Seal, are all natural wildlife that can be found on the remote Macquarie Island - a lonely stepping stone in the Southern Ocean, about half way between Australia and Antarctica.  Macquarie island, which is actually part of Tasmania, is considered by many naturalists to be one of the world's most remarkable wildlife sanctuaries.  In fact, since 1971, it has been a national park under the control of the Tasmanian National Parks and Wildlife Service.

FDC of the day - Botswana: Traditional Artifacts

１９８３　Botswana - Traditional Artifacts
Botswana is a landlocked African nation wedged between Rhodesia and the Republic of South Africa.  The Kalahari sands drift across the country's great plateau and are cut only by tow large rivers, the Okavango and Kuando which branch to form a mighty inland delta.  This FDC features four stamps from Botswana honoring the traditional artifacts of the tribal peoples.

The 7t stamp depicts beautifully decorated spoons whose designs are burnt into the wood.

Small segments of dried reeds are drilled and then strung on fibers to make the perosnal ornaments pictured on the 15t stamp.

The 35t stamp depicts an ox-hide milk bag known as a lekuka.  This article is still made and used today by the tribal cultures.

Decorated knives are shown on the 50t stamp.  The tribal men hung these ornate knives from a cord around their necks or from their waist.

Cover to Swap - UN One Planet

  

On 6 May 2010, the United Nations Postal Administration issued six se-tenant mini-sheets of four stamps each (for a total of 24 commemorative stamps) on the theme "One Planet, One Ocean", on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the International Oceanographic Commission (IOC).

 

Just thought this is a pretty colorful or un colorful :P undersea s/s to trade for some of your covers.  Contact me if interested.  Hehe..

Sunday Funnies V

 Dennis the Menace





LOL - Dennis can be described as "that" trouble kid every parent would have to go through because the creator of Dennis the Menance draws the same inspirations from his family and of course, his son Dennis.

This wraps up our tour of the Sunday funnies stamp tour.

Sunday Funnies IV

Garfield -------------------->>
  



Who doesn't know Garfield?  That smart but fat and lazy orange cat who walks, eats and talks like human?  Seriously, I think that Garfield's creator Jim Davis hates dogs.
 

Sunday Funnies III

Archie ------------->>









All the girls love Archie.  LOL.  It's still running in newspapers and comic books I think.  Archie is forever 17 years old and lives in Riverdale.  He's a nice kid but just has had too many crashes over attractive girls.

Sunday Funnies II

Calvin & Hobbes ------------->>

Calvin & Hobbes started its run in the newspapers in 1985. The strips are about a 6 year-old boy named Calvin, and his imaginative friend - a toy stuffed tiger which Calvin named Hobbes.

Some very interesting observations of world politics, right?

Sunday Funnies I

Oh my god, this is cute. I can't wait for it to be released.

Although I never read some of the strips when they were still running on newspapers, but the drawings are just too adorable.

Beetle Bailey ---------------------------->>

Let's have some laughs with the first stamp featuring Beetle Bailey - which is a comic strip first published in the 1950s. The story revolves around a lazy and inept private name Beetle Bailey and his superior Sergeant Snorkel.

As you can see, Beetle has to answer for everyone since he has not done a roll call for so many days!!

Tomorrow, we will have some laughs from Calvin & Hobbes.

A flowery cover from Russia

【作者: msyanwu】【2007年04月16日 星期一 10:31】

俄國花朵實寄封欣賞

Russian cover with flowers

集邮其中一个最大的乐趣就是能通过四通八达的邮政系统和世界各国的集邮爱好者交流。 最近新认识的一位俄国朋友寄来了这样一个实寄封。 对俄国的历史，人民风俗实在不太了解。 只是在历史学堂里稍微认识了一下皮特一世， 凯莎琳大帝， 列宁， 斯大林， 以及电影上的战争与和平， 施瓦够医生。 实在是贫乏。 觉得， 俄国人的信封总是色彩缤纷的， 邮戳蛮好的， 字很奇怪。 前苏联跟中国是盟友， 虽然后来闹了矛盾， 不过在中国还是有遗留下来的影响力， 好多官员都要学学俄语， 不知道现在的中国， 俄语是否还是有市场？

