Collectors Focus Today: Iran - Belarus Joint Stamp Issue 2011, Mir Castle, Kharimkhan Citadel

On September 28, 2001 The Belarus Post and Iranian Post jointly issued a postage stamp.This joint stamp miniature issue sheet features the famous Mir castle of Belarus and Karimkhani Citadel of Shiraz.

The Mirsky Castle Complex is a UNESCO World Heritage site in Belarus located in the town of Mir in the Karelichy District of the Hrodna voblast. 

The Arg of Karim Khan is a citadel located in the north-east of Shiraz, southern Iran. It was built as part of a complex during the Zand dynasty and is named after Karim Khan, and served as his living quarters.

Today's Collectors Focus: Afghanistan Postage Stamps

The first postal arrangements in Afghanistan are credited to Sher Ali Khan, who established a postal service in the 1860s as part of a program to modernize the country.

The first stamps appeared in 1871. They were round in shape, and printed in black, with a tiger's head surrounded by Arabic script specifying one of three denominations. 

The defeat of Sher Ali by the British brought Abdur Rahman Khan to the throne in 1880, and the following year brought new stamps, still round, but with inscriptions in the middle instead of the tiger head. 

The first issue after independence came out on 24 August 1920, a design featuring the royal star of King Amanullah. 

Afghanistan joined the Universal Postal Union in 1928; previously international mail required stamps of British India. In 1927, the first Roman letters had appeared on an Afgan stamp, the inscription reading "AFGHAN POSTAGE". This changed to the French "POSTES AFGHANES" in 1928, and remained in that form until 1989.

A large number of Afghan stamps appeared in the 1950s. Since the Afghan Postal Authority issued some stamps well below the minimal amount of postage, this was considered to be scheme for making money from stamp collectors.

The first issue of a postage stamp after the civil war was the May 2002 stamp showing Ahmad Shah Masoud, a military general and national hero who defended Afghanistan against the Soviet Union in the 1980s and later led a resistance movement against the Taliban.

Afghanistan Stamps

Collectors Focus Today: 2011 Belarus Fish Stamps

Belarus 2011 Fish Stamps

The Republic of Belarus, is a county in Eastern Europe bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; It's population is 9,503,807 million people and its strongest economic sectors are agriculture and manufacturing.

Belarus’ unique natural environment is host to a fascinating selection of rare plant and animal species, several national parks and a range of significant conservation projects.

Natural vegetation covers 93.1% of the land, and 1/3 of all green landscape is forest.

Fishing is very popular in Belarus and there are many organized fishing tours to the country.

Fish are so popular they even get a place of respect on stamps -:)

Stamp Collectors Focus: 

House of Tudor  

Now Featured @ www.coollectors.com 

These two of six portraits of the Tudor monarchs were released by the British Royal Mail in 2009 to mark the 500th anniversary of the accession of the dynasty's son, Hanry VIII. 

The first portrait is of Henry VII, the first Tudor monarch who ruled from 1509-1585, and Elizabeth I who ruled from 1558-1603, the last of this monarch. 


The other portraits are of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Lady Jane Grey - who ruled for 9 years and Mary I. 

Issued alongside the portraits are four additional stamps, illustrating significant people and events from the period

These stamps feature Henry VIII's great warship, the Mary Rose,launched in 1510 and sunk in 1545; the royal conference between England and France in 1520 known as the Field of Cloth of Gold; the foundation of the Royal Exchange in 1565; and the circumnavigation of the world completed by Sir Francis Drake in 1580.