Sunday Stamps: New Zealand

I like these stamps because they are so colorful!

The Wellington stamp is part of the Tiki Tour of New Zealand collection and was issued in 2012. Here's the full sheet:

It looks like the rescue services stamp was issued in 1996. The Rescue Services series had eight designs, each honoring a different organization.

Check out more Sunday Stamps posts at Viridian's Postcard Blog!

Sunday Stamps: United Nations, New York

These United Nations stamps, depicting the headquarters in New York, were postmarked on October 30, 1958. The UN first issued their own stamps in 1952. The stamps and postmarks are only available in the official United Nations office in New York, Geneva, and Vienna.

The building is so much prettier than the stamps can show, though there is a certain classic charm to the monotone image.

Chrysler and United Nations Buildings by Ad Meskens
Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0

Sunday Stamps: Landscapes

These classic travel poster stamps from New Zealand are fabulous! My favorite is the second from the left, but I included these today because the first two stamps match the landscape theme. 

• Tolaga Bay, a popular beach, has the longest pier in New Zealand.
• Mt. Egmont, also known as Mt. Taranaki, is part of Egmont National Park established in 1990.
• The Blue Baths, Rotorua opened in 1933 to proved recreation to both men and women. After 17 years closed, they were refurbished and reopened in 1999.

For more landscape stamps, visit Viridian's Postcard Blog.

Sunday Stamps

I received these stamps on an envelope from a Taiwanese Postcrossing member. I loved the colors and style of the series!

Sunday Stamps: Cow

I love farm animals, so thought I'd share this cow stamp from Canada. I couldn't not include the beautiful Mona Lisa rendition from my swap partner!

Sunday Stamps

Today's Sunday Stamps theme is cats, dogs, and other pets, so I couldn't resist featuring this stamp of Norman and Walter, my two pug mixes. Water is eight years old, and Norman is two. They are sweet, hilarious, and bring me great joy.

Sunday Stamps

I have been admiring this stamp since I received it on a postcard a few weeks ago, so it seemed fitting to include it as my entry in this week's Sunday Stamps since the theme is art, music, and dance. The illustration was created by Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939), a well-known Czech Artist celebrated for his art nouveau images. The Mucha Museum, in Prague, features over 100 of his pieces. The Zodiac, reproduced on the stamp, was originally created for a calendar.

Sunday Stamps: Australia, Then and Now

The theme for today's Sunday Stamps is something useful or practical. I found this stamp on a postcard I recently received, and though I thought about selecting a stamp of a building or train, I liked this one best. I use my iPod almost every day! Although I did grow up in the days of record players, and had albums like Thriller by Michael Jackson and Can't Slow Down by Lionel Ritchie. (Even earlier, I had 8-tracks of the Grease soundtrack, Rhinestone Cowboy by Glen Campbell, and several Donnie and Marie tapes.

Sunday Stamps

The figure skating and cross-country skiing stamps are part of a four-stamp series to commemorate the 1984 Olympic games. The other two sports are downhill skiing and hockey. The Free Lance-Star published an article about these stamps in January 1984.

I received these stamps on a piece of mail, but the USPS missed canceling them and putting a postmark on them.

Sunday Stamps: Coatlicue

This stamp from Mexico depicts a sculpture of Coatlicue, Aztec goddess of life and death. She gets her name from her skirt of serpents. While this might seem harrowing, the site Goddess a Day explains why being a "devouring mother" is not as negative as it sounds.

The Coatlicue stamp is from the 1976 series Arte y Ciencia de Mexico (Art and Science of Mexico). The sculpture was originally part of the Tenochtitlan temple, until Spanish conquistadors buried her as a pagan idol. According to the Interweb, the sculpture was unearthed in Mexico City in 1790 and delivered to the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico. Fearing she would awaken ancient beliefs and out-of-place with other artifacts at the University, the sculpture was reburied. In the early 1800s, the sculpture was unearthed for a private viewing by German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt, but it was re-interred upon his departure. The sculpture was once again uncovered, this time permanently, in 1824, but it was viewed with embarrassment and placed in storage until it received a prominent displace space at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. Britannica Online features a picture of the massive statue.

See other yellow stamps, this week's theme for Sunday Stamps, at Viridian's Postcard Blog.

Sunday Stamps

Fun King Arthur stamps from the UK! See more Sunday Stamps on Viridian's Postcard Blog!

Sunday Stamps

I received this envelope in the mail yesterday. I was so excited about the plethora of stamps - both modern and vintage - that I hardly cared what was inside. The one, two, three, four, and five cent stamps are all current, self-adhesive stamps issued by the United States Postal Service.

The Rising of the Spirit of Independence Stamp was issued in 1973, one of a four part series. The Frederic Remington stamp was issued in 1961 to celebrate the centennial of his birth. The 1961 James Naismith stamp commemorates the 1861 birth of creator of basketball. The American Woman stamp was issued in 1960.