J is for JFK

Eva sent me this little glassine envelope with some interesting postage.

I've featured the egg stamp in the past. The irregularly-shaped JF Kennedy stamp comes from a mini-sheet issued by Correos that covered events of the 60s.

I like the moon landing footprint stamp on this sheet.

Inside was this fascinating card. I showed another one from this series in the past.

For more links to stamps with a J theme, head over to Sunday Stamps.

I is for Illustrator

This stamp was released in xxxx 2001 (thanks Heleen, and the stamp!) as part of a sheet of 20 American illustrators to celebrate 100 years of this artform.

This stamp features Nora McMein's work, which frequently appeared in advertising and magazines.

For more I links, head over to Sunday Stamps.

H is for Hearts

The two versions of the forever hearts stamp issued in 2015. On envelopes 972 and 973.

And on envelope 980, the Quilled Paper Heart (2016), Hearts Blossom (2019) and Cut Paper Heart (2014). All of the stamps today are part of the long-standing USPS Love series.

For more stamps with an H theme, explore the links at Sunday Stamps.

F is for Farm animals

Many farm animals gathered here on this French stamp issued in 2013 commemorating the 50th International Exhibition of Agriculture.

For more F stamps, head over to find the links at Sunday Stamps.

E is for Edgar Degas

Fafa sent me an envelope with this lovely minisheet featuring work by the painter (and sculptor) Edgar Degas (1831-1917). This is 'The Star on the Stage' (1878). 

For more postage with an E theme, check out the links at Sunday Stamps.

D is for Dimetrodon

This stamp is from a set issued in Canada in 2016, featuring dinosaurs reflected in the eye of another dinosaur. Here's a link to a page with more information about the animals themselves as well as pictures of the other stamps on the sheet.

For more interesting D postage, explore the links at Sunday Stamps.

C is for Carnation, C tarifa, Correos and Cardinal

Fantastic C mail arrived from Eva.

The stamp has the no value indicator of the C rate, used for international mail outside Europe, and featured a carnation that is made up of various Spanish landmarks. The only one I recognize is La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.

To see more stamps with a C theme, explore the links at Sunday Stamps.

The fantastic envelope shows Eva's watercolor cardinal bird. the male is considered to have a brilliant red color, but today's post makes me think of the words crimson and carmine.

And more yellow on the back.

Eva asked me if I thought her cardinal was red enough. I thought I'd poll the audience - so what do you think? Is he red enough?

B is for Brown Bear

This brown bear is on a Russian stamp issued in 2008 from the definitive series that featured animals. 

For more stamps with a B theme, head over to explore the links at Sunday Stamps. 

Z is for Zona 1

I sent some postcards to friends in the US from Rome last year. These were the stamps provided, showing the rate for zone 1.

The stamp features Piazza del Plebiscito, the main square of Naples, named after the plebiscite which saw Naples become part of the Kingdom of Italy in 1860.

This view shows the basilica of the church of San Francesco di Paola.

And a view of the post box where I mailed the postcards. This is located near the Spagna metro station.

R is for Rose and Rhinoceros

We're up to R in the latest Sunday Stamps journey through the alphabet.

I've shown the holographic United Nations stamp before, so today it is the turn o two of the other stamps on this envelope.

The rose is a 1c definitive stamp issued in 2009, and the rhino was issued to coincide with the 17th meeting of the Conference of Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. This meeting, abbreviated to CITES CoP17, was held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2016.

My scanner must have been acting up, so sorry about the grey lines. I will try and get a better scan in a few days. In the meantime, here is the minisheet this stamp came from, highlighting endangered African species, with the subtitle, Eye on Africa. A nice touch is the outline of the African continent placed at the center of the minisheet.

For more postage with R themes, visit the links over at Sunday Stamps.

P is for Poinsettia

Having skipped issuing a global Christmas stamp for the last few years, USPS issued one in October featuring a poinsettia, also known as Christmas Star. These decorative plants are a fixture of the December holidays in the USA, and come in red and white varieties. They are native to Mexico, where they were used by Aztecs to obtain red dye. 

Are poinsettias part of the holiday decorations in your country?

I used it to send a Canadian fast-food related trashpo mini-book to Mail Art Martha, along with a related postcard.

For more P stamps to ponder, head over to the links at Sunday Stamps.

O is for Orca

An easy choice for the letter O, is this wonderful stamps from Russia.

Issued in 2012, it features Orcinus orca, more commonly called orca, or killer whale. They have no natural predators, and live in stable matrilineal pods. Males breed with females of different pods in order to promote genetic diversity.

