Europa stamps 2011

Europe

Europa 2011"Forests"

09.05.2011 Åland - 1 stamp (0.85 €)
30.07.2011 Albania - 1 stamp (200.- ALL)and 1 souvenir-sheet (250.- ALL)
09.05.2011 Andorra (French post) - 1 stamp (0.58 €)
04.04.2011 Andorra (Spanish post) - 1 stamp (0.65 €)
14.12.2011 Armenia - 2 stamps (2x 350.- AMD)
16.05.2012 Armenian post of Nagorno-Karabakh - 2 stamps (350 & 650.- AMD)
08.09.2011 Austria - 1 souvenir-sheet (1.70 €)
08.04.2011 Azerbaijan - 2 stamps (0.20 & 0.60 AZN) & 1 souvenir-sheet (1.- AZN)
09.05.2011 Azores - 1 stamp (0.68 €) & 1 souvenir-sheet (2x 0.68 €)

14.04.2011 Belarus - 2 stamps (2000.- & 2500.- BYR)
19.09.2011 Belgium - 1 souvenir-sheet of 2 stamps (2x EU value 3)
09.05.2011 Bosnia and Herzegovina - 2 stamps (2x 2.50 BAM) & 1 souvenir-sheet (2x 2.50 BAM)
05.04.2011 Bosnia and Herzegovina (Croat post) - 2 stamps (2x 3.- BAM)
06.04.2011 Bosnia and Herzegovina (Serb post) - 2 stamps (1.- & 2.- BAM)
28.04.2011 Bulgaria - 2 stamps (0.65 & 1.50 BGN) & 1 souvenir-sheet (0.65 & 1.50 BGN)
05.05.2011 Croatia - 2 stamps (2x 7.10 HRH)
04.05.2011 Cyprus - 2 stamps (0.51 & 0.68 €)
16.05.2011 Cyprus (Turkish post) - 2 stamps (2x 1.50 TRY) & 1 souvenir-sheet (2x 1.50 TRY)
04.05.2011 Czech rep. - 1 stamp (20.- CZK)

04.05.2011 Denmark - 2 stamps (8.- & 11.- DKK)

28.04.2011 Estonia - 2 stamps(2x 0.58 €)
26.04.2011 Faroe Is. - 2 stamps (10.- & 12.- DKK)
06.05.2011 Finland - 2 stamps (2x 2nd class value)
09.05.2011 France - 1 stamp (0.75 €)

05.05.2011 Germany - 1 stamp (0.55 €)
04.04.2011 Gibraltar - 4 stamps (0.10, 0.42, 0.44 & 1.50 GBP)
22.03.2011 Great-Britain - 1 stamp within a souvenir-sheet of 4 stamps
17.05.2011 Greece - 2 stamps (0.75 & 3.25 €)
17.01.2011 Greenland - 2 stamps (9.- & 10.- DKK)
04.05.2011 Guernsey - 2 stamps (0.45 & 0.52 GBP) & 1 souvenir-sheet (0.45, 0.52, 2.- GBP)

09.05.2011 Hungary - 1 souvenir-sheet (4x 200.- HUF)

17.03.2011 Iceland - 2 stamps (165.- & 220.- ISK)
05.05.2011 Ireland - 2 stamps (0.55 & 0.82 €)
28.09.2011 Isle of Man - 1 stamp (0.68 GBP) out of a set of 6 stamps
09.05.2011 Italy - 2 stamps (0.60 & 0.75 €)

08.02.2011 Jersey - 2 stamps (0.45 & 0.55 GBP) out of a set of 4 stamps

21.04.2011 Kazakhstan - 1 stamp (250.- KZT)
09.05.2011 Kosovo - 2 stamps (1.- & 2.- €) & 1 souvenir-sheet (2.- €)

08.04.2011 Latvia - 2 stamps (0.55 & 1.20 LVL)
06.06.2011 Liechtenstein - 1 stamp (1.40 CHF)
23.04.2011 Lithuania - 2 stamps (2x 2.45 LTL) 
17.05.2011 Luxembourg - 2 stamps (0.60 & 0.85 €)

