New issues: Republika Srpska - "600 years of Zvornik"

Zvornik is a city on the Drina river in northeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, located south of the town of Bijeljina in the Republika Srpska entity. The town Mali Zvornik ("little Zvornik") lies directly across the river in Serbia, and not far north is Loznica. Zvornik is first mentioned in the year 1410, although it was known as Zvonik ("bell tower") at that time. The town's geographic location has made it an important trade link between Bosnia and the east. For instance, the main road connecting Sarajevo and Belgrade runs through the city. Zvornik has also the distinction of being the only city in Bosnia that directly lies on the border to Serbia.
During the Ottoman period, Zvornik was the capital of the Zvornik sanjak (an administrative region). This was primarily the case because of the city's crucial role in the economy and the strategic importance of the city's location.
Tehnical details:
Author: Bozidar Dosenovic/Nebojsa Djumic
Type of issue: commemorative
Date of issue: 26.01.2010
Technique: multicolor offset print
Printed by: FORUM - Novi Sad
Paper: muflep, 100g
Sheet: 8+1 (3x3)
Perforation: 13 3/4
Face value: 0,70 KM
Quantitiy: 15,000
Motive: fortress in Zvornik

Postal Authority Republika Srpska

New issues: Singapore - "Anniversary"

¢ 50 - 50 Years of Public Housing (Housing& Development Board - HDB)
¢ 50 - 50 Years People´s Association
S$ 1 - 100 Years Customs
S$ 1 - 100 Years Singapore Scout Association
Tehnical details:

Date of issue: 26 January, 2010
Stamp Size: 45mm x 24.6mm

Perforation: 13
Paper: unwatermarked
Printing process: offset lithography
Printer: Secura Singapore Pte Ltd.
Sheet content: 10 stamps per sheet
Local Price: S$ 3.00
Overseas Price: S$ 3.00

Postal Authority Singapore

New issues: UK - " Business and Consumer Smilers 2010"

To refresh the existing range available for customisation, Royal Mail has created an additional four Consumer and six Business Smilers® stamps in a miniature sheet format.

Consumer Smilers® - four stamps Among the most popular occasions for sending greetings are birthdays so there are two new designs illustrating a birthday cake and a gift.
And to extend the service to cover overseas greetings, Royal Mail have included two new airmail values for Europe and Worldwide, which explored a generic ‘hello’ and greeting concept.
These four stamps will only appear together on the Miniature Sheet, and their long term use is for Smilers® sheets.
Business Customised - six stamps Following research with our philatelic business customers we selected six new subjects to extend this service into the key thematic areas of rail transport, vehicle transport, air travel, sea travel, royalty and remembrance.

***

Royal Mail is producing a First Day Cover, Presentation Pack, Stamp Cards, and Generic Sheet to accompany the Smilers® 2010 stamp issue.
Technical details:
Issue Date - 26 January 2010
The miniature sheet and generic sheet will be printed by Cartor Security Print in lithography. Dimensions: 123mm x 70mm, stamps are 20 x 24mm. Designs: Seal and Crown - Hat Trick; Transport - Andrew Davidson; Cake & Parcel - Annabel Wright; Europe and Worldwide - Lucy Davey.

Postal authority United Kingdom

New issues: Romania - "Honey Bees"

Coming to all philatelists’ needs, Romfilatelia introduces into circulation the postage stamps issue "Honey Bees".
The European honey bee (Apis mellifera mellifera) is shown on the stamp having a face value of ­RON 0.50. This is a bee with a special resistance to winter’s cold and an increased tendency of defense against enemies. It collects a large volume of pollen and lives longer than other bees. It also has the capacity to fly long distances. This bee lives in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, the Great Britain, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, North of Switzerland, North-West of Austria, Belarus, North of Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Russia.
The Italian honey bee (Apis mellifera ligustica) is shown on the stamp having a face value of RON 2.10. This bee spreads through North America, South America and Southern Europe. It is mild and ­produces honey in considerable amounts. It lives in large colonies needing more food resources to survive the winter.
The Slovenian honey bee (Apis mellifera carnica) is shown on the stamp having a face value of RON 3.10. It is a sub-species of the European honey bee ­originating from Slovenia but it may be found in Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Romania.
The Caucasian honey bee (Apis mellifera caucasica) is shown on the stamp having a face value of RON 4.30. It is a larger bee than the average; it is mild and hard working. It is usually found in the Caucasus Mountains.
Tehnical details:
Issue date: 22.01.2010
Number of values: 4
Stamp size: 36mm x 36mm
Minature sheet size: 92mm x 104mm
Page composition: in sheet of 28 stamps, minisheet of 4 stamps with illustrated attachment and gold foiling, and miniature sheet of 4 stamps with illustrated attachment
Printing system: offset in 4 colours on chromo paper
Run printing: 532,352 stamos; 464,352 stamps in sheets of 28 stamps, 64,800 stamps in minisheets of 4 and 3,200 stamps in miniature sheets numbered in red from 001-800
Designer: Mihai Vămășescu

