" STAR OF BETHLEHEIM"
Date of Issue : 2 November 2013
German Post issued beautiful Christmas stamp on 2nd November 2013 with a boooklet of 10 self adhesive stamps.
Booklet of 10 stamps with self-adhesive gum (sticker-gum)
Courtesy : Shrikant Parikh – Ahmedabad Blog : http://setenantsofindia.blogspot.in/
New Stamp from Ukraine
Pektoral, of the 4th century B.C.
On 12.12.2013 Ukraine Post will issue a Minature on Jewllery featuring “Pectoral of rgew 4th Century B.C. .
Hi !
Here is a beautiful set of stamps from “Made in Italy” series. The stamps feature art work on gold from Italy It’s a beautiful set of stamps and sure to be liked by all !!
Within the series “Made in Italy” Italian post issued a set of five stamps each depicting a work of art of the most representative Italia goldsmith. In particular, the stamps feature:
Earrings with pendant amphora: Etruscan art, dating from the III-II century BC and preserved in the Vatican Museum (Gregorian Etruscan Museum);
Salt Cellar of Francis I: a work containing the figures of Neptune and Earth, made by Benvenuto Cellini in 1543 and kept at the Kunsthistoriches Museum in Vienna;
Buckle in the shape of a star: a work dating from the fourteenth century, on display at the Museo Civico di Castelvecchio in Verona (with the permission of the Ministry of Heritage and Culture, the Superintendence for the Historical, Artistic and Ethno-anthropological Heritage of the provinces of Verona, Rovigo and Vicenza);
Monstrance said “The gold ball”: a work by Leonardo Montalbano in 1640, belonging to the collections of the Galleria Regionale della Sicilia of Interdisciplinary Abatellis Palace in Palermo;
Brooch with Venus marina: dating from the nineteenth century, the work of the engraver Antonio Berini with Castellani Manufacture, on display at the National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia in Rome.
New stamp from Spain
Marian Jubilee Year
This year will commemorate the Marian Jubilee Year of the Virgin of El Rocio in Almonte (Huelva) and to mark this event a stamp is issued by Spanish post depicting the image of the Virgin adorned. Pope Benedict XVI declared The Marian Jubilee Year which will take place from August 2012 to September 2013.
The Jubilee is a religious event celebrated by the Catholic Church since 1300 and involves the pilgrimage to a place of worship to obtain the plenary indulgence after fulfilling certain rituals and obligations.
The pilgrimage festival known as Romeria or Fiesta del Rocio Grande devoted to the Virgin of El Rocio is held in the hamlet of El Rocio (Huelva) every year on Whit Monday. The celebration, religious and festive, draws pilgrims from all over the place.
The Marian Jubilee Year coincides with the transfer of the Virgin in procession from the hamlet of El Rocio to the village of Almonte. This transfer takes place every seven years when the people from Almonte carry on their shoulders the White Dove, as the Virgin is popularly known, along a 15 km walk. The effigy remains in Almonte for nine months and then returns to the shrine of El Rocio.
The Virgen del Rocio is a full size statue from the late 13th century. It dons robes of a rich brocade and embroidered fabrics with details of great beauty, and is embellished in gold ornaments, such as the half moon, the scepter and crown. When it is moved to the town of Almonte, it is dressed in a travelling gown known as Pastora dress (Shepherdess) with a flared skirt and short cape over the shoulders. The hair is curled under a hat adorned with silk flowers and ribbons. The infant Jesus is also dressed as a little shepherd.
The Marian Jubilee Year is a vast religious, cultural, tourist and traditional event in Andalusia.
Source : International Stamp News
Date of Issue : 5 May 2011
The Post of Northern Cook Islands recently issued a wonderful set of stamps and souvenir sheet on pearl industry on 5th May 2011.
Formation of Pearl
A pearl is formed when the mantle tissue is injured by a parasite, an attack of a fish or another event that damages the external fragile rim of the shell of a mollusk shell bivalve or gastropod. In response, the mantle tissue of the mollusk secretes nacre into the pearl sac, a cyst that forms during the healing process. Chemically speaking, this is calcium carbonate and a fibrous protein called conchiolin. As the nacre builds up in layers of minute aragonite tablets, it fills the growing pearl sac and eventually forms a pearl. It is a myth that a grain of sand can cause a pearl to form, as nacre will not adhere to inorganic substances.
Natural pearls are those pearls that are formed in nature, more or less by chance. Cultured pearls, by contrast, are those in which humans take a helping hand. By actually inserting a tissue graft of a donor oyster, a pearl sac forms, and its inner side precipitates calcium carbonate in the form of nacre.
Two species of pearl oyster are found in the Cook Islands
• The small pearl oyster or pipi (Pinctada maculata) is widespread throughout the Cook Islands. On Penrhyn the oyster is harvested for its natural golden pipi pearl.
• The black-lipped pearl oyster or parau (Pinctada margaritifera) is abundant in the Manihiki and Penrhyn lagoons. In the wild they are found attached to coral reefs in depths of 5 to 60 metres. In the past, divers collected the pearl oysters, and the shell (mother-of-pearl) were exported to be made into products such as buttons. However, these days, black-lipped oysters are more valuable if kept alive and cultured for their black pearls.
Farming pearl oysters requires drilling the oysters and hanging them on ropes set in the lagoon. The cultured black pearl actually begins as a small bead inserted or ‘seeded’ into the oyster. It takes about two years before the bead is coated as a black pearl. Many factors affect the success rate, but of 100 oysters seeded, typically only five will produce a high-quality round pearl.
There are important environmental factors to consider when pearl farming. Because pearl oysters filter up to 20 litres of water per hour, they must be kept well spaced apart to ensure there is an adequate supply of food in the water. If not, the oysters become starved and growth is poor, which may cause oyster disease.
Presently, there are about 110 pearl farms on Manihiki and 1.5 million adult oysters being cultured. On Penrhyn there are about 100 pearl farms and about 200,000 cultured oysters.
From Our Readers….
Mr Sanjiv Jain of Dehradun shares here a private Maxim Card on recently issued stamp of Dr DS Kothari .
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