New Europa 2012 stamps …..

 

Europa 2012 : Visit ….

Romania

Date of Issue : 6 April 2012

     

Hi

Here are some recent nice stamps on Europa 2012 theme…

Romania Post will issue two magnificent stamps on Europa 2012 theme today . The stamps are so  colorful and beautiful in design that any collector would like to have them. Another nice set on Europa 2012 theme “ Visit ” was  issued by Bulgaria Post on April 4 .

In club News read about a new book to be released soon on Crash  Mail of the Hindenburg… This is all for today….Till Next Post Have a Nice Time !!

Bulgaria

Date of Issue : 4 April 2012

View all  Europa stamps

Club News

New Book on Crash mail of the Hindenburg

 

75 years ago, on May 6, 1937, airship LZ-129 Hindenburg crashed at Lakehurst, NJ. The cause of the crash is not yet finally determined. And many questions are still unanswered in connection with the mail onboard: Of the 17,500 mail articles onboard, only 357 were officially recovered.

In April 2012, a new book is due dealing exclusively with the crash mail of the Hindenburg. And most of the open questions will be answered. The book is titled "LZ-129 Hindenburg, Zeppelin Crash Mail", author and editor is Dieter Leder. The book will be published in A4 size  and in English language. The volume will be about 300 pages with over 300 illustrations, the book is hardbound and in full color.

"Am enjoying a nice crossing". Card written by passenger Burtis Dolan.

The first two chapters are dealing with the pre-crash mail dispatch at Frankfurt Auslandsstelle (foreign section) and Luftpoststelle (airmail section). Chapter three is dealing with the operation of the onboard post office. Chapter four is dealing with the American eastbound mail dispatch. And then comes the crash....

The book will be available end of April 2012/early May 2012 .
- ZEPPELIN STUDY GROUP members will receive a 20% discount on the regular book price and the pre-sale price is only Euro 95. (This is Euro 80 for the book and Euro 15 for shipping and handling the 2 kilograms/71 ounces heavy book). The Euro 95 includes shipping and handling.

Pre-sale orders must be paid in full at the time of order. Fastest and easiest way is to pay through paypal (send funds to zpj@arcor.de ), cash is accepted as well as cheques (make them out to Dieter Leder and send them to: Dieter Leder, Seepromenade 6, 88709 Meersburg, Germany).

For more details , please email at :  zpj@arcor.de

Underwater Post Office at Bahamas

 

Underwater Post office….

- Sudhir Jain from Bahamas

Bahamas is the first country to have an underwater post office from the year 1939 to 1940. This seafloor post office was actually a submarine sphere used for filming underwater scenes. Basically meant for tourists, this seafloor post office allowed tourists to get a breathtaking view of marine sea life and send a souvenir postcard home with a special post mark “Sea Floor / Bahamas” printed on it.

Captain J.E Williamson started this underwater post office.  He was pioneer in undersea photography and also deeply involved in the production of a number of motion pictures under the Sea. His father invented a tube that could stretch to depths of 200 feet below the surface. Williamson himself added a round chamber with a thick glass window and used this chamber to take photographs of undersea creatures. In the year 1939, this photosphere
was transformed into an underwater post office by the name of "Sea Floor Bahamas." shortly in the year1940 it was closed.

In the year 1965, the Bahamas Postal department issued a definitive set. Williamson’s photosphere and the 1939 Sea Floor post office were depicted on the five-shilling denomination stamp of this set. The same pictures were used again in year 1966 and 1967 on new definitive stamps also.

 

Stamp Collection Software

Stamp Collection Manager is a professional application designed for people who have a hobby of collecting stamps. Easily catalog your stamp collection by storing detailed information about each stamp with images. You can also take print outs of your collection, and even export to HTML, PDF or CSV format. It is a useful   software for all  stamp collectors.

Stamp Collection Manager Website : http://www.abhisoft.net/stamp-collection/

New Europa 2011 stamp from Ukraine..

