Christmas sparkling stamps from Switzerland

 

Swiss Post released a set of stamps dedicated to Christmas and New Year holidays. The stamps depict Santa Claus, festive delicious biscuits, advent wreath and crib. This year’s Christmas stamp series unleashes a true blaze of colour.  The stamp depict the joy of the holidays sparkles like the reflection of candles on Christmas tree ornaments.

Club News

New Special Cover

A Special Cover on New Judicial Complex of Muvattupuzha was issued at Muvattupuzha on 17th October 2014. (Special Cover approval no. KL-12/2014)

The  Judicial Complex at Muvattupuzha  -  The Cradle of Triveni Sangamam - actually a monument, which reveals the golden reign of the Kings of Travancore,  is   prestigiously kept up even today – for the  last 135 years.

- Sreejesh Krishnan – Thiruvananthapuram

New Meghdoot Cards

Two new Meghdoot Cards recently issued by India Post in denomination of 25 paise in the months of August and September 2014.

 

: Timir Shah – Vadodara

Stamps of India National Exhibition

Stamps of India National Exhibition on Jan 30, Jan 31, & Feb 1, 2015 at NDMC Convention Centre, Opp Jantar Mantar, Sansad Marg, New Delhi 110001. For details visit stampsofindia.com

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New stamps on children’s fables from Switzerland

 

 

CHILDREN'S POSTAGE STAMPS - FABLES

Every year, almost all world postal administrations publish a special postage stamp issue named "Children's Postage Stamp". The motifs of these stamps are usually the usually the favourite children's pets, fairy tales and literature heroes, children's toys, cartoons. Children's stamps may include educational and corrective topics in animated form, i.e. drawings on certain topics that children normally learn in school: famous scientists and phenomenon that
they study, historical figures and events, sport heroes, pets and attitude to-wards them.... They are all represented in a way that is interesting and understandable to little children.

The theme of this year's Children's Postage Stamp is fable-short story in which animals behave like humans.  Fables are at the same time instructive stories, narrated concisely and with great humour, and containing important life truths. Dositej Obradovic, Serbian educator and fabulist has collected and published the fables that are motifs on stamps.

Motifs on Stamps: 23 RSD- The dog and his shadow, 35 RSD - The fox and the crow, 46 RSD- The Rooster and the precious stone, 70 RSD- The turtle and the eagle.

Motifs on Envelopes: a- Two mice,   b- Pig and oak

Courtesy – Dr. Avinash Jagtap, Switzerland

Club News

New Special Cover

Special Cover on Dr. A. S. Rao, on the occasion of his Birth Centenary Celebration - 16th November 2014

The Union Minister for Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Parliamentary Affairs, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu along with the Minister of State for Labour and Employment (Independent Charge), Shri Bandaru Dattatreya released a Special Cover on Dr. A.S. Rao on his Birth Centenary Celebrations at Hyderabad on 16th November, 2014. Shri B. V. Sudhakar, Chief Postmaster General, Andhra Pradesh Postal Circle was also present on the occasion.

Ayyagari Sambasiva Rao (popularly known as A. S. Rao) (b. 1914 – d. 2003) was an eminent Indian scientist and founder of the Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), Hyderabad. Shri Rao represented India at many international conferences on scientific development including UN conferences on peaceful uses of atomic energy. He also served on the editorial and advisory boards of many scientific journals including many international journals of repute. He was awarded Padma Shri in 1960.

Special Cover on 125th Annual Conference of Akhil Bhartiya Bhargava Sabha - 15th November 2014

125th Annual Conference of Akhil Bhartiya Bhargava Sabha was held at Udaipur from 15th to 17th November 2014 at Udaipur. To mark the occasion a Special Cover was released on 15th November 2014 at Udaipur.

Courtesy : Indian Philately Digest

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Swiss Post Distributes Free Stamps !

 

On Thursday, 18^th September 2014, Swiss Post distributed four free stamps each worth one Swiss Franc to every household across the country! This campaign is a part of an agreement drawn up with the price regulator. So it was a pleasant surprise to the letter-box owners of four million households when they received this gift of four stamps in the form of online WebStamp. The Stamp distribution is combined with a competition, offering prizes worth total of 90,000 Swiss Francs.

