This is clearly the season for me to receive amazing cat stamps from Postcrossing! This stamp came this week from Russia, riding on RU-3503703. I was so, so excited to receive this: I love any feline stamp, any time, but there is something really wild and compelling about this illustration. Also, alas - a lot of stamps from Russia are fairly boring, so this one really stood out.
I couldn't find out much about this stamp issue (anyone? anyone?), but I did find some basic information indicating it is from a Fauna of Russia: Wild Cats series, and this is Pallas's Cat, which is a fairly rare subspecies native to Central Asia. The photos make it look very similar to this stamp illustration: a very unusual-looking and very fluffy feline.
It is fitting, of course, that the postcard image itself was a fun cat illustration, too. Thank you, Katia from Russia!
Hey U.S. Postal Service: how about a wild cats of the USA stamp issue?
