Two delayed postcards from Malaysia!

 

I received two postcards from Malaysia sent by random senders from Postcard United. It's astonishing how much time these two cards have traveled thanks to many obstacles caused by COVID-19.

If you look at the dates on these postcards, you can see they've been sent in May and June 2020 - year and a half ago! Also both senders are writing about COVID-19, so these cards truly reflects this awful worldwide pandemic.

Thank you so much SookFun and Ally!

Cover from The British Indian Ocean Territory!

 

This cover is one best surprises in my mailbox this year, sent by my dear friend Wolfgang from Austria. BIOT is a British Overseas Territory of the UK situated in the Indian Ocean halfway between Tanzania and Indonesia, with total land area of just 60 square kilometres. The largest and most southerly island is Diego Garcia, 27 km2, the site of a Joint Military Facility of the UK and the USA.

The only inhabitants are British and U.S. military personnel and associated contractors, who collectively number around 3,000. The forced removal of Chagossians from the Chagos Archipelago occurred between 1968 and 1973. Today, the exiled Chagossians are still trying to return, saying that the forced expulsion and dispossession was unlawful, but the UK government has repeatedly denied them the right of return.

Since the 1980s, the Government of Mauritius has sought to regain control over the Chagos Archipelago. A February 2019 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice called for the islands to be given to Mauritius. Since this, the United Nations General Assembly and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea have reached similar decisions. 

The Universal Postal Union (UPU), a UN agency in charge of the world's postal policies, voted to block the use of UK stamps from the remote archipelago. All post from the Chagos Islands must now bear stamps from Mauritius, so i was lucky to receive this cover, cause this maybe not possible anymore in the future. 

 On this cover you can see stamp with beautiful reef manta ray and very clear blue postmark from post office in Diego Garcia, and big black postmark of BIOT post office with BIOT coat of arms. 

Thank you so much Wolfgang for this beautiful surprise!

 

Postcard from French city Béziers

 

Béziers is one of the oldest cities in France. Research published in March 2013 shows that Béziers dates from 575 BC, making it older than Agde (Greek Agathe Tyche, founded in 525 BC) and a bit younger than Marseille (Greek Massalia, founded in 600 BC). 

Béziers was a Languedoc stronghold of Catharism, which the Catholic Church condemned as heretical and which Catholic forces exterminated in the Albigensian Crusade. Béziers was the first place to be attacked. The crusaders reached the town on 21 July 1209. Béziers' Catholics were given an ultimatum to hand over the heretics or leave before the crusaders besieged the city and to "avoid sharing their fate and perishing with them". However, many refused and resisted with the Cathars. The town was sacked the following day and in the bloody massacre no one was spared, not even Catholic priests and those who took refuge in the churches. 

Two lovely stamps from set Vacations 2020 are used on this postcard.

Thank you, Lidija!

Nice registered cover from Kyrgyzstan with my stamp order from KEP

 

Most of postal operators don't use stamps when you order something. Fortunately, KEP (Kyrgyz Express Post) isn't one of them. They've sent cover with 5 nice stamps from different sets and with nice hand cancellations. 

Beside my ordered stamps, they've also sent these nice set of 4 mini sheets with Cinderellas as a gift (last scan).

 

Thank you KEP!

Local police on FDC from Åland Islands

 

Thank you, Kimmo!

Europa CEPT 2020 Ancient Postal Routes on cover from Switzerland

 

Thank you, Rosmarie!

Canadian cover with personalized stamps

 

Another fine Canadian jumbo cover received last year, but this time with 12 personalized stamps on front. There is also rare sticker "flip over", which means there's additional postage on backside, which you can see on second picture. 

 

 

Thank you, Trevor!

Mars 2020 launch on cover from Cape Canaveral, USA

 

My friend Trevor Ashman designed this cover dedicated to Mars 2020 launch, when rocket Atlas V carried rover Perseverance and the small robotic coaxial helicopter Ingenuity to their mission to Mars. USPS made this awesome postmark to celebrate this event in Cape Canaveral. 

 

 

Thank you, Trevor!

Successful docking of the Crew Dragon Endeavour with the ISS

 

Crew Dragon Endeavour is a Crew Dragon spacecraft manufactured and operated by SpaceX and used by NASA's Commercial Crew Program. It was launched into orbit atop a Falcon 9 rocket on 30 May 2020 and successfully docked to the International Space Station on 31 May 2020 as part of the Crew Dragon Demo-2 mission; this was the first crewed flight test of a Dragon capsule, carrying Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken. It is the spacecraft used in the first crewed orbital spaceflight from the United States since STS-135 in July 2011 and the first crewed orbital spaceflight by a private company. On 2 August 2020 it returned to Earth.

