Correos Espana Guernica and Centenary of Pablo Picasso's Birth

CORREOS ESPANA on 25 October 1981 issued a First Day Cover of "Guernica" by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso to celebrate the centenary of Picasso's birth. Face value of the stamp was 200 Peseta.

Guernica is a large 1937 oil painting and one of Picasso's best-known works painted during the Spanish Civil War. It is regarded by many art critics as the most moving and powerful anti-war painting in history.

It resulted after the 26 April 1937 aerial bombardment of Guernica. The attack by warplanes of the Nazi Germany Condor Legion, commanded by Colonel Wolfram von Richthofen, bombed Guernica for about two hours. In his 30 April 1937 journal entry von Richthofen noted that when the squadron arrived "there was smoke everywhere" from the attack by three aircraft, and since nobody could see the roads, bridges, and suburbs "they just dropped everything right into the center. The 250s toppled a number of houses and destroyed the water mains. The incendiaries now could spread and become effective. The materials of the houses: tile roofs, wooden porches, and half-timbering resulted in complete annihilation."

Most of Guernica's men were away fighting on behalf of the Republicans, and at the time of the bombing the town was populated mostly by women and children as reflected in Picasso's painting. Women and children make Guernica the image of innocent, defenseless humanity victimised.

During the 1970s, Guernica was a symbol for Spaniards of both the end of the Francisco Franco regime following Franco's death and of Basque nationalism. The Basque left repeatedly used imagery from the picture. Guernica has since become a universal and powerful symbol warning humanity against the suffering and devastation of war. There are no obvious references to the specific attack, making its message universal and timeless.

United Nations Postal UNESCO’s World Heritage of Sites in Turkiye

UNITED NATIONS POSTAL issued on 8 September 2023 sites in Turkiye on six stamps. These stamps formed part of the UNPA World Heritage series that featureed sites inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage list. The six stamps commemorated Nemrut Dag, Selimiye Mosque, Goreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia, the Great Mosque and Hospital of Divrigi, Ephesus, and the historic areas of Istanbul. Those sites make up six of Turkiye’s 19 properties inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

A 66¢ stamp issued for the post office at U.N. headquarters in New York City shows one of the statues located at Nemrut Dag, a temple-tomb and house of the gods built by King Antiochus I of Commagene (69-34 B.C.) as a monument to himself.

The sculptures, which are 26 feet to 30 feet tall, represent deities from Greek and Persian traditions, such as Zeus, Apollo and Heracles, in addition to King Antiochus. The site blends Hellenistic, Persian and local cultural influences to offer a glimpse into the religious and political practices of the era.

The $1.50 stamp for the U.N. New York post office features the Selimiye Mosque, which was completed in 1575 and designed by the architect Mimar Sinan.

Sinan, whom UNESCO calls the most famous Ottoman architect of the 16th century, considered the mosque complex his best work. In addition to the mosque’s dome and minarets, the complex is known for its exceptional acoustics. The mosque continues to function as a place of worship.

Royal Joh Enschede of the Netherlands printed the stamps by offset lithography.

Sources: Linn's Stamps and UNESCO

KUT 100th Anniversary of Stanley & Livingstone Meeting at Ujiji

 

KENYA UGANDA TANZANIA  (KUT) On 28 October 1971 issued a First Day Cover commemorative stamp of the 100th Anniversary of Stanley & Livingstone Meeting at Ujiji. The circular postmark cancellation  originated from Ujiji Tanzania.  

On 6 January 1871, Welsh-American newspaper reporter and explorer Henry Morton Stanley (born John Rowlands) reached Zanzibar, funded with American money to search for a missing Dr. David Livingston. With a well-equipped caravan he forced his way through the country disturbed by fighting and stricken by sickness to Ujiji on Lake Tanganyika, Dr. David Livingstone’s last known port of call. There he found the old Scottish explorer and Christian missionary, ill and short of supplies, and greeted him with the now famous words, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”.

