Behind the Stamp

I love the design of this stamp. It depicts a photo by Art Wolfe, showing the Big Sur coastline, arguably one of the most breathtaking places in California. The text at the bottom says "California" in shiny letters, in an art-deco style font.. It was designed by Carl Hermann, and was released on September 8, 2000, in Sacramento, California 95813. California joined the Union on September 9, 1850. It's a 33 US cent commemorative stamp.

This stamp, released during the cultural revolution, to celebrate every province creating a committee to control the cultural revolution in that specific province. You can see the government as a macro-manager, leaving the employees (provinces) to do their own work. You saw by the title, it's an error stamp. Why? When first published, the stamp didn't show Taiwan and the Spratly Islands as part of China. Taiwan was highlighted on the map, and the Spratlys were left off entirely. These stamps are now worth up to 3.7 million Hong Kong dollars (US$475,000/£290,000), sold in Hong Kong in 2009. Released November 24, 2019. Recalled same day.

The Royal Philatelic Society of the UK celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2019, hosting a huge exhibit in Stockholm, affectionately called "Stockholmia", a huge convention from May 29, 2019, to June 2, 2019. It consisted of over 300 contestants, using up 27,392 album pages in the displays. The stamps show many place in Stockholm, like the city hall, as well as antiques like rubber stamps. They are complemented with a contrail spelling "hello". Released May 29, 2019, in Windsor PO.

On December 10, 2019, the long-awaited Taipa Line of the Macao Light Rapid Transit (MLRT) opened to the public for service. This occasion was commemorated by Macau Post, creating a set of stamps for the trams. It shows a MLRT tram running across an elevated railway, similar to the ones in Vancouver. Released December 10, 2019. Shown: First Day Cover

Singapore is a very small city-state, but is completely packed with surprises. Those include many parks, and around 5 million people in 280 miles squared. Those parks include Admiralty, East Coast, Bishan-Ang Mo Kio, and Labrador parks, which were all featured on the Singapore National Day 2019 - Parks stamps. They all depict ordinary citizens who are having fun in the parks, surrounded by nature. Released August 9, 2019 in, well, Singapore.

For 2020, the EU chose the two cities of Galway, Ireland, and Rijeka, Croatia, as the Capitals of Culture for 2020. To commemorate this event, An Post and Croatia Post jointly issued postage stamps depicting Galway and Rijeka. Released January 23, 2020 in Galway. Shown: First Day Cover (An Post)