3rd December 2022: Cover from Italy with Postcrossing Postmark

Thank You very much William!

27th October 2022: World Postcard Day, Portugal

Postcrossing Stamp from Luxembourg

Multiple Views of Luxembourg

German Postcrossing Stamp with different Special Postmarks

Herrnhut, Germany

Herrnhut is a town in Saxony known for the community of the Moravian Church established by Count Nicolas Ludwig von Zinzendorf in 1722. As one of the Moravian Church Settlements Herrnhut currently seeks for the inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage List. A decision is expected at the end of the month.

EDIT: The Moravian Church Settlements were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in July 2024.

The German Postcrossing stamp (issued 06-10-2022) was used on the card. 

Thank You very much Marcel!

17th October 2022: Postcrossing and Flying Squirrel from Estonia

26th September 2022: Postcrossing FDC from Luxembourg

Belarus: Nesvizh Castle with Postcrossing Stamp

On 30th November I got a postcard from Belarus.

It shows the Nesvizh Castle. The Nesvizh Castle was owned by the Radziwill family since 1533 who later turned it into an impressive Baroque complex, the first in Eastern Europe. Since 2005 is the Architectural, Residential and Cultural Complex of the Radziwill Family at Nesvizh on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The third Belarusian Postcrossing stamp (issued 10-07-2021) was used on this card. It took me a while to get it.

Thank You very much Anna!

cover from the USA

On 20th November I got not only a postcard but also a cover from the USA.

The cover was cancelled once again with the special Postcrossing postmark from the 6th SW Meet-up held for International Postcard Week, World Postcard Day and World Post Day. The two stamps on the right are from a set of five about Post Office Murals (issued 10-04-2019) and the other shows Master Yoda (issued 25-10-2007).

In the cover were three nice collectibles: a big sheet about Lunar New Year, a cover about the 500th anniversary of San Juan on Puerto Rico and a Star Wars Droids FDC.

Thank You very much Sam-Quito!

USA: Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge

EDIT: I just realised that this is the 4000th post on my blog. Thank You very much to everyone who has visited over the years and to those sending me many nice cards and covers!

On 22nd October I got two postcards: one from the USA and one from Austria.

The card from the USA shows Sandhill Cranes at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico. The Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1939. It is a safe harbour for a varied wildlife and one of the most diverse areas for bird species in the USA. This card was printed for the 6th Southwestern Postcrossing Meet-up.

The card was cancelled with a special postmark created for this meet-up. As you can see, it was held to celebrate International Postcard Week, World Post Day and World Postcard Day, which are all in early October.

Thank You very much Sam-Quito!

cover from Austria

On 23rd July I got not only a postcard but also a cover from Austria.

This year's EUROPA stamp (issued 08-05-2021) was used here and got cancelled with a pictorial postmark from the philatelic shop in Graz.

In the cover was this card printed by the Society of Austrian Philatelists for the presentation of the new Postcrossing stamp. The stamp and its First Day Special Postmark were used on the card.

Thank You very much Anita!

Taiwan: Taipei Meet-up

On 21st July I got four postcards: one from Taiwan, one from the USA, one from Finland and one from Austria.

The card from Taiwan is the official card of the Postcrossing Meet-up held in Taipei in late November 2020. I had actually swapped for this card back then and do not know why it took so long to reach me.

The card was signed during the meet-up and the stamp in the lower right corner was cancelled with a special Postcrossing postmark. However you can also see another postmark of July 2021, so the card remained in Taiwan all the time. I am not sure anymore whether there was a mail suspension or if this card was just forgotten, it is however great that it made its way to me.

Thank You very much Chi!

Austria: Postcrossing Stamp Presentation Meet-up

On 19th July I got two postcards from Austria.

One of them was designed by the Papersisters for the issuance of Austria's new Postcrossing stamp.

The card was signed during a Meet-up held for the presentation of the stamp and of course sent with the stamp (issued 14-07-2021) itself and its First Day Special Postmark. 

Thank You very much Anita!

Postcrossing Stamps from Guernsey

On 15th June I got my stamp order from Guernsey.

I think you can probably guess which stamps I had ordered from Guernsey in June, the Postcrossing stamps of course! The three stamps (issued 10-06-2021) show three local animals sending mail. As little easter egg the mail is actually addressed to the administrators of Postcrossing. I especially like the crab, which was also used on the sujet of the First Day Cover.