Although the phrase was not recorded in either man's journal, it seems more likely Stanley later wrote the text and embellished their meeting for the The Herald newspaper. Additionally, the exact date of their meeting is unclear, as both men recorded different dates in their journals; according to Stanley, they met on 10 November 1871, while Livingstone’s journal suggests that the event occurred sometime between 25 and 28 October 1871.

After meeting, together, they explored Lake Victoria. Dr. David Livingston sequentially died in 1873. Besides his discovery of Livingstone, he is mainly known for his search for the sources of the Nile and Congo rivers, the work he undertook as an agent of King Leopold II of the Belgians which enabled the occupation of the Congo Basin region, and his command of the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition. He was knighted in 1897, and served in Parliament as a Liberal Unionist member for Lambeth North from 1895 to 1900.

Despite these accomplishments Stanley is mired in controversy. Although he personally had high regard for many of the native African people who accompanied him on his expeditions,  the exaggerated accounts of corporal punishment and brutality in his books fostered a public reputation as a hard-driving, cruel leader.

Stanley died in London, UK in 1904

USPS American Sports Series - Babe Ruth

USPS issued on 6 July 1983 a 20-cent commemorative stamp honouring baseball great Babe Ruth. The postmark cancellation originated from  Chicago, Illinois, in conjunction with the 50th anniversary year of the All-Star Game in which Ruth hit the first home run, scoring two runs and winning the game. An additional postmark cancellation on a second postage stamp originated from Cooperstown, New York. It was the third stamp in the American Sports Series which begun in 1981. A total of 184,950,000 stamps were issued at a value of 20¢ each

The Babe Ruth Stamp design, by Richard Gangel of Weston, Connecticut, was based on a classic photograph of Ruth with feet spread apart and bat pointed almost straight up. He is looking toward the fences following a home run swing. Esther Porter modeled the stamp.

The dedication ceremony for the stamp was held on 5 July 1983 during the Old Timers Game at Comiskey Park, site of the first All-Star Game in 1933.

USPS Lou Gehrig Commemorative Stamps

USPS on 10 June 1989 issued a  commemorative stamp of American baseball great  Lou Gehrig. It had a face value of 25 cents. This multicolored, adhesive stamp was printed by American Bank Note Co using the photogravure method. The postmark cancellation originated from Cooperstown, New York. The cachet on this envelope depicted Lou Gehrig with his wife Eleanor.

On a second occasion, USPS on 6 July 2000 issued a Lou Gehrig commemorative stamp with a face value of 33 cents. Ashton-Potter (USA) Ltd printed 11,250,000 copies, using a lithograph method with a serpentine die cut 11.25. This multicoloured stamp was amongst a series featuring 20 of the greatest US baseball players in the past 100 years. Postmark cancellation originated from Atlanta, Georgia.

Gehrig was known as the 'Iron Horse' and played 17 years (1923–1939) with the New York Yankees in an incredible 2,130 consecutive games, leaving a mark on the game and its fans that has yet to be broken.

Despite playing in the shadow of teammate Babe Ruth for two-thirds of his career, Gehrig was one of the highest run producers in baseball history; he had 509 RBIs during a three-season stretch (1930–32). Only two other players, Jimmie Foxx with 507 and Hank Greenberg with 503, have surpassed 500 RBIs in any three seasons; their totals were not consecutive. (Babe Ruth had 498.)[99] Playing 14 complete seasons, Gehrig had 13 consecutive seasons with 100 or more RBIs (a major-league record shared with Foxx and tied in 2010 by Alex Rodriguez).

 Gehrig had six seasons where he batted .350 or better (with a high of .379 in 1930), plus a seventh season at .349. Gehrig led the American League in runs scored four times, home runs three times, and RBIs five times. His 185 RBIs in 1931 remain the American League record as of 2024 and rank second all-time to Hack Wilson's 191 in 1930. On the single-season RBI list, Gehrig ranks second, fifth (175), and sixth (174), with four additional seasons of over 150 RBIs.

He also holds the baseball record for most seasons with 400 total bases or more, accomplishing this feat five times in his career. He batted fourth in the lineup behind Ruth, making intentionally walking Ruth counterproductive for opposing pitchers.

