New stamp on Rainbow..

 

Date of Issue : 7 June 2013

Hi !

Here is a beautiful stamp to be issued by San Marino Post on June 7. The beautiful stamp issue will  commemorate  the inauguration of a Nursery school in Malawi – Matola. But in the design the stamp also features a symbolic  Umbrella Rainbow  and colors of the Rainbow.This stamp is a nice item for my Rainbow collection.

Inauguration of the nursery school in Malawi-Matola 

The philatelic set dedicated to the inauguration of the nursery school with a refectory in Malawi-Matola celebrates the solidarity of the people of San Marino put in action by the San Marino for the Children Onlus Association. The 0.10€ value designed by Maddalena Medas depicts two children protected by a symbolic umbrella with the map of Africa and the colours of the rainbow. The 0.70€ stamp designed by Ladabox.com shows a picture taken on the occasion of the inauguration on the 23^rd February 2013.

UNESCO City of World Literature

On 16 May 2013, An Post issued a stamp to commemorate Dublin UNESCO City of World Literature. The  stamp  features a story about Dublin written by Eoin Moore.

When the city of Dublin was nominated UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) City of Literature in July 2010, the capital of Ireland became just the fourth city to be honoured, following in the footsteps of Edinburgh, Scotland (2004), and Melbourne, Australia and Iowa City, USA (2008).

This acknowledgement while most gratifying, was hardly surprising. Stop a stranger on the street almost anywhere in the world and ask which world city do they most associate with literature and chances are they will say Dublin.

The city on the Liffey lays claim to no fewer than three Nobel Prize winners for Literature: George Bernard Shaw, W.B. Yeats and Samuel Beckett. Other literary luminaries who have called Dublin home include Jonathan Swift, Oscar Wilde, Sean O’Casey, Flann O’Brien, Brendan Behan and James Joyce. More recently, the list of Dublin-based scribes  has lengthened considerably. The names of Roddy Doyle, John Banville, Anne Enright, Sebastian Barry and Joseph O’Connor have helped ensure that Dublin’s rich literary tradition continues to flourish. Authors abound in one of the world’s most literary cities.

The UNESCO designation – which is on a permanent basis – recognises the quality, quantity and diversity of Dublin’s many excellent libraries, publishing houses and booksellers, as well as its world-acclaimed writers. Some of the other criteria for the designation include having literary-focused educational programmes, experience in staging literary events and festivals, the role played by literature in the urban environment, and the active involvement of the media in promoting literature and growing the market for literary products.

Champion Horse on New Australian stamp

 

Date of Issue : 10 May 2013

During The World Stamp Expo 2013 (10 – 15 May), Australia Post released a commemorative stamp to celebrate the 25th consecutive win and retirement of champion Australian racehorse Black Caviar.

The six-year-old mare, Black Caviar, leaves an extraordinary legacy of 25 wins from 25 starts, including 15 Australian Group 1 victories. Her consecutive wins constitute a world record for horses of the modern age competing at the elite level.

She first showed promise as a two and three-year-old with five wins from five starts. As a four-year-old her career blossomed when she faced her first Group 1 challenge in what was described as “an astonishing demolition job”. On 28 April 2012, she established a new Australian record of 20 consecutive wins when she took out the Robert Sangster Stakes in Adelaide.

In June 2012, Black Caviar journeyed overseas to compete in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot. Australians watching the race held their breath when, after taking the lead with some 200 metres to go, jockey Luke Nolen eased her back enabling second running horse Moonlight Cloud to momentarily draw level. In the final strides before the line Black Caviar surged forward to win by a head and examination would reveal that she had incurred injuries during the race.

Black Caviar returned to the track in 2013 with wins in the Lightning Stakes, William Reid Stakes and the T.J. Smith Stakes. Her connections announced her retirement from racing on 17 April 2013.

New stamps from New Zealand

 

New Zealand Post will issue new stamps on 5 June 2013 featuring Matariki 2013.  The set of six stamps is incorporated into a miniature sheet and two first day covers.

Matariki 2013 - Koru

When the star cluster known as Matariki appears in the night sky it signals the Maori New Year and a time of new beginnings. The Matariki 2013 stamp issue celebrates the koru - a pattern symbolising new life and regeneration.Matariki is a significant event for Māori, and is widely acknowledged to signal a change of seasons. In traditional Māori society, Matariki was believed to foretell whether the year ahead would be plentiful. It was also a time of festivity, when communities would come together to reflect on the past and look ahead to new beginnings.

