Bermuda in Bloom on cover from capital city Hamilton

This beautiful cover arrived from Bermuda, from capital city Hamilton. This two stamps are from set Bermuda in Bloom, issued on 18.8.2016. On left stamp you can see Lagerstroemia indica , a species in the genus Lagerstroemia in the family Lythraceae, which is native to the Indian Subcontinent (hence the name indica), and also to Southeast Asia, China, Korea and Japan. Planted in full sun or under canopy, the tree is a popular nesting shrub for songbirds and wrens. In the United Kingdom, Lagerstroemia indica has gained the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit.

On right side you can see Cassia javanica is a species of tree in the family Fabaceae. Its origin is in Southeast Asia, but it has been extensively grown in tropical areas worldwide as a garden tree owing to its beautiful crimson and pink flower bunches. C. javanica is one of Thailand's Nine Auspicious Trees and is said to bring good luck, ensure continued high rank and afford victory.


Thank you, Holger!

Fauna of Indonesia

This cover from Indonesia shows three species of fauna found in Indonesia, from set issued on 5.11.2018. Knobbed Hornbill (Rhyticeros cassidix) is a colorful hornbill native to Indonesia. The species is sometimes placed in the genus Aceros. The knobbed hornbill is the faunal symbol of South Sulawesi province. Ursine Tree-Kangaroo (Dendrolagus ursinus) is a species of marsupial in the family Macropodidae. It is endemic to the Vogelkop and possibly the Fakfak Peninsulas, West Papua, Indonesia. It is threatened by habitat destruction and is listed as "vulnerable" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Celebes Crested Macaque (Macaca nigra), also known as the crested black macaque, Sulawesi crested macaque, or the black ape, is an Old World monkey that lives in the Tangkoko reserve in the northeastern tip of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi (Celebes), as well as on smaller neighboring islands. 

Thank you, Irene!

Eurovision Song Contest special postmark and ATM label from Israel

After Netta's victory in Lisbon in Lisbon, the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest took place in Tel Aviv, Israel. The 64th Eurovision Song Contest was held at Expo Tel Aviv (International Convention Center). This was the third time Israel has hosted the contest, having previously hosted in 1979 and 1999. To mark this event, Israeli post issued ATM label and special postmark.  There is also a stamp The Nabi Sabalan Tomb, issued on 22.7.1986.

And this is front of postcard, inspired by Israel's victory at the 2018 contest in Lisbon, Portugal, with the song "Toy", performed by Netta.  

Thank you, Oleg!

75th anniversary of D-Day on cover from Canada

D-Day or The Normandy landings were the landing operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune was the largest seaborne invasion in history. The operation began the liberation of German-occupied France (and later western Europe) from Nazi control, and laid the foundations of the Allied victory on the Western Front. My friend Trevor marked this day with this nice cover he designed and also with this personalized stamp (upper right corner) of his great uncle Alvin Peterson which fought there.
There is also one older Canadian stamp dedicated to D-Day, issued on 6.6.2004.

There's also a lot of interesting data on the back of cover and couple of nice old propaganda posters.


Thank you, Trevor!

Les Království Dam and Bible of Kralice on cover from Czech Republic

 

On this cover from Czech Republic you can see in the middle stamp Les Království Dam (issued on 6.3.2019.), which from a distance looks like a castle. It borrowed its name from the neighboring former royal forest.  Thanks to its location in the forested valley of the river Elbe, and its architectonic rendering, the dam is one of the most beautiful in the entire Czech Republic, and perhaps that’s why it was declared a National Technical Monument in the year 1964.

Last stamp is dedicated to The 400th Anniversary of the Bible of Kralice, and it's issued on 16.10.2013. The Bible of Kralice was the first complete translation of the Bible from the original languages into the Czech language. Translated by the Unity of the Brethren and printed in the town of Kralice nad Oslavou, the first edition had six volumes and was published between 1579 and 1593.

Thank you, Miška!

Endangered species on cover from Tunisia

This is cover from Tunisia with complete set Endangered species, issued on 23.5.2019.

The addax (Addax nasomaculatus), also known as the white antelope and the screwhorn antelope, is an antelope of the genus Addax, that lives in the Sahara desert. The addax is a critically endangered species of antelope, as classified by the IUCN. The addax was once abundant in North Africa, native to Chad, Mauritania and Niger. It is extinct in Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Sudan and Western Sahara. It has been reintroduced in Morocco and Tunisia.

The Mogod Pony comes from the northernmost area of Tunisia and is thought to be a strain of the mighty Barb horse, refined and bred to suit the area over centuries. Sadly as machines began to replace animals in the 20th century their numbers began to dwindle.

Oryx is a genus consisting of four large antelope species called oryxes. Their fur is pale with contrasting dark markings in the face and on the legs, and their long horns are almost straight.
The Arabian oryx was only saved from extinction through a captive breeding program and reintroduction to the wild. The scimitar oryx, which is now listed as Extinct in the Wild, also relies on a captive breeding program for its survival.

Thank you, Mohamed!

The 150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad on cover from American military base in Germany

This fantastic stamps set with gold foil is issued on 10.5.2019. to commemorate The 150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad. The Transcontinental Railroad was a 3,077 km continuous railroad line constructed between 1863 and 1869 that connected the existing eastern U.S. rail network at Council Bluffs, Iowa with the Pacific coast at the Oakland Long Wharf on San Francisco Bay. The resulting coast-to-coast railroad connection revolutionized the settlement and economy of the American West. It brought the western states and territories into alignment with the northern Union states and made transporting passengers and goods coast-to-coast considerably quicker, safer and less expensive.

On scanned copy you can't see beauty of gold foil printing, so i decided to took couple of shots with mobile phone camera.

Thank you so much, Kathy!

Philippines: The 50th Anniversary of Diplomatic Relations with Singapore - Joint Issue

To mark 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between these two countries, their postal operators issued two stamps set with butterflies from their countries on 16.5.2019. First one is Pachliopta aristolochiae, the common rose, a swallowtail butterfly belonging to the genus Pachliopta. It is a common butterfly which is extensively distributed across south and southeast Asia. On second stamp you can see Luzon lacewing butterfly or Cethosia luzonica. This is a species of heliconiine butterfly endemic to the Philippines.


Thank you, Aniruddha!

Europa CEPT 2019 National Birds on cover from Poland

As a part of Europa CEPT 2019 National Birds, Polish post issued one stamp with common chaffinch, issued on 24.4.2019. The common chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs), is a common and widespread small passerine bird in the finch family. The male is brightly colored with a blue-grey cap and rust-red underparts. The female is much duller in coloring, but both sexes have two contrasting white wing bars and white sides to the tail. The male bird has a strong voice and sings from exposed perches to attract a mate. The chaffinch breeds in much of Europe, across Asia to Siberia and in northwest Africa.


Thank you, Olga!

Baikonur postcard from Russian post office in Kazakhstan

Most famous Baikonur Cosmodrome is a spaceport located in an area of southern Kazakhstan leased to Russia. The Cosmodrome is the world's first and largest operational space launch facility. I recently found out there is a Russian post office, so I've found a guy which helped me to received this beautiful postcard. Postmark is not readable in upper part, but on lower part you can see zip code 468320 and here you can find further info about that post office. You can also see that this post office use stamps of Kazakhstan, first one is EXPO 2017 Future Energy, issued on 7.3.2017, and second one is The 50th Anniversary of the First Space Walk, issued on 18.6.2015.

Thank you, Sergey!