Sunday Stamps: 'P' is for Postzegel

The word postzegel is a 'must-know' for all of us: it means (postage) stamp!

The theme of this chaincard is 'postzegel in postzegel', 'stamp on stamp', and as you can see indeed these postzegels show postzegels. And an other stamp, but that stamp is, in Dutch, a 'stempel'.

The cute postslak (mail snail) has been created by Myrh Lee.

See what stamps have been chosen on the letter 'P' by other mail lovers at and via today's Sunday Stamps!

Postcards for the weekend: Love

The following postcard I happened to have received recently. It matches so well to this weekend's Postcards for the Weekend theme!

Rio and I exchange a postcard every now and then. She happened to have a serie of postcards of her hometown Venezia, and randomly chose this one to send to me. Voilá, this is clearly the theme, Love.



Two people, many hearts, and sharing a pizza.

On the back side Rio added pretty stamps. I imagine that the couple of the front side of this postcard, after finishing the pizza, will visit the museum on the left, and subsequently will enjoy a great evening at the theater on the right.



Thank you very much, Rio, grazie mille!

See more postcards on this theme at and via Maria's blog of this weekend.

In: from Italy/Austria and Hungary

So much to learn by a single postcard! I always thought that Tirol and the Dolomites were located in Austria. The text in front of the card didn't give a clue: as the first words have been written in German I was confirmed in my thoughts. The stamps made the confusion complete, as they are Hungarian. Finally, thanks to wikipedia I learned that since many years the Dolomites are part of Italy. And in 2009 they were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Many thanks to Micu who has send me this beautiful view. As the post offices were closed at the moment she was there, she finally sent me the card from Hungary. Which I think great, too, and I am happy with the wonderful stamps as well as the postmark from Budapest.
I had never heard of a world conference on disaster risk reduction, so that's an other item learned today!



Thank you very much, Micu!

In: from the United Kingdom

Some time ago John sent me a great postcard, showing a postman in former days. And now I like to share you this new old photo of another postman in uniform. The text on the back learns that this is William Gates, pictured circa 1897. The 'good conduct' stripes on the breast of the jacket were awarded by the Post Office to individuals of long and good service.
John adds that until fairly recently uniforms were obligatory for postmen. Nowadays his current postman can only be distinguished by the fact he has a Royal Mail bag.

Also on the back side of the card a pretty stamp, showing one of the characters designed by famous Peter Rabbit illustrator Beatrix Potter.



Thank you very much, John!

In: from the United Kingdom

Some weeks ago I received this lovely scene from John: a parental polar bear reading for the little kid.



And last week I received this postcard, also sent by John and showing this beautiful charcoal drawing. The flute player has been created by Shelagh Popham:



On the back not only these interesting stamps (of which the eggplant is my favourite), but also a kind message with good news.



Thank you very much, John, and congratulations!

In: from Taiwan

Some countries do issue not only a variety of postage stamps, but also a variety of beautiful pictural postmarks. Taiwan is one of these countries. And Komimi from Taiwan was so kind to send me these two postmarks as a surprise within other mail. I love mail related postmarks, fortunately these are! Showing mail transport, a mailbox and a mail logo.



Komimi also made me happy with this postcard, designed by herself:



And on the back side there were these wonderful Chinese New Year stamps, from the Year of the Monkey, including a present monkey postmark, the Year of the Goat and the Year of the Horse.



THank you very much, Komimi!

In: from Korea

Two beautiful bird collage cards by Kareem Rizk, sent to me from Korea by Kim JungYoun.



Beautiful stamps as well, and it is the first time that I see a smartphone on a stamp!



Thank you very much, Kim!

In: from the United Kingdom

Those were the days, when people used real horse power for their transportations.
The back side of the card says (besides a kind message from John):
"Liverpool United Tramways & Omnibus Co., horse-drawn tram No. 43 (c. 1890) at Merseyside PTE Works, Edge Lane." The photo has been taken by Cyril Hayes, and published by Merseyside Tramway Preservation.

The accompanying stamps show some famous people, among them one I didn't know yet. Would you believe that I still haven't seen any Star Wars movie in my life so far?
It proofs that people still can learn from stamps!



Thank you very much, John!

In: from the United Kingdom / Morocco

Eva has sent me a lot of great mail. Alas I haven't sufficient time to post all interesting postcards that I would have loved to share with you, but every now and then I (try to) do.

This card has been reproduced from a stamp issued by Royal Mail in August 2009. The mailbox / post box is an 'Elizabeth II Type A Wall Box', the description on the back side says. With Eva I am wondering what Type B would be. Anyhow, I love to see mailboxes and this card is a great additioin to my postal postcards collection.

She sent the card from Morocco, so the combination of the card, sender, addressee and stamps includes not only the UK and the continent, but even two continents!



Thank you very much, moltes gràcies, Eva!

In: from Australia

Usually I keep the digital versions of my received postcrossing postcards on the postcrossing site only. This time there's a postcard which matches with Eva's postcard, posted yesterday , showing a lighthouse and a postmark on the front side.
It is the very first lighthouse card I received from Australia. Which shows not only a lighthouse and a postmark in front, but also the postage stamp!



