Sunday Stamps: Horses

Two days ago my 'Horse' chaincard arrived back home. In an almost two months journey, via Taiwan, Hong Kong and Malaysia my card gathered beautiful horse stamps.

And this Sunday Stamps theme happens to be 'Horses'! A good opportunity to share this chaincard with you:



The photos on the Dutch stamps top left have been made by Dutch photographer Charlotte Dumas. These stamps are part of a ten stamps sheet named 'portraits'. On her website you can see more wonderful animal photos, and some background information about the horse on the left stamp, and about the white horse.

Of course I used stamps from this sheet also for the other chaincard participants. I scanned the other person's cards before forwarding to the next participant. And you can see some similar stamps and some different one:







Mail companies from many countries have issued horse stamps. Since a year I found myself collecting horse stamps. By 'collecting' I mean I keep them when found, even if they are folded, like this one from Germany:



In the past decennia Dutch Post has issued more stamps showing horses:

Former queen Beatrix and her late, sympathetic husband Claus riding a horse:


(their minor granddaughters were pictured without a head protection cap, too, by which they were not giving a good example to other horse riding kids)

A 'personalized stamp', created by Arnold Voordewind from natuurlijkefoto.nl and issued by PostNL, showing a Konik pony, the only type of horse living in the wild in the Netherlands:



A Dutch traditional character is Sinterklaas, aka Sint/Saint Nicolaas. On his white friendly horse Amerigo he even rides on roofs. You can see them often along with their companion Piet/Pete:



An other 'Sinterklaas' and Amerigo, pictured by late Dutch illustrator Max Velthuijs:



An other white horse, carrying Prince Siddhartha, is shown on this stamp from Sri Lanka:



Horses have inspired many artists and craftsmen:
A horse shaped flute from Latvia:



Stylised horses, also from Latvia:



A double headed, winged horse from Kazachstan:



A horse shown on an inkpot on a Ukrainian stamp:



Horses at work:

From Canada:



Horses helping delivering the mail, from the United Kingdom:




The chess horse stamps I've found I will keep for an other theme :-)

See more wonderful horses on stamps on this Sunday Stamps blog post and follow the linke mentioned there!

In: from Spain and Japan

From Eva I received this wonderful shaped stamp from Spain, showing a dragonfly. See how delicate the wings are, emphasized by the way the stamp was cut out!
The stamp on the right is special, too: before the naked eye the king's background looks shining silver, but the scanner's eye turned this into the colours of the Spanish flag!

The stamps traveled to me, along with a kind message, on the back side of this postcard:



This Samurai cat has been designed by Hana from Japan, from whom I've received this philatelic monkey.

Thank you very much, Eva!

Sunday Stamps: Food

Today's Sunday Stamps theme is "Food".

In many Dutch houses the day starts with bread. That might be usance since ages, the painting on the stamp on the right is rather old: painted over 400 years ago (circa 1615) by Floris Claeszoon van Dijck. Usually my slice of bread (sandwich) is filled with a slice of cheese, and cheese also was present in 1615 as you can see on the original painting.
However nowadays many Dutch people take cereals (corn flakes, muesli) for breakfast, accompanied with milk or yoghurt. No worries: milk was also present ages ago, as the famous painting 'The Milkmaid' proofs, painted by Johannes Vermeer around 1660.

These excerpts are part of a larger stamp sheet issued in 2013 for the grand re-opening of the national museum, Rijksmuseum).



In the evening, the 'typical (traditional) Dutch dinner' consists of a piece of meat, vegetables and potatoes.
Vincent van Gogh painted a family who had only potatoes for dinner, the well-known 'The Potato Eaters' (1885):



Potatoes grow in the ground, and in some countries they are literally named 'earth appel' ('aardappel' in Dutch, 'pomme de terre' in French, 'sib zamini' in Persian).
The way they grow is shown on this pretty Danish stamp:



Nowadays the Dutch kitchen is influenced by many other cultures, so some of the other food you can see on this blog and the other Sunday Stamps blog posts of today you might find in the Netherlands, too.

