New Places # 249 and 250, and a Few Other Good Cards

Hello again. I think I have a good update for today. It has lots of goodies. I am adding 2 new countries to my collection with this update. Also included are a number of great postcards and 2 airplane/airline on postcards for my collection.

Okay, new country or stamp issuing entity # 249 is Sint Maarten. Sint Maarten is one of four constituent countries that make up the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It encompasses the southern half of Saint Martin Island while the northern half of the island constitutes the French overseas collectivity of Saint Martin. ( More about that later ) . Prior to 10 October 2011, Sint Maarten was part of the Netherlands Antilles. Its capital is Philipsburg, where my postcard was posted. Jean Pierre's card shows a KLM Royal Dutch Airlines B747 on short final crossing Maho Beach enroute to Princess Juliana Airport. Unfortunately when Jean Pierre was posting this card, he was unable to come up with any of the new Sint Maarten stamps. He had to settle for a postage meter label. But as everyone can see, it was posted in Philipburg , Sint Maarten so that is good enough to make it country # 249 of my collection. Thanks Jean Pierre.

Now we come to country # 250 , a milestone I would think. So without further delay let me add The Republic of Nauru to my collection. You're reading it correct, Nauru. Located in Micronesia in the South Pacific, Nauru is the world's smallest island nation, covering just 21 sq km. It is also the second least-populated country after Vatican City. Nauru has approximately 9300 people and its capital is Yaren. A stamped and mailed postcard from Nauru, pretty rare I think. One could even say as scarce as hen's teeth. And, the best part is , I received 4 of 7 cards , with 3 more on the way. I am going to show 2 of the 4 this time around. My first Nauru card shows 4 of the youth of Nauru in their traditional Frigate Bird (Itti) Dancing costumes. The card was issued by the Department of Youth Affairs for Nauru and is a way of showing support of the Youth of Nauru for a better tomorrow. The stamp is from 2000 and is 1 of 3 issued for the 30th anniversary of the Nauru Phosphate Corporation.

The 2nd Nauru card shows a cantilever section of the Nauru Phosphate Corporation. This one doesn't have a stamp, but is a Nauru Post Paid card . Why both cards are postmarked with a Nauru Post & Philatelic Bureau hand stamp, I can't say, as they did not originate from the Philatelic Bureau . Sinei sent the cards to me . I won't say more as I don't want her inundated with postcard requests.

It took quite a long time to receive these Nauru postcards. I started about 5 years ago , contacting via the internet, anyone with a connection to Nauru. No luck. About a year and a half ago I wrote a letter to a certain business , requesting a postcard. Still no luck, I never heard from them. Then earlier this past spring , I sent a second letter to the same business. Again no response, that is until July 3rd when I received an email from Sinei. She said she had just been promoted to a new position and came across my letter. Her great response was to send me 7 postcards, of which I received 4 so far. Thank you, Sinei. As many people say, It doesn't get much better that that.

My next card comes from Nassau, Bahamas. It shows the beach and city of Nassau. I haven't been to Nassau, but I was in The Bahamas for 1 day earlier this spring. My good postcard buddy Davis from Dublin, Ireland sent this card along. He used a great Royal Wedding stamp, 1 of 3 issued for that event.
It seems that The Duchess got in the way of the postmark, giving her a whole new look. Sorry Kate. Thanks David for this one.

Now a card from Finland. This is an Official Postcrossing card and comes from Helsinki. It shows The Three Blacksmiths, a 1931 statue by Felix Nylund. It depicts three males in the process of striking an anvil, in the nude. Quite possibly a very dangerous pastime , if you ask me. The stamp is a Moomins stamp , issued in 2007 , from a booklet of 6. The card and stamp are postmarked with a Suomenlinna and Sveaborg postmark. Suomelinna or Sveaborg is an inhabited sea fortress built on 6 islands and which now form part of the city of Finland. Suomenlinna is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has been since 1991.

Here's another card from Jean Pierre. He sent this on from Windwardside, Saba, Caribisch Nederland. He wrote that postcards were very scarce but happened upon this one in a small shop. The stamps are the new stamps showing the U.S. Dollar rate , issued on June 01, 2011.

And one more from Jean Pierre. This one is from Saint Martin, in the French West Indies. St. Martin is a French overseas collectivity. The other collectivities are French Polynesia, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Pierre & Miq and Wallis and Futuna. Saint Martin and Saint Barthelemy are the only two that do not issue their own stamps, relying on French stamps. This card shows an Air France jumbo jet on final crossing Maho Beach to Princess Juliana Airport. Being the airplane/airline nut that I am, I believe I could spend a week lying on that beach , just watching airplane after airplane flying low overhead. It's another card for my sub collection. Jean Pierre used 2 Marianne definitives along with a 2010 stamp called Liberty in America ( Latin America and The Caribbean).Thanks to Jean Pierre for these last 2 cards.

That is this update, a really good one in my opinion. I don't feel I lied when I mentioned at the top , that it was going to be a good one. It gives me great pleasure to put a line through Sint Maarten and Nauru , on the left side of my blog, as having received a card from both. With # 249 and #250 in the bag , so to speak, I now have just 23 more to go. No one said it was going to be easy, but it sure is fun. Thanks for reading and as always, your comments, good or bad are more than welcome.