EUROPA NEWS MARCH—APRIL 2004 360-1 EUROPA NEWS · 2009. 8. 12. · 2002 I made a parachute jump...

EUROPA NEWS MARCH—APRIL 2004 360-1

EUROPA NEWS APS - BULLETIN OF THE EUROPA STUDY UNIT - ATA

MARCH—APRIL 2004 NUMBER 360

EUROPA STAMPS EUROPA STAMPS ITEM PAGE

New Issues 2-3

Secretary’s Report 4

Treasurer’s Report 4

Letter to the Editor 5

New & Returning Members 5

Europa Briefs 6-17

Europa Postal Stationery 18-19

Feature Article—Europe’s vision of Unity Meets Headwinds by Richard Bernstein

20-21

2004 Nordic Issues 21

Collecting Meter Marks 22

Post Cards Related to European Unity

23

Prices Realized - Auction #99 24

Forward Calendar 25

2003 Opinion Poll 25

Member E-Mail Addresses 25

New Postmarks 26

New Issues List 27

Unit Info 28

WHAT’S IN THIS ISSUE?

HAVE YOU PAID YOUR DUES YET? - This will be your last issue unless your 2004 dues payment is received. So, if you have not yet paid, please take a moment to do so—and while you are at it, how about adding a contri-bution to help keep the Unit in positive terri-tory. In a related item, Don Smith reported that “...we are now down to 28 non-renewals, so are doing well so far. Got one today that I thought might interest you from Mrs. Frances Cisternino (who has been a member for many years”): "Thanks, Don, for the dues re-minder. I'm 91, legally blind, and dealing with severe arthritis and curvature of the spine - BUT I'm still alive and grateful. On Dec. 9, 2002 I made a parachute jump skydive to cele-brate my 90th birthday. So I'm not complain-ing about a thing. I am no longer an active stamp collector, but I don't want to drop out of the ESU." How about that! NTSS MEETING - Our next meetings will be at NAPEX in Northern Virginia on June 5, 2004 and then in Memphis at the NTSS on June 12th. Hope to see as many members there as possible. Steve EUROPA WEB SITE - Check out the Unit web site at http://www.europanews @emperors.net. Member Cunyet Cunedi has done a great job in setting up the site There you will find many back issues, some in color, of the Europa News. MEETING IN NORFOLK—A report on the Unit meeting in Norfolk, is on page 17. HEAVY INKING—In the last issue it was impossible to see some of the photos.

EXECUTIVE SECRETARY & TREAS-URER REPORTS - On page 4 of this issue can be found the annual Executive Secre-tary’s and Treasurer’s reports. From the Secretary report we can see that member-ship is down a bit. Some of that can be at-tributed to late dues payers. Don Smith will try to contact those people to see if he can get them back in the fold. However, the bottom line is that we have lost some more members. Anything that you can do to re-cruit additional members will be most ap-preciated. Regarding the Treasurer report we can see that we went negative for the first time in a while. However, if you skip to the bottom of the report, you will see that we still maintain a reasonable cash position. In his analysis, Dana Roper wrote that “...income remained on a par with last year. From the looks of things, the major culprits were postage and printing costs. Still, thanks to our members, (donations, ed.), Don's auctions, etc. we are still in a healthy position.” I would add that this year we also spent a lot of money reprinting the handbook and additional funds were spent on an award. I can reduce the printing and mailing expenses by reducing the size of each issue of the Europa News, but I think that you like as many pages as can be af-forded. The cutoff for postage seems to be about 28 pages and I will try not to go over that number of pages in the future.

Lille, France was selected as a 2004 European City of Culture. Covers with first day cancels on official European Parliament envelopes were provided by good friend of the Unit, Mr. Charles Schutz, of France.

I thought about reprinting them but decided against it as the story was quite readable and only the pic-tures were not. I could be talked into a reprint if interest is gener-ated. For those of you who want to see the pictures the whole issue can be found on our web site whose URL is in the first column.


NEW ISSUES

UKRAINE - Poster Art booklet.

BOSNIA (SARAJEVO) - Poster Art booklet.

With this issue, we begin the Europa 2004 series. The theme for 2004 is “Holidays.” However, the meaning of the word “holiday” has a different mean-ing than a day on which a religious or national event is celebrated. In the Euro-pean context, a holiday is a vacation. JERSEY – From a set of 4 stamps on the subject of “holidays” Jersey has ap-plied the “Europa” logo to two of them, the 30p and 39p values. The entire set is of 4 is shown here. # 29p - Saint Aubin’s Harbor. # 30p - Mount Orgueil Castle (Europa).

