Request

To my cover-exchanging friends, please try as much as possible to
(1) WRITE THE ADDRESSES USING YOUR OWN HANDWRITING
as these give a more personal touch to the cover
(2) PLEASE DO NOT USE TAPE OR STICKERS ON THE REVERSE;
the Philippine postal service damages the cover with scribbling that highly devalues the aesthetic value of the cover, which is what I am after
(3) PLEASE TRY TO USE COMPLETE SETS
or at least same themes when sending covers, but it is okay if this is not possible or if this would be expensive, and
(4) PLEASE USE SMALL ENVELOPES,
not too small, but maybe around 4"x6" or something like that; big envelopes are not very attractive unless they have many stamps.
Thank you!

30.6.10

Mayotte

Here are two covers from the French overseas collectivity of Mayotte.


An interesting thing to note about "Mayotte" is that it is the corrupted French version of "Jazirat al-Mawt", which means "Island of the Dead/Death" in Arabic.

The two covers below have basically the same stamps, except for the first one, which has an extra stamp (did the sender pay extra postage for the first one or did he pay insufficient postage for the second one?)

At any rate, the stamps show basket weaving (la vannerie) as well as embroidery (la broderie), which I guess are either an industrial activity or a pastime (or both) of the locals. There is also a stamp showing the jasmine flower. I wasn't able to find out if they are native to Mayotte or if they were introduced by the French during the colonial period, or if they even actually grow in Mayotte at all!


This second cover has a nice special cancellation with the map of Mayotte. Mayotte is made up of two islands, Grande-Terre (or Mahoré), and a smaller island, Petite-Terre (or Pamanzi).

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