Sunday, 6 May 2018

Take a L-etter

2007: Gibraltar Postal Anniversaries (Design - Anselmo Torres)
A letter is on a journey.  This particular one is dated 1857 which was the year British postage stamps were first used in Gibraltar after the merging of the maritime Packet Agency and Overland Post. The stamps are cancelled with Gibraltar's letter G.

The letter may arrive at its country of destination in
1974: Centenary of the Letter Carrier Delivery Service (Design: Stephen Menni)
large overflowing bags.  It will then have to be
1986: Definitive - The Post Past and Present (Design - Klaus Oberli ; Engraver - Max Müller)
sorted. I can't make up my mind whether this is inside a sorting office or it is a travelling post office.  But if it is on board a train then the  central station of the city Winterthur on the cancel is one of the busiest on the Swiss Railway Network.

Well our postie will have to get his skates on from there
1997: Globi (Designer - Heiri Schmid)

to Zurich.  This is Globi the well travelled blue parrot created by Robert Lips (1912-1975) and
you can tell its always an adventure for Globi for he has exchanged his normal black beret for a postman's hat.
2017: 200 Years of the KK Breifsammelskelle Balzers (Design: Christine Böhmwalder)
In more sedate times the personal touch. The stamp commemorates a part of postal history when a mail station was opened in Balzers on 1 September 1817 and its operation entrusted to Austria.  Before 1912 the stamps of Austria were used in Liechtenstein (marked KK Österr.) but after the war and post-war inflation Liechtenstein finished the arrangement in 1920.
The maximum card features the postman Franz Frick (1906-1975) part of an independent postal service.
And who does not love the thunk of mail coming through the letter box and for me associated with an excited squeal and running feet, hopefully not to be disappointed with junk mail and bills and a disappointed - meh.  All this set of Canadian stamps have the year of issue hidden in the stamp, this one can be seen on the package he is carrying.  The Canadian mail handler (2nd stamp down) has a date on the ceiling to his right.  For the others of the set and their hidden numbers (and to save you squinting) click on the stamps here 


The Sunday Stamps II prompt of the Letter L - for Letters and Liechtenstein - See It On A Postcard





6 comments:

Mail Adventures said...

I think that "letters on stamps" is the theme that I would like to collect most. I mean, if I had a proper collection. Never tired to look at them, thanks for sharing those!

agi said...

wow thats a great collection of letter-related stamps, i sure wish to have them! i like the fact that a 'real' postman is on the postcard

Ana said...

that is a great assortment of Letter stamps for today! The Globi parrot is so cute!

FinnBadger said...

Love how you connected all the stamps via letter writing and delivery.

violet s said...

Old fashioned mail sorting rooms are fascinating places - and what a change to today!
I didn't know about the hidden date (but apparently that's a common trait in our stamps)

Bob Scotney said...

Shame that the personal letter seems to be dying out in the digital age. This is a marvellous collection of letter stamps. It's the best themed one I've seen for any letter of the alphabet.