Armenian post of Nagorno-Karabakh 2008

Armenian post of Nagorno-Karabakh

Date of Issue: 28th October 2008

three stamps (120.-, 350.- & 550.- AMD)

those stamps are published in mini-sheets of 10 stamps


NOTE : the stamps issued by the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic aren't recognized on an international level, not by the UPU nor by PostEurop.

Those stamps are listed in the most stamps catalogue (Gibbons, Yvert & Tellier, Michel) and most Europa stamps collectors collect those stamps anyway, I decided to publish them on my blog, from now on, even if they aren't official stamp issues.

Europa stamp t-shirt !

Åland

Ever dreamt of wearing a Europa stamp t-shirt ?

Posten Åland made your dream come true. You can buy on their webshop the following t-shirt in sizes M - L - XL for the price of 8.90 €



The design on the t-shirt is taken from the Europa stamp issue of 2006 "Integration as seen by young people"

Europa stamps logo - R problems !

Europe

Eric on his blog "Blog timbré de ma philatélie", made a strange discovery concerning the Europa logo !



On some of this year's issues, the "R" of the word Europa seemed unusual ! And he was right !

The Europa logo on the Europa stamps of the Czech republic, Malta and Moldova is different than the official one ! The letter "R" has a left "leg" on those stamps but on the official logo this leg isn't designed !



I looked up in my album if the problem is new or not, and I was surprised to discover that Malta is using a wrong logo since 2002 ! The even won that year the contest of "Best Europa stamp" ! Moldova since 1995 (!) and this year is the first time the Czech republic is using the wrong logo.

I agree with Eric's question on his blog "Why does the PostEurop organization not require a European uniformity about this logo ?", How can it be possible that an official logo is depicted differently on some stamps ?

Again the interest in making profit with those Europa stamps issues induce a lack of quality and serious in some issues unfortunately.

Cyprus (Turkish post) 2008

Cyprus (Turkish post)

Date of Issue: 8th May 2008

two stamps (2x 0.80 YTL)


NOTE : the stamps issued by the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus aren't recognized on an international level, not by the UPU nor by PostEurop.

But as most Europa stamps collectors collect those stamps anyway, I decided to publish them on my blog, from now on, even if they aren't official stamp issues.

Best Europa stamp of the year 2008

Europe

As most of this year's Europa stamps are issued, PostEurop is again organizing an on-line vote to select the "Best Europa" stamp of the year 2008.

Two persons picked out from those that have selected the winning stamp will be granted special prizes – a full set of the 2008 Europa stamp issues!

The winning stamp will be announced on 13 November during PostEurop’s Extraordinary Plenary Assembly that will be held in Brussels, Belgium.

A few comments about this competition:

1. Some countries are missing ! Andorra (French post) ; Ireland ; Bosnia and Herzegovina (Croat post) ; Azerbaijan ; Georgia ; Isle of Man ; the Netherlands ; Serbia. I really don't know why ? Kosovo and Gibraltar are also missing, but as they aren't member and even don't use the official Europa logo on their stamps, I can understand why they are not on this list.
2. The voting is open since early May and some countries are only on this list since a few days ! Which isn't fair at all.
3. PostEurop selected which stamps within a set would take part at this contest. The choice isn't the best each time.
4. Some countries have two stamps taking part at this contest as the issue is composed of a "pair", for example Macedonia, the Ukraine or Finland. Greece which also issued a pair of stamps have only one stamp shown !
5. Souvenir-sheets: Bosnia and Herzegovina & Spain have their full souvenir-sheet taking part at this contest, Hungary only one stamp out of it !
6. One last comment, the size and quality of the stamps isn't the same for each country ! Bulgaria has a very low quality stamp as Cyprus have a tiny image of their stamp...

As last year, this blog will also organize it's own contest later this year ! ;o)

Albania 2008

Albania

Date of Issue: 15th July 2008

two stamps (100.- & 150.- ALL) and one souvenir-sheet (250.- ALL)



! note that the stamp of the souvenir-sheet doesn't bear the official Europa logo !


both stamps are issued in mini-sheets of 10 stamps

Europa stamps 2008 - issue rates

Europe

My Italian friend Massimiliano who is also an Europa stamps collector and has his own blog in italian, gave me the following issue rates of 2008 Europa stamps

Macedonia - souvenir-sheet : 10.000 ex


Kosovo - souvenir-sheet : 20.000 ex


Bulgaria - booklet : 12.500 ex


What to think about it ? For me it's a real scandal ! That's taking the stamp collectors for idiots ! 10'000 copies for an Europa stamp issue is of course by far less than the total number of Europa stamps collectors !

I really don't understand why PostEurop isn't able to deal with it ? They are owner of the Europa logo and Macedonia and Bulgaria are even PostEurop members.

Each year it's getting worse. More and more issues of higher facial values and/or of lower issuing numbers !

Of course as long as collectors are ready to pay such high amounts to get those stamps, those postal authorities will keep doing like that ... money makes the World go round...