 

 

Date of Issue : 20 December 2011

Ukraine Post issued a set of two stamps for EUROPA 2011 yesterday. This seems to be this year’s last Europa 2011 issue as most of the countries have already issued stamps for 2011 Europa Theme ‘ Forests ‘. The complete list with stamps issues of all Europa stamps can be viewed at specialized blog  http://europa-stamps.blogspot.com/

 

Club News

A specialized website on Indian Postal History

Mr Rajesh Pamnani of Hydrabad has created a new website on Indian Postal History. It is a very informative website for the collectors of Postal History. It has different sections on Indian Postal History, Indian Postal Markings, Postage Stamps,India (Used Abroad) and gallery of Indian Registration Labels, Bazar Card of India, Speed Post and other  items.  A separate section has been given for research articles. It is a complete website for collectors of Indian Postal History. It can be viewed at  : http://pamnani.info/rp_index.html 

 Rajesh Pamnani is a serious collector of Indian Postal History. He has started a website:  www.pamnani.info detailing a few of his collecting interests. It is kept as an open source for collaborative research.

He is  a member of the following stamp collecting societies :
1. India Study Circle for Philately (UK)
2. Philatelic Congress of India (Life Member)
3. Hyderabad Philatelic & Hobby Society (Life Member)
4. Postal Study Label Group (USA)

His current topic which needs collaborative research is Indian Registration Labels (1909-Date) Mr Rajesh Pamnani may be contacted at following address :

Rajesh Pamnani  E-mail : rajesh_pamnani@hotmail.com

Postal address:

Rajesh Pamnani, 239/240 Vaman Naik Lane
6-3-1199 Kundanbagh) Umanagar Begumpet
Hyderabad 500 016
Ph 040-23402682 mobile :098490-13175

India’s first floating Post office on Dal Lake…

 

 

India’s first floating Post office was inaugurated in Sri Nagar by  Minister of State for Communications and IT Sachin Pilot and Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah on Monday. Now tourists to Jammu and Kashmir  have another attraction -- a floating post office on the Dal Lake in Srinagar, the first of its kind in the country.

 

After inauguration of the Post office

 

"This innovation by India Post will be a boon for the tourists visiting the lake," Pilot said in a statement. Besides offering normal services, the place will also have a philately museum and a shop that will sell postage stamps and other products.

"This is the first such post office in India. It has been made as a tourist focus post office on a huge house boat and will provide a unique and tourist-friendly service to the people of Kashmir and to tourists from across the world," John Samuel, the state's chief post master, told IANS.

Samuel also said that the special feature of this post office is that letters posted from here will carry a special design which will have the picturesque sceneries of Dal Lake and Srinagar city.
"These pictures will reach wherever these letters will be posted and will promote Kashmir as a tourist destination across the world," he said. Pilot also launched two special postal covers on the Dal Lake.

"It is a befitting tribute to the lake, which is one of the most famous and often quoted symbols of Kashmir, and often referred to as the crown of Kashmir," he said.
Pilot later launched a special mail van service from Srinagar to Shopian district. The postal department currently has 1,693 post offices in Jammu and Kashmir.

 

New Stamp from India

Date of Issue : 25 August 2011 

India Post released today a commemorative postage stamp on freedom fighter Pt K. Santanam.

Courtesy : Mansoor B., Mangalore

25 years of Speed Post Service in India….

 

25 Years of Speed Post : 24 August 2011

A special Cover was issued in Ahmedabad on completion of 25 years of Speed Post service in India. CPMG, Gujarat Circle Mrs. Humera Ahmed through an elegant function held at Mahatma Gandhi Labour Institute, Ahmedabad arranged to release a special cover today .  The Chief-Guest at the function  was  Padmshree and Padmvibhushan Mrs. Ela Bhatt - founder of Internationally reputed organization SEWA .

Coutresy - Shrikant Parikh – Ahmedabad

Speed Post

It is an express mail service of India Post for letters and documents offered in league with the international EMS service. It was started on 24 August 1986 for providing time-bound and express delivery of letters, documents and parcels across the nation. It links more than 1200 towns in India, with 290 centres in the national network and around 1000 centres in the state network. For regular users, Speed Post provides delivery ‘anywhere in India’ under contractual service. For corporate customers, Speed Post provides ‘Home collection’, credit facilities, on-line tracking, account management and personalized services.

Speed Post ushered in a new era when ‘One India, One Rate’ scheme was launched @ INR  25 for all destinations across India, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. Now, Speed Post delivers  ‘Value for money’ to every one every where, delivering local Speed Post upto 50 grams @ INR  12, inclusive of Service Tax.  .

Speed Post Home Collection

With a view to provide convenience for the customers , Speed Post provides collection from the premises of the customers  through on-call collection and regular collection at some of he towns.

