Currency Today : Venezuela 14

In this post, I present the last two Venezolan notes (at this moment).

200 BsS and 500 BsS

Again 2 new designs were used.
The 500 note has Simón Bolívar on the front side, but now he is depicted from the right hand side.

The back side of the notes puts two more vulnerable animals in the picture.

reverse side of 200  BsS and 500 BsS

The parrot on the 200 BsS note, is a large parrot or small macaw.
The bird is not that uncommon in captivity, and often found as pet. However in the wild, the Guacamayo is vulnerable.
Although the picture on the banknote is only one colour, the Guacamayo/Papagayo Militar/Verde is known for its colourful, but predominal green plumage, resembling a military uniform

Guacamayo on 200 BsS/VeS

Guacamayo or Papagayo Militar or Verde

The last note in the 2018 set, is a 500 Boliváres Soberanos note (equivalent of 50,000,000 Boliváres fuertes).
As it is the highest denomination (for now), it shows the national hero Simón Bolívar on the front side.
At the back, an endemic bird is depicted. This is the only animal on the banknotes that is not endangered of vulnerable.

Venezuelan Turpial

The Venezuelan Turpial or Tourpial is the national bird of Venezuela.

Venezuelan T(o)urpial

In 2015, there was an international beauty contest in Tokio, Japan.
Each miss represented her country in a dress that referred to her country.
Edymar Martínez did this in a 'turpial' dress. I don't know if the dress made any difference, but she won the 2015 Miss International competition.

Miss (Turpial) Venezuela - Miss International 2015

Edymar Martinez representing Venezuela poses in a national dress during the 55th Miss International Beauty Pageant in Tokyo, Japan, November 5, 2015. Photo: Reuters

Currency Today : Venezuela 06a

On the same date as the 20,000 Boliváres Fuertes note appeared, a 2,000 Boliváres Fuertes notes is issued, but with a different signature. A signature (G) that will reappear on the notes of December 2017.

2000 boliváres fuertes

On the reverse side we see the (American) Harpy Eagle, which can be found from the south of Mexico, till the outer borders of Brazil.

Harpy Eagle - source Wikipedia

Behind the eagle, we see the Falls of Ucaima y Tepuyes Venado y Kurún, in the national park of Canaima (est. Bolivar)

national park of Canaima

The notes' design was taken from the 10 Boliváres Fuertes note, that was issued in the first set of notes (2007-2013).

10 boliváres fuertes

By the time, the 2,000 note was put into circulation, the 10 note was already taken out of circulation.

to be continued ...

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 - 01 i

Round stamps are still my favourite stamps.

Turkey issued a set of 4 round stamps, depicting 4 common birds.

Turkey 2011 - full sheet

The first stamp shows us a common Northern Pintale (Duck)

Northern pintale

Nothern pintale (male and female)

On the second stamp, we find a turtle dove

European Turtle Dove

Turtle dove in action

The two higher values are wildlife birds:

First we see a Pheasant

Pheasant

Pheasant

The last stamp is depicting a partridge

Partridge

partridge

Such stamps don't stick together in a sheet without at least a more square or rectangled shape to support them.
For that reason a pic of the back side of the sheet.
It's truly a festival of lines and curves.

back side of the sheet - lines and curves

Odd stamps : 08 Stamps with special cuts - 08 b

A more recent issue of octagonal stamps, comes from the Asian country Bangladesh.
The stamps, six in total, show us bird nest of Bangladesh.

The stamps were issued as six single stamps (issued perforated) and as a non-perforated block.

6 individual stamps, showing bird's nests

one stamp in detail - 20 taka

The printing hasn't always been very accurate, but still a nice emission.

The same stamps get repeted on the sheet.
Face value of each stamp is 20 taka, but the sheet was sold for 150 taka.

block bird nests of Bangladesh

And to show you that I don't only get those items mint; a postally used example :

cover from Bangladesh with set of octagonal stamps

Odd stamps : 08 Stamps with special cuts - 02 h

I'ts been agaes since I posted something on triangular stamps.
They do exist, and they are still produced, but somehow we hardly see them on letters.

Although this post isn't about a recently issued sheet, (1997), it's more then special.
I didn't know if I had to post it under 'special stamps' or 'special sheets' as both apply here.

New Zealand - triangular sheet with triangular stamps

It's a triangular sheet, with 4 triangular stamps in it.
Each stamp is repeated twice, so there are only 2 different stamps.

40 cents

80 cents

The sheet was issued for the Wold Philatelic Exhibition 'Pacific '97'. It celebrates the centenary of the first pigeon-gram. At the bottom of the sheet, the flight of a pigeon is drawn.

Odd stamps : 08 Stamps with special cuts - 06 c

Hexagonal stamps are getting popular around the world.
After my first entrance, I found more hexagonal stamps that were issued recently.

In this new post, a beautiful sheet from Liechtenstein.
Altough Liechtenstein is just a very small country in the European Alps, it's very popular amongst stamp collectors for their heigh quality stamps.

Of course, the purpose of stamp emitting is to sell as much as possible, also in Liechtenstein.
In this sheet, that is completely auto adhesive, there are 8 stamps on endangered species (birds) of Liechtenstein. With an additional logo of the WWF, this sheet will be wanted by a lot of collectors.

Let's have a closer look.

The Eurasian Pygmy Owl, Glaucidium passerinum

above : The Eurasian Golden Oriol, Oriol Oriol
bottom : Common Redstart, Phoenicurus Phoenicurus

above : The Nightingale, Luscinia Megarynchos
bottom : Whinchat, Saxicola Rubetra

above : The Eurasian Wryneck (woodpecker), Jynx Torquilla
bottom : The Red-backed Shrike, Lanius Collurio

The Eurasian Hobby (slim falcon), Falco Subbuteo

The sheet was issued in 2011, but might be unavailable already, due to the high demand.

