New additions to my collection of philatelic passports

Philatelic passports are issued at stamp exhibitions. Collectors stick stamps in them and get them 'cancelled' or postmarked. Sometimes the postmarks are as interesting as the stamps (see this example I posted about in 2023). I did a presentation about them to my stamp collecting association a few years back too.

In the past couple of weeks I've received a couple of new philatelic passports, including my first one from India. That was issued in 2011. I also got an American one released in 1996 when the big international stamp exhibition was in Atlants, where the Olympics were being held that year.

The Olymphilex passport is interesting because it includes a lot of detail in the write up of the countries inside - both their philatelic heritage and their Olympic performances. 

There's a nice commemorative cancel on the USA page.

Meanwhile whoever owned this passport chose a Romanian miniature sheet that was too big for the space where it was meant to be stuck in.

The gymnast on the stamp in the middle of the sheet is Nadia Comăneci, who was the first ever gymnast to score a perfect 10 at the Olympics (in Montreal in 1976). 

There was also a British Olympics stamp in the passport, but the postmark is upside down. Come on, Royal Mail employee, you had one job!

There was a supplement issued for the passport, which also has a few stamps in.

The Monaco stamp in the supplement also ticks another interest of mine - baseball on stamps!

The Indian passport is much smaller. The heyday for these style passports was definitely the 90s when stamp collecting was much more popular and every big show had a big passport. This has died off now, as fewer national postal administrations go to the big shows (like Europhilex that I visited last year) and many of them don't bother with passports any more.

Philatelic passports have been a lot thinner in the 21st century. But there are some interesting countries in the Indiapex passport, and some interesting stamps. I particularly liked this Danish stamp with a cartoon of a kid who's foot has turned into a sock puppet.

A cool rabbit on the Malaysian postmark.

A mischievous looking truck on the Swedish postmark (over a rather dull looking owl).

My favourite stamp in the passport is this round one from the Pitcairn Islands. I'm a sucker for round stamps. There's a lovely flower on the cancellation too. Unfortunately there is a huge mistake on the page with two spelling errors in the heading rendering them as the "Pitcrain Inlands."

And the British page is very weird. An old, pre-decimalisation stamp, that was issued to celebrate the European Free Trade Agreement (EFTA) in 1967! 

I'm guessing Royal Mail didn't officially go to Indiapex, as the cancellation is by Stanley Gibbons, one of the world's best known stamp dealers. They must have decided it was a useful way for them to use up some old stock!

Highlights of 2017: Discovering Lundy Island

Back in May, Cathy and I had a week's holiday in North Devon. We stayed in a converted piggery - Cathy found it in the holiday brochure, told me it was the Old Piggery then read out the list of features. My response: "You had me at 'piggery'."

Not bad for a piggery

On the Thursday we took a boat from Bideford to Lundy. I'd heard about Lundy but didn't know much about it at all. I knew they had their own stamps as a money-making thing. And birds. And not much else.

The boat was fairly full. we had a seal on the rocks to greet us as we arrived. It's quite a hike up from the beach, but the island is basically a moor stuck in the middle of the sea.

But it is breathtaking. Yes, there were lots of birds, but they were a long way down the cliffs and inconveniently, puffins are really small! But we did just about see them flitting about.

One of the few buildings on the island is the lighthouse.

There is also a shop and a pub, and accommodation. But we weren't planning to stay the night and had to leg it back to catch the boat. We did have time to stop and post some post cards.

As we left a pod of dolphins kept pace with our boat for a few minutes, rounding off a magical day out. As you can see from the photos it was a blisteringly sunny day, although with a wind chill at times. However, coming home we seemed to cross a portal back into the rainy mainland world.