Get a nice COVER or POSTCARD from PORTUGAL....


2 EUROS
per COVER or POSTCARD


I can send you a nice surprise cover or postcard to your home address.

You can pay by paypal or cash in an envelope.

If interested just email me at

stamp.friends@gmail.com

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Some A380 covers.. and advice


Hello everyone, Here is one I produced .. all details on my blog as you may know..
Hope you like this cover.. for my collection ... the crew were brilliant.. and not only for some of them signing a few of my covers
If you want to place an order for a cover please email me for details cddstamps@gmail.com I only made 20 of each.. ( actually only 19 of this one as I donated one to someone but it did not have all the handstamps on it) .. many will stay in my collection the rest ..one could be yours.. I even have some others I have not shown yet.. the Singapore Post issued FDC... again email me for details..

One thing I want to say to you all.. do read carefully what you are buying.. I have seen some items on eBay that I feel are pushing the boundary shall I say... Buyer Beware.. sadly some people are parting with their money too easily.. some person paid $180plus recently for a piece of paper with images of stamps on that was being given away free in a magazine. it questions the credibility fo the seller in my view.. but hey that is life I guess. also while I proudly plug my few remaining covers.. if you spend more buying fakes than one of my genuine covers.. I am sorry for you not for me.. enjoy your stamps.. be safe..
Michael cddstamps


Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Portugal-Morocco Joint Issue


This year both Portugal and Morocco issued a set of 2 stamps characterized by a common design.

This is called a Twin Issue since it's a joint issue where design and issue date (26 August 2007) are identical for both countries involved.


PORTUGAL / MOROCCO

As you can see by the images, there is a similar design between:

- Left Portuguese stamp 0,30Euro and the right stamp of 7,8Dh from Morocco. They depict the Tower El Kamra in Assilah. Town conquered by the Portuguese in 1471 and posteriorly recovered by Moulay Ismaîl Ben Chrif in 1691.

- The other 2 stamps show the Silves Castle in Portugal. The town was occupied by the Moors in 713. The town was finally taken from the last Muslim King Ibn Afan by Paio Peres Correia, Grand-Master of the order of Santiago in 1242. Some images of the Castle here.

Take care!

Sunday, October 28, 2007

October's CONTEST

Free Stamps

Hello stamps fans!
Yes, I know that it's a strange name... but if you can use the sentence "sports fan" to great someone why not using also "stamps fans" or the more erudite way "philatelic fans"! ehehe!

I was going through my stamps and found a nice set of stamps from Mongolia... don't know if it's a complete set or not but they are about moths and butterflies! Which ones do you like most? Moths or butterflies?


I prefer butterflies and you know what? If you tell me which butterfly I like the most... that may or may not be on the stamps shown... I'll send you this set for free! 1st correct answer to stamp.friends@gmail.com wins the stamps! So what do you say? Need a hint? Ok... I can do that. It's a butterfly that in one moment you are seeing it and in the other you are not! Easy, isn't it?
Take care!

Friday, October 26, 2007

French ATM

Paper Plane ATM

I'm not an ATM collector but it's an area of philately that can be very interesting... don't you agree? At least you don't need to worry about the stamp perforations! eheeh!!

Well... Bellow there's a cover from France, do you know which ATM machine printed this stamp? And how many different ones did France issue?


Thursday, October 25, 2007

Overlapping stamps

Hello! Did you ever receive covers with the stamps overlapping each other?

Bellow you can see 2 examples of it
One from Brazil and the other from Philippines.



How common is a situation like this in your country?
Did you ever send a cover in this condition? If so, why?

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Brazil...

Soccer - A Brazilian's passion


March 2007 Brazilian Post Office issued one stamp set (4v.) about SOCCER STADIUMS. The goal was to celebrate the ones that are the most modern and with architectonic innovations.

4 stadiums were selected: Estádio Olímpico do Pará, o Estádio Serra Dourada, o Estádio Maracanã and Estádio Pacaembu.

Above you can see (from left to right and top to bottom):

1. Pacaembu Stadium with 75.598 square meters and the capacity for 40.260 people. The Soccer King Pelé also played some matches there.

