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....

EXPO '70 (Osaka, Japan) - Ajman

I was thinking for a long while about what to choose for the latest Sunday Stamps post....since it is a free theme, one has his hands open to pick whatever he wants...and yeah, my initial itch was to pick again some of my train stamps...but then I thought that I wouldnt want people to get bored and tired of constantly seeing train stamps...so after some thinking and browsing through my collections, the choice fell on something rather unique and according to some, controversial, when it comes to validity...but first let me present you my today's choice of 9 stamps, coming from Ajman. Ajman??!! Where on Earth is that??!!!
Well, Ajman is indeed a real place on Earth, one of the seven emirates constituting the UAE. Its area is only 260 square km, making it the smallest of the Emirates. Its name means 'small city' in Arabic.

Very few stamps from Ajman are considered postally valid. There have been many stamps issued for Ajman, but a great number of them had limited, if any, postal use. The Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue only recognizes Ajman stamps from 1964 and 1965 as valid. The remaining Ajman issues, primarily from 1967 through 1972, are excluded as their postal use appears to be questionable. The stamps I have here date from 1970, so they fall into that latter category...plus, if my observation is good, they are CTO's....but nevertheless, I think the stamps are really beautiful, plus, how would I have learned about Ajman, and their stamps validity issue, if it wasnt for this...

well, sorry if the scan is too big, but this was like the only way to be able to present all of the stamps without them being too cluttered and yet include them all.
They all portray Japanese paintings, as follows:

- 1 dh. stamp shows the "The Actor Sawamura Sojuro" a painting by the Japanese painter Katsukawa Shunsō;
- 2 dh. stamp portrays an "Intimate Kitchen Scene" by the Japanese painter and printmaker Kitagawa Utamaro, considered one of the greatest artists of woodblock prints;
- 3 dh. stamp shows the "The Beautiful O-Sen of Kasamori" by Suzuki Harunobu, a Japanese woodblock print artist, one of the most famous in the Ukiyo-e style;
- 4 dh. stamp shows another of Utamaro's works, called "Portrait of a Woman";
- 5 dh. stamp brings one more of Utamaro's works called "Melancholy Love";
- 10 dh. stamp is by an unknown artist portraying Japanese Ladies;
- 15 dh. stamp is again by an unknown artist, called "A Picnic Party"

the two stamps at the bottom are considered as airmail stamps:

- 1 rl. stamp shows a painting by Uemura Shoen, the first woman recipient of the Order of Culture, Japan's highest award for cultural achievement.
- 5 rls. stamp shows a painting called "Woman in the Wind" by Kaigetsudô Ando.

This issue also should contain a minisheet of 12 rls. value, presenting a Japanese Bathhouse scene. Unfortunately, I do not have it, but if anyone could send it to me, it would be more than welcome in my collection!

To see what others have picked for today, please visit Viridian's blog....just click on the button below :)