I typically like to look at the many exhibits displayed at major stamp shows. Traveling to such shows isn’t always possible, but there are many exhibits available for viewing online.

As the saying goes, “The difference is in the details.” On Canada Post’s six new definitive stamps, the difference is in the very tiny details — the microprinting.

Philatelic groups hoping to reserve a meeting room at World Stamp Show-NY 2016 need to take action soon.

Three postal administrations began the new year by issuing stamps related to art. Romania pictures Flemish paintings, the Netherlands shows a work by Hieronymus Bosch, and Monaco features examples of circus poster art.

The United Nations Postal Administration and France’s La Poste participated in a joint issue late last year to commemorate the 21st United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP21, held from Nov. 30 to Dec. 11 in Le Bourget, France. The UNPA issued three stamps Nov. 24 to honor the conference, and La Poste issued a single stamp on that date. All of the stamps are round, representing the planet Earth.

One of the most attractive British Empire sets ever issued is Cyprus’ 1928 set of 10 (Scott 114-123) commemorating the 50th anniversary of British rule. This is the key set of Cyprus stamps for British Empire collectors, and many of the stamps have topical appeal for collectors of archaeology, religion, architecture and coins on stamps.

For some reason, the 20-centimo stamp of Costa Rica’s 1910 Portrait issue (Scott 74) strikes a chord with me, and I find it extremely attractive. It was printed by the American Bank Note Co., as part of a set of eight stamps issued in 1910 (Scott 69-76), even though the stamps themselves say 1909 in the right-hand ribbon beneath the bust.

Although East Germany’s implementation of its philatelic distribution system was unique, controlled dissemination of special stamp issues for collectors is almost as old as the hobby itself. Let’s consider a few notable precedents.

Popular in his time, Nostradamus enjoys an even wider following today. His prophetic works remain widely read because they were set in what was for him the far distant future and because they are specific enough to tantalize, yet vague enough that virtually anything can be read into them. On July 2, 2003, the 437th anniversary of his death, Romania issued a se-tenant pair of Nostradamus stamps (Scott 4592). These stamps fit well in topical collections of medicine, astrology and the occult.

Canada will have a new national-level stamp exhibition, Canpex, to take place each fall in London, Ontario. The dates for the 2016 show are Oct. 15-16.

The northernmost point of the European mainland is the Nordkapp — the North Cape — in Norway. I have never had the pleasure of visiting this most interesting place, but my wife has. On a cruise along Norway’s Atlantic coastline, her ship docked at Honningsvag, and the passengers were then taken by bus to the North Cape. Due north is the Arctic Sea. My wife tells me that they visited the cape on a day with windy, wet and misty weather. This is apparently the kind of weather visitors can expect. The North Cape has attracted thousands of tourists each year for more than a century.

In 1999, Kazakhstan issued an Environmental Protection souvenir sheet of three (Scott 283). One of the stamps commemorates the closure of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site on Aug. 29, 1991. The other two stamps promote saving the ozone layer and protecting nature, respectively. The large rainbow pictured in the selvage runs through two of the stamps.

These are the words of Sanaka Samanta, an Indian stamp designer with more than 400 postage pieces to his name.

Scott editors have updated the review of worldwide new issues and their costs and added the chart for 2014.

ollowing the listings for Nicaragua’s postal tax stamps in the Scott Classic Specialized Catalogue of Stamps and Covers 1840-1940 is the modest array of postal issues of the Province of Zelaya (Bluefields) on the eastern coast of Nicaragua. Bluefields is in the area originally known as the Mosquito Coast Reservation, and its chief Caribbean port. The Mosquito name refers not to the flying insect but rather is a corruption of the name of the indigenous Miskito Indians.

If you overhear someone saying “Brazil came in second,” you might surmise that the subject of conversation is a soccer championship, or coffee production. Instead, you might learn that Brazil was the second nation in the world to have issued postage stamps, and the first on the American continent to have done so. he Empire of Brazil issued stamps Aug. 1, 1843. At first the three issued stamps were used in Rio de Janeiro. That might have been considered a trial period. After 30 days, the stamps were distributed to all major post offices in the empire.

The London-based Royal National Institute Blind People’s Christmas Stamp Appeal is encouraging folks to send in their stamps as part of an effort to raise money for the RNIB, which is "a leading source of information on sight loss and the issues affecting blind and partially sighted people," according to its website.

Nicholas Frederick Seebeck was born in Germany in 1857, and in common with many of his compatriots, he and his family moved to the United States in search of a better future. Nicholas Frederick was 9 when the family settled in New York City. Quite early on, he got involved in the printing business. He also began dealing in postage stamps for collectors. In 1876, he compiled and published a stamp catalog with the rather lengthy title Descriptive Price Catalogue of All Known Postage Stamps of the United States and Foreign Countries.

This table will help you organize the many different varieties of the New South Wales Centenary stamps of 1888-1906.

Collecting stamps from Australia’s former British colonies can be an expensive proposition, particularly colonial stamps issued by New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria between the 1850s and 1880s. Nevertheless, each of the colonies has classic stamps that fall into the realm of “budget friendly,” and good examples are the lower denominations of the stamps marking the centenary of New South Wales, issued between 1888 and 1910.