2. Maracanã Stadium. The name derives from the singing of a local species of parrot known as Maracanã-guaçu.

3. Serra Dourada Stadium opened to the public with a match between Goiana x Portugal in 1975.

The only none stadium related stamp was issued in 2000 and it belongs to a miniature sheet of 20 stamps about the 500 years Discovery of Brazil. It depicts Ayrton Senna (1960-1994), Brazilian racing driver and triple Formula One world champion.

Monday, October 22, 2007

2 Covers From Germany


Above, in a 0.85euro stamp issued this year by Germany, you can see the Moyland Castle!

In the middle of the 14th century Moyland was constructed – In 1665 it has been extended as a baroque moated castle by Alexander von Spaens.


Below you can see another German commemorative stamp showing a boy writing a letter (belongs to a 2v set issued this year)... how many boys or girls these days writes a letter? Not many I would say!

Great idea of placing such subject on a stamp... lets hope it gets more youngsters to the hobby... that would be great, wouldn't it?


See you soon!

Friday, October 19, 2007

Beneficial Insects from Canada - Part II


Hello! Do you remember one of my latest topics about the NEW Low Value Definitives dedicated to Beneficial Insects issued by the Canadian Post? (here)

Today I feel very fortunate for being the recipient of such issue. Above you can see the FDCs sent to me by our fellow stamp collector Y. W. LEUNG. THANK YOU!

Up close I confirm that this is a very beautiful and detailed set... and did you know that the stamps are really small?!! Tiny! Very very nice indeed.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Saudi Arabia


Saudi Arabia... Not one of the countries from where we see many covers, is it?

And this is one good philatelic example! Don't you agree?

The stamp on the left depicts the Holy city of the Prophet Mohammed and was issued last year 2006 in a 1v set. The stamp on the right was issued this year and it's about the FIFA WM 2006.

Take care!

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

2007 Russia WWF Stamps

Unauthorised issue from RUSSIA
with the WWF Panda Logo


Russia issued recently this very interesting set about endangered species with the WWF (panda logo). But fellow WWF collector ..... and yes, I'm also one... beware... yes! beware! because according to GROTH AG and I quote: "This issue has not been authorised by WWF International and Groth AG. They did not receive the contract to use the WWF Panda Logo." So If you have decided to buy it... and I'm surely not telling you to not buy it... remember that it isn't an official WWF issue!

This isn't the 1st issue where something like this happens... so what do you think? Licit issue or not? Album or garbage bin material? Let us know your opinion...


PS. Stamp Collectors from Holland to help me with the Mooi Nederland S/Ss so far: ZERO!!
I'm very disappointed to see that none read my blog!!!

Monday, October 15, 2007

Netherlands fragment...

Mooi Nederland


I'm showing you a fragment of one s/s issued last year 2006 by The Netherlands. It belongs to the issue Mooi Nederland: Schoonhoven.

Since which year did they start to issue the Mooi Nederland s/s? Do you know how many different ones were issued?

It is the 1st time I contact with this kind of s/s issues and I was very impressed by their design... Do you have them for trade? Please let me know since it's a collection I would like to start!

Were they also issued in FDCs?

So many questions to my readers... Hope you can help me!
Thank you in advance.

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Australian Autopsy

The Philatelic Autopsy: Season 1 Episode 6



Country of origin: Australia

Stamps:
No. 3 . Currency: Australian Dollar

Commemorative Stamps: Theme "Wildlife, Animals" were issued last year 2006 in a 6v stamp set. The design of the left stamp stamp depicts the Tasmanian Devil and on the right the Platypus. Both 2 strange and exotic Australian creatures!

Cancellation: Unreadable!!

Postal Tariff: 1.85+0.05+0.05 = 1.95 AUD. Correct postage for Airmaill from Australia to a Zone D country for a up to 50 g letter is 1.95 AUD so this letter travelled with a correct postage fee.

Just wondering... do you enjoy my autopsy series? What do you think of them?

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Rugby and France

La VIe coupe du Monde de Rugby


Recently I've received this cover from France... and my thoughts when I received it were... What a strange looking s/s on top of the cover! But looking closer you can easily see that it's a fragment of a larger s/s issued 25.06.07 depicting The World Rugby Cup 2007 with having no more no less than 10 stamps in it! You can see an image of the full s/s bellow.


In it you can see many Rugby manoeuvres... La mélée, la touche, la passe, le haka, le plaquage, le raffut, la transformation, l'essai et l'attaque, and the fans!

