Life Insurance Lighthouses: Sunday Stamps

So Sunday has rolled around once again and it is back to work tomorrow. But before the weekend is completely done, it is time to participate in Sunday Stamps.

The theme this week is lighthouses, and I have the perfect cover to share.

I remembered this cover after I had already posted about lighthouses the last time, and was annoyed I had left it out. Luckily it now comes in handy for today's Sunday Stamps. The cover comes from my Grandpa Jeff's collection. I am not sure why the New Zealand Government Life Insurance Department were issuing stamps, but I do like their work very much.

The stamps are nice, right?

To see what other lighthouse stamps people have found to share this week, click on the Sunday Stamps link below.

Also, I am running a little giveaway at the moment, so please do check it out and enter! Happy Sunday everyone.

Surf, post... and a little bit of cheese

The other week my beau/gentleman caller/significant other/boyfriend/lover (who is one person, not five, its just that I am still settling on a label - I think I like beau) went to the sunny northern state of Queensland. He went up to the Gold Coast for work - leaving me at home for a five day stretch where I anticipated I would read books, write blog posts, tidy my room, catch up with friends, do my Turkish homework and generally solve the issue of world peace, or something constructive akin to that. As it happened, fairly predictably, having my new beau (yep, I like it) out of town did not mean I magically accomplished all those things I have been failing at lately, it just meant I spent a fair bit of time on the phone.

Anyhow, I am telling you all of this by way of introduction to this random edition of "I ♥ POST". One of the things that I like about Jake is that when on our second date I slipped into conversation "oh yeah, and not only do I collect stamps, I also write a blog about the process" he did not say "cheque please! Lovely meeting you, etc etc, I must be off, running late for something, might see you around".

Nope - he said "oh, cool!" Cool! I mean, he was clearly lying through his teeth, but how lovely of him to do so!

So, knowing my affection for post, when Jake was away in Queensland he managed to send me four postcards over five days. Knowing that I place more importance on the stamp than the postcard - he bought a new series of four stamps issued by Australia Post on the topic of Surfing. Surfing and Queensland go hand in hand - fantastic thematic choice!! I was so impressed.

Aren't the stamps lovely? I love how they are all different - the typography on each is as unique as the images. Very nice.

Anyhow, the stamps were just the start. He bought me back the coolest bit of 'post' ever! This may not seem as exotic to my American readers, but to me it is amazing: Jake bought me back a US post office box door that he found in a second hand shop in Bris Vegas!

Pretty cool, huh?! I will have to find something cool to attach it to, my own lockable stamp box? And that is not all... just when you thought Jake couldn't get any sweeter, he also went out and bought me the first day cover, just to make my collection complete. Awwww!

I don't know about your hippo drawing Jake, but you are pretty impressive.

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!

Swedish treats: Forstadagsbrev Part 2

Earlier this week on my blog I was sharing some Swedish First Day Covers that my parents recently brought back as souvenirs for me.  As I was going through the process of putting them up, I realised that a couple of them were perfect for this week's Sunday Stamps, which is all about folk costumes and traditions. So for that reason I held off sharing them all at once, and now bring you Forstadagsbrev Part II.

This first cover features Swedish national costumes and quite a wonderful postmark. The little brochure inside the envelope explains that "all over the country costumes with local characteristics were worn by the farmers and peasants until the middle of the 19th century".  Apparently the apparel would always signal a woman's marital status, through the type of hair style or head dress worn.

Brooches were another important element of the costume, and therefore feature separately on two of the stamps. The 90 kroner stamp features a brooch from the province of Jamtland and the 1.30 kroner stamp comes from Smaland.

The second cover I want to share features Swedish folk art, and I think you will agree it is pretty beautiful. Again the postmark is worth noting, featuring an Adam and Eve motif.

But, that is not to overshadow the stamps themselves, of course:

The art is described as "Peasant Painting" and according to the brochure in the FDC, the style emerged in the mid-18th century and its heyday lasted for about a century.

That's it from me this Sunday, folks. I hope you have enjoyed this addition of Sunday Stamps... it is the first time in a little while I have managed to escape the confines of my own Australia-biased collection. I hope that spices things up a bit!

To check out what other bloggers have found inspiring in the way of folk traditions, click on the button below:

(And if you are extra keen to find out more about national costumes, you might be interested in this post from the very early days of my blog, when I looked at Mongolian traditional dress.)

Swedish treats: Forstadagsbrev Part 1

Last week I bought a desk. A beautiful wooden desk with seven drawers to hide all my stuff in. As a result, I spent the weekend finally unpacking the last box from my move to North Fitzroy... which happened four months ago!

Anyhow, as I was unpacking said box, I found these wonderful first day covers that my parents brought back from their trip to Sweden earlier this year. As they gave them to me just as I was moving, I put them in this box and promptly forgot all about their very existence. So, boy was I delighted when I found them the other day. This first one is my favourite, for three very good reasons:



             1) Map Postmark
             2) Viking ship stamps
             3) Map and flag illustration on envelope.

There is not much more you can ask for, in a first day cover, really. And this particular cover taught me the Swedish for first day cover:

              FORSTADAGSBREV

I like the ring of it.

Now, I have always been partial to Vikings, but I am especially more so since watching the entire series 1 - 5 of True Blood over the course of the past two months... Those of you who have seen it will hear what I am saying, but basically, Eric Northman makes me want to move to Sweden. Anyhow, all desire for undead Viking Vampires aside, you have to admit the woodcut design viking ships featured on the stamp are pretty special.

And speaking of ships, this next cover features the Vasa, sunk in 1628 and now housed in a museum in Stockholm.

The FDC

The ship in the museum

The Vasa is a war ship from the time in the 17th century when the Swedes were a force to be reckoned with, and had acquired power over much of the Baltic area. In 1961 the shipwreck was salvaged, and the stamps feature some of the different sculptures that would have adorned the ship.

I visited the museum in Stockholm that houses the Vasa in 2006, and I have to say that it was one of the highlights of my stay in the city. Not only is the Vasa fascinating because it represents a time in history when Sweden was an imperial power and because the ship is almost a microcosm of society, but the thought of the archaeology of an underwater salvage is enough to float my boat (sorry! I couldn't help it!).  The pamphlet that comes with the FDC (issued in 1969) states "the restoration of the ship continues - a puzzle with more than 10,000 pieces." And that right there, my friends, is why I love archaeology!

Since I have actually been to see the ship featured on the stamp, I am doubly pleased that Mum and Dad picked this one out as a souvenir to bring back for me. It is pretty great, you have to agree.

There is one last FDC that I am going to share with you now from my little Swedish collection, just because I think it is beautiful:

The stamps on this last cover illustrate scenes from the Arctic Circle, in northern Sweden, where on the summer solstice the sun is above the horizon for 24 hours.

The one showing the Northern Lights is my favourite of the group... and it has taught me yet more Swedish: 

NORRSKENS FORSKNING

The Northern Lights - totally up there on my list of things/places that I simply must see before I die.

Thanks for tuning into I heart post for another week... and watch this space for still more Swedish delights in Part II of this post, which I will be uploading on Sunday. Until then, keep it real, nerds and hipsters. Over and Out. H.