Speed Post Passport Service

In a unique partnership, Department of Posts and MEA have come together to provide convenience in getting passports. Applicants need to buy the Passport application form available with the Speed Post Centre, fill it and submit it along with the fee. Speed Post Centres will check the forms , send them to the designated Passport Office for further processing and issue of Passport. The service is available only for issue of new passports and not for the renewal of passports.

State-wise list of post offices providing Speed Post Passport Service

Speed Post International Service

Backed by Universal Postal Union, EMS Speed Post offers economical and faster service to 97 foreign countries.  Be it an important letter or University application form, be it an export consignment or a business sample, Speed Post will take it across with care. For international Speed Post tariff and destinations, click here

Read More…

Owney, the canine mascot of US Rail Mail Service..

 

Date of Issue : 27 July 2011

The U.S. Postal Service commemorated Owney, the canine mascot of the Railway Mail Service on Forever stamp, issued on 27 Jyly 2011. The stamp art features an original illustration of Owney, with many of his famous tags and medals gleaming in the background.

Beloved of clerks on mail-sorting trains at the end of the 19th century, Owney was hailed as a symbol of good luck. Today he is an icon of American postal lore whose story highlights the historical importance of the Railway Mail Service.

Owney the Postal Dog FDC with Digital Color Postmark

In the 1880s, during the height of the Railway Mail Service, clerks in the Post Office in Albany, New York, took a liking to a terrier mix named Owney. Fond of riding in postal wagons, Owney followed mailbags onto trains and soon became a good-luck charm to Railway Mail Service employees, who made him their unofficial mascot. Working in the Railway Mail Service was highly dangerous: According to the National Postal Museum, more than 80 mail clerks were killed in train wrecks and more than 2,000 were injured between 1890 and 1900. However, it was said that no train ever met with trouble while Owney was aboard.

As Owney traveled the country, clerks affixed medals and tags to his collar to document his travels. When John Wanamaker, Postmaster General from 1889 to 1893, heard that Owney was overburdened with tags, he gave him a special harness to display them all. During his travels, Owney accumulated more than a thousand medals and tags. Today Owney is on display at the Smithsonian Institution's National Postal Museum in a case that includes some of his medals and tags.

: US Postal Service

Card from Freetown Christiania - Denmark

 

Hi ! I just received a very interesting Postcard sent by Abhimnayu  Pandey of Shimla  from the famous Freetown Christiania, Denmark . This is a very controversial independent  town of Denmark, located within Copenhagen and  one of Denmark’s most popular tourist attractions .This card is   a very good example of Modern Postal History with the stamps and postmarks from Christiania and Copenhagen.

Freetown Christiania (Danish: Fristaden Christiania) is a self-proclaimed autonomous neighborhood in the Danish capital Copenhagen. Christiania has its  own Post office and postage stamps which is evident from this Picture Postcard that bears a postage stamp of Christiania as well as red marking of date and “ Christiania Posthus” These stamps are valid for use within Christiania. But on the outgoing mail from Christiania, Dainsh Postage stamps are to be affixed. This card bears both the markings from Christiania and Copenhagen. This is a very special card   with the postally used stamp from Christiania.The stamp  depicts the flag of Christiania. Such local stamps create a postal history  when these are actually used on a cover or card for a valid postal purpose. Many thanks to Abhimanyu for this wonderful card !!  It’s very very special for me !! …..

Card from Freetown Christiania ( Denmark) to Shamshi – Kullu (India)

Danish stamp and Cancellation of Copenhagen

Christiania stamp with red marking of date and “Christiania Posthus”  and cancellation from Copenhagen.

 

The card bears stamp and postal marking from Christiania  as well as stamp and cancellation from Denmark.

 

The Pagoda, Northern Area - Christiania

 

 

The freetown Christiania was founded in 1971 by a group of hippies who developed their own set of rules, completely independent of the Danish government.

Entrance to Christiania

Christiania is  one of the greatest tourist attractions in Copenhagen, and abroad it is a well-known "brand" for the progressive and liberated Danish lifestyle. Many Danish businesses and organizations also use Christiania as a show place for their foreign friends and guests. The purpose is to show something Danish that cannot be found anywhere else in the world.

Christiania, also known as Freetown Christiania (Danish: Fristaden Christiania) is a self-proclaimed autonomous neighbourhood of about 850 residents, covering 34 hectares (85 acres) in the borough of Christianshavn in the Danish capital Copenhagen. Civic authorities in Copenhagen regard Christiania as a large commune, but the area has a unique status in that it is regulated by a special law, the Christiania Law of 1989 which transfers parts of the supervision of the area from the municipality of Copenhagen to the state. It was closed by residents in April 2011, whilst discussions continue with the Danish government as to its future, but is now open again.

