Don’t be scared…. some of us are quite normal.

Okay, some may be a bit geeky and some a bit on the eccentric side but apparently, some of them turn out to be murderers!

Who said stamp collecting was boring?

Help us finish our feature length doc on Stamp Collectors, pls! kck.st/105ioIZ @ColonialCovers
@globalphilately
@CyprusStamps—
  (@FreaksAndErrors) May 15, 2013

Buy Cyprus stamps online – video

If you are a collector of Cyprus stamps, this little video may be of interest to you…

It was posted to YouTube by a customer in Cyprus who had just received his first online order from Cyprus Stamps website.

It shows the order in its’ entirety, complete with the invoice and list of items ordered, business card and each stamp or set individually parcelled inside a small envelope contained within the main envelope used for dispatch.

So, if you’re considering buying Cyprus stamps online – this may just be the website to visit.

Cyprus Stamps are specialists in stamps, first day covers and postal history from the whole of the island of Cyprus – including Turkish Cypriot stamps from the north of the island.

Cyprus #stamps online order – this is how your stamps will arrive after you have placed your order: youtu.be/mNPNwcop1Nw via @youtube—
Cyprus Stamps (@CyprusStamps) February 25, 2012

Old picture postcards – Pompeii

I just came across a twitter post (as you do) of some images of Mt Vesuvius, Naples, Italy taken from a plane window.

The posting jogged my memory of some old black & white picture postcards I have from c1900′s. So, that was it – it set me off foraging among my many computer photographs and here they are:

Old postcards of Pompeii, Naples - Italy

More old postcards of Pompeii, Naples - Italy

More old postcards of Pompeii, Naples - Italy

Fab aren’t they?

For the more modern images of Mt Vesuvius volcano and its’ crater click to see them here on Velvet Escape.

The great teddy bear shipwreck mystery

In 1903, 3,000 teddy bears were sent by ship from Germany to America only for them to disappear. Some claim the bears were the first ever made and would now be the most valuable in the world. So what happened to them?

A 1904 Steiff bear - Growler

In the Steiff museum, in the German town of Giengin, the mystery of the missing bears is explained to the visiting children with a tale that they were lost at sea.

The idea of shipwrecked teddy bears captures the imagination, but is it true? Find out here

I’m a bit of a hoarder when it comes to my teddy bears. I brought each and every one with me in boxes when we moved from UK to Cyprus.

My oldest bear is one made by Merrythought (a 1960′s “Cheeky” beary) and stands about 27 inches high. I got him off my parents as a Christmas present when I was about 9yrs old. He growled and had bells in his ears. Sadly, he no longer growls but the bells are still there…

Merrythought label from 1960's bears