China Post 80th Anniversary of the Victory of the Long March by the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army

CHINA POST in 2016 issued a series of first day cover stamps to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Long March by the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army.

The Long March  was a military retreat undertaken by the Red Army of the Communist Party of China, the forerunner of the People's Liberation Army, to evade the pursuit of the Kuomintang (KMT or Chinese Nationalist Party) army. There was not just one Long March, but a series of marches, as various Communist armies in the south escaped to the north and west. The best known is the march from Jiangxi province which began in October 1934 and ended in Yan'an, Shaanxi province in October 1935. The First Front Army of the Chinese Soviet Republic, led by an inexperienced military commission, was on the brink of annihilation by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's troops in their stronghold in Jiangxi province. The Communists, under the eventual command of Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, escaped in a circling retreat to the west and north, which reportedly traversed over 9,000 kilometres (5,600 mi) over 370 days. The route passed through some of the most difficult terrain of western China by traveling west, then north, to Shaanxi.

Key moments in the Long March are highlighted in these off set printed maxi cards and stamps.
  - The Long March / 120 fen
  - The Zunyi Conference / 120 fen
  - Crossing the Chishui River Four Times / 120 fen
  - Crossing of Snow Mountains and Grasslands / 120 fen
  - Union of the Three Armies / 150 fen
  - Remembering the Beginning and Continuing the New Long March / 150 fen

Values in set: 6
Date of issue: 22 October 2016
Denomination: 780 fen
Designer: Shen Yaoyi
Size of stamps: 50 x 30 mm
Perforation: 13

Printing process: Offset
Printing House: Henan Provincal Post Printing Works

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Royal Mail The War of the Roses

ROYAL MAIL (UK) in May 2021 issued a Presentation Park on The Wars of the Roses. The Pack included eight Special Stamps by artist Graham Turner’s paintings.  The stamps depict the events between 1455 and 1487, when England was torn apart by a series of violent struggles for the throne. Historian and researcher Dr David Grummitt has detailed the series of bloody battles in a short essay that uses a Gothic font to give it an authentic feel for the period.

A The Wars of the Roses timeline features a summary of each conflict depicted on the stamps:
- Two Second Class, two First Class, two £1.70 and two £2.55 stamps presented as four horizontal se-tenant pairs.

- Second Class - Battle of Bosworth, 1485
- Second Class - Battle of Tewkesbury, 1471
- First Class - Battle of Barnet, 1471
- First Class - Battle of Edgecote Moor, 1469
- £1.70 - Battle of Towton, 1461
- £1.70 - Battle of Wakefield, 1460
- £2.55 - Battle of Northampton, 1460
- £2.55 - First Battle of St Albans, 1455

 

Isle of Man Post Trains & Trams

ISLE OF MAN POST in 1988 issued a series of first day cover stamps depicting Manx trains and trams. Four of those stamps on maxi cad are shown here. 

United Nations Postal Authority Centenary Anniversary of First Manned Flight

UNITED NATIONS POSTAL AUTHORITY in 2003 issued these first day cover stamps marking the Centenary of the First Manned Flight. Depicted on the envelope is Orville Wright on 17 December 1903 when the aircraft piloted by his brother Wilbur Wright lifted off the launch track. Two stamps with wooden propellers (32 cent and 70 cent denomination) give the effect of rotation.

Liechtenstein Post SEPAC – Historical Maps

LIECHTENSTEIN POST in 2021 issued a  first day cover stamp of SEPAC – Historical Maps. Liechtenstein’s contribution was the “Map of the Upper Rhine Valley” special stamp (face value: CHF 1.50). 

The selected motif represented on the stamp is from one of the oldest known maps of the Upper Rhine Valley. It was probably drawn around 1620 by Swiss cartographer and engineer Hans Conrad Gyger (1599-1674). The watercolour pen and ink drawing shows the catchment area of the Rhine between the Swiss districts of Altstätten and Bad Ragaz with the castles and palaces existing at that time. 

