Theme : Zodiac signs 21

Zodiac signs will always be a popular topic on stamps.
There are 12 (originally 13) zodiac signs in a year, according western astrology, and 12 animal signs in a 12-year cycle, according the eastern astrology.

In 2023, Mongolia issued two sheetlets, with one stamp each.
One is dedicated to western astrology, showing the 12 signs, around a circular stamp.

1st sheet - 12 western zodiac signs

In the middle of the circle with the 12 western zodiac signs, we find a round stamp, where the symbol for each sign is placed under the according picture above.

round shaped stamp with 12 zodiac symbols

detail gemini

Above each picture, we also see the star constellation

The second sheetlet shows the 12 animals in the easter zodiac circle.

2nd sheet - 12 asian zodiac signs

Here we find the more older symbols, that described someone's personalty based on the year of birth (starting around 4 February each 'western' year).
The word 'zodiac' is derived from the ancient Greek : zōdiakòs kýklos (ζῳδιακός κύκλος), which literally means 'circle of animals'.

This circle is binary composed, as each year is alternately male or female.
The 'male' years are Rat, Tiger, Dragon, Horse, Monkey and Dog, where the 'female' years are Ox, Hare (Rabbit), Snake, Sheep, Hen (Rooster) and Pig.

In the middle, we find a round shaped stamp.
Each of the twelve animals surround the central stamp. The animals are depicted as human forms, with the head of an animal.

sheet detail : Rabbit - Dragon and Snake

For the next years, here are the 12 zodiac signs, after that, the cycle restarts.

Jan 22 2023–Feb 09 2024	Rabbit
Feb 10 2024–Jan 28 2025	Dragon
Jan 29 2025–Feb 16 2026	Snake
Feb 17 2026–Feb 05 2027	Horse
Feb 06 2027–Jan 25 2028	Goat
Jan 26 2028–Feb 12 2029	Monkey
Feb 13 2029–Feb 02 2030	Rooster
Feb 03 2030–Jan 22 2031	Dog
Jan 23 2031–Feb 10 2032	Pig
Feb 11 2032–Jan 30 2033	Rat
Jan 31 2033–Feb 18 2034	Ox
Feb 19 2034–Feb 07 2035	Tiger

Odd stamps : 02g Silver / golden stamps

Next to the 5 'small' issues of the gold and silver foil stamps of Mongolia (1993), there are also 4 lager issues. These issues come without number on the back of the stamps.

'small and large' stamp

Each stamp comes in gold foil and silver foil, and show animals in various combinations.
(see Scott and Michel numbering in my previous post).

4 'large' stamps (twice in gold, twice in silver foil)

Because the animals and the text are 'embossed', there's a possible loss of colour on the higher parts of the stamp, due to friction.

parts of the text get lost due to friction

Some 'undamaged' details :

Michel rates each stamp at € 15 and each sheetlet at € 25, Scott rates the same, but then in USD.

Odd stamps : 02f Silver / golden stamps

Mongolia is porbably not the country that is in the top ten of collected countries, when it comes to stamps.
I was triggered by some gold / silver issues from 1993, and I was lucky to find (most) of them.

gold and silver foil stamp and matching sheet

There are 9 sets (9 in gold print, 9 in silver print) - 5 are small (63x46 mm) and 4 are large (79x54mm). 18 stamps and 18 souvenir sheets.
The Scott catalogue only mentions one number (both for silver and gold print),
The Michel catalogue mentions one number per stamp (xxxx A for stamps and xxxx B for blocks).
I could not find Scott numbers for the last 2 issues.
s = small; L = large

Scott 2124 - Michel 2437 A (gold) and 2437 B (block)

Except for the design, there is no common theme or reason for the issues. Some depict domestic animals, some are about transportation, sports, or nature in general.

Scott 2125 / 2126 - Michel 2441-2444

Scott 2127 - Michel 2439/2440

All 'small' stamps come with a number on the back of the stamps, also on the ones in the sheetlets.

reverse side of the 'small' gold and silver foil stamps

to be continued ...

Theme : Zodiac signs 09

I think everyone who collects stamps, knows the feeling of having too many big or smal boxes, books, binders, ... with several stamps of which you don't konw right away what to do with them.
I have plenty of those boxes and folders at home, that's a fact.

Every time you reorganise your stuff, those things move to another place, and "one day" you'll find a place to store them.
Putting such a stack of pages from one shelf to another one, made me discover a sheet that I had since a long time.

Big was my surprise that I could use it right away for my theme collection.

The sheet I found is from Mongolia.
Most people know the stamps of Mongolia because we all have encountered the CTO stamps that are widely spread.
Having Mongolian MNH stamps is not so obvious, especially not from the 1970's and 80's.

Mongolia Mi 736-47 - 1972

The stamps are dedicated to the discovery of space, and the zodiac signs of the Chinese calendar are added to each of the 12 stamps.
In the border of the sheetlet, also the symbols for each sign are given.

All signs together - from Mongolia Mi 736-47

If you have one or only some of those stamps in your collection you would probably not have known they represent all signs of the chinese zodiac. But 'finding' a sheet like this one, made me discover it.

Off you go now... on tresor hunt!

Odd stamps : 08 Stamps with special cuts - 04 b

Within the same family of the trapezoid stamps, we'll have parallelograms.
A parallelogram is a quadrilateral with two pairs of parallel sides:
Oh yes, this blog might be interesting after all :-)

For stamps, the shape is rather unusual, but that of course is a huge benefit, to make it to my blog.

Two sets of Mongolia, perfectly stamped CTO, but because of the parallel shape, I have put them in this topic.

A way better example is this set from Viet-Nam:

Odd stamps : 08 Stamps with special cuts - 03 a

In this next round, I am taking you to the world of diamond shaped stamps.
I do know that squares are diamonds as well, but i will only show you diamond shaped stamps, where one of the angles is pointing downwards, in order to see the design of the stamp as it was ment.
This means that I'm not turning any common square stamp to make them look like diamonds.

Let's start with some examples from Asia
Bhutan :

Mongolia :

Nepal :

China PR :

(Portuguese) Macau :

Japan :

(non officicial) Molukkan State :

... and many many more :-)

Odd stamps : 08 Stamps with special cuts - 02 e

When talking about odd stamps, triangular stamps are still drawing the attention when put on a letter.
The harvest of asian triangulars is rather small, compared to what was issued in Africa.
I 'm only showing 'some' examples of the asian stamps i found.
Mongolia issued quit a lot of triangular stamps, but as most of them are CTO, I try to avoid them in my collection.

Way better quality is this set of 4 beautiful stamps issued by the Thai postal authorities. Very refined, and with a total face value of 20 baht (+/- 0,50 €) truly a must for stamp collectors.

Just to avoid forgetting smaller countries, I'm posting two Nepales triangulars.
One to promote a philatelic exhibition.
How can a philatelic event be better promoted then by an eye catcher like this!