Hello, sometimes I think I get readers who are sellers as well as collectors....  but to sellers in a minute

First, collectors, you  might like to hear about the Internet Philatelic Dealers Association. After all if you collect and you buy stamps from internet stores  and auction sites surely you want to know you are dealing with a trustworthy seller.

Ok,  is the person you are buying from an IPDA Member. worth checking  I think

If you are an IPDA member have you promoted yourself, that you are a Member.  I do hope so.

and,  if you are a member, have you read the July issue of the Newsletter which I just published.

Finally, write to me if you are a seller or a buyer  and want to see the July IPDA Newsletter. I think you might find it interesting.  I will send to you. No problem

email me at michaelatipda@gmail.com

Best wishes.. enjoy your stamps.. Michel IPDA Director and Newsletter Editor

Sourced from the Hong Kong Post website:   I hope you enjoy seeing this Miniature Sheet.

Hongkong Post has been issuing stamp sheetlets of the World Heritage in China Series since 2012 to showcase our country’s natural and cultural heritage sites inscribed on the World Heritage List of the World Heritage Committee under the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). 

In 2015, Hongkong Post continues the World Heritage in China Series with a fourth stamp sheetlet on the Honghe Hani Rice Terraces, featuring Honghe’s magnificent terraced landscape and its distinctive Hani culture.

Added to the World Heritage List in 2013, the cultural landscape of the Honghe Hani Rice Terraces covers 16,603 hectares of land in southern Yunnan.

 It is marked by the spectacular terraces that cascade down the slopes of the towering Ailao Mountains to the banks of the Hong River. Boasting over 3,700 terrace steps, the massive Honghe Hani Rice Terraces have been continuously used and developed over 1,300-odd years of farming and ploughing. 

The Hani people have devised a complex system of channels to bring water from the forested mountaintops to the different levels of the terraces. The landscape reflects an agro-ecosystem formed by the four interwoven elements of forests, villages, terraces and rivers, demonstrating extraordinary harmony between mankind and the environment.

The stamp sheetlet depicts the picturesque scenery of the terraces of Laohuzui, Bada and Duoyishu at sunset and in the spring mist enveloping the seemingly endless layers of terraces that meander along the slopes and stretch across every ravine of the vast mountainous terrain. 

The capricious sea of clouds, which sometimes shrouds the forests, villages and terraced paddies, adds a dreamlike quality to the awe-inspiring landscape. 

The middle of the stamp sheetlet is decorated with a strip of cloth with colourful Hani motifs to add an ethnic touch to the stamp design.

Michael   www.cddstamps.com

Hello, TGIF, and time for some stamps. This is one stunning image I think.   A painting in fact.  Titled the The Dunedin  The ship shows the colours of the  Shaw Savill & Albion Line of London. The painting was by Frederick Tudgay (1841–1921),  and was oil on canvas, originally owned by the ship's captain, John Whitson.

Why is this ship commemorated? I am glad you asked. Because The Dunedin  was the first ship to successfully transport a full cargo of refrigerated meat from New Zealand to England and in doing so it provided the impetus to develop the capacity of  New Zealand as a major provider of agricultural exports, notwithstanding its remoteness from most markets.

The ship was built at Port Glasgow in Scotland in 1874.   She was one of six Auckland class emigrant vessels, each designed to carry 400 passengers. In 1881, still painted in her original colours of a black hull with a gold band and pink boot topping as shown, she was refitted  with a Bell Coleman refrigeration machine.  Fascinating reading about the achievements in those years.

The stamp, oh yes the stamp, I nearly forgot about it,  it is SG 3393, from the 2012 Great Voyages of New Zealand issue. Useful catalogue price at £5.50 VFU.

Have a great philatelic weekend. 

Michael    www.cddstamps.com 

what have I been up to? well work and travel I guess and little time for stamps. But I saw this one tonight and thought,  that makes me think, where does the time go and why does it go so fast. I must slow down :-)

SG 2105 from the 1997 Insects issue, not that I would call a snail an insect!  It's a snail. right :-)

Enjoy your stamps

Michael   www.cddstamps.com

Hello, unashamed advertising tonight.  Actually also because I like the stamps Stanley Gibbons chose to display

do enjoy. This was the SG MarketPlace Add for my online store which you can visit here 

Subject: Free pair of quality tweezers with all orders

 

If you cannot read this email, please click here

Visit michaelatcddstamps - if you would like to fill a few gaps in your stamp collection at a competitive price. michaelatcddstamps here on the Stanley Gibbons MarketPlace, has a nice range of material from Great Britain, Guernsey, IOM, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Fiji, Papa New Guinea, the Rhodesia’s and Nyasaland. All orders, there is no minimum order value, received during June will receive a free pair of quality tweezers. You don’t need a new pair? You will like these and anyway it is always worth having a spare pair I find. I am a Director of the Internet Philatelic Dealers Association (IPDA) and abide by their code of ethics. Michael Dodd

British Commonwealth   8,202 Stamps     Great Britain   4,620 Stamps   View All Categories

$6.65     $2.35   $3.25

Interesting stamp tonight because of the man it commemorates. Richard William Pearse.  He was a New Zealand farmer and inventor who performed pioneering experiments in aviation.

