What are "variant" maxicards?

Compare the two maxicards here and you would notice these few points:

 i) bearing the same stamp

ii) different postcards, but with the same subject

iii) postmarks are different

When these conditions are true, they are known as "variant" maxicards.

(I accidentally cropped off the bottom white margin for this postcard during scanning! :)...)

"When the stamp is the same on different postcards with the same subject and different postmark we call them 'variant' maximum cards" FIP

Rules are made to be broken?

   

Malaysia maxicard - Grand Knight of Valour, the general public (31.07.2010)

Postcards with multiple pictures are forbidden in maximaphily! I think it's too general to exclude all postcards of this sort for realizing maxicards and as such do not follow this rule strictly. I only apply this condition to postcards with multiple pictures of subjects which are completely unrelated (except one of course), to the postage stamp to be affixed. If the subjects shown on a multi-pictured postcard are all related, one way or another to the postage stamp, I would not hesitate to use it. Well, I have to say sorry to FIP! Yes, rules are rules, but haven't you heard, "Rules are made to be broken."?

"Postcards with multiple pictures as well as ones with holograms are forbidden."FIP

Swing the pendulum back....

While enjoying peace, be prepared for war - to swing the pendulum back to equilibrium. (The reason for more tanks here?)

Malaysia maxicard - Grand Knight of Valour, armed forces (31.07.2010)

"In the case a postage stamp has multiple, secondary or partial subjects, each subject must as far as possible, be dealt with separately." FIP

My question - Any relevant postmark for Shanghai World Expo 2010, the Australian pavilion postcard

A friend in China sent me a postcard depicting the Australian pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo 2010, which was also a subject featured in a newly issued Australian stamp commemorating the event. This postcard arrived very timely and I thought I could realize it as a maxicard. The question is,  "Where is the place of concordance to postmark this card?". It couldn't be Shanghai definitely; so I "sadly" dropped the idea.....

              

"When the postage stamp commemorates an event or shows a landscape or a monument of another country, the realization of maximum cards is impossible as there is a total lack of concordance of place." FIP

But I am still wondering since FIP also mentions: 

"the concordance of place requires a connection between the name of the place or the locality written on the postmark and the subject of the stamp.", would it be possible to :

i) postmark it at Melbourne taking the connection to be this pavilion was designed in Melbourne (by an architectural firm, Wood Marsh)?

ii) postmark it at Canberra taking the connection to be this pavilion represents Australia in this World Expo? 

Is it qualified to be a maxicard in these two cases? What do you think?

The picture is large enough, but........

No doubt this postcard was fine for maxicard as its picture was large enough to emphasize the subject in the stamp; however, taking a closer look, you might be curious to ask, " Why was the stamp affixed on such an awkward place?". Well, I had no choice as that part of the petal was "bruised" slightly when I attempted to clean off some blemishes on it.....

Malaysia maxicard - Garden flowers, allamanda ( 01.07.2010)

"......, the larger the picture is, the better the quality of the maximum card is considered to be." FIP

I felt restricted - only one postage stamp is allowed....

For this postcard, I was a bit tempted to affix on it two stamps i.e, the bougainvillea stamp and the allamanda stamp, when I was realizing it as a maxicard. This card might look nice with the two stamps which are concordant with its picture. However, I won't be "allowed" to call it a maxicard anymore; unless the rule is changed or I am able to go back in time to before 1978!

Malaysia maxicard - Garden flowers, allamanda ( 01.07.2010)

"Only one postage stamp should be affixed on the view side of the picture postcard. Before 1978, when "International statute of Maximaphily" was approved, maximum cards showing several postage stamps are tolerated if one or more of those are concordant with the picture on the postcard." FIP

*Who knows one of these days more than one stamp might be allowed on a maxicard!?

（sample only）

Emphasizing the subject

Malaysian maxicard - garden flowers, yellow hibiscus (01.07.2010)

When I first looked at this postcard, I had no intention to use it for realizing maxicard. But on second look, the stamp was not totally out of place on the postcard though it barely satisfied the FIP rules, in emphasizing the subject. It's more important that I do like it. 

" The picture of the postcard must emphasize the subject of the postage stamp." FIP

Place of Concordance

Malaysia maxicard - Garden flowers, lotus ( 01.07.2010)

As concordance of place is one of the three requirements in maximaphily, it's also part of the routine for every new issue, to determine where are the suitable places to postmark the maxicards. My simple criteria is to look for a connection between the subject of the stamp and the place for cancellation. Sometimes there might be a few choices available and to have your maxicards cancelled at the most suitable place would definitely bring you greater satisfaction.

" The pictorial design of the cancellation and/or text, as well as the place of cancellation(name of the post office) should have a connection with the postage stamp and of the postcard, or with the purpose of issue(event, charitable activity, theme of the series." FIP

Looking for "concordance "..............

New stamp issues with subjects of specific names e.g, hibiscus flower, Queen Elizabeth II, the Twin Tower, etc, might not be that difficult for us to find postcards of concordance as being well-known subjects, there are lots of postcards on them. Conversely, topics on models in particular normally cast greater difficulties as the already hard to find postcards have to be further filtered or eliminated, confined to only certain models. In such instances that I find no perfect choices, I would take a step back and settle for a lesser degree of concordance. In this case - the steam locomotive.

Malaysia maxicard - Malayan railways ( 22.06.2010)

" The picture must offer the best possible concordance with the subject of the postage stamp or with one of them, if there are several." FIP