Sunday stamps: archeology: Roman traces

Today's Sunday stamps' theme is 'Archaeology/anthropology'. There are several interesting archaelogic / anthropologic sites in the Netherlands, like the Hunebeds and Roman excavations, but to my surprise postage stamps on this theme are very hard to find.

Besides some 'personal stamps' (issued unofficially for/by companies or private persons) I didn't find any stamp on the hunebeds. These are the oldest preserved buildings in the Netherlands. Over 5000 years ago they have been built, in the east of the Netherlands. Today you can find hunebeds mainly in the province of Drenthe.



After some more research, I discovered that this stamp, which I already have for years, is part of a serie of four, issued in 1977, themed 'archaeology', that is, Roman excavations in the Netherlands.

First I thought it to be just the wall of a canal. But it appears to be part of a Roman bathhouse, of the thermae in Heerlen, in the south of the Netherlands.
There's a design of it on this website, and a photo of the original archaeologic location you can see here.

The other stamps from this serie are:
a face helmet/mask (also to be viewed here),
the goddess Nehalennia,
and the ship of Zwammerdam.

On the internet I found this FDC:

Sunday stamps: Clocks

This Sunday stamps' theme is open: 'anything you wish'.

Some time ago I had the theme 'Clocks' in mind, but due to the fact that I'm too busy these weeks and there's only little spare time, I initially thought to skip my contribution this time. However, I happened to have received mail art from Romania yesterday, and the stamps showed, besides flowers... Clocks! No coincidence, I suppose, and thanks to the Romanian (mail) artist Mariana Serban I tried - and succeeded - to find some time to scan these and some more clocks-on-stamps.



One place where clocks are important, is the railway station. You can see the clock on top of this railway station in Brazil:



And in 1989 the Dutch post issued this stamp for the 'Nederlandse Spoorwegen' (Dutch railway company), which were a national company for 150 years then. The stamp shows a clock (and train), too:



A wellknown clock stamp is of course the American clock:



A clock on an other building is this one, on the Beurs van Berlage:



At the end of the year, of course all of us are watching the clock.
In the Netherlands:





And in Spain, where it's tradition to eat a grape every time the clock strikes at the turn of the year:



And for the ones who like technics (among them, I do), the inside of clocks is very interesting, too. 'Uurwerk' means 'clockwork':



Check for more contributions to this Sunday's Sunday Stamps via Viridian's Postcard Blog. Various and very interesting themes!

In: from Hungary

Mooie illustratie door Károly Reich, van een van mijn (vele) favoriete dieren: de ezel. Verstuurd door Micu uit Hongarije.
Zij plakte ook mooie postzegels op de achterkant. 3D brillen op een postzegel, heel origineel!

Beautiful illustration made by the Hungarian artist Károly Reich, of one of my (many) favourite animals: the donkey.
On the back interesting stamps; I've never seen 3D glasses on a stamp before!
Thank you very much, Micu!

Sunday stamps: circuses

This Sunday's Sunday Stamps theme is 'Circuses, fun fairs'.

I remember three series of circus stamps issued in the Netherlands. One of these series concerned a Europe stamp, which you can see at Hawwa's Mail Adventures.
'Those were the days', I thought when seeing these back again. Not for the circus shown, but for the postage rate: in 2002 only € 0,54 was sufficient to have the mail delivered all-over Europe, while this rate has been almost doubled to € 1,05 in 2014.

Concerning 'those days' and circuses, I've only been once to a circus, as a young child, and must confess that the only thing I remembered was that I was afraid of clowns.
Nowadays there's of course dispute on whether it's a good idea to use animals for people's amusement or not. I prefer circuses with people, like the Chinese State Circus (these men (you see from the 48th second) jumping through rings I think more fascinating than a wild animal who clearly would like to do something else). And of course the amazing Cirque du Soleil. These circuses are very beautiful to see, however I only know them from television, never have seen them in real so far.
I don't know if the Canadian post ever has issued stamps about Cirque du Soleil, which has been founded in Canada, and if these stamp designs were issued as real stamps, as I didn't find any other websites on these.

Back to the Dutch postage stamps. This stamp sheet was issued in 2011 for the 100th anniversary of Circus Herman Renz.



From what I wrote above you can conclude that this is not my favourite stamp sheet. However the illustrations I think nice, especially the elephant, horse and the unicyclist. The stamps have been designed by Ron van Roon, and I like the simplyfied style. When I'm drawing I always tend to add too many details, so I can learn from this style!
In the 'Postzegelblog' you can see some other nice elephant stamps.

The third Dutch stamp sheet concerning a circus has been issued in 2012. That year it was 125 years ago that Carré was founded in Amsterdam. Carré started as a circus, but over the years it became more and more a theater. Nowadays there are musicals, concerts, cabaret, and sometimes a circus.
At the moment there's a theater show called 'War horse'. There are horses part of that show. No real ones, they were created by the South African Handspring Puppet Company (you can see the horses in this trailer).



