Personalized Stamps with VLAD III DRACULA = VLAD THE IMPALER that I designed and had them made with the cooperation of my partner/friend Cees, from The Netherlands

From Cees' website: Stamps for friends:

'via Blog this'

VLAD III DRACULA = VLAD THE IMPALER...That's the text that I chose  for the selvage area of this block of personalized stamps from THE NETHERLANDS. I have submitted this public domain image to my friend Cees, because TNT post of The Netherlands DOES NOT allow  (WHY???) non-Dutch citizens to order such stamps. TNT, you still have room for improvement in your policies...a whole mansion :) .

This is the initial demo for the product at the top.

This is another personalized stamp that I designed, and my friend Cees materialized in the Netherlands. In USA and Canada,  my Vlad Dracula personalized stamps designs were refused by Zazzle, Endicia, stamps.com and Canada Post, because their policies are NOT-SO-OPEN-MINDED very fearful.

This is the image that I designed in USA for my dear and distinguished friend, Teodor Ghiatza-Melnic, and sent to The Netherlands, where it was materialized by Cees into a block of personalized stamps. See my signature/promo: Design by zazzle.com/dorinco*/

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More cool stuff (including images of Frankenstein, etc.): http://dorincard.blogspot.com/search?q=melnic

For example:

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Scattered red stuff all over my blogpost above...

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Please visit and join Ruby Tuesday meme!
http://workofthepoet.blogspot.com/

Who do you think is buried here: The Evil, or Frankenstein?... Both! "The Lutheran Cathedral of Saint Mary (German: Evangelische Stadtpfarrkirche in Hermannstadt; Romanian: Biserica Evanghelică din Sibiu) is the most famous Gothic-style church in Sibiu, Transylvania, Romania." I show you many superb, panoramic maximum cards from Romania (and Luxembourg). Thank you, my dear friend Teodor Ghiatza-Melnic!

The following maximum cards are from the (probably) greatest collector in the world of "all things Dracula, both Stoker's vampire and the historical Vlad Dracula/Vlad Tepes/Vlad The Impaler".
Thank you again, my dear friend Teodor Ghiatza-Melnic! :)
I created at zazzle this portrait stamp in his honor:

http://www.zazzle.com/teodor_ghiatza_melnic_postage-172235517004870553?gl=dorinco&rf=238693463283865848

Because Zazzle has policies against featuring politicians, historical figures and other celebrities (don't get me started...), I further took my business to a more open-minded (overall) issuer of personalized stamps: the TNT company from The Netherlands. Like their Zazzle/USPS.

I partnered up with a Dutch citizen (TNT has its own narrow opinions, allowing only Dutch citizens to order personalized stamps), I circumvented everybody and their own petty restrictions and I designed this stamp:

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"The Lutheran Cathedral of Saint Mary (German: Evangelische Stadtpfarrkirche in Hermannstadt, Romanian: Biserica Evanghelică din Sibiu) is the most famous Gothic-style church in Sibiu, Transylvania, Romania."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sibiu_Lutheran_Cathedral

Who do you think is buried here: The Evil, or Frankenstein?

.

.

.

.

Both!

:)

One is Mihnea The Evil, son of Vlad III Dracula (Vlad Ţepeş).

The other one is a certain baron, Frank von Frankenstein - not your  Frankenstein.

"Mihnea cel Rău (Mihnea the Wrongdoer/Mean/Evil; born about 1462, died 1510), the son of Vlad III Dracula (Vlad Ţepeş), was Voivode (Prince) of Wallachia from 1508 to 1509, having replaced his first cousin Radu cel Mare. 

During his reign, he ruled alongside his son Mircea III Dracul in the year 1509. 

Unpopular among the boyars, he was overthrown with Ottoman assistance, prompting him to take refuge in Transylvania - where he was to be murdered in front of the Sibiu Cathedral, being buried inside the church."

"After his father's death, Mihnea ambitiously attempted to succeed him. 

He organized several raids with the aid of boyars who supported his father and were eager to support his son. 

In 1508, Mihnea finally succeeded in gaining the throne, but it would not take long for the tainted majority of noblemen to notice the familiar pattern of Romanian patriotism. 

Mihnea, like his father, was an exhaustingly driven crusader for Christianity. 

