MARCH-APRIL 2016 Issue # 432

20 Pages·2016·8.87 MB·English

MARCH-APRIL 2016 Issue # 432

WROCLAW 2016
European Capital of Culture
From the European Commission To date there is no word of any
Brochure: philatelic recognition from Spain
re. San Sebastian.
European Capitals of Culture

(ECOCs) are one of the most rec- Meanwhile, ECOC cities have
ognized EU projects. They start- already been selected through
ed in 1985 on the initiative of 2019, one of which is Plovdiv,
then Greek Minister of Culture, Bulgaria (see page 4). ▬
actress Melina Mercouri.

The idea is to put cities at the
heart of cultural life across Eu- But there is also something for
rope. Through culture and art, all Europeans: Capitals of Culture
European Capitals of Culture im- highlight the richness of Eu-
prove the quality of life in these rope’s cultural diversity and take
cities and strengthen their sense a fresh look at its shared history
of community. Citizens can take and heritage. They promote mu-
part in the year-long activities tual understanding and show
and play a bigger role in their how the universal language of
city’s development and cultural creativity opens Europe to cul-
expression tures from across the world.

Being a European Capital of Cul- This year, the cities of San Se-
ture brings fresh life to these bastian (Spain) and Wroclaw
cities. Many of them, like Lille, (Poland) were chosen as ECOCs.
Glasgow and Essen, have Poland issued the souvenir
demonstrated that the title can sheet shown above on the
be a great opportunity to regen- opening weekend of celebra-
erate their urban centers, bring- tions in Wroclaw — 15 January.
ing creativity, visitors and inter- The colorful sheets have a lim-
national recognition. ited edition of 150,000.
MARCH-APRIL 2016 432-2
New Issues v = value(s)

ms= mini-sheet
ss = souvenir sheet
Europa 2016
"Ecology in Europe - Think Green"
SWEDEN 1v GERMANY 1v AZERBAIJAN 2v + ss
Issue date 14 January 2016 Issue date 2 May 2016 Issue date 25 January 2016
BELARUS 2v issued in ms of 4
and 6 stamps
LIECHTENSTEIN 2v Issue date 5 April 2016
Issue date 7 March 2016

Another
stylized
design
that seems
to be
saying The stamps are printed sepa-
“nature rately, and in booklets of 8
good, cit- stamps with 4 se-tenant sets:
ies bad.” Note the solar panels on the
tops of the skyscrapers.
SAN MARINO 1v
Issue date 10 March 2016
The Header pages for Europa
stamps — both PowerPoint and
Acrobat (pdf) files with a head-
er page for each annual issue —
have been updated for 2015
and 2016.

See the members area of our
website: under
“Member Downloads”.
MARCH-APRIL 2016 432-3
v = value(s)
New Issues ms= mini-sheet

ss = souvenir sheet

sepac 2016 From the Europa Blogspot, we
now have the following tally of
“Seasons”
stamps thus far in these two
subtopics:

GREENLAND 1v LIECHTENSTEIN 1v Sepac 2016
Issue date 18 January 2016 Issue date 7 March 2016
 18.01.2016 Greenland - 1
stamp (13.- DKK) out of a set
of 2 stamps
 22.02.2016 Faroe Is. - 1 stamp
(17.- DKK)
 07.03.2016 Liechtenstein - 1
stamp (1.50 CHF) NEW
 28.04.2016 Iceland - 1 stamp
(B50g domestic non-priority
mail value) out of a set of 4
stamps
 25.05.2016 Guernsey - 1
stamp out of a set of 4 stamps
 12.08.2016 Åland - 1 stamp
(Inrikes value)
 20.09.2016 Luxembourg
 04.11.2016 Jersey

??.??.2016 Isle of Man
??.??.2016 Malta
??.??.2016 Gibraltar
??.??.2016 Monaco
The second (non-sepac) stamp is http://www.sepacstamps.eu/ no issue of San Marino
a summer picture. contest/stamp-competition-2015/ no issue of Vatican

NORDEN 2016

 04.01.2016 Denmark - 2
stamps (2x 8.- DKK) and one
Norden 2016
souvenir-sheet of 2 stamps (2x
“Nordic Food Culture”
8.- DKK)
 22.01.2016 Finland - 1 stamp
(1 klass value)
GREENLAND 2v + ss of same values plus a middle label (shown)
 18.02.2016 Iceland - 1 stamp
Issue date 21 March 2016
(50g to Europe value = 180.-
ISK)
 17.03.2016 Sweden
 18.03.2016 Åland - 1 stamp
(Världen value)
 21.03.2016 Greenland - 2
stamps (12.– and 13.50 DKK)
and one souvenir-sheet of 2
stamps (12.– and 13.50
DKK) NEW
 15.04.2016 Norway - 2 stamps
(2x 14.- NOK) and one souve-
nir-sheet
I’m sure that this is supposed to look delicious.
 26.04.2016 Faroe Is. - 1 stamp

