Designer stamps

When an artist friend sends you some stamps you feel obliged to write it up in an artistic manner! Ryoko, to who congratulations are due, had saved up some stamps for me from letters she'd received from around the world. She joins that select group of friends and family who support me in my hobby.

Apart from the stamps and letter there was also an interesting booklet which looks at the background behind the designs of British stamps for the year 1993. Straight into my little library! And the stamps go straight into the soak.

A nice little bunch, ne?

Zeitgeist

After a successful first exchange, Carlos sent me a second letter. The first time, he sent me Brazilian stamps for New Zealand. This time, knowing my preference for older stamps, he enclosed a selection of older Italian, Danish and Canadian.

The deal that Carlos proposed was 200 for 100. Writing this post reminds me that I have yet to fulfill my end of the bargain. A stamp blog is indeed a boon to those of of us who are not entirely organized. 

Everything under the sun

I'm up to the number 31 with my exchanges, but that lags the 49 or so emails I've exchanged with Kalkie, a 12-year old from Ireland. We talk about sports, travel, getting into the newspaper, family etc. Sometimes we even talk about stamps!

For our second trade I experienced a first: being sent a few stamps from my own country. I have since received a few from someone else - I forget who from. In the stamps above there are some from Ireland that feature birds which remind me in stye of the NZ bird stamps of several years back. I wonder, which country was first?