05.05.2011 Macedonia - 2 stamps (50.- & 100.- MKD) & 1 souvenir-sheet (100.- MKD)
09.05.2011 Madeira - 1 stamp (0.68 €) & 1 souvenir-sheet (2x 0.68 €)
09.05.2011 Malta - 2 stamps (0.37 & 1.19 €) 
07.05.2011 Moldova - 2 stamps (4.20 & 5.40 MDL)
03.05.2011 Monaco - 2 stamps (0.58 & 0.75 €)
21.04.2011 Montenegro - 2 stamps (2x 0.90 €) & 1 souvenir-sheet (2x 0.90 €)

10.06.2011 Norway - 2 stamps (12.- & 14.- NOK)
05.05.2011 Poland - 1 stamp (3.- PLN)
09.05.2011 Portugal - 1 stamp (0.68 €) & 1 souvenir-sheet (2x 0.68 €)

27.04.2011 Romania - 2 stamps (2.40 & 9.10 RON)
05.05.2011 Russia - 1 stamp (15.- RUB)

05.04.2011 San Marino - 2 stamps (0.60 & 0.65 €)
05.05.2011 Serbia - 2 stamps (33.- & 66.- RSD)
06.05.2011 Slovakia - 1 stamp (0.90 €)
27.05.2011 Slovenia - 2 stamps (0.49 & 0.92 €)
04.04.2011 Spain - 1 stamp (0.65 €)
24.03.2011 Sweden - 2 stamps (2x 12.- SEK)
05.05.2011 Switzerland - 1 stamp (1.- CHF)
09.05.2011 Turkey - 2 stamps (0.90 & 1.30 TRY)
20.12.2011 Ukraine - 2 stamps (2.20 & 4.30 UAH)

21.06.2011 Vatican - 2 stamps (0.60 & 0.75 €)


no issue this year from: the Netherlands ; Georgia

Guernsey 1999 - focus

Guernsey

27th April 1999 - "Nature reserves and Parks"
design: Colleen Corlett
printer: Walsall Security Printers

This Summer I’ve visited for the first time the Channel Islands. As a Europa stamps collector I learnt to know very well the islands of Jersey and Guernsey through their stamps issues. This I decided to see it all in real !

The Channel Islands are an archipelago composed by five main islands. The three biggest islands issue stamps : Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney. The first two also issue Europa stamps but Alderney don’t. The other two main islands: Sarq and Herm don’t issue stamps… or better said, don’t issue stamps anymore.

In 1999 Guernsey issued a set of four stamps, two bearing the Europa logo featuring the nature of the island of Herm. It’s one of the rare Europa issue featuring a stamp on stamp !


The island of Herm is part of the bailiwick of Guernsey and is rent to a tenant ! During twenty years, from 1949 until 1969, the tenant of Herm decided to produce the island's own stamps. You can see some of those stamps on the 1999 Europa stamps of Guernsey. Those private issues from the islands of Herm were available with or without perforation and were triangular.



One more intersting thing about Herm stamps is that they also issued Europa stamps ! Well, not official ones but stamps with the word "Europa" written on it. Those "bogus" Europa stamps were issued in 1962 and 1963. They also over printed stamps with the word "Europa" in 1961, 1964, 1966


If you are interested in those Herm stamps, you can find them on auction websites are at around 7€ for a full set of 12 (you can find other Herm issues as well). You can also visit this website dedicated to Herm's stamps (sell also some sets).

source of the images : http://www.ibolli.it/indexes/cept/index.php & http://www.hermstamps.co.uk

PostEurop's annual review

Europe

PostEurop's Philately Working Group published their annual review in the latest issue PostEuropNews.

Istanbul, from a New Strategy to Deliverable

Last year, we were in Istanbul, to hold our Philatelic Forum. After reviewing the EUROPA stamp competition results survey, we took many decisions impacting the future of EUROPA stamps. It was time to adopt a new strategy beginning with the legal framework. There was a need to officially clarify the situation with regards to the use of the EUROPA logo and need to adhere and respect logo guidelines before issuing EUROPA stamps. This new logo was launched and registered internationally.

logo used with the permission of PostEurop

Starting from January 2012, this logo will be the only authorized trademark, bringing us an important step further in the right direction. As mentioned earlier, 2011 was a transition year for our philatelists. Needless to say, we had been very busy all year round with the EUROPA 2011 theme: Forests, which was aligned and realized in full collaboration with the United Nations Program, International Year of Forests. Our First Jury prize Other important aspect discussed in Istanbul was on increasing the votes and growing the coverage of the competition whilst rebuilding the link we had with Philatelists. Therefore, we introduced two innovations: a Jury Prize and a collection album. The Jury Prize was managed by David E. Failor.