The campaign is a part of a compromise which Swiss Post reached with the price regulator at the beginning of 2014. The agreement guarantees that the prices of A (=fast mail) and B (=“Snail Mail”) Mail which have not changed since 2004, and domestic parcel will remain the same until 2016. The compromise meant that a lengthy procedure could be avoided and ensured planning reliability for Swiss Post.

Could this be a lesson for India Post?

-- Dr. Avinash B. Jagtap (Binningen, Switzerland)

New Special Covers

Centenary Celebration of Catholic Association of South Kanara (CASK)

A special Cover was released in Mangalore on 21st September to commemorate  Centenary celebration of Catholic Association of South Kanara (CASK).

: Mansoor B. – Mangalore

 

Private Special Cover

Centenary of Bombardment of Madras by "SMS Emden"

 

South India Philatelist's Association   brought out a Private Special Cover on Centenary of Bombardment of Madras by "SMS Emden" on 22 September 2014.To mark this event SIPA has brought out this cover with Postmark of High Court of Chennai, which happens to be nearest Post Office of the bombardment.

In the WWI Madras is the only place in India which was attacked by Germans in 1914.

: Mahesh Parekh – Chennai : email : maheshparekhb@gmail.com

The Bombardment of Madras

The Bombardment of Madras was an engagement of World War I, at Madras (Chennai), British India. The bombardment was initiated by the German light cruiser Emden at the start of the war in 1914.

With Captain Karl von Müller in command, on the night of 22 September 1914, SMS Emden quietly approached the city of Madras on the southeastern coast of the Indian peninsula. After entering the Madras harbor area and observing for a moment, Müller gave the order to engage at 9:30 pm, Emden opened fire at 3,000 yards on several large oil tanks within the harbor, which belonged to the Burmah Oil Company.

Within the first 30 rounds, the oil tanks were in flames. After bombing the fuel tanks, Emden moved onto a small merchant ship in harbor. The craft was quickly sunk by Emden's deck guns. The worst casualties experienced that night were from the merchant vessel, 26 of whose crew were injured. At least 5 of the sailors were killed on scene or died later of injuries.The action lasted half an hour, until 10:00 pm, by which time the British shore batteries had begun to respond. However, Emden slipped away unscathed. In all, 125 shells were fired by the Germans.  The raid did little damage but thousands of people fled the city. Madras was the only Indian city to come under attack by forces of the Central Powers during World War I.

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My Stamps 3rd Series Commercially used Private First Day Covers

As per the Office Memorandum F. No. 17-5/2013-Phil, dated 22nd July 2014 issued by Philately Division, Department of Posts, 10 new themes of My Stamps have been launched, viz. Red Fort, Qutub Minar, Taj Mahal, Hawa Mahal, Mysore Palace, Fairy Queen, Port Blair Island, Ajanta Caves, St. Francis Church and Greetings. Though the notification was issued on 22nd July 2014, the Fairy Queen design was made available at many philatelic bureaux much earlier. Date of issue has not been announced for all 10 designs.

Mr. Parvesh Gupta has prepared private first day covers which are commercially used. Few of them are given below.

View all covers at : http://www.indianphilately.net/news.html

 

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Musical Stamp in form of Vinyl Disc

 

Record souvenir sheet from Switzerland

Date of Issue : 4 September 2014

Here is  a unique Souvenir sheet in form of  gramophone record from Switzerland.Swiss Post introduced a new series of original stamps that have form and function of vinyl discs.

A piece of music has been imprinted on the “record” part of the souvenir sheet using a special coating. When you take the circular, ready-for-postage stamp off the souvenir sheet and place it on your record player, it plays a brass band version of the Swiss national anthem.

Even if the stamp, which is suitable for franking, is detached from the souvenir sheet, a specially engraved soundtrack still allows the miniature sheet to be played on a record player which is set to 33 rpm.

