Belarus: Water Skiing Souvenir Sheet FDC

Here's a lovely Belarus First Day Cover (FDC) from my collection. This beautiful Belarussian FDC was issued on 25 October 2001 and features a lovely blue-coloured souvenir sheet showing water skiing. The sheet shows 3 different poses of a woman water skier.

The Souvenir sheet also reads,

"National Waterski Team Belarus

2 times World Champions and 

10 times Europe Champions"

The souvenir sheet is of 1000 Rubles denomination.

As a sports fanatic, I really love this FDC from Belarus.

What do you think about this cover?

Scouting 2007 Centenary Stamps And FDC From Luxembourg

A magnificent First Day Cover from Luxembourg is here to recharge your collecting and scouting senses.

 This FDC from Luxembourg was issued to mark the Centenary of Scouting in 2007. The Scouting 2007 Centenary included celebrations around the globe and festivities took place in a scouting way.
You can read more details from here: Scouting 2007 Centenary

The FDC was issued with two stamps, The first stamp on the right-hand side depicts a world globe and children of different races holding hands. The stamp also depicts a reef-knot which is the symbol of scouting around the planet. It is an EUROPA Stamp and is of 0.70 denomination.
The second stamp on the left-hand side is of 0.50 face value and depicts a scouting camp and a camp fire. It seems to be a painting made by a kid. It is also an EUROPA Stamp from Luxembourg.
I love this FDC. Can anyone tell me why this hat is on the cover? Is it a scouting symbol in Luxembourg or there is some other story behind it???

200 Years Of Salzburg Theatre In Austria

A beautiful vintage First Day Cover from Austria featuring the 200 years of "Salzburg Theatre". The stamp and FDC were issued on 14 November 1975 and is magnificently preserved.

The FDC was sent to me by Mr. Arslan Ali Overstreet from Wild Postcards.
I really loved the stamp and the postmarks on the cover.

Golden Jubilee Celebrations Of Founding Of China - Pak-China Friendship

The year 1999 is the 50th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China (1 949-1999). This event is all the more important for the Chinese nation as the whole mankind is on the verge of entering the 21st century.

People’s Republic of China appeared on the map of the world on October 1, 1949, which was the culmination of the glorious struggle of the Chinese people started from the democratic Revolution of 1911 led by Dr. Sun Yat Sen who inspired the resurgence of China.

The Chinese people suffered greatly for more than a century but they never compromised with the status quo and relentlessly struggled against the forces of exploitation. Eventually, they came out victorious under the dynamic leadership of Mao Zedong.

On October 1, 1949, some 300,000 people gathered at theTian’anmen square in Beijing and Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Central People’s Government proclaimed the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

The national flag of China is red in colour which symbolizes Revolution, the five stars on the flag symbolize the unity of the Chinese people under the leadership of the communist party of china (CPC).

The national emblem of China is ‘Tian’ an men in the center illuminated by five stars and encircled by ears of grain and a cogwheel. Tian’anmen symbolizes the Chinese nation and the ears of grain and the cogwheel represent the working class and peasantry.

After the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, Mao Zedong and Chou En Lai played a vital role not only to strengthen the roots of the Communist Party of China but also to improve the economic lot of the Chinese people.

Chou En Lai was the chief architect of New China’s foreign policy and led the country with remarkable dexterity and talent, Henry Kissinger described Chou En Lai as “the greatest statesman of our era”.

He was a man of remarkable vision. After gaining for China its rightful place in the UN Security Council in 1971, Chou En Lai recorded yet an other major diplomatic success when in early 1972, he received US President Richard Nixon in Beijing.

The visit led to normalization of relations between China and the United States of America. In this historic reconciliation, Pakistan served as a bridge between the two great nations of the world.

After the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, Deng Xiao Ping guided the country and embarked upon a programme of modernization, with economic reconstruction as its priority task.

Deng Xiao Ping was the chief architect of China’s Reform and the opening up drive (1978) to the outside world. Today, the People’s Republic of China is an emerging economic giant in Asia.

Since 1980, China has established special economic zones in Guandong, Fujian and the province of Hainan. In 1984, China opened 14 coastal cities to overseas investment. In 1990, the Chinese government decided to open the Pudong New Zone in Shanghai to overseas investment, which has now become an international economic center.

On July 1,1997, People’s Republic of China resumed its sovereignty over Hong Kong and proclaimed it a Special Administrative Region under the principle of “ONE COUNTRY, TWO SYSTEMS”. People’s Republic of China will resume her sovereignty over Macao on 20th December 1999.

