Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Mayotte, New Country # 224 and a Whole Lot More

Even though this blog is a postcard blog, today's update will be a mixed bag, including postcards, covers, and stamps. When you get good stuff, even if it's not a postcard, it's hard to just ignore it , hence the mixed bag. First , of course, is new country #224, Mayotte.
Mayotte, or the Departmental Collectivity of Mayotte is an overseas collectivity of France consisting of Grand-Terre, Petite-Terre and a few islets around these two islands. Mayotte is located in the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean, betwen northern Madagascar and northern Mozambique. The territory is geographically part of the Comoro Islands , but has been politically separate since the 1970s. It's capital and largest city is Mamoudzou. The card shows an underwater scene off Mayotte, with tropical fish, coral and underwater plants.The stamps on the cards are from 2009 and show the tamarind tree and its fruit. The card is from Elhem who works at Hotel Sakouli on the island of Mayotte. I have been trying for a card from Mayotte for well over two years and have finally succeeded. And, let me tell you it feels really good to get a card from one of those so called hard to get countries.
Next is a card , my second, from Republika Srpska. This is one of the two main political-territorial divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The card shows the view of Prijedor, the 3rd largest city in Republika Srpska. It is located in the northern part. This card came from Maja and is the result of a private swap. Maja sent a prestamped postcard to which she added extra postage. The extra stamp is from 2008 and is 1 of a set of 6 definitives featuring flowers. Thanks to Maja for this card.
Now for a part of the mixed bag I mentioned earlier. I received a beautiful cover , a first day cover in fact, from Edna of Vienna. The cover has a beautiful aircraft stamp celebrating the 100 years of the Wiener Neustadt Airfield. Note the great first day of issue postmark. A wonderful addition to my aircraft on stamp collection. And if that wasn't enough, there were 2 more aviation related covers inside.They include a first day cover from May 31, 1968 and a 1987 cover with a 1983 Austrian Airlines stamp. Just a great package , thanks to Edna.
And another cover now. It is from Norfolk Island. One doesn't see a lot of mail from there, so I think whenever one comes along, it deserves to be seen. In the top right corner are 2 of a set of 4 stamps issued in 2009 featuring mosaics. The other stamp is from 2008, one of 4 featuring animals. This cover contained a set 7 beautiful postcards of Norfolk, 5 of which are stamped.This cover and postcards are all courtesy of Norfolk Tourism and the thanks go to Jacqui. Because the cards are so nice, I will feature one of them here today and one in each of my next 6 blog updates. Today's card shows Kingston from QE Lookout. It has a 2008 Christmas stamp on it.
And finally to close out today I just want to show a stamp that my son Parker dropped off for me tonight. It is a mint, Scott #3 from Liechtenstein. Another great addition to my aircraft on stamps collection. Thanks Parker, I appreciate it.
Wow, this is a big update. And in my opinion a good one.
More tomorrow.

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