 

Stamp on Gazzetta di Mantova – one of World’s oldest newspapers

 

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Date of Issue : 1 September 2014

Italian Post released a commemorative postage stamp to mark the 350th anniversary of the foundation of the Gazzetta di Mantova, the oldest surviving Italian newspaper.Gazzetta di Mantova is a local daily newspaper, published in Mantova, Italy. It was established in 1664 making it one of World’s oldest newspapers still existing.

The 70 cent stamp recording the printing of the Mantua organ’s first issue in 1664, since when it has played a major role in the life of the historic Lombardy city and today belongs to the Espresso-repubblica group of publications.The stamp depicts the oldest copy extant of the newspaper, conserved in the state archive of Modena, and its current masthead.

New Postal stationeries (postcards) from Czech Republic

In the Czech Republic  two new stationeries(postcards) featuring animals will be available soon. One postcard is featuring a butterfly and two kingfishers. The other one is featuring the butterfly Lesser Purple Emperor(Apatura ilia).

Courtesy : Wolfgang Beyer, Vice Chairman of the German Philatelic Collector Group ARGE ZOOLOGIE. E-Mail: Wolfgang.beyer1@aol.de . &  Wolfgang Hoelzl

Club News

BILASAPEX – 2014 – District level   stamp Exhibition

12-14 September 2014

A three days District Level Philatelic exhibition will be held at Bilaspur C. G. from 12th Sept. to 14th. September 2014. Following philatelic items are proposed to  be released during the exhibition.
3 Special Covers

1) Malhar Chattisgarh's Archaeological Gems
2) Kendai Water Fall
3) Bilaspur Railway Station 1989

4 Stamp Booklets

 

1) Chafara (Red Frangipani) Achanakmar
2) Bison -Wild Life of Achanakmar Tiger Reserve
3) Gandhi with Child
4) Mother Teresa

 

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Joint issue by Russia and Switzerland

 

Date of Issue : 21 May 2014

Postal Administrations of Russia and Switzerland  brought out a joint issue on 21st May 2014. Russia and Switzerland have maintained diplomatic relations for 200 years. During the Second World War, those relations were briefly severed, but were restored after the war ended and have been stable ever since. The stamps feature famous landmarks of the two countries.

 

The Berne’s clock tower: the federal capital’s defining landmark and a tourist magnet. When it was erected at the start of the 13th century, as a fortified tower, the building marked the western edge of the city of Berne. As the city grew, the  tower moved closer to the centre, where it became redundant as a fortification. During the 15th century, it was used as a prison and subsequently as a clock tower – Zytglogge – and was rebuilt from Berne sandstone.

From then on, its clock dictated the time for the entire city and became the point of reference for measuring the travel times indicated on the hour stones along the cantonal roads. In the 16th century, the tower gained its present-day height and a new clock. Beneath this, in the archway, the edicts and ordinances of the City of Berne were posted and, from the 18th century onwards, the measures of length were affixed for official inspection. When the tower underwent further alterations in 1770 and 1771, it was incorporated fully in the cityscape and adapted to its environment with the addition of baroque embellishments.

The Zytglogge tower owes its national and international fame not only to its eventful history, but also to its special carillon, the ring of bears, lions, a rooster and the god of time, Chronos. The Kazansky tower depicted on the Russian special stamp may be recognizable from afar but it isn’t the tower itself that is famous … In fact, the tower is the most imposing feature of Kazansky station, one of Moscow’s eight largest stations. The station was built in 1862 and, initially, was nothing more than a small timber building without a waiting room or platform. Two years later, the wooden building was dis- mantled and, in its place, a stone station building was erected.

The new station building fell short of increasingly stringent requirements; it was too small and of little architectural merit. When the railway line was extended further eastwards to the large Volga city of Kazansky – which gave the station its name – and passenger numbers swelled accordingly, the station had to be expanded yet again. After various makeshift solutions and lengthy debate, in 1918 work commenced on the construction of the present day station building, following the nationalization of the railways. It was a huge undertaking and the station was not fully completed until 1940. Even once the building was finally complete, it underwent further expansion and upgrading work which had been included in the original construction plans but had not been implemented. Among the further additions were the clock tower, the underground terminal building for local public transport and the direct access to the underground.

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