France 1973 - focus

France

16th April 1973 - common design "Post, telegraph & telephone"
Hôtel de ville de Bruxelles
design & engraving: Pierre Forget
printer: Imprimerie des timbres-poste et des valeurs fiduciaires (ITVF)

1973 was the last year Europa stamps were issued using a common design. The main reason of this change was the monotony of common designs issues among philatelists. Before the introduction of a common theme in 1974, the CEPT introduced a new rule in 1971, the right to issue a second stamp with a free subject as design. One country who used that new rule from the start was France. Between 1971 and 1973, France issued a second stamp depicting a famous building of a European city (Venice in 1971, Aachen in 1972, Brussels in 1973).

I decided to focus on the 1973 stamp representing the town hall of Brussels. This stamp is part of a 2 stamps set, the other stamp depicting the common design made by the Norwegian artist Leif Frimann Anisdahl. This French stamp has been designed and engraved by the French artist Pierre Forget. He designed many stamps during his live for France, Monaco and Andorra. Besides this issue he is also the author of the 1975 french Europa issue. In 1979 he received the prize for the World's best stamp (!) for for the International year of the child french stamp. You can have a look at all Pierre Forget's stamps on this French stamp database: Phil-Ouest


The town hall of Brussels is a beautiful Gothic building from the Middle Ages. It is located on the Grand Place (market square) in the heart of Brussels' old town. This Saturday this building will be the showcase of the ceremony of the first "Best Europa stamp - Jury prize" ! PostEurop decided to give two Best Europa stamps prizes each year from now on: The Best Europa stamp will be selected as usual through the internet voting (held earlier this year on PostEurop's website) and the winner will be announced in October this year.

Besides this elder prize, a jury of 8 members composed by stamp designers, former philatelic managers and myself will select the stamp which will receive the first "Best Europa stamp - Jury prize" ! Next week you'll know who is the winner !

source of the images : http://www.ibolli.it/indexes/cept/index.php

1973

Europe

Issue n° 18 - 1973

"Post, telegraph & telephone"

Number of countries : 24
Debuting countries : none
Returning countries : Austria, Norway
Withdrawing countries : none
Common design : Post horn made of 3 arrows each one representing post, telegraph & telephone.
Countries using their own design : Andorra (Spanish post) (one stamp (out of 2) depicts a flower allegory made of 9 little men), Austria their stamp has it's own design representing the PTT, France (one stamp (out of 2) depicts the city hall of Brussels), Spain (one stamp (out of 2) depicts a Roman mosaic from Merida).
Designer : Leif Frimann Anisdahl (Norway)

Note : The CEPT logo is depicted on the French stamp with own design. Most stamps issued on the 30th April.

more here in the Europa stamps History - Part II

The Europa stamps history - II

Europe

The Europa stamps history

part II - The birth of the CEPT
(1960-1973)

1960 was the first official Europa CEPT issue and on that occasion 20 countries issued a total of 36 stamps, more than the double of 1959! For 11 countries it was their first Europa stamp issue (Denmark, Finland, Great-Britain, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden). The common design was a Roman mail-coach wheel with 19 spokes designed by the Finnish artist, Pentti Rahikainen. (20 countries; 36 stamps).

That year, Liechtenstein issued their first Europa stamp (not with the common design). That issue, only 322'000 stamps, suffered of speculation and became very fast a must because of it's rarity.


During the next decade, the number of countries changed year by year, some countries stayed faithful other issued Europa stamps from time to time. Some smaller European countries issued their first stamps during that period.

1961 new: Cyprus and San Marino. The common design was a stylised dove made up of 19 individual doves designed by the Dutch artist Theo Kurpershoek. (16 countries; 34 stamps), 1962 new: Monaco. The common design was a stylised tree with 19 leaves designed by the Luxembourgian artist Lex Weyer. (18 countries; 39 stamps), 1963, common design a stylised cross, designed by the Norwegian artist Arne Holm. (19 countries; 36 stamps).

In 1964, for the 5 years of the CEPT, the design was a flower, designed by the French artist Georges Bétemps. (19 countries; 36 stamps).


1965, the design was a tree spring, designed by the Icelandic artist Hördur Karlsson. (19 countries; 36 stamps). The 3 leaves suggested to represent: Posts,Telegraphs & Telephone. 1966 new: Andorra (French post). The design that year was a ship designed by the German artists Gregor and Josef Bender. (19 countries; 37 stamps), In 1967, the common design represented cogwheels designed by the Belgian artist Oscar Bonnevalle. (19 countries; 37 stamps), 1968, the Swiss artist Hans Schwarzenbach designed a key with the CEPT logo in handle. (18 countries; 35 stamps).

In 1969 the CEPT celebrate their 10 years anniversary, it was the occasion for many countries to take part again at the Europa stamp issue, that's why we had 26 countries participating that year and 2 new countries the Vatican and Yugoslavia. (26 countries; 48 stamps). Yugoslavia was the first Communist country to take part ! That year the common design was a temple made of the words Europa and CEPT. The design was made by the Italian artists: Luigi Gasbarra and Georgio Belli.



During the Seventies the CEPT felt that the Europa stamps collectors started to get tired of all those similar designs. In 1970 they decided to allow each country to issue one stamp without the common design, thought this new rule wasn't followed by many countries.

1970 a sun composed of 24 interwoven wires designed by the Irish artist Louis Le Brocquy. (19 countries ; 42 stamps), 1971 new: Malta. The design of a chain was made by the Icelandic artist Helgi Haflidasson (21 countries ; 44 stamps).

1972 new: Andorra (Spanish post). Only 200'000 stamps were issued by the Spanish post of Andorra that year and a huge quantity of them were bought, by Spanish philatelist, in order to speculate. The result of it is that this stamp is now more than 200€ worth! The Finnish artist Paavo Huovinen represented an Aurora borealis as common design. (22 countries ; 46 stamps).




1973. The design that year, a stylised post horn, was made by the Norwegian artist Leif Frimann Anisdahl (24 countries ; 50 stamps). The 3 arrows are said to represent CEPT's primary objectives: posts,telgraphs and telephone services. 1973 was the last year the common design was used ! The next year a common theme will be introduced to make the collection more attractive and more interesting...

Part I - The early years (1956-1959)
~
Part III - The common themes (1974-1989)
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Part IV - The new Europe (1990-1999)
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Part V - The new millennium (2000-)