On August 17, 1977, at 4am Moscow time, the atomic icebreaker Arktika, having overcome the ice of the Central Polar Basin, became the first surface craft to reach the North Pole. The icebreaker covered 2,528 miles in 7 days.
Latvijas Pasts (the Latvian postal service) has released the first stamps denominated only in euros. Six new additions were made to its ‘Flowers’ series, each with a different denomination.
The postal service of the Republic of Belarus recently issued a stamp entitled “Happy Postcrossing!”. Perhaps, like me, you haven’t heard the term before – if you have please ignore the following explanation.
Canada Post is planning to change Canada’s postal system from home delivery to what are known as “community mailboxes” — metal, multi-slot structures already in use at the ends of many suburban streets. Under the plan, which Canada Post says it will implement over the next five years, everyone in Canada will get a mail key, and will have to walk a little farther to collect each day’s post.
On this day in 1931, Thomas Edison submitted his last patent, a patent for a device with which you can hold an article to be electroplated.
The first great invention developed by Edison in Menlo Park was the tin foil phonograph. While working to improve the efficiency of a telegraph transmitter, he noted that the tape of the machine gave off a noise resembling spoken words when played at a high speed. This caused him to wonder if he could record a telephone message.
On the 4th of December 2013 Japan Post launched the fourth issue of Constellation series, which aims to promote both fields of letter culture and natural science.
The stamps depict ten signs of constellation often seen in winter: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Orion, Auriga, Canis Major, Procyon, Lepus, Monoceros and Tsuzumiboshi ( Orion).
A new biography of British King, George V, which focuses on his obsession with stamps, is the first book on a philatelic subject to be published on Kindle. The book, ‘George V’s Obsession – a king and his stamps’, contains new archival material and is the first new biography of George V (the present British Queen’s grandfather) for 30 years.
The history behind today’s item is fascinating and too involved to post the whole story here. Briefly, this stamp from Zanzibar was first issued in 1896, some months after the Sultan of Zanzibar, Seyyid Hamed-bin-Thwain, whose portrait appears on the stamp, had died.
Charles Robert Darwin, British naturalist and author of Origin of Species, died on April 19th, 1882 at the age of 73. His five-year scientific research voyage on HMS Beagle established him as an eminent geologist and publication of his journal of the voyage made him famous as a popular author.
On December 27th, 1871, the World’s first official public Cat Show was held at the Crystal Palace exhibition centre in London. Unfortunately, the magnificent cast-iron and glass building was destroyed by fire in 1936.