He too wanted an Eastern Europe free of Turkish rule and aggression. 

[Islam means PEACE, but the Ottoman Empire wanted a PIECE of everybody...]

But with corruption in high positions (whether royal or noble), he too would suffer the similar fate of his father."

"Mihnea was dubbed "Cel Rău" meaning "the Bad" or "the Evil One" by his enemies, the Craiovescu faction of corrupted boyars. 

One of Mihnea's most vocal enemies was a monk named Gavril Protul who was an abbot and chronicler of this time period. He described Mihnea's actions as follows: 

"As soon as Mihnea began to rule he at once abandoned his sheep's clothing and plugged up his ears like an asp.... 

He took all the greater boyars captive [Mihnea had a captivating personality],

worked them hard {those politicians fatcats were no blue-collar workers],

 cruelly confiscated their property [who said Property is Theft? Proudhon. "When he said "property is theft", he was referring to the landowner or capitalist who he believed "stole" the profits from laborers. For Proudhon, the capitalist's employee was "subordinated, exploited: his permanent condition is one of obedience".^[6]" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre-Joseph_Proudhon...],

and even slept with their wives in their presence. [ Mihnea was a clear and present danger]

He cut off the noses and lips of some, others he hanged, and still others drowned." [VIVA VARIETY?}

Mihnea retaliated by resorting to his father's terror tactics, but did not reach proportions of his father due to time and opportunity."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihnea_cel_R%C4%83u

My notes above are in blue.

"Sibiu (Romanian pronunciation: [siˈbiw]; antiquated, Sibiiu; German: Hermannstadt; Hungarian:Nagyszeben) is an important city in Transylvania, Romania with a population of 154,548.^[1] 

It straddles the Cibin River, a tributary of the river Olt. 

It is the capital of Sibiu County and is located some 282 km north-west of Bucharest. 

Between 1692 and 1791 it was the capital of the Principality of Transylvania.

Sibiu is one of the most important cultural centres of Romania, and was designated a European Capital of Culture for the year 2007, in tandem with Luxembourg. 

Formerly the centre of the Transylvanian Saxons, the old city of Sibiu was ranked as "Europe's 8th most idyllic place to live" by Forbes.^[2]"

Sibiu Skyline from left to right: Council Tower, Evangelical Lutheran Cathedral, Catholic Church, Reformed (Calvinist) Church, Orthodox Cathedral and in the background the highest peak Negoiu.

^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sibiu}

See the above stamp? 

It's from Luxembourg, because this was a joint issue of stamps Romania - Luxembourg.

FIP CfM rules say that it's not possible to make a maximum card with concordance of place, if the stamp or postmark do not come from the country, respectively the place from the postcard.

"CBS cares". I don't.

Not in this case.

I prefer a concordant maximum card, but I still accept and enjoy those without the best concordance.

:)

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Happy PFF (Postcard Friendship Friday)!

Please visit: http://thebestheartsarecrunchy.blogspot.com/ (wait until Beth posts the today's Linky tool for the meme, then make your entry, if you want to join).

He is probably the greatest collector in the world of all things Dracula, both Stoker's vampire and historical Prince Vlad III Dracula. :)

I am photographed here next to Mr. Teodor' exhibit "Dracula", in 2006.

My friend, Teodor Ghiata-Melnic (84), founding member of the Romanian Philatelists Association, next to his award-winnning exhibit "Dracula". He is probably the greatest collector in the world of all things Dracula, both Stoker's vampire and historical Prince Vlad III Dracula. :)

We have exchanged many cool items, mainly Dracula stamps and maximum cards from me, and WWF and other very nice maximum cards from him.

The Romanian Philatelists Association honored him with this cover, created specially for him and published by Romfilatelia.

He kindly sent me one such cover, addressed to me "with esteem and love".