Our first Jury was composed of independent designers or philatelists experts. We had Cyprus Post (Cyprus) emerge as winner of the very first Jury Prize. An announcement was made at the Brussels Town Hall amongst hundreds of passionate philatelists… And the winner goes to... The Jury prize was also a teaser for the main competition: the most beautiful EUROPA stamp of the year. The classic online competition ran well this year, as we received more than 5,500 votes (compared to 1,305 last year) with PTT Turkish Post (Turkey) emerging as a clear winner despite tough competition. The second and third place went to Magyar Posta (Hungary) and CTT Correios (Portugal). For Hungary, it was their 5th time in a row at winning a prize. During the Plenary Assembly Dinner, Mr. Jan Sertons, who was part of the Jury handed out the Jury prize to Mr. Andreas Gregoriou, the CEO of the Cyprus Post (Cyprus). Mr. Jean-Paul Forceville, our Chairman, handed out the Gold EUROPA stamp prize proudly to Mr. Osman Tural, CEO of PTT Turkist Post (Turkey). Behold, another surprise The biggest surprise was kept for the morning after. On every desk, of every delegate was the beautiful and rare EUROPA Collector Album (below).


This limited edition album was designed and produced by PostEurop headquarters. The richness of it comes from all the stamps we received from our members. 41 operators participated in the project and there were in total 69 real EUROPA stamps in the album. This Collector Album will be used in future as the official list of EUROPA published stamps. Only stamps that strictly fulfilled the official guidelines will be included in these albums. Building on this, the 2012 EUROPA theme will be “Visit…” and the album can be used as a tourism promotional tool in which each Europa stamp presents a “window” to discover more about our members’ country. Another innovative element will be the use of new technologies such as Quick Response (QR) codes and augmented reality (AR) to make EUROPA Stamps more interactive by enabling viewers to further discover more things behind the stamps and virtually travel across Europe. PostEurop believes that this edition will be even stronger than the 2011 edition. As it will touch your country, it will be important to have the most attractive, recent and accurate information possible as well as the best support possible. And on that, PostEurop really counts on you!

Belgium 2012

Belgium

Date of Issue: 13th February 2012

one souvenir-sheet of two stamps (2x Europe 3rd class value)

Iceland 2012

Iceland

Date of Issue: 3rd May 2012

two stamps 50g to Europe (165 ISK) & 50g outside Europe (220 ISK)

both stamps are issued in mini-sheets of 10 stamps.

both stamps are also issued in two booklets of 10 stamps each - NOTE the stamps from the booklet are self adhesive

Åland 2012

Åland

Date of Issue: 9th May 2012

one stamps (Europa value)

Iceland - Norden 2012

Iceland - Norden

Date of Issue: 21th March 2012

1 stamp (250g. value inland) issued in one souvenir sheet

Åland - Norden 2012

Åland - Norden

Date of Issue: 21th March 2012

1 stamp (världen value) issued in one souvenir sheet

Finland 2012

Finland

Date of Issue: 7th May 2012

two stamps (2x 2nd class value) - NOTE both stamps are self-adhesive


both stamps are issued in a mini-sheet of 10 stamps (five of each)

Jersey 2012

Jersey

Date of Issue: 10th January 2012

two stamps (0.49 & 0.59 GBP) out of a set of four stamps (only those two stamps are bearing the official Europa logo).


Both stamps are issued in mini-sheets of 10 stamps

Switzerland 1979 - focus

Switzerland

30th April 1979 - "Postal history"
design: Klaus Oberli
engraving: Max Müller
printer: Wertzeichendruckerei PTT - Bern
FDC (picture on Zasa-stamp blog)

The first Swiss stamp was issued in 1850, but before that stamps were issued in Switzerland by Cantons. Zurich was the first canton to issue post stamps in 1843 followed by Geneva. But the most famous Swiss stamp ever is the cantonal stamp issued by Basel in 1845: the "Basel Dove". This stamp was really modern for that time, was multi-colored and the dove was white embossed on a red field. Until today it is considered as "one of the most beautiful stamps ever produced" !


