From Kongwak to Vanuatu via Hawaii: Volcanoes and other eruptions

There are things in the universe that are rumbling tonight in 'I heart post' headquarters; ominous 'things' are occurring... the tectonic plates of my little world are creaking just a little. The volcanoes are not exactly erupting, but I think the hot springs are beginning to boil.

The feeling of things being afoot came this afternoon when Ferret (my sister) told me a bushfire was dangerously close to my hometown. Turns out that things on that front should be just fine for my parents (touch wood), but the fire is dancing around other little hamlets in the bush near my parent's place. I hope that everyone is okay.

The other major thing that happened tonight (on a much less dramatic, and more insular Helen-scale) is that it looks like I  need to find a new housemate. My sister Elspeth has gotten an amazing opportunity to work in Vanuatu! Wow! Congratulations Elspeth. But oh no... what am I to do? No sister to go jogging with :( No sister to have coffee with in the morning. This is bad for Helen. Great for Elspeth though, so I will try not to be too selfish about the whole thing. And besides, now I get to plan a holiday to Vanuatu! Hooray! Everyone's a winner!

Now these postcards I am sharing with you are not of Vanuatu. They are from Hawaii... but Vanuatu has volcanoes too - and Elspeth is going to be living right near one. Scary! But exciting. I love climbing volcanoes - I have climbed one in Indonesia (Kawah Ijen, with an amazing sulfur lake in its crater) and one in New Zealand (Mount Tongariro... it erupted last year!). But I am yet to see lava. Although the thought of molten lava makes me a tremble a little - I totally want to see some! (But no bushfires. I definitely do not want to see bushfires).

Anyhow, my volcano postcards come from an album that contains not only postcards from Hawaii, but postcards from Hollywood and Disneyland too. They are a collection of postcards that I bought from the Kongwak market, that are in an old-school photo album collated lovingly by someone after a trip to the US in the 70s. It is possibly my favourite market buy of all time.

I love how 70s the images are, and the colours. I mean - doesn't the picture above look like a villan's lair from a classic Bond film? I love it. I have been meaning to share this wicked collection of postcards ever since I started this blog, so please savour all the retro-goodness:

So as I wind up this post, just before I head off to bed, it seems that a quick check of the Country Fire Authority website indicates that the status of the bushfire warnings have all been downgraded, and things are under control. Now for me to stay under control while I come to grips with the prospect of no Elspie for 12 months. Thoughts of visiting Vanuatuan volcanoes are helping.

Recent Acquisitions

It is perhaps clear that although I have titled this post "recent acquisitions" some of the stamps I am featuring are not that recent, given that I am beginning this post with the Australian Olympics stamps, which are obviously several months old by now. Although I am not really a sporting sort of girl, I was really impressed with Australia Post's offering this Olympics, as I really like the watercolour splattered effect and the bright colours used.

The "enrol to vote" stamp, another one that I really like, was actually issued all the way back in March. But the reason that I still think of these stamps as "recent" is that I tend to buy my stamps only once every few months. All the stamps that I am featuring in this post I bought recently (in a sense) but they also feel new to me, because they haven't made it into my album yet. Until I got them out to scan they were still sitting in their packets.

The above stamps are portraits of Australian Nobel Laureates. I bought the above set because it had a cool illustration in the gutter. And I love a good gutter strip. But I also really like the portraits, which are painted by some very highly-regarded Australian artists (Brett Whiteley and Clifton Pugh among them).  I just think they are a lovely set of stamps. So lovely, in fact, that I accidentally went a little crazy and purchased the First Day Cover as well!

Okay, fancy Gutter Strip set AND First Day Cover? Uh-oh... this could be a sign that I am turning into a crazy cat lady. Without a cat, but with a stamp collection. But checkout how the postmark on the FDC matches the gutter strip image. Cool, huh?