Thank you very much, Mr.Teodor! Likewise! :)

From http://philatelica.ro, here's a "GUIDE TO MAXIMAPHILY" by my distinguished friend Col(r).Dr. IOAN N. DANILIUC (in ROMANIAN, but you can still get the point, can't you? If not, ask around - "where there's a will...")

http://philatelica.ro/carte_id.pdf
From http://philatelica.ro, here's a "GUIDE TO MAXIMAPHILY" by my distinguished friend Col(r).Dr. IOAN N. DANILIUC (in ROMANIAN, but you can still get the point, can't you? If not, ask around - "where there's a will...")

http://moldphila.com/fr/books/1218-ghid-de-maximafilie-ioan-daniliuc.html

Another very informative book by Col(r).Dr. IOAN N. DANILIUC, of which I own a copy here, in USA, sent by another distinguished friend and philatelist, TEODOR GHIATZA-MELNIC, is this:

http://www.maximaphiles-francais.org/?Une-histoire-de-Maximaphilie-en
[Dans les Note(s), s'il vous plait de correcter DANINIUC, avec DANILIUC, biensur. :) ]

He has promoted philately, in general, and maximaphily, in particular, on a global scale, including from the position of a high-ranking official, such as member of the FIP Commission for Maximaphily.

He has designed many world-class pictorial postmarks for philatelic events.

I have honored the truly meaningful philatelic activity, over many years, of my friend 

Col(r).Dr. IOAN N. DANILIUC with this personalized stamp that I created at zazzle.

http://www.zazzle.com/col_r_dr_ioan_n_daniliuc_postage-172931604454540341?rf=238693463283865848

This is my custom maximum card, VERY non-traditional (but hey!...:)...) because I wanted a postcard related to the stamp. So I printed that text, I cut the relevant paragraph, and I affixed the stamp, postmarking it with my own Mailer's Postmark Permit canceller. Sterling, VA is the place from where my tribute to him originated, as far as postmarking is concerned. 

This is a peelable postcard backing, which I affixed onto the custom postcard above.

:)

http://dorincard.blogspot.com/2009/11/maximaphily-550-years-since-first.html

Frankenstein is NOT the monster, despite popular belief! The character Victor Frankenstein has created The Monster, frankly speaking. Frank(enstein)ly speaking. Maximum card from USA, that I finalized by sending for a Hollywood postmark the "Made in China" postcard, already FRANKed with stamps, face and back, by my friend Teodor Ghiatza-Melnic, perhaps the greatest collector in the world of all things Dracula.

The Wolf Man stamp on the back shows a scared, rather than scary Wolf Man, in  my opinion. :)

"Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel written by Mary Shelley. 

Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty-one. The first edition was published anonymously in London in 1817. Shelley's name appears on the second edition, published in France. 

It is common to refer to the monster itself as "Frankenstein", but in the novel the monster is identified via words such as "monster", "fiend", "wretch", "vile insect", "daemon", and "it"; Shelley herself called it "Adam".

Through research one can determine the many influences the author was under during the creation of the novel. She had traveled the region in which the story takes place, and the topics of galvanism and other similar occult ideas were themes of conversation among her companions. 

The actual storyline took place from a dream. 

Mary Shelley was talking with her three other writers and they decided they would have a competition to see who could write the best horror story. 

After thinking for weeks about what her possible storyline could be Shelley dreamed about a scientist who created life and was horrified by what he created. 

Then "Frankenstein" was written. Frankenstein is infused with some elements of the Gothic novel and the Romantic movement and is also considered to be one of the earliest examples of science fiction. 

It was also a warning against the expansion of modern man in the Industrial Revolution, alluded to in the novel's subtitle, The Modern Prometheus. 

The story has had an influence across literature and popular culture and spawned a complete genre of horror stories and films. 

The novel is also partially based on Giovanni Aldini's electrical experiments on dead and (sometimes) living animals."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Frankenstein%27s_monster_(Boris_Karloff).jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein

Please explore some of my blogposts about Dracula (Bram Stoker's Vampire), and the historical Vlad Dracula (Vlad The Impaler):

http://dorincard.blogspot.com/search/label/Dracula

http://dorincard.blogspot.com/2011/04/who-do-you-think-is-buried-here-evil-or.html

I had to scratch very carefully, with hard dishpad, the glossy real photo/postcard and

 the glossy/plastic-coated zazzle stamp.

That way, enough ink was absorbed.

Another thing that I did was to apply the canceller device gently, without rapid hitting as a postal worker does, then keep it reasonably-hard pressed on the card for about 2 seconds.

Then I pressed gently a paper napkin, to soak the excess ink.

Finally, I let the card dry up, without covering it, in the car on my way home, and at home.

The ink was still a little wet and smearable at home, so I let it dry fully. :)

This is the backside - it's always a good idea to have the postmark applied here, too, for better visibility.

