Tuesday, May 29, 2012

El Dorado - The Legend

Date of Issue: March 10, 2004
Scott #:  1221

El Dorado: is the name of a Muisca tribal chief who covered himself with gold dust and, as an initiation rite, dove into Lake Guatavita, a highland lake. Later it became the name of a legendary "Lost City of Gold", which fascinated explorers since the days of the Spanish Conquistadors. No evidence for its existence has been found.

Imagined as a place, El Dorado became a kingdom, an empire, and the city of this legendary golden king. In pursuit of the legend, Francisco Orellana and Gonzalo Pizarro departed from Quito in 1541 in a famous and disastrous expedition towards the Amazon Basin, as a result of which Orellana became the first person known to navigate the Amazon River all the way to its mouth.

The Ceremony: The Zipa (King or chief priest) used to cover his body in gold dust and, from his raft, he offered treasures to the Guatavita goddess in the middle of the sacred lake. This old Muisca tradition became the origin of El Dorado legend. The model of the raft in gold (as shown in stamp sheet) is on display in the Gold Museum, Bogotá, Colombia.

Many thanks to my swap friend from Colombia, Mr. Alejandro Restrepo, for sending me this stamp sheet for my collection.

Text Source: Wikipedia

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Steamship K.K.Priv of First Danube Steampship Company

Received this postcard from my Facebook friend, Cees Prins from Netherlands.

The card shows steamship K.K.Priv of the First Danube Steamship Company. The Erste Donau-Dampfschiffahrts-Gesellschaft, or Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaft (DDSG) (the word means Danube Steamboat Shipping Company) was a shipping company founded in 1829 by the Austrian government for transporting passengers and cargo on the Danube. In 1880, the DDSG was the world's largest river shipping company with more than 200 steamboat ships and about 1000 cargo tubs.

In 1991 the company was split into a passenger transportation enterprise and a cargo transport company. The company was sold to a private owner in 1993. Today the DDSG exists in the form of the two private companies DDSG-Blue Danube Schiffahrt GmbH (passenger transport) and the DDSG-Cargo GmbH.

Text Source: Wikipedia

Titanic - Personalized Stamp - Netherland

My facebook friend, Cees Prins from Netherlands sent me a postcard with this beautiful personalized stamp featuring Titanic, issued by PostNL.

Titanic Postage paid Postcard - Canada

Apart from the stamps, Canada Post also issued set of 2 prepaid (postage paid) postcards with the same design as of the stamps. The above is one such postcard sent by Postcrossing.com user, Carole.

Titanic MS from Bulgaria

Date of Issue: April 10, 2012

Received a registered envelope from Bulgaria with the recently issued Titanic miniature sheet to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the disaster.

So, what is the connection of Bulgaria issuing stamp on Titanic? I googled and found that, when the Titanic sank, there were about 50 Bulgarians among the total of 2228 people on board, and few survived too.. There was also a monument erected to the victims of this disaster in the village of Goumoshtnik, near the town of Troyan.

Text Source: http://www.omda.bg/engl/news/titan.htm

Turtle Ship - Special Pictorial Postmark

Recently received an envelope from my friend, Mr. Choonjong Park, South Korea. The envelope shows illustration of an ancient Korean Turtle ship. A special pictorial postmark was issued on April 23, 2012, not sure of the occasion. The postmark matches with the stamp and the illustration.

The details about the turtle ship is already given in one of my earlier post. Click here to see the complete set of stamps and information.
Related Posts with Thumbnails

World Clock