Anyhow, in the latest edition of the "Stamp Bulletin" published by Australia Post (damn, I can hear those crazy-cat-lady alarm-bells ringing again) the results of a public poll on the favourite Australian stamp issue of 2012 were released, and it was the following:

It is quite a fun series, but I don't think it is my favourite issue of the year. Maybe this issue beats it for me:

These little fellows are "nudibranchs" which are tiny (25mm - 120mm) marine molluscs. Aren't they trippy? Like strange little aliens. According to my edition of the Stamp Bulletin from May (from when they were issued... yep it really has been a while since I sorted through my stamps), nudibranchs...

can be found in all habitats from the deepest ocean to the shorelines of every continent.  They come in many sizes are beautiful to behold and have developed survival strategies which defy the imagination.

I still don't quite want to commit to the tiny nudibranchs as my favourite stamp issue of the year. I like them much better than the road trip stamps, but perhaps the Nobel Laureates are my favourite stamps of the year. Perhaps. As always, I find it hard to pick a favourite!

Guest Collection: Danni's 1990s FDCs

One of the lovely things about doing this blog is that now many people tell me about their stamp collections. "Oh, I had a stamp collection when I was young" they'll say. But the truth is, they always still have the collection, tucked away somewhere, they just haven't added to it for a while.

Now, this may surprise some of you, but not too long ago, I used to keep my stamp collecting a bit of a secret. I mean - you don't really want to shout from the rooftops that you're a giant nerd, do you? Not if you're sane.

Christmas 1993 - a better effort than Christmas 2012, Australia Post 

But since I decided to blow caution to the wind and broadcast my insane pleasure in small perforated postage stamps, I have discovered I am not alone. People more often than not want to share their collections with me, and I think they find some pleasure in having an excuse to dust them off and rediscover them.

As is so often the case with FDCs, this one features a nice postmark!

So this is exactly what happened with my new(ish) housemate Danni a couple of months ago. I was hanging out in the kitchen and Danni brought in her collection of First Day Covers for me to look at. They are from the early 90s and they are kept in a Lindt Chocolate box.

This was in the early stages of living here, so it was in many ways a nice "getting to know you" exercise:
Danni - So, you blog about stamps.
Helen - Yup. It's not as tragic as it sounds. Or at least I don't think it is. I guess it might be...
Danni - Well, guess what? I have these First Day Covers!
Helen - Wow! FDCs! Awesome!
--
Or, at least, it went something like that.

So today I share with you, fellow lovers of post, Danni's collection of First Day Covers.

And here is my pick of the lot - the Queen's Birthday 1991. Would you take a look at the Mother-Daughter outfits with the matching black satin gloves. I am almost speechless. I certainly have FDC envy.

You know how I love a bit of Royal Kitsch! And check out those dresses!!

Thanks for sharing your cool collection of 90s FDCs with me Danni. They are ace!

Shipwrecks: Sunday Stamps

It may be a little morbid, but when I read that the theme this week for Sunday Stamps was "ships" I immediately thought of this beautiful presentation pack of stamps I have featuring shipwrecks.

I don't generally buy presentation packs, I find them cumbersome, so that is where I generally draw the line when it comes to stamp paraphernalia (gutterstrips: tick; FDCs: tick; presentation packs: buh-bow) but as with all lines in the sand that I draw for myself, I do shift the boundaries from time to time. (For instance, this time last year FDCs were in the "buh-bow" no-deal column, or on the wrong side of the line in the sand. Said line has since been adjusted). Anyhow, objections to presentation packs aside, I couldn't resist this particular presentation pack due to the rather lovely 1878 map that adorns the inside.

The stamps themselves are quite beautiful, I think. I like the muted colours, and that the images evoke the era by using contemporary engravings of the disasters. I have been to the cemetery that is the eternal resting place for many of the Loch Ard victims and it is quite a haunting place, situated on a very stunning, but treacherous and rugged coastline.

The Dunbar sank near the entrance to Port Jackson, on the 20 August 1857, as the stamp says. The stamp also indicates that 120 lives were lost. What it doesn't say is that there were only 121 people on board. Only one crewman survived the wreckage, because he was tossed by waves onto a rock ledge.

To counter the rather bleak topic of shipwrecks, I thought I would also share with you a 2004 issue of stamps that is bright and happy and reflects the romantic side of shipping.

