Touva Postage Stamps

I came across these unusual postage stamps recently.

 

 

Love all the details in the illustrations.

 

Seemingly, Touva is a place in central Asia, near Mongolia.  I'm ashamed to admit that I'd never heard of it before.

 

Great stamps, though.

 

Hope you are having a lovely weekend.  Its freezing here in Greenock, but perhaps tomorrow will be nicer (I live in hope)!

Love, Liz

Have you heard about the Post Office that ran out of stamps?

Actually it's not a joke!  The Post Office in Gourock ran out of second class stamps yesterday!  I was down to post some gifts and there was an enormous queue.  They did have a little hand-written sign up to say that they had run out, but lots of people were there to post parcels and do other business as well as buy stamps. The ladies behind the counter were telling folk that they wouldn't be getting any in till Friday morning at the earliest! 

Hello ........ it's Christmas card posting time!!!!

Did no one mention it????

What happened to forward planning????

I thought this was a bit ridiculous, considering that every year we are bombarded with ads telling us to post early for Christmas!  I dread having to go to the Post Office, the queues are horrendous and the Greenock Post Office is now upstairs at W H Smith - not the best place, in my opinion!  That's why I was at Grourock, despite the 70 mph winds!

I stopped sending Christmas cards about five years ago and I have to say that I don't regret it.  For the first few years I felt a bit guilty, but now I'm really glad I stopped!

Thought you might like a wee look at some stamps from Christmas past.

I have a confession to make - a few weeks ago I took the backings from old Christmas stamps so that I could do some crafting with them.  Once they were dry, I put them inside a big book to flatten them.

Dear reader ... I cannot remember which book!

Love, Liz

Postage Paid in Pies?

As you probably know by now, I'm always on the lookout for interesting books in charity shops.  I found this little gem earlier in the week.  It is from 1945 and is the Stanley Gibbons' Postage Stamp Catalogue.

There are some interesting little snippets about the restrictions and shortages during the war years.

There are some lovely illustrations of stamps from all corners of the former Empire and elsewhere.

Best of all, there were still some actual stamps attached to the inside of the book - just a few, but a great bonus!

Interesting stamps from pre-independence Indian states - didn't know that there was a currency called "pies"!

Lovely Queen Victoria Australian stamp.

Some really subtle differences in markings - can you spot them?

Zanzibar - I absolutely love that word - so evocative and mysterious!

I am so pleased with this little find - especially considering that it only cost me 50p!

Love, Liz

Red Queen

Have you noticed that postage stamp images are on everything at the moment - fabric, wrapping paper, greetings cards to name a few.  I recently saw a cushion with a stamp image on it.  The image of Queen Elizabeth is everywhere!

Had a look through a few stamps to see what I could find for Rednesday.

Absolutely love these old Australian ones - especially the first one - it looks so ... perfect!

Canadian postage stamp of Queen Elizabeth, not sure what the symbol in the top left hand corner is.

Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria.

Perhaps these are more orange than red.  Love the Scottish version with the lion.

Love, Liz