China has as many as 140 recorded dinosaur species, representing one-sixth of the world’s total, and is recognised as a major dinosaur region. This stamp issue features six Chinese dinosaurs: Daxiatitan binglingi, Microraptor gui, Lufengosaurus magnus, Tuojiangosaurus multispinus, Protoceratops andrewsi and Yangchuanosaurus shangyouensis.

Recently somebody asked me if I knew anything about two Dutch “te betalen / port” (postage (due) to be paid) stamps. The stamps in question are the 11 and 15 cent overprints shown below. Intuitively the first place to look for these stamps would be in a Dutch stamp catalogue…Read More

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.

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.

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…Read More