Visit Bosnia and Herzegovina

Well, hello there! After missing last week's food theme (even though you are talking to a real foodie here), here I am back again this week with stamps featuring things made of wood...

Not an easy, but a challenging theme, for which I decided to present these two FDCs featuring EUROPA stamps from Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2012, when EUROPA's subject was "Visit..." and of course, places in the country shown that are worth visiting" 

There are plenty of reasons of why you should visit Bosnia and Herzegovina, so whether you are into nature or history or food or cityscapes, there is definitely something for everyone.

Do you have a favourite type of trip? I am up for anything, as long as it is a chance to travel, esp. to a place I've never been before...

I guess it was a tough choice of what to choose for these stamps... and I won't argue whether it was the right one or not, but I so much love the design of these, that they would be like enough to tickle my curiosity and make me wanna go and see it myself

The first FDC features the two single stamps, while the second one the miniature sheet.

While it may not be obvious at first, on the left stamp you can see probably the most prominent spot in the Old Town of Sarajevo, that is the Sebilj,  a pseudo-Ottoman-style wooden fountain (sebil) built first by Mehmed Pasha Kukavica in 1753. According to the sources, it had unfortunately burnt down in a fire in 1852, and years later was relocated at this spot according to a scheme of the Austrian-Hungarian Architect Alexnander Wittek, who worked in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Austrian-Hungarian Empire.
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And here is me in front of the Sebilj, on a rare occasion of empty stairs, so one can take a decent picture without a crowd of people around... and you can make a relation to the actual stamp above...

 

And while we are at it, the other stamp in the set shows the beautiful waterfall of Kravica, so I'll just use the opportunity to add an additional personal touch to this post, that is, of course, me with the waterfalls behind (my vanity is at a high level today 😇)

Too add more wooden items to the theme, you have the small wooden boat and the wooden wine barrel, as well as the wooden window frames...


If you are curious about some other things made of wood that are featured on stamps, pop over to Sunday Stamps 

Second birthday

Today’s date used to be very important in former Yugoslavia, it was president Tito's chosen birthday and also youth day of entire country. As hinted few weeks ago here I'm with second part of sage about one of the most influential persons in past century.

As you already know if you read my previous post (if not you can do it now by clicking HERE) his real birthday was May 7th but he preferred today’s date over it due to fact he managed to escape eminent death.

In May 1944 German Nazi military planed operation under the name Knight’s move; main objective was killing Tito, leader of partisan’s resistance in Yugoslavia. Operation failed due to many factors, including rivalry among German numerous intelligence agencies and fearsome resistance from partisan groups. It was a big blow to German army failing in the most spectacular assassination in near history (it included some of the best special forces of time available to Nazis). It resulted in stamps pictured below!

This stamps are first definitive issues of Democratic Federal Yugoslavia depicting Tito, at time Marshal and prime minister, issued not even a year after this attempt.

Much later on in 1953 he was proclaimed president and later on for lifetime president. On that occasion Yugoslav post issued stamp below on June 28th 1953. Is is based on Tito’s sculpture by most prominent sculptor Augustin Augustinčić.

In the beginning Tito had strong connections with Stalin, being communist and socialist but soon after WWII he severed that connection and adopted completely different form of socialism unique to former Yugoslavia, based on workers class rule. Set of stamps below was issued for 1st May 1950, workers day, and it relates to his commitment to make Yugoslavia country of well being for common folk.

Tito was often known under Marshal title rather then president due to his role as a prime commander of JNA, Yugoslavia’s people’s army. He was prone to that title as he begin his climb as a military leader of underground resistance in Nazi occupied Yugoslavia. He often appeared in public dressed in general style uniform which was often considered  dictatorial behavior by his opponents in country and abroad.

22nd December was day of army celebrated in all country and it was important enough to be commemorated by issuing commemorative stamps, like one below issued in 1951, depicting Tito with traditional partisan hat and tank in background.