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Please visit and join Ruby Tuesday meme!

http://workofthepoet.blogspot.com/

First Day Cover (FDC): Dracula, founder of Bucharest, capital of Romania

This superb FDC was sent to me by my good friend Teodor Ghiatza-Melnic, from Romania. Thank you! :)
Read more in the text from 2 posts ago, and by clicking tag/label Dracula.

Also, from wikipedia (one of my most favorite websites, despite its imperfections):

"Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia (c. 1431 – December, 1476), more commonly known as the Impaler (Romanian: Vlad Ţepeş pronounced [ˈvlad ˈt͡sepeʃ]) or Dracula, was a three-time voivode of Wallachia, ruling mainly from 1456 to 1462.

Historically, Vlad is best known for his independent policy towards the Ottoman Empire, the expansionism of which he resisted^[4] and for the exceedingly cruel punishment he imposed.^[5]

In the English-speaking world, Vlad III is perhaps most commonly known for inspiring the name of the vampire in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula.^[6]"

^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlad_III_the_Impaler}

Danube, Donau, Dunaj, Dunav, Duna, Дунав, Dunărea, Дунáй (Dunay), Tuna River - a heraldic journey

The most important river in Europe, and the second-longest after Volga, is the Danube.

"Since the Norman conquest of England, the English language has used the French word Danube. In the languages of the modern countries through which the river flows, it is:

• Croatian: Dunav
• Bulgarian: Дунав (transliterated: Dunav)
• German: Donau
• Hungarian: Duna
• Romanian: Dunărea
• Serbian: Дунав, Dunav
• Slovak: Dunaj
• Ukrainian: Дунай (transliterated: Dunai)"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danube

Let's take a quick (modern national heraldic) journey on the Danube, for some historical spots along the way.

I'll show you some very nice maximum cards from Romania, produced by Romfilatelia.

I don't have the souvenir sheet (with Germany) from the first stamp series of Danube's Coats of Arms, so I'll show it from the Romfilatelia's website (please visit http://www.romfilatelia.ro/marci/colectia.php?ContentID=505&Year=2010 and http://www.romfilatelia.ro/marci/colectia.php?ContentID=534&Year=2010)

):

Now a simple postcard from the Danube port of Regensburg, Germany:

Bratislava Castle, Slovakia:

Melk Abbey, Austria:

Parliament Palace, Budapest, Hungary:

Ilok [ILOK] Fortress, Croatia:

Ram Fortress, Serbia:

Dramatic Theater, Ruse, Bulgaria:

Navigation Palace, Galați ([ɡaˈlatsʲ]) , Romania:

"Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu" University, Cahul, Rep. of Moldova:

"Assumption of the Virgin" Church, Izmail, Ukraine:

Thank you again, my dear friend Teodor Ghiata-Melnic (Romania), for these great MCs, like hundreds of others that I got from you over the years! :)

Now, a quick info on the Danube Delta:

"The Danube Delta (Romanian: Delta Dunării; Ukrainian:Дельта Дунаю, Del'ta Dunaju) is the second largest river delta in Europe, after the Volga Delta, and is the best preserved on the continent ^[1]. The greater part of the Danube Delta lies in Romania (Tulcea county), while its northern part, on the left bank of the Chilia arm, is situated inUkraine (Odessa Oblast). The approximate surface is 4152 km², of which 3446 km² are in Romania. If the lagoons of Razim-Sinoe (1015 km² of which 865 km² water surface; situated in the south, but attached to the Danube Delta from geological and ecological perspectives, as well as being the combined territory of the World Heritage Site) are to be added, the considered area of the Danube Delta grows to 5165 km²."

"Situated on major migratory routes, and providing adequate conditions for nesting and hatching, the Danube Delta is a magnet for birds from six major eco-regions of the world, including the Mongolian, Arctic and Siberian. There are over 320 species of birds found in the delta during summer,^[4] of which 166 are hatching species and 159 are migratory. Over one million individuals (swans, wild ducks, bald coots, etc.) winter here."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danube_Delta

The first 2 minutes of this -> "The Waves of Danube" song.

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Happy PFF (Postcard Friendship Friday)!

Please visit: http://thebestheartsarecrunchy.blogspot.com/