Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Save Glaciers-Polar Regions/ Railway Stations of India: Cover From India

Thank You  Mrs. Jeevan Jyoti for sending me some India FDC's and Postcards in this cover. I really like it and it's really interesting to look at.

Its my first cover from India!

The Following cover is from owner of most popular stamps club and famous blog of India. (http://rainbowstampclub.blogspot.com). 


The Cover has stamps of Indian railway stations and of penguins.






In 2009 Indian Post released  4 stamps of 4 different Heritage Railway Stations of India.These 4 Heritage Railway Stations are

1) Howrah (Kolkata) Railway Station :
Howrah station is situated on the West bank of the Hooghly River, and is linked to Kolkata by the magnificent Howrah Bridge, an icon of Kolkata. It is  the largest railway complex in India opened in 1854.

2) Chennai Central Railway Station (on this cover)
Chennai Central, also known as Madras Central, is the main railway terminal in the city of Chennai (Madras) ans was opened in 1853

3) Mumbai CST Railway Station
Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) ,  is the busiest railway station in India, formerly called Victoria Terminus(VT), and was built in 1887.

4) Old Delhi Railway Station. (on this cover)
Delhi Junction, also known as Old Delhi Railway Station was established near Chandni Chowk in 1864 when trains from Howrah, Calcutta started operating up to Delhi. Its present building was constructed by the British in the style of nearby red-coloured fort and opened in 1903.

Also in 2009, Indian Post released stamps for "Save Glaciers and Polar Regions" which has penguins and
polar bears.

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Singapore Bird Stamps: The Yellow Wagtail and the White-Collared Kingfisher

Thanks Orhan Kahya. There are some beautiful stamps on this cover!




This cover from Singapore has 2 types of stamps:

1) 45 Cent Yellow Wagtail "Motacilla flava" :

The Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla flava) is a species that breeds in much of temperate Europe, Asia, and amazingly, Alaska. It resides in the milder parts of its range, such as western Europe, but northern and eastern populations migrate to Africa and south Asia. 

2) 5 Cent White-collared Kingfisher "Todirnamphus chloris" :

The White-Collared Kingfisher (Todiramphus chloris) is a medium-sized kingfisher . It is also known as the Collared Kingfisher or Mangrove Kingfisher. It has a wide range extending from the Red Sea across southern Asia and Australia to Polynesia. It is a very widespread species, with over 50 subspecies currently known.


Saturday, July 21, 2012

Skydiving In New Zealand


These two postcards  feature my Uncle and Aunt 14000 feat in the air! They went on a trip to New Zealand, "The Adventure Capital of the World", together. While in Queenstown, they decided to go skydiving. However, since neither my Uncle or my Aunt knew how to skydive, they opted to go tandem skydiving with a program called Nzone Skydiving .



Tandem skydiving or tandem parachuting refers to a type of skydiving where a student skydiver is connected via a harness to a tandem instructor. The instructor guides the student through the whole jump from exit through freefall, piloting the canopy, and landing. The student needs only minimal instruction before making a tandem jump.

This postcard has a Custom Stamp from Taupo Bungy.Taupo Bungy is considered one of the world's most spectacular bungy sites, featuring the world's first cantilever platform and New Zealand's first 'splash cam'.

Friday, July 20, 2012

Point Reyes National Seashore


     As the cancellation shows, this postcard was mailed from the Point Reyes Lighthouse.   
  
     Point Reyes is a popular Northern California tourist destination on the Pacific coast. It is approximately 30 miles  Northwest of San Francisco. As characteristic of the area, it can get very foggy and windy during certain parts of the year . To be effective, the lighthouse had to be situated below the characteristic high fog. When foggy, visibility is so slim that one cannot even view the lighthouse from the top of the approximately 300 steps necessary to walk down to reach it. The lighthouse serves a great purpose in such a foggy area, as there is no beach to wash up on; it is on a rocky cliff. Day or night, the light may be the only thing visible to ships.
     Point Reyes is also historically important as the landing site of Sir Francis Drake. On June 17, 1579, he became the first European explorer to land in Northern California,  and proclaimed it Nova Albion (New England).



Thursday, July 19, 2012

Cool stamps from India :)


Thanks Dr. Paresh Upadhyay (Paresh Uncle)  for this really cool set of stamps! My picture on the stamp. I am now famous! These stamps are really something special. 





My Stamp is a popular concept of Indian Postal Department -- You can get a personalized stamp with your photograph on it. These stamps are from India's My Stamp program, was introduced by India Post at the Indipex-2011 World Philatelic Exhibition on February 12, 2011. 


As the cancellation(printed) in the top shows, they were partly issued in honor of the 100 year anniversary of the First Aerial Post (U.P.Exhibition, Allahabad)  delivery in history.

The stamp with the modern fighter plane depicts the Tejas , a lightweight multirole fighter developed by India. It is a tailless,compound delta-wing design powered by a single engine. It came from the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) program. It uses  the latest technological advances like relaxed static stabilityfly-by-wire flight control system, an advanced digital cockpit, multi-mode radar, integrated digital avionics system, and advanced composite material structures. It is not yet cleared for use in battle.

The HAL Dhruv is a utility helicopter that was first announced in November 1984.  The Dhruv entered into service in 2002. The Dhruv is designed to meet the requirement of both military and civil operators. It is being supplied to the Indian Armed Forces along with a variant for civilian/commercial use. 

