Stamps of Bruce Henderson

At the weekend I had a postcard from Bruce, currently enjoyong himself in Ocussi Ambeno. Not that though it has come through as air mail, there are no regular NZ stamps on the postcard and there was no excess to pay on it. Were the franked Occussi stamps considered to have been covering the postage rate? LMSO

Here is a new issue from Occussi-Ambeno, the 2019 stamp for the First Direct Airship Flight from Occussi-Ambeno to Kemp Land.


Occussi-Ambeno 2019 First Direct Airship Flight from Occussi-Ambeno to Kemp Land.

Occussi-Ambeno celebrated the first direct airship flight to Kemp Land, which departed for the Antarctic on 18th July 2019, and this attractive Sibelius stamp was overprinted in purple and issued.

The design includes the Zeppelin airship logo of Swiftair Corp, and the Helsinki Cathedral in Finland on the basic stamp.

During the overprinting, some stamps were accidentally overprinted upside down.

Swiftair website wrote: Swiftair Corporation uses modern, safe, and fast high-tech airships filled with helium, an inert gas that will not ignite. It is 100% safe for airship travel. Swiftair's fleet of five zeppelins operates regularly within Occussi-Ambeno and also runs less frequent international links. From the earliest days of letter post and stamp collecting, people have delighted in creating tangible souvenirs of their epic experiences, and among experiences, surely there are few that can beat a flight in an airship! The earliest known balloon mail are letters from citizens of Paris in 1870, when the city was under siege by the Prussian army. Letters for the distant provinces and foreign lands were inscribed "Par ballon monté" (via mounted balloon) and launched upwards in hot air balloons to drift with the wind and (hopefully) land in non-enemy territory. Although some balloons were captured, quite a lot of mail got through safely, and these flown envelopes are highly prized by philatelists. They are known as ballon montés after the cachet applied. In the era of the giant zeppelins, run as a commercial fleet by the German firm Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH, much mail was carried from country to country, always with rubber-stamped cachets applied on board to indicate this transit. Although not scarce, zeppelin flight envelopes are very sought-after, and represent an important part of the history of aerophilately.

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It can be great fun, and you can then use your stamps on mail to other Fifth World countries, join the Postal Union, the GPTO, and join the "United Nations" of the Fifth World, the International Council of Independent States.


Monte Bello Islands 2009 insured registered cover to Occussi-Ambeno.

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Occussi-Ambeno joined much of the civilised world to issue this attractive set on 20th July 2019, to celebrate 50 years since the first humans walking on the Moon.

And fifty years ago, the country's first ever commemorative stamp celebrated the actual landing, so this set is highly appropriate.