Falkland Islands transports

"Transports" is the theme of a four-stamp set issued in 1995.

Shown here is the 40p value for "Crawler and Sleigh".

Falkland Islands WWII

A set of four commemoratives was issued in 1995 for the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II.

Shown here is the 40p value.

Falkland Islands PhilexFrance

Philexfrance '99, an international stamp exhibition, was held at Paris.

Falkland Islands issued two stamps and a souvenir sheet for this event.

Shown here is the 40p value picturing a flying boat taking off for its first flight over Falkland Islands in 1931.

Falkland Islands church

The 100th anniversary of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Catholic Church in Stanley was commemorated in 1999.

Falkland Islands visiting birds

"Rare visiting birds" is the subject of these stamps issued in 1998.

Falkland Islands shore birds

This stamp is one of four issued in 1995 showing shore birds.

The black oystercatcher is eyeing you!

Falkland Islands airplane

Falkland beaches were featured in a 1994 set of four stamps.

Shown here is the Pebble Island beach with a parked aircraft.

Falkland Islands government house

The 150th anniversary of Stanley, the capital of Falkland Islands, was commemorated with a set of six stamps.

Shown here is the 40p value.

Falkland Islands cruise ship

In 1993 a four-stamp set was issued by Falkland Islands.

Pictured on the 39p value is the World Discoverer, a cruise ship built in 1974. Unfortunately, the ship in 2000 was abandoned after hitting a reef in the Solomon Islands where, reports say, it remains to this day.

Falkland Islands sailing ships

These sailing ships on Falkland Islands stamps were issued with and without imprint dates.

The Lawhill, a barque, came out in 1989, and the Criccieth Castle, a full-rigged ship, was released in 1991.

Handbook

A 1960's book that I got to read only in the 1990's is Scott's New Handbook for Philatelists published by Simon and Schuster of New York.

Chapters are:

Glossary of Philatelic Terms
Specialized Study Groups and Other Philatelic Societies
Foreign Currency Exchange
Magazines Around the World
The Road to Ribbons and Medals or How to Prepare Your Stamps for Exhibition
First Issues of the World
Using that Handiest Tool--the Catalogue
Stamp Identifier
Philatelic Literature--A Selective List
Postage Stamp Design: Prominent Americans Stamps of 1966
Index of U.S. Stamp Designers
Questions and Answers
Philatelic Agencies of the World
Country Names Change

Well-written and easy to read! 

How and why

A favorite book in my early years of collecting is The How and Why Wonder Book of Stamps written by Robert Bateman and illustrated by Charles Pickard.

It is published by Transworld Publishers of London.

A lot of questions are answered in the following chapters:

The Purpose of Postage
How Stamps are Made
Stamp Collecting
Famous Stamps and their Stories
How to Build Your Collection

Highly recommended for the beginner collector!

Teach yourself

Stamp Collecting by Fred J. Melville, published by Teach Yourself Books, was an early guide for me in learning about collecting stamps.

This particular edition was revised in 1961 by Charles Skilton, revised again in 1973 by L.N. and M. Williams, and further revised in 1978 by Arthur Blair. All great names in the hobby.

Chapters under "Introduction to Philately" are as follows:

The Coming of Postage Stamps
The Collector's Accessories
Starting a Collection
Arrangement and Writing-up
Stamps that Puzzle Beginners
Use Your Eyes, Variety the Spice of Philately
Curiosities of Philately
Errors

Under "Stamps of the Wide World" are six chapters.

And, for "The Study of Stamps" the chapters are:

Postage Stamps in the Making (Design, Engraving, Printing, Paper, Watermark, Gum, Perforation, Sheets, Booklets, Coils)
Remainders, Reprints, Official Imitations
Forgeries and Frauds, How Experts Work
The Stamp Collector's Vocabulary
Thematics and Topicals

A few appendices include lists of stamp clubs and philatelic publications.

Canada 1935 Silver Jubilee

The silver jubilee of King George V was commemorated by Canada with a set of 5 stamps issued on May 4, 1935.

Shown above is the set in blocks of four.

Pictured are:

1c Princess Elizabeth
2c Duke of York
3c King George V and Queen Mary
5c Prince of Wales
10c Windsor Castle
13c Britannia (royal yacht)

Western Australia swan 1

This particular stamp of Western Australia has to be checked for perforation and watermark to determine the issue.

Great Britain postmark Exeter & Devon

Don't know what M.C. is but Exeter and Devon are place names in England.

Great Britain postmark Kyle

Kyle is in Ross-shire, Scotland.

Guadeloupe postmark St. Martin

Saint Martin (in French) or Sint Maarten (in Dutch) is an island in the Caribbean. As St. Martin it's part of  Guadeloupe, an overseas department of France.

Chad postmark N'Djamena

N'Djamena is the capital city of Chad.

Hong Kong postmark

Hong Kong postmarks: the one dated 1995 as a British colony, and the two above with Chinese characters as a special administrative region of China.

Italy postmark Roma

San Lorenzo is a district in Rome, Italy.

Australia postmark Gold Coast

Gold Coast is a city in Queensland (that's what QLD. stands for), Australia.

Canada postmark Toronto

Toronto is the capital city of the province of Ontario, Canada.

Canada postmark Stirling

Stirling is a village in the Canadian province of Ontario.

Canada postmark

Some Canadian postmarks of 1995 and 1997.

What do the numbers at upper left represent?

How about the alphanumeric codes?

Norway postmark Fjellhamar

Fjellhamar is a village in Norway.
 

Norway postmark Steinkjer

Steinkjer is a city in Norway with a population of a little over 21,000 in 2011.

Norway postmark Kongsberg

Kongsberg, a city in Norway, has a population of just a little over 25,000 in 2011.

France postmark Yvelines

Yet another French department is Yvelines.

France postmark Morbihan

Morbihan is another department in France.

France postmark Nantes

Loire-Atlantique is a department on France's west coast, and Nantes Eraudiere is the post office in Nantes, a city and the administrative seat of the department.