New stamps on Birds…

 

 

Date of Issue : 4 December 2013

Italian Post issued a set of five commemorative stamps featuring birds of the Alps in their natural environment: the Rock Ptarmigan (Lagopusmuta), the Grey-headed Woodpecker (Picuscanus), the Bearded Vulture (Gypaetus barbatus), the Boreal Owl (Aegoliusfunereus) and the Western Capercaillie (Tetraourogallus). Six pictorial cancellations have been issued for this special issue. It is a wonderful item for bird lovers.

 The Rock Ptarmigan (Lagopusmuta) is a medium-sized game bird in the grouse family.

The Rock Ptarmigan is 34–36 centimeters long (tail 8 cm) with a wing-span of 54–60 centimeters.The male’s “song” is a loud croaking. The Rock Ptarmigan is season ally camouflaged; it sfeathersmoult from white in winter to brown in spring or summer. The breeding male has greyish upper parts with white wings and under parts. In winter, its plumage becomes completely white except for the black tail.

 

 The Grey-headed Woodpecker (Picuscanus) is a Eurasian member of the woodpecker family Piciformes. It is 25–28 cm long and weighs 130-180 grams. It has green upperparts, pale grey underparts and a yellow rump. It has a grey head with black moustache, and the male has a red crown.

 The Bearded Vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) is abird of prey, and the only member of the genus Gypaetus. It eats mainly carrion and lives and breeds on crags in high mountains in southern Europe, the Caucasus, Africa, the Indian Subcontinent, and Tibet, laying one or two eggs in mid-winter that hatch at the beginning of spring. Populations are resident.

 

The Boreal Owl (Aegoliusfunereus) is a small owl. This species is a part of the larger grouping of owls known as typical owls. The Boreal Owl is 22–27 cm long with a 50–62 cm wingspan. It is brown above, with white flecking on the shoulders. Below it is whitish streaked rust color. The head is large, with yellow eyes and a white facial disc, and a “surprised” appearance. The beak is light yellow colored.The flight is strong and direct. Young birds are chocolate brown.

The Western Capercaillie (Tetraourogallus) is the largest member of the grouse family.

Found across Europe and Asia, it is renowned for its mating display. Male and female Western Capercaillie—the cocks and the hens—can easily be differentiated by their size and colouration. The male bird (or cock) is much bigger than the female (or hen).

Cocks typically range from 74 to 85 cm in length with wingspan of 90 to 125 cm and an average weight of 4.1 kg. The body feathers are coloured dark grey to dark brown, while the breast feathers are dark metallic green. The belly and undertail coverts vary from black to white depending on race.

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New stamps from Italy..

 

 

The Holy Christmas 2013

 

  

Date of Issue : 20 October 2013

Here are some new stamps from Italy. This new  stamp of the value of € 0.85 depicts a typical Christmas greeting card, with its envelope, on which Christmas decorations and a ballpoint pen are highlighted. The words "MERRY CHRISTMAS" appear on the envelope. The cancellation for this issue is very special and beautiful.

  

Date of Issue : 20 October 2013

This Christmas  stamp of the value of € 0.70 reproduces the painting titled "S.Joseph with the Child ", made by Guido Reni around 1635 and preserved in the Diocesan Museum of Milan.

 

Date of Issue : 19 October 2013

Italian Post issued a stamp to celebrate the Archimedean Year. The stamp reproduces a table of numbers “pi Greek” with the first decimal digits, a geometric construction from the book “On the sphere and cylinder”, a drawing taken from the “Book of Lemmas” and the letter “pi” (“π”) of the Greek alphabet, also called Archimedes number that represents the ratio between a circle’s circumference to its diameter. The cancellation featuring symbols is beautifully designed.

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Sacred Hermitage of Camaldoli

 

The new issue by Italian post represents a regular stamp in the “Il patrimonio artistico e culturale italiano” (Italian Artistic and Cultural Heritage) series dedicated to the Sacred Hermitage of Camaldoli.

