Odd stamps : 10 e Stamps on/in wood or cork

As mentioned in my previous post, Spain issued two wooden stamps in 2020.

The stamp issued by Correos, dedicated to the elm tree, is printed on wood paper in the form of a cut trunk where its rings can be seen, which not only give information as to the age of the tree, but also details about the kind of life it has led.

Spanish wooden stamp 2020

Inside, an image of the elm tree is cut out.

real elm tree

The stamp mentions Cabeza de Buey, which means Ox head, and is also a muncipiality in Badajoz, Extremaduro in Spain.  This small city is known for its 100 year old elm trees.

Similar to the odd stamp, a cancellation postmark was issued for the first day of issue.

Cancellation 1st day of issue

Odd stamps : 03g 3D stamps (moving)

The Star Wars Saga is like a never ending story.
So far 8 episodes have been made so far (2018).

The story starts with episode 3... It was released in May 1977 already.
A time where space exploration was still more or less 'science fiction'. In the late 70's there was still hope, so 'a new hope' was warmly welcomed.
In May 1980, the empire strikes back, with a second movie, part 4 in the saga.
3 years later, again in May, the Jedi returns with episode 5.
Then the fans have to wait till ... May 1999 when a prequel (episode 1) comes to the theaters.

This 'first' episode was not a phantom menace to all movies that were made in 1999. With over one billion USD in revenue, it whipped out all other movies that year.
In 2002 (guess what ... in May) the clones attacked us again with a fifth movie. This movie was the second of the prequel series.
In ... May 2005, the prequel was completed with a 6th (of sith) revenge.

In 2015, the forces awakened again, and a third trilogy started, this time ... in December.
This movie had over 2 billion USD in revenues!
Two years later,George Lucas found a last Jedi to make the 2nd movie of the sequel-trilogy.
The movie came out in December as well...
Now it's waiting till (December) 2019 (?) for the ninth movie, to complete the trilogy-trilogy.

Many postal services took their part in the huge commercial succes of George Lucas' movies.
For this blog, I limit myself to 'odd' stamps on this topic.

Spain 3D sheet - Star Wars

Spain issued a 3D sheet, with 6 'stamps' depicting characters from the movie,
but only one out of the six stamps is actuallly a stamp.

Dart Vader on a 3D stamp Spain

The other 5 look similar but have no country name, nore a value.
The labels depict : A storm trooper - Chewbacca - R2-D2 - Yoda and C-3PO

 

It's not the best issue Spain made so far, and it's not a superb 3D-sheet either, but I guess it's a must have for all die hard fans ... but that's another movie.

Theme : Volkswagen Beetle - 20

When you collect very common themes, as flowers, insects, animals, famous people, ... your collection can be extended nearly every day.

Choosing a less common theme, or a very specific theme (like my Volkswagen Beetles) has a limited number of issued stamps, but whenever something new appears, the pleasure is double.

So for my next item from Spain.
A souvenir sheet of 4 stamps was issued in 2013.
Each of the stamps shows a 'classic' car.
We see a Mercedes Benz 190 (1962) - a Citroën 2CV (1948) and a Seat 1500 (1963).
The fourth stamp shows - of course - a Volkswagen Beetle.
Although each other model shows us the car from the mentionned year, the Beetle stamps indicates : "Volkswagen Beetle (1938)".
The first "Beetle" may then have been produced around 1938, under the name of KdF-wagen, the car depicted in the stamp is a 1966 model.

full sheet Spain 2013

In my - humble - opinion, a missed chance to depict a real old model, as the subtext is suggesting.
Or at least the marked year of 1938 could have been adjusted to the depicted model.

detail of the sheet, with left corner

Finally the choice of the colours of this sheetlet disspaointed me a little bit too.
The print under the stamp (back side of a red Beetle) is the only highlight in the rather tasteless design.
I think there was more creativity possible in creating this sheet.

Nevertheless, a nice new item for my theme collection.

Currency Today : Euro Common Design 01 d

The last set of TOR - coins only have few interesting marks, or even none at all.

Portugal and Spain

TOR Portugal 2007

Both countries have the logo of their national mint mark on the coin.
For Portugal it's :  INCM  "Imprensa Nacional – Casa de Moeda" (National Currency – Mint House) abbrev.

For Spain it's : "Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre (National Factory of Currency and Stamps)" logo
 

TOR Spain 2007

The last 3 coins don't have any mint mark at all


Austria, Ireland and Slovenia

TOR Austria 2007

TOR Ireland 2007

TOR Slovenia 2007