(9.- DKK)
MARCH-APRIL 2016 432-4
v = value(s)
New Issues ms= mini-sheet

ss = souvenir sheet
DENMARK 3v issued as self- BELGIUM 1v issued in a souvenir sheet of 5 stamps (shown)
adhesive FRAMA labels Issue date 5 September 2015
Issue date not known European Women’s Volleyball Championship Scott #2767
NORDIA 2015

Doubtful that this will be listed
in Scott. NORDIA 2015 was held
30 October—1 November in
Täby Sweden.
MACEDONIA 1v The 2015 Women's European Volleyball Championship was the 29th
Issue date not known edition of the tournament and hosted by Netherlands and Bel-
European Men’s Basketball gium from 26 September to 4 October 2015. The name of the Bel-
Championship (Eurobasket) gian team is Yellow Tigers. The sheet is round (like a volleyball, of
2015 course) and obviously more collectible than just a single stamp.

EuroBasket BULGARIA ss
2015 was Issue date
the 39th 21 December 2015
annual edi-
tion of the PLOVDIV, 2019
EuroBasket European Capital
champion- of Culture
ship.
Never too soon to
It took place in four different get the planning
countries (Croatia, France, Ger- (and the hype)
many, and Latvia), making it the started !
first EuroBasket held in more
than one country. Held last Sep-
tember, Spain won the title by
defeating Lithuania 80-63.
MARCH-APRIL 2016 432-5
v = value(s)
New Issues ms= mini-sheet

ss = souvenir sheet
SERBIA 1v SERBIA 1v UKRAINE 1v
SLOVENIA 1v Issue date 2 October 2015 Issue date 14 October 2015
Issue date 6 November 2015 Joy of Europe Day of Defender of Ukraine
Davorin Jenko
Joint Issue
MONTENEGRO 1v
Issue date 22 October 2015
Joy of Europe
This state holiday had its first
celebration in 2015. It replaces
the former February 23 holiday
called Defender of the Father-
land Day, which has its origin in
the Soviet Union. Ukraine is still
struggling to maintain its inde-
pendence from Russia.
MARSHALL ISLANDS ss
Issue date 3 October 2015
25th Anniversary of German Re-unification
Davorin Jenko, was a Slovene
and Serbian composer. He is
sometimes considered the father
of Slovenian national Roman-
tic music. Among other songs,
he composed the melody for the
Serbian national anthem Bože
pravde ("God of Justice"), the for-
mer Slovenian national anthem
Naprej, zastava Slave ("Forward,
Flag of Glory!"), and the popular
Serbian and Montenegrin an-
them Onamo, 'namo! (“There,
over there!”). — from Wikipedia “Deutsche Einheit” is a key event in the unification of the continent.
MARCH-APRIL 2016 432-6
Cinderella, or Pumpkin? — Dana Roper
I’ve been conflicted about these It’s easy to be taken in. Steve The story is different for Europa-
things for years, and I’ve now Luster included some of these related topics. Foremost among
decided that it’s time to write an during his tenure as editor, since these is the Concorde SuperSon-
article about them. I’m talking they sometimes appeared in ic Transport (SST). Runners-up
about the “junque” issues that mainstream philatelic publica- include Europa Space (such as
we’ve been reporting on sporad- tions. The irony is that Steve, and the European Space Agency’s
ically for some time now. ESU founder Robin Crowley, are Giotto comet probe), high speed
no doubt spinning in their graves trains (primarily the Eurostar
Specifically, they are what many
at the thought of their being Chunnel train), and historical
would call “wallpaper” issues
mentioned, let alone listed, in events.
from an outfit called the Inter-
the EN.
governmental Philatelic Agency Oh wait, don’t forget Europa

