SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2014 Issue # 423
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SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2014 Issue # 423 The Baltic Chain 25th Anniversary. From Eesti Post comes the an- nouncement of a very timely re- minder of the need for con- stant vigilance in this time of Sovi- et-style expan- sionism. This year’s joint issue souvenir sheets from ESTONIA LATVIA LITHUANIA are described as follows: “The Baltic Chain demonstrated to the world the will of freedom of the “23 August 1989 saw a giant people of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the non-violent character of demonstration initiated to influ- their aspiration for freedom and their decision to win back their inde- ence Soviet authorities and to ex- pendence. WHAT'S IN THIS ISSUE press the will of freedom of the This aroused much atten- ARTICLES people of the three Baltic nations – tion throughout the world Baltic Chain …………………………….. 1 a human chain of nearly seven hun- and contributed to their EuroMed, new collecting area? 5 dred kilometers (435 miles) from just and peaceful cause. “ EUROPA 1957 (cont'd) …………….. 12-14 Tallinn to Vilnius. The number of EuropAfrique (cont'd)...…………. 7-11 people standing along the route DEPARTMENTS has been assessed at up to one mil- lion. The demonstration was sched- Editor's Page...…..…...…………..… 15 uled to coincide with the 50th anni- New Issues: EUROPA 2014……….…. 3-4 versary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop New Issues: sepac 2014…..……….. 5,16 Pact, which unlawfully changed the New Issues: General……………….. 1-3 UKRAINE national status of the Baltic coun- New Issues: with Scott #s…..……. 6 tries and robbed them of their in- FEATURES dependence. ESU Auction #129 Insert SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2014 423-2 v = value(s) ms= mini-sheet New Issues ss = souvenir sheet FRANCE 1v FRANCE ss Issue date 7 May 2014 Issue date 1 May 2014 20th anniversary of the opening of A continuation of the the Channel Tunnel (“Chunnel”) Capital cities of Eu- linking France with Great Britain. rope series, this issue honors Vienna. The design is a departure from the open motif followed in prior years. At 100 meters below sea level, it is still the longest underwater tunnel in the world: 51 km in total. Opera- tional 24/7, last year saw 2.5 million cars carried on board the Shuttle and another 1.5 million trucks. GREECE 4v —-from La Poste Issue date January 2014 AUSTRIA 1v Greece presidency of the EU Issue date 12 June 2014 The stamps were also released as a pair of miniature sheets, (shown below from the Hellenic Post website and now listed as sold out). 20th Anniversary of the Referen- dum on Austria's Accession to the EU. The referendum, held on 12 June 1994, passed by a 2/3 majority. AUSTRIA 1v Issue date 4 April 2014 60th anniversary of the European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN) See Switzerland issue ref. EN 422-2 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2014 423-3 v = value(s) ms= mini-sheet New Issues ss = souvenir sheet ITALY 1v RUSSIA 2v Europa 2014 Issue date 12 June 2014 SWITZERLAND 2v National Music Instruments Semester of Italian Presidency of Issue date 21 May 2014 the Council of the European Union GREAT BRITAIN 1v from a set of 6 Issue date 18 September 2014 The design features the logo of the Semester: a stylized swallow on a white background with the colors of The Eastbourne Bandstand, on Europe and Italy. the seafront of the East Sussex Tower Clocks Joint Issue coastal town, plays about 150 con- SAN MARINO 1v Scott #1911 The Zytglogge tower (stamp on the certs each year. Issue date 5 June 2014 left) is a landmark medieval tower in There is a commemorative plaque 59th Plenary Assembly of Bern, Switzerland. Built in the early at the rear of the current band- PostEurop in San Marino (to be 13th century, it has served the city stand in memory of Eastbourne held 23-25 September 2014) as guard tower, prison, clock tower, bandsman John Wesley Wood- center of urban life and civic memo- ward, who was one of those play- rial. ing on the Titanic when it sank on The Kazansky tower depicted on 15 April 1912. — from Wikipedia the right-hand stamp may be rec- ognizable from afar but it isn’t the From Iceland Post comes the fol- tower itself that is famous … In fact, lowing regarding the 2014 Europa the tower is the most imposing fea- issue: ture of Kazansky station, one of Two mistakes were made during the Moscow’s eight largest stations. GEORGIA 1v printing process, which they say is — from Stamp News International.com LATVIA 1v Scott #871 highly unusual. Issue date 28 March 2014 RUSSIA ss The first mistake was made during 20th Anniversary of Diplomatic BELARUS ss the printing of stamp 603A – the Relations between Georgia and Issue date 18 April 2014 Stoneharp stamp. The Europa logo Latvia 70th anniversary of the liberation and the year 2014 were left out dur- from Nazi troops Joint Issue ing the printing process. The mis- Joint take was caught and the errors were Issue (hopefully) all destroyed. Still, it nev- er hurts to check. The second mistake was on the Elec- tromagnetic harp stamp 603B, where insoluble glue was inadvert- The design shows the Freedom ently used, making soaking the