Philatelic news from London Olympics 2012…

 

Gold Medal heroes on stamps

 

Australia

Tom Slingsby becomes first individual medalist to feature on 2012 Australian Gold Medallist stamp

After winning Australia's first individual gold medal of the London 2012 Olympic Games, sailing superstar and five time world champion, Tom Slingsby, will become Australia's first individual gold medalist to feature on a 2012 Australian Gold Medalist Stamp.

Stamps featuring an image of Slingsby from the gold medal dais in London will be available in participating Australia Post retail outlets from Thursday, 9 August while stocks last.

Australia Post is producing stamps for every Australian gold medalist from the London 2012 Olympic Games, and they are expected to be available in metropolitan Australia Post outlets within 48 hours of each gold medal presentation.

 

 

Women's 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay Team features on first 2012 Australian Gold Medallist Stamp

After their gold medal-winning performance in the Women's 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay on Saturday 28 July, Alicia Coutts, Cate Campbell, Brittany Elmslie and Melanie Schlanger will be the first Australian athletes to feature on the Australian Gold Medallist Stamps for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Some best designed  Stamps on London Olympics 2012

 

Most beautiful stamp issued for LONDON 2012 !!

Slovakia

During these Olympic Games, 10,500 athletes from 204 countries are struggling for 302 collections of medals in 26 Olympic sports.

The first Paralympic Games for physically handicapped sportsmen, mostly British soldiers - disabled people from WWII, were held on 29th July1948. It took place on the same day as the Opening Ceremony of the XIV Olympic Games. The Paralympic Games are coming back to its cradle with a wide-ranging schedule for more than 4,000 contestants from 166 countries who are participating in 21 disciplines.

Besides the traditional Olympic disciplines (light athletics, swimming, weightlifting, fencing, equestrian disciplines, cycling, rowing, yachting) or games (football, volleyball, basketball, rugby, tennis, table tennis),an extremely popular game of boccia or goalball has also been introduced.. It was devised after WWII as a ball game for visually impaired soldiers. It is played in silence and players try to throw a ball that has bells embedded in it into the opponent's goal. The players do not see the ball; they only hear it. But after the goal, the applause is a legitimate doping!

Costa Rica

Portugal

Date of Issue : 19 June 2012

 

From our Readers…..

Stamps on ‘WORLD HERITAGE’

- Pradip Kumar Malik

HIGH COAST (SWEDEN)

The High Coast is located on the west shore of the Gulf of Bothnia, a northern extension of the Baltic Sea. The area covers 142,500 ha including a marine component of 80,000 ha, which includes a number of offshore islands. UNESCO designated High Coast as World Heritage property in 2000 for being an outstanding example representing major stages of Earth’s history.

Sweden 2005

Se-tenant set of four stamps, with views of the High Coast. In the lower selvedge, stamps are inscribed in Swedish "Världsarvet Höga Kusten" (World Heritage High Coast). The stamps are from a booklet pane of eight stamps, and are perforated on three sides.

The irregular topography of the region - a series of lakes, inlets and flat hills rising to 350 m - has been largely shaped by the combined processes of glaciations, glacial retreat and the emergence of new land from the sea. Since the last retreat of the ice from the High Coast 9,600 years ago, the uplift has been in the order of 285 m which is the highest known 'rebound'.

The High Coast site affords outstanding opportunities for the understanding of the important processes that formed the glaciated and land uplift areas of the Earth's surface. The site is one of the places in the world that is experiencing isostatic uplift as a result of deglaciation. Isostatic rebound is well-illustrated and the distinctiveness of the site is the extent of the total isostatic uplift which, at 294m, exceeds others.

Mr Pradeep Kumar Malik may be contacted at email : mallikphila@gmail.com

World Heritage Sites..

 

UNESCO – World Heritage  Sites

(Part – 6)

Check List for the Stamps issued worldwide in 2011 related to the theme of ‘UNESCO - World Heritage

: Pradeep Kumar Malik

 

OCTOBER 2011:

Vilnius Historic Centre – World Heritage Object (Lithuania): Lithuania issued a set of two stamps on World Heritage object. The stamps depicted with World Heritage monuments in ‘Vilnius Historic Centre’ namely – St. John Church and Ausros Vartai (Gate of Dawn).

A to Z series (Great Britain): The first set of ten stamps of A to Z series of Great Britain stamps was issued in October 2011. Three World Hertages namely – ‘Edinburg Castle’; ‘Harlech Castle of Gwynedd’ and ‘Ironbridge’ are figured on three stamps of this set.

Zacatecas (Mexico): A stamp showing the architecture of ‘Historic Centre of Zacatecas’, a World Heritage site, was issued to commemorate the 25^th anniversary of Zacatecas Hospital.

