Latest Stamp and Banknote Acquisitions

French stamp commemorating the 100th anniversary
of the cession of Savoy to France

Taking advantage of a little downtime Sunday evening, I poured myself a glass of 20-year-old port, grabbed my magnifying glass, and examined my latest stamp and banknote acquisitions. In addition to admiring the artwork and exploring their historical significance, part of the fun of stamp collecting for me is sorting them out and organizing them thematically into my modest philatelic and notaphily collections. I also look forward to showing them off to my friends and seeing how they organize their own collections at our little stamp club's next meeting.

French stamp honoring French sculptor, painter, and printmaker
Aristide Joseph Bonaventure Maillol (1861-1944) with the
depiction of his La Pensée (or La Méditerranée)

(L) Austrian stamp commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the Blue Danube Waltz by Johann Strauss II. (R) German stamp commemorating Dante Alighieri

While I procured the stamps myself, the Iraqi dinar with Saddam Hussein's portrait, the Zimbabwe one hundred trillion dollar bill, and two numismatic catalogs dealing with Italian coins were thoughtful and amusing birthday gifts from my friends.

Iraqi dinar and One hundred trillion dollar bill from Zimbabwe

Numismatic catalogs covering coins from Italy