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Guia Fortress, World Cultural Heritage
Mailed in 2019, with stamp and full postmark. Grade: 1
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Sir Robert Ho Tung Library, world cultural heritage
Mailed in 2019, with stamp and full postmark. Grade: 1
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65th Macao Grand Prix (Announcement Card)
Similar in concept and style to our entries 20315094, 20315105, and 20315106 (among others), this is an ad card from November 2018. It has an extra, official, round blue “Macau 2019” chop on the back. Please note again: this is not a postcard in the normal sense, but could be mailed as one. Grade: 1
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Macao: Back to Common Roots II
Similar in concept and style to our entries 20315094, 20315105, and 20315161 (among others), this is an ad card from July 2019. It has an extra, official, round blue “Macau 2019” chop on the back. Please note again: this is not a postcard in the normal sense, but could be mailed as one. Grade: 1
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Scenery of the Peninsula (3D)
Heavy, unused, lenticular printing with two distinct (motion-effect) views: one of a bridge and Macao Tower, and the other of a different bridge. This card comes from the same set as Macau entries #123-126. Grade: 1
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St. Dominic’s Church (3D)
Heavy, unused, lenticular printing with two distinct (motion-effect) views: one of the exterior and one of the interior of the church. This card comes from the same set as Macau entries #123-126 and #164. Grade: 1
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Leal Senado Building
We know the Portuguese heritage of Macau is almost imperceptibly disappearing because, once upon a time, this card would have had trilingual captioning. Now, just Chinese and English, but enough to explain the major significance of this 1784 structure in a UNESCO World Heritage location. Mailed in 2019, with stamp and full postmark, a very nice Macau postcard. Grade: 1
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Scenery of the Imperial Palace in Beijing
Scattered here and there in the “Macau” and other categories, you’ll find other cards like this for other issues. You could see #20315105 as an example. This one, also unused from Macau Post, presents “Scenery of the Imperial Palace in Beijing,” and it’s what happens when Macau runs out of its own identity. Grade: 1
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Public Security Police Force (Announcement card)
See our earlier Announcement Card entries for information about this 2016 example. Grade: 1
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Chinese Classical Poetry – Ballad of Mulan (Announcement Card)
See our entry 20315167 and others like it for information about this 2016 unused presentation card. Grade: 1
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Macao Seen by Chan Chi Vai (Announcement Card)
See our entry 20315167 and others like it for information about this 2016 unused presentation card. Grade: 1
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Lunar Year of the Monkey (2016) (Announcement Card)
See our entry 20315167 and others like it for information about this 2016 unused presentation card. Grade: 1
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Lunar Year of the Monkey (2016) (Announcement Card)
See our entry 20315167 and others like it for information about this February 2016 unused presentation card. Grade: 1
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20th Anniversary of the People’s Liberation Army Garrison (2019) (Announcement card)
This 5-3/4″ x 7-1/4″ item, like the many others before it in this category, is not strictly a postcard, though could be used as one. Macau Post prints these for each new issue during the year. The reverse has full technical information in Chinese, Portuguese, and English. Grade: 1
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Science and Technology – Digital Electronics (2020) (Announcement card)
This 5-3/4″ x 7-1/4″ item is another in our string of announcement cards that could be used as a postcard but only if you needed to. Macau Post prints these for each new issue during the year. The reverse has full technical information in Chinese, Portuguese, and English. Grade: 1
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20th Anniversary of … Macao Customs Service (2021) (Announcement card)
This 5-3/4″ x 7-1/4″ item is, like others in this series, not strictly a postcard, though could be used as one. Macau Post prints these for each new stamp issue during the year. The reverse has full technical information in Chinese, Portuguese, and English. Unused. Grade: 1
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70th Anniversary of the Nursery Service (2022) (Announcement card)
This 5-3/4″ x 7-1/4″ item is not strictly a postcard, though could be used as one. Macau Post prints these for each new issue during the year. The reverse has full technical information in Chinese, Portuguese, and English. Unused. Grade: 1
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Holy House of Mercy
Established by the first Bishop of Macau as a charity association. From the “Macau World Cultural Heritage” postcard series, and mailed in 2023 with two stamps and full postmark. Some postmark ink transfer on the front. Grade: 2
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Casino Sands
That’s how the card describes the Sands Casino, the first American entry in what was to become the world’s largest gambling centre. Sands opened in May 2004; the card dates from 2006; and it was mailed in 2023 with two stamps and a postmark. Grade: 1
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Year of the Pig (2019) (set of 5) (Maximum Cards)
Another of our messy scans, but the scanner only has so much room. There are five maximum cards from 2019 in this set honouring the Year of the Pig (and different elements of Pig) in Chinese and Portuguese — Ano Lunar do Porco. The set comprises CTT (Macao Post) set BPL 240-244. Grade: 1
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Patrimonio Cultural de Macau – um outro Olhar (set of 6)
We’ll try to describe this so you get the full picture, so to speak. It’s a set of six unused cards with artwork by different persons, issued by Correios de Macau in 2016. The set’s official reference is BPD 0106-0111. Macao Post describes it as: “a set of six postcards entitled “Macao Cultural Heritage – another look”, marking the 25th Anniversary of the “Macao Association of Relatives in Charge of the Mentally Disabled”. The initiative aims to obtain greater social recognition of the creativity of authors with this type of disability, through their drawings on the World Heritage of Macau.” Everything is enclosed in a wrap, and our scan shows one unfolded side. Those thumbnails represent the six cards, and the larger drawing (minus the Chinese characters) is similar to one of the cards. The back of the wrap has longer descriptions in Chinese and Portuguese. Grade: 1