For more outstanding O stamps, explore the links at Sunday Stamps.

N is for Night

Eva has a great mail project where she sent out envelopes with questions about mail monsters accompanied by these excellent stickers...

Here is the mail monster she drew on the return envelope, with the mail monster I created (collage).

And the stamp I used to send it back is the global rate moon, shown, obviously, at Night, with a dark blue background. It was issued in 2016 and the rate back then was $1.20. Then in 2017 the rate was cut to $1.15, where it will stay through at least 2019. (Image from Eva's blog).I like to think the mail monsters are more active during the night.

The Moon stamps come in a sheet of ten with a great background (none of the other global rate stamps look so nice, being printed on white).

For more of the mail monsters, click here.

For more nice stamps with an N theme, check out the links at Sunday Stamps.

M is for Macron's Marianne

I did not realize for a long time that each French president gets to choose a new design for the definitive Marianne stamps.

President Macron chose a design by street artist Yseult Digan, aka YZ, which he described as depicting Marianne as a politically engaged young woman. Link to article at art news.

I think the blue Europe rate below is the first of the new design I have received, and it comes from Heleen who was on vacation in France. Thanks for the unexpected mail!

'Penny for her thoughts' made me think of the fact that the first stamps issued in Britain cost 1 penny :)

To see other entries for marvelous Ms, explore the links at Sunday Stamps.

L is for Levitation

USPS issued a set of five stamps titled Art of Magic this year. Each one has a theme, today's being levitation. I really enjoy the clean graphic design of these stamps.

Used on Halloween mail to Eva. From her blog:

For more lovely L-themed posts, explore the links at Sunday Stampshttps://seeitonapostcard.blogspot.com.

K is for Kupka

A great autumn envelope arrived from Fabienne, with this wonderful stamp celebrating the art of František Kupka (1871-1957), arriving in perfect time for Sunday Stamps. He was a co-founder of the abstract and orphic cubism art movements. [Links take you to wikipedia pages]

A close up of the stamp, showing the painting Planes by Colors.

And included (amongst other things) a postcard featuring some medieval (I think?) art showing a Cheval de Neptune.

For more links to K stamps, go to Sunday Stamps.

Bonus J is for Jack-O'-Lanterns

J is also for Jack-O'-Lanterns, the first ever USPS Halloween stamps issued in 2017. Halloween is huge in the US, so I am surprised that they don't have issues every year. They were certainly a success, as they are no longer available from the online store, unless you want to buy giant press sheets for $60 dollars each (I think that is 120 stamps). A few post offices might still have them in stock.

I received one as part of this months envelope exchange run by Jean W over at Pushing the Envelopes - this one is the fantastic handiwork of Chuck M. I love how the close-up photo came out - it really shows off the inner glow of the pumpkin.

For more J japery, head over to the links at Sunday Stamps.

J is for John Lennon

An unusual subject for a stamp, given that John Lennon was not a US citizen, putting him up there with the likes of William Shakespeare. Unlike Shakespeare, he did have permanent residence at the time of his death, although there were times in the past that he was denied entry into the US due to his anti-Vietnam war stance.

The stamps are issued in the usual pane of 16 designed to look like a record sleeve for the Music Icons series. Unique to the series (so far) is that there are four different versions of the stamp due to the change in color.

I received one of them on this excellent piece of mail art from Keith C.

And the other side... which reminds me that Halloween is not far off.

For more joyous Js, head over to explore the links at Sunday Stamps.

I is for Italy

This stamp arrived on a postcard sent by Eva. It shows the Piazza Ruggierio Settimo in Palermo.

This view shows the Teatro Politeama, with the statue of Ruggero Settimo (1778-1863) in the froeground. Settimo was a Sicilian naval officer, and fought in the Naploeonic wars. Later he was an important figure in the Sicilian revolution of 1848, and served as head of the independent Sicilian state until Ferdinand II put down the rebellion in 1849. He escaped to Malta, living in exile for twelve years. Ultimately he became head of the senate in the new parliament of the Kingdom of Italy following Italian reunification in 1860-1861. He held this position until his death.

For more interesting I posts, head over to the links at Sunday Stamps.

H is for History

I think history could apply to so many stamps.

In this case it is one about the history of Spain - the Treaty of Tordesillas, where Spain and Portugal divided the newly discovered (to Europeans) eastern and western lands between them.

For more links to H topics, head over to Sunday Stamps.