Aerogrammes of Sultanate of Oman-Jabrin Palace
Jabrin Palace – Jabrin is a small town in northeastern Oman near Nizwa & Jabal Akhdar Mountains. It is known for its Castle built by Yaruba Dynasty.
Mutrah Business District -A District located in Muscat province of Oman and Port Qaboos Port is located in Muscat. It is the main commercial port of Oman.
International Polar Year 2008 – Stamps of San Marino
San Marino issued a set of three stamps on 18 Nov 2008 to mark International Polar Year 2008. The 0.60 euro stamp shown below features Landscapes and Mountains.
Landscapes of Netherlands on Stamps -1980
on !5 Apr 1980 ,Netherlands issued a set of four stamps on Landscapes.
45c -Dune landscape
50c – Country Estate
60c- Lake Country
70c-Moorland
A FDC is listed
Varkala Beach – Special Covers of India 2017
Varkala Beach in Kerala is also known as Papanasham Beach .It is located in Varkala Thiruvananthapuram along Arabian Sea part of Indian Ocean. Papanasham means wash away sins.It is believed that a dip in Papanasham beach washes away all sins.
Varkal beach is the only beach in Southern Kerala where cliffs are adjacent to Arabian Sea. These tertiary sedimentary formation cliffs area unique geological feature and are known as Varkala Formation.
A two thousand year old Janardana Swamy temple stands on cliffs overlooking the beach. Sivagiri mutt is also located on Sivagiri hills.
A Special cover was issued by Kerala Postal Circle on Varkala beach on 25 Jul 2017. The Cover and cancellation carry a beautiful illustration of the beach.
Cover No KL-23/2017.
Miniature Sheets of Bangladesh-World Tourism Conference – Manila 1980
Bangladesh issued a miniature sheet of two stamps on 27 Sep 1980 on World Tourism Conference held in Manila. A FDC with MS is listed.
Inauguration of Niuafo’ou Airport – Tonga Tin Can Mail Study Circle 1983
The Inauguration of Niuafo’ou airport in 1983 marks the end of Tin Can Mail.Tonga issued a set of Four stamps on 11 May 1983 to mark the inauguration of airport.
Tonga Tin Can Mail study Circle issued a First Day Cover with a 29s stamp which has Tin Can Mail Printed on the stamp. This stamp was not part of four stamps issued on airport but printed separately ????.
The Cover is listed. Stamps shows a De Havilland Twin Otter Aircraft.
Tin Can Mail – Centenary – First Day Cover Tonga 1982
Kingdom of Tonga in South Pacific has a large number of Islands and one of them Niuafo’ou is very special in history of Philately and Mail .It is commonly known as Tin Can Mail Island for the way the mail was sent and delivered. The Concept of Tin Can mail was started in 1882 by William Travers when he realized as a plantation manager that he had no means to receive mail from outside world .The Island had no harbour as it was very steep and ships would not come. Then he tied up with Tonga Postal authorities to get the mail thrown overboard the ships in ships Biscuit tins and a swimmer from Island would swim for almost six hours and collect the mail and also deliver the outgoing mail.
Prior to this even Rocket Mail was tried mail fired through a rocket from the ship -but it was not successful.Slowly this Tin Can Mail became popular and ships with passengers would come to see this Mail Delivery system.
Arthur Tindall who traded in his ship and had established Coconut plantation at Niuafoou had a major role in Tin Can Mail (TCM) history. He used ships of Union Steamship company of Auckland to pick and deliver mail from 1902 to 1918. Later Tindall invited Charles Stuart Ramsey who acted as famous ” Swimming mailman of Tin Can Island” for 12 years-112 swims for postal delivery with natives from 1921 onwards.
Niuafo’ou PO cancellation on mail during 1920s was circular date but ramsey did not use any catchet hence not much is known about exact mail dates. However use of of simple cachet “TIN CAN MAIL” & “NIUAFOOU” is known since 1927 after arrival of Walter George Quensell a German trader on the Island.
Ramsey and Quensell became competitors .In April-1931 a swimmer was attacked by a shark and mail delivery by swimmers was suspended and stopped in Jul 1931 . After that delivery resumed as ” Canoe Mail” from Aug 1931 onwards.
Tin Can mail continued till 1946 when a Volcano erupted on the Island and it was evacuated but the period from 1931 -1947 had WWII and other stories. Quensell sent Tin Can mail around the World which are rare and valuable .He died in 1956. This type of mail delivery continued till 1983 when a small airport came up on the Island.
Tonga issued a set of Four stamps on 29 Sep 1982 to mark 100 Years of Tin Can Mail. A First Day Cover with stamps is listed -the cover front and back illustrates a large number of cancellations used on Tin Can mail in those 100 years.
