World Stamp Expo Fun Times!

 

So this blogging game has gotten away from me recently, and as a result there is a bit of catching up to do. About a month ago I was very excited to attend the World Stamp Expo, which was being held in my hometown of Melbourne. The WORLD STAMP EXPO!

The Expo was held at the Royal Exhibition Building, a beautiful UNESCO World Heritage listed building located in the Carlton Gardens. I dragged my dutiful boyfriend along, who patiently accompanied through the myriad stalls from various postal authorities from around the globe. I also dragged my friend Grant along - but he chose to lie in the sun for a couple of hours in the Gardens instead. Each to their own (but you missed out on some fun, Grant!).

As you could well imagine, I made a few purchases over the course of the day. My little bag was full (and my bank account empty) by the end of it. I got a souvenir minisheet to add to my royal kitsch collection, embossed with the Expo logo on it.  And I just couldn't help myself, also adding to my royal collection I got a Wills and Kate FDC.

Moving away from my tacky fascination with royals, I also indulged my love of maps, and found this amazingly beautiful minisheet from Greenland. What a find!

I also visited Deutsche Post, and purchased this lovely minisheet as it features both a map element and the Antarctic, and I love the Antarctic. The combinations of boats and ice always make for beautiful images. Would you agree?

I also found these awesome Indonesian stamps, which I saw when I visited there last year, but resisted buying at the time due to budgetary constraints.

The stamps depict traditional fabric designs from around Indonesia. They are quite lovely, in my opinion.

Anyhow that is a sample of my many purchases from the World Stamp Expo 2013.  It was a very fun day out for a big stamp nerd like me.

And now this stamp nerd is signing off for the time being. I am about to head to Turkey for six and a half weeks! I am very excited and will be working on a Roman archaeological site on the south coast. It is an absolute dream come true and I can't wait to be archaeologising on the other side of the world. So I will try and post to this blog (probably fairly irregularly) over the coming few weeks, but the posts will be archaeologic rather than philatelic in nature. But watch this space!

Queen Nefertiti and the Brunswick Lion: Sunday Stamps

The week before last I had a very lovely surprise waiting for me in my postbox; a postcard from Budapest, written twenty years ago that my lovely friend Johanna found for me in an antique store. She sent it to me not so much for the card (which itself is cool), but for the very awesome Deutsche Bundespost stamps.

The stamp that especially caught Joh's eye was the one depicting Nefertiti's bust. The bust portraying the Egyptian Queen dates to around 1340BC. It was uncovered in 1912 by a German archaeological team and now resides in Berlin.

I love the Nefertiti bust - it exemplifies all the glamour and mystery and artistry of the Ancient Egyptian civilisation. I would love to see it for real one day. Berlin is definitely on my wanderlust list.

I also really liked the stamp beneath Nefertiti on the postcard, but I didn't know what it depicted and so had to turn to google. It turns out that the Braunschweiger Löwe is the Brunswick Lion, which dates to around 1166, from the reign of Henry the Lion. There you go. Thanks Wikipedia.

I don't know what the technical term is, but I really love the simple block prints of these designs, using only two (or three on the 100 stamp) colours. They are just such bold, striking designs. I have decided I am officially a big fan of Deutsche Bundespost. Another reason to go to Germany, I suppose!!

Thanks so much for the postcard Johanna!

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This has been my entry into Viridian's Sunday stamps, which this week was a free theme. 

Check out other entries here:

Birthday Post

Last week it was my birthday, and not only did I receive post in my mailbox, I also received post as presents. It was a very lovely day. First of all, my gorgeous housemate Mel gave me a gorgeous little stamp album full of treasures that she picked up at the Camberwell Market. Thanks Mel!

We had fun leafing through and picking out our favourites over breakfast. Mel loved the German "Deutsche Bundespost" page of stamps. I agree that they are quite wonderful - the colours are so vibrant!

The pages of Canadian stamps were my pick of the bunch though. I love how higgeldy-piggeldy they are arranged, but together they just look beautiful. The colours are much more muted than the German stamps - but there is a stamp with a map on it - so the Canadian stamps win the race. There is also a stamp with mountain goats on it, and I can't go past that either.

The stamp album was my first tasty treat of the day. Then, when I arrived home from work, I had post in my mailbox! Yay! And my wonderful friend Sandy, who is living half a world away from me at the moment, sent me a parcel of post.

She found a random collection of postcards from c.1987 at an Edinburgh car boot sale for me! I love them. These two are my favourites:

They are all addressed to a Mr. Andrew Anderson, who apparently was known as "Nan" to his nearest and dearest, but as "Andy" to his boss. He lived on on Annandale Street on the "Top Flat Right" (is that a normal way of addressing something in Edinburgh? It is a bit quaint. I like it.) And in 1988 he had a girlfriend named Sarita. I love this little snapshot of a life.

Can anyone work out who signed this card? 

For my birthday I organised a casual get together at my favourite pub: the Post Office Hotel. I hadn't actually thought about the name until my sister noted that this current obsession I have with post is manifesting itself in all sorts of different ways! Everyone is noticing too - even my work friends made me a beautiful birthday card decorated with post.

So, whether it be because I am greedy after enjoying birthday post, or because I am becoming an obsessive, the latest addition to this blog is that I am moving back from the virtual into the real world and I have gained myself a mailing address.   You can contact I heart post at:

PO BOX 4102
GILBERTON VIC 3072
AUSTRALIA

Write to me and tell me about why you love David Bowie, what your superstitions are, your Mum's lasagne recipe or about the book you just read. You could even write to me about the weather. I don't mind. I just heart post, so I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to hear from you. You would make a girl's day.

And to all the lovely people who made my day by sending me messages and post on my birthday: thanks a bunch. I heart you even more than I heart post.