Israel Stamp Reviews

Jericho Post Office | סניף הדואר בעיר יריחו Earlier this month when projecting what 2020 could look like in the context of Israel Stamp Reviews , I had an idea of visiting Bethlehem and reporting on the experience of going to the post office there. Bethlehem is the least complicated Palestinian city to get in and out of from Jerusalem, it's a city I've never been to, and there is a lot to see and do there besides just going to the post office. There was an opportunity to go earlier in the month with the community where I work; but as I happened to be out of the country at the time, it didn't pan out. Consequently, when an opportunity arose recently to go to Jericho, it felt like a second chance that shouldn't be passed up. Jericho Post Office When travelers visit my part of the world, a piece of advice they're usually given is not to bring up the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in conversation with people on either side unless the people themselves invite it,...

Malta Postal Museum | מוזאון הדואר של מלטה Stamps are the cornerstone of every postal museum; but in order for postal museums to succeed in appealing to a wider public that might not appreciate stamps, they must endeavor to have a range of exhibits in addition to stamps that the wider public can relate to. In this spirit, the first exhibit one encounters upon entering the Malta Postal Museum in the Maltese capital of Valletta/ Il-Belt is not a stamp but a bicycle, and past the bicycle a mailbox. The bike is identified as a Pashley Model A "used by Maltese delivery postmen on their beats," and the mailbox as an "English Pillar Box with E.II.R cipher" salvaged from a construction site in the nearby town of Sliema. Vestibule exhibit To be sure, stamps are very much an integral part of the Malta Postal Museum, and no one who comes here with the specific intent of basking in Malta's rich history of postage stamps will leave disappointed. The first floor is...

Weizmann Institute of Science | מכון ויצמן למדע The "Weizmann Institute of Science 70th Anniversary" stamp was issued by Israel Post on 26 November 2019. Face valued at ₪8.30, the stamp features an image of Chaim Weizmann (1874-1952), Israel's first president, holding out a hand from which five glowing symbols float up in a stream of light. The five symbols are an acetone molecule, symbolizing chemistry, the Greek letter Pi, symbolizing mathematics and computer science, a DNA strand, symbolizing biology, a model of the atom, symbolizing physics, and a graduation cap, symbolizing education. The stamp was designed by Ronen Goldberg , whose extensive resume with Israel Post as a stamp artist stretches back to 1994. Chaim Weizmann's first appearance on an Israeli postage stamp came in 1952, two months after his death at age 77. He made his second appearance fifteen years later on one of two "Balfour Declaration 1917-1967" stamps, Britain's Lord Balfo...

It is tradition around this time of year to take a constructively self-critical look back at the year that passed and formulate goals to work toward in the year ahead. Since in the context of stamp collecting I had no goals entering 2019, an uncritical recap of the past year's highlights will suffice for this installment. However, I do have goals for 2020, and these will be recorded below so that reference can be made back to them when it comes time to write 2020's Year in Review. First some numbers: My collection comprises 181 stamps from 37 countries, as calculated by Colnect. Colnect counts multistamp minisheets as a single stamp and as a country any stamp issuing entity, e.g. United Nations, Northern Cyprus, etc. Using this system, the top five countries in my collection are Israel (50), United States (34), U.S.S.R. (12), Poland (11), and Romania (8). My wish list has 303 stamps, with the top five countries being Greece (36), Portugal (26), Malta (24), Austria (18), ...