Liechtenstein Post 500 Years First World Circumnavigation by Ferdinand Magallan

LIECHTENSTEIN POST in 2019  issued a first day cover stamp marking the 500 Years First World Circumnavigation by Ferdinand Magallan. A special block with three stamps is dedicated to the first circumnavigation of the world 500 years ago. The Portuguese "Ferdinand Magellan" (face value: CHF 2.80) set sail from Spain in 1519 with five ships and a crew of 237 men with the aim of finding a western sea route to the Moluccas Islands in Southeast Asia. Spices grew there that were much sought-after and traded at high prices in Europe. Magellan headed for South America first, where he found the entrance to the Pacific between Tierra del Fuego and the southern tip of South America in October 1520. The strait known as the "Magellan Strait" was an important sea route until the construction of the Panama Canal and is still used by many ships today. In the following March, the fleet reached an island in the Philippines but Magellan was killed in a dispute with the indigenous people. The stamp "Death in the Philippines" (face value: CHF 2.20) commemorates this bloody battle. The Spaniard Juan Sebastian Elcano became the new captain. He succeeded in reaching the Spice Islands. He then sailed with the "Victoria" (face value: CHF 1.30) around the southern tip of Africa back to Spain, arriving on 7 September 1522 on the only sailing ship left in the fleet, loaded with precious spices, thus completing the circumnavigation of the world.

 

 

Liechtenstein Post 500th Anniversary of the Death of Raphael.

LIECHTENSTEIN POST in 2020 issued a first day cover stamp marking the 500th Anniversary of the Death of Raphael. An Italian painter and architect, Raphael lived from 1483 to 1520 and is considered to be one of the most important artists of the Italian High Renaissance. In addition to his career as a painter in Florence and at the papal court in Rome, he also became site manager of St. Peter's Basilica and supervisor of Roman antiquities. During his lifetime he enjoyed the privilege of being known only by his first name and even today few people know his full name: Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino. The souvenir sheet published to mark the 500th anniversary of his death features one of his famous works as well as a "Self-portrait" (face value: CHF 6.30) of the artist.

Raphael painted the fresco (shown in this maxi card)  "The School of Athens" for Pope Julius II between 1510 and 1511 in the "Stanza della Segnatura" of the Vatican, the original room where documents were signed within the Papal apartments. The painting, which is about 7.7 metres wide, shows a monumental interior in which a gathering of eminent scientists and philosophers from the Antiquity to the Renaissance is taking place. The title of the painting refers to the outstanding philosophical school of thought of ancient Greece. In the spirit of the Renaissance, the fresco celebrates ancient thought as the origin of European culture, its philosophy and sciences. 

Liechtenstein Post 500th Anniversary of the Death of Leonardo da Vinci

LIECHTENSTEIN POST in 2019  issued a first day cover stamp marking the 500th Anniversary of the Death of Leonardo da Vinci, one of the most famous universal scholars of all time. The Italian Leonardo da Vinci went down in history as a painter, sculptor and architect as well as a mechanic, engineer, anatomist and natural philosopher. 

The special block commemorating the anniversary of his death consisted of three stamps with the drawings "Flying Machine" (face value: CHF 1.30), "Self-Portrait" (face value: CHF 2.20) and "Anatomic Studies" (face value: CHF 2.80), gives an idea of da Vinci's extensive and visionary work. 

Even as a child, Leonardo liked to explore the laws of nature. His father sent him to the workshop of the Florentine sculptor and painter Andrea del Verrocchio for training. Da Vinci's numerous works of art, including paintings such as "Mona Lisa" and "The Last Supper", made him one of the leading artists of the Renaissance. But again and again he devoted himself to his other interests too: He dissected more than thirty corpses and made precise anatomical drawings of them. His passion for flying devices was not merely theoretical either. Among other things, he constructed a forerunner of the helicopter.

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Danmark Posr Miscellaneous Stamps

 

Australia Post Historic Post Offices

AUSTRALIA POST in 1982 issued seven first day cover stamp dedicated to the historic post offices of Australia.