Postal authority Romania

New issues: Switzerland - "Centenary of the Basel Carnival Committee"

The Carnival of Basel (German: Basler Fasnacht) is the biggest carnival in Switzerland and takes place annually between February and March in Basel. It has recently been listed as one of the top fifty local festivities in Europe. The Basler Fasnacht starts on the Monday after Ash Wednesday at precisely 4:00 am with the so-called Morgestraich (see below). The carnival lasts for exactly 72 hours and, therefore, ends on Thursday morning at 4:00 am. During this time, the old town of Basel is ruled by the Fasnächtler (the participants), where they run loose in the streets and restaurants. Basler Fasnacht is often referred to as die drey scheenschte Dääg ("the three most beautiful days").
Tehnical details:
Date of issue: 12.1.2010
CHF 1.00 Spalentor
CHF 1.00 Rathaus
CHF 1.00 Münster

Postal authority Switzerland

New issues: Latvia - "Coats of Arms – Ligatne, 2010"

Administrative divisions of Latvia, (valid 1 July 2009). According to the Administrative territorial reform of Latvia, Latvia changed its administrative divisions from two-level municipalities (towns, cities, towns countryside territories and parishes were the first level, districts were the second level municipalities) to one-level municipalities - districts were liquidated, but towns (Latvian: pilsētas, plural), towns countryside territories (Latvian: pilsētu lauku teritorijas, plural) and parishes (Latvian: pagasti, plural) were merged into 109 municipalities (Latvian: novadi, plural) and there are 9 republican cities (Latvian: republikas pilsētas) with own city council and administration.
0.35 - Viesīte municipality (Latvian: Viesītes novads) is a municipality in Selonia, Latvia. The municipality was formed in 2009 by merging Elkšņi parish, Rite parish, Sauka parish and Viesīte town with its countryside territory; the administrative centre being Viesīte.
0.40 - Līgatne municipality (Latvian: Līgatnes novads) is a municipality in Vidzeme, Latvia. The municipality was formed in 2009 by merging Līgatne parish and Līgatne town the administrative centre being Līgatne.
0.55 - Iecava municipality (Latvian: Iecavas novads) is a municipality in Zemgale, Latvia. The municipality was formed in 2003 by reorganization of Iecava parish the administrative centre being Iecava.

Tehnical details:
Nominal (Ls): 0.35, 0.40 and 0.55
Date of issue: 16.1.2010
Designer: Ģirts Grīva
Printed. SIA "Baltijas Banknote", Latvia
Copy: 300.000

Postal Auhority Latvia

New issues: Spanish Andorra - "Natural Heritage"

On January 12 will be issued a postage stamp series for the Principality of Andorra Natural Heritage, called dels Lliris Pirineus. It is a bulbous plant with sturdy stems and bracts large and swollen. The leaves are long, narrow, ribbed and shiny on top. The flower is single, hairless and very large, purple or deep blue, white and yellow stained orange on the lower petals.
Tehnical details: Date of issue: 10-01-2010
Offset Printing
Self adhesive fluorescent paper
Perforation: 13 3/4
Size: 28.8 x 40.9 mm (vertical)
Face value: 0,34 €
Postal Authority Spanish Andorra

New issues: Spain - "Autonomous Communities"