The stamp depicts an aerial view of the Sacred Hermitage and Monastery of Camaldoli, nestling in the delightful forests of the Apennines between Tuscany and Romagna.

 

The Holy Hermitage and Monastery of Camaldoli is situated in an ancient forest in the Tuscan Apennines. It was founded about 1012 by Saint Romuald, a Benedictine monk, with the permission of Tedald, Bishop of Arezzo. In the monastery of Camaldoli there is a welcoming room, a great hall, and an old style pharmacy. The pharmacy was originally a laboratory where monks studied and worked with medicinal herbs. The precious walnut decor dates back to 1543. The church, meanwhile, was constructed in the Baroque style and contains works by Giorgio Vasari. It was established to deal with the ever-growing number of pilgrims – drawn by good reports of the monks, and for reflection in the middle of the forest.

A few kilometers farther up the mountain is the “Sacred Hermitage”, or Sacro Eremo which is the more ancient part of the foundation. It was personally established by St. Romuald and has served as the heart of both the community and the order, which bears the location’s name.

Club News

Stamp Exhibition in Germany on  “ Nature and Culture ”

From September 13th to September 15th 2013  a philatelic exhibition will be held in the community  Oepfershausen,Germany. Oepfershausen is situated in the rural region of the Nature Reserve Rhön.

The title of the exhibition is "Nature and Culture "  honoring the 20th anniversary  of the Culture Station at Oepfershausen. The exhibition will be held in cooperation between the Philatelic Collector Group Meaning(BSV),

The Staff of  the Nature Reserve Rhön and the community of Oepfershausen with participation of the German  Philatelic Collector Group ARGE ZOOLOGIE. 24 exhibitors from Germany and Italy will be shown 26 exhibits in 45 frames. Two groups of philatelic friends of the Philatelic Collector Group Meiningen from Italy and Poland will be visiting exhibition as guests of the BSV Meiningen.

List of exhibits :

Matthias Reichel/Günter Wölfing(BSV Meiningen) " Viewcards of Oepfershausen" -3 frames, Kurt Gronwald(ARGE ZOOLOGIE) -" Sea cows-the friendly unknown animals"- 1 frame,Wolfgang Beyer(ARGE ZOOLOGIE)- A trip in the land of the birds of paradise"- 1 frame, Ekkehardt Peter(ARGE ZOOLOGIE)-" European Butterflies on European Stamps"- 3 frames,Lothar Brehme(ARGE ZOOLOGIE)-"Rare animals of the Nature Reserve Spreewald"-1 frame, Axel Brockmann(ARGE ZOOLOGIE)-" Pelican-the bird with the big mouth"-1 frame, Jürgen Holzhausen(BSV Meiningen)-"Sandpipers in the Nature Reserve Rhön"-3 frames, G.Schalling(BSV Suhl) " A trip through  the forests and fields" - 3 frames. Heinrich Simmerle(Italy)-" The vine grape and the wine"-1 frame,Maria Egger(Italy)-"The queen of flowers"-1 frame, Dieter Schellenberger(BSV Suhl)-" Orchids of the Nature Reserve Rhön"-1 frame, Anne Brandt(BSV Meiningen-Youth) -" A excerpt of the world of plants in the Nature Reserve Rhön"-3 frames.
Three special pictorial cancellation will be available with Common Snipe, Lady Orchid and 20 years of Culture Station.

Special covers with a cachet of a Ghoat will be delivered during the exhibition from the Culture Station to the post office at the exhibition by a Ghoat. The exhibition will be  interesting and attractive event and congratulations to the Philatelic Collector Group BSV Meiningen for this exhibition.

