India: Jantar Mantar in Jaipur

On 7th January I got a postcard from India.

It shows the Jantar Mantar in Jaipur. The Jantar Mantar are astronomical observation sites constructed at the behest of Maharaja Jai Singh II of Jaipur in the early 18th century. In total five were constructed in New Delhi, Jaipur, Ujjain, Mathura and Varanasi, of which the one in Jaipur is the largest and best preserved. It includes 19 main fixed instruments designed for the observation of astronomical positions with the naked eye and is the monumental embodiment of the coming together of needs which are at the same time political, scientific and religious. Since 2010 is the Jantar Mantar in Jaipur on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Three stamps were used on the card. The pair of stamps about the 75th anniversary of the United Nations (issued 24-10-2020) unfortunately remained uncancelled, while the definitive about former Prime Minister Atal Vajpayee (issued 25-12-2018) from the Creators of India series was cancelled.

 Thank You very much Suthar!

USA: Mount Rushmore

On 6th January I got two postcards: one from the USA and one from Hong Kong.

The card from the USA shows the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota. The Mount Rushmore National Memorial was created by Gutzon Borglum and his son Lincoln Borglum between 1927 and 1941. It features the heads of four US Presidents and became an iconic symbol of the USA and popular tourist destination. Nearly 100 years later the featured presidents are still considered to have been the best in US history. A recent president explained his interest in having his face immortalised on the mountain as well. I guess you know who I mean. 

The card got a nice big and clear postmark from Hill City, which by car is just 20 minutes away from Mount Rushmore. Also the used stamp is very interesting, which commemorate the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the Mayflower in Plymouth Harbour (issued 17-09-2020). Not sure yet, but I might write a post about this stamp on my history blog.

 Thank You very much Tristan!

Hong Kong: Christmas

On 6th January I got two postcards: one from Hong Kong and one from the USA.

The card from Hong Kong is a Christmas maxicard. Hong Kong rarely issues Christmas stamps and I like this set very much. Four stamps were issued on 4th December that show Santa Claus doing typical Chinese activities. On this stamp he enjoys traditional food. Also nearly the whole stamp is covered in golden foil. 

Another stamp with foil was used as postage. This one is about the Rio Olympics in 2016. 

 Thank You very much Kayee!

Stamp Order from Portugal

I often buy stamps for my collection directly online from the postal administrations and usually they are sent in big white envelopes without real stamps. One of the few postal administrations I know that always uses real stamps is Portugal. On 6th January my recent order arrived and like the last time some interesting stamps were used. The two pairs on the right are from a set about Queen Maria II. When I ordered my last stamps in summer 2019, I had ordered the complete set of these.

These are just four of the stamps I ordered. The rest you can see on my stamp blog or the rest of the Justice League stamps you can also see on my blog about Childhood Heroes on Stamps.

Taiwan: Year of the Ox

On 5th January I got three postcards: one from Taiwan, one from China and one from the USA.

The card from Taiwan is a Year of the Ox card.

Both Taiwanese Year of the Ox stamps (issued 01-12-2020) were used on the card. One of them was cancelled with a special postmark.

 Thank You very much Ringo!

USA: Badlands National Park

On 5th January I got three postcards: one from the USA, one from Taiwan and one from China.

The card from the USA shows the Badlands of South Dakota. As this is a Did You Know card, everything interesting is written on the card.

Interestingly the same information is again written on the backside. Three stamps were used on the card: Peaches, a cute Teddy Bear and an art stamp. The art stamp (issued 20-10-2020) shows Our Lady of Guápulo, a masterpiece created by an unknown Peruvian painter in the 1700s. It is housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

 Thank You very much Tristan!

China: Building

On 5th January I got three postcards: one from China, one from the USA and one from Taiwan.

The card from China shows a building, but more I do not know. It is an official card.

The card is prepaid and two more cards were added.

 Thank You very much Dengkoro!

France: Musée Anne de Beaujeu

On 5th January I got not only three postcards but also three covers including one from France.

The French EUROPA stamp of 2020 was used on the cover. You have seen it here already a few times, but this is the first time for me to have it on a cover.

