Sunday Stamps: D is for Darwin and Dragon

This time the Sunday Stamps' theme is the letter 'D'.
Yesterday I happened to have received a postcrossing postcard from Czech Republic, showing a stamp which matches to the theme:



Charles Darwin, I think he doesn't need any introduction, pictured on a stamp designed by graphic designer Pavel Dvorský.

Darwin was famous by his book 'On the origin of species'. However, despite of the resemblance with the little animal on the Czech stamp, I think no one exactly does know the origin of the following animals:



These stamps were issued in honour of the Year of the Dragon. To two of them some relief has been added, or, as we also say in Dutch, some diepte (depth):



See more stamps showing the letter 'D' on Sunday Stamps!

Sunday Stamps: C is for Chair and Couch

Today's theme for Sunday Stamps is the letter 'C'.

Coincidentally I received a chaincard back home yesterday. The card started its journey on 19 November 2018, and after traveling from the Netherlands to Germany, Hungary, China and Taiwan, it came back full of nice stamps.
As the theme was 'Furnitures', there appeared to be some matching stamps: chairs!



The front side of the card is matching, too! It shows contemporary art by Bill Viola, a video still titled 'Catherine's Room (panel 3)' (2001).



On some of the cards of my chaincard pals I didn't stick the same stamp shown on my card bottom right, but an other stamp from the Children's Stamps 2015 serie, showing a couch:



This time the words in Dutch don't start with a 'C':
chair = stoel
couch = bank (the 'a' pronounced as the 'a' in 'harvest' or 'calm')
coincidentally = toevallig
contemporary art = moderne kunst
card = kaart
chain = ketting
children's stamps = kinderpostzegels

See more stamps on the theme 'the letter C' at today's Sunday Stamps, and don't forget to check the links in the comments to that post!

Postcards for the Weekend: Winter scenes

This weekend's Connections to the World theme is 'Winter scenes'.
At the moment it is cloudy, here in the Netherlands. Sometimes rainy, and when going outside one could think it to be not only winter, but also autumn or spring. In the start of last December there were some days full of snow, and the weather forecast says it might be snowing next week, or not.
At least there are postcards who show snow. And thanks to 'Postcards for the Weekend' I was triggered to share them with you.

The postcard above I received from Margit from Germany, a cute one of Little Mole, or Krtek, and his woodland friends.



Although I dislike the cold and slipperiness of snow, sleighing is fun. This postcard is an illustration by Fiep Westendorp.

The postcard below I had made out of a photo I took some winters ago, from footsteps of our feathered friends on the pathway next to our home.



And this is a regular postcard, showing a winter scene in the province of Drenthe:



I used it for a chaincard, and after a journey via the USA, Indonesia (without melting!) and Russia the card returned home safely, the backside filled with snowmen:




See more winter scenes at and via Postcards for the Weekend!

Sunday Stamps: 'P' is for Postzegel

The word postzegel is a 'must-know' for all of us: it means (postage) stamp!

The theme of this chaincard is 'postzegel in postzegel', 'stamp on stamp', and as you can see indeed these postzegels show postzegels. And an other stamp, but that stamp is, in Dutch, a 'stempel'.

The cute postslak (mail snail) has been created by Myrh Lee.

See what stamps have been chosen on the letter 'P' by other mail lovers at and via today's Sunday Stamps!

Sunday Stamps: Birds

Sunday 2 October it is Sunday Stamps time again!
The theme is 'Birds', and I think our feathered friends always making a nice theme.

I'd like to show you the stamps on my recent 'chaincard', which has been traveling between the Netherlands, Canada, Thailand and Hong Kong (click to enlarge):



On top you can see my card before the sparrow flew out. And below you can see the influence of a journey over three continents. Apart from some postmark ink, the sparrow arrived rather well!



One of the other chaincard fellows will receive these stamps (I love the puffin and crow stamp!),



See more Birds stamps on and via Sunday Stamps.

