The souvenir sheet shows six views of San Marino: the San Francesco Gate, the Church of San Francesco, the Government Building, the First Tower, the Basilica del Santo and the Church of the Capuchin.

At the bottom right the first stamp shows the San Francesco Gate, known also as the Porta del Loco, the ancient access gateway to the City of San Marino. To the left are the Church of San Francesco and the Government Building. At the top left is the First Tower, also called Guaita or Rocca, the oldest of the three towers of Mount Titano. It is encircled by two defensive walls, the innermost one enclosing the Campanaria Tower, the Casermetta, which was historically home to the guards, and the Penna Tower. At the top in the centre is the Basilica del Santo, also called the Pieve. Built in a neoclassical style, to a project by the Bolognese architect, Antonio Serra, and dedicated to the “Divo Marino” the founder and patron of the Republic, this is the main church of the City of San Marino. It was built on the site where the Pieve (parish church) of San Marino once stood, whose massive Romanesque bell tower still rises at its side. Finally, at the top right, the sixth stamp shows an image of the Church of the Capuchin, also known as the Church of Saint Quirinus of the Capuchin Monastery.

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published May 6th, 2011

This year’s tourist stamps feature buildings with a special architectural style. They range widely from the Borgund Stave Church Visitors’ Centre to the world’s best insulated freezer on Svalbard. The architect firms responsible for designing the buildings (as listed below) are Barlindhaug Consulting, Helen & Hard and Askim/Lantto.

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published April 21st, 2011

Easy to understand and simple to use, these non-denominated stamps will always be worth the required postage of a Standard Post™ medium letter. You can also use multiple KiwiStamp™ postage stamps on a range of letter sizes or to send letters by FastPost™.

Hokey PokeyA Kiwi icecream institution, hokey pokey has been the New Zealand icecream flavour of choice since the 1940s. Many a Kiwi summer has been made that much sweeter with a lick of this vanilla and crunchy toffee combo.

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published March 26th, 2011

For decades, there was an unwritten code among backpackers off to see Europe or other parts of the world: if you want to be treated well, simply wear a Canadian flag on your pack or shirt. Canadians are known the world over for their politeness, their tolerance and their fairness—and wearing that little red and white symbol ensured that a traveller would be greeted with courtesy and respect.

Just stop for a moment to consider how many items—within the country and abroad—bear our impressive Maple Leaf. The sheer number of places where the Canadian flag is found was the creative impetus to this stamp series—five stamps that only scratch the surface of how ubiquitous our flag really is.

According to Liz Wong, Stamp Design Manager for the series, the challenge was to (read more)

published February 1st, 2011

 The Philatelic Bureau of MaltaPost begins the series ‘Treasures of Malta’ with the issue of 4 stamps depicting some of the Islands’ natural treasures. The set was issued on Tuesday 19th October 2010 and features wonderful illustrations of Maltese landscape.

Malta, officially the Republic of Malta), is a southern  European country  and consists of an archipelago situated centrally in the Mediterranean, 93 km south of Sicily and 288 km east of Tunisia, with the Strait of Gibraltar 1,826 km to the west and Alexandria 1,510 km to the east.

Malta covers just over 300 km² in land area, making it one of (read more)

published November 1st, 2010

The London Eye is one of the world’s most famous landmarks, now a decade on and 36 million visitors later, Royal Mail marks its tenth anniversary with a special Commemorative Sheet of stamps. 

 The London Eye Commemorative Sheet, issued on 10 August and priced £13.50, features ten patriotic 1^st Class Union Flag stamps, alongside labels featuring stunning images of Europe’s tallest Ferris wheel, and the unrivalled panorama it offers over the capital.

 The images used on the Commemorative Sheet provide a snapshot of the history of the London Eye, from the original sketches entered into the 1993 competition in The Sunday Times to create a landmark for the new millennium, through to its construction and the lasting legacy it has left on the London’s South Bank.

 Since 2005 (read more)

published July 28th, 2010