I must admit that last year's Europa theme, 'Visit...', passed me by without me ever noticing it. Before writing this, I even had to check and see whether Britain issued any stamps at all on the subject. I'm glad to say they did though, as part of their A to Z series. Makes sense, but the fact that I had to go look for it does imply it hasn't really lived up to its theme..
All that changed, however, the moment I received a letter from my Portuguese stamp friend Paulo who had spent his holidays on the Azores. It not only contained a rather nice picture postcard and had the latest Azores stamps on cover, but it also included a prestige booklet with the 2012 Europa stamps in. And I was hooked immediately!
The theme of the booklet and stamps was the so-called Fajas of the Azores, which you'll find on the island of Sao Jorge. That is a volcanic island rising out of the sea with incredibly steep cliffs. The many eruptions and landslides have created very small flat lands in between the coast and the sea, and these are called the Fajas.
They were cultivated by the inhabitants though many have since been deserted as well. As you can see from the pages of the booklet, they are incredibly atmospheric places.
The official Europa stamp depicts the ferry that will get you there and unfortunately this is the only boring stamp of the package, though I'm sure ship collectors would heartily disagree with me!
Fortunately for me, though, the Azores postal authorites have made up for that by including a page which shows the stamp broken up in its four printing colours. It still amazes me, the idea that these four colours together are able to create a multicolour image. If I didn't know better I'd call it magic!
I know the 'Best Europa Stamp' competition for 2012 has long closed and I seem to remember the Azores not winning but for me they absolutely are the best of the crop! If a simple booklet such as this can make me look up all the information on its subject and even make me long to go there and see this beautiful land with my own eyes, then it's clear that the designers have managed to convey the concept of 'Come and visit...' down to a t!
See yous later
Adrian
June 28, 2013
June 21, 2013
The best stamp ever seen
Last week Royal Mail tweeted the following question: what is
the best stamp you’ve ever seen? We’ve since featured this question on our
forum as well, and I’ve been lying awake for nights on end trying to come up
with the best answer. But I’m flummoxed. Probably because it’s hard to define the
word ‘best’.
Are we talking most recognisable, even outwith the
philatelic brotherhood? Surely something like the French Sower stamp would then
be a candidate.
Or its militant neighbour Germania.
Or, if only because of its long shelf life, the Norwegian
posthorn.
Are we talking most beautiful? If so, I can come up with a completely
different set of ideas: the British Seahorses, featured in this month’s Stamp
Magazine, would be high up on such a list.
Being patriotic for a bit, I would
also like to include the Wilhelmina high values of the early 1900s.
'Best' could also be defined a being ‘the most spectacular’, as in expensive
and rare. On our forum, the Swedish treskilling yellow was mentioned, which
would indeed be a good candidate.
I think I would rather opt for the Inverted Jenny,
which is rare, well-known and visually stunning. Although that would be
cheating a bit, for I’ve never actually seen one.
If I refrain from cheating for a minute, I think I would go for the Blue Mauritius, which I got a chance to admire in The Hague in the Netherlands, after the Dutch Postal Museum managed to obtain a copy which they proudly displayed for a while. I believe it's now gathering dust in the vaults...
Opting for truly iconic, I believe there is only option and that is to go for the Penny Black. Too often taken for granted, and yet it is a stunning stamp.
Opting for truly iconic, I believe there is only option and that is to go for the Penny Black. Too often taken for granted, and yet it is a stunning stamp.
You see, it’s quite a hopeless case. But having said all
this, my choice would be for a stamp, which is iconic in design, instantly
recognised by millions of people, interesting for stamp collectors in that it
offers so many varieties, design and production changes, and mostly affordable
to collect. Yes, you will have guessed it by now: it’s got to be the Machin!
And boy, have I seen those….
:-)
See yous later
See yous later
Adrian
PS: Do let us know what you would consider the best stamp you've ever seen, either here or on our forum!
June 14, 2013
Roland Garros
I had just finished watching the exhilarating tennis match
between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic at Roland Garros when our postman
brought news from France. A non-philatelic friend of ours who lives in the Morvan
always sends me any stamp clippings she can find. Isn’t it amazing that in the heart
of rural France, in a local weekly, which basically only concerns itself with
produce at the neighbours’ farm and who’s dating who, there is a page full of philatelic news every three months? And this time it advertised the issue of a new
stamp in September, commemorating Roland Garros. Some coincidence!
Now, I love Roland Garros and regard it as by far the finest
of the four Grand Slams, but that’s probably because it is the only one I’ve
ever actually been to.
