• • .1/ a&ttftOltsH NUMBER 8 APRIL 1964 VOLUME 2 BASKETBALL AND THE 1963 EUROPEAN SPORT STAMP EXHIBITION - Dr. M. A. Rayal de Ragan MrWS IS WROCtAW 1 l<-u 5-*i rW^ Basketball was Invented In the winter of 1891 by Dr. James A. Nalsmlth. Dr. Nalsmlth was seeding a vigorous indoor sport to bridge the gap between the football and baseball seasons for the students at the International Y.M.O.A. College (now Springfield College) in Springfield, Massachusetts. Although his first rules established a game which was com­ paratively crude In comparison with today's fast-moving spectacle, little did Dr. Nalsmlth dream that his simple fill-in game would become throoughly international in scope. Basketball first spread throughout the world via Y.M.C.A. workers trained at Spring­ field, but before long the game progressed by leaps and bounds through its own momentum until today it ranks behind soccer as the second most important international sport. Over ninety stamps have been issued either to commemorate basketball competitions or using bas­ ketball scenes as all or part of the motif. Basketball was added to the Olympic slate in 1936 and other national, regional, and world championships have sprung up for both men and women throughout the world. The first European Games for this sport were held in Geneva in 1935; others followed in Riga in 1937 and in Kaunas in 1939- After World tfar II competition was resumed in 1947. Poland had sponsored an organized international competition for women in 1958, but its first European men's championship took place in Wroclaw on October 4-13, 1963, with sixteen countries participating. (Editor's note: The stamps and first-day covers Issued Copyright, Sports Philatelists International, 1964 2 BASKETBALL AND THE 1963 EUROPEAN SPORT STAMPS EXHIBITION (Cont'd) in commemoration of this European championship were illustrated and described in the March, 1964, issue of "JSP".) Coincident with this basketball championship the International Philatelic Federation sponsored a European Sport Stamp Exhibition, "Wroclaw 1963". Over 250 entries of topical collections—sports, space, and flights—were involved. A nine-man International Jury was nominated to select the winners of the Grand Prize, gold, silver, and bronze medals, and many other awards. Official exhibits were submitted by the governments of Austria, Czechoslovakia, Prance, Norway, Poland, and Sweden. The Polish postal authority Issued a special souvenir sheet in honor of the exhibition. Of particular philatelic interest to sports collectors are the postal cancellations and commemorative cards and envelopes which were prepared and used during the exhibition. That illustrated on Page One shows one of the three official postal cancellations. This cancellation reads "European Sports Stamp Exhibition, Wroclaw, 1.7-10.63". The small de­ sign in the lower left is the official emblem of the exhibition and Includes a map of Eu­ rope, a hand shooting a basketball into a basket, the date "1963", and the word "Wro­ claw". The second and third official cancellations are quite similar except that a mis­ sile or an airplane is substituted for the official emblem of the philatelic exhibition. Illustrated next is a commemorative card from the exhibition, franked this time with an astronaut stamp. One must remember that flight material was included in the exhibi­ tion. To the left is a small relief map of Europe with Wroclaw specially noted. The of­ ficial exhibition cancellation features a missile. Dr.-Mieczyslaw A. Lipinski Kowary/Poland, Skr. 81 Tel. 694, Konto PKO Jelenia Gora Nr. 46-15-124 USA-;S$iuiy Zjedn.AHU •*» fV-t '•+"•' HIJ^IStttrt H. c r u o c Box 18 • jrT~-' ' ' t*f ' A- Vest P o i n t,l-T .* p v •- Office for physical Education EUROPEJSKA WYSTAWA ZNACZKOW SPORTOWYCH LOTNICZA WROCLAW • 1963 Hfiyfl^j B Yet another Illustration shows a cover with the six stamps of the basketball commem­ orative series and the third of the official cancellations for the exhibition, this one SPORTS GOLD MEDAL COLLECTION NEW! bigger ... better ...more complete than ever! all mint stamps-most imperf. sets-miniature sheets-miniature collective sheets de luxe sheets-proofs essays-vignettes SEND FOR MY POCKET CATALOGUE OF SPORT 75c HENRY TI^HTENBERG 115 rue HOCHE IW - SEINE - FRANCE MINT <S>W^MINT Cuba 2°9/303 t 3.25 , Blocks t 13.00 WANT Costa Rica C57/66 63.00 Haiti Bl, CB1/2 58.00 LIST Korea 85/86 27.50 Blocks 115.00 Salvador C36/4O 40.00 Blocks 180.00 SERVICE I960 Olympics - 60 issues including Guinea - No Imperfs or Souvenier Sheets 95.00 CARL A. MAOERL Same - Blocks except where not possible 380.00 AOB PENNSYLVANIA AVE. Latin America Sport