Pak-China friendship is unique in the history of the world. Pakistan was one of the first countries, which accorded recognition to People’s Republic of China. The government of Liaquat Au khan vigorously supported the cause of China in the United Nations.

Formal diplomatic relations between Pakistan and China were established on May21, 1951.

Pakistan and China have maintained extremely cordial relations during the last five decades.

China has always extended full co-operation to Pakistan in its developmental projects in agriculture, energy, industry, defence and tele-communications. This is considered a model relationship among two neighboring countries of the Third World.

With the rapidly growing closer relations between the two countries, the exchange of cultural and trade delegations has become more frequent. China fully supports Pakistan’s stand on Kashmir. Likewise, Pakistan has always subscribed to the idea of “One China” policy.

People’s Republic of China is destined to become more vigorous and achieve even greater successes in the next century. It is hoped that bilateral relations between Pakistan and China will further strengthen in the next millennium.

LONG LIVE PAK-CHINA FRIENDSHIP.

To commemorate the Golden Jubilee celebrations Pakistan Post Office is issuing a set of 2 commemorative postage stamps of denomination of Rs 2 and Rs 15 on September 21, 1999.

World Cycling Championship 1972; France

Another wonderful FDC from France is here for you. The FDC commemorates the event of World Professional (Elite) Road Cycling Championship held in Gap - a commune in Southeastern France. GAP is also in the run for hosting 2018 Winter Olympics.

The stamp and the FDC were issued on 22 July 1972. The race consisted of 272.564 km and the best time was 7 hours, 5 minutes and 59 seconds. 89 cyclists started the race but only 42 of them reached the finish line. It was surely a tough one. Isn't it?

Marino Basso of Italy won the Gold medal while his fellow Italian Franco Bitossi got Silver. The third position went to Cyrille Guimard of the host country France.

My sincere Thanks to Jean-Michel for sending me this beautiful FDC from France. 

Breeds Of Dogs Of India: FDC

A very beautiful FDC from India with a set of 4 gorgeous dog stamps. Stamps  featuring 4 different breeds of dogs include following:-

• Himalayan Sheep Dog (Left-most stamp)
• Rampur Hound (2nd stamp from left)
• Mudhol Hound (3rd stamp from left)
• Rajapalayam (Right-most stamp)

The 4 dog breeds from India are also featured on the left side of the First Day Cover while the postmark features only three of them.Which one is missing is hard to tell..... At least for me... :)

The series of stamps on Indian Breeds of Dogs was released at the5th National Dog Show of the Kenel Club of India in Chennai on 9 January 2005. The postmarks on the cover are from the capital -New Delhi.

Indeed a magnificent cover! Isn't it? What do you say???

Pakistan FDC: 50 Years Of Pakistan Ordnance Factories, Wah, 2001

Here is a beautiful First Day Cover (FDC) from Pakistan. The FDC was issued on 28 December 2001 on the eve of 50th Anniversary of Pakistan Ordnance Factories, Wah, Pakistan. The beautiful stamp falls into the military stamps category depicting charging infantry, moving tanks and various products of Pakistan Ordnance Factories including arms andammunition ofvarious calibres and weapons. 

The beautiful postmark used to cancel the FDC shows the monograms of three services of Pakistan namely Pakistan Army, Pakistan Air Force and Pakistan Navy. The top centre monogram is of Pakistan Army. It shows two crossed swords with an increasing crescent and a star onthe top. The bottom right monogram is of Pakistan Air Force depicting a flying falcon and a star on top; where as on the bottom left is the monogram of Pakistan Navy featuring an anchor in the middle and a crescent and a star on top.

Brief History Of Pakistan Ordnance Factories:-

During their colonial rule in India, the British raised 16 Ordnance Factories. At the time of creation of Pakistan in 1947, we were unlucky that all the sixteen factories fell to Indian share. Newly created Pakistan with fragile state apparatus and fragmented armed forces had absolutely no arms and ammunition manufacturing facility to meet the security challenges to its sovereignty. 

The first Prime Minister of Pakistan, Khan Liaqat Ali Khan immediately realized this imbalance and issued directive within four months of creation of Pakistan to establish an ordnance factory to manufacture 303 rifle and its ammunition in Rawalpindi. Subsequently, the foundation stone of four workshops was laid by the second Prime Minister of Pakistan Khawaja Nazim ud din in the small town of Wah in December 1951. This was the first step towards the establishment of mother defence industry in Pakistan.

