Only a few stamps of the cross-link for our theme, the helmet, can be found. In philately, a cross-link is a stamp or item that does not directly belong to the theme, but can be used within it, such as helmet and motorcycle.
Fortunately, as Ad van Tiel reported to us, Vietnam has now added a stamp and a nice maximum card.
On September 5th 2020 the Vietnamese Post issued a series of four stamps on the theme of "road safety". One of the stamps shows a jet helmet for use on mopeds and motorcycles.
Here an image of a nice corner piece with printing colors and the left margin of the sheet.
The text on the stamp refers to the user and says something like: "Road safety for all - wear a helmet!"
On the FDC, of course, the entire series, with images of a seat belt (car), a child in a special seat, two hands on "10 for two" on the steering wheel and a bottle with liquor and then our stamp with the helmet.
The illustration on the envelope shows a school class (at least I don't think they are all the woman's own children) using a zebra crossing.
The maximum card is the best and shows a lady wearing a full face helmet.
At the bottom of the card again the text: "Road safety for everyone (or all)!" Difficult language, Vietnamese.
International Children's Day in 2019 has also yielded a helmet stamp in Kosovo. Two children are hiding in an American Football helmet (could also be an ice hockey helmet) and a Full Face helmet respectively. The latter can of course be used on a motorcycle or in a sports car. If you want, it's a motorcycle helmet!
The helmets bear the date of International Children's Day: October 20 (Nentori is October in Kosovar).
If you also put tricycles in your collection, here is some news from China. On November 29th 2019, the Chinese Post issued a series of six stamps with the theme "Fighting Poverty". On one of the stamps of 1.20 yuan (= 120 fen) a tricycle à la Vespa Ape drives through the street of a village with houses with solar panels on the roof.
Regularly stamps appear of which it is not immediately clear whether the depicted vehicle is a motorcycle. I put those questionable items in a special folder on the computer, because we first want to be sure whether it concerns an issue that fits to our theme before we send you on the hunt.
Such a stamp was issued in 2015 in a block of the Republic of Guinea. The issue commemorated the 175th anniversary of the first stamp issued, the Penny black.
The third stamp in the block shows a kind of cargo bike, a tricycle with a wicker basket. But the "bicycle" part is just hard to see, because the stamp value has been placed over it. We thought that there were many cables on the tricycle for a normal pedal bike, but it was very unclear whether there was an engine.
Now I got my hands on the presentation pack of the Post & Go issue "Mail by bike", and on the illustrated cover I noticed a familiar picture. So I opened the "Hard Cases" folder and sure enough, there was clearly a match with the Guinea block stamp.
This photo clearly shows that it is a motorized tricycle that can easily be included in the collection.
So another stamp from Stamperija's kitchen.
There is hardly a self-respecting postal service in the world that does not offer personalized stamps. Obviously they have to come up with something to generate money, now that digital and much cheaper communication is winning over paper. Some postal services even travel after trade shows to offer these products.
The French post goes a little further and also travels to meetings, gatherings and the like that have nothing to do with philately, to promote the personalized stamps there. Of course there are people who take this opportunity to immortalize their favorite motorcycle and/or riders on the square centimetre.
Here are some of those gems: motorcycle stamps with an agricultural character and from a comic fair.
Hans de Kloet
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