 

This nice cover is designed by Trevor Ashman to commemorate this unique event. He sent his covers to Houston cause of this awesome special postmark. Thank you very much, mate!

Europa CEPT 2020 Ancient Postal Routes on cover from Poland

 

Like all European postal administrations, Polish post issued common Europa CEPT theme Ancient Postal Routes. They issued one stamp with unusual dimensions, so this one is tallest Europa CEPT 2020 stamp. Stamp is issued on 29.4.2020.

Thank you, Olga!

San Juan de Dios Market on postcard from Guadalajara

 

 

 

I received this wonderful card last year with top view of fruit vendors in San Juan de Dios Market in Guadalajara in Mexico. It is the largest indoor market in Latin America with an area of 40,000 m². On the back there is, you can say, matching stamp, even if its part of Folk Art set issued in 2019.

Thank you, Isaac!

Land camera on postcard from UK

 

 

 

We received this postcard randomly sent from Postcard united several months ago. It shows Land  camera from 1947. The camera, which became better known by the name of Land's company, Polaroid, was the first so-called instant camera. Using developer and fixer contained in sacs with the film and photographic paper in a layered packet, the first Polaroid camera could produce a black-and-white photo in 60 seconds.  After the exposure was made, the packet was pulled out of the camera, which squeezed the chemicals from their sacs and began the developing process.

Thank you, Rasa!

Cover from Australia

 

I didn't received cover from Australia for a very long time, so it was pleasant surprise to find this one in my mailbox several months ago. It was sent in April 2020, but COVID-19 lock downs slowed this cover on way to me and it's a CCCC circuit cover which will not be continued until Serbia reopens postal traffic with Cuba, unfortunately. On this cover you can see two stamps: Kincumber Jetty, from set Australian Jetties, issued on 21.2.2017, and Cliefden Caves from Caves set issued on 2.5.2017. And on them is beautiful and very clear postmark from Fairfield in New South Wales. 

Thank you so much, Krešimir!

Two German prepaid covers with ATM labels and special postmark

 

Last year i received these two fantastic prepaid ATM covers, with special postmark dedicated to 200 years of discovery of Antarctica by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen. Both covers are prepaid covers with printed design of ATM labels issued in 2008 and 2010. There's also additional labels from 2017. Both covers have beautiful special postmark dedicated to Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, Russian naval officer, and his discovery of Antarctica 200 years ago. 

Thank you so much, Holger!

Anti-COVID-19 campaign on cover from Canada

 

Last year i received this cover with personalized stamp and cover design dedicated to medical workers on the front line fight with COVID-19 virus. Anti-COVID-19 theme became very popular in philately and many people issued personalized stamps and this one is the far the best of all designs. Cover and stamp are designed by Trevor Ashman.

Thank you, Trevor!

The national minorities of Ukraine - Germans

 

Several months ago i received this wonderful stamp set The national minorities of Ukraine - Germans, used on two covers. Ukrainian post issued in previous yours two stamp sets in same series, dedicated to Gypsies and Jews. This set is issued on 28th August 2020.

Thank you so much, Roman!

Europa 2020 - Ancient Postal Routes on cover from Åland Islands

 

The 2020 Europa stamp theme was ancient postal routes, and the Åland contribution shows the Postal Boat Race across the Sea of Åland. Following the ancient postal route between Åland and Sweden, the Race is arranged in June every year in remembrance of the Åland and Swedish postal-farmers’ obligation to convey mail as well as passengers in all kinds of weather. Starting in 1638, the conveyance of mail continued for almost 400 years until early 1900s.Stamp is issued on 8th May 2020.

Thank you, Kimmo!

The 75th anniversary of the victory in WWII on cover from Canada

Last year world celebrated the 75th anniversary of the victory in WWII. And my friend Trevor from Canada designed this nice cover and made personalized stamp with his cousin on battlefield. Cover is hand cancelled and sealed in plastic bag and someone ran this cover through machine cancellation and that's why i scanned this one with bag. There's nice slogan on English and French: "Thanks, healthcare workers". 

Thank you, Trevor!
 

Ancient Postal Routes on registered FDC from Romania

One of best stamps designs for Europa CEPT 2020 theme Ancient Postal Routes was done by Romanian Post and this is one of best covers i received during dull days of lock-down when international postal traffic was largely stopped.  Thank you, Mihnea!

Cover from Israel

 I didn't receive much covers during COVID-19 lock-down, but i highly appreciate every one of them. Thank you Mr. Meir Kasirer for this nice cover from Israel.