That is all for now but hope to continue sage as there are more things to be shown and stories to be told about him so if you liked it stay tuned

Flowers, Canada

Hello guys

Since few days ago, we have entered some summer heat, even though it is just like middle of May, but temperatures have gone above 35 ℃ ☀ which is too much for this time of the year.
In general, I seriously detest the summer in this city and am certainly not willing to have to deal with it this early 😖

Well at least warm weather is compatible with today's Sunday Stamps theme of flowers... and since I couldnt decide between these two Canadian covers, I decided to post them both and spare myself the trouble of choosing :) (Thanks to Bryon for the trouble 😈)

Just let me tell you in advance that I am terrible when it comes to knowledge about flowers as well as taking care of them... if you have left some flowers under my responsibility, they certainly will end up suffering (you can ask my current boss about this.. boy was he angry 😄😄)

Btw, 2020  is also the International year of Plant Health, so here is one commemorative post to it!
 🌷🌸🌺🌻🌼

This first one is actually a Valentine Day's issue from 2019, on February 14th,  showing some beautiful fragrant Cape jasmine gardenia (Gardenia jasminoides).

It is said that giving gardenias was known as a way of saying ‘I think you’re lovely’ during shy Victorian times while these days, the white petals are considered a symbol of purity, making gardenias a popular choice for weddings. 

It is native to the tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, Asia, Madagascar and Pacific Islands and just now I learned that these belong to the coffee family.

The other cover comes with some lovely Lotus flowers issued on 1st of March 2018.

It is an aquatic perennial and it grows from root-like rhizomes that form in the bottom of shallow ponds and marshes, producing leaves and flowers that rise above the water. The species featured on these stamps are the pink and white sacred lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) and the creamy yellow American lotus (Nelumbo lutea).
It is the national flower of India and Vietnam, and is a symbol of divine beauty that carries deep religious significance for Buddhists and Hindus. It is native to tropical and temperate regions of Asia and Australia.
 Rare and threatened, the American lotus needs warmth and sunshine to survive. Its northern grow limits are the shores of Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair in southern Ontario, with other populations found in wetlands across the eastern United States and as far south as Honduras.



Lotus flowers always remind me of one fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen called Thumbelina, and when she drifts along the water, full of lotus flowers...

Check out some more beautiful floral items over at Sunday Stamps!

And enjoy your Sunday!

The faults and errors of the Macedonian Post

When it comes to stamps and philately, errors and faults are kinda inevitable. They dont happen frequently (fortunately) and often dont even leave the printing plant.
But sometimes they do, and give reasons for mockery and humiliation as is this last incident of the Macedonian Post.

Namely, every year, Macedonia issues stamps of the "Macedonia in EU" series, and every time different EU capitals are presented.
The last lucky capital to find its place in that series was Zagreb, Croatia's capital. And everything would have been fine, except for one tiny yet huge error.

If you take a look at the map, with the Croatian flag, does it look like a map of Croatia? Ok, you might not know by heart how Croatia looks like but the people who have designed and approved this, surely should have known, right?
Well, obviously not. We are all aware that incompetent people are employed all over the administrative service, and the postal administration aint no exception. I wont talk about the generally poor designs in the last few years, as well as the ridiculous face values - it just shows the lack of real interest of the people behind it all to produce something eye-catching and appealing.
But when you make an error of this kind, you create the basis of something bigger, since  the territorial representation here is offensive.
So the Macedonian Government had to apologize not only to Croatia, but also Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro. And yeah, fine, apology accepted, but the damage is done - and not just with the above mentioned countries cos of political reasons, but the world has also seen how lousy and incompetent you guys are - a real shame for the people who should be some kind of ambassadors of the country cos the stamps and philately are not just cute pieces of paper used for postage but they are also one country's representation in front of the rest of the world... and how have we represented ourselves here?

The stamps have been recalled, the people have been fired, but bittersweet taste shall remain, esp. since im not at all assured that the new employees would be any better....

Fairy Tales, Hungary

I was a bit surprised to see how scarce mothers / children are in my stamps collection. My initial choice was a cat FDC, since the mother cat and the kitty were featured ON the FDC, but not on the actual stamp... and then during my second browsing of my albums, I noticed these, and I knew that would be my choice for today since they all feature children (or dwarfs 😎)

What saddened me is that I actually miss most of the stamps that are part of these two issues, so I guess I will have to work on that now.