Christiania has been a source of controversy since its creation in a squatted military area in 1971. Its cannabis trade was tolerated by authorities until 2004. Since then, measures for normalising the legal status of the community have led to conflicts, and negotiations are ongoing.Among many Christiania residents, the community is known as staden ('the town'), short for fristaden ('the freetown').

The Postal System

Christiania has its own Postal system  and postage stamps which are valid within Christiania.

Currency

Although the Danish Krone is accepted on the streets of Christiania, the official currency is the Løn, which are minted each year. Locals are paid in Løns, and the coins can be used throughout the town. The Løn has been issued since 1997; previously Christianites used a currency called the Fed and, in one year, the Klump. Hemp tokens, also known as "Nemos", which could be exchanged for cannabis, were also in circulation

The flag

Flag of Christiania

The flag of Christiania is a red banner with three yellow discs representing the dots in the "i"s in "Christiania".The colours were supposedly chosen because when the original squatters took over the former military base, they reportedly found a large amount of red and yellow paint.

Read More…

City Within a City…

The World’s Smallest Postal Service…

 

Hi ! In today’s post just wish to share a wonderful forward with all of you which I recently received from one of my friends….Its related with mini letters…posted  with a magnifying glass for identifying the mailing address.

The World’s Smallest Postal Service was created by San-Francisco- based postmistress 
Lea Redmond, who decided to put the crazy idea into practice as soon as it popped into her head. She just strapped her small desk to her back, hopped on her bicycle and set-up shop in one of the local cafes. Since then she came to realize many other people are simply charmed by her miniature postal service.

At the Worlds Smallest Postal Service, your letters are written in tiny letters, carefully wrapped and sealed with a miniature was-stamp bearing the senders initial. To make sure the tiny messages don't get lost in the traditional mail, they are packed in transparent envelopes equipped with a magnifying glass for identifying the mailing address.

 

For Valentines Day the mailing rates at the Worlds Smallest Postal Service are: $8 plus shipping for letters, and $10 plus shipping for small packages containing an antique china button and a note saying You are as cute as a ....

 

 

Dog Sled Mail stamp by Canada Post..

 

 

Date of Issue : 13 May 2011

 

On May 13th, Canada Post issued a domestic rate stamp to commemorate the history of mail delivery by dog sleds. The stamp design features a dog sled and its musher crossing a snowy wilderness, as well as images of some early pieces of mail sent by dog sled. The stamp represents the importance Canada Post has always attached to serving Canadians in remote rural communities. 

Dog Sled Mail Run background

The Gold Rush Trail Dog Sled Mail Run is living history. For the past 19 years, on the fourth weekend of January, dog teams and dedicated mushers who have been sworn in as official mail carriers have carried Canada Post mail in their dog sleds over the Gold Rush Trail. Special Mail Run envelopes are stamped "Carried by Dog Team" and are hand cancelled in Quesnel, Wells and Barkerville, the three post offices along the route. Once delivered to Barkerville, this mail enters the regular mail system for delivery anywhere in the world.

Throughout the northern half of Canada, sled dog teams transported the winter mail from the early 1800's to the 1920's, when airplanes piloted by returning daredevil WWI aces introduced what came to be known as air mail. This gradually displaced the sled dogs as these pilots opened up Canada's frontier, however in a few isolated locations winter mail was still delivered by dog team until the 1960's.

 

Permanent Pictorial Cancellations

Tamil Nadu

 

Permanent Pictorial  Postmark – 9 -  Velankanni

Date of Inauguration of PPP - November 29, 1976

 

Velankanni

Velankanni, also spelt Vailankanni is located on the shores of Bay of Bengal, 12 Km south of Nagapattinam. The town, once a port, traded with Rome and Greece, is also famous for the Roman Catholic Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health. The shrine that started as a thatched chapel in the mid sixteenth century became a parish church in 1771 when Catholics in India were under persecution from the Dutch. Later in 1962 it was granted a Special status of a Minor Basilica by Pope John XXIII. The Shrine of Our Lady of Vailankanni, also known as the "Lourdes of the East," is one of the most frequented religious sites in India. The Shrine is kept open from 5.00 a.m. to 9.00 p.m.

: Kasinath R.,Thanjavur email : kasinath80@gmail.com
Blog : My Watercraft Philately - http://shipthemegallery.blogspot.com/