(IGPC), which we wrote about in sports, especially football (aka
So, how to tell if a country is a
the last EN. To be fair, there are soccer). As you will see on the
legitimate stamp issuer? Often
also many bogus issues that em- following pages, these can all
there are telltale clues. In the
anate from a printing press in add up quickly.
case of Abkhazia, issuing a block
Lithuania, and it’s sometimes
of 4 showing former president
hard to tell them apart. But there So why bring these up at all? My
Bill Clinton in his underwear with
is a big difference. decision follows that of the edi-
Monica Lewinsky was a pretty
tors of the Scott catalog, who
 The IGPC is a recognized stamp good giveaway. Another was the
have decided to start listing
producing agency. Their tongue-in-cheek “Marx/Lennon”
them, albeit begrudgingly. The
stamps are valid for postage in
sheet shown below, also from
the issuing country, even fact that Scott seems to have
Abkhazia:
though 99.99% of them never been dragged kicking and
see service. screaming is shown by the terri-
ble way that they have chosen to
 The Lithuanian labels mean-
list them.
while, are responsible for al-
most all the real junk from the
Why do I say that? Simply be-
breakaway Russian republics
cause they are listed almost as a
(Abkhazia and Tuva are notori-
footnote. The approach is logical,
ous examples) and these often
but not helpful. Let me back up a
include Europa issues. An ex-
bit and explain.
ample of the latter is shown
below; it was issued in 2003 in
My source for most of these list-
the hopes of cashing in on the
ings is a dealer/distributor in
“Posters” theme:
Lithuania (of course) called

NEOFILA (neofila.com). Besides
Kidding aside, these labels often
labels, they list many of the is-
assume the names of otherwise
sues from the IGPC. Their new
legitimate countries, such as
issue listings follow a standard
Madagascar, Ivory Coast, Kosovo,
format. Each country is given a 2
etc.
-character designator, followed

by issue number, as shown in the
For Europa collectors, the good
following example:
news is that there aren’t a lot of

these dubious things masquer- Issue # GB-15206a/b, where
ading as real Europa issues any GB=Guinea-Bissau
more. (But, they are out there. 15=2015
E.g., see “Buyer Beware” in EN# 2=2nd issue of the year
402-19, and “The ‘Stamps’ of the 06=6th topic of that issue
PMR” in EN# 413-15,.) a=design layout no.1 for that
topic (followed by b, c, etc.)
MARCH-APRIL 2016 432-7
Cinderella, or Pumpkin? — cont’d
Topic: Fire Engines. GB-15205a and 15205b All of the 4-stamp sheets follow
the same basic format. Now look
at the single stamp sheets; the
formats are the same once again.

This is the hook that Scott uses
to assign catalog numbers. First
they assign a catalog number to
all the 4-stamp sheets, which
they call a set, and then give a
catalog value in the hundreds of
dollars. After that come the 1-
stamp sheets, which they call an-
Topic: Concorde. GB-15206a and 15206b
other set, and again give a huge
catalog value.

As is Scott’s custom, they only
show the first sheet for each de-
sign format; they then list the
others in fine print underneath
the picture. That’s a lot of fine
print, and to me it just shows the
contempt that the editors at
Scott have for these issues. Why
Topic: Lighthouses. GB-15207a and 15207b do I hate this approach? Let me
count the ways.

The most obvious problem I
have with Scott’s way of doing
things is that the topics within
each issue are hopelessly split
apart. Whereas NEOFILA lists the
corresponding stamps for Con-
corde as GB-15206a and GB-
15206b, Scott will give them cat-
alog numbers that could be 24
numbers apart. No one collects
For example, shown above are Just savor that for a moment.
that way.
three different topics in the sec- There were 9 issues for Guinea-

ond 2015 issue from Guinea- Bissau in 2012, averaging 20 or Another problem is the implicit
Bissau. more topics per issue. That’s assumption that all the similar
In this issue, there were 24 dif- about 350-400 stamp sheets. formats make up a set, even
ferent topics covered, from And this is just one country. though they cover an array of

Mushrooms to Churchill. Most Now note the similarity in stamp topics. Once more, no one col-
topics were given a 4-stamp designs. That is a defining char- lects that way, and I doubt that
sheet (denoted by the “a” suffix) acteristic of each issue, and a key anyone will shell out hundreds of
and a miniature sheet of 1 factor in how Scott chose to list dollars to do so.

