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:

===========

"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.

:)

==============

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).

Postmarks from Hollywood, California 90028. How I created a maximum card with a $4.95 Redwood Forest Priority Mail stamp, instead of wasting that money

In Canada and some other countries, the National Postal administration charge$ you for each philatelic postmark that you request by mail, for your cards and covers. :(

Not in USA, unless you request more than 50 postmarked items per stamp series, especially for a First Day of Issue postmark, pictorial or not. :)

For example, the stamp series of shelter pets has 5 different dog designs and 5 cat designs.

So you can get 5 postmarks for each of the 10 different stamps of the series. Or any variation, up to the total of 50, to be free. The extras, over 50, are 5 cents a piece.

How I created a maximum card with a $4.95 Redwood Forest Priority Mail stamp, instead of wasting that money?

I never heard of anyone that has ever done this, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen.

So, independent of any possible precursor, I thought about this (new?) method of creating a maximum card/ maxicard / dorincard, in the process of mailing a Priority Mail envelope.

Instead of paying the Priority Mail rate with a barcode label printed by the counter desk clerk ("postal associate") of USPS, you could use a Priority Mail stamp for letter or parcel...$4.90...$4.95...whatever the current rate is when you do it.

Your recipient might save the stamp, with or without soaking it.

Better yet, you could affix that Priority Mail stamp onto a matching postcard / calendar page / book cut-out, such as one with an image of a redwood forest, and AFTER THAT have it postmarked!!!

This way, you have obtained a maximum card! Even if it's not FIP CfM - compliant.

Since concordance of place is almost impossible in such a regular mailing, you could consider that you have a zoomed-out concordance, from the same state or from USA, anyway.

In this case here, the Hollywood postmark is from the same state as the stamp subject, California.

I intended this to be my SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope). 

Instead of affixing a Priority Mail stamp straight on the big envelope (specifically in the upper-right corner, where USPS has shrewdly positioned the place for stamp, over the tear-away strip, so you would completely tear apart that stamp upon receiving), I affixed it on the postcard!!!

The postmarking was done on Aug the 4th, on all items, so my SASE could have been sent as the outer cover. The postcard has the $4.95 stamp with that Aug 4th postmark valid for mailing on that day alone.

Because my items were put aside for some reason for about 2 months (!), when I finally called and inquired, the return was done in this new cover from USPS.

With the Give Blood stamp, I'll create some maximum cards with Dracula, Twilight characters and others. :)

In the middle you see a little error: an MJ stamp from St.Vincent postmarked alone, not together with an American stamp, as USPS wants.

This is a page-size sheet of labels.

It could be considered a large size postcard, and I over-franked - more than enough US postage for that.

Or, it can be considered neither a cover nor a postcard, but a philatelic souvenir page, not destined to be mailed, so not subject to any applicable rate in postage. 

I still overpaid, but that's fine with me. :)

I will use the Michael Jackson/Star pairs of stamps for non-traditional maximum cards. :)

UNICATE/UNIKAT in the world.

In fact, these specific Michael stamps are probably fakes, so I could call them stickers.

I have other MJ stamps, which are apparently the genuine issues from St.Vincent.

You can't say you don't see any heart here...

The postmarking postal associate did not understand or remember what I said in the blue Post-it note, so these 2 postcards were NOT postmarked on BOTH sides and sent by mail.

Instead, they were postmarked only in the back, on the 1 cent stamp!

I wanted to obtain "circulated thru the mail" maximum cards, sent as postcards.

Get it? :)

===================

Please visit and join The Guest Heart Thursday meme!

http://clytie-randomhearts.blogspot.com/

Welcome to Guest Heart Thursday -
A place to share YOUR hearts!

Maximum card with a non-American stamp, although it's inscribed USA. It's also inscribed Nations Unies. Get it? :)

Maximum card with a non-American stamp, although it's inscribed USA. 

It's also inscribed Nations Unies. 

Get it? :)

United Nations Organization - The Geneva Office, Switzerland.

World Patrimony series - here the stamp features The Great Smoky Mountains, USA.

"Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a United States National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site that straddles the ridgeline of the Great Smoky Mountains, part of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which are a division of the larger Appalachian Mountain chain. 

The border between Tennessee and North Carolina runs northeast to southwest through the centerline of the park. It is the most visited national park in the United States.^[3]"

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

=================

Please visit and join ABC Wednesday meme!

http://abcwednesday-mrsnesbitt.blogspot.com/
Today, N is Nations Unies. :)

China and the End of the Deng Dynasty | STRATFOR. Like a leopard, China is powerful and skillful. What's the difference between LEOPARD, PANTHER and BLACK PANTHER?

Please read: China and the End of the Deng Dynasty | STRATFOR

Like a leopard, China is powerful and skillful.

"The species' success in the wild is in part due to its opportunistic hunting behavior, its adaptability to habitats, its ability to run at speeds approaching 58 kilometres per hour (36 mph), its unequaled ability to climb trees even when carrying a heavy carcass,^[3] and its notorious ability for stealth. The leopard consumes virtually any animal that it can hunt down and catch. Its habitat ranges from rainforest to desert terrains."

Maximum card created for me by my partner/friend Xia, from PR China.

"The Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), also known as the Manchurian leopard and the Far Eastern leopard, is a wild feline predator native to the mountainous areas of the taiga as well as other temperate forests in Korea, Northeast China and the Russian Far East. 

It is one of the rarest felids in the world with an estimated 30 to 35 individuals remaining in the wild.^[2] 

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature has deemed the Amur leopard critically endangered, meaning that it is considered to be facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.^[1]"

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

What's the difference between LEOPARD, PANTHER and BLACK PANTHER?

In common(ers') language, Panther is the same as a Leopard.

A Black Panther is just a Panther with black dots on the black background color of the fur.

Melanistic.

"Black on black, I want my panther black"...

"The leopard ( /ˈlɛpərd/), Panthera pardus, is a member of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four "big cats" in the genus Panthera, the other three being the tiger, lion, and jaguar. 

The leopard was once distributed across eastern and southern Asia and Africa, from Siberia to South Africa, but its range of distribution has decreased radically because of hunting and loss of habitat. 

It is now chiefly found in sub-Saharan Africa; there are also fragmented populations in Indonesia,Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Indochina, Malaysia, and China. 

Because of its declining range and population, it is listed as a "Near Threatened" species by the IUCN.^[2]

Compared to other members of the Felidae family, the leopard has relatively short legs and a long body with a large skull. 

It is similar in appearance to the jaguar, but is smaller and more slightly built. 

Its fur is marked with rosettes similar to those of the jaguar, but the leopard's rosettes are smaller and more densely packed, and do not usually have central spots as the jaguars do. 

Both leopards and jaguars that are melanistic (completely black or very dark) are known as black panthers."

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

Let's see a famous fictional black panther, Bagheera:

In case you wonder: yes, it's legal for USPS to postmark foreign stamps, as long as proper US stamp(s) are postmarked in the same stroke.

Learn that, Royal Mail from UK. You should do it, too, with UK stamps and foreign ones.

No animal was harmed in the process.

:)

Let's pretend that the tree in the above image is reddish enough to qualify for Ruby Tuesday meme, shall we?

=============

Please visit and join Ruby Tuesday meme!

http://workofthepoet.blogspot.com/