State and County Maps

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt in search of states, counties or provinces...

Head for the beach in the 'sunshine state' or  spot a flamingo flying over the Everglades.

The bucolic delights of Suffolk and relax while imagining the sound on its coast of the backwash of sea waves on shingle as they move and turn the pebbles in a gentle rhythm.

Alphabet Soup

 

1964: 2500 Years of Bulgarian Art

A head from the 2nd Century and a 19th Century jug, one predating the Bulgarian Cyrillic alphabet and the other many centuries later.

1980: Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

Percy Bysshe Kelly once said  "We are all Greeks"  Western civilization has it roots in Greece and Hungary remembers their glory. Once the the huge seated figure of Zeus (435BC) stood in his temple at Olympia,  The Hungarians have romanized the famous names of Greece on the map and

1935: Air - Mythologies (Daedalus and Icarus)

it was the Romans who first called the country Greece but to the Greeks it is  Hellas. As can be seen the word written starts with the Greek letter epsilon (originally adopted from the Phoenician letter He -)

1995: Fish - Queen Angelfish

For something different, Cambodian letters or  Khmer script,. In this script words run together in a sentence. Similar to other colonial powers one can see where the French have been in the past on stamps.

1942: Free French Issue

New Caledonia's unique flightless bird, the Kagu. This 'Free French' stamp was issued to show solidarity with the French resistance and De Gaulle's campaign from London in WW2. There were 14 values and colours produced showing the bird, not in flight, but in a jump display showing off its underwing pattern. 

Sunday Stamps is exploring stamps featuring no English words - See It On A Postcard
 

Pictorial Maps

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is in search of pictorial maps

A postcard map for a literary pilgrimage to Bronte Country

and to find your way a larger map may be needed although the Pennine Way, on the spine of England, bypasses the sisters home, Haworth Parsonage so no tea shop stop there if walking the route.

Alternatively relax into a scenic railway journey through Yorkshire. The 19th Century Ribblehead Viaduct at the bottom is the most impressive of them all on the Settle to Carlisle Line and beloved by photographers, especially if there is a steam train crossing.

Perhaps as it is winter take a city break in Antwerp, the railway station will impress and a cornucopia of postcards are for sale at the Plantin-Moretus printing museum.

Flags Ahoy

2021: Tall Ships Race

A sailing ship at the port of Mariehamn ready for the 2021 Tall Ships Race and a stamp issued for the event.  That was the plan. Covid had other ideas and restrictions at the time meant it had to be cancelled. Undaunted the Åland islanders pivoted to a substitute and created a Maritime Folk Festival with food, drinks and entertainment.  They would have to wait until 2024 to welcome the fleet of sail ships to Mariehamn, and gain another stamp.

1989: 10th Anniversary of Home Rule in Greenland

The Greenland flag flying over land and sea

1981: 125th Anniversary of  Danube Commission

For fans of stamp on stamps these feature the Danube commission stamps from 1967 with the paddle steamers Franz I (1830) and the Arpad (1834) sailing underneath.  The latter named after a Hungarian hero, head of the confederation of Magyar tribes

1981: Historic Hungarian Flags

The 40f stamp shows the House of Arpad flag(11th Century). 60f Hunyadi Family flag (15th Century) at the time they were the most powerful nobles in the Kingdom of Hungary.

1979: OCAM Summit Meeting, Cotonou

Changing continents and a group of nations - OCAM (Organization Commune Africaine et Malgache), Founded in 1961 it was disbanded in 1985. The stamp shows the members flags at the time

Imagine

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt for Maps of city transportation or metros.

Centre of the Universe by Graeme Currie

I introduce you to the Merseyrail network although here the names of the stations have been replaced by famous and honorary liverpudlians, or as they are more commonly know, scousers (which is the Liverpool accent/dialect).  Often the people will have a connection with the station's area or like Ken Dodd (comedian) at Lime Street and Billy Fury (singer) have a statue nearby.  Created in 2008 for the City of Culture biennial Graeme Currie's map continues to be used on tea towels, bags and postcards.  Most of these names will not be known to the non Brit but there might be a few you recognise. 

The Merseyside livery is yellow

Mersey Rail's Superpenguin at Lime Street underground (part of the Go Penguin tribe)

Precious Stones

 

1995: Semi-Precious Stones Industry (Design - Sue Passmore)

Somewhere in the White Cliffs opal fields, NSW, someone looks for treasure.  (The stamp's 'opal' is a lenticular printing)

1981: Gold Rush Era (Design and engraving - Bruce Weatherhead)

The lure of gold

1973: Gemstones

agate and opals

2012:Gems

Once out of the ground and for sale rubies are judged by the quality of their cut, colour and clarity.

Sunday Stamps theme - Gems, Minerals -See It On A Postcard

On the Map

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is looking at Country Maps...

When heading towards the Arctic Circle and Greenland, the aeroplane will land in the capital Nuuk, home of a huge Santa Claus postbox. More practical postal information is on the card, the red dots indicate all the post offices.

For the tourist to Belgium a handy postcard guide to some of the attractions of this small country.

The reverse of this card extols virtues of a country starting with the sentence  "Scotland contains a variety of scenery and interest unsurpassed anywhere in the British Isles"  I though I would enlarge

the map for a better view of the puffin and Nessie. Where Nessie's nose points and the piper pipes it is surprising to only see only fish as the Moray Firth  is one of the best places in the UK to see bottlenose dolphins who come in with the tide to feed and play.