Copyright and Courtesy : Wolfgang Beyer,Vice Chairman of the German Philatelic Collector Group ARGE ZOOLOGIE, Mail: Wolfgang.beyer1@aol.de

 

Chasing the telegraph

Parth Shastri, TNN | Jul 21, 2013, 03.53 AM IST

AHMEDABAD: HG Wells famously said in the19th century that the cardinal fact in the history of the past fifty centuries has been the scope, pace and precision of inter-communication; everything else is subordinate. Nothing can be truer for the history of the telegraph in India. Started in 1851, the service breathed its last in the country one week ago.

While the SMS generation may be oblivious to how telegraphs shaped the world, right from India's sepoy mutiny in 1857 to World War II which ended in 1945, two philatelists from the city - DhananjayDesai and Ilyas Patel - were intrigued by the service's history. They compiled an encyclopaedic work 'Indian Telegraphs', meticulously tracing individual anecdotes and putting them together in a masterful book.

Desai is a retired businessman and Patel a retired government engineer. Their common passion for stamps and postal paraphernalia led them to telegraph. The book traces the journey of the service from 1851 to 1914 documenting its development into an individual service. The service later merged with the postal department.
"Diving into any hobby opens up many related subjects. The telegraph is hardwired in the history of the country. The British saw the opportunity this 'new' technology offered as an instrument to control a vast country with fewer officers. During the revolt of 1857, the telegraph helped the British mobilize and concentrate troops at crucial times at cantonments in Delhi, Agra, Kanpur and Lucknow, ultimately suppressing the revolt. On later realizing that the first wired network had done them in, the rebels destroyed 913 miles of telegraph lines, but the damage was done," says Desai.

India's first experiment with an electric telegram took place in 1839 (see box) after which the service developed in leaps and bounds. Lord Dalhousie paved the way for the Imperial Telegraph Department in 1850. A year later, British India's first telegraph line and office was opened in October 1851, between Calcutta and Diamond Harbour along the busy shipping route on the Hooghly. By March 1854, there were 800 miles of telegraph lines between Calcutta and Agra and this was further connected to Bombay and Madras. Overseas telegraph communication was made possible in 1865 by running cables along the seabed.

Patel says it is difficult to imagine how instrumental these short messages were in shaping the commercial and military history of India. "We searched through 'The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce' and its successor 'The Times of India' for references and found plenty. The service romanced India for more than 160 years and set a number of landmarks in terms of the network, volume and services. It was heartening to see that the service did not die silently thanks to overwhelming public interest," he says.

From Our Readers…

Vipan Kumar Thakur of Chandigarh shares here Picture Postcard depicting a copy of Telegram Sent by Mahatma Gandhi to Tagore on his 80th Birthday.

: Vipan Kumat Thankur – Chandigarh -email : philavpnthakur@rediffmail.com

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New stamps on Sports

 

The European Basketball Championship EuroBasket 2013

In co-operation with EuroBasket 2013 and the Philatelic Union of Slovenia, Slovenian Post has released a commemorative stamp to mark this summer’s impending EuroBasket tournament.

Italian Sport – 12′ Dinghy Centennial stamp from Italy

 

Date of Issue : 22 May 2013

Italian post issued a stamp commemorating the 100th anniversary of foundation of 12′ Dinghy (12 foot dinghy). Designed by George Cockshott, an amateur boat designer from Southport, in 1913, the International Twelve Foot Dinghy became the first one-design racing dinghy to gain international recognition.

The 12′ Dinghy took part in the 2008 Vintage Yachting Games as part of the closing ceremony. The winners of the events took the helm during a short in-harbor regatta sailed in 12′ Dinghies.

The 12 feet dinghy is one of the Vintage Yachting Classes at the 2012 Vintage Yachting Games.The stamp features a vintage sailing boat Dinghy 12 ‘ in the foreground on the left, and a series of modern boats of the same class, participating in the race.

 

Date of Issue : 25 May 2013

Italian Alpine Club

This issue of a stamp celebrates the Italian Alpine Club on the 150th anniversary of its foundation.The stamp shows a vintage Italian Alpine Club poster, featuring a mountaineer observing the landscape through a telescope at the top is the coat of arms of the Club.

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