For many stamp collectors the name of Sierra Leone brings up plenty of negative associations. This somewhat tiny (about the size of South Carolina state) West African nation issued the worlds first self-adhesive stamps in the 1964. Sierra Leone was also one of the first countries to adapt shape cut postage stamps. And if Sierra Leone’s reputation with serious minded philatelists was not already destroyed by the above, then the flood of topical wallpaper since mid 1980s has been the final nail for many. But despite all this, Sierra Leone has been IMHO a brave trend setter in stamps world.
Though I normally don’t collect “entire items” (covers, cards etc), here’s something I’ve included to my collection. It’s a 1971 cover from Malawi, addressed to United Kingdom during the 1971 postal strike. It features the 1st commonwealth approved “strike mail stamp” as well as a UK local mail delivery vignette.
Just to show a case of good luck in contrast to last post. This is something I found while sorting stamps I had soaked from kiloware… An Argentinian 10 peso definitive postage stamp issued in 1995. It looks like any modern day topical stamp, but if catalogs are to believe, this one is worth 30€ a piece.
Last week I received a stamp catalogue I had ordered from Canada before christmas (yes, the delivery took 50 days as it was mailed by surface to cut costs). Anyway, everything seems to have gone pretty smooth until the parcel landed on Finnish postage system.
And to finalize this months incoming mail showcase, here are two recent covers from Canada. The first one had a christmas greeting from Tristan with 2009 Canadian international christmas stamp on top of cover. Unfortunately all the cancels were put on the back of envelope… This is also a good time to remind everyone to post their christmas greetings in time. It’s only one month till christmas eve.
Next on the line I have a cover from Malaysia sent by Elaine. One thing that never ends to amaze me when receiving covers, postcards etc. around the world, are postage rates in various countries. A registered letter from Malaysia to Finland cost 2.50 ringgits, a equivalent of 0.50€. If I would have sent a similar registered letter to Malaysia, it would have cost 7€ – that’s fourteen times more!