EUROPA 2003 DENMARK – # 0.87€c - Clown, tiger and circus scenes . # Day of Issue: Designer: Printing: Format: Quantity: Other Items: Not provided.

# 39p - Corbiere Lighthouse (Europa). # 69p - Rozel Harbor. # Day of Issue: March 9, 2004. Designer: Alan R. Copp (although the designs here are shown in the proof stage). Printing: Four-color process, offset, lithography, in sheets of ten stamps (2 across by 5 down), by Cartor Security Printing of France. Format: 40 x 30mm. Quantity: Not given. Other Items: Presentation pack, official first day cover, CTO stamps. Check out [email protected].

GERMANY - One stamp in a set of five semi-postal stamps commemorating sports. # €0.45 + 0.20 - players chasing a soc-cer ball.

# Day of Issue: February 5, 2004. Designer: Andrea Acker Wuppertal. Printing: Multicolored, offset, on white, fluorescent stamp paper DP2, by Bagel Security Print GmbH & Co. Format: 55 x 32.8mm. Quantity: Not given. Other Items: None given.

CYPRUS – 50th anniversary of UEFA, the European Football Union. # 30c - Image of a soccer player. # Day of Issue: March 11, 2004. Designer: Kakia Katselli. Printing: Multicolored, litho-offset, on unwater-marked paper, in sheets of 10 stamps by Alex Matsoukis Graphic Arts, S.A. of Greece. Format: 27 x 40mm. Quantity: 56,000 (sheets?). Other Items: Official first day cover in a quan-tity of 10,000.

On January 1, 2004, Ireland will take over the Presidency of the European Union from Italy. The Presidency ro-tates every six months between the 15 current member countries of the EU. In July 2004 the Presidency will pass to the Netherlands. Responsibilities of the President include chairing the meetings of the European Council and the Council of Ministers. During Ireland’s tenure as President, the EU will be enlarged to 25 member countries. On May 1, 2004 Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Po-land, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia are scheduled to join

concluded on page 3...

EUROPA 2004

EUROPEAN SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIPS

EUROPEAN FOOTBALL (SOCCER)

PRESIDENCY OF THE EUROPEAN UNION


NEW ISSUES (concluded)

the EU. To honor the occasion of the Presidency, Ireland will issue a special stamp. IRELAND – # 0.48c - Image of the Boyne Bridge. # Day of Issue: January 15, 2004. Designer: Red Dog Design Consultants. Printing: Multicolored with phosphor tagging, lithographed, in sheets of 16 stamps by the Irish Security Stamp Print-ing, Ltd. Format: 29.8 x 40.64mm, perforated 14 x 15. Quantity: 500,000. Other Items: Official first day cover .

From a release issued by Finland Post -

NORDIC MYTHOLOGY

The Nordic post offices will be issuing a new miniature stamp sheet with a Nordic mythology motif this year. The sheet is part of their joint stamp series entitled "the North". The second and third part of the series will be issued in 2006 and 2008. The first part will be issued in all the Nordic countries simultaneously on March 26, as each postal administration will issue a miniature sheet featuring mythical creatures.

The Finnish miniature sheet will feature a sketch by Akseli Gallen-Kallela enti-tled Luonnotar (1925, 66 x 44.5, water-color). The sheet consists of two € 0.65 stamps. Luonnotar was one of Gallen-Kallela's illustrations for the Great Kalevala, a project which he began in 1925. It was never completed, however, as the artist suddenly died in 1931. The Kalevala begins with a poem de-scribing the birth of the world, based on an ancient international myth. In the poem, a pochard nests on the knee of Luonnotar, the Virgin of the Air, and lays one iron egg and six golden eggs. As the maiden moves her leg, the eggs roll into the sea and break into pieces thus forming the heaven, the earth, the moon, the sun, the clouds and the stars.

Luonnotar is currently part of the perma-nent collection at the Gallen-Kallela museum. The stamp was designed by Pekka Piippo, who also designed the First Day Cover and Cancellation to go with the miniature sheet. The First Day Cancellation features a part of Gallen-Kallela's illustration with the same motif for the Jewel Kalevala (1920 -1922).