This one was sent through official Postcrossing and the card in the cover shows a view of Moulins. Moulins is the capital of the Allier department and was once the residence of the Bourbon Dukes. Shown on the card is the Musée Anne de Beaujeu. This is a museum about art and history and is housed in one of the first examples of Renaissance architecture in France. 

 Thank You very much Marie!

covers from the USA

On 5th January I got not only three postcards but also three covers including two from the USA.

Two stamps on the first US cover are from a set of four about Holiday Delights (issued 24-09-2020) and the postmark is about the Pearl Harbour Remembrance Day.

In the cover was this card about Lake Powell, a popular tourist destination.

Two of the stamps on the second cover are from a set of ten about Winter Scenes (issued 16-10-2020). I really like this set of stamps. The postmark is about Christmas.

The card in this cover is called Stop Pictograph, a creative way to stop graffiti.

 Thank You very much Sam-Quito!

Harry Potter Covers from the USA

Another month has passed without an update. I think February was the first month without any update since I started this blog in 2013, but other things prevented me from uploading anything. Two months of mail are now waiting on my desk to be written about and hopefully I will have everything uploaded at the end of March, as I have holidays now and as the next months will not be much better.

Let's start with these ten covers with Harry Potter stamps. Some of you might have seen them already on my other blog, but now they are finally here as well. The first of these covers arrived on 1st December and the last one reached me on 5th January. 

Every cover included a single postcard to prevent it from bending. These are the cards in chronological order of the covers.

The Canyon of the Ancients National Monument in Colorado was created in 2000. It is home to the largest concentration of archaeological sites in the USA, mostly Ancestral Puebloan ruins.

The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah is among the most remote regions in the USA and was the last to be mapped in the contiguous United States. Bill Clinton originally created the national monument in 1996. The last president reduced its size by half in 2017.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park was established in 1999. Located in Colorado, some parts of the gorge get only 33 minutes of sunlight a day, hence the name.

As child I did not watch too much Looney Tunes, but Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote I always liked best. 

Lake Mead is a man-made lake and the largest reservoir in the USA in terms of water capacity. It is located in Arizona and Nevada. The Lake Mead National Recreation Area was originally established in 1936, shortly after the lake had been created, but since then changed it name and was enlarged. Beside Lake Mead and Lake Mohave it also includes the surrounding dessert terrain and wilderness. 

The Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona was established in 1962. It is known for its large deposits of fossils and petrified wood.

Hoover Dam was built in the Great Depression between 1931 and 1936. At this time no such large concrete structure had ever been built and its construction was the result of a massive effort involving thousands of workers, of which over one hundred died during the construction. Known as Boulder Dam until 1947, it created Lake Mead and is nowadays a popular tourist attraction. 

The Kodachrome Basin State Park is a small and calm, but nonetheless popular state park in Utah. It is actually named after a brand of Kodak film known for its vibrant colour rendition. 

The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is the largest balloon festival in the World. 

The Casa Grande Ruins National Monument in Arizona preserves a group of Hohokam structures from the Classic Period. It was established in 1918. On the backside this card got some tourist postmarks.

 Thank You very much Sam-Quito!

covers from the USA

Well, Hello again! Long time no see. It is not like I did not get any mail in January, but once again I had no time to upload it here (it seems like I write this too often recently). The mail year 2021 already started on 4th January with three covers from the USA. These I want to show you today to have at least one post in January, but I am not sure yet, when I can upload the rest. Stay tuned!

On the first cover are three stamps just like on the other two. Beside two Winter Scenes there is one stamp about the British Surrender at Saratoga, which is part of the series about the US Bicentennial. The special postmark is also very interesting. It is about the Japanese Attack at Pearl Harbour.

In the cover was a card called Chili Ristras on Adobe, which apparently is a way to dry the chilis. 

On the second cover are two vegetables, tomatos and carrots here, and a cute little stamp about ZIP codes. The postmark is about Christmas in Warrensburgh. While we did not have a white Christmas, currently it is white outside.

The card inside shows again Lake Powell. I had recently (I mean in December) got some others. Scroll down or use the label USA and you will find them.

The postmark on the third cover celebrates the 350th anniversary of Hatfield, a small town in Massachusetts. Used were two of the three stamps about the Transcontinental Railroad, which were among my favourites in 2019. A pear was used as well.

The postcard inside shows a beach view from Barbados.

 Thank You very much Sam-Quito!