Lefty Grove, one of the American League's best pitchers during Gehrig's playing days who often threw the ball at batters, refrained from doing so to Gehrig. "You can never tell what that big fellow will do if you get him mad at you," Grove explained.

Unlike Ruth, Gehrig had the physique of a power hitter. Ruth usually hit home runs as high fly balls, while Gehrig's were line drives. During the 10 seasons (1925–1934) in which Gehrig and Ruth were teammates and next to each other in the batting order and played a majority of the games, Gehrig had more home runs than Ruth only once, in 1934 (Ruth's last year with the Yankees, as a 39-year-old), when he hit 49 to Ruth's 22 (Ruth played 125 games that year, and a handful in 1935 before retiring). They tied at 46 in 1931. Ruth had 424 home runs compared to Gehrig's 347; however, Gehrig outpaced Ruth in RBIs, 1,436 to 1,316. Gehrig had a .343 batting average, compared to .338 for Ruth, during this period.

Gehrig (1903 - 1941) played for the New York Yankees until his career was cut short by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly referred to as "Lou Gehrig's Disease".

Nigeria Postcard of Camel Rider and de Havilland Comet Airliner

 

THIS IS A POSTCARD FROM NIGERIA, CIRCA 1970. A fellow philatelist gave me this throw-away freebie when I purchased an First Day Cover recently. 

The airliner looks like a de Havilland DH.106 Comet, so the photo might be from the early 1950s. The Comet was the first commercial jet  airliner to enter operation in 1949.

The person's message is kinda funny too, not just the camels or 'six-legged' camel. Take note this photo was taken before Photoshop or similar software; nowadays this image could easily be rendered.

Cover Stamps from Croatia

 

Cover Stamps from Slovenia

 

USPS Shel Silverstein's "The Giving Tree"

USPS on 8 April 2022, in Chicago, IL, issued the Shel Silverstein stamp in one design, in a pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) pane of 20 stamps. This issuance honoured Shel Silverstein (1930–1999), one of the 20th century’s most imaginative authors and illustrators. The stamp featured Silverstein’s drawing of a boy catching an apple, a version of which appears on the cover of his picture book "The Giving Tree", a story about a friendship between a motherly tree and a boy. Art director Derry Noyes designed the stamp. A special colour postmark of the tree originated from Chicago, Illinois, dated 8 April 2022.

Nippon Post "Enjoying Snow Landscape of Matsuchi-yama" by Torii Kiyonaga.

NIPPON POST on 20 April 1982 issued two  commemorative stamps based on the "Enjoying Snow Landscape of Matsuchi-yama", a painting by Torii Kiyonaga.

Torii Kiyonaga (1752 – June 28, 1815) was a Japanese ukiyo-e printmaker and painter of the Torii school. Originally Sekiguchi Shinsuke, the son of an Edo bookseller, he took on Torii Kiyonaga as an art-name (gō). Although not biologically related to the Torii family, he became head of the group after the death of his adoptive father and teacher Torii Kiyomitsu.

Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika (KUT) QEII Definitives - 1954

KENYA, UGANDA, TANGANYIKA (KUT)  issued a new definitive series, featuring East Africa landmarks and British Queen Elizabeth II on 1 June 1954. The postmark cancellation for the First Day Cover shown here originated from Mombasa, Kenya.

KUT was the name placed on British postage stamps used in the British East Africa colonies of Kenya, Uganda, and Tanganyika. These stamps were circulated between 1935 and 1963 by the joint postal service of the three colonies, the East African Posts and Telecommunications Administration.

Vietnam Post 130th Anniversary of the Birth of Ho Chi Minh - 2020

VIETNAM POST on 31 December 2021 issued a First Cover stamp commemorating the 130th birthday anniversary and 50th anniversary of Ho Chi Minh Museum. The stamp measures 43 x 32mm in size, and features a portrait of President Ho in the centre. On the right of the portrait is the image of Ho Chi Minh Museum in Hanoi with a general layout that looks like a white lotus representing the President’s simple and noble revolutionary life.

