World War II

If one of your favourite topics is parachuting here we have a small selection of stamps which might be of interest. The items in the article do not include stamps featuring paragliding, of which there are also many. The 5th…

Dear readers/PostBeeld clients, in case you are not aware PostBeeld holds an online auction that takes place on the first day of each month. Bidding is always possible from the 16th day of the previous month. In the auctions PostBeeld…

There were so many great stamps issued by France last year I find it difficult to make a small selection for this article! Above and below: could these be the first postage stamps depicting electric bicycles? Please enlighten me if…

The 2022 Royal Mail stamp miniature sheet seen here is a compilation of various stamp issues designed by a very special man – David Gentleman, the most prolific and influential stamp designer in UK philatelic history. Below are the original…

The country name on Albanian stamps has changed many times over the years – in 1937 it was written SHQIPNI and in 1939 it was called SHQIPTARE. The Albanian language, called ‘shqip‘ or ‘shqipe‘ by Albanians, is of interest to linguists because, as a…

For Christmas 1983 and also to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the birth of the Italian artist and architect Raphael (1483-1520), the postal administration of the British Crown Colony of Gibraltar issued a series in November 1983, consisting of three…

This is a continuation of articles featuring the U.S.A. stamp series entitled “Black Heritage”. I thoroughly recommend further research of the lives of the persons featured in this series of articles.

Airmail stamp collecting is a popular topic for many. In the past Yugoslavia used airmail stamps to promote tourism, displaying attractions to be found in the country. The stamps shown here depict aircraft flying over the Thirteenth Century Cathedral of…

The Ferrovia Rimini-San Marino was an electrified narrow gauge railway that connected Rimini in Italy to the tiny Republic of San Marino. The line was opened in 1932 after four years of construction work. It was originally 32 kilometers long, 19…

Painted Ladies at Bransfield House, Port Lockroy??? Read on …….. Port Lockroy is a sheltered harbour off the coast of Wiencke Island on the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula. Located at the meeting point of three seaways, it offers…

Modelled on America’s “Liberty Bell”, the 10-ton “Bell of Freedom and Peace” featured on those stamps arrived at Schöneberg Town Hall (then in the Western Sector of Berlin) on October 21, 1950, having travelled from the United States via Bremerhaven and the…

The theatrical group Stage Commandos was born during World War II within the dockyards in Malta’s Cottonera locality. This theatrical group was formed purely to entertain the dock workers, keeping their morale high and positive. The workers themselves built a…

PostBeeld has recently acquired a large amount of Europa stamps and we feature here a selection with the theme History, all from the year 1982. The first is from Portugal, showing King Emanuel I (1469-1521) on his way to meet…

…… was the title of a 1974 book and 1977 film, the main subject of which was the failed Second World War allied military campaign ‘Operation Market Garden’. September 17th is the 62nd anniversary of  that operation, which is remembered…

New stamps appear regularly with a variety of subjects. Below is a selection of recently-published stamps from around the globe.

To use postage stamps as propaganda material is not unusual. Many countries have issued these kind of stamps in the past and in all likelihood some will continue to do so in the future. This is certainly the case in…