That was back in the 1990s, when I could enjoy seeing the likes of Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario and Mary Pierce play. Unbeknown to us, it happened to be the tournament at the end of which French hero Henri Leconte said goodbye to his career. Climbing up the umpire’s chair after he had played his final match he said goodbye to his fans, and we were there to witness it!
That was back in the 1990s, when I could enjoy seeing the likes of Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario and Mary Pierce play. Unbeknown to us, it happened to be the tournament at the end of which French hero Henri Leconte said goodbye to his career. Climbing up the umpire’s chair after he had played his final match he said goodbye to his fans, and we were there to witness it!
We also saw Steffi Graf doing a signing session, but as it was
in an enclosed part, and seemed to be for school kids only, we didn’t dare join
the queue. But every time Steffi crosses my mind, I think of the above stamp, even
though it isn't really her being depicted. It's not even meant to be anyone really, just a generic tennis player. And what's more, I think it’s a
more of a him than a her anyway.
This year, Roland Garros was dominated by the return of
previously injured Nadal and the upcoming Frenchman Tsonga. Everybody thought this
might be his year, but it was not to be. Sounds familiar? Our own Andy Murray
could not even be there this year, what with him suffering from back injury.
But anyway, back to the 2013 Roland Garros stamp. It has
nothing to do with stamps, as you can see, but with aviation. Roland Garros’
claim to fame is that he was the first pilot to fly non-stop over the Mediterranean
Sea, from the south of France to Tunisia. He did this in 1913 and the centenary
of this feat is commemorated later this year with a special airmail stamp.
So what did Garros have to do with the tennis tournament?
Well, he was an avid tennis player in the time when France was enjoying the
success of the ‘Four Musketeers’, a quartet of rather successful French tennis
players. To defend their Davis Cup title on home ground, in 1928, France wanted a proper
showcase stadium. The tennis centre in Paris where Garros had always played offered
its land to France as a possible site for this new stadium. The only proviso attached
to the sale was that the new stadium had to be named after the centre’s most famous
member: Roland Garros!
See yous later
Adrian
June 07, 2013
European Single Market
The great thing about an all-world collection is that you
don’t necessarily have to stick to country collecting, or at least storing your
stamps by country. When I wrote my previous blog on the stamp centenary issues,
I suddenly got this idea to take it a bit further and sort my collection by
year rather than by country. That way, you get a lovely flow in your collection
from old to new and the history of the world (and that of printing!) passes you
by at the same time, so it still feels like a proper collection rather than
just stamps having been put together willy-nilly. Major events in the world get
grouped together rather than being spread around among I don’t know how many
countries.
The advent of the European Union, for example, is a very
good illustration of this point. The European Single Market was agreed upon in
1992, and the twelve member countries all issued a stamp to commemorate this
event. When collecting by year, you could file all twelve of them together under
1992, giving the issues, all existing of a single stamp, much more emphasis
than they would get in a regular country collection.
All designs are based on the yellow European stars but it’s
good to see that this image has been incorporated in many different ways. Look at
this Irish stamp for example. It places the European stars in the sky above a
typically Irish landmark of a dolmen, thereby symbolising both unity and
individuality at the same time.
The British stamp, designed by none other than David Hockney,
to me feels like Britain being the only European star with sea borders all
around. It’s kind of odd but iconic as well, so I’d still give it the
thumbs up.
I’m less certain about the Danish design, however. Described
as ‘Abstract’ in the catalogues - now there’s an understatement if ever you saw
one – I’m not sure what to make of it at all. The Scandinavian catalogue does
not make it any clearer, by merely stating this is an abstract with ‘star teeth’.
Oh well.
Very much more ordinary, and less original, is the Spanish
stamp, but I like it because it is on a small, definitive-size format, which
somehow always appeals to me. And at least it mentions the year (1993) in which
the European Union would become operative, with all the other stamps mentioning
the year (1992) in which the decision was made.
Italy got over-excited and not only issued a single stamp like all the other member countries, but followed that up with a whole sheetlet of different stamps for each of the twelve
members.
A bit over the top perhaps but as a unifying philatelic symbol
it is okay, so we'll allow it. Especially since it has the added advantage of having the national flags and the words ‘Welcome Europe’ in the respective
languages all included in the design which otherwise features a Europe constructed from a building block set. So at least we can spend a pleasant (half?) hour trying to figure all of them out!
See yous later
Adrian
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)