Today by the grace of God Almighty, Pakistan has fourteen big factories at Wah which are taking care of almost 100% requirements of our armed forces. This modern defence industrial complex, which is the oldest & largest in Pakistan defence production industrial system, later helped many other sister defence production setups to flourish. Resultantly today Pakistan has a reasonably good defence production potential in which Pakistan Ordnance Factories occupy the central position.

France: Munich Olympics 1972

Hello Pals!

I am here after a little absence. I have to show you a beautiful cover from my Olympics collection. It is an official FDC from France marking the event of Munich Olympics 1972 held of course in Munich (ThenWest Germany).

Unfortunately, the event saw a massacre on September 5 by some members belonging to the Black September Organization who broke into the Olympics village and took 11 Israeli athletes hostage in their apartment. They killed two of the athletes in their apartment after fighting back.

Afterwards during a botched German rescue attempt at the military airport of Furstenfeldbruck, where the captors with their hostages had been transferred by helicopter, ostensibly to board a plane bound for another country, all the surviving Israeli hostages were killed by a terrorist who threw a grenade into the helicopter carrying the hostages in one helicopter and another terrorist who sprayed the second helicopter with machine gun fire.

The games were suspended for some time but the Olympics committee decided that "the Games must go on". Competition resumed a day later.

The 1972 Munich Olympics were officially named as Games of the XXOlympiad. The official motto of the games was "The Happy Games". The emblem of the Games was a blue solar logo (the "Bright Sun"). The Olympic mascot, the dachsund "Waldi", was the first officially-named Olympic mascot.

France finished in 17th position in the final medal rankings, with two gold medals(Cycling, Men's 1000m Sprint and Sailing, Men's Finn) and 13 medals overall. Pakistan also competed in the event and managed to win a silver medal in Men's Field Hockey Team Competition.

I think that this particular cover was issued during the torch relay of Olympics. Can anyone put me wise on this issue? The FDC was sent to me by M. Chapeau Jean-Michel from France. Thanks Michel for such a nice cover.

France FDC, Isard 1971

Another cool FDC from France. The French stamp featured on the cover was issued on 24 April 1971. The stamp was issued as an effort for Nature Protection. The stamp and the FDC feature a beautiful animal called "Isard", somewhat like belonging to a deer family. Lovely addition in my collection.

France FDC: Launch Of Dial Satellite 1970

Here is a lovely FDC from France issued to commemorate the launch of Dial (Diamant Allemagne) satellite in 1970. The satellite was launched on 10th March 1970 and the stamp/FDC was issued on 28th March 1970. The Dial satellite was launched on a Diamant B launcher from Kourou into a 301 x 1631 km orbit inclined at 5.41 degrees. The German microsat was used to study the hydrogen geo-corona and the ionosphere. 

The data became difficult to intercept because of vibration damage caused during the launch. The satellite re-entered on 5th October 1978.

This beautiful FDC from France was sent to me by Jean-Michael from France.

Pakistan: Fasting Buddha in Lahore Museum

Here is a marvellous postcard from Pakistan. A Pakistani postcard featuring the statue of "Fasting Buddha" or"StarvingBuddha" from 2nd century AD placed in Lahore Museum, Lahore. 

The GandharaFasting Buddha(Siddharatha)statue in Lahore Museum is considered to be the masterpiece of the earliest world and is given special importance. According to the legend, 

"The young prince Siddharatha left his palace insearch of enlightenment and practised for six years such severe austerities and intense mental concentration that his beautiful body withered away to skin and bones. Ultimately he attained enlightenment at the age of thirty five and became known as the Buddha - "The enlightened one". This resolve was illustrated for the first time in Gandhara art. This so called statue of Fasting Siddharatha ranks not only as the finest specimen of Gandhara Art, but also as one of the rarest antiquities of the earliest world."

In 1999, Pakistan Post also issued a set of 2 stamps featuring the Fasting Buddha on 21 July 1999. I will show you the FDC of the stamps in the near future.

Lahore Museum(photo above) is considered as one of the major museums in South Asia and was established in1894 in Lahore, Pakistan. Here is an interesting fact about Lahore Museum - 

Rudyard Kipling's father John Lockwood Kipling, was one of the famous curators of Lahore Museum and the famous novel Kim was set in the vicinity of this museum.

Lahore Museum exhibits the recorded history of thesubcontinent. Part of the collection was removed toIndia after Partition but this is still the biggest and themost impressive museum in Pakistan. The museum has20 galleries with items dating from the Stone age to the20th century. It is famous for its display of Gandharan sculpture (especially the fasting Buddha), manuscripts,Qurans, paintngs, carpets and Islamic art. The Museum also contains some fine specimens of Mughal and Sikhdoor-ways, wood-work and contains a large collection of paintings dating back to the Mughal, Sikh and British eras.