All eight miniature sheets published in the Nordic countries will be issued to-gether as a Nordic pack. The pack will be issued along with the miniature sheet and priced at 16 euros. You will find more information on the miniature sheets and the joint project of the Nordic coun-tries at www.topoftheworld.nu

FINLAND - # Miniature sheet of two stamps de-nominated at 0.65€ each - # 0.65€ - Luonnotar, Virgin of the Air, in a close-up of the upper body, from a myth telling of the birth of the world. # 0.65€ Luonnotar, Virgin of the Air, in a full-body pose, from a myth telling of the birth of the world.

# Day of Issue: March 26, 2004. (miniature sheets to be issued by all 8 Nordic countries on this date). Designer: Pekka Piippo from original art work of Akseli Gallen-Kallela. Print-ing: Multicolored 5/0 colors on Sopal White Satimatt 110g/m2, by the Walsall Security Printers Ltd., England, in miniature sheets of 2 stamps. Format: 33.4 x 30.2mm (close up) and 22.1 x 42.6mm (full body); 105 x 70mm (complete miniature sheet); perforated 14.3 x 14.5 (close up) and 14.5 x 14.1 (full body). Quantity: 700,000 sheets. Other Items: Official first day cover and cancellation designed by Pekka Piippo. See a related story on page 21 of this issue.

NORDIC ISSUES - 2004 continued from page...2


SECRETARY’S REPORT FOR 2003 (As submitted by Unit Executive Secretary Don Smith)

Membership as of December 31, 2002 192

Less: Non-renewals -24

Membership as of January 1, 2003 168

Add: New members +13

Less: Mid-year non-renewals -4

Less members deceased during the year -2

+7

Membership as of December 31, 2003 175

TREASURER’S REPORT FOR 2003 (As submitted by Unit Treasurer Dana Roper)

Annual Cash Flow 1/1/03 Through 1/1/04 Balance as of January 1, 2003 $6394.17 Inflows ESU Income

Ads 250.00 Auction 427.71 Donations 376.14 Dues 2467.00 Lit-covers+s/s 46.25 Lit-ESU ss 27.50 Lit-Handbook CD 160.00 Lit-Handbooks 174.00 Lit-Knoxpex Sheets 65.00 Lit-Monographs 184.00 Postage Remitted 2.00

Total ESU Income 4179.60 Interest Income 98.02 Total Inflows $4277.62 Outflows Bank Charge $1.50 from 2002) 3.49 ESU Expenses

ESU miscellaneous 15.37 Postage 70.43 Postage-EN 1791.80 Printing costs-EN 2447.91 Printing costs-Handbook 398.51 Trophies & Awards 101.88 Washington 2006 200.00

Total ESU Expenses 5025.90 Total Outflows $5029.39 Income less Expenses ($751.77) Balance as of January 1, 2004 $5642.40


LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Don Smith wrote me a letter that was very insightful in its analysis of this year’s income and expenses. I have done a bit of editing, but here are Don’s thoughts. First, he did an analysis of costs over the past 5 years. Here is what he found:

A couple of comments from me at this point. Note the large drop in the percent of Europa News costs for the year 2003 that were covered by dues and donations. That percent could be read one of two ways, or a combination of both. It might mean that dues and donations were down, or it might mean that printing and mailing costs were up. Both seem to be true. Now back to Don’s letter. Don pointed out that “...last year the cost of EN postage went up 32% and printing cost went up 27%, whereas during the same time dues/donations stayed almost the same. The number of pages in the EN has risen each year. I don’t know how many ENs are printed (225, ed.), but last year, printing/postage cost per member was over $24.” At this point in his letter, Don then offered the following suggestions for consideration. “...some corrective action will have to be taken. We could reduce the number of pages (published, ed.) per year to 20-24 pages per issue and save on both printing and postage. We could reduce the number of issues pub-lished per year from 6 to 4 and make the 4 quarterly issues larger, to around 32-36 pages per issue and save on both printing and postage. We could raise dues to around $10-12 domestic and $20 overseas which would offset some of the shortfall. We could com-bine two or more suggestions above. For example, we could increase dues and lower the number of pages printed. (At this point, Don opined that we seem to be okay when dues/donations are in the 80% range of the cost, as in the 4 previous years).” Don con-cluded by writing that “...he wants to take a serious look at the issue and try to improve by 2005…” In that regard, I am asking each member to take a serious look at where we are. If you are comfortable with the situation, or if you think that something needs to be done, we need to hear from you. Please send me an e-mail or write to me and let me know how you feel. Of particular interest are your thoughts on Don’s suggestions, and the addition of any other suggestions you might have. When the “dust” settles, I will take the matter to the Board, if necessary, and report back to you what decisions have been taken. For my part, I have already decided not to produce a Europa News larger than 28 pages while we talk about any actions that we might want to take. At that size, the printing costs and postage costs (at the current rates) are well known. Thanks for your help. Steve

