USPS Postcrossing Stamps

On 26th May the USPS Postcrossing stamps were out in the world. Three weeks later I got this maxicard from Bryon (the USA), which bears not one but two stamps, along with the First Day Cancelation.

There are four different designs that make difficult to choose a favourite. You can read more about this issue, including an interview with Jackson Gibbs, the illustrator, on the Postcrossing blog.

I got another one on the back of a postcard:

Portuguese Lighthouses

It is a pity that this letter sent by Pedro via Ilha das Flores (Azores) to be stamped with a lighthouse postmark, did not turned out as expected.

The stamp, belonging to the set Portugal in the European Union, 40 Years arrived safe and sound, and also did the letter inside.

It is always a pleasure to get mail related to lighthouses, and I have been lately spoiled by Pedro...

Cape Espichel Lighthouse was built in 1790 on the site of a hermitage that had been founded in the middle of the 14th century to hold an image of the Virgin, which had been found on a rock.

Cabo da Roca forms the westernmost point of continental Europe. Situated in the municipality of Sintra, near Azóia, to the west of Lisbon. The lighthouse started operation in 1772.

The stamp belongs to a 4-stamps series issued in 2024 to commemorate the centenary of the Portuguese Lighthouse Authority (Direção de Farois).

Thursday Postcard Hunt | Typographies

Postcard sent by Fabienne (France).

Postcard arrived from Australia, no clue why the sender chose it, but I like the typography. I have no read this book.

Maxicard sent by Bryon (the USA), with different postmarks, showing the iconic Route 66. Just three days ago I wrote in a comment that I like these stamps, and yesterday this landed!

There are different postmarks on the stamps, front and back of the postcard:

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Thursday Postcard Hunt
June theme: SHAPES

• Week 1 - Letters
• Week 2 - Curves
• Week 3 - Lines
• Week 4 - Irregular/Wavy

Everyone is welcome to share their postcards!

Women on Postcards | V Is for Victoria

Postcard sent by Bryon (Canada), with matching stamps on the back, from the 2023 series Ferries of Canada. 

I received this one on the back of another postcard. Series completed!

[Women on Postcards - 2026]

Sunday Stamps | U is for UN Women

Planet

The United Nations Postal Administration marks 2025's International Women’s Day, celebrated annually March 8, with six stamps. Each one shows an illustration depicting a certain theme that is displayed in text running up the left side of the stamp: Planet, Power, Sécurité ('Safety'), Prosperité ('Prosperity'), Frieden ('Peace') and Zugang ('Access').

Power

I received two of them on the front and back of this postcard sent by Bryon.

And a third one on another postcard:

Prosperité (='Prosperity')

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Sticking to women on stamps for this A-Z round of Sunday Stamps. See more U-stamps!

150 Years of the UPU

On 9 October 1874, 22 countries gathered to sign the Treaty of Bern, creating the General Postal Union, which would later become known as the Universal Postal Union. A century and a half later, the UPU now unites the postal networks of 192 member countries, having realized its founders’ vision of establishing a single postal territory to serve people everywhere.

The UPU’s theme for its 150th year – “150 years of enabling communication and empowering peoples across nations” – recognizes this accomplishment, and reinforces its commitment to serve all peoples for the decades and centuries to come.

(From UPU's website) 

Throughout 2024, the UPU has been rolling out a series of events and campaigns in celebration. Among them, the issue of commemorative stamps by country members.

Bryon sent me this one from the New York UN's post office, printed by himself.

And More Greetings from Canada

A Canadian post van on a postcard...

... and some famous Canadian on the stamps:

Marie-Anne Day Walker-Pelletier
Harry Daniels
Jose Kusugak

And a vintage carousel! The stamps is printed on the back of the postcard, and belongs to this wonderful set. 

Sent by Bryon (Canada).

Postcrossing Greetings from Australia

Royal Australian Air Force Ensign (maxicard)

The Capital Cities of Australia

Postcards sent by postcrossers Alisa and Dawn (Australia),

Amazing Botanists

Kew Gardens
London, the UK

Chelsea Physic Garden
London, the UK

Histoire des Animaux singuliers
Geofroy Linocier, 1584
(Coloured postcard)

Phrynium hirtum
Maximum card from Singapore

Postcards and stamps sent by Laura (the UK), Fabienne (France) and Maria (Singapore).

Hard Postal Work

Emptying the pillar box
John's picture

An Attack on the Exeter Mail in 1816
Stamp designed by Keith Bassford
and Stanley Paine, engraved by Csezlaw Slania,
and issued on 31 July 1984
Maxicard sent by John (the UK)

Distribution of the letter
(Self-delivering letters?!?)

From the French stamp series
The Journey of a Letter (1984)

Sunday Stamps | J for Jersey

October 1969 saw the birth of Jersey's independent Postal Administration and inauguration by the Universal Postal Union of UPU Day. In recognition of both events, this thenth anniversary card shows the UPU emblem and that of the Jersey Post Office against the latter's modern headquarters at Mont Millais, St Helier, home of the famous Jersey Stamps.

Actually, I received this maxicard by snail mail, but from the UK. I hardly receive mail from Jersey. Once I had a penpal from there, but she asked me for the used stamps for her collection, so I keep very few from that country.

This is a post for Sunday Stamps, letter J.

British Lighthouses on Postcards

Lighthouse on the island of Scalpay, joined to the Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides by a bridge. The picture was taken from the ferry between the isles of Skye and Harris.

This one is on the Scottish mainland opposite the island of Skye in the Inner Hebrides. Like almost every Scottish lighthouses, it was designed  (and most were built= by four generations of one family, including Thomas Smith, who was both the stepfather and father-in-law of Robert Stevenson.

(There is some ink on the postcard due to the unknown accidents that the envelope suffered...)

Long postcard showing the lighthouse at Neist Point, probably one of the most famous in Scotland.

Maximum card showing the lighthouse in St John's Point Lighthouse (Northern Ireland).

Lighthouse of Llanddwyn Island, a small tidal island off the west coast of Anglesey. Actually, as the sender wrote: "The cards shows an island (Llanddwyn) off an island (Anglesey) off an island (Britain)".

All postcards sent by John (the UK). The first and second are his own pictures. I guess I need a new label for the blog: places I want to visit.

Lighthouses on Maximum Cards

John has recently sent two maxicards showing two of the most impressive English Lighthouses:

Eddystone

Needles Lighthouse

Keep Calm and Watch Lighthouses

Do you know the Keep Calm-o-matic? It is a funny tool to create advices in order to stay calm. This one (not created in this site, tough) is one of the best I have heard:

Postcard sent by Heleen (the Netherlands).

So:

Postcard sent by Laura (the UK). It shows South Foreland white lighthouse in Dover (England, the UK).

Maxi-postcard sent by Heleen (the Netherlands). It shows the lighthouse of Kökarsören in the Aland islands. The card is the number 61, issued on 6th June, 2008.

Postcard sent by Heleen (the Netherlands). The name of this lighthouse isn't written on the card, but Heleen managed to find out that it is Ponta do Pargo in Madeira (Portugal).

Postcard sent by John (the UK). It shows Beachy Head Lighthouse, built in 1902 near Eastbourne, East Sussex, England.

And another postcard sent by John (the UK). It shows the lighthouse in  St. Anthony Head, situated at the southernmost tip of the Roseland Peninsula (Cornwall, UK).