The card and stamp show the Casuarina Point lighthouse.

Australia Post has issued many so-called maximum cards, of which I am happy to have received this one.

In: from Spain

Received from Eva from Spain, this wonderful painting by Edward Hopper.
Eva wrote, and I totally agree, that the sky painted is extremely bright blue. Beautiful!

The postal services must have thought the postage stamp to be on the front side, as they put the cancellation in front. And see, above top right, what the postmark says: Azul! Which means 'blue' :-)



Thank you very much, moltes gràcies, Eva!

In: from the United Kingdom

"Postman with a pony and trap in Northern Ireland, 1938, Photographer unknown", the text on the back side of this card says. The card was issued by the British Postal Museum & Archive.
Also on the back, these stamps, among them one showing the former politician, once youngest Prime Minister in the UK, William Pitt the Younger (1759-1806).

Thank you very much, John!

Out: to Sri Lanka

Another tram postcard found to send to Ravindra in Sri Lanka! I happened to find a temporary 'brocante' market on my way in my home city, and of course the old black and white photo postcards attracted my attention.

This card has travelled and will travel far, both in time and in place.
Concerning time: the card has been written and sent for the first time in 1929. And more than 86 years later it is sent again.



Concerning place: the card - originally from Marseille, France - was sent from Tanger in Morocco, to Haarlem in the Netherlands.
And now will travel from the Netherlands to Nugegoda in Sri Lanka!



On the envelope I added these train stamps, which I hope Ravindra will like, too. These I bought in the city of Utrecht at the stamps shop of Wim van der Bijl, a very friendly and remarkable stamp collector and seller.

In: from the Sea

The Sea is an interesting phenomenon. Eva sent me several Sea items from the sea Spain, of which I am posting three different ones right now.



Above you can see a wonderful stamp showing the sea, seen from the air.
There won't be Sea without Land, as you can see also on this stamp: below the airplane the Canary Islands archipel is visible.



Bottles containing messages are frequently sent by people. Sometimes they arrive on the beach, brought to Land by the Sea, to be found by other people.
My home town doesn't have sea close by and I don't go to the beach often, so the chance for me to find a message in a bottle is almost zero. Fortunately Eva knew a good alternative to send her bottled message to my place: the mailmen, who travels by bike and/or car over land. So I finally found a bottled message in my mailbox!



Last but not least, and I received this card in July already, aeas contain wonderful flora and fauna. Fish, mollusc, mammals. All kind of animals. And mermaids, of course. This card shows our marine friend Salina, and the beautiful lighthouse.

Thnak you very much, moltes gràcies, Eva (and Salina)!

In: from Spain

'One hour to departure' is the name of this painting by the Polish painter Wiktor Najbor.
The card was sent by Eva from Spain. I am happy that Eva sticked the Spanish Europa 2015 stamp on the back.
Out of all participating countries, and besides the Dutch stamps which of course I already have used for outgoing mail, this is the first Europe 2015 stamp I see in real!



This year's Europe stamp theme is 'Old toys', and I love this wooden train. The stamp even smells after wood!
Thank you very much, moltes gràcies, Eva!

In: from Korea

This beautiful map card above came along with this wonderful mail art, you see below, created by Kim JungYoun from Korea. She manages to make a kind of minimal mail art, which I admire, because I am not able to create it, as mine is always (too) full with details.



To the envelope she sticked this postage stamp, showing one of my favourite subjects: mail and mail related objects!



And inside the envelope some more envelopes, among them this one from Australia:



Which contained a nice brochure about animals, and three prints of drawings from Sydney, created by the Italian artist Pepe Gaka who is currently living in Sydney. Among them these two, of the famous Opera House and one of my favourite bridges, the Sydney Harbour Bridge:





She traveled to the USA as well, and found there these ad cards and postcard. Thank you so much for sharing, Kim!

In: from the United Kingdom

Zonder het te weten besmette Eva me met het vuurtoren-virus. Sindsdien, iedere keer als ik een kaart ontvang met een vuurtoren, spring ik een gat in de lucht.
John is iemand die zowel Eva als mijn postvoorkeuren kent, en hij was zo aardig om me deze mooie kaart te sturen, van de vuurtoren op Sint John's Point, bovendien voorzien van prachtige postzegels op de achterkant!

Without knowing and willing to, Eva has infected me with the lighthouse-virus. Since then, every time I receive a postcard showing a lighthouse, I'm super happy.
John in the United Kingdom knows Eva's and my preferences. He was so kind to send me this beautiful Saint John's Point lighthouse, and has added more beautiful lighthouse stamps on the back.



Thank you very much, John!

In: Coffee!

This beautiful drawing has been made by Eva, and she is right: I like coffee (with milk, no sugar), on both rainy and snowy days and any other days.



The cup of coffee came along with this owl, made of two coffee cups and a lot of coffee beans.
And with the explanation about different kinds of coffee you see below. Although I like coffee, I am not familiar with different tastes other than 'koffie verkeerd' (= 'cafe-au-lait' = 'cafe con leche') so to me the postcard / dictionary below is welcome study material :-)



Thank you very much, Eva!