ITEM 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

Dues/Donations 2625 1970 2158 2884 2843

En Postage 830 985 965 1362 1792

En Printing 2322 1508 1809 1932 2448

% of EN Costs Covered by Dues/Donations 83% 79% 78% 87% 67%

EN Pages/Year 124 132 152 164 180

NEW AND RETURNING MEMBERS

#762 Donohue, Denis J., Woodside, NY 11377 #1233 Adams, Fran, San Diego, CA 92142

#2184 Terins, A., Union, NJ 07083 #2185 Pechaver, Anton M., Rancho Cordova, CA 95670

#2186 Lamoureaux, Ed, San Diego, CA 92116


EUROPA BRIEFS

with additional information about the Medical Union is asked to contact me.

FRANCE COLOR VARIETY - The 0.30fr value of the France’s Europa stamp at figure 6 is known with a color variety. It looks much better in color than in black and white. The upper stamp is reddish while the lower stamp is brownish.

MULTIPLE EUROPA THEMES - The card at figure 7 on the next page has several “Europa” themes that caused me to include it in this month’s issue. For example, A Europa stamp, a stamp de-picting the Concord

BERLIN SET FOR ERP? - An Ebay seller listed the semi-postal set at figure 3 using in the description “European Recovery Program (ERP). The surtax on the set was for the “reconstruction of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra following WWII. This is the first time that I have seen the term ERP used in conjunction with this set. In my opinion, the set does not have anything to do with the recon-struction of cities and infrastructure. However, a strong case could be made that the “rebuilding” of cultural things such as an orchestra, is an integral part of rebuilding.

SWISS MAXIMUM CARDS - The maximum cards at figure 4 were seen on Ebay with an opening bid of about $2.78. The pictures on the cards are of Europa stamps spanning a number of years.

BALKAN MEDICAL UNION - The cachet on the piece of Romanian postal stationery at figure 5 in the next column commemorates the 60th anniversary of the Balkan Medical Union. This is the first time that I have heard of that Union. While a cachet is not philatelic, and it does not appear that the cancel is a spe-cial one, I thought that the item should be listed here for the record. Anyone

20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE CECA - The cover at figure one com-bines Luxembourg’s Schuman stamp with a set the shows the European office building in Luxembourg. A special Schuman cancel was also applied to the registered letter. An appropriate cachet, depicting Schuman is also on the cover which was put together to commemorate the 20th anniversary (1952-1972) of the European Coal and Steel Community. The cover was seen on Ebay with an opening bid of €1.

SAN MARINO 2003 - San Marino’s 2003 Europa stamps in full sheets of 20, seen here at figure 2, were offered on Ebay with an opening bid of €150.

Figure 1. Luxembourg registered cover prepared for the 20th anniversary of the ECSC.

continued on page ...7 Figure 2. San Marino Europa 2003 in full sheets of 20.

Figure 3. German semi-postal set helped rebuild an orchestra.

Figure 4. Swiss maximum cards from 1970 with pictures of other Europa stamps.

Figure 5. Commemorative cachet for the Balkan Med8ical Union 1932-1992.

Figure 6. Color variety on French Europa stamp.


EUROPA BRIEFS (continued)

corde airplane, the A300 Airbus, and a commemorative inscription. While an interesting item, I cannot understand the Ebay opening bid of over $30.

BELGIAN BLACK PRINTS - Figure 8 is a black print of Belgium’s 1983 Eu-ropa stamps. These make an interesting side light to collecting Europa stamps. I always thought that these prints were separate sheets, but what I noticed on this one, was a serrated edge on the left. Does anyone know why that edge is ser-rated? The sheet was offered on Ebay with an opening bid of $12.

allow any more the communism to split the European trunk! The open wound can still be healed. The involved nations can still be delivered.”

