Postcrossing Blog

Stories about the Postcrossing community and the postal world

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Now that Eurovision is behind us, it’s time to vote for another popular European contest… the EUROPA stamps of the year!

EUROPA stamps 2017

The theme for 2017 is “Castles”, which might sound a bit boring at first, but wait until you see all the stamps! While some countries’ entries are very literal and spotlight their own fortifications or Unesco Heritage sites, others have taken a more lyrical approach to the subject, featuring sand, ice castles, or legendary castles from their countries’ tales…

So go cast your vote… and then leave a comment below, letting us know which country wins your heart this year! 🏰

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It’s only February yet, and we’re already reporting the second Postcrossing-themed stamp being issued this year… 2017 is off to a fantastic start!   

So ladies and gentlemen, we’re proud to announce that in just 2 days, Romania will join the ranks of the countries which have issued a Postcrossing stamp. They may have less than 1500 postcrossers there, but their unwavering enthusiasm for the project convinced their post office this was a good idea — and we’re glad for their fierceness! We’re especially thankful to Mihnea (aka MihneaR) whose persistence and commitment to this idea in every step of the way were crucial in bringing this new stamp to life.

Have a look at their new stamp, which will be published on February 24th:

Romanian Postcrossing stamp

We bet it’ll look pretty cool on all their postcards! 😀

The new stamp sheet (and accompanying FDC) will be available from Friday on Romfilatelia's shops in Bucharest, Bacau, Brasov, Cluj-Napoca, Iasi and Timisoara or online, on the WOPA website. Romanian Postcrossing stamp

To celebrate the stamp issue, Romanian postcrossers are organising a couple of meetups in Bucharest this Friday and Saturday, and planning to send lots of postcards with the new stamp. Do join them, if you’re in the area!

And if you’re not in Romania, keep an eye on your mailbox — your next postcards from there might feature their shiny new stamp!

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Good news, everyone! We’re super excited about this upcoming exhibition curated by the Singapore Philatelic Museum, which features one of our favourite series ever… HARRY POTTER!!

Since the first book came out in 1997, J.K. Rowling's young wizard and his friends have been hugely popular all around the world, influencing a generation of readers. Postal operators have also joined in celebrating the series, which are naturally featured in plenty of stamps as well as postcards and fan art… which is where YOU come in. The SPM is looking for your collections and postcards, to feature on their next exhibition! 😀

Harry Potter exhibition

If you’re a collector of Harry Potter postcards or postal stationery and would like to showcase your collection in the exhibition, please contact Mishelle (the curator) at SPM179807@gmail.com by August 10th.

But you don’t need to be a collector to participate! As is tradition, the museum is also calling all postcrossers to send in their themed postcards to them. So grab a Harry Potter card and share something with the visitors! For instance, what do you like about the series? Who’s your favourite character, or what’s your favourite scene or quote? Do tell! Here’s the address:

The exhibition is already on display, so this activity is closed.

If your card arrives before August 21st and includes your address, you’ll receive a postcard back! :) Sadly, the reply won’t be a Harry Potter card, due to licensing fees, but the postcards of the museum never disappoint.

The Harry Potter exhibition at the Singapore Philatelic Museum is scheduled to open in November, and stay on until July 2017. Now if only we had a magic spell to teleport us there…

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Hoera! Following the success of the first stamp ever dedicated to Postcrossing, PostNL is issuing a second sheet of stamps to honor the project this year!

The new sheet of 10 different stamps features an eclectic mix of popular Dutch highlights, connected through postcards. There are national parks and picturesque villages, fields of tulips and marvels of engineering… and everything in between! Without further ado, here they are:

PostNL second sheet of stamps for Postcrossing

Do you recognise all the sights?

From the top left corner (left to right, and top-down), they are: Delta Works, Frisian Islands, Hoge Veluwe, Binnenhof, Alkmaar’s cheese market, Bollenvelden, Giethoorn, Marken, Zaanse Schans… and our personal favourite, a character from Rembrandt’s most famous painting The Night Watch, wishing us all a “Happy Postcrossing”!

Night Watch says Happy Postcrossing!

Keeping in mind that Postcrossing postcards travel mostly to foreign destinations, PostNL created a set of stamps that double as tiny tourism ambassadors, helping draw attention to the country’s most interesting and attractive sites. The resulting design (by Reinier Hamel from Sin agency) is a bright sheet of stamps, which promises to bring a conversation topic (and burst of colour!) to many future postcards.

The new stamp sheet will be available on all Bruna shops from March 29th, and you can also pre-order it online (along with a neat First Day Cover) from March 22nd on CollectClub.nl.

To celebrate the stamp launch, Dutch postcrossers are organising a meetup in Rotterdam on March 29th, and planning to send lots of postcards with the shiny new stamps. Do join them, if you can!

If you’re not in the Netherlands, keep an eye on your mailbox — your next Dutch postcards might feature their new Postcrossing stamps! 😀

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With love from Snoopy, Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang is the name of the most recent exhibition at the Singapore Philatelic Museum. The characters of the comic strip are often portrayed writing letters, so with the new Peanuts movie launch, it seems like a fitting and fun exhibition! They have Snoopy-themed stamps, comic strips and other collectibles on display from all over the world, but they’re still missing one thing… your postcards! :)

Snoopy Exhibition

Keeping on with the tradition, the museum invites all postcrossers to send in their Peanuts’ themed postcards to:

The exhibition is already on display, so this activity is closed.

Include your favourite quote from a Peanuts character or your thoughts on the comic strip, if you’d like! :)

The exhibition closes at the end of April, and the museum promises to send an exclusive museum Peanuts postcard to anyone who includes their address on the postcard.