Both issues feature fairy tales, with the top two being issued on 15th December 1959, while the bottom two, on 1st December the following year.
Both issues come in a set of 8 stamps, and have the same designers too. Well, ok, the 1959 stamps were designed by Gábor Éva, while the 1960 ones, both by Gábor Éva and Zombory Éva.

I dont think that Gábor Éva has anything to do with the actress of the same name, but just a nice coincidence.

Embarrassed to say I only recognize Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs... the other three seem soooo familiar but I just cant connect them to a name, so if anyone recognizes any of the other three, please mention it in the comments 💙💚💛

I used to read a loooot of fairy tales when I was little, whether it was the Grimm Brothers or Hans Christian Andersen or this fantastic collection of books with a green cover with tales from all over the world - I think that fairy tales are suitable even for grown ups, just that you read them with a different frame of mind compared to when you were a child

And I've learned that today is Mother's Day in some countries, so happy Mother's day to those celebrating.
In Macedonia it is on the 8th of March, and it is a day of buying expensive gifts for teachers and working women leaving early from work and going to a corporate lunch, paid by their company of course - so yeah, that's what Mother's day has mainly turned into here... I wonder what's the situation in other countries?

Hope you had a nice weekend and have a nice week ahead... and dont forget to check the other entries for today 


Edit: Dear Katalin saw my cry for help and helped me out!
So the 40f stamp from 1959 shows "Mattie the Goose-boy", a Hungarian epic-poem by Mihály Fazekas while the 40f stamp from 1960 shows "The miller, his son and the donkey" by La Fontaine (Now I may, just may have read this last one)

Thank you thank you Katalin!!!

Orson Welles greatest man in the world today

Hope you are ready for another guest post here 😀! Today is real birthday of one of the most influential but also very controversial personalities of past century. He was an politician, millwright, war commander and a leader. Some call him dictator and a war criminal too but opinions on him are heavily divided.

Orson Welles called him greatest man in the world today (or at least it is considered to be Orson Welles words as I couldn't track down right quote source)

If you still didn’t got it I’m talking about Josip Broz Tito, leader and lifetime president of Yugoslavia. When I mentioned real birthday it is because it is not very well known fact since his birthday officially in Yugoslavia was considered 25^th of May even though he actually came upon this world on today’s date  7^th May 1892. This comes from the fact that in those times documents were often incomplete and birth dates often incorrect in different documents, mostly due to the facts that lot of peasants were illiterate (his parents were presents in small village of Kumrovec in today’s Croatia). 25^th May was his birth date in some documents from Austro-Hungarian   army (which he served since Croatia was part of their empire and under Hungarian dominion). This even led to the Nazis launching attack at Yugoslavian partisan’s army command in Drvar on 25^th of May 1944. Obviously Tito survived and that day was officially taken as Tito’s Birthday and celebrated as Youth day in entire country.

From 1952 till 1990 Yugoslavian post office was issuing stamps depicting Tito on 25^th May on jubilar birthday years.

This is just one stamp from a set of three issued in 1952 for Titos 60^th birtday with topic of Tito in works of contemporary artists. This one is painting of well known Yugoslavian painter and graphic designer Đorđe Andrejević Kun (also did design for first Yugoslavian partisans postage stamp which was never issued but there is a proof print in museum in Belgrade and few examples whose locations are unknown if even still in existence).

In 1962, on Titos birthday Yugoslavian post issued set of four stamps and one imperforated souvenir sheet, recess printed based on Tito bust made by famous Yugoslavian sculptor Augustin Augustinčić.

 

In 1967 post issued set of ten stamps to commemorate 75^th birthday. 300.000 sets were printed in form of a mini sheet of 15 stamps each. Later on they reprinted values from this set as well as some additional values in same design as definitive stamps, this were issued in form of 50 or 45 stamps sheets so this turn out to be most common stamps with Tito face on them due to high print numbers and heavy use for franking letters and cards.

This same design was used for wending machines coil stamps (vertically imperforate) and some of the reminders were used for overprinting with new values when there was a demand for them in postal traffic.

1972, on occasion of 80^th birthday post issued set of two stamps and imperforate souvenir sheet printed in offset technique.  

This is just a few stamps about Tito, so stay tuned as I might soon make another post about his life and work.