Sunday Stamps 84 - historical buildings of Hong Kong

After a break of a few weeks on account of my summer holiday in California I'm back in again for this week's Sunday Stamps, and am glad the theme is anything you wish as it means I don't have to get the grey matter up and running. The first day cover below is another of my Hong Kong first day covers, and features historical buildings.

First Day Cover, Historical Buildings, c.1986

The buildings shown are:

40c - Hung Sing Temple

$1.00 - St. John's Cathedral

$1.30 - The Old Supreme Court Building

$5.00 - Wan Chai Post Office

Check out my recent blog posting of Hong Kong Dragon Boats

Sunday Stamps 77 - the National Trust, St. Kilda

I wasn't quite sure where to go for this week's Sunday Stamps theme of Scenic Natural Areas but I eventually decided on this first day cover from June 1981 which shows various National Trust locations in the UK. The locations from left to right are:

• St. Kilda, Scotland
• Giant's Causeway, Northern Ireland
• Stackpole Head, Wales
• Derwentwater, England
• Glenfinnan, Scotland

The National Trusts, first day cover, June 1981

I am familiar with all of these places except St. Kilda, which I had heard of but knew very little about. It was populated until 1930, but numbers were typically between 100 and 200. It was eventually evacuated for a number of reasons, some accounts say voluntarily, others say forcibly. With book titles like The Truth about St. Kilda it certainly suggests this was not as amicable as other accounts would make out. It now belongs to the National Trust for Scotland, and in 1986 became a World Hertiage site. More information about this incredible story can be found in these books.

    

You might also be interested in my other blogs which cover vintage magazines and another called In Search of Space which covers subjects that don't really fit anywhere else.

Sunday Stamps 76 - Hong Kong, Dragon Boats

Looks like the sun has finally decided to come out today, so I really should go and do something outside. Just time however to share a post for this week's Sunday Stamps. Fortunately, with the theme being anything you wish again this week, I didn't need to rack my brain too much. The stamps below are a commemorative set from Hong King, c.1986, and feature a Dragon Boat festival. On taking this cover out of its sleeve to scan it in, I discovered 2 more Hong Kong commemorative covers tucked in behind this one. If a suitable theme comes up over the next few weeks/months then I'll try and share the other 2 as well.

Commemorative cover - Dragon Boat Festival, Hong Kong, c.1986

Commemorative cover - Dragon Boat Festival, Hong Kong, c.1986

    

Sunday Stamps 74 - Halley's Comet

For this week's Sunday Stamps theme of astronomy I have dug out this First Day Cover from 1986, commemorating Halley's Comet.

Halley's Comet is one of the few comets that can be seen without a telescope and is visible every 76 years. It was the astronomer Edmond Halley who first predicted the comet's return and it is named after him.

To celebrate the return of the comet in 1986, the Royal Mail issued four commemorative stamps ...

17p -  Dr Edmond Halley as a Comet

22p -  Giotto Spacecraft approaching Comet

31p -  Twice in a Lifetime

34p -  Comet orbiting Sun and Planets

First Day Cover of Halley's Comer, c.1986

    

Sunday Stamps 68 - Philympia 1970

Stamps about stamps ... what an interesting theme for this week's Sunday Stamps. After a few moments trying to get my brain into gear on this wet and grey Sunday morning, I remembered this one from 1970. Well, when I say remembered, I was only 5 at the time, but what I mean is that I remembered it being in my first day cover album. So, a rummage in the old suitcase that holds my stamp albums, and a quick leaf through the covers and I found it. The stamp and cover commemorate the 1970 International Philatelic Exhibition, held in Olympia, London, from 18th to 26th September.

First Day Cover, Philympia 1970

    

Sunday Stamps 64 - Honiton Royal Mail Post Bus

I've been planning to share this philatelic gem for a while now, and this week's Sunday Stamps theme of anything you wish has given me the opportunity. It's been quite a while since I took this out of its presentation pack, and I had forgotten that it contained a wealth of inserts, as well as the stamps, which doubled-up as the bus ticket. So given this is a Sunday Stamps posting, I'll start with the stamps themselves. These stamps are the first day of issue and represent the 19p bus fare, in September 1978. Also shown is the 'last day of issue' of bus ticket which the stamps replaced.

Royal Mail Post Bus Ticket, September 1978

Royal Mail Post Bus postcard

 Honiton Royal Mail Post Bus insert

Honiton Royal Mail Post Bus timetable

Honiton Royal Mail Post Bus fare schedule

    

Sunday Stamps 62 - S.S. Great Britain

I've been in India with work all week but fortunately there's just about time for me to submit a short posting for this week's Sunday Stamps. This is a commemorative cover of the arrival of the S.S.Great Britain back at Avonmouth after having been serving in the Falkland Islands for 84 years. This is one of the last covers before we took the plunge and went from pounds, shillings and pence to become decimal.

Commemotaive cover featuring a 1 shilling S.S.Great Britain stamp, c.1970

    

Sunday Stamps 60 - Public Transportation

It's been a few weeks since I've participated in Sunday Stamps. Work has been manic, and the kids' social events seem to occupy most of the weekend. Can't say I'm looking forward to standing on the touchline this afternoon as it's grim weather here. I had quite a few public transportation related stamps to choose from but eventually decided on this one as it's quite unusual. Admittedly the stamp itself does not feature any mode of transportation, but the postmark and first day cover envelope all do, so I hope this slight deviation from the theme is ok :-)

The first day cover is of the final arrival at Southampton of the Queen Mary, 19th October 1967.

First day cover, Last Arrival at Southampton of the Queen Mary

Insert from first day cover

    

Sunday Stamps 45 - Economic Summit 1984

Given that the theme this week on Sunday Stamps was anything you wish I dipped into my childhood First Day Cover album and was struck by this one. Given the poignancy of the current economic climate, this one seemed apt. It's a British First Day Cover featuring a gutter pair of 31p stamps commemorating the London Economic Summit of 1984. Slightly ironic that such an event was commemorated in the past as a specific event rather than the day-to-day business it has become of late.

London Economic Summit, First Day Cover, c.1984

    

Sunday Stamps 38 - British Architecture (Cathedrals) c.1969

Well, coming from Europe and having a reasonable number of British stamps, I was spoilt for choice for my submission for this week's Sunday Stamps. I did originally think of sharing some Victorian stamps, but although interesting the colours are quite muted, so I decided to jump forwards 100 years and share a First Day Cover from Elizabeth II's reign in 1969. I'm not quite sure why the theme, whilst claiming to be 'architecture' is exclusively Cathedrals. I would have thought that there were plenty of other great architectural feats like palaces and bridges which could have been equally good candidates.

First Day Cover, British Architecture, c.1969

The architectural feats pictured on the stamps are clockwise from top left:

Durham Cathedral

York Minster

St. Paul's Cathedral

Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral

Canterbury Cathedral

St. Giles Edinburgh

and the cover itself shows Coventry Cathedral.

    

Sunday Stamps 25: Summer (butterflies)

When the theme for this week's Sunday Stamps theme was announced as 'summer', and in particular butterflies, I knew I had just the stamps to share. This is a First Day Cover from 13th May 1981, and features the Small Tortoiseshell, the Large Blue, the Peacock, and the Chequered Skipper. We get a few butterflies in our garden, but not that many ... which is just as well as the cats seem to like chasing them

First Day Cover, Butterflies, 13th May 1981

I must admit however, that the background colours on the butterfly stamps made them look a little drab. In terms of summer stamps I prefer this second First Day Cover, from 16th January 1980, showing British Birds ... Kingfisher, Dipper, Moorhen, and Yellow Wagtail.