BOTSWANA: Bridges in Kazungula and Mohembo

Botswana maintains a conservative stamp-issuing policy releasing only four or five commemorative sets a year. Of considerable significance to the country are two bridges built over the past few years. The Kazungula Bridge (P10 denomination) is a road and rail bridge over the Zambezi River between the countries of Zambia and Botswana that opened in 2021 to replace a ferry (P7). The other is the Mohembo Bridge (9P) built to replace the ferry (50t) crossing the Okavango River. Issued on October 9, the photographs were provided by the Ministry of Transport and Public Works and Botswana Tourism Organization. The stamps are available as sets, sheets, postcards, and booklets from here. 

CANADA – Hanukkah

Canada Post launched its fifth stamp celebrating the Jewish Festival of Lights on November 7. The Permanent rate stamp features a contemporary illustration from Andrew Lewis that reflects “the joyful spirit of Hanukkah.” The celebration is one of the more widely embraced of Jewish holidays celebrating the rededication by the Jewish people of the Temple in Jerusalem. Tradition says that the menorah of the temple miraculously burned for eight days on a one day supply of oil, allowing time for a fresh supply to be processed. The stamp is available from here. 

FRANCE – French Red Cross

Two euros from the €5,48 value of each of these souvenir sheets with an international humanitarian law (IHL) theme goes to support the activities of the French Red Cross. The three €1,16 stamps represent from top to bottom, protection, humanitarianism and the four Geneva conventions of 1949. According to the Red Cross, “The rules of IHL … are essential for the protection of civilian populations, including prohibiting the targeting of civilians, showing constant care to spare civilians and civilian objects and assure that military operations must avoid causing loss or damage among civilians that would be excessive in relation to the … military advantage anticipated.” Available online here.

GUERNSEY – Christmas Panto 2022

The tale of Sleeping Beauty as a pantomime was selected by Guernsey Post to grace its 2022 Christmas issue. Beloved by many for its slapstick comedy, colorful costumes and participation by the audience, pantomimes are primarily aimed at children but many of the jokes are targeted at adults. Issued November 16,  the self-adhesive stamps depict: one of the good fairies casting a counter spell on the princess so she does not die (47p); the evil fairy cursing the princess (52p); the princess celebrating her 16th birthday (73p); the princess pricking her finger on a spinning wheel (79p); a valiant prince fighting his way through a briar hedge (£1.10); the prince awakening the princess with a kiss (£1.26); and, on the £1.35 stamp, the prince and princess living happily ever after. The stamps are available from here.

GUYANA – Cuba and Guyana Diplomatic Relations

A sheetlet of four stamps was issued by Guyana on December 15 to celebrate 50 years of diplomatic relations between Guyana and Cuba. Both countries are interested in “exploring exchange possibilities in areas such as construction, trade, health, sports and culture, among others” to strengthen bilateral ties, according to a news release. Two stamps feature flora: Guyana’s national flower, Victoria Amazonica and Cuba’s national flower, Mariposa. The other stamps depict a hoatzin, Guyana’s national bird, and Cuba’s national bird, a tocororo. The flags of Guyana and Cuba form the background. The stamps are available from here.

NETHERLANDS – Juliana of the Netherlands

A sheetlet in honor of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands was issued with the personal stamp framework in 10 different designs. The domestic ‘1’ values each stamp, each featuring two images, one largely covering the other, taken of the queen over 10 decades and released on the 75th anniversary of her inauguration as queen. Her full name was Juliana Louise Emma Marie Wilhelmina (1909-2004). The main photos, from top left, feature Princess Juliana as a baby with her mother, Queen Wilhelmina (1909); Princess Juliana as a girl (1915); Juliana and her mother during a radio address (1927); official portrait of the princess (1937); inauguration picture of Queen Juliana (1948); the queen at a desk in her office (1949); Queen Juliana on her bicycle on Terschelling Island (1967); the queen waving during a parade (1976); Juliana and her daughter, Queen Beatrix, after the Juliana’s abdication (1980); and a portrait of Juliana in later life (1992). The sheetlet is available online here.

NEW ZEALAND – Women in Science

Four remarkable New Zealand women were honored for their achievements in science in a set of stamps issued November 2. The $1.70 value features Lucy Moore, an ecologist and botanist (1906-1987) holding a seaweed. Joan Wiffen, a self-taught palaeontologist (1922-2009) who discovered New Zealand’s first dinosaur bones, is on the $3.00 stamp. The $3.80 stamp shows Beatrice Hill Tinsley (1941-1981) an astrophysicist, in her office at Yale University in 1975. On the $4.30 value, wearing a traditional feathered cloak, is Mākereti Papakura, an anthropologist (1873-1930) who published The Old-Time Māori (1938), “the first published scholarly work of ethnography written by a Māori scholar.” The gummed stamps are available from here.

NORWAY – Research, Innovation, Technology

The third part of its Research, Innovation, and Technology series was issued by Norway Post in October. The themes of the 20g stamps are “Equinor’s wind power initiative Hywind Tampen and Stingray’s laser removal of salmon lice.” A scan of the QR code will take the collector to the Research Council of Norway’s website for an explanation of the back story and technology. The images, designed by Enzo Finger, show a floating offshore wind farm and a salmon subject to the laser removal of sea lice. The stamps are available in a booklet of 10 from here.

ROSS DEPENDENCY – Science on Ice

New Zealand’s Ross Dependency issued its annual set of four stamps on November 2. The $1.70 features sea ice microbial communities that are studied with sheets of plastic placed over the ice, which allows the bacteria’s responses contrasting colors to be analyzed.  Other stamps depict a thin slice of sea ice’s crystal structure photographed with cross polarized light (3.00); an electromagnetic induction instrument (3.80) used to check the  thickness of snow and ice; and a view “looking down the sampling chamber of the platelet ice sampler” (4.30). The set comes in a miniature sheet and in sheets of 20. Visit here to order.