The single stamp that you can also see on the cover was issued on 06.09.07 on the same thematics. The curious fact is that it is the 1st lenticular stamp issued by France PO. In it you can see a penalty being scored with the sense of motion.

See you soon!

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Portugal... MY STAMP!


Started yesterday 9th Oct. 2007 a new amazing service provided by the Portuguese Postal Office... But what service is that?

They call it MY STAMP and it's the 1st personalized stamp service in Portugal! But what makes it so amazing? Well... nothing really... it's very similar to many others that we know about from around the world and in my opinion it comes rather late comparing to other European countries.

But why would someone need this kind of stamps? Trusting PO publicity you should use them to free your creativity and make new stamps at your image... Well at 1 Euro per stamp with a postage value of 0.30 Euro it's an expensive creativity, wouldn't you say? But I think it can be very nice to a topic collector to make some stamps about designs that are worldwide unavailable in the topic he collects, don't you?

Dear readers... does your country makes these? Do you collect them? And if so why?

And another interesting question... do you think I should order some? On which topic? You can even send me images with your own ideas... I'll be waiting!
Thank you all!

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Indian Autopsy

The Philatelic Autopsy: Season 1 Episode 5


Country of Origin:
India

Stamps: 3 stamps. Currency: Indian Rupee

Commemorative Stamps: (From left to right)

1st Issued on 27 th December 2005 about the '16 Squadron Air Force'. Denomination: 500P.

2nd A commemorative postage stamp on 'World Consumer Rights Day' issued on 15th March 2006. Denomination: 500P.

3rd Issued on 13th April 2005 depicting the '300 Years of 15 Punjab (Patiala)', the oldest infantry in the Indian army. Denomination: 500P.

Cancellation Date: 1-10-2007.

Hope that you have enjoyed this new episode...

Take care!

Sunday, October 7, 2007

Australia... World Champions?


A lovely miniature sheet.....


So how did England do against Australia last night... and France next week... exciting times... Just think of the next miniature sheet... which country will issue it!?

Paintings Maxicards

Taiwan early issue of
Chinese paintings
MAXIMUM cards

Thank you George!




Hope you enjoy it!

Friday, October 5, 2007

A380 and Tajikistan

Yesterday I was talking to a fellow collector and contributor to this blog about Airplaine stamp collections particularly the Airbus A380.

Today I found this image of what I believe to be a new stamp set from Tajikistan depicting the 1st flight of A380.


(I'm sorry for the small size of the image)

Michael... If you're reading this... Have you ever seen these stamps? Could this be an official issue of the Tajikistan Post Office? Although I can't find it in their 2007 Issue Calendar...

Well... stranger things have happened in the WORLD OF PHILATELY! eheh!

See you next time, same place!

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Cover from Cuba


AIDS Awareness

Today I have the following cover to show you:


The set of stamps was issued as an UPAEP issue in the year 2000 and it's about the Cuban Campaign Against AIDS. Very interesting set ... I think that the way the world was pictured, heart shaped, very peculiar and meaningful. Don't you agree?

The cancellation date is 21 Sept. 2007 and it's a commemorative cancel of the Plastic Arts Academy Roberto Diago.

How many commemorative cancellations per year
do you have in your country?

Do you collect them all? Please let us know!


Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Australia Space on stamps Part III


I was thinking of all the subject headings I could give this piece, and all sounded so clichéd.. so just Space on Stamps, and Australian stamps, as today the new Australia Space stamps were issued.

I chose this FDC to show you all.... the Miniature Sheet on a Cover...

Hope you like these... I have a gutter pair strip on my own blog.. Enjoy!

And if you want to read a really good article - in my view - on Space, try THIS.

More later, as 4th October is the 50 year anniversary of Sputnik am going to do something special for you Jose..... well am going to try...
Enjoy your stamps... Michael

Taiwan Maxicards

Hello! Today a fellow collector sent me some very nice images of FDCs because he knows that I've also started to collect Women on Maxicards (all women... queens, dancers, gymnastics, regular women...).




According to him... The set is from TAIWAN, was issued August 1, 1985 and is about Chinese traditional costumes.

Hope you like them!

Please keep in mind that If you have some maxicards on this topic I'm willing to trade/buy.