One would think everything is at a standstill in Ukraine because of the war, but no— my purchase of Japanese stamps from an Ebay seller in Kyiv arrived in the mail today, courtesy of Ukrposhta (Ukraine’s postal service).
These stamps were on the outside envelope.
Issued Jun. 13, 2017
Perf. 14 x 13½ | Design: Natalia Andreichenko | Offset Litho. | No watermark
1656 BFO Domestic Postal Rate H | Multicolored | Coat of Arms of Marynyn
Notes:
The Ukrainian trident (tryzub) appears in a small shield at the top left
Marynyn (Маринин) is a village located in Rivine Oblast (Рівненська обл.), as noted in the small text near the bottom
[Sources: stampworld.com, Claude AI]
Issued Jun. 7, 2011
Perf. 13¾ | Design: Ekaterina Shtanko | Offset Litho. | No watermark
1191 ANW ₴ 6.00 | Multicolored | Bandura (Бандура)
Notes:
The Ukranian monetary unit is the hryvnia (symbol ₴).
A bandura is a pear-shaped, multi-stringed plucked instrument unique to Ukrainian folk music. The image shows the instrument’s rounded wooden body, long fretted neck, elaborately carved scroll/ pegbox, and the many strings (both the neck strings and the shorter sympathetic strings stretched across the soundboard) that give the bandura its distinctive harp-like sound. A decorative rosette surrounds the sound hole.
[Sources: stampworld.com, Claude AI]
Issued Apr. 21, 2023
Perf. 13 | Design: Natalia Andriichenko | Engraving: Integrated Printing Plant Ukraina For Securities | Offset Litho. | No watermark
2096 BWQ Domestic Postal Rate T | Multicolored | Pysanky Decorated Egg from the Hutsul ethnocultural region
Notes:
About pysanky: These eggs are decorated using a wax-resist (“batik”) method, where designs are drawn in hot wax before dyeing in successive colors, with the wax removed at the end to reveal the multicolor pattern. Each region of Ukraine has traditionally developed its own distinct motifs and color palettes, and Hutsul pysanky are especially prized for their intricate geometric symbolism.
Region label: “ГУЦУЛЬЩИНА” (Hutsulshchyna) in small text at the top — indicating this pysanka pattern comes from the Hutsul ethnocultural region, an area in the Carpathian Mountains (spanning parts of Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi, and Zakarpattia oblasts) renowned for its distinctive folk art
Design: An elaborately patterned egg rendered in the traditional pysanka wax-resist dyeing technique, featuring a black background with a central stylized fish motif (a common Christian symbol) in green, yellow, and white, surrounded by geometric bands of triangles, stars, and wave/comb patterns in yellow, green, black, and white — colors and motifs characteristic of Hutsul pysanky
[Sources: stampworld.com, Claude AI]