In the city of Basel where this stamp come from, the local post asked the architect Melchior Berri to design a mailboxes inspired by the Basel Dove stamp. One of the two 1979 Europa stamps issued by Switzerland is reproducing one of those famouse mailboxes. Today in Basel they are still six of those mailboxes remaining of 1845 and still in use ! Go to Basel and try to find them !

source of the images : http://www.ibolli.it/indexes/cept/index.php & http://www.basel-virtuell.ch

Finland - Norden 2012

Finland - Norden

Date of Issue: 21st March 2012

2 stamps (2x 1 Klass value) issued in one souvenir sheet

Best Europa stamp 2011 - Public prize

Turkey

Turkey is the winner of this year's Best Europa stamp contest organised by PostEurop. The winner of the last three editions, Hungary finished second and Portugal third.

[UPDATE] number of votes:

1. TURKEY 1288
2. HUNGARY 791
3. PORTUGAL 385

this 0.90 TRY stamp is part of a two stamps set designed by Bülent Ates.

Turkey receiving the Public prize during PostEurop's plenary assembly in Istanbul



The Best Europa stamp design competition is a yearly event that takes place during the Plenary Assembly of PostEurop. The first competition took place in 2002. All official Europa stamp issues can enter the competition.

The result of this competition was announced during this year's Plenary Assembly in Istanbul, Turkey on the 12th October.

The stamp has been selected via the internet ! All people could vote through PostEurop's website ! This year's Best Europa Stamp competition reached a new record high of 5,576 number of public votes registered from all over the world, a sharp increase of 300% from last year's total number of votes due to the growing public interest and popularity.

A jury of 7 members (stamp designers, philatelic design directors) awarded earlier this year, the first Best Europa stamp - Jury prize to Cyprus ! This award don't replace the Best Europa stamp prize selected by the internet voting but is a second prize starting from this year.

Postcrossing.com wrote about the contest on their blog, asking their members which stamp the voted for.

Here you can find the full list of winning stamps since the first contest in 2002 when Malta won.

Best Europa stamp 2011 - Jury prize

Cyprus


This Saturday was awarded the 1st Best Europa stamp - Jury prize ! This prize won't replace the Best Europa stamp awarded after an online voting but will be a more neutral and artistic prize.

A jury of seven members of the postal, philatelic, stamp design world elected the best 2011 Europa stamp (here some pictures of the jury in action !)


The first stamp to win this new award is the 0.68 € stamp issued by Cyprus and designed by Stelios Karamallakis


From a graphic point of view, this stamp can be read on different levels. The first impression is it's "greenness", the brightness of it's colours and the fact that it directly refers to this year's them and give a great positive impact on a letter. The second level is the forest depicted on the stamp, the deepness the graphic effect gives. Trees are coming out of the edge of the design giving a growing effect. You can also consider the name of the country in three languages being roots. The third level are the details you get by having a closer look to the stamp. You can see many different animals living in this forest and especially the Cyprus mouflon which is a typical animal from that country. The animals and the trees are designed as a shadow play and remains on pop-up effects of children books which give an extra 3D design to this stamp.

Official statement on Cyprus post website (in greek)

Cyprus receiving the Jury prize during PostEurop's plenary assembly in Istanbul

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

Great-Britain 1991 - focus

Great Britain

23rd April 1991 - "European aerospace"
design: Jean-Michel Folon
printer: Harrison & Sons Ltd

Many stamp collectors collects stamps related to space. They call it astrophilately or space philately. 1991 must have been an interesting Europa stamps year for all those collectors (as later 2009 with the Astronomy theme) but for my part space on stamps is not really my cup of tea. Rockets, satellites is a bit boring to me.

But two countries that year issued stamps with a more poetic touch, the Netherlands and Great-Britain. I will focus in this post on the British issue as I love the designer of those stamps : Jean-Michel Folon.



Folon was a Belgian painter and sculptor who produced many posters but also many stamps during his life. The set he produced for Great-Britain in 1991 is composed of 2 pairs of stamps. The first pair is called "Man looking at Space" and the second one "Space looking at Man". It is a very poetic point of view showing space through the eyes of man, how small we are in front of this immensity lost on our little blue planet. In the first pair of stamps the cosmos is our head as a dream and in the second one in our eyes more like a kind of reality.

If you are visiting Belgium one day, the Folon foundation in La Hulpe (near Brussels) is really worth a visit !