NOVEMBER 2011:

UNESCO (France): The picturesque landscape of Milford Sound was the subject of 2011 UNESCO stamp of French Postal Administration. Milford Sound is the part of World Heritage site – ‘Te Wahipounamu, South West New Zealand’.

Saint Sofia Cathedral (Ukraine): A setenant stamp of two values was issued in Ukraine to commemorate the 1000 years of foundation laying of the ‘Saint Sofia Cathedral in Kiev’, a World Heritage monument. Frescoes inside the cathedral were depicted over stamps, whereas the cathedral building and the logos of ‘UNESCO’ and ‘World Heritage’ are shown on the gutter label.

DECEMBER 2011:

Monasteries of Haghpat and Sanahin (Armenia): A Souvenir Sheet of two stamps on World Heritage monuments of the ‘Monasteries of Haghpat and sanahin’ was released by the postal authority of Armenia. The logo of UNESCO is also depicted over this Souvenir Sheet.

Mr Pradeep Kumar Malik may be contacted at email : mallikphila@gmail.com

 

My Recent Covers…

Thanks to  Jan Dziurka, Monchengladbach - Germany

Stamps on London Olympics…

 

Poland

Romania

HI! In this post view some most beautiful stamps issued for London Olympics !! For more stamps on Olympics view Ganesh’s Blog :  My Olympic Philately and Jagannath Mani’s Blog :  http://olympicgamesphilately.blogspot.in/  .

 

Ukraine

Bulgaria

Serbia

 

View : More stamps on Olympics

UNESCO – World Heritage  Sites

(Part – 5)

Check List for the Stamps issued worldwide in 2011 related to the theme of ‘UNESCO - World Heritage

 : Pradeep Kumar Malik

Belarus – Iran Joint issue: A souvenir sheet with two stamps of ‘Priority Letter’ rate was issued as Belarus – Iran joint issue. Mir Castle, a world Heritage monument, is depicted on one of the stamp of this souvenir sheet.

Cape Floral Region (South Africa): South Africa issued a sheetlet with ten different self-adhesive stamps of ‘B5 size Cover’ rate on the flora and fauna of ‘Cape Floral Region’, a World Natural Heritage site.

Grand Place at Brussels (Belgium): Belgium released a Souvenir Sheet with five stamps of ‘1st Level Standard letter (up to 50 grams)’ rate with picture of the buildings at Grand Place at Brussels, a World Heritage site.

 

Romania – Germany Joint issue: The fortified Church of Biertan, World Heritage monument was depicted over the stamp issued as Romania – Germany Joint issue.

Old City of Luxembourg: As SEPAC (Small European Postal Administrations Corporation) 2011 stamp, Luxembourg issued a stamp showing the landscape of the ‘Old City of Luxembourg’, a World Heritage Site.

Mr Pradeep Kumar Malik may be contacted at email : mallikphila@gmail.com

To be contd….

Stamp of the Past ….

 

 

The two month exhibition, Stamp of the Past : Indian Heritage in Philately concluded on 17th July at Red Fort,  Delhi. The participants, Ajay Mittal, Nidhi Mittal- New Delhi,Timir Shah – Vadodara, Pradeep Kr. Malik – Patna, Moloy Sarkar –Kolkata and Jeevan Jyoti   were honoured by ASI at a function held at the venue of the exhibition. However Mr Moloy Sarkar and Mr Pradeep Kr Malik could not attend this grand function. This exhibition was very successful and attended by large number of philatelists and tourists from India and abroad as Red Fort is the landmark of Delhi and one of the greatest attractions for the tourists visiting India from all over the world . I got a chance to attend this function. Here are the glimpses of the show.

 

Mr Ajay Mittal was given special honour at the show. Mr Mittal was the main co-coordinator with ASI to make this show grand and successful.

 

J.Jyoti

Mrs. Nidhi Mittal receiving Momento

From (L to R) Ajay Srivastav, Timir Shah, Ajay Mittal, Nidhi Mittal and J. Jyoti

Arrivals of Indians in Jamaica…

 

Indian theme on foreign stamps..

 - Kenneth Sequeira – Dubai (UAE)

Indo-Jamaicans or Indian Jamaicans, are primarily the descendents of indentured workers of India who are citizens or nationals of Jamaica. Indians form the second largest racial group in Jamaica after Africans.

Over 36,000 Indians were taken to Jamaica as indentured workers between 1845 and 1917, with around two thirds of them remaining on the island. The demand for their labour came after the end of slavery in 1830 and the failure to attract workers from Europe. Indian labourers, who had proved their worth in similar conditions in Mauritius, were sought by the Jamaican Government, in addition to workers coming from China. Indian workers were actually paid less than the former West African slaves and were firmly at the bottom on the social ladder. The legacy of these social divisions was to linger for many decades.