I really like these steamer stamps, with their nod to art-deco styling and the bright colours of the travel posters. They make me want to voyage around the world at a leisurely pace while sipping cocktails on the deck.

In what was a massive end to a massive week, I acquired these stamps yesterday, whilst trawling through 100 years of family history stored in my Grandparents' house which was recently sold. Grandma Nellie collected the annual stamp books put out by Australia Post, and so this more recent part of her collection just made its way to me on the weekend. The books are pretty cool and have lots of detail about all the stamps issued in that year, as well as the actual mint stamps.

There will be more tales from my massive week and massive weekend soon on this blog... but for now, it is good night and good luck, fellow stampers and fellow bloggers.

The Observers Book of Postage Stamps

A few weeks ago this marvellous little pocket-sized book turned up in my mailbox - a delightful bit of postal love from my dear friend, the wonderful Ms Flamingo Rover. The Observers Book of Postage Stamps, its introduction tells us, is not meant primarily for the collector, "but rather for everyone who would accept stamp design as one of the minor arts." Hey! Minor? Well, ok then. That places me... and I am guessing you, my dear readers, clearly in this book's primary demographic. Stamp design: Hoorah!

The book starts with this handy chart of world history as it relates to the development of communications and postage stamps. So in handy table format we find that the Crimean War was raging in 1854-56; telegraphy was demonstrated by Morse in 1844; and the first perforated stamps were issued in 1850. Cool.

The contents of this book are fascinating and varied, and it covers everything from the genesis of stamp design (the story of the infamous penny black), to the principle of lithography (which involves the mutual repulsion of oil and water).

It contains a brief overview of stamps from all over the world, and I love what it has to say about Australian stamp issues in the 19th century which were "a depressing procession of Queen's portraits, many of them quite unrecognisable, in increasingly hideous frames with coarse lettering. The colony of Victoria was the worst offender." Coarse lettering! How hideous. And Victoria, my home state doing me proud. The author doesn't get nicer and comments on "ghastly multi-coloured stickers" produced by New South Wales in 1897 and while congratulating the Colony for producing one of the earliest commemorative issues, puts the boot in by noting that it may have been one of the earliest, but it was also one of the ugliest! Brilliant.

On contemplating Australian stamp design at the dawn of the twentieth century the author states:
"Ugliness begets ugliness, and with such a dreadful half-century to look back on, stamp designers for the Australian Commonwealth could hardly have been expected to create sudden masterpieces". Oh dear. Apparently we got better as the twentieth century wore on though. Phew! I have some of my own thoughts on ugly stamp design of the 21st century... but I will save that for another time.

Thanks for the book Sandy - I love it! xx

Guest Collection: Phillipe's Tongan Stamps

Hello friends, fellow stamp enthusiasts, nerds and hipsters...
This week here on iheartpost we have an exciting new development: I'm featuring a guest collection!

Spot the map stamp! :)

Phillipe, the 9 year old son of my work friend Meredith, collects stamps. And because he is a total champion, he was good enough to let his Mum bring them in to work for show and tell. (I love show and tell).

Click on any image for a better view!

As you can see, Phillipe has a fantastic collection of minisheets from Tonga. Aren't they pretty? Explorers, space and sheep. And a little bit of royal kitsch, just to make me especially happy:

It is possible that the King of Tonga one could be my favourite of all.

As well as the issues from the Kingdom of Tonga, one of the Tongan islands, Niuafo'ou, issues its own stamps.

Niuafo'ou was once known as "Tin Can Island" and it still issues its own stamps as a historic throwback (ahem) to when the mail delivery was thrown overboard from boats in tin cans, and bobbed to shore on the current! Or so Meredith tells me (and I believe her). Thankfully, their mail now arrives slightly less sodden, in a different sort of tin can (one with wings):

Thank-you, thank-you Phillipe for sharing these brightly coloured philatelic pieces of an island paradise with us!

In other iheartpost news... I am heading off on a little sojourn to Indonesia for the next couple of weeks. I am skipping the last two weeks of winter (I am SO OVER winter) and searching out some beach/sun/adventure etc. So, until September peeps... keep it real. Nerd out.