A fellow philatelic collector/seller sent this cover to me in February 2024. The postmark cancellation on it originated from Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam 

Source: Vietnam Post

Vietnam Cover 1996 and 2002

 

VIETNAM POST in 1996 issued a series of stamps from the artworks of Nguyen Sang, among those shown here is the  "Young Girl and Lotus Flowers" (1972) and "Admitting the Party at Dien Bien Phu". Also on this cover is stamp showing one the traditional golf games of children in Vietnam. When it was issued on 01 June 2020, three additional stamps were included in the series. The postmark cancellation on this cover originated from Saigon, Vietnam.

The stamps were from a cover I received from a philatelic collector/seller in Vietnam, in February 2024.

Nguyen Sang (1923-1988) had the honour of designing the first set of postage stamps of independent Vietnam, issued in 1946, depicting the portrait of President Ho Chi Minh. At that time he was only 23 years old. Nguyen Sang was from My Tho - Tien Giang. He was a good art student and graduated from Gia Dinh Fine Arts School and Indochina College of Fine Arts (Hanoi) before 1945. After the August Revolution, he enthusiastically Participated in the revolution, drew propaganda paintings, and designed Vietnamese stamps and banknotes.

Malaya Federation of States - The First Stamps - May 1957

THE MALAYA FEDERATION on 5 May 1957 began issuing stamps in preparation of independence from Great Britain later that  year (on 31 August  1957). The four stamps of the first series were inscribed "Federation of Malaya" and depicted the nation's coat of arms, map of  peninsular Malaysia (excluding East Malaysia), a rubber estate and tin mining. Only commemorative stamps were issued by the Federation. This First Day Cover was posted from Johor Bahru and sent to Singapore.

Royaume du Laos Centenary of the International Red Cross

ROYAUME DU LAOS on 10 October 1963 issued a First Day Cover  set of stamps marking the Centenary of the International Red Cross Movement.  Stamps (valued at 4 Kip, 6 Kip and 10 Kip) showed Queen Khamphoui, wife of King Savang Vatthana, handing out cloths to Laotians. Chamnane Prisayane designed the stamps, whereas Charles Mazelin was the engraver.Printer was the Government Printing Works, Paris.

The Lao Red Cross (LRC) movement was established on 1 January 1955. Several health activities and programmes were carried out by the LRC movement. Among them were children Immunisation, water and sanitation health programmes, training village volunteers and youth in basic first-aid and provide relief assistance to villagers affected by disasters. The LRC also participated in some flood relief operations.

 

 

French Indo Chine Farmer with Plow and Ox Stamp on Angkor Wat Postcard - 1929

FRENCH INDO CHINE issued in 1927 a series of definitive stamp depicting a native farmer with plow and ox. The stamps had different colours for assorted  face values. Shown affixed to a postcard of Angkor Wat with postmark cancellation in 1929, is one of those stamps.

Pos Malaysia 150th Anniversary of Taiping City - 2024

POS MALAYSIA on 20 January 2024 issued First Day  Cover stamps to celebrate the city of Taiping's 150th anniversary. Three commemorative stamps were released: Bukit Larut (30sen), Pasar Besar Taiping (50sen) and Taman Botani Perak (RM1.50). The iconic scenery of Samanea Saman tree at Taman Tasik Taiping (Lake Gardens) was also featured on a Miniature Sheet (RM5). Special franking was affixed to each cover.

The actual date of Taiping town’s establishment is believed to be on February 20, 1874. On that day,  Minister Ngah Ibrahim along with Captain Dunlop, William Pickering, Frank Swettenham and Chinese leaders signed the boundary agreement of mining settlements between Go Quan (Hai San) and Si Quan (Ghee Hin) in Larut. This agreement eventually formed Taiping and Kamunting (Report of the Commissioners under Clause XIII of Perak Engagement dated 20th January 1874). Additionally, Captain Speedy recorded the site for the new towns of Taiping and Kamunting in early March 1874 (Blue Book of Larut 1874).

Pos Malaysia “Palestin Merdeka” - 2023

POS MALAYSIA on 14 December 2023 issued a special “Palestin Merdeka” First Day Cover stamp in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle, at Dewan Sri Pos, Dayabumi Complex in Kuala Lumpur.