The series devoted to the Autonomous Communities (regional governments) of Spain, is issued in a booklet format of eight self adhesive stamps with a domestic A rate depicting the facades of the Congress and Senate and the outline of the map of six Autonomous Communities with their flags.
The Congreso de los Diputados (Congress) is the constitutional body representing the Spanish people. The representatives are elected by popular vote on block lists by proportional representation in constituencies matching the Spanish provinces. Together with the Senado (Senate), it holds the legislative power in Spain.
The Spanish Senate (Senado) is the upper house of Spain's parliament, the Cortes Generales. All senators serve four-year terms and meet in the two plenary sitting sessions that take place throughout the year or on initiative of the Government, the permanent deputation or by a majority vote of either the Congress or the Senate.
La Rioja, in northern Spain, is an autonomous community since 1982. Its capital is Logroño and its flag is made up four horizontal stripes in red, white, green and yellow.
Castilla-La Mancha is divided into 5 provinces: Albacete, Ciudad Real, Cuenca, Guadalajara and Toledo where the regional parliament is. It is an autonomous community since 1982 and its flag is a rectangle divided vertically into two equal squares: the first, by the flagpole, is bright red with a golden castle and the second one is white.
The Comunidad Valenciana is also an autonomous community since 1982 and is divided into three provinces: Alicante, Castellón and Valencia. The seat of the government is in Valencia and the flag design is four red stripes over a yellow background with a blue vertical stripe by the flagpole.
Canarias is also an autonomous community since 1982. It is an archipelago made up of the islands of Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Gran canaria, Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierro. The seat of the Parliament is in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The flag is vertically divided in white, blue and yellow.
The Region de Murcia was also granted its autonomous community status in 1982. Its flag is red with four golden castles on the left hand corner and seven royal crowns on the bottom right hand corner.
Since 1982 Aragón has also the status of autonomous community and comprises the provinces of Huesca, Teruel and Zaragoza, which is the capital city. Its flag is horizontally divided in four red stripes on a yellow background and a coat of arms.
Tehnical details:
Date of issue: 2-01-2010
Offset Printing
Self adhesive fluorescent paper
Perforation: 13 3/4
Stamp size: 35 x 24.5 mm (horizontal)
Sheet size: 166 x 63 mm block (horizontal)
Face value: Schedule A (1 stamp = standard letter up to 20 gr. for Spain)

Postal Authority Spain

New issues: Spain - "Turism"

The stamp depicts a painting by J. Carrero featuring a Spanish beach with a horse galloping on the shore and a woman facing the sea, holding carnation flowers and wearing a Manila shawl.
The beach, the Spanish horse, the carnations and the Manila shawl which illustrate this issue are all representative elements of Spanish tourism and often feature in press and television advertising. Spain is one of the most important and sought after tourist destination with its sunny beaches, handicrafts, beautiful and skilled horses, fiestas and traditional rituals, with carnation flowers adding their colourful stroke and the warmth of the Spanish people. All these elements have contributed in making Spain an attractive tourist destination.
Our many wonderful beaches with an exceptional climate, the beauty and skill of the Spanish horse forever present in festivals and shows all over Spain, the colours and aroma of our rich flora, represented in this stamp by carnations and finally the Manila shawl are all characteristic elements of tourism in Spain. The Manila shawl is an accessory for dresses very popular amongst the court ladies in the XIX century and was used as a complement and as a way of keeping warm. It has always been a key element in Spanish costumbrism painting and a much treasured piece of handicraft.
It is therefore with great skill that artist J. Carrero has depicted in one painting all these visual icons characteristic of tourism in Spain.
Tehnical details: Date of issue: 2-01-2010
Offset Printing
Self adhesive fluorescent paper
Perforation: 13 3 / 4
Stamp size: 40.9 x 28.8 mm. (horizontal)
Face value: Rate B (1 stamp = standard letter up to 20 gr. Internacional Europa)

Postal Authority Spain

New issues: Japan - "Greeting Spring"

Japan Post Service Co. is available to you in your letter for Valentine's Day and spring, greeting stamps "Spring Greetings" will be issued. So far, "Winter Greetings" is has been issued, "spring greeting stamps" will be issued for the first time.
Tehnical details:

Name: Greeting Spring - Chocolate and Flower
Date of issue: January 25, 2010
Design:
Chocolat
(1) Watering of green
(2) Fairy country's postal and
(3) Flower Basket
(4) Bird flight
(5) Flower choir
Flower
(1) Spring Bouquets
(2) Lady of the Flute
(3) Bouquet of sky
(4) Clef
(5) Rabbit Hill
Dimension sheet: 67.5mm×187.0mm 67.5mm
Color printing: Six color offset
Issue number: 500 million copies each (each sheet 100 million)

Postal Authority Japan

Australian Open 2010 - Souvenir stamp sheet

The world's best tennis players are taking centre stage at Melbourne Park for the first grand slam of 2010. To celebrate the event Personalised Stamps™ sheets in two designs are available. The first sheet displays Margaret Court in full flight during her playing days and the second is a generic sheet.
The Australian Open is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments held each year. The tournament is held in January at Melbourne Park. The tournament was held for the first time in 1905 and was contested on grass until 1987. Since 1988, the tournament has been held on hard courts at Melbourne Park. Mats Wilander is the only male player to have won the tournament on both grass and hard courts.
Like all other Grand Slam tournaments, there are men's and women's singles competitions; men's, women's, and mixed doubles; and junior's and master's competitions.
The two main courts used in the tournament are Rod Laver Arena and Hisense Arena and feature retractable roofs, which can be shut in case of rain or extreme heat. The Australian Open and Wimbledon are the only Slams with indoor play.
Held in the middle of the Australian summer, the Australian Open is famous for extremely hot days. An extreme-heat policy is put into play when temperatures (and humidity) reach dangerous levels.
The Australian Open typically has very high attendance, with the 2009 Australian Open achieving the highest ever single-day day/night attendance record for any Grand Slam tournament of 66,018. The event is worth around £38 million ($A68 million) to the Australian economy.