Sunday Stamps: Horses

Two days ago my 'Horse' chaincard arrived back home. In an almost two months journey, via Taiwan, Hong Kong and Malaysia my card gathered beautiful horse stamps.

And this Sunday Stamps theme happens to be 'Horses'! A good opportunity to share this chaincard with you:



The photos on the Dutch stamps top left have been made by Dutch photographer Charlotte Dumas. These stamps are part of a ten stamps sheet named 'portraits'. On her website you can see more wonderful animal photos, and some background information about the horse on the left stamp, and about the white horse.

Of course I used stamps from this sheet also for the other chaincard participants. I scanned the other person's cards before forwarding to the next participant. And you can see some similar stamps and some different one:







Mail companies from many countries have issued horse stamps. Since a year I found myself collecting horse stamps. By 'collecting' I mean I keep them when found, even if they are folded, like this one from Germany:



In the past decennia Dutch Post has issued more stamps showing horses:

Former queen Beatrix and her late, sympathetic husband Claus riding a horse:


(their minor granddaughters were pictured without a head protection cap, too, by which they were not giving a good example to other horse riding kids)

A 'personalized stamp', created by Arnold Voordewind from natuurlijkefoto.nl and issued by PostNL, showing a Konik pony, the only type of horse living in the wild in the Netherlands:



A Dutch traditional character is Sinterklaas, aka Sint/Saint Nicolaas. On his white friendly horse Amerigo he even rides on roofs. You can see them often along with their companion Piet/Pete:



An other 'Sinterklaas' and Amerigo, pictured by late Dutch illustrator Max Velthuijs:



An other white horse, carrying Prince Siddhartha, is shown on this stamp from Sri Lanka:



Horses have inspired many artists and craftsmen:
A horse shaped flute from Latvia:



Stylised horses, also from Latvia:



A double headed, winged horse from Kazachstan:



A horse shown on an inkpot on a Ukrainian stamp:



Horses at work:

From Canada:



Horses helping delivering the mail, from the United Kingdom:




The chess horse stamps I've found I will keep for an other theme :-)

See more wonderful horses on stamps on this Sunday Stamps blog post and follow the linke mentioned there!

Out: to the Netherlands...

... via Hong Kong, Russia and Singapore!
It is part of a chaincard project, of which there are many via instagram.

This time the theme is 'bridges', which means the front side of the card is free, but the participants should add 'bridge' stamps to the back side. As I love bridges, I am happy to participate. This card is mine and will start it's journey across four countries today:



And during the coming weeks to months I'll be waiting for the other participants' postcards, to add Dutch bridge stamps to.

The photo on this postcard has been made by Quinta Buma, she is a wonderful photographer from Nijmegen.
In the background you can see my favourite bridge, the old (and present) 'Waalbrug', bridge over the river Waal.

The stamps show a new, recently opened bridge over the river Waal in Nijmegen (below), named 'De Oversteek' (the crossing), and on top the 'Zouthavenbrug', a pedestrian bridge in the center of Amsterdam.

Sunday Stamps: beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Today's Sunday Stamps theme is not specified: we can choose whatever theme we'd like.

The stamps shown below I cannot file under one specific theme. However, there's one thing which unites them: they are considered 'ugly' by the senders!..



They are part of a chaincard project themed 'ugly stamps', and these cards traveled via Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia and the Netherlands.
The cards shown here I've received, added stamps to, scanned to keep a digital image, and finally I forwarded the original cards to the next participant.



And as you see: 'ugly' and 'beauty' are subjective. Many of these stamps I think very beautiful, while other's consider the same stamps ugly. I really do hope to receive some of these on my own card (which still is on its journey).



Also 'ugly/beauty' can change in time.
Re-regarding my own choice of "ugly" stamps, the longer I'm watching the " parcel, @ and e" stamp, the more I think this stamp beautiful.



See what other people choose for 'free choice' on today's Sunday Stamps.