The TU-154, Bogoda Bridge and Chateau du Haut-Koenigsbourg

Blog Post # 995

I want to start today off with a  partial cover not a postcard. I received this cover a few days ago from eastern Canada - Kingston, Nova Scotia in fact. It's just another example of stamps ruined on an item for no reason. All stamps on this cover received a circular hand stamp showing where and when posted and then cancelled.

As you can see it arrived with a great selection of stamps. The top row is a selection of Bird stamps, from 2003, 2004 and 2005. They show left to right a Gyrfalcon, a Lincoln's Sparrow and a Double- Crested Cormorant. All beautiful stamps. Sadly all stamps met a fate of defacement with a pen.
On the  bottom are 2 stamps from 1992 - Canada In Space. The right stamp is a Hologram stamp showing the Space Shuttle high above the Earth.

Wonderful stamps all ruined by the Great Stamp Defacer. This really upsets me as a collector. I mean how often does one get a Hologram stamp on ones mail ? And then to have it ruined by some jackass with a pen. Shame  on you and may your pen always be out of ink , whoever you are !

Now that I've had my say again on that subject, it's on to a few postcards.

Let's start with a card from France. Speaking of France - so sad to hear about and to see Notre Dame Cathedral on fire. As I write, it looks like it may be a complete loss, a UNESCO World Heritage Site visited by millions gone.

 Dominique's card gives us a look at the Chateau du Haut-Koenigsbourg. This medieval castle has towered over the area for more than 850 years. It stands at 757m over the surrounding villages. This major tourist site attracts over 500,000 visitors a year.

Dominique used a 2018 stamp celebrating the Spring Stamp Fair in the Paris area.

Note to Dominique - The card you sent a week later after this one is the same card, so I won't show it here, only the stamp is different.
Thanks though !

Ayubowan ( hello ) from Bogoda Bridge. Built in the 16th century Bogoda Bridge is said to be the oldest wooded bridge in Sri Lanka. It is built entirely of wood, right down to the wooden nails.

I've shown and wrote about 2 of the 3 stamps used on this card before, just yesterday. The new stamp is the bottom right one. It is from the set issued in 2018 featuring Sinhalese Exorcism Rituals.

I also want to showcase the Air Mail sticker on the left. This must be fairly old as Air Ceylon, as shown on the sticker, ceased to operate under that name in 1979.  That should at least make it 40 years old, minimum.


It's another Aircraft card next. This time it's a Tupolev TU-154, a three-engine medium-range narrow-body airliner designed in the mid 1960s. There have been 1,025 TU-154s built with its first flight on October 4, 1968. The postcard shows the TU-154 in Czech Air Force livery in 2006 at Prague.

Terka used a 2011 Greeting Stamp, from a set of 3.

I think that is it for this time. Thanks for cards go out to Dominique, Ravindra and  Terka . Thanks for reading and I'll be back again soon. Take care.