7th Men's World Handball Championship 1970, France

Today I will share this beautiful FDC from France. The FDC was issued on the eve of 7th Men's World Handball Championship which was held in 1970 in France. The FDC features a beautiful stamp depicting a handball player. Three other players are also shown on the FDC envelope. 

An interesting thing which I noticed is that on the envelope, the shirt number of the player(in blue shirt) making the shot is inverted "9"or may be double-inverted "6". What do you say?

The FDC was issued on 21 February 1970 and it has been cancelled in the beautiful city of France - Paris.

The Championship was won by Romania getting the Gold medal, where as East Germany and Yugoslavia got Silver and Bronzemedals respectively.

Pakistan FDC: 2001: 9th SAF Games, Islamabad

Hi friends!

Here is another INTERESTING FDC from Pakistan. The FDC was issued on 9 Aril 2001 to honor the 9th SAF Games (South Asian Federation Games) scheduled to be held in Islamabad, Pakistan in2001. The interesting part was that the Games were NOT held in 2001 due to extreme tension & escalation of armies on the border between Pakistan and India. India refused to send its contigent to Pakistan for the games. The games were postponed again and again, until they were finally organized in 2004. 

I have already shared the extremely BEAUTIFUL FDC issued in 2004to commemorate 9th SAF games with you. If you have missed that cool post then you can read it by following this link:

SAF Games 2004 - FDC from Pakistan

You definitely can not afford to miss this one.

Pakistan: FIFA Centenary Celebrations 2004

Here is a beautiful FDC issued by Pakistan Post on the eve of FIFA Centenary Celebrations on 21 May 2004.  The FDC sports a set of 3 stamps with Rs 5denomination each. The cover depicts three abstract soccer players running after the magic ball. The beautifulpostmark cancellation also shows a football in the center.

Football is considered an easy game to be played by any faction of the society. The love of football can be enjoyed anytime, anywhere, no matter how skilled a player you may happen to be. You just require a football to enjoy the ecstacy of this magic game.

Over the past 100 years, football has taken root as the world's most watched and played sport, encompassing whole regions, people and nations. With approximately two hundred million active players in the world, it has become a national obsession in many countries making players superstars and clubs powerful brands.

These stamps issued from Pakistan marks the centenary of FIFA, (The Fédération Internationale de Football Association) which was founded on 21 May 1904 featuring the FIFA Centenary logo.

Here I would like to add one thing: Pakistan is one of the largest exporters of hand-made footballs in the World. Although Football is a hugely popular game among the people in Pakistan yet Pakistan Football Team has never brought any laurels at the international arena. PresentlyPakistan is ranked 167 in FIFA Rankings.

While talking about football, I just remembered a picture I took last year. It would definitely be a pleasure to share it with you. This is my younger daughter - Maha's picture playing with a football while eating a banana in the kitchen. So even the children enjoy FOOTBALL -the best game played in the World. 

Cricket Postmark From Pakistan

Back after a brief pause.

Here is a beautiful cover with a commemorative postmark issued on the event of the 3rd Test Match between the cricket teams of traditional rivals on the pitch - Pakistan & India. The match took place in Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium from 13-17 Apr 2004. The cricket themed postmark shows a batsman playing a shot in front of the wickets.

A very strong Indian Team won the 3rd Test and marked their first test series win in Pakistan after 15 years against a then under-transition Pakistani Team. India won by an innings and 131 runs - Huge victory for them on Pakistani soil.

Since there was no special cover or stamp issued on the occasion and only a postmark was issued thus I have used a sports related cover (FIFA Centenary Celebrations 2004) and one of the stamp of the series of stamps issued for 9th SAF games, 2004 depicting two wrestlers in the ring.

Slovakia; Beijing Olympics 2008 FDC

A magnificent FDC from Slovakia is here. It is one of my personal favorites from the Olympics theme. The beautiful stamp shows a female athlete doing long jump where as many different sports men and women are shown on the left side playing various sports. Indeed very fascinating. The postmark also depicts a sportsman. the stamp is issued on 4 Jun 2009.

The Magnificent Fasting Buddha FDC - Gandahara Civilization; Pakistan

Issued on 21 July 1999, this beautiful First Day Cover (FDC) is awesome. The two different views of the FASTING BUDDHA - Siddharatha are shown on two stamps of Rs 7 denomination each. The set forms part of Archeological Heritage of Pakistan Collection.