LINER EUROPA - The 1937 card at figure 12 depicts the German liner Eu-ropa. The card was not mailed on the ship so the philatelic aspects of the card are not related to the Europa. However, the picture side of the card shows a great view of the Europa. It looks like the tug boats are making smoke to welcome the Europa into a port.

continued from page ...7

continued on page ...8

EUROPA POINT - The Gibraltar stamp at figure 9 depicts Europa Point. While not for everyone, some of our members collect things related to “Europa” and it for that reason that I included the stamp in this issue. The stamp comes in differ-ent perforations. The one shown here is a perf 14 according to its Ebay seller who was asking for an opening bid of $49.50 for this M-Lightly Hinged copy. So, how rare is the perf 14 variety?

WWII VICTORY COMMEMORA-TION - The cover at figure 10 is franked with two values from Great Britain's World War Two victory set. What makes the cover more interesting is that it is a commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the allied victory in Europe, and that it bears a special cancel to that effect. It was seen on Ebay with an opening bid of about $2.23.

ROMANIA IN EXILE - The sheet at figure 11 in the next column was pro-duced to raise money for the Romanian “Government-in-Exile.” As can be seen, it draws liberally on a Europa common stamp design except the illustration in-cludes an axe, representing communism, that is chopping through the trunk of the tree. An inscription, in English, French and German states “Europeans! Don’t

Figure 7. Souvenir card with many “Europa” representations.

Figure 8. 1983 Belgian black print of Europa stamps with serrated left edge.

Figure 9. Perf 14 variety of a Gibraltar stamp depicting Europa Point.

Figure 10. Souvenir cover commemorating the 25th anniversary of victory in WWII.

Figure 12. 1937 post card depicting the German liner Europa.



EUROPEAN UNION EXPANDS - In December of 2002, the European Union agreed that 10 new member countries would join the EU in 2004. The map at figure 13 shows those countries along with the existing EU member countries and other countries who remain candi-dates for EU membership. Card cour-tesy of Mr. Oege Weijs of Luxembourg.

COLOR SHIFT - The 1960 Europa stamp from Great Britain is listed in some stamp catalogues as having a color shift variety. At figure 14 is an example of what the shift involves. Seen is a downward shift of the brown color, caused when the paper was registered too high (or the brown ink too low) as the paper passed through the brown ink part of the printing process.

MONTECATINI - Every year since the early 1960’s, a “Europa” stamp show has been held in Montecatini, Italy. At fig-ure 15 are souvenir cards from the 5th show which was held in 1964. The cards bear special cancels. They were seen on Ebay with opening bids of $2.47.

EUROPA CANTAT - European music festivals are know as “Europa Cantat.” The card at figure 16 at the top of the next column, is a commemoration of the 9th “Cantat” held in Strasbourg, France in 1985. The theme of the festival that year was the ancient music that would have been heard in the cathedral of Strasbourg. I believe the card is a maxi-mum card as it contains three points of concordance, the picture, the stamp and the cancel. The card was seen on Ebay with an opening bid of about $1.24.

ARTIST’S PROOF? - The item at fig-ure 17 was offered on Ebay as an artist’s proof with a printing quantity of 125. In philatelic terms, it cannot be called an artist’s proof as that term applies to a stage of production of an actual stamp. In any event, the item appears to be en-graved by one of the French master en-gravers. Also, it bears two 1970 French Europa stamps with a Council of Europe and Robert Schuman cancels.


Figure 13. Membership status of the European Union.

Figure 14. 1960 Great Britain Europa stamp with downward shift of brown color.

Figure 15. 1964 Montecatini “Europa” stamp show souvenir cards.

Figure 16. Card commemorating the 9th Europa Cantat, Strasbourg, France, July 20-21, 1985.

Figure 17. Engraved card with French Europa stamps and special cancels from 1970. continued on page ...9



THE STARTING GUN FOR THE EUROPEAN UNION-TEN YEARS OF THE MAASTRICHT TREATY - That was the headline on a recently re-ceived publication from the philatelic section of the German Post. One of the items in the publication was an an-nouncement of the availability of a “document” titled “The Euro 2003” shown at figure 18. Accompanying pub-licity stated that “The European Union (EU) was founded on November 1, 1993 with the Maastricht Treaty. The docu-ment “Der Euro 2003” commemorates the tenth anniversary of the treaty. It contains one 1 circulated euro coin from each of the twelve EU member states that have minted that denomination coin in 2003 and 13 mint stamps on the 2003 Europa theme of “poster art.” Also in-cluded is the self-adhesive stamp from the Netherlands that was issued for the launch of the euro notes and coins. The German special stamp “10 years of the Maastricht Treaty - European Union” issued on November 13, 2003 is also included.” The “document” appears to be 5 heavy stock pages with three con-nected and two single pages, all in an attractive slip case. The size of a page is 17 x 17cm. The “document” is being offered for €49.80 (about 58.25).

