European Stamp Prices & News

This is a tribute to, somewhat obscurely, the practice of writing letters. This theme was chosen by PostEurop, a body based in Brussels, Belgium that comprises (at the time of this writing) 48 countries and promotes cooperation and improved relationships between various postal authorities.

The design of this set of four stamps (two stamps printed twice each) reflects the spirit of international cooperation implicit in the issue: in very stylized, graphics, one stamp (the HUF 100) shows an envelope and a hand-written letter, over which is superimposed a fancy capital “A”. The “A” is being written by a giant ink pen shown on the adjacent HUF 230 stamp, the tip of the pen ending right at the edge of the two stamps. Behind the pen is a calligraphic “L”.

The “L” refers to the phrase “Levél-írás” (”letter writing”) written on each stamp, and to the multilingual faint writing visible on both the letter in the HUF 100 stamp and on the background of the miniature sheet: in French and English (the official languages of PostEurop) and Hungarian, various phrases are repeated: “Levél, levél-írás, letter, letter-writing, lettre, écrire une lettre”. (See the enhanced image of the miniature sheet background at left.)

The two stamps appear in the same layout again, under the first two and rotated 180º.

Send this info to someone else:

Close this Window Bookmark and Share This Page

Save to Browser Favorites / Bookmarks

Ask backflip blinklist BlogBookmark Bloglines BlogMarks Blogsvine BuddyMarks BUMPzee! CiteULike co.mments Connotea

del.icio.us Digg diigo DotNetKicks DropJack dzone Facebook Fark Faves Feed Me Links Friendsite folkd.com

Furl Google Hugg Jeqq Kaboodle kirtsy linkaGoGo LinksMarker Ma.gnolia Mister Wong Mixx MySpace

MyWeb Netvouz Newsvine oneview OnlyWire PlugIM Propeller Reddit Rojo Segnalo Shoutwire Simpy

Slashdot Sphere Sphinn Spurl Squidoo StumbleUpon Technorati ThisNext Webride Windows Live Yahoo!

Email This to a Friend

Copy HTML: 

 If you like this then please subscribe to the RSS Feed or Email Feed.

Powered by Bookmarkify™

More »

This is the second in a series (the first being the Roma stamp of April 8). This time, the Hungarian minority being celebrated is the German people, who have established a significant presence in the country through several instances of migration throughout history.

The stamp’s basic design is closely related to the Romany issue: it features a full-color woman dancing in the left foreground, and a musical instrument (more faded colors) on the right. In this case, the instrument is an accordion. The more distant background image is a German-Hungarian village, which celebrates the architecture of the group.

In the upper left corner is the emblem of the “Magyarországi Németek Országos Önkormányzatának” (National Self-Government of Germans in Hungary), an elected body dedicated to preserving the German language and culture in German-Hungarian areas.

The stamp bears the phrase “Magyarországi kisebbségek - Németek”, which means “Hungarian minority - German” in Hungarian. The stamp’s value is HUF 275.

Send this info to someone else:

Close this Window Bookmark and Share This Page

Save to Browser Favorites / Bookmarks

Ask backflip blinklist BlogBookmark Bloglines BlogMarks Blogsvine BuddyMarks BUMPzee! CiteULike co.mments Connotea

del.icio.us Digg diigo DotNetKicks DropJack dzone Facebook Fark Faves Feed Me Links Friendsite folkd.com

Furl Google Hugg Jeqq Kaboodle kirtsy linkaGoGo LinksMarker Ma.gnolia Mister Wong Mixx MySpace

MyWeb Netvouz Newsvine oneview OnlyWire PlugIM Propeller Reddit Rojo Segnalo Shoutwire Simpy

Slashdot Sphere Sphinn Spurl Squidoo StumbleUpon Technorati ThisNext Webride Windows Live Yahoo!

Email This to a Friend

Copy HTML: 

 If you like this then please subscribe to the RSS Feed or Email Feed.

Powered by Bookmarkify™

More »

Part four of this multi-year series is a set of 5 stamps showing 5 different animals seen in Hungary.

The first (most expensive — HUF 600) is one of the finest designs of the year. A herd of water buffalo make their way through some water, light glinting dazzlingly behind one particular beast — the star of the set — who has been isolated and highlighted by the perforations that surround his space in the image. The entire picture is a beautiful balance of vibrant navy blues and Van Gogh-like golden shadows.

The other four animal stamps in this installment of this series are, in descending order of value:
HUF 310 - Hungarian donkey
HUF 170 - cikta sheep
HUF 150 - goat
HUF 145 - rabbit

All four of these stamps feature a light blue border with a drawing of the animal in the middle in its natural setting. All of them have blue/yellowish gold colors giving all five issues both a thematic and graphic unity.