The 20 sen Palestin Merdeka stamp depicts a hand waving the Palestinian flag, set against a silhouette of people representing a united crowd. The method of printing was a lithography. Pos Malaysia and Kamal Masrun designed the stamp. Royal Joh. Enschede, Netherlands printed it.

The first day cover features a white dove gracefully holding an olive branch as symbol of peace, while the folder cover shows a pair of hands tenderly clasping each other with the Keffiyeh motif in the background as symbol of persistence and solidarity.

A portion of the proceeds from the sales of the stamps have been donated to the Palestinian Humanitarian Trust Fund (Akaun Amanah Kemanusiaan Palestin), managed by the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

The funds will be channeled through the Ops Ihsan initiative, a collaboration between the Malaysian Government and 53 humanitarian NGOs to provide humanitarian aid and assistance to the Palestinians in Gaza.

United States Postal Covers of John Glenn's Space Accomplishments

U.S. POST OFICE DEPARTMENT on 20 February 1962 issued a 4¢ Project Mercury commemorative stamp (shown on this First Day Cover) showing Glenn's Friendship 7 space capsule, with the inscribed caption "U.S. Man in Space". In 1959, Glenn was chosen for the Project Mercury spaceflight programme, and became the first American to orbit the Earth on 20 February 1962.

John Herschel Glenn Jr was born 18 July 1921, in Cambridge, Ohio, and studied engineering at Muskingum College in New Concord, Ohio. Entering the Marine Corps in 1943, he trained as a pilot and flew 59 combat missions during World War II. He later flew 90 missions during the Korean War.

After resigning from NASA in 1964, Glenn worked in business for 10 years before successfully running for a U.S. Senate seat from Ohio. He served four consecutive six-year terms, retiring in 1998.

 

While still a U.S. Senator, however, Glenn trained as a payload specialist for a mission on the space shuttle Discovery, which went into space on 29 October 1998. It was his second spaceflight, and at age 77, he became the oldest person to travel into space.

USPS issued 2 May 2000 a 33¢ stamp (shown on this First Day Cover of Glenn), in the Celebrate the Century series, honouring this feat, with the theme "Return to Space." The front of the stamp pictures the Discovery in orbit. The reverse reads: "In 1962, aboard the Mercury Friendship 7, John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth. His 1998 return to space at age 77, on the shuttle Discovery, heightened interest in the space program."

Glenn was and remains one of the few living Americans to see his accomplishments commemorated on a United States stamp twice in his lifetime.

Source: Linn's Stamps

Viet Nam Cong-Hoa Commemorative Covers of American Mercury & Gemini Astronauts

VIET NAM CONG-HOA (Republic of Vietnam) in 1961 and 1962 honoured American astronauts Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom (not shown here), John Glenn, Wally Schirra and Scott Carpenter. North Vietnam issued space related stamps and special cachets as well, but for Soviet cosmonauts and various Soviet satellites in the 1960s.

ALAN B. SHEPARD - VIET NAM CONG-HOA (Republic of Vietnam) issued two commemorative stamps in 1957 of hunters on elephants. One of those stamps was affixed to this special cover of American astronaut Alan Shepard, postmarked 24 May 1962, Saigon.

 

Alan B. Shepard (1923 – 1998) became the second person and the first American to travel into space and, in 1971, he became the fifth and oldest person to walk on the Moon, at age 47.

JOHN GLENN - VIET NAM CONG-HOA (Republic of Vietnam) commemorated the First Orbit of the Earth by American Astronaut John Glenn, Lt. Col. USMC, with a special cachet, printed in Saigon in English, Vietnamese and Chinese. It depicted Lt. Col. Glenn in his spacesuit and the rocket lifting off on 20 February 1962.

Affixed is a 50 cent stamp commemorating the Fifth Anniversary of the Republic of Vietnam (Issued 26 October 1960, with French-Style Cancellation: "Saigon, Viet-Nam, 20 February 1962".