Monument in Riga, Latvia, and the According to Russia Post, Ukraine is stamp virtually impossible. The Mother of Georgia Statue in Tbilisi, also issuing a stamp or sheet, but stamps are out there and will not be Georgia Ukraine has withdrawn due to the re-issued, so be careful if you collect current conflict in the area. used stamps. ■ SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2014 423-4 v = value(s) New Issues ms= mini-sheet ss = souvenir sheet Europa 2014 — National Music Instruments BULGARIA 2v + ss with same designs but no white borders. Issue date 29 April 2014 The stamps, depicting fife and drum folk music, are issued in ms of 6 each, with 2 stamps printed tête-bêche. Also issued in booklet form as 3 different sheets of 3 sets each printed se-tenant. Also (what, there’s more?) postal stationery shown below Correction to last issue UKRAINE 2v the 3,30 value (Kobza) has been issued as 5,70 UAH Also issued in booklets of 2 souvenir sheets Issue date 25 July 2014 Given current events, it is rather amazing that this is the only impact that we have seen SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2014 423-5 New Issues EUROMED — Another collecting area (?) sepac 2014 — Flowers First we have the Northern Coun- tries (NC, or Norden) issues, then Souvenir came sepac. Now we have another folder for aggregation of countries that pre- sepac 2014 sents a potential collecting topic. From the website of Greek Post comes the following: “The Postal Union of the countries MALTA 1v from a set of 3 around the Mediterranean, ‘The “The creation of PUMed marks the Issue date 27 June 2014 Mediterranean Postal Un- Mediterranean region as a political, The Wavyleaf ion’ (MPU) was founded on 15 economic and social area. Having a Mulleis is March 2011, and includes the structured and organized body ena- widely dis- members of two unions, PostEurop bles a high level of multilateral co- tributed in and the Arab Permanent Postal operation. the Mediter- Commission. “Faced with an ever-changing post- ranean area. “On 2012, at the suggestion of the al industry, members within Its large MPU, the issue of a common stamp PUMed have come together so as leaves, which In 2014 was decided, on the occa- to develop projects that will help are carried sion of the 3rd anniversary of its each postal operator keep up with mainly at foundation. The first EUROMED the challenges of the market. The ground level. stamp, as it is called, has a common joint stamp issue therefore symbol- theme and illustration for all the izes PUMed's intention to co- countries that make up the MPU operate and work together for the and it is released on 9 July 2014.” benefit of each individual country.” GIBRALTAR 1v from a set of 7 Issue date 15 July 2014 The Greece stamp is shown at the PUMed was officially established top of the next column. on 15 March 2011 and its head- quarters are stationed in Malta. Malta Post provides additional de- Member countries are listed below; tail, as follows: those who are issuing stamps are “[This stamp issue marks] the co- shown in blue: operation between members of the Postal Union for the Mediterra- Croatia Malta Cyprus Monaco nean (PUMed) through a joint Egypt Morocco Gibraltar candytuft, common from stamp issue entitled 'The Mediter- France Palestine the North Face all round to Europa ranean Sea'. A number of postal Greece Portugal Point. operators within PUMed, also Italy Slovenia ISLE OF MAN 1v known as EUROMED, are issuing Jordan Spain Issue date 16 July 2014 stamps bearing 'The Mediterrane- Lebanon Syria an Sea' as a common theme. The Libya Turkey stamp features the Mediterranean Sea and its surrounding countries. Almost every non-European coun- “Amany Ahmed Ali of Egypt Post try on that list is experiencing seri- Postal Printing House designed the ous turmoil at the moment. How all stamp. Her stamp was chosen in a this will shake out in the future is contest among six member coun- anyone’s guess, but it certainly will tries including Cyprus, Egypt, Leba- be worth watching. ■ Manx hellebore see last page non, Malta, Morocco and Slovenia. SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2014 423-6 NEW ISSUES WITH SCOTT CATALOG NUMBERS - Don Smith From Linn’s July & August Special Editions * = position in proposed new HB outline (ref. EN# 404-12) COUNTRY SCOTT # DATE OF ISSUE DESCRIPTION * Albania 2943-4 6-Nov-13 Mediterranean Games (ss + se-tenant pair) EN 419-2 3c Andorra (French) 723 5-Oct-13 Presidency of CTP (Pyrenees) 420-4 3b Armenia 962 25-Nov-13 Chairmanship of 2013 Council of Europe 421-6 2a Austria 2493 4-Apr-14 60th Anniversary of CERN 423-2 2a Austria 2499 9-May-14 Europa 2014 1 Azerbaijan 1042 12-Dec-13 Mehdi Huseynzade, joint issue w/Slovenia 1022 3b Azerbaijan 1045 16-Jan-14 European Chess Championships victory 421-6 3c Azerbaijan 1047-8 17-Feb-14 Europa 2014 1 Croatia 911-2 9-May-14 Europa 2014 1 Cyprus 1205-6 2-May-14 Europa 2014 (1206a, booklet of 4 each) 1 Cyprus (Turkish) 741-2 6-May-13 Europa 2013 (Thick lettering, name, inscription) 1 Cyprus (Turkish) 743-4 6-May-13 Europa 2013 (Thin lettering, name, inscription) 1 Estonia 760-1 8-May-14 Europa 2014 1 Gibraltar 1453-4 2-May-14 Europa 2014 1 Kazakhstan 719 15-Jan-14 RCC history ss 422-3 3b Latvia 871 28-Mar-14 Diplomatic Relations w/Georgia, 20th Anniv.