Philately

A small selection of stamps added to PostBeeld’s stock recently can be seen below. Please note: for each country featured in the article, there will have been many more stamps added to PostBeeld’s freestampcatalogue.com website. We begin with stamps from…

The Black Heritage series stamp issued by the United States in 2024 features Constance Baker Motley (born September 14 1921, died September 29 2005), who was the first African-American woman to become a US federal judge – being appointed by…

Over the coming weeks, PostBeeld delves back in time with some interesting discount offers. Each week, enjoy 5–25% off stamps from a specific era. From 19th-century classics to modern 21st-century issues — this is the perfect moment to expand your…

Here’s an interesting article PostBeeld’s owner Rob Smit added to PostBeeld’s Dutch website Postzegelblog: I’m often asked what I consider the most beautiful stamp. I’m not sure if I actually find it the most beautiful, but I certainly find the…

“National Archaeological Discoveries” is the theme for EUROPA stamps this year. Here we have some fine examples: The British Channel Island of Jersey has this stamp sheet. Illustrations by British artist Hannah George, who used a combination of watercolour, ink…

PostBeeld’s owner, Rob Smit, has a great collection of all sorts of things related to philately and its history. This article doesn’t feature actual stamps but focuses on something that has previously appeared in Rob’s series of stories “The History…

In 2005, the Portuguese Paulo Magalhäes (a lover of sending and receiving postcards) developed a website that provides participants with random addresses to send a postcard to other postcrossers anywhere in the world. The card recipient registers the card delivery…

A small selection of stamps added to PostBeeld’s stock recently can be seen below. Please note: for each country featured in the article, there will have been many more stamps added to PostBeeld’s freestampcatalogue.com website. In 1950, Venezuela issued this airmail…

In 2011 Penrhyn, one of the Northern Cook Islands, issued the stamps shown here featuring the unusual subject Pearl Diving. Two species of pearl oyster are found in the Cook Islands. The small pearl oyster (pinctada maculata) – also known…

Collectors of butterfly stamps consider the issue seen here to be the world’s first butterfly topical postage stamp. In 1891, the Kingdom of Hawaii issued a 2¢ dull violet Queen Liliuokalani stamp. Liliuokalani (1838-1917) was the only Hawaiian queen to…

In 2025, to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the home of modern British astronomy – London’s Royal Observatory Greenwich – Great Britain’s Royal Mail has produced some very fine items. The Miniature Sheet seen here has four First Class stamps…

A small selection of stamps added to PostBeeld’s stock recently can be seen below. Please note: for each country featured in the article, there will have been many more stamps added to PostBeeld’s freestampcatalogue.com website. This souvenir sheet from the…

“Smurfing together for a better world” – that’s the title given to this great stamp sheet issued this year by Belgium’s bpost. The Belgian writer and artist Pierre Culliford(1928-1992), also known professionally as Peyo, was the creator of the various…

A small selection of stamps added to PostBeeld’s stock recently can be seen below. Please note: for each country featured in the article, there will have been many more stamps added to PostBeeld’s freestampcatalogue.com website. The Deutsche Democratische Republik (DDR),…

In 1938 Poland issued a stamp to commemorate what turned out to be a failed attempt to break the record for reaching Earth’s stratosphere in a manned balloon flight. The balloon “Gwiazda Polski” (Star of Poland) was going to attempt to…

BirdLife International is a global family of 123 national partners covering all continents, landscapes and seascapes and the official scientific source of information on birds for the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List. BirdLife International’s mission is…