The stamp with the older plane depicts the Hindustan HT-2. It was more for training pilots then anything elese, and has not been in use for over 35 years.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Chesapeake Bay Bridge : Postcard USA

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge (commonly known as the Bay Bridge) is a major dual-span bridge in the U.S. state of Maryland. Spanning the Chesapeake Bay, it connects the state's rural Eastern Shore region with the more urban Western Shore. The original span opened in 1952 and, at the time, with a length of 4.3 miles (6.9 km), it was the world's longest continuous over-water steel structure.  



Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Jesus Statue : Christ the Redeemer : Brazil

Christ the Redeemer  is a statue of Jesus Christ in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; considered the largest Art Deco statue in the world and the 5th largest statue of Jesus in the world. It is 130 ft tall, including its  31 ft pedestal, and 98 ft wide. It weighs 635 tonnes, and is located at the peak of the 700-metre (2,300 ft) Corcovado mountain in the Tijuca Forest National Park overlooking the city. 

A symbol of Brazilian Christianity, the statue has become an icon for Rio de Janeiro and Brazil. It is made of reinforced concrete and soapstone, and was constructed between 1922 and 1931. (From Wikipedia)




Thanks Ririfoi.

Monday, July 9, 2012

Last Great Race on Earth : Mail carried on Dog Sled : Iditarod 40th Anniversary Cover : USA Cover


The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is an annual long-distance sled dog race run in early March from Anchorage to Nome. Mushers and a team of 12–16 dogs, of which at least 6 must be on the towline at the finish line, cover the distance in 9–15 days. The Iditarod began in 1973 as an event to test the best sled dog mushers and teams but evolved into today's highly competitive race.


Teams frequently race through blizzards causing whiteout conditions, sub-zero temperatures and gale-force winds which can cause the wind chill to reach −100 °F (−73 °C). A ceremonial start occurs in the city of Anchorage and is followed by the official restart in Willow, a city in the south central region of the state. The restart was originally in Wasilla, but because of too little snow, the restart was permanently moved to Willow in 2008. The trail runs from Willow up the Rainy Pass of the Alaska Range into the sparsely populated interior, and then along the shore of the Bering Sea, finally reaching Nome in western Alaska. 


The trail is through a harsh landscape of tundra and spruce forests, over hills and mountain passes, and across rivers. While the start in Anchorage is in the middle of a large urban center, most of the route passes through widely separated towns and villages, and small Athabaskan and Inupiat settlements. The Iditarod is regarded as a symbolic link to the early history of the state and is connected to many traditions commemorating the legacy of dog mushing. (Read more at Wikipedia.)

Thanks Dad for sending me this nice cover with special cancellation. Readers, My dad is Gandhi Stamp collector and his  blog is http://gandhistampsclub.blogspot.com




Above cover has trail map from where this race pass and also has 2 stamps and special cancellation of Iditarod from Anchorage Alaska.

1) 4 cents Gandhi Stamps issued in 1961
2) 42 cents Alasks Stamps issued in 2009 to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Alaska statehood is celebrated with an image of a dog sled team.

Friday, July 6, 2012

Godina Zmaja & Nova Godina stamps on cover from Croatia.

Cover from Croatia.

CDS : Lukač : Is a village and municipality in Croatia in the Virovitica–Podravina County.




Stamps On Cover:

1) Nova Godina 2012:  "Dance of falling snowflakes" The image of a snowflake as a little star is in fact the matter of faith. Only a small number of children have seen under microscope that tiny, white cluster that is caught on the tongue and that quickly melts on palm. The crystal soul of a snowflake is visible in hoar frost, and the firmness of its structure is surmised in ice.

2) Godina Zmaja : " Year of the Dragon-2012. ". The motive of these stamps was a man wrapped with two dragons, and the author is a modern master of traditional Chinese painting, Fan Zeng.

Thanks Josip Mikolcic.

I hope you received my cover. Let me know.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Mail carried by a Pony!! 600 riders, 1966 miles from California to Missouri. - USA


The Pony Express was a fast mail service that crossed the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains, and the High Sierra from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California. In service from  April 3, 1860 to October 1861. It became the west's most direct means of east-west communication before the telegraph and was vital for tying California closely with the Union just before the American Civil War.




The National Pony Express Association conducted a Re-Ride of the Pony Express Trail from Sacramento, California, to St. Joseph, Missouri, June 13 - 23, 2012. This Re-Ride was   a 10-day, 24-hour a day, non-stop event by over 600 riders and horses over the 1,966 mile route of the Pony Express National Historic Trail from California through Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas to Missouri. It is the longest event held annually on a historical trail in the nation.


Monday, July 2, 2012

Ventspils Brīvosta - Free port of Ventspils - Cover from Latvia

Thanks Oleg.


The Free Port of Ventspils is a seaport located on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea (57° 24' N, 21° 32' E), in the western part of Latvia.The Port of Ventspils was first mentioned in historical chronicles in 1263. In the 17th century, the port of Ventspils was in a period of a very rapid growth and dynamic development. During the rule of Duke Jacob, the shipyards of Ventspils built more then 135 ships and sold them to European countries.
I will send you one cover in 2-3 days. Let me know when you get it.