The message of new beginnings is represented in the koru pattern, which is derived from an unfurling silver fern frond. Each of the six self-adhesive stamps in this issue incorporates the koru pattern along with aspects of traditional Māori culture that have particular significance during the time of Matariki.

70c - Piko

The koru pattern is used in many Māori and New Zealand art forms and symbolises new life, regeneration, growth, strength and peace. For many this form is the symbol of renewal and of hope for the future. In this stamp the piko is blooming and will grow into a rauponga (fern leaf). The artwork surrounding the fern represents the domain of Tāne Mahuta - the God of the Forest.

70c - Manu Tukutuku

Sometimes the koru can be used in a non-literal way to symbolise aspects of Māoridom, and is often seen in carving and ta moko (tattooing). In this stamp the koru pattern symbolises the winds of Tāwhirimātea (the God of the Weather), and soaring on those winds is a kite, or a messenger between Heaven and Earth. In the background the sunrise depicts the first day of Matariki, and the sky - the domain of Tāwhirimātea.

$1.40 - Nguru

The pattern that covers the nguru (flute) in this stamp is made from a series of koru shapes that depict the music making pleasing shapes in the silence. In the background is the face of Hine Raukatauri, the Goddess of Flute Music, who loved her nguru so much that she decided to live in it forever.

$1.90 - Pataka

This stamp design talks about Matariki as a time of abundance, feasting and the opportunity to flourish. The pātaka, or storehouse, is covered in koru, and represents the concept of planting and storing kai (food), the gathering of kai, and nourishment and wellbeing. This is the domain of Rongo-mā-Tāne, the God of Kūmara and Cultivated Food.

$2.40 - Kotiate

The mangopare design seen swirling around the kotiate (club) is a traditional Māori interpretation of a hammerhead shark, featuring symmetrical koru as the distinctive head. It symbolises strength, determination and an unwillingness to yield. It is very much the warrior symbol, and speaks of the attributes that a warrior must possess. The kotiate and mangopare together represent the domain of Tūmatauenga, the God of War and Balance.

$2.90 - Patiki

The pātiki (flounder) design, with its swirling koru inside the shape of the pātiki, is used in many carvings - particularly in pātaka and waka (canoes). It is the symbol of hospitality, and can represent the catching of fish from the domain of Tangaroa, the God of the Ocean.

New stamps on Birds..

 

Date of Issue : 11 May 2013

Australia Post released a range of new “miniature” artworks on stamps at the World Stamp Expo. This stamp issue is the fourth in the Australian Birds series. It focuses on pardalotes, a family (Pardalotidae) of foliage-gleaning, mainly insectivorous birds native to Australia and sometimes known as “peep-wrens” or “diamond birds”. Unlike wrens, pardalotes do not have the upward-pointing tail.

The name “pardalote” derives from the Greek word meaning spotted, as small whitish spots are common to the family, although most particularly to the Spotted Pardalote and Forty-spotted Pardalote.

Pardalotes are small, around 8.5cm to 12cm, with short tails and wings, longish legs and thick stubby beaks. Their plumage combines both dull and striking colours. They prefer a eucalypt habitat over anything else – often the high outer foliage – and they play a strong role in controlling lerp infestations (a sap-sucking insect). These monogamous birds usually feed singly or in pairs during the breeding season, darting quickly among the foliage or like small missiles from tree to tree. They often share in the tasks of nest building, egg incubation and rearing the young. Most species nest in horizontal tunnels built into earth banks.

Wonders of Malaysian Forest

 

 

Date of Issue : 13 May 2013

Here  are some magnificent stamps from Malaysia on forest and wildlife. Pos Malaysia issued three miniature sheets featuring the wonderful Malaysian forest and its inhabitants. Malaysia is a wet, tropical country that is home to some of the world’s oldest rainforests and a variety of  wildlife species. Its forests spread from the coast right up to the mountains covering a vast area .

 

The country is separated into two major regions by the South China Sea. To the east is the Malay Peninsula, which extends southward from mainland Asia, and to the west is Malaysian Borneo, which includes the states of Sabah and Sarawak.

 

 

The Malay Peninsula is home to endangered elephants, tigers, gaur, tapirs, hornbills, and bearded pigs. Sabah and Sarawak shelter proboscis monkeys, Bulwer’s pheasants, endangered orangutans, red-banded langurs, clouded leopards, and populations of sun bears and sambar deer. Habitat for many of these species is shrinking, and unsustainable hunting also poses a serious threat to their survival.