Behind the Stamp

Australia- home to dogs and spiders that murder you, and bears that fall out of the sky. That's one part of it. The next part of it is where the people live - the southeast! Home to cities like Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, and Canberra, people ACTUALLY LIVE HERE (or at least more than 5). There's this one highway that goes from Sydney all the way to Adelaide - the Prince's Highway. Built in 1920, it's an almost 2000 kilometer long route that goes from Sydney thru Wollongong, Melbourne, Geelong, Adelaide, and ending at Port Augusta, SA. Stamp Description The stamps feature the cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Geelong, and Mount Gambier, featuring a vintage style poster for each. Under that, the city name and the caption "Princes Highway 1920-2020" with the value on the bottom. In the Mount Gambier stamp, it shows two people sitting on a hill overlooking the Blue and Valley Lakes; in the Geelong one, it depicts Waterfront Park, looking out towards the harbor; f

Washington DC is home to a great amount of sites, memorials, fancy buildings, lack of votes in Congress, and taxes; one of these great sites is the World War II memorial, commemorating the lost lives in the war. A totem is there for every single state, with thousands of gold stars for the dead, surrounding a large fountain in the middle. The foliage and decor puts the memorial in direct view of the Lincoln Memorial, giving a very pretty This stamp shows the memorial against a sunset; this was only the planned version, as the actual memorial hadn't been finished yet. It was issued in Washington DC, on May 29, 2004, in zip code 20060, shown above. It's worth 37 US cents.

   Brexit: the one political joke that will almost never get old. Delayed by a year, Brexit was the UK's attempt to try to pull itself out of the EU and unintentionally trying to destroy the Good Friday Agreement. But, we did get a new stamp out of this (from Austria, of all people). Shown to the left, this stamp depicts a map of the current European Union, highlighted in blue, and the UK, in gray. To the left of that, two dates, one crossed out. That is the original date for Brexit, and the release of the stamp, which was delayed by a year. These are worth  €1.80 and were released on Jan 31, 2020 in Vienna, Austria. Stay safe, and wear a face mask.

Europa Stamps, found all across Europe, are extremely fun to collect. They feature a different theme each year, and each country comes up with a creative stamp to add to the set. For example, in 2018, the year's theme was "Bridges". This week, and yet another one very difficult to research, Armenia. Armenia's submission shows the Tsakkar Natural Bridge near Lake Sevan, the largest lake in the country, and in the town of Tsakkar. I couldn't find any other things that were in English, and therefore my very limited research ends here. This is a very short article, the next one will be out soon. The stamp is worth 350 Armenian Dram. To left: FDC courtesy of Armenia Post.

The Indian Pacific - a railroad to trump all others. It crosses the whole of Australia, going all the way from Sydney to Perth. 70-75 hours of a barren landscape in what is basically first class. The stamp shows an Indian Pacific train in front of a sunset/sunrise, and under the words "Transcontinental Railway: 50 Years" and it's face value, AUD 1.10. The railroad was completed on February 8, 1970, meaning this year it celebrates its 50th anniversary. It was released on February 11, 2020. In 2010, Australia Post also released an Indian Pacific stamp, this time showing the whole train in the outback, in front of some mountains. That stamp was worth 55 Australian cents. This stamp was released on May 7, 2010 The Ghan is a railway that goes from Adelaide all the way to Darwin in the north. This stamp is part of the same set, showing a very pretty view of a train in the outback. This and the last stamp were released in May 7, 2010. It's worth 55 Australian cents

Beijing won the bidding for the 2022 winter olympics, meaning lots of construction and lots of stamp issues to cover. China Post was undoubtedly the first with stamps showing the mascots, logo, and winter sports. The winter sports set is a pane of 4, with stamps showing cross country skiing, biathlon (rifle shooting and cross country), alpine skiing, and freestyle skiing, on top of some mountains and with the logo in the corner. They're worth RMB1.20 each. They were released on November 16, 2018 and were designed by Shen Jiahong. Stay home, and stay safe.