E is for Eagle

 

1921-30: Definitive

The New Imperial Eagle issued by the Wiemar Republic during the German hyperinflation period

1925: Rhineland Millenary

An eagle watches over a bend in the Rhine, its castle and furnaces. A set of three stamps issued between May and July 1925 to celebrate 1000 years of the Union of Rhineland with Germany. Under the Treaty of Versailles after World War I  the Rhineland had been demilitarised to create a buffer zone between Germany and France. It was returned to Germany in 1925 but allied troops remained until 1930 to ensure compliance.

1924: Definitive - National Symbols of |Egypt

The Eagle of Saladin over the Giza pyramids. The emblem is often associated with the 12th Century Ayyubid Dynasty founded by Saladin.

1975: Symbols of America

Eagle and shield holding the a bundle of 13 arrows in its left claw representing the original 13 colonies. The design is based on the Great Seal of the United States.

2016: Birds

Nothing as impressive as the real thing, An alert White tailed eagle

1975: Hunting Scenes

and a Golden Eagle attacking a red fox, its owner galloping behind.

Sunday Stamps A-Z this week E for Eagle and Egypt - See It On A Postcard 

North America

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is visiting cities in North America

The impressive Union Station in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The beaux art building of  local limestone opened in 1911. It was designed by the same architects as Grand Central Station in New York. The wide road with electric tram and waiting horse drawn carriages connect travellers to the city.

Lincoln was founded in 1856 as the village of Lancaster and later renamed after Abraham Lincoln, it became the state capital in 1869. My sender likes this part of the city with its old factories that are now apartments, stores and restaurants and says "This is a great place to 'people watch' in the warmer months" I like old signage on buildings, this factory and warehouse. was built for  Harpham Bros Harness and Saddle Factory, a thriving business in the early 20th Century.

Destination Djibouti

 

1981: European-African Economic Convention

Located on the north east coast of the Horn of Africa Djibouti City is the site of a deep-water port strategically placed between the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. The Djibouti-Addis Ababa railway provides Ethiopia's only link to the coast, a journey time of  about 20 hours for a trip that would otherwise take several days

1981: Amateur Radio Club

All a Radio Amateur needs is an antenna and a radio transceiver to make contact all over the word. Today used mainly by the hobby enthusiasts but I think still useful in these uncertain times of wars and disruption of the internet.

1978: Philexafrique 2 Exhibition, Gabon

Wonder if there is any other way of communicating? Ah yes here is a postal runner with a train and plane and the UPU logo.

1991: African Tourism Year

 An invitation to visit the continent.

Sunday Stamps A-Z -  Djibouti - See It On A Postcard

 

Northern Europe

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is visiting the cities of Northern Europe

St Petersburg and The Bronze Horseman (Peter the Great). The statue is mounted on the massive Thunder Stone originally weighing 1500 tonnes which was carved down during transportation to its current size of 1,250 tonnes.  Noticing the woman in white I discovered that Alexander Gardens is a popular place for wedding photos.  Lots of background interest for the photographer including the red lighthouse just making it onto the postcard. This is one of a pair on the Neva River that once guided ships into the port, the bowl on the top was filled with oil and lit. Today they are supplied with gas and only lit on special occasions. Technically they are called rostral columns and decorated with nautical images and have statues at the bottom. Russia Beyond shows them in all their glory.

 The main square in Krakow, the text translates as Old Town Market Square. The Cloth Hall is a renaissance era market hall. The gothic church is St Mary's Basilica.

Ceramics

 

|1961: Pottery of the Tang Dynasty

Tang Dynasty (618-907) low temperature glazed pottery called Sancai meaning three colours, usually brown (or amber), green and off white. Easier to make than porcelain they were used as tomb figures for the journey to the afterlife. Many are camels with their bushy bearded Central Asian riders

but horses were the most popular

1981: Ceramics from Cizhou Kilns

Cizhou ware is named after one of its main centers of production in Northern China. Generally sturdy large objects, very popular and especially associated with the late Tang and Early Ming Dynasty (11th to 14th Century). 4f - Vase with two tigers (Song Dynasty) and 8f - Carved black glazed vase (Jin Dynasty)

8f - Amphora with apricot blossoms (modern) and 7f - Jar with two phoenix (Yuan Dynasty)

10f - Flat flax with dragon and phoenix (Yuan dynasty) and 60f - Vessel with tiger shaped handles (modern)

1976: Europa -Handicrafts

Changing continents to scenes of daily life in 18th Century Germany originally made by the Ludwigsburg Porcelain company. A girl selling trinkets and copperplate prints

Boy selling copperplate prints

 

Sunday Stamps A-Z - for China, Camel and Copperplate - C at  See It On A Postcard 

South

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt for Cities in Southern Europe

Night falls in Toledo which is surrounded on three sides by the Tagus River. The Alcazar fortification dominates the highest part of the city, always a useful location if under siege, as has happened in past.  The cathedral occupies the other high point.

Arezzo in Tuscany described a destination for "culture without the crowds". The view is of the arcades of Via Roma, a covered shopping street. A  welcome cafe-bar beckons in the distance to rest those tired tourist feet. 

Berlin

 

1988: European City of Culture

Welcome to Berlin. Lets take an armchair walk, distance will be no problem,

1978: Berlin Views (2nd series)

to  the Belvedere Castle in Charlottenburg Palace Gardens, originally used as a summer house/tea-house and observation tower. Today it houses the world's largest collection of porcelain. On to the medieval, much altered, village church at Lichtenrade right next to Berlin's largest village pond.