Postal Authority Australia

Australia Post gives the stamp of approval to literary legends

Susan Wyndham
The Sidney Morning Herald
LITERARY EDITOR
Photo: Rebecca Hallas
January 21, 2010

AS ONE of those increasingly rare letter writers who eschews email, David Malouf still queues in the post office and thinks carefully about which stamp to put on his envelope.

Now he can choose a 55-cent stamp with his face on it, though he says modesty will stop him.

Malouf is one of six novelists featured on the latest Australian Legends set of stamps, which Australia Post releases today.
He is joined by Peter Carey, Bryce Courtenay, Thomas Keneally, Colleen McCullough and Tim Winton - a group of Australia's most prolific, most popular, most awarded and mostly grey-haired authors.
"Stamps aren't what they used to be," joked Courtenay, who was born in South Africa. "It was the king's head on stamps when I was young. Now they just put old shitbags on them."
Sir Donald Bradman was the first living non-royal to appear on Australian stamps when the Australian Legends Awards were launched in 1997 "to honour individuals who have made a lifetime contribution to the development of our national identity and character".
Since then athletes, Anzacs, racing figures, fashion designers and actors have qualified.
Carey, the winner of Britain's Man Booker Prize for Oscar and Lucinda and True History of the Kelly Gang, considers the honour "moving" and flew from his New York home to Melbourne for today's awards lunch.
"There's a big part of me that really wants to be part of Australian culture," he said.
Keneally, the author of more than 40 works, recalled writers of the 1960s such as Patrick White, Kenneth Slessor and Judith Wright who "were better in many ways than all of us being honoured but were not considered central to the community.

"So it's astonishing that writers should be considered fit objects for national inclusion. On the other hand, there are many brilliant writers who are not there. There's no poet. So it is with a certain chastened conceitedness that we accept."
Each writer has two stamps: one with a new photograph and the other with a younger image.
Malouf thinks he looks like the ancient Roman writer Seneca in his youthful portrait, which was shot in 1979 by an Italian photographer friend, Carlo Olivieri. He had written his first novel, Johnno, at Olivieri's apartment in Rome a few years earlier and dedicated it to him.
"I'm glad they are self-adhesive because it prevents jokes about licking their backside," Keneally said.

New issues: Australia - "Australian Legends of the Written World"

This year the Australia Post Australian Legends Award recognises six significant living novelists, each of whom has made an outstanding contribution to the social and cultural life of this country. The award celebrates the breadth of Australian fiction writing, with the recipients representing literary and popular fiction in various genres.
Australia Post salutes Peter Carey, Bryce Courtenay, Thomas Keneally, David Malouf, Colleen McCullough and Tim Winton. Together they have earned critical acclaim and literary prizes, loyal readerships and immense sales.
Issue Highlights This stamp issue is accompanied by a large-format prestige booklet featuring the 12 stamps in three blocks of four. It has a special fold-out section of three pages showing the colour separations of the stamps as well as the full colour pairs. The colour separations are imperforate and the full colour pairs perforated. The issue also includes the handsome 64-page book Novel Lives, a collection of biographical features by Jason Stegaer, literary editor of the Age, on our six Legends.
Technical Details: Issue date: 21 January 2010
Issue withdrawal date: 31 December 2010
FDI withdrawal date: 18 February 2010
Denominations: 12 x 55c
Stamp and product design: Simone Sakinofsky
Printer: McKellar
Paper (gummed): Tullis Russell
Paper (self-adhesive): B100
Printing process: Lithography
Stamp size: 26mm x 37.5mm
Perforations: 13.86 x 14.6
Sheet layout: Sheets of 50, booklets of 20
National postmark: Melbourne, VIC 3000

Postal Authority Australia

New issues: Mexico - "50 Years ISSSTE"