John Glenn was later and for many years a US Senator from Ohio. After retiring from the US Senate, at an advanced age, John Glenn made a Second Visit to Outer Space.

SCOTT CARPENTER - VIET NAM CONG-HOA (Republic of Vietnam) issued four commerative stamps in 1957 regarding the 9th Colombo Plan Conference Saigon. These stamps had different colours based on their face value. One of those stamps was affixed to this special cover of astronaut Scott Carpenter, postmarked 5 May 1961, Saigon.

Scott Carpenter was an American test pilot and astronaut who was one of the seven original astronauts in NASA's Project Mercury. On 24 May 1962,  Carpenter completed America’s second orbital spaceflight during the Mercury-Atlas 7 mission. Carpenter flew the mission after doctors grounded the prime crew member, astronaut Donald K. “Deke” Slayton, due to a minor heart condition. Naming his spacecraft Aurora 7, Carpenter completed three orbits of the Earth, conducting several experiments including photography of the planet. A problem with the spacecraft’s attitude and the late firing of its retrorockets during the critical reentry burn resulted in Aurora 7 splashing down 250 miles off course. Carpenter waited in his life raft for more than an hour before rescue teams recovered him and flew him safely to the prime recovery ship, the U.S.S. Intrepid aircraft carrier.

WALLY SCHIRRA - VIET NAM CONG-HOA (Republic of Vietnam) issued the cachet of Wally Schirra and Sigma-7 rocket lifting off. Affixed to this cover was a stamp from a series of famous buildings, issued by the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) on 25 December 1958 and 7 September 1959. This particular stamp featured the Saigon Museum.

Walter Marty Schirra Jr. (1923 – 2007) was an American naval aviator, test pilot, and NASA astronaut. In 1959, he became one of the original seven astronauts chosen for Project Mercury, which was the United States' first effort to put humans into space. On October 3, 1962, he flew the six-orbit, nine-hour, Mercury-Atlas 8 mission, in a spacecraft he nicknamed Sigma 7, becoming the fifth American and ninth human to travel into space. In December 1965, as part of the two-man Gemini program, he achieved the first space rendezvous, station-keeping his Gemini 6A spacecraft within 1 foot (30 cm) of the sister Gemini 7 spacecraft. In October 1968, he commanded Apollo 7, an 11-day low Earth orbit shakedown test of the three-man Apollo Command/Service Module and the first crewed launch for the Apollo programme.

Nippon Post Women in Japanese Art - 1961

NIPPON POST on 20 April 1961 issued a First Day Cover stamp in their philatelic week series of Women in Japanese Art. This 10 ¥ commemorative stamp was printed using the Photogravure method. As many as 10,000,000 stamps were during its run.

Morocco Biplane Airmail Stamps - 1922

MOROCCO issued on 1 January 1922 a series of airmail stamps featuring a biplane. Various denominations and colours were printed. Shown here are two of those stamps, postmarked Casablanca, 1931, and affixed to a postcard showing a view of Général-Moinier Avenue in Casablanca. It was captioned in French and Arabic.

Bosnia Herzegovina (Austro-Hungarian Occupation) Bosnian Pictorial Definitives -1906

BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA, also  “BOSNIEN HERZEGOWINA”, (Austro-Hungarian Occupation) issued a series of Bosnian pictorial postage stamps from 1906 to 1910. Two of those stamps are shown here: one is the 2 Heller Mostar stamp; the other is a Vrbas Valley 10 Heller stamp with overprint from 1918-1919.

On 1 November 1906, Bosnia Herzegovina issued sixteen brand new series of pictorial definitive postage stamps featuring national landmarks. This new series of stamps replaced the Coat of Arms definitive postage stamp designs that had been in use since 1879.