Odd stamps : 07 c Stamps (sheets) with special cuts

There is so much to post about 'odd' stamps...
And in one of the previous articles I wrote something about 'odd shaped sheets'.
The stamps on those sheets are regular, square or rectangle stamps, but the sheets have odd shapes.

Nowadays a stamp is more then before an item to impress collectors, or even to impress foreighn postal administrations.
Having an odd shaped stamp in your emission, is surely a guarantee to sell more, and to attract new collectors.
And I of course, see it as my duty to get those stamps and sheets for you, my dear followers.

I'm presenting 2 unique sheetlets with a special cuts, from Bosnia Herzegovina.
Both were emitted in 2011.

The first one doesn't look that special at first sight.
It looks rather 'spacial', well because it depicts Yuri Gagarin and we see the Vostok 1 who brought him in space on April 12, 1961.
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of this remarkable event, Bosnia i Herzegovina (the former Yugoslavian Republic) published this sheetlet.

Bosnia i Herzegovina (2011) - 1st man in space

We see a round shape in the left corner, that follows the shape of the earth, but when looking at the rocket, we see that the special cut is very nice.

detail of the rocket - special cut

Very impressive and beautiful.

But in the same year (2011), Bosnia i Herzegovina emitted another, even more impressive sheetlet.
This time on domestic birds.

The idea is similar to the previous sheet, at first you see a normal sheet, but at the left corner, there's a special cut. But this time, the cut follows the shape of the leafs and the bird.

Bosnia i Herzegovina (2011) - domestic birds

The choice of the colours of the sheet could have been better, as the main bird nearly dissapears between all the green-grey-brown shades, but the sheetlet itself is a collectors' item!

detail of the branch and bird - special cut

Impressive, stamp collecting is fun again.

to be continued...

Odd stamps : 08 Stamps with special cuts - 03 e

Before moving to the next topic in the world of 'odd' stamps.
I want to post one more item on diamond shaped stamps.
Most stamps shown so far are already quite old.
However, in recent years, the hunger for 'special' stamps hasn't gone away.

I found two very fine examples of recently (2004) issued stamps in Ukraine.
Ukraine issued stamps before the sovjet occupation, in 1912 - 1922.
From then, till 1992 stamps from the USSR were used in Ukraine.
After the regaind independence, Ukraine has a moderatede stamps issuing program, and all stamps are good quality in printing and design.

It was here that I found two sheets with diamond shaped stamps on.

1st issue is on birds living near the water
2nd issues is on butterflies

Microstates : 07 Nagaland (bogus)

I did some studies :-) but Nagaland was not directly ringing a bell.
However, it exists. Having many friends in India, (because that's where we going today), i want to inform them, that this article is only about 'stamps' or what they are supposed to represent.
Let me explain to the rest of the world why I refer to my Indian friends.

Nagaland, a rural state is situated in the extreme north east India. Nagaland is one of the smallest state in India, with a total area of 16,579 square km. This state is bordered by Assam in the west and north, in the east by Myanmar (Burma), in the north by Arunachal Pradesh, and in the south by Manipur. Nagaland is a narrow strip of mountain territory between Assam and Burma and a population of over one millions. The state is divided into seven districts which are Kohima, Phek, Mokokchung, Wokha, Zunheloto, Twensang and Mon. Kohima is the capital city of Nagaland. Dimapur is the principal entry point for Nagaland and an enchantingly beautiful hill city. Its colorful people, great verdant landscapes, cultural festivals and tribes are a delightful combination for a delightful holiday experience. The state is inhabited by a variety of Tibeto-Burmese tribes speaking over two dozen dialects. Nagamese, Hindi, English, Chang are the various languages which are spoken in Nagaland. Nagaland has a monsoon climate with generally high humidity. The best time to visit Nagaland is from September to April. The foreigners require area permit to visit Nagaland.
It's mainly a christian region, and the goal of being an independent region, hasn't been very successful so far.

Since I m not outing any kind of political statement, nor being against or in favour or any form of independency claim, i just give you an opinion on the stamps, issued by this particular part of the world.

The word 'rebel' in the next paragraphe is a word used by the original writer of the article, and is worth what it's worth for the writer (see source).

"Civil strife in India in an area located between Assam and Burma resulted in the rebels calling their 'country' by the name Nagaland.  No legitimate nation ever recognized this struggle for independence, which began soon after India became a nation in 1947 and extended central control over all regions. Open conflict occured between 1956 until cease fire in 1964.

The British Philatelic Association gave their opinion that the Rebels issued many "stamps" for political purposes only, and any Nagaland issues should be treated as Propaganda labels, or if desired, Civil War Propaganda labels.
The rebels claimed these stamps were valid for internal postage and frequently used by supporters for independence.  It is possible that they were used secretly by supporters.  However, during the period of all of these Nagaland issues, the Indian Post Office provided local and international service with stamps from India. Anyone known to support or use the Nagaland stamps would have been severely punished for disloyalty to India."
source : http://www.sossi.org/
Back to the stamps cinderellas then.

At first sight, i tought having another set of "Staffa" labels (see previous articles).
The style of the items is quite similar, and I wouldn't be surprised if they were actually printed by the same printing company.

In contrary of what is stated in the article above, i don't see any kind of 'political' themes on the labels of Nagaland. (Except for the name then).
All items I have found - so far - are themed issues, on flowers, fish, coins, paintings and sports.
Very common themes by theme collectors, so very likely to appear in many albums and collections.

I only scanned the - according to me -'full' sets (8 stamps).

Anyone who wants to get rid of their 'Nagaland' labels, feel free to send them to me, there's still some place left in the album :-)