This time I decided to buy the mint stamps as well, as I had shortly before reorganized my stamp albums and created an extra section for Postcrossing stamps. As I had not bought the older Postcrossing stamps earlier in mint condition, I bought them this time. In comparision it is interesting to see that not only the size of the stamp sets and thus the prize increased from issue to issue but also the size of the actual stamps.

Usually I do not get them for my collection, but as I was born in the Year of the Ox, I decided to buy Guernsey's Chinese New Year stamps (issued 26-01-2021) as well. 

For sure I also ordered the stamped and postmarked postcards, but there was a mistake and I got the maxicards instead. The confusion was soon resolved and already on 21st June I got the postcards I had ordered. 

Poland: Floriańska Street in Kraków

Last Thursday I got a postcard from Poland.

It shows the Floriańska Street in Kraków. Floriańska Street is a street in Kraków's Old Town running from the Saint Florian's Gate to the Market Square. The view on this card faces towards the Market Square and Saint Mary's Church can be seen in the background. Many shops as well as monuments are located on this street. The most famous of them might be the former house of famous painter Jan Matejko. This card is such a nice reminder of My Trip to Kraków back in 2019, when I passed this street multiple times.

Three interesting stamps were used on the card. On the right is Poland's Year of the Ox stamp (issued 26-02-2021). After the Year of the Rat this is already the second Polish stamp about Chinese New Year. Like last year's issue it is round. The stamp in the middle is from a set of three about Dinosaurs (issued 25-11-2020). Shown on this one is the predatory dinosaur Dilophosaurus. The other two stamps show Scelidosaurus and Coelophysis. This set was apparently rather popular among collectors, as it is already sold out in the Polish Post's online shop and as a second set was already announced for 2022. The last stamp commemorates the 5th anniversary of the Territorial Defence Force (issued 14-02-2021), the fifth military branch of the Polish Armed Forces made up of professional and part-time volunteer soldiers. The two stamps on the right were cancelled with a special Postcrossing postmark from Wrocław. Throughout the year two different Postcrossing postmarks are used in the city. This one shows bees, while the other one shows storks.

Thank You very much Ola!

Belarus: Reinhold von Bissing

On 20th February I got three postcards: one from Belarus, one from Estonia and one from Germany.

The card from Belarus shows Reinhold von Bissing, who was postmaster of Vilnius in the 17th century.

The Belarusian Year of the Ox stamp (issued 08-02-2021) was used on this card and got cancelled with the new permanent special Postcrossing postmark from Minsk. 

Thank You very much Igor!

Taiwan: Year of the Ox Meet-up and Postcrossing Postmark

On 13th February I got three postcards: one from Taiwan and two from Hong Kong.

The card from Taiwan is about a Year of the Ox Postcrossing Meet-up.

Unfortunately the card was not signed during that meet-up, but it is still a very special piece of mail. First there is the stamp, which is not about this year's Year of the Ox, but about the penultimate one in 1997. This makes the stamp so special for me, as I was born in that Year of the Ox. The stamp had been issued already on 2nd December 1996 and is from a set of two. And second there is this great new Postcrossing postmark for my collection, which also keeps the Year of the Ox theme. I love this card!

Thank You very much Ringo!

DC Covers from the USA

After the Marvel Covers I had shown here last month, I was spoiled with even more covers with DC Comic stamps (issued 20-07-2006) and great special postmarks. The first two came on the 13th October and the last one reached me on 8th December. My favourite characters of these are Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Superman and Flash and I especially like the postmarks applied on Hawkman and Green Lantern. While some of the featured characters were also shown on other stamps from Canada, Portugal and the USA, this was still the only philatelic appearance of Plastic Man, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Green Arrow and Supergirl.  

Again some of the covers were sent in bigger envelopes. Green Lantern came again in a normal USPS envelope, on the bigger envelope of Wonder Woman even real stamps were used and the cover of Green Arrow I had shown here already a few days ago.

Again there was one card in every cover. Four of them show El Malpais, three the Salinas Pueblo Missions and three feauture different sights of New Mexico. The cards from the Salinas Pueblo Missions even got recent special postmarks on the backside.

 Thank You very much Sam-Quito for again some great covers, stamps, postmarks and postcards! Merry Christmas to you!