These new stamps were beautifully engraved on white paper. The designs of the new stamps were as follows:

    01 H. - View of Deboj
    02 H. - View of Mostar (shown here)
    03 H. - Pliva Gate, Jajce
    05 H. - Narenta Pass and Prenj River
    06 H. - Rama Valley
    10 H. - Vrbas Valley (shown here)
    20 H. - Old Bridge, Mostar
    25 H. - Bey Mosque, Sarajevo
    30 H. - Donkey Carrying Mail
    35 H. - Lake Near Jajce
    40 H. - Postal Coach
    45 H. - Bazaar at Sarajevo
    50 H. - Postal Car
    01 Kr. - The Carsija at Sarajevo
    02 Kr. - St. Luke's Tower at Jajce
    05 Kr. - Emperor Franz Josef I

The postcard shows an old Bosnian man, possibly Kurdish ethnicity, in traditional costume and headdress, circa 1899.

Magyar Posta 5 Filler Stamp and Postcard of Turkish Muslim Woman - 1919

MAGYAR POSTA in 1919 issued a 5 Filler Stamp. The designer was Tull Ödön and printed by State Printing Works (ANY Biztonsági Nyomda Nyrt), Budapest. The postcard itself, shown here, depicted a Turkish Muslim woman, circa 1918. It was one of many postcards circulated in the Balkans.

At that time, Bosnian/Turkish Muslim women wore a 'dimlii' over the lower body, and over the chest a richly embroidered silver and gold threaded 'fermen' and 'jecermu'. A married Muslim woman, like the one pictured here, covered her entire body with a long coat. The women also wrapped their heads so that no one could see their faces. They wore low, pointed shoes or slippers. A particularly notable piece of clothing was the 'pas', which, like the rest of the clothing, was distinguished by rich ornamentation and jewelry among the Muslims.

Nederlandsch Indies Numerical Definitives - 1902.

NEDERLANDSCH INDIES (Dutch East Indies, currently Republic of Indonesia) issued a series of definitive stamps with a Numeral of Value in an oval frame like the ones affixed to this postcard. These stamps were in circulation in this Dutch colony in 1902.

The postcard shown here depicts a Karo Batak woman from Medan, on the east coast of Sumatra, circa 1905. The postcard has travelled a lot over the years; initially from Surabaya, it went to Bangoen Purba (North Sumatra), then Port Said (Egypt), then Syria. How it ended up with a stamp/postcard  dealer in Argentina, where I purchased it, is a mystery. To reach me, it travelled from Argentina to Dubai, then Malaysia. In a way, it has finally returned home to South East Asia, although it took over 100 years

The Dutch Indies (Netherlands Indies, Dutch East Indies) was a Dutch colony consisting of Java, Sumatra, Lesser Sundas, Madura, Celebes, Moluccas, Western New Guinea, and two thirds of Borneo. After the Japanese occupation and WWII, and then the Independence movement, modern day Indonesia was formed.

The Dutch East India Companies possessions were nationalised in 1800 as the Dutch East Indies. Products from the Dutch Indies that made the Netherlands a colonial power included nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, and the introduction of coffee, tea, cacao, tobacco, rubber and sugar.  The Capital was Batavia (Jakarta), and the population was 60 million in 1930, 240,000 of them European.

Nederlandsch Indie Air Mail Stamps - 1949

REPOEBLIK INDONESIA (Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia) issued a series of air mail stamps on 12 July 1949. The stamps were designed by Ernst Schrom and printed by Österreichische Staatsdruckerei (Austrian State Printer), using a Photogravure method.

Almost immediately after Japan's capitulation in World War II, the Republic of Indonesia was proclaimed. From 1945 to 1949 they issued their own stamps, often old stamps from the Dutch East Indies or from the Japanese occupation with overprint. Because the Netherlands reoccupied its former colony and issued stamps with the Dutch East Indies and later Indonesia again, a complex situation arose. It was made even more complex by the issue of the so-called Viennese editions, editions that balance on the edge of Cinderella and used stamps.

Egypt Definitive of Red Stamp of the Sphinx in front of Cheops Pyramid - 1908

 

EGYPT issued on 1st January from 1888 to 1906  a series  of definitive stamps depicting the Sphinx in front of Cheops pyramid. It was designed and printed by De la Rue of London, using the typography print method. The cancellation postmark on these stamps appears to be on 13 December 1908. 

The postcard itself shows men and women trading with a fruit seller on a street in Cairo.