Odd stamps : 08 Stamps with special cuts - 01 j

What's the best way to post an Easter article...
with eggs of course.

In this series of 'round' stamps, I also included some oval stamps before.
Since 'eggs' tend to be more oval, the following two sheets deal with oval stamps.

Let me situate the origin of the stamps.
They come from a tiny island 'Bequia'.
To find it, we go to the Caribbean :

Map of the Caribbean

We zoom in into Saint Vincent and Grenada islands :

The island below Saint Vincent is Bequia Island.
It's not really a country, but part of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
This island emits its own stamps.
The stamps are good quality, but as there are less then 10,000 people living on the Islands, and Saint Vincent issues its own stamps, it's an emission that can be discussed.

However, the article of today is about the odd stamps :

sheet 1 :

Full sheet - 3 eggs

 

3 eggs - Bequia

Egg n° 1 : Ruff
Egg n° 2 : Spotted Sandpiper
Egg n° 3 : Sharp-Shinned Hawk

sheet 2 :

Full sheet - 1 egg

1 egg - Bequia

Egg of Great Crested Flycatcher

Happy Easter

Odd stamps : 08 Stamps with special cuts - 04 c

I wrote already about trapezoid stamps (http://rainbowstampsandcoins.blogspot.com/search/label/trapezoid) but there are more stamps in that shape.

I was on a stamp fair and that's where I found the following stamps of Tanzania.
They are CTO - unfortunatly - but from some countries that's more or less the only way to obtain the emitted stamps.
We see a weird combiation of prehistorical animals

2/- Plateosaurus

3/- Pteranodon

5/- Jurasic Brontosaurus

and 100/- Stegosaurus

and, the other values shows animals that are still alive:

7/- Lions

8/- Tiger (strange, as tigers do not live in Africa)

12/- Orang-Utang (living in Sumatra and Borneo)

20/- Elephants

This weird set is fun for children and for me (as I like the shape) but for collectors not really a hot item.
The fact that they are all CTO makes the whole set even less interesting.
However, I can't keep them away from my blog, as the 'oddness' is there...

Thai coins : 01 g - 10 baht commemorative coins

The next episode in the (almost) never ending story of commemorative coins of Thailand.

Y # 402

In 2005 (BE 2548) a coin was emitted to honour the Treasury Department.
This department, is part of the Thai Ministry of Finance.

King Rama IX - Y 402 front

seal Treasury Dept. - Y 402 back

The seal is rather small depicted on the coin.
It shows a dragon with wings - phoenix with tail.

Seal Treasury Department

Y # 411

Earlier issued, but with a higher number in the catalogue, is the next coin.
Again, a commemorative coin, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Royal Scolar Board.
The foundation of this institued in 1934, took place under King Rama VII (King Prajadhipok).

On the coin, both kings, King Rama VII and King Rama IX are depicted.

King Rama VII and King Rama IX

The back of the coin shows teh Royal Scolar Board's seal.

Royal Scolar Board's Seal

Y # 412

Another 70th anniversary that was commemorated in 2004, is the Queen's 70th anniversary.
Queen Sirikit can be found on the front of the coin; the royal seal on the back of the coin.

Queen Sirikit - Y 412 front

Royal seal - Y 412 back

Queen Sirikit of Thailand

Y # 413

The last coin for today, is not for an anniversary, but was issued at the occasion of the World IUCN Conservation Congress, that was held in Thailand in 2004.
IUCN is the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Again the front of the coins shows the bust of King Rama IX, the back of the coin shows the logo of the IUCN.

The congress was held in Bangkok in November 2004, under the titel : "People and Nature, only one world..."

IUCN 2004

Y 413 - front

Y 413 - back IUCN logo

more to follow...

Theme : Zodiac signs 02 b

It's been a long time since I posted something on Israeli stamps, regarding zodiac signs.

The set I posted earlier : http://rainbowstampsandcoins.blogspot.be/2011/05/theme-zodiac-signs-02.html

Now I proudly present two FDC's with the full set of stamps cancelled on Feb. 27, 1961.

Honestly, I'm not a big fan of FDC's, as they are all CTO cancels, but on the other hand, it's a good way to collect clear cancels on all stamps of a certain set.
An FDC (First Day Cover) also gives you some extra information.

As you might know, Hebrew's language is written from right to left.
Therefore, you can see that the set starts in the right hand corner and values add up gowing to the left.

All stamps have their TAB. This is very typical for Israeli stamps.
On each tab you can see the latin name of the zodiac sign, as well as the circle with all 12 signs.

Cancel both on stamp and on tab

I noticed it before, but also here you can see that the tab on 2 stamps (Virgo and Leo) is shorter then on the other 10 values of the set.

short and longer tabs

Theme : Tintin (Kuifje) 08

It doesn't happy too often that I find a new item for my theme collection.
But today I found.

I wrote about Tintin stamps, issued by the Netherlands in my previous posts, http://rainbowstampsandcoins.blogspot.be/2011/04/theme-tintin-kuifje-2.html

To celebrate two Dutch cities : Hattem and Urmond, who were commemorating their 700th anniversary in 1999 and 2000, the two Tintin stamps were placed on two individual covers and cancelled with a special cancel.

This cancellation is double special as the dates are Dec. 31, 1999 and Jan. 1, 2000.

two covers in special album

Let's have a closer look

1999 - cover :

cover Dec. 31, 1999

Special cancel city Hattem

Hattem is a city in the Dutch province : Gelderland; (central-east) and got it's city rights in 1299.
In 1999 they celebrated their 700th anniversary.

location of Hattem

2000 - cover :

The second cover, is cancelled in Urmond, on Jan. 1, 2000.

Cover Jan. 1, 2000

Special cancel village Urmond

There are no written documents that state that Urmond got city rights in 1300.
The oldest remains date from the 12th century, but the (now) village itself, claims to have the rights since 1300. Therefore, the cancel on Jan. 1, 2000 (also 700th anniversary).
Urmond is now part of the Dutch city 'Stein', in the province Limbourg.

Location of Urmond (city Stein)

Both covers are presented in a cardboard cover, holding the two covers.
On the front and back page of the cover, "Millennium Wissel" - Millennium Change is printed.
On one side with 1999 - 2000, on the other side 2000 - 1999.

printing on both sides of the cover

Currency today : the Netherlands 01

The Netherlands...

long time ago, two countries, Belgium and the current 'Netherlands'.
A country with a turbulent history of monarchs, from popluar, to extremely unpopular and back to very popular...

A small overview of the Kings and Queens who were ruling the Netherlands since 1815.

Willem I

Wilhelmina van Pruisen

Willem II

Anna Paulowna

Emma

Willem III

Sophia

Wilhelmina

Hendrik

Willem

Maurits

Alexander

Juliana

Bernhard

Beatrix

Claus

Willem-Alexander

Máxima

Amalia

Alexia

Ariane

There is something special about the coins and the stamps...

First King Willem I (Guillaume I):

Willem I (facing right) - not in my collection

King Willem II

Willem II (facing left) - not in my collection

King Willem III

Willem III (facing right) - not in my collection

Queen (regent) Emma

She wasn't really Queen, her title was Queen-regent until her daughter Wilhelmina succeeded the throne.
There are no circulation coins with Queen (-regent) Emma.

Queen Wilhelmina

Queen Wilhemina - facing left

Queen Juliana

Queen Juliana - facing right

Queen Beatrix

Guilder coin Beatrix (facing left)

Euro coin Beatrix (facing left)

(soon) King Willem-Alexander (Willem IV)

King Willem - Alexander will be the new monarch on the Dutch coins... guess what side he will be facing...