Taiwan issues New Years items

In many Asian countries New Year’s Day is a much more important holiday than Christmas. To welcome the new year of the Rabbit, Taiwan’s Chunghwa Post is issuing a set of two New Year’s Greeting Postage Stamps and a souvenir sheet. The designs find their inspiration in modern art styles, such as action paintings and pop art. The rabbits are depicted using black silhouettes that are adorned with orange and purple paint splatters. The backgrounds, which are yellow with random red splatters,  make use of traditional Chinese ink-wash effects. The bright colors symbolize joy and convey high expectations about the Year of the Rabbit. The designs are as follows: A   NT$3.50 Stamp showing a  pair of rabbits that conveys the idea of, according to Taiwan’s Post Office, “the treasuring of each other” and symbolizes a year of abundance. A   NT$13.00 Stamp featuring a rabbit looking off into the distance, which represents “achieving success in all one’s endeavors”.

 And finally a  NT$12 00 Souvenir Sheet showing an image of a hopping rabbit that represents the idea of surpassing oneself” and “bounding toward a future of personal transcendence ”  An additional special item for this issue is the release of what is called by the post office a ”press sheet”.   The uncut sheets are composed of two panes of 20 stamps ( 5 X 4) of denominations (NT$3.50 and NT$13 00).  Printer’s markings, such as traffic lights for color checks and guide lines for separating the panes, remain on the sheet margin A certificate of authenticity will be also attached. In addition, a poster tube will be available for storing the press sheet. This philatelic item, the second one of a series since 2009, and is  produced in limited quantity of 4,000 units.

Year of the Rabbit FDC

In addition to the stamps uncanceled First Day Covers for the stamps are available for  NT$2 00 apiece and uncanceled FDC’s for the Souvenir sheet will be  NT$3 00 apiece. Cancelled First Day Covers affixed with one NT$3.50 denominated stamp will NT$5.50 apiece. Cancelled First Day Covers affixed with a complete set of stamps will be NT$18.50 apiece. Finally Cancelled First Day Covers affixed with a souvenir sheet will be NT$15.00.  The price for the special uncut press sheet unit in a poster tube will be NT$1,000.00.

Specially Produced Press Sheets

Finland issues Christmas Stamps

Santa Claus, reindeer and Northern lights lend wings to the journey of Christmas mail
The Finnish Christmas stamps were released on November 5, 2010. There are three different stamps. The value of the first two stamps corresponds with the lower 0.55 Euro Christmas postage rate, whereas the third stamp is for the 1St class rate of 0.75 Euros. The stamps were designed by Tommi Vallisto. The lower rate stamps were printed in a quantity of 42,000,000 stamps by Walsall Security Printers on self-adhesive stamp paper. Each stamp has a size of 34.5 by 24.5 mm. A sheet is composed of twenty stamps (10 of each design) The 1st class stamp was printed in a quantity of 6,000,000 stamps by the same printing firm.

The theme of the first two Christmas stamps are Santa’s Reindeer and close up picture of Santa Claus. The First Class rate stamp shows Santa Claus in his sled riding across the night sky in Lapland.

Joint issue with Japanese Post
This year, a joint issue with Japanese Post will be published together with the previously mentioned Finnish Christmas stamps.
A five-stamp miniature sheet denominated in Euros was released in Finland. The sheet is the work of four Japanese designers: Masaki Koine, Sonoko Arai, Ken Kuroi and Goro Sasaki. The joint issue comprises 500,000 sheets in Finland. The mini sheet measures 187 by 67.5 mm while the individual stamps have a size of 25.8 by 34.8 mm.

The Christmas stamps designed by Tommi Vallisto were due to be published in Japan on November 8. Last year, two of the Finnish Christmas stamps designed by Minna Immunes were issued in Japan.

The first day postmark for the new stamps was at the Stamp 2010 event at the Helsinki Exhibition and Convention Centre.

Letter from Santa Claus
Every year Santa Claus receives thousands of letters from all over the world. They arrive to Santa Claus’ Post Office on the Arctic Circle, north of the town of Rovaniemi. A Letter from Santa Claus, cancelled with the Arctic Circle postmark, can now also be ordered to be sent to any address in the world.
The Letter, illustrated by artist Nina Rintala, and the postcard-size 2011 wall calendar, are sent in an envelope, also illustrated with Nina Rintala’s characters, with Christmas stamps attached. The language options for the letter are Finnish, Swedish, English, German, Japanese, Chinese, French, Spanish, Italian and Dutch
A letter from Santa costs 7 Euros per address. All major credit payment methods are available in the online shop are accepted. No handling and shipping charge is added to the order, unless you are ordering other products with the letters.

You can order this special Santa letter from:
https://verkkokauppa.posti.fi/PublishedService?pageID=18&freePage=2002

Domestic postal services to be centralized in Itella Posti Oy

On January 1, 2011, Itella which is the public corporation which operates the Finish Post Office will transfer its operations in the parent company of Itella Corporation to a new subsidiary called Itella Posti Oy. The reform will reorganizes the structure of the Itella Corporation in Finland.
Itella Posti Oy, which will start operations on January 1, 2011, will offer postal services that include, for example, delivery of letters, newspapers and periodicals and direct mail, parcel and express transport services as well as the Posti shops and agencies.

Labels: Christmas, Finland, New European Stamp Issues