One of the advantages of collecting stamps is to be able to interact with collectors around the world.  Here is a cover from a Russian collector.  I really don't know much about Russia, except Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, Lenin and Stalin from my history class.  Other than this, I've watched War and Peace and Doctor Zhivago on film.  This is so meager isn't it.  :( 

Year of the Monkey - a heartache

I have written about stamps for quite a while and some of my older articles were written in Chinese. I would like to post them here from now on so they are all in one place.

【作者: msyanwu】 【2007年06月22日 星期五 02:19】

心疼

一直想拥有的８０猴子邮票又又升值了。 现在要３百多美金。 几年前或是更早以前我都可以用大大低于这个数目的价钱买到， 可惜我什么时候都觉得这个邮票被高估了， 所以一直没买。

有些人说， 只要你喜欢，就应该买下来， 不要等将来升值了你又来后悔。 也对， 可惜有些人就是没那么的萧洒， 像我。

最潇洒的一次吧， 就是用６００多大洋买下了牡丹小全。 还有一次， 还在读书的时候， 发邮疯， 用一千多大洋买下一集邮本， 里面包括了梅兰芳套票， 黄山套票。 这个投资不错。 不过在当时来讲其实是很冒险的， 因为我都还没有收入嘞。 集邮是很花银子的爱好， 而且引诱很多， 因为同样的邮票可以做出很多不同方式的邮品。 所以一定要管住自己。 有个朋友每次到邮展都给自己一个数目， 高了就要停买。 我觉得可以借鉴。

梅花－我最喜欢的邮票。 买了十几张。 赫赫， 又病了。

Prague 2008

Sorry about my prolonged absence and thus neglecting the blog. For now, I would like to share some pictures and words from the Prague 2008 International Stamp Exhibition which I've recently attended.

This is my first visit to the Czech Republic. As a collector I've always been impressed by the stamps of this country. They have exquisite designs and are beautifully engraved. I especially like the stamps that Czech Post issued in the 60s-80s.

The night before I leave I was very excited because this was my first stamp show in a foreign country. My plan was to attend the show for the first day and 1/2 a day the second day and then go on with my other plans in Prague.

9/11 Looking out the window while flying from France to Prague, I gotta say Air France was pretty good in terms of service and food.

9/11 Looking at the land of the thousand spires. Almost there!!

9/12 First day of the show. Long lines at the entry gate! Unlike stamp shows in the US, stamp shows in Europe most likely are not free. But, first time I felt lucky to be a woman because women and children could attend the show for free :) Great wasn't it. This worked for me because I didn't know I would be in and out of the exhibit later on.

9/12 This is a picture of the Industrial Palace in Prague. We were late for 2 hours the first day because we had no idea how to get there. Haha, but we made it following the tracks of the tram that goes to the palace.

9/12 The venue itself was quite big! But of course, it was a lot smaller than Washington2006. I walked into the exhibition hall and felt a little overwhelmed because it was really really crowded and we were like the only Asians there and (young) No offense here .. hehe..

This is the catalogue I bought, I forgot how much maybe 500 kr.

9/12 The exhibition ground was divided into 3 parts. The right side of the palace housed all the competitive exhibits, the middle section had all the postal offices from the world and including Czech Post. Finally, the right side of the palace were the dealers.

Will continue soon.

Here comes Micky - er, not quite

In the past I've written a lot about my personal experiences with stamp collecting. However, I haven't really shown any covers that other collectors have sent me. So, in order not to waste the beauties of these covers and to express my heartfelt thanks to these collectors, I'll put online the images of the covers I've received randomly.


This I've received from Mr. L who's a collector of music, dance and ballet. Thank you. What is special about this cover? It's the 2 Frama labels on the left side from Hong Kong! Mr. L must have bought them 12 years ago? :o No? Because the Frama label depicted a mouse with a green background that says "The year of Rat."