You can see I've already used several stamps of this sheet...
The complete stamp sheet you can find on the Postzegelblog.
I like the fact that the unicyclist has evolved: in the previous stamp sheet he was sitting in the saddle, while now he rides upside down, using his hands only :-)

Sunday stamps: Airplanes and air transport

This Sunday's Sunday stamps theme is another favourite of mine: airplanes.
The stamp you see above is from Romania. I love that one a lot because it combines the Airplane with AirMail!
This stamp didn't land in my mailbox, but in the mailbox of a postcrossing relative instead. Fortunately she let me take a picture of this stamp, so at least I have the digital one to share with you :-)

Other airplane stamps from outside my country I received from Eva from Spain. You can see two of them here.
Below I'll share some Dutch airplane stamps.



This sheet is one of my favourites, issued in 2009 due to the 100th anniversary of motorised air transport in the Netherlands (which was just 2 years earlier than the Modesto Airmail).
When I asked myself 'why do I love this sheet that much?', I found out that I love the bright yellow of the trauma helicopter and the blue airplane on top. And the airport Schiphol on the right: I've seen this hall several times from inside and I associate it with travelling and freedom.
The one on top right is familiar, too: we drive over the A4 motorway every now and then, and you can see an airplane riding on the viaduct above you really! Always a special feeling when passing under this giant vehicle!



This airplane is a very small one: it is part of the Dutch miniature world 'Madurodam'.

And below some older stamps, all from the gulden era.



On this one you see a British airplane dropping food into our country at the end of World War II.



And these stamps show Dutch airplanes: above a Fokker airplane and below KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines).



Check Sunday Stamps for more Airplane stamps!

In: from the United Kingdom

Sent by John *Scriptor* from the United Kingdom, these beautiful postcards showing two of my favourite themes: lighthouses and public transport.



I love to watch this postcard of a lighthouse within the elements. Look at the clouds, watch that sea! And even a piece of rainbow is visible.
This lighthouse is the Fort Perch Rock lighthouse, off New Brighton close to Liverpool.



In Liverpool trams used to be green. Also Leeds had trams, of which you see this 'Horsefield' car (built in 1931). Sadly this tramway was closed in the late fifties.



I always feel so happy by the backsides of the postcards John is sending. Especially his kind and informative messages, and the postage stamps who are chosen with thoughfulness.
These two postcards arrived in a plastic, easy-to-open cover, with a polite request to the Post Office. The result, however, was not a hand-cancelling of the stamps (alas, as I like cancellation stamps), but even stampless stamps! (I always like to keep the postcards complete, nevertheless, John: in case your stamps have finished and you want me to soak off these stamps, I will do so to send them back so you can re-use them :-)



Another favourite: animals (butterfly, in this stamp) and mail transport!
Thank you very much, John!

Sunday stamps: musical instruments

Today's theme of Sunday stamps is a very favourite of mine: Music and musical instruments.

Spain has issued several wonderful music stamps. My most favourite instruments are string instruments, so I was very happy to receive these guitar and violin stamps, which were issued in Spain in 2011:



The ones above belong to a serie of four; the others are the lute and mandolin. You can see the complete serie here.
A year later, the Spanish post published the harp, balalaika, sitar, banjo and rebec on stamps. Thanks to Eva I received several of these beauties, but alas I didn't find sufficient time to scan them and post them in this blog now. However, the complete serie you can see in this interesting blog.

From string instruments to percussion instruments.
These were also issued on stamps in Spain, in 2013. More information on the five stamps (of which you see four here) you can read here.



In the Netherlands there has been issued a stamp serie with illustrations by the late Dutch painter Anton Pieck.
One of them shows a man with many instruments, of which the drum is most prominent:



And he plays an accordion-like instrument. There are many other musical instruments who create their tones by air: aerophones or wind instruments.

There's a wind instrument maybe many of us might have tried when we were young (or maybe even have made one!?). It's from all times and all-over the world. You can find pictures of this curious instrument for example here, and here.
On stamps I happened to have received this one from Lituania. Initially I didn't notice that these were musical instruments. But when I looked closer, I read the words 'muzikos intrumentai', and by looking up the words 'molines svilpynes' I learned that these animals indeed are musical instruments: clay whistles.



Other wind instruments are woodwind instruments (like the flute and clarinet), and brass instruments.
The Spanish post also has issued a stamp serie on brass instruments. One of them is the (French) horn:



From Brazil I received this trumpet:



And an euphonium (or tuba?) is shown on a stamp sheet issued by the Dutch post as part of a serie on Dutch cities, in this case the city of Sittard:



(You see I've used the other stamps already...)

A large wind musical instrument - and a typical Dutch one - is the street organ.
The Dutch post issued this Europa stamp in 1981:



Thirty-three years later, in 2014, this stamp sheet has been issued, which is also proposed as entry for the PostEurop 2014 stamp contest.



Many more beautiful stamps on music and musical instruments you can find in Viridian's blog and all links shown there.