The Indian Government encouraged indentured labour and recruiting depots were established in Calcutta and Madras although agents were paid significantly less, per recruit, than for a European workers. Most Indians who signed contracts did so in the hope of returning to India with the fruits of their labour, rather than intending to migrate permanently. The Indian Government appointed a Protector of Immigrants in Jamaica, although this office tended to protect the interests of the employers rather than the workers. Although technically the workers had to appear before a magistrate and fully understand their terms and conditions, these were written in English and many workers, signing only with a thumb print, did not comprehend the nature of their service.

Arrival in Jamaica

The first ship carrying workers from India, the "Maidstone", landed at Old Harbour Bay in 1845. Indian indentureship ended in 1917 to the Caribbean (Jamaica, Trinidad, St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Grenada, St. Kitts, St. Croix, Guadeloupe, Martinique, British Guiana (now Guyana), Dutch Guiana (now Surinam, French Guiana and Belize).

Settlement and repatriation

Although most of the workers originally planned to return to India, the planters lobbied the Government to allow them to stay and defray their settlement costs, largely to save on the costs of returning them to the sub continent.

Problems in returning

The lack of ships available to repatriate the workers was another factor in many of them staying on. Ships refused to sail if not full, and at other times were oversubscribed, leading to some time expired workers being left behind. During World War 1 German submarine warfare and a lack of ships further cut the numbers able to return.

The Indian workers tended their own gardens after the work on the plantations was done to supplement their diet. Indian workers, in search of relaxation, also introduced marijuana and the chillum pipe, to Jamaica. Hindu festivals such as Diwali were celebrated although many became Christians over time. Gradually workers left the plantations for Kingston and took jobs that better utilised their existing, and newly learned skills. The Indian community adopted English as their first language and became jewellers, fishermen, barbers and shopkeepers.

Indo-Jamaican Culture

Indians have made many contributions to Jamaican culture. Indian jewelry, in the form of intricately wrought gold bangles, are common on Jamaica, with their manufacture and sale going back to the 1860s. Indians established the island's first successful rice mill in the 1890s and dominated the island's vegetable production until the late 1940s.

Approximately 61,500 Indians live in Jamaica today, maintaining their own cultural organizations and roots but assimilated into the wider community. Traditional Indian foods such as curry goat and roti have become part of the national cuisine and are now seen as 'Jamaican'.

Descendants of the immigrant workers have influenced the fields of farming, medicine, politics and even horse-racing. Names such as Patel, Chatani, Chulani, Tewani, Mahtani, Ramchandani, Daswani, Vaswani and Chandiram have become synonymous with manufacturing, wholesale, retail and in-bond businesses providing employment for thousands of Jamaicans. Cricketers of an Indian, as opposed to African, background have found success in representing both Jamaica on the domestic scene and the West Indies.

The Jamaican Postal service released stamps in 1996 to mark the 150th Anniversary of Indians Arrivals in Jamaica.

Kenneth Sequeira may be contacted at email : kenneth.sequeira@hotmail.com

Europa 2012 stamps from Serbia..

 

 

Date of Issue 30 May 2012

On 30 May 2012, Serbia issued two Europa 2012 stamps featuring the country's picturesque areas of cultural and historic importance.This year's Europa stamps’ theme is "Visit" !!

View :  All Europa Stamps

UNESCO – World Heritage  Sites

(Part – 4)

Check List for the Stamps issued worldwide in 2011 related to the theme of ‘UNESCO - World Heritage

- Pradeep Kumar Malik

Contd…from the last Part : June 2011

 

 

World Heritage (Norfolk Island): Norfolk Island issued a set of 12 stamps featuring the World Heritage monuments enlisted as ‘Australian Convict Sites’ in the World Heritage list of UNESCO.

Derbent (Russia): Russia issued an irregular shape Souvenir Sheet depicting the ‘Citadel of the ancient city of Derbent’, a World Heritage site.

SEPTEMBER 2011:

Lavaux (Switzerland): Switzerland issued a setenant stripe of three stamps showing the beautiful landscape of the ‘Vineyard Terraces of Lavaux’, a World Heritage site.

Gardens of France: A Souvenir sheet with two stamps on Gardens of France was issued in France to commemorate Philatelic Exhibition – Salon du Timbre 2012. In the stamp area the Castles of Cheverny and Villandry, World Heritage monuments, along with the gardens is beautifully depicted.

Mr Pradeep Kumar Malik may be contacted at email : mallikphila@gmail.com

To be contd….