Coming to a post office near you

It's been a while since my last stamp post, but here's another. The USPS will be issuing these beauties, with artwork by Robert Giusti, on 20 January 2012 (which just happens to be my birthday). Click to embiggen.

Okay, the peregrine looks a bit hobby-ish to my eyes, and the depiction of the osprey could have been a bit more flattering, but I suspect most falconers and hawkwatchers won't complain too much.

Swedish raptor stamps

Going through old papers, I came across an envelope given to me several years ago for the lovely Swedish stamps:


Closeup of the gyrfalcon (Jaktfalk):

Closeup of the osprey (Fiskgjuse):


The third stamp (which I didn't scan in isolation) is of Karlbergs Slott or Karlberg Palace, now a park and military academy. If anyone can point out a falconry connection, I'd be grateful.

Pocket change, with marsupials!

• To commemorate ANZAC Day (it's already the 25th Down Under),
• to celebrate the return of my sweetie,
• and to fill some blogspace,

I'm sharing some Australian coins brought back by Susan.

From left to right:

• All show HM the Queen on the obverse ("heads") side.
• On the reverse ("tails") side, the 50-cent piece features an heraldic kangaroo and emu, smaller but easier to pick out on the older coin at top.
• The 20-cent piece has a lovely swimming platypus.
• Five kangaroos grace the 1-dollar coin.
• Finally, the 2-dollar coin depicts a bearded Aboriginal man, which I suppose makes it roughly the equivalent of a turn-of-the-last-century Indian-head penny or the somewhat later Indian-head/buffalo nickel here in the States.

My favourites here are the 20-cent platypus and 1-dollar kangaroos. They remind me of Canada's lovely coins, with their beautiful loons, caribou, beavers and maple leaves. It's a shame we don't have more (and more realistic) wildlife on U.S. coins and currency. A few of the state quarters have decent wildlife images, but otherwise the only realistic image in wide circulation is the flying bald eagle on the reverse of the Sacagawea 1-dollar coin.