Food starts with harvest, shown on this nice Greek stamp:



From Spain I received this gastronomic stamp (thank you, Eva!):



From Japan (the dish is named 'ramen'):



From Singapore (I love the combination with the person who eats, seen in the back of this picture):



As dessert you can choose a watermelon or cantaloupe, both great summer fruits, a healthy choice. They have been pictured on stamps more than once:

By Greek Post:



In the USA:




Finally some traditional Dutch food eaten at New Year's Eve: 'oliebollen', which you see on the stamp on the left (wikipedia shows a painting from 1652!).



Fondue (shown on the stamp on the right) is of course known in many other countries.

Enjoy more dishes at Sunday Stamps and via the links mentioned there!

In: from the United Kingdom

"Rural postman in summer uniform delivering mail", year unknown, from the National Postal Museum collection (then located at King Edward Street). See the happy face of the boy while receiving his mail! As happy as I was, and still am, by receiving this great postcard from John.
Today it is like tropical weather, here in our usually 'cold frogland', with over 30 degrees Celsius. So this 'summer uniform' seems even too hot to wear today!

John added these beautiful stamps:



Thank you very much, John!

Out: to the Netherlands...

... via Hong Kong, Russia and Singapore!
It is part of a chaincard project, of which there are many via instagram.

This time the theme is 'bridges', which means the front side of the card is free, but the participants should add 'bridge' stamps to the back side. As I love bridges, I am happy to participate. This card is mine and will start it's journey across four countries today:



And during the coming weeks to months I'll be waiting for the other participants' postcards, to add Dutch bridge stamps to.

The photo on this postcard has been made by Quinta Buma, she is a wonderful photographer from Nijmegen.
In the background you can see my favourite bridge, the old (and present) 'Waalbrug', bridge over the river Waal.

The stamps show a new, recently opened bridge over the river Waal in Nijmegen (below), named 'De Oversteek' (the crossing), and on top the 'Zouthavenbrug', a pedestrian bridge in the center of Amsterdam.

Sunday Stamps: Science

This Sunday Stamps theme is 'Science'. I hardly dare to say it, because I've mentioned so many favourites already, but 'science' is a theme dear to me, too.

This stamp has been issued by Italian post last year for the San Marino-Italia Techno Science Park:



This is an older stamp from Germany, which shows a portrait of Philippus von Hohenheim, better known as Paracelsus. I am not sure why he isn't looking happy on this stamp, as he has achieved several things, among these he has been credited as the founder of toxicology and for giving zinc its name: 'zincum'.



Finally a stamp sheet issued by Dutch PostNL a year ago (20th July 2015) in honour of the Nemo Science Museum in Amsterdam.
Alas I don't have the complete sheet anymore, however I found this image on the internet to show you:



Both the museum and the stamp sheet have a big similarity: they make 'science' attractive for a large public, by having people learn in a playful and interactive way.

See more stamps to the theme 'Science' at today's Sunday Stamps and follow the links mentioned there.

In: from the United States

At first sight I didn't notice it, but suddenly it became clear. You'll probably have seen it immediately: there is a horse in her hair!
Great postcard made out of a calendar and sent by FinnBadger.

I am delighted to also have received horses on the stamps on the back side. Not one, not two but even three horse stamps!



Thank you very much, FinnBadger!

Sunday Stamps: the colour Red

This Sunday Stamps theme is 'the colour red'.
I thought I only had a few, but viewing the stamp through 'red glasses' learned me that there is a lot! Among them this selection.


Post-related red is the mailbox, in many countries:

from Malaysia:



from Myanmar, on a Thai stamp:



from the United Kingdom:



An old one from the Netherlands (nowadays they are orange and have two grey legs):



More post-related red you can see on these Dutch stamps, issued for the introduction of the postal code in 1978:






Red in crafts:

A rooster in cross stitch, from Belarus:



From China:




Ladies in/and red:

The famous French one:



Red blood, Dutch stamp issued to promote blood donation:




Red animals:

Beetle from Korea:



Fish from Japan:



Horses, one in red from Germany:



and two red horses, from Argentina:



And from Taiwan:



See more red in stamps at Sunday Stamps and via the links mentioned there.