The 10 Kilometre Landwehr Canal which "cuts through the heart of Berlin like a green ribbon". A popular area to relax. This January it froze over so skating was an added leisure opportunity.

1978: Woodland Flowers

The flowers of Solomon's seal, primrose, hellebore and bugle to be seen in the western part of Berlin in the Grunewald Forest. A big green space (3000 hectares) where it is easy to forget you are in a metropolis of millions.

Sunday Stamps A-Z here for B for Berlin, Belvedere and bugle - See It On A Postcard

Old and New Cities

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt is visiting the cities of Asia

AI tells me this is Qiwang Hall in Jingshan Park a scenic area near the Forbidden city. It sits at the bottom of Jingshan Hill (also called Longevity Hill), the highest part of Beijing and from where one can have extensive views of the Forbidden City. Sent, as can be seen, on the 7th December 1908 to Belgium (via Siberia) arriving on the 26th December in Brussels with its Happy Christmas message.

I've used this view of Singapore before when we doing aerial views but needs must, I couldn't find anything else.

Light Dazzles

See It On A Postcard's  Thursday Postcard Hunt looking for light, or bright, colours

Venice, the Bridge of Sighs - exhibited 1840

JMW Turner working his magic with water, sky and light in a dreamlike view of Venice. A place he visited three times.

Pottery by Patrick Caulfield 1969

The paintings of  Patrick Caulfield (1936-2005) from the 1960s are characterised by flat areas of colour with objects defined by outlines. 'Pottery' is probably his most famous painting from that decade. His style would change permanently in the 1970s with highly complex paintings that play with definitions of reality and artifice.  From static colourful pots

"Fashionable Irish Sheep"

to sheep bringing a splash of colour to an island that has 40 shades of green.

Zambian Birds

 

1968: Decimal Currency definitive

The Grey Crowned Crane, the 'grey' refers to its body plumage but as can be seen, its crown is a wonderful golden yellow. It is the national bird of Uganda and appears on their flag.

1975: Helmeted Guinea-fowl 

I used to walk past a smallholding that had a few of these round spotted birds. Delightful.

African Fish Eagle, the national bird of Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Sudan. Their call is sometimes called the sound of Africa.

Lady Ross's Turaco whose tails are used for balance, useful for foraging for fruit in trees. Their outer toes can rotate backwards and forwards another useful attribute.

2007: Animals of Zambia

And for something completely different, a bat eared fox. Their ears have a role in regulating temperature by dissipating heat. As it mainly eats insects the ears and their exceptional hearing are very useful when burrowing underground for termites and beetles. Their ears can reach 5 inches (13cm) and are able to rotate independently.

Sunday Stamps A-Z  for Zambia - See It On A Postcard 

Window Light

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt - Lights in Windows

Christmas Day - "Waiting" by Heikki Laaksonen

He will have finished waiting by now

Duke Street After Rain by John Duffin

Warm lights, cold rain. Duffin has made the town hall clock a mini moon. I think you would want me to point out the postbox on the near left.

2016: Agatha Christie (Illustrator - Neil Webb)

There are hidden clues in this illustration of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express. The red figure fleeing the scene is a red herring. If  heat is applied to the black curtain of the second window the murderer appears. If only it was that easy for Hercule Poirot.  The suspects are written along the bottom of the stamp in micro text. The steam from the engine forms Poirot's profile.

Train windows make quite a few appearances in fiction whether spotting something from a window or seeing something in a window on a passing train, as imagined here by Neil Webb. Since Murder on the Orient Express was first published in 1933 there have been 3 film versions of the story. Screen Rant reprises and asks the question - which actor was the best Poirot? 

Yemen Yellow

 

1970: World Cup, Mexico

The yellow stripe of the Belgium flag shows up on this stamp and a photo of Paul Van Himst, one of the greats of Belgium football, who played in the Mexico world cup

1990: World Cup, Italy

The Belgium flag also makes an appearance and features a match from the very first world cup in Uruguay 1930. All the games were played in Montevideo, 16 teams were planned to attend but only13 competed due to withdrawals.

1969: History of Outer Space Exploration

Now one might see the moon dust as grey but Yemen has decided yellow is a cheerier colour and gives us a sunny day on the moon.

Sunday Stamps A-Z  and Y here is for - Yellow and Yemen - See It On A Postcard

  

Winter Light

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt - Looking for light in Snowy Scenes

Light in the forest

Lighting up the night

"Manor Class No 7812 'Erlestoke Manor' departs on a very wintery morning"

A Santa Special train steams away in morning light on the Severn Valley Railway. The trains are asleep during January but will make an entrance after sunset in February with the Boogie Lights Express , a moving sound and light show.

X

 

1977: Birds

This woodpecker is so unique it decided that it would rather appear at X than W. It is the only species within the genus Xiphidiopicus.  The bird's full Latin name is Xiphidiopicus percussus or Cuban Green Woodpecker. The most widespread and common woodpecker in Cuba, endemic to the island.

1990: 25th Anniversary of the Oceanological  Institute

Cuba is fond of Roman Numerals on their stamps

1930: King Christian X -  60th Birthday

and monarchs like them too.

1970: Bulgarian History

Another king. Cyrillic has an X but with a sound as the ch in the Scottish loch. On the stamp Khan Asparerch and the 'Old Bulgars' are crossing the Danube. An x appears at at the beginning of his title XAH  (Khan) and the end of his name.

2012: United Kingdom  A-Z Part 2

The stand alone X of Station X, Bletchley Park home of the code-breakers who among other things broke the Nazi Enigma code, the result of which it is said cut the length of World War II by an estimated 2 years.

Sunday Stamps A-Z this week has reached X - See It On A Postcard