The Vancouver Aquarium opened its doors in 1956 and has since seen over 30 million visitors.  The aquarium is considered to be a leading expert in Beluga whales and their mascot is “Bee Bop Beluga”.  The 51 cent commemorative postage stamps that were issued in 2006 by Canada feature pictures of these beautiful Beluga whales.

Stamp Center has two beautiful Vancouver Aquarium postage stamps in stock and ready to ship out to you. One booklet is of the Beluga whale and one is of a child viewing the Beluga whale from the giant underwater picture window at the aquarium.  Both would make a wonderful addition to any stamp collection.  If you would like to add these to your collection, contact Stamp Center today.

The mission of the Boys and Girls Club of Canada is “to provide a safe, supportive place where children and youth can experience new opportunities, overcome barriers, build positive relationships and develop confidence and skills for life.”  The Boys and Girls Club is known for helping children with career development, education, and cultural understanding issues.  In June of 2000, Canada Post issued commemorative postage stamp to honor the 100th Anniversary of the Boys & Girls Club of Canada.

If you would like to add the Boys and Girls Club of Canada postage stamp to your stamp collection, please contact Stamp Center today.  We offer free shipping to our US customers and $4.50 flat rate shipping to our international customers.

The theme of the 2010 Winter Olympics was “Sea to Sky”.  The concept linked the Whistler’s snow capped ski slopes with a scenic coastal city of Canada.  The use of the winter mascots: Miga, Quatchi and Sumi, all received some criticism because some people thought that they looked like they were “too Japanese” or even called them “space creatures”.  Instead, these mascots were chosen because it was believed that they would appeal to both children and adults. Miga is a sea bear, Quatchi is a sasquatch, and Sumi is an animal guardian spirit, all mythological characters.

Each postage stamp has the 2010 Winter Olympic Games emblem on it as well. The “Inukshuk” is constructed of rocks and serves as a trail marker in Canada. The 2010 version is called an Ilanaaq, which means “friend”.

There was some debate in England as to whether the double-decker bus should be considered an “icon” or not.  I think that most people will agree, thanks to travel, television, pictures, and movies, that the double-decker bus definitely is because those big beautiful red buses are associated mostly with England.

The sad news is that the end of 2005 also marked the last of most of the Routemaster buses being taken out of service in England because of their inability to be converted to become wheelchair accessible.  Many of the buses have been converted to tour buses or party buses so you will occasionally see them on the road; just not available to the general public and tourists like they used to be.  These “icons” of Great Britain will surely be missed!

If you would like to add the Great Britain Classic British Double Decker Buses postage stamps to your collection, contact Stamp Center today.  We offer free shipping to our US customers and $4.50 flat rate shipping to our international customers.  Hope to see you soon!

In London, tourists have always loved the open top platform where they can easily see the sights of the city.  The bonuses of the double-decker bus is that it holds a large amount of people, stops frequently, and allows people to get on and off the bus route wherever they please.

In May of 2001, Great Britain issued a set of postage stamps that featured the different types of double-decker buses they have had.  The release of the stamps marked the 150th anniversary of the first double-decker bus being used in England.  This neat set shows how the buses have changed over the years.

Please check back on Friday for the conclusion.

Immediately following the devastating news reports and pictures, countries from around the world pledged billions of dollars in humanitarian aid.  The countries that suffered the worst damage and loss of life were Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India and Thailand.

One of the ways that Belgium decided to help pitch in with humanitarian efforts was to release the Tsunami Aid Semi-postal postage stamps.  Postal authorities issue semi-postal postage stamps in an effort to help raise funds for a specific cause.  Each semi-postal postage stamp has a surcharge above the purchase price of the actual stamp. Sometimes the additional purchase price is printed on the stamp, sometimes it is charged when you buy the stamp.  Any funds that are collected by the sales of the stamps are donated to the cause or charity for which it is intended.  Most of the time, the picture on the stamp coincides with the charity or cause.

It’s hard to believe that it has been 5 years since the life altering Tsunami hit.  A few days ago, many memorial services were held for the victims around the world to mark the day.  If you would like to add the Belgium Tsunami Aid Semi-postal postage stamp to your collection, please contact Stamp Center today.

The Chunghwa Post Co, Ltd. (the official postal service of the Republic of China), has already issued two sets of stamps to welcome in the tiger on December 1, 2009.  There was a competition to choose the artist for this particular stamp design.  The stamps depict beautiful brushstrokes and show how majestic the tiger is.  It also features traditional Chinese calligraphy and showcases the tiger in several different poses.

It will be fun to see other “Year of the Tiger” postage stamps that will be released from around the world.  Keep stopping by Stamp Center for more “Year of the Tiger” information in the future, as more stamps are released.  Stamp Center has a wide selection of previous Lunar New Year postage stamps available from around the world.  Stop by and check them out!

Stop by Stamp Center today to see our amazing selection of Christmas themed postage stamps.  We have over 1100 Christmas stamps, some older, some newer, from locations from around the world.  Stamp Center offers free shipping to our US customers and $4.50 flat rate shipping to our international customers. You won’t be disappointed!

In an effort to build bridges across diverse communities, in 1997, the United Nations proclaimed that the year 2000 would be the “International Year of Thanksgiving”.  This proclamation is historic because it was the first time ever that the United Nations General Assembly voted unanimously in favor of a spiritual idea.

The Center for World Thanksgiving, located in Dallas, Texas, took the lead at organizing various activities for the United Nations.  UN member countries were able to survey and study harvest festivals, history, art, philosophy and religion with the purpose of fostering good cultural and friendly relations among participating countries.

To further commemorate the Year of Thanksgiving, the United Nations released a postage stamp in 2000, for the new millennium, called the “International Year of Thanksgiving”.  Stamp Center has this and many other postage stamps issued from the United Nations in stock and ready to ship out to you.  We also carry a wide variety of international postage stamps and US postage stamps. Please consider us for all of your philatelic needs.

Here’s an interesting bit of trivia that shows just how powerful the governing body of FINA is in the aquatic sports world.  In a somewhat shocking turn of events, the FINA Congress voted this summer to amend the requirements for allowable swimsuits for both men and women’s competitions.  From this point forward, all men competitors will only be allowed to wear waist to knee swimsuits (Jammers) and the women swimsuits will be only be allowed below the neck to above the knee.  This is a huge change from what we have seen in the past and it will be interesting to see if it affects the competitor’s ability to win gold medals in the future.  Additionally, those who have set records using the previously used “super swimsuits” will now be officially noted in the record books forever, by having their names “asterisked” stating that they used that type of swimsuit.

Stamp Center has Canada’s 11th FINA World Watersports Championships postage stamps available for you.  We offer free shipping to our US customers and only $4.50 flat rate shipping to our international customers.  Please consider Stamp Center for all your stamp collecting needs.