Hello, one final Christmas stamps image before I sign-off for a few days break over the Christmas weekend.  These as you can see are from Australia and are the 2016 issue, from a miniature sheet.

They are reported to present the theme of Biblical stories. I am not going to pass comment on these. I will leave to judge and enjoy as you may.

Have a wonderful Christmas break.  I have family visiting soon so lots to do.  Best wishes, Merry Christmas and do try to make some time to enjoy your stamps, perhaps even show to family or friends and let them see the pleasure one gets from philately.

Michael  cddstamps.com

Tonight two stamps se-tenant from the 1977 Royal Mail issue "The Twelve days of Christmas"

There were 5 of these 7p stamps in a horizontal strip along with a 9p stamp. Lovely issue I think

Enjoy your stamps... Michael cddstamps.com

Tonights Christmas stamp, just one tonight. GB SG 1172, from the 1981 Royal Mail issue. Quite wonderful image in my view

  

This issue was designed from paintings by children. These paintings were commissioned by Blue Peter (a TV show for children back then). The theme was Christmas through the eyes of a child.

Enjoy your stamps     Michael  cddstamps.com   where you can easily fill a gap or two or more in your collection at a very competitive price - well 227 sales today  proves my point I think........

Hello, tonights Christmas stamps are from the Royal Mail issue of 1995 and from a theme titled Christmas Robins. SG 1900 and SG 1899.

For those who wonder why the Robin and Christmas, the following is a legend about why.

The English robin is connected with a legend of Christ's birth. On that first Christmas, it is said, the night was wrapped in a bitter chill. The small fire in the stable was nearly out, and the Mother Mary worried that her baby would be cold. She turned to the animals about her and asked them for help. 

"Could you blow on the embers," she asked the ox, "so the fire might continue to keep my son warm?" But the ox lay sound asleep on the stable floor and did not hear her. Next, Mary asked the donkey to breathe life back into the fire, but the sleeping donkey did not hear Mary either. Nor did the horse or sheep. She wondered what to do.

Suddenly, Mary heard a fluttering of little wings. Looking up, she saw a plain, brown-colored little robin fly into the stall. This robin had heard Mary calling to the animals and had come to help her himself. He went over to the dying fire and flapped his wings hard.

His wings were like little bellows, huffing and puffing air onto the embers, until they glowed bright red again. He continued to fan the fire, singing all the while, until the ashes began to kindle.

With his beak, the robin picked up some fresh, dry sticks and tossed them into the fire. As he did, a flame suddenly burst forth and burned the little bird's breast a bright red. But the robin simply continued to fan the fire until it crackled brightly and warmed the entire stable. The Baby Jesus slept happily.

Mary thanked and praised the robin for all he had done. She looked tenderly at his red breast, burned by the flame, and said "From now on, let your red breast be a blessed reminder of your noble deed."

And to this day, the robin's red breast covers his humble heart.

More tomorrow. Enjoy your stamps    Best wishes   Michael     cddstamps.com

Hello, Sunday evening here and I did find time today to have a look at a few stamps. I saw these and since it is Christmas in 7 days I thought I would show these two stamps from the 2004 Royal Mail issue.

There are so many new issues for Christmas but rather than show a new issue I thought it might be interesting to look back at previous issues.  Perhaps you have some favourites?  Write to me - cddstamps@gmail.com - with images and why they are your favourites and I will try to publish and share with other readers.

Have you bought yourself a Christmas present yet?  I got mine today on eBay.   You don't need to look at eBay, just go to cddstamps.com and my online store and perhaps you will be able to fill a few gaps in your GB or British Commonwealth collection from over 25,000 listings

Go on, treat yourself, It is Christmas :-)

More Christmas stamps over the coming days.

Best wishes... Michael  cddstamps.com

Having just spent 8 hours flying Sydney Manila (about 6200 miles) I thought I would put the journey time into perspective and show this cover for the flight from Manila to San Francisco (8200 miles) which was with stops at Guam, Wake Island, Midway Island and Honolulu before reaching San Francisco, a journey time of about 6 days and with 60 hours flying time or there abouts, compared to about 12 hours today, in one flight.

This was Pan Am’s Martin M-130 flying boat, better known as the China Clipper.

The cover shows the special stamps issued by the Philippines Post Office; the 10c Fort Santiago stamp and the 30c Blood Compact issue with overprint PI – US Initial Flight December 1935.

There was a special cachet, as shown on the left hand side of the cover, for mail carried on the flight from Manila to San Francisco, and this was on 74,719 pieces of mail.

Enjoy your flying and your stamps. Michael cddstamps.com

Hello, two stamps and a bit of history before I leave tomorrow for a week in Australia.

These from Tanganykia although as you will see it is a stamp originally issued from the Nyasaland Protectorate.  The issue was sanctioned for use by the Nyasaland – Rhodesian Force during the operations in German East Africa,  Mozambique and Nyasaland in 1916.

German East Africa was a German colony in East Africa, including what is now Burundi, Rwanda and Tanganyika.  It came into existence during the 1880s and ended during World War I, when the area was taken over by the British and Belgians, and later as the League of Nations Mandate Territories.

After the colony was occupied by Belgian and British troops, each issued its own provisional stamps. This was issued for Tanganyika in 1916, when at the request of Brigadier General Edward Northey to the Governor of Nyasaland, Nyasaland stamps were overprinted "N.F. The overprint was intended to be N.F.F for Nyasaland Field Force but the telegraph operator omitted one “F.” when sending the request to the Governor.

The stamps could only be used by troops of the Nyasaland Rhodesian Field Force. Although they were primarily intended for use in German East Africa, they were also used from field post offices in Nyasaland and Mozambique. They were not issued to any civilian post office nor could they be used by any civilians

I will be back around 15^th December but please don’t let that hold you off placing orders from the cddstamps online store.  May not get to you for Christmas but still treat yourself anyway. 

Enjoy your stamps  Michael cddstamps.com

Hello, I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. With perhaps some time for your stamp collecting.  Perhaps even looking at the specials in the cddstamps online store  or click here for the list of countries we stock (over 25,000 listings) as this weekend we are having a 10% discount special. A first because our prices are always very competitive we think, and perhaps this will help you get a few stamps for your Christmas present to yourself.

Anyway while sorting some stock the other day I found these two. The difference is obvious isn’t it J 

Rather interesting gentleman. Willem de Vlamingh was a Dutch sea-captain who explored the central west coast of Australia in the late 17th century. The mission proved fruitless, but Vlamingh charted parts of the western coast and did leave us with something. Do you know what?

The stamps were issued in 1996 to commemorate the 300^th anniversary of his  voyage. In December 1696  he landed on what is now Rottnest Island. He saw some local wildlife and believing they were rats he named the island Rats’ Nest (Rattennest in Dutch) because of them.

The following year, in January, he traveled up what is now the Swan River. He saw Black Swans and so named the river the Swan River.

Stamps are interesting to collect for many reasons and learning the history portrayed through stamps is certainly enjoyable for me. I hope the same goes for you.

Have a great weekend and please, if you want to fill a few gaps in your Australia collection we have over 3000 Australia lots listed in the Online Store. Just click that link to start searching

Best wishes   Michael  cddstamps.com