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Macao Post and Telecommunications Bureau Headquarters’ Building
This is a card as sturdy as the old (1929) building itself, located in the heart of Macau’s tourist area. You wouldn’t know that from the photo making the structure look isolated. The official card has a trilingual (Chinese/Portuguese/French) postage-paid imprint and historical details in Chinese/Portuguese/English on the reverse. What we’re saying is: this is the ultimate unused Post Office postcard. Grade 1
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Traditional Popular Snacks (~Maximum Cards) (Set of 4)
This is what happens when a philatelic unit strays away from common sense. It was intended to be a set of four maximum cards (official reference BPL 260-263) — captioned, in Portuguese, as “Gastronomia e Docarias III – Petiscos Populares Tradicionals”, or, loosely, Macanese traditional snacks. Then things went wrong. Issued in 2020, they are *almost* maximum, with stamp and postmark on the fronts, but the designs don’t match, and nothing is really readable because everything is so crowded and busy. Not Macau Post’s best effort, but in other respects these cards are in excellent condition. Grade: 1
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Contemporary Buildings (Set of 4) (Maximum Cards)
Here’s another example of a missed opportunity. This (unused) set of four maximum cards — official CTT reference BPL 292-295 — was issued in October 2022. In this case, at least they are true “maximum” with stamps matching card designs. But for whatever reason, the buildings are not identified. Anyway, nobody forced us to acquire these, just as we will not compel you to do that either. Grade: 1
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Gastronomia Macaense (set of 4) (Maximum Cards)
We admire tiny Macau’s philatelic abilities. It caught on to the idea that a range of products can be good publicity, and sometimes they need it. But we wish they would take a little more care in design and execution of their concepts. Here’s another example: a set from July 2022 of four maximum cards, reference BPL 288-291, captioned simply in Chinese and Portuguese as “Gastronomia Macaense” (Macanese Gastronomy) without taking that extra step and identifying each dish. We know Macau’s food is both unique and tasty. Why be shy about it? Grade: 1
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Protection of Heritage (set of 4) (Maximum Cards)
The English translation of the Chinese/Portuguese formal title of this set of four maximum cards (BPL 284-287) issued in June 2022 would be: “50th Anniversary of the Promulgation of the Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage“. Busy in design, but Maximum in execution. Grade: 1
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Libraries of Macau II (set of 4) (Maximum Cards)
This unused set of four maximum cards (CTT reference BPL 272-275, issued in 2021) gets everything right: full maximum, clear design, and specific libraries identified in Chinese and Portuguese in the captions. Grade: 1
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Ano Lunar do Bufalo (Year of the Ox – 2021) (Set of 4) (~Maximum Cards)
A set of four cards issued for 2021 by CTT in the maximum style, meaning stamp and postmark on the front but stamps don’t quite match the cards’ designs. These have CTT reference numbers BPL 268-271. Grade: 1
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Ano Lunar do Tigre (Year of the Tiger – 2022) (Set of 4) (Maximum Cards)
Official CTT four-item maximum card set BPL 280-283 from 2022. Grade: 1
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Ano Lunar do Coelho (Year of the Rabbit – 2023) (Set of 4) (~Maximum Cards)
Another CTT set of four unused cards for 2023 (BPL 296-299) in maximum style, meaning that the stamps don’t quite match the cards — but close enough, thematically. Grade: 1
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Bela Vista Hotel
Hotel Bela Vista is a registered heritage building located upon Ave. do Comendador Ho Yin above Sai Van Lake, a late 19th-century multiple-story building of Neo-classical and traditional Portuguese architecture. The history of the building is varied, ranging from being a retreat for British soldiers, a Portuguese refugee camp, and multiple stints of being of being a hotel with highly regarded views (we stayed there once!). Hotel Bela Vista closed its doors in 1999 after which it was renovated and converted to the official residence of the Portuguese Consulate in Macau. Every person of a certain age living in the Hong Kong/Macau area has his or her own memories of this property. The postcard is real-photo, unused, very old, and Grade: 1
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Main Street, Macau
An absolutely unparalleled early 20th-century real-photo view of the very heart of Macau, barely recognizable now. Unused. Grade: 1
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Ruins of St. Paul’s Church
The only time we suppose these steps have been as empty would have been during the heart of the Covid lockdown. But this unused real-photo card predates that by about 80 years. Grade: 1
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Fishing Scaffolding along the Shore
Unused, early 20th-century real-photo card. Even much of the shore is gone now, reclaimed for entertainment and shopping, Grade: 1
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Fishing Boat at Work
Unused, very old real-photo card. Grade: 1
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Explore Macao
One of many similar 5-3/4″ x 7-1/4″ presentation cards issued by what is now Macau Post and Telecommunications (Portuguese: Correios e Telecomunicações de Macau; Chinese: 澳門郵電局) to announce new stamp issues. This one, from September 2023, resembles all the others in style and is fully printed on both sides so technically it is not a postcard. It could be used that way, though. Grade: 1
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The 10th Anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative
An Initiative nobody really understands, on an unused presentation card similar in size and style to many others scattered throughout this category. This example was issued in September 2023. Grade: 1
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Flor de Lotus (Maximum Cards) (set of 4)
Official CTT set BPL 219-222 from 2017, not “pure” maximum as the stamps and postmarks don’t match exactly, but close enough for us to call them that. Each lotus variety is identified in Chinese and Portuguese, and just allow us the observation that we wish these excellent efforts from the Macanese Government were just a little less formal and clinical. But of course we are highly subjective. Grade: 1
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35ª Exposição Internacional Asiática de Filatelia (Maximum Card)
A single card, BPL 231 from 2018, issued by CTT and distinctively using a coloured postage meter label as the stamp. So that’s unusual. Grade: 1