Collection -All complete Mint sets 585.00 NORTH WALES, PINNA. Nicaragua 729A, C309A 26 sheets 90.00 t^k^mmmmm^mm BASKETBALL AND THE 1963 EUROPEAN SPORT STAMPS EXHIBITION (Cont'd) featuring an airplane. XIII MISTRZOSTWA EUROPY W KOSZYK6WCE MEZCZYZN - WROO.AW 1963 .W KOSHZYKIOWCE M^ZCZVZN ZNACZKOW SPORTOWYCH LOTNICZA w ROC" L~K~vf 1 PAR AVION A Nr I*} The final example is another commemorative card from the exhibition. To the left Is the relief map of Europe, highlighting the location of Wroclaw. The card is franked with FRED HOWARD The Company Thats SPORT and OLYMPIC STAMPS on the Mow! For the Beginner — For the Specialist FRED HOWARD NEW ISSUE SERVICE SPORT STAMPS 10613 Rochester Avenue WANT LIST SERVICE Lbs Angeles 24, California 4 BASKETBALL AND THE 1963 EUROPEAN SPORT STAMPS EXHIBITION (Cont'd) the special souvenir sheet issued for the exhibition as a part of the basketball commemo­ rative set. It is cancelled with the first" official exhibition cancellation featuring the official emblem of the exhibition. IOTNICZA PAR AVION EUROPE1SKA WYSTAWA ZNACZK6W bPOKTOWYCH w K~~G~'CT~A~W"~I e Nr , ?..£/. rIP Wt ',i (o'\v\\, AT/ P ."••; • 0 EUROPEJSKA WYSTAWA ZNACZKOW SPORTOWYCH •-•W-* V- f^ 1 f> Ctf. WROCl AW • 1963 fcoWlCs i > 0-v PHILATELIC MARKET REPORT - pred Parr - Tip of the month—Monaco 363-64. Stamps issued to honor the Olympic Games are always among the most popular stamps issued; this duet is no exception. Number 363 depicts the ski jump at Cortina d'Ampezzo, where the Winter Olympics were held in 1956. Number 364 is the "joker in the deck"—not only does it depict four events of the Summer Olympic Games, but it also shows four pieces of ancient sculpture. Hence this set is not only eagerly sought after by sports collectors, but also by collectors of art-on-stamps as well as specialists from the French area. With only 170,000 sets sold, it is doubtful if the mar­ ket will long remain stable in price. Currently cataloguing only $1.40 in Scott, the wholesale price is now 80<i—this is less than current retail.1 if you don't have your set, you'd better move fast before your favorite stamp dealer finds he is selling these stamps cheaper than he (the dealer) can buy them. With all the new sports collectors attracted to our specialty through the 1964 Olympic Games, I expect this set to sell at full cata­ logue price before 1965. The handwriting is on the wall! Jugoslavia 260-61. Small-sized and rather bland in design, these stamps were Issued to commemorate two events, the tenth anniversary of the completion of the ski Jump at Planica and the International Ski Championships, sponsored by PIS, which were held at Planica in 1949. Some 150,000 sets were Issued and most were exported to the United States and Western Europe in order to secure hard currency for Tito's regime. Pew dealers are aware of it, but the current retail price of 30(i or 35^ is exactly equal to current wholesale quotations) I am not implying that these stamps will become rare, but it is quite obvious that no dealer can sell stamps at the same wholesale prices he pays for these stamps. Do you have your set? Jugoslavia 537. Although this very attractive stamp is not listed by anyone as a sports stamp, the writer includes it in his collection. This multi-colored pictorial stamp shows a number of sailboats in the harbor at Dubrovnik some five hundred years ago; at t-hat time Dubrovnik was known as Ragusa and was both a great mercantile power and noted vacation resort. Although some 200,000 copies were issued, many of these stamps were used commercially; hence used copies are much cheaper than mint copies. With a cata­ logue value of only 20-z., you should be able to get your copy for 15^ or so. HINT: get your copy now, before all the other sports collectors realize what is going on. Poland 750-56. Previously listed in this column, this set was noted by the writer as available for less than ,£1.00 retail although it retails for close to $2.50 in Europe. The latest wholesale quotations from New York City confirm this tip—wholesalers here now want «>2.00 for this setl I hope you got your set before prices went zooming upwards. Cuba 213a. Something strange is going on with this souvenir sheet. issued by "Uncle Pidel" (Castro) to commemorate the XVII Olympiad In Rome in I960, this souvenir PHILATELIC MARKET REPORT (Cont'd) 5 sheet contains four stamps, each of which has a stylized design. Personally I consider this sheet to be very unattractive, but that- fact shouldn't prevent any sports collectors from making sure this sheet is in their collections. Some 95,000 of these souvenir sheets were sold and it catalogues $1.25 in Scott.