The May 2nd Penny Black

This postcard illustrates the Penny Black on piece with letters 'A' 'A' which was posted on the 2nd May 1840 and cancelled on arrival in London with a red 'tombstone' cancellation. Thus by the time the now famous Penny Black was officially issued on the 6th May, 1840, Postal History had already been made - in Bath.

Postcard from the Bath Postal Museum, sent by Laura (the UK).

From Bath Postal Museum

I like to get postcards (and gifts!) from postal museums. Like these from Bath Postal Museum (the UK).

Do you think that cat is real?

Lion Post Box

 

Letter sent to Alan (the UK). The stamp belongs to the series of museums, and features the Museo Postal y Telegráfico ('Postal and Telegraphic Museum') in Madrid. I collaged part of the 9-stamps sheet (see below) on the envelope.

One Stamp: Responses

Last Monday, I asked the readers of the blog to tell me which stamp (only one!) summarises their life on the last weeks/months. I put the same question on Twitter.

I did not expect to receive so many responses. I like the fact that each choice highlights different aspects of life during this period. All together, they make a good summary.

Laura McInerney / @miss_mcinerney)

Graham - Livin' La Vida Lockdown / @GB_Stamp

Handwritten Letter / @letterappsoc

"I like the doomed one but this one perhaps..."

Hoy te recomiendo / @cazajuguetes

"Thinking of so many people I can't meet."

Scott Thomson / @positivelypost

"There's been a lot going on in my head!"

FinnBadger

Postimuseo

"This one from 2000 called Digital communication describes clearly the state of our museum in recent weeks when we have taken a real digital leap!"

Keräily info / @mj_pou

violet s / See it on a postcard 

"(...) explain how your life has been these last few weeks. It has certainly been up and down (mostly down). Seek comfort where you can."

Joy / The Postal Picture

"Well it might be this one as things have certainly slowed down to a snails pace and any adventure available is only taking place in my head. See that unruly hair? Nothing compared to my lockdown hair. Despite hairdresser warnings I may snap any time and head for the scissors."

Postcrossing / @Postcrossing

"A bit late, but we would probably pick this one — the cancellation looks a bit like a mask." 

Bath Postal Museum

The second best thing about postal museums, is receive mail related to them. Like this postcard and brochure from Bath Postal Museum (the UK).

On the postcard:On left: Victorian wall post box, removed from High Street, Keynsham, situated between Bath and Bristol. 

Top right: George VI 'lamp box' from Bath area. These small boxes were frequently used in rural locations attached to a lamp post or telegraph pole. 

Bottom right: Tramcar letter box, first introduced in 1893, for the convenience of passengers. It was hoped by this method, to ease the volume of mail handled by sub post offices.

Mail Motorcycles

Today's theme of Maria's link Postcards for the Weekend is Transportation. I like especially trains. But also, everything related to the transportation of mail, of course!

This postcard from the Postal Museum in London was sent by John (the UK), . The back of the postcard provides some information about the picture:

BSA Bantam, 1970. The Post Office carried trials with motorcycles throughout the early 20th century. The BSA Bantam bikes are probably the best known and were purchased by the Post Office for telegraph and letters work until production ceased in 1971.

I had received a stamp from the same series (different model!):

Postal Poscards

Today's theme in Maria's link Postcards for the Weekend is Mail / Postal. Probably a favourite theme for a lot of collectors of postcards!

This is one of the latest I have got, sent by Laura (the UK) after her visit to The Postal Museum. It is the reproduction of an old advertisement from 1956. The name of the artist is Barbara Jones.

Mobile Post Office
Lower Bayle, Isle of Lewis, Scotland

A postcard sent by John (the UK), made of pictures that he took himself . I suppose this is a clever substitute: a mobile post office with several stops. But it is also sad that these branches have been created because so many small post offices have closed down in England, Wales, and Scotland...

Poste Vaticane

For snail mail lovers, one good thing about travelling to Rome is that you can just cross St. Peter's Square and be in a different country: the Vatican, the smallest state in the world. Its Philatelic and Numismatic Office issues its own stamps. Another good thing is that you can take pictures of all  the post offices (and maybe all the mail boxes) in one day. Actually, in less than one hour.

This is a tiny post office in St. Peter's Square. I saw it after working time. It seemed too small to have so many mail boxes outside...

Maybe that is the reason why they have another (temporary? mobile?) post office in the square:

 

I just like the colour of that yellow-orange mail boxes (and phones!):

They are scattered throughout the square... It seems that a lot of people is sending mail from there!

But, actually, I didn't use any of those. I bought my stamps and post the cards in the other office, inside the museums. Photographs to the counter weren't allowed. So I just took pictures of that mail box that looked like a wardrobe, didn't it?

I am sorry that I couldn't send more postcards from there.

Because they are something special. And they arrived quickly and with perfect cancellations!

(One of the postcards I sent)

The blue one is an historic mail boxes that I spotted inside the Philatelic and Numismatic Museum. I thought it was no longer working. Then, I read on the website: "The historic post boxes dispersed in various key points throughout the Museums are still in perfect working order".

The Postal Museum of London

Euston Station: Loading the Travelling Post Office
Grace Golden (1948)

The Postal Museum of  London (the UK) is opening tomorrow. I have been so lucky that I have already received one of the postcards they sell! With a matching stamp (or Post & Go labels, as they call these):

Actually, I have received a lot of them lately, all with mail-related themes:

Postal Postcards

I like postcards about postal workers and everything postal, and I am lucky to receive them now and then...

Postcard sent by John (the UK), from the National Postal Museum. Ralph Allen (1693-1746) was the Postmaster of Bath. He revolutionised the postal service by setting cross posts between the major post roads. This gave a direct link between major provincial towns.
And he is reading (a letter?), of course.

Postcard sent by Heleen (the Netherlands). The title of this painting by Pieter de Hooch (1629-1684) is Het aanreiken van een brief in een voorhuis ('A Man handing a Letter to a Woman in the Front Hall of a House'). After a quick Google searching, I learned that letters appeared often in his paintings...

Snail Mail, by Hexagonwonders

Another postcard sent by John (the UK), with a real snail mail carrier...

Felix Mit Brief und Koffer,
by Constanza Droop

I am not sure if this rabbit (Felix?) is going to post the letters before engaging in a long trip, or finding the letters when he arrives home, or... I should read the book!

A red pillar box full of letters, sent by Laura (the UK)!

More Christmas Stamps Received

Canada

Finland

Hungary

Ireland

The Netherlands

Spain

The UK

The USA

(I think I had never uploaded this one, had I?)

Not sure these are not intended to be Christmas stamps.