It is claimed Pearse flew and landed a powered heavier-than-air machine on 31 March 1903, some nine months before the Wright brothers flew their aircraft. The documentary evidence to support such a claim remains open to interpretation, and Pearse did not develop his aircraft to the same degree as the Wright brothers.  Pearse himself never made such claims, and in an interview he gave to the Timaru Post in 1909 only claimed he did not "attempt anything practical...until 1904".

Pearse made several attempts to fly in 1901, but due to insufficient engine power he achieved no more than brief hops. The following year he redesigned his engine to incorporate double-ended cylinders with two pistons each.  Researchers recovered components of his engine (including cylinders made from cast-iron drainpipes) from rubbish dumps in 1963. Replicas of the 1903 engine suggest that it could produce about 15 hp.

Verifiable eyewitnesses describe Pearse crashing into a hedge on two separate occasions during 1903. His monoplane must have risen to a height of at least three metres on each occasion.  Good evidence exists that on 31 March 1903 that Pearse achieved a powered, though poorly controlled, flight of several hundred metres.

What would he think today if he could see our 777s and A380s for example taking off and flying for as many hours as they do?

Enjoy your stamps and flying,   Michael       www.cddstamps.com

.

Hi, how can I not write tonight . The 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta. That reminds me,  I used to visit some fine pubs along the river at Runnymede - must go there again one day and see if my memories are re-lived.

I read a piece in a newspaper -  quote  - ..."  A lecherous traitor, a depraved tyrant and a hopeless leader in war.... " end of quote ....  and wondered, who I was reading about ... hahahahahaha ...   times haven't changed have they?  But philately can still bring us peace and joy I hope.

I found this stamp  - see above - in  my stock.  Issued on  6 July 1999 as part of the Royal Mail Millennium issue, celebrating, in that issue, The Citizens' Tale. Bit boring really, don't you think.

I have seen small images of the new issue to commemorate the 800th Anniversary. Nice work Royal Mail.  Be nice to see the real stamp. They actually look quite appealing to me.

Any reader from UK who wants to mail me a set on envelope, nicely franked please,  I will surely repay you and then some more. Just email me at cddstamps@gmail.com and let’s arrange something.

Enjoy your stamps..... Best wishes... Michael   ... www.cddstamps.com 

Hello,  tonight has been my first real night with stamps for a while, actually May 20th as I recall and I have loaded a few more New Zealand to the bidStart Store  click here  

If you are bored about me telling you about the Store I am sorry but just enjoy the stamp above. and maybe check your stamps for perf gauge.

This is maybe not one you have if you collect NZ,  SG 1746 with perf 12 instead of the regular perf 14 1/2  by 14.

It always pays to check the perfs.  SG 1746 is cat at £0.85p,  while SG 1746b with perf 12 is £1.60.   Ok, not going to retire on a sale of this that but nice to have all the same. and if you do not have it then check it in my bidStart store :-)

Enjoy your stamps.   Michael    www.cddstamps.com

I last wrote on May 22th. Ouch! that was a long time ago. Were did the time go. Was I busy you may well ask?  and the answer is yes.  Apart from a lovely long birthday weekend in Phuket, where I did find a few stamps for my aviation collection, I have moved apartments and that is the reason no writing. Move apartment = lose internet connection.

Anyway enough of my boring life. Hope you like the stamp above.

So many blogs, understandably of course, are writing about new issue ( well there is no shortage of them is there!!!)   but I like to think of the lovely older material.

I show this for a few reason. One,  it comes from a lovely set and a set with a few varieties that are worth collecting as I think they are under priced and two, because I just sold one through the Stanley Gibbons Collectible MarketPlace.

The SG MarketPlace  web site came online on 20th May and I have been very pleased with sales. SG tell me they have big hopes for this site  and they think people will respond to it for many reasons, apart from their brand name, including because a buyer can easily use a credit card rather than Paypal. Nothing against Paypal as far as I am concerned but many buys do not have a Paypal account, but of course they do have credit cards.

Anyway all my sales since the website opened have been new customers paying with their credit card.

If you have not seen the site - just visit my store here   and yes they are still loading images for stamps. Of course  you can always go to my bidStart store which is also managed by SG now as I guess you may know. and yes my store name is michaelatcddstamps at both sites. So easy to find me.

Fill a few gaps in your collection and pay by credit card. Easy as! and get SG  brand name behind you, and the fact I am a Director of the Internet Philatelic Dealers Association and abide by and really believe strongly in their values and ethics.  

Sorry rambling now  :-)  ......  Just visit and fill a few gaps in your collection. We will both  be happy and so will SG   :-)

Enjoy your stamps... Michael   www.cddstamps.com