A set of six maximum cards, issued by Hongkong Post in August 2020, with philatelic postmarks.  The animals include the King Penguin, Giant Panda, Meerkat, Sichuan Golden Snub-nosed Monkey, Toco Toucan, and Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin.  All at that time to be found in one of Hong Kong’s two big theme parks, both of which had struggled mightily during the pandemic.   Grades: 1

See our description for item 20308921.  These are the same cards, but in maximum style (with co-ordinating stamps and postmarks).  Three sets are available.  Two have the coloured heart postmark as you see in the scan.  The third has a special B&W philatelic cancellation.  All unused, all Grade: 1

This unused maximum card was issued in 1990, with a CCCP stamp.  So “Azerbaijan” is a technicality.  Grade: 1

Issued by the World Wide Fund for Nature, this card was first dated 1986 but the hard-to-read cancellation says first day of issue was 1991.  Be that as it may, the card was mailed in 2014 from Germany (not Philippines!) with two stamps, of which one has a major abrasion; and pasted address label.  Grade: 5

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.  Grades 1

Here’s another example of a missed opportunity.  This 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

This set of four 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

See our description for entry 20325474. Here comes Summer, and for this we show you the front cover and one of the cards in the set, issued in May, 2023.   These are the Pre-cancelled, Chinese version.  Grade: 1

From 2022, unused official card BPA-214.  Grade: 1

Unused card BPA-215, from 2022.  Grade: 1

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.  The graphic is Macau’s old (and main) post office building.  Grade: 1

The title, captioned in Portuguese and Chinese, translates as “Eight new landscapes of Macau,” and indeed they are.  This is a desirable set, CTT’s BPL 248-255, and our scan shows four of the eight views.  Because this is a bit more substantial than some other sets, we will list what’s on each card here:  Colina de Penha, Dois Lagos e Uma Torre, Largo do Senado, Long Chao Kok, Vila de Pescadores de Coloane, Travesa da Paixao, Rua de Felicidade, and — spectacularly — Ponte Hong Kong – Zhuhai – Macau, one of the world’s longest bridges and utterly unthinkable not so long ago.  Issued in 2019, at last something from Macau other than ancient art.  Grade: 1