Appearance of the Halley's Comet, Mexico

After having missed the previous two entries, here we are back with the letter H. And the main reason for my absence is actually lack of inspiration. Has it ever happened to you? Flipping through your stamps albums, like trying to find something related to the corresponding letter, but you realize that it is like staring into blank space, cos you just go through all those pages, but you actually see nothing, your brain is like totally disconnected from what you are doing...

Well, today almost ended up the same, but then somehow m brain registered this stamp in my album, and voilà!
It is just a single stamp, not something typical for my posts, but it is surely better than nothing, plus this makes it a first Mexican related post ever on this blog :)

Issued on 25th April 1986, to celebrate the appearance of the Halley's Comet that year. I still remember the euphoria this event had caused back then. And for a kid like me, it was also something unheard of. I mean, something appearing every 75 years, and like being so punctual every single time... how is that even possible!! These kind of phenomena still amaze me to this very day.
In the background of the stamp,you can see an image of Edmond Halley, after whom it is now named since in 1705 he first determined the comet's periodicity .

It is said that its next appearance would be in mid-2061, with some precise date of 28th of July. Now if I get to live until then, this would be like the most unique birthday present :D

If someone is more interested about Halley, take a look at this video. I believe that a video is sometimes better than some dry facts and figures.

For more of today's H-entries, check out today's Sunday Stamps edition.

Locomotives EXPO '86 Vancouver, Cuba

this weather outside has kinda totally ruined my plans for the day, so if we're gonna stay at home, at least lets spend it in some productive way (where productive doesn't mean cleaning or working).

And being that no Cuban stamps have seen the light of the day here, here comes something Cuban, which in a way is related to everything else but Cuba :D

On May 2, 1986, Cuba Postal issued a set of 6 railway stamps, plus one souvenir sheet, representing different kind of steam engines, which were exhibited during the 1986 World Exposition on Transportation and Communication held in Vancouver, Canada from Friday, May 2 until Monday, October 13, 1986. The theme of the Fair was "Transportation and Communication: World in Motion - World in Touch.


And here for display we have the mint stamps (shown above already), the FDCs (shown below), and also the maxicards (even further below). Couldn't be any happier regarding this possession :D

Out of all these, it is just the souvenir sheet that represents a Cuban steam engine from 1837.

The rest of the steam engines:

-The first Russian locomotive from 1845

-next is the Stephenson's Rocket steam engine from 1829 (Great Britain)

-from the same year of 1829, below you can see the Stourbridge steam engine from the US

-next is a French one from 1830, depicting Seguin's steam engine

- here we have the first Canadian locomotive from 1836






- and the last one is dedicated to Belgium, showing an urban locomotive from 1872 pulling a train at the Belgian Grand Central Railway.

*fun fact no. 1 - it is not that fun actually - but I have totally lost track of who has actually sent these to me. I find it embarrassing and kinda rude, but unfortunately I just cannot remember =/ So a big big thank you to the sender, and if you remember being the 'guilty' one for these in my collection, please drop me a line!

* fun fact no. 2 - Depeche Mode had had a concert during this EXPO!!! Seriously!! Back in their early days still, as part of the Black Celebration tour... damn, that setlist looks soooo good! Nowadays I would never probably hear live songs like Fly on the Windscreen or Christmas Island or Leave in Silence or Blasphemous Rumours
(weeps in silence)

* fun fact no. 3 - Apart from DM, A-ha have performed here as well!
(weeps in silence a bit more)

* fun fact no. 4 - Death Cab for Cutie have a song called 'Expo 86', and just now I know what it actually refers to - I've never really liked that one so never really cared to google for more info. It is from their Transantlanticism album (2003), where you can find my favourite DCC song, called Transantlanticism as well, but I wonder how an EXPO could actually serve as an inspiration for someone writing a song....

Automobiles, Nevis

Good Day to all Sunday Stampers, Followers, Random by-passers... and everyone else :)

It's been a sunny Sunday here, but one of the kind where you rather stay indoors all day long in your pajamas instead of enjoying the sunshine outdoors...though this can be held as true for most of the time anyways.

However, been working hard lately (after a long hiatus) on recovering what Photobucket managed to so beautifully ruin, so hopefully by the end of this month, I will manage to get back in life all the posts here.

In the meantime, I may also surprise you with some new stuff, like this one for today for example :) 

I have missed most of the alphabet letters at Sunday Stamps (both justified and not so justified reasons), it has reached letter N already... and here is my contribution to it... a lovely set of Nevis' stamps! 

This set was issued on August 15, 1986, and features 6 different car models as follows (as usual, whenever I'm scanning stamps in a set, I always manage to mix up the face-value order...and then I am just too lazy to do all the rescanning)

- 15 c - The Riley Nine was one of the most successful light sporting cars produced by the British motor industry in the inter war period. It was made by the Riley company of Coventry, England with a wide range of body styles between 1926 and 1938.
The car was largely designed by two of the Riley brothers, Percy and Stanley. Stanley was responsible for the chassis, suspension and body and the older Percy designed the engine.  The stamp shows the Riley "Brooklands" Nine, from the year of 1930.

- 45 c - The Alfa Romeo GTA is a coupé automobile manufactured by the Italian manufacturer Alfa Romeo from 1965 to 1971. The stamp shows a 1960 model.

- 60 c - Pierce-Arrow was an early American automobile manufacturer in Buffalo, New York, in business from 1901 to 1938. Like many of the earliest American automobile manufactures the Pierce Arrow company originally built bicycles before building automobiles.
The Pierce-Arrow Model 66 (featured on the stamp)  was one of the pinnacles of American design and craftsmanship of the early Twentieth century.

- $1 - The Willys-Knight was the most popular - and enduring - of all sleeve-valve engine-powered cars built in the United States. The Willys-Overland Company introduced its Knight engine-powered car in 1915 and production continued through 1933. The most expensive Willys-Knight was the 66 series, introduced in 1925. By 1929, when this attractive Varsity Roadster was built, it had become the 66-A series (featured on the stamp).

- $1.75 - In 1953, Studebaker was redesigned by Robert Bourke, from Raymond Loewy's design studio. ("the Loewy Coupe" or "Low Boy"). The 2-door coupe with a central pillar was called the Starlight while the more expensive hardtop coupe was called the Starliner. (on the stamp).

- $3 - The Cunningham automobile was a pioneering American production automobile, one of the earliest vehicles in the advent of the automotive-age produced from 1896 to 1936 in Rochester, New York. A V8 engine was developed in 1916 and introduced in the series V-1 Cunningham. (featured on the stamp is a 1919 model from this series).

While googling for information about these stamps, I came across an article, accusing e-bay dealers to have distributed hundreds and hundreds of fake Nevis stamps. Can't tell for sure if these now are real or forged... but oh well :D

For more N-related stamps, click on the link - > Sunday Stamps