stamp (denoted by a “b” suffix). them.
Finally, I suspect that Don Smith
To repeat, that’s a whopping 24
The IGPC boasts that their de- and I may be the only collectors
topics covered in this particular
signers can crank out a flurry of on earth who will search through
issue (GB-15201 through 15224),
new designs quickly. A glance at the Scott catalog listings looking
for a total of 44 stamp sheets.
this issue shows how. for appropriate topics.
MARCH-APRIL 2016 432-8
v = value(s)
Cinderella, or Pumpkin? — cont’d ms= mini-sheet
ss = souvenir sheet
And still we might miss some- As to what they are worth, again
GUINEA 2ss GU-15422a/b
thing in all that fine print. Or that is up to you. IGPC will sell
Issue date 3 September 2015
Scott will omit a crucial detail them directly, but they add a ser-
Channel Tunnel
(e.g. they might say “airplane” vice charge plus postage and
instead of “Airbus”). handling (P&H) that can add up
to $20 or more. NEOFILA also
I suspect that the editors at Scott
sells directly, but again with P&H
know all this. Their approach
and you’re dealing with Lithua-
simply lets them use the least
nia. They will then show up on
amount of paper possible to list
eBay and delcampe, and new
these issues, and by adding a
issue dealers such as Herrick and
ridiculously high catalog value
Marlen will finally list some of
they are announcing their con-
them. Shop for price. If there’s
tempt.
something you really want, don’t

wait too long; they tend to dis-
So why list them at all? Because
appear. I suspect that unsold
they are real stamps, and now
copies of these things are treat-
Scott can say that they have
ed like books that don’t sell.
listed them.
They simply go into a big
That last observation raises an “remainders” bin, never to be
interesting point, namely what seen again except in an occa-
should these things be worth? sional packet. Which says some-
NEOFILA usually has a price thing about their value. ▬
somewhere between $5 and $10
for each sheet. That’s a lot, and
So, are these collectibles or
adding up all the prices actually
just junque? Following Scott’s
gives credence to Scott’s num-
decision, we herewith will pre-
ber. Still, no one is expected to
sent Europa related stamps of
buy anything other than the top-
this genre as we become
ic that interests them, so we are
aware of them … unless or un-
back down into the $10-$20 til it gets totally out of hand.
range for a pair of sheets. Meanwhile, look for the “glass
slipper” as shown on the top
Are they worth even that? It de-
of these pages.
pends on what you enjoy collect-
ing. Robin and Steve are shout-
ing down from the heavens that
SOLOMON IS. 2ss SI-15502a/b
they are not worth a plugged Issue date 30 November 2015
nickel, let alone the paper it 25th Anniversary of German Re-
takes to show them. Skimming Unification
through early copies of the EN
revealed some very colorful lan-
guage that Robin used to de-
scribe similar stuff. My personal
feeling is that it is up to you.

Since the IGPC issues are real
stamps, I’ll try to identify them as
they come out. As Scott catches
up to them and Don finds them,
I’ll do my best to hark back to
where we first listed them.
MARCH-APRIL 2016 432-9
v = value(s)
Cinderella, or Pumpkin? — cont’d ms= mini-sheet
ss = souvenir sheet
European Football (Soccer) Championships 2016
GUINEA 2ss GU-15408a/b TOGO 2ss TG-15408a/b
Issue date 3 September 2015 Issue date 26 October 2015
UEFA Euro 2016 is scheduled for
10 June—10 July 2016 in France.
MALDIVE IS 2ss MV-15C07a/b
Issue date 15 December 2015
SOLOMON IS 2ss SI-15419a/b
Issue date 25 September 2015
MOZAMBIQUE 2ss MZ-15311a/b
Issue date 15 August 2015
MARCH-APRIL 2016 432-10
Cinderella, or Pumpkin? — cont’d v = value(s)
ms= mini-sheet
ss = souvenir sheet
European High Speed Trains
TOGO one of two ss NIGER 2ss se-tenant in a continuous design NE-15406c
TG-15608b Issue date 26 October 2015
Issue date 30 December 2015
The classic Eurostar trainset is in
the upper left; the new livery is
shown in the bottom stamp.

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
This is an interesting new gimmick. It is listed in NEOFILA as two souve-
one of two ss CA-15620b
nir sheets printed se-tenant, with a single design across the two con-
Issue date 15 December 2015
nected sheets. The continuous design appears to be the Italian Frecci-
arossa. The second stamp from the top depicts the Eurostar.
SOLOMON IS one of two ss SOLOMON IS 2ss SI-15509a/b
SI-15207b Issue date 30 November 2015
Issue date 26 June 2015
ST. THOMAS & PRINCE IS
(SAO TOME E PRINCIPE)
one of two ss ST-15407b
Issue date 18 November 2015
The stamp portion of each sheet
looks like the Eurostar.
That’s the Thalys train on the stamp Eurostar is in the upper right