The Institute for Social Security and Services for State Workers (Spanish: Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado, or ISSSTE) is a governmental organization in Mexico that administers part of Mexico's health care and social security systems, and provides assistance in cases of disability, old age, risks in labor, and death (or IVCM, for invalidez, vejez, cesantia en edad avanzada, y muerte). Unlike the Mexican Social Security Institute (or IMSS), which covers workers in the private sector, the ISSSTE is charged with providing benefits for government workers. Together with the IMSS, the ISSSTE provides health coverage for between 55 and 60 percent of the population of Mexico. Like much of Mexico's health care system, the ISSSTE has been the subject of numerous criticisms and allegations, ranging from corruption to a heavy regional bias in favor of major cities with well organized labor unions.
It was founded in 1959 by president Adolfo López Mateos.
Tehnical details:
Price: $ 13.50 Pesos $ 1.06 USD
Date of isssue: 19.01.2010
Paper: Couche bright white 100-sided sticky gms./m2
Designer: Ricardo Venegas Gomez

Postal Authority Mexico

New issues: Finland - "Cat's-foot"

Issue date: 25.01.2010
Designer: Inge Löök

Postal Authority Finland

New issues: Finland - "Let´s rock!"

Let´s rock! Six well known and famous Finnish rock artists in the booklet. These artists have been stars for a decade, even longer. The shape of the stamps gives a stereoscopic effect depicting the long career of the artists.

Tehnical details:
Issue date: 25.01.2010
Designer: Klaus Welp

Postal Authority Finland

New issues: Finland - "Fairies"

Issue date: 25.01.2010
Designer: Minni Havas

Postal Authority Finland

New issues: Falkland Islands - "Atmospheres: Four Seasons"

An unique feature of the Falkland Islands are the quickly changing weather patterns bringing a beauty to the Islands’ landscapes which are often rare in many other parts of the world.

The images shown in this four stamp issue, “Atmospheres : Four Seasons”, attempt to portray a different and more accurate picture of the Islands’ environment and how its continually changing weather patterns, produce a very different image to the one Darwin described and how these create their own form of beauty on the Islands landscape.
Spring: 27p value. This depicts an early morning scene on Carcass Island with mist rolling in from the sea, helping to create the rich greens of the pastures seen at this time of the year.
Summer: 55p value. A feature of the Falklands is their pollution free atmosphere resulting in intense light and highly reflective blue skies. This tranquil scene is taken from a beach on New Island, West Falkland.
Autumn: 65p value. The austral autumn months of March and April can bring some of the Islands’ most spectacular weather images. A low evening light with intermittent rain showers produced this double rainbow over the brightly coloured roofs of Stanley.
Winter: £1.10 value. Tempered by its marine environment, the Falklands have a narrow temperature range. Contrary to popular belief, accumulations of snow are uncommon with the ground rarely freezing. Long periods of calm are more frequent than in summer, reflecting these often but unusual coloured skies.
Technical Details: Designer: Design In Nature Studio
Photography: Ian J. Strange & Georgina Strange
Printer: Cartor Security Printing
Process: Stochastic Lithography
Perforation: 13 per 2cms
Stamp size: 30.6 x 38mm
Sheet Layout: 50 (2 x 25)
Release date: 25 January 2010
Production Co-ordination: Creative Direction (Worldwide) Ltd.

Postal Authority Falkland Islands

New issues: Denmark - "Denmark’s Nature "

8,50 - The natterjack toad with its yellow back stripe can be seen on the DKK 8,50 stamp.
At several localities in Denmark, including the Tip of Funen, waterhole projects have been carried out to support the species. Open waterholes provide better living conditions for the toad, so some of the overgrown pools have been cleared of vegetation.
9,50 - The natterjack toad with its yellow back stripe can be seen on the DKK 9,50 stamp.
On the DKK 9.50 stamp flutters the small copper butterfly, a butterfly that is found all over Denmark. This reddish-yellow butterfly has a wingspan of 20-30 millimetres and thrives in many different localities, including woodland paths, meadows, dry beach areas and gardens with an abundance of flowers.
12,50 - With between 1.1 and 1.3 million breeding pairs, the skylark featured on the DKK 12,50 stamp is one of Denmark's commonest birds, surpassed only by the blackbird and the chaffinch.
Right from early spring until August, you can hear its characteristic long warbling song in most parts of the country.
18,50 - The perennial purple milk-vetch featured shooting up on the DKK 18.50 stamp, grows on gravel and sandy slopes along the peninsula. The purple milk-vetch is a densely branching, upright-standing plant. Its stems are covered in small hairs, and it has beautiful violet-petalled flowers which bloom in June and July.
Tehncal details: Date of issue: 2 January 2010
Artist: Jens Overgaard Christensen
Drawings: Martin Mörck
Design: Post Danmark, Stamps
Paper: Self-adhesive
Printing method: Offset
Format: 31 x 23 mm
Number of stamps per sheet: 42

Postal authority Denmark