BOSNIA REPUBLIC OF SRBSKA - The 2002 Europa circus stamps in a booklet from “Bosnia Republic of Srbska” at figure 19 in the next column were seen on Ebay with an opening bid of $12.50. According to the seller, the booklets were privately issued. It ap-pears that pictures of the stamps make up the back cover. The booklet panes in-side are in strips of three stamps of each value.

MONTENEGRO 2003 - The item at figure 20 looks to be an offset of Monte-negro’s 2003 Europa stamps. Offsets can be created on the back of an item when it is printed and a second item is printed and the two items are laid one on top of the other under some pressure. When that occurs, an imprint of the sec-ond item can be impressed into the back of the first item as shown here.

OXIA COVER - The cover at figure 21 was listed on Ebay with an opening bid of $12.99. It is an unofficial piece at best and certainly not a legitimate phila-telic item. It was correctly described by the seller as: “1963 (28 Jan) Greece fan-tasy Europa set of 2 for the Ionian Island of Oxia (exists, but only populated sea-sonally by shepherds).” Similar stamps and covers exist for at least two other Ionian islands, Arcoudi and Dragonera.

SPANISH COLOR VARIETY - A small difference in the colors, noticeable on the brown color, can be seen on the Spanish Europa stamps at figure 22.



Figure 18. German Post document #000517, “The Euro 2003.”

Figure 19. Cover and panes from a privately pro-duced booklet of 2002 Europa circus stamps.

Figure 20. Partial offset on the back of an imperfo-rate Montenegro 2003 Europa souvenir sheet.

Figure 21. Unofficial “Europa” cover from the Ionian island of Oxia.

Figure 22. Color variety on Spanish Europa stamp .



KARJALA EUROPEAN COINS - Does anyone know if the 1997 set from Karjala at figure 23 contains a depiction on a coin, of any person or theme related to united Europe?

ESU SOUVENIR SHEET - One of the Unit’s souvenir sheets, seen at figure 24, produced for a “Europex” exhibition, held in 1962 in New York City, was offered on Ebay at an opening bid of $6.40. The sheet was produced for a March 1962 exhibition but when that show failed to materialize, the sheets were overprinted and sold at the next NYC show, held in September 1962.

EUROPEAN HANDBALL CHAMPI-ONSHIPS - The postal card at figure 25 in the next column was produced by Turkey in 2001? To commemorate the 5th European Women’s Youth Handball Championships.

GEMELLAGIO - The word Gemella-gio in Italian, and its French equivalent Jumelage, means twin cities. Very com-mon in Europe, cities get together over a period of years to exchange cultural events and the like and through those events, help foster better understanding between cities and their people, thus helping with the ideal of European unity. At figure 26 is a first day cover with special cancel for the 1959 release of a set of 2 stamps for the Rome-Paris twin cities (Gemellagio).

MAURITANIA “EUROPA” - The stamps below and in the next column at figure 27, overprinted for Europa, the European Coal and Steel Community and the Mauritanian Steel Mining indus-try (MIFERMA), Scott #C16, has two overprint types. Below you can see that the word MIFERMA is surrounded by a horizontal box also struck in red like the overprint. In the next column the bottom sheet margin plate block of 4 stamps is the unboxed variety. All of these stamps seem to be offered around $7.00 each.

YUGOSLAVIA BOOKLET - Accord-ing to the Ebay seller, the year 2000 Eu-ropa booklet at figure 27 was privately produced in a print run of only 1000 examples. It was offered at an opening bid of $12.99.

GREAT USE - I always like to see Eu-ropa stamps used for their intended pur-pose. The post card at figure 29 was sent in 1972 from Germany to the island of Truk in the Carolines (a former Ger-man colony).



Figure 23. Sheet with ancient coins that may have a depiction related to our theme.

Figure 24. Europex souvenir sheet produced by the Europa Study Unit in 1962.

Figure 25. Turkish postal card for the 5th Euro-pean Women’s Youth Handball Championship.

Figure 26. 1959 Italian set with cachet, stamps and cancel commemorating Rome-Paris twin cities.

Figure 27. Unboxed and boxed types of the Mauri-tania C16 overprint.

Figure 28. Yugoslav Europa 2000 “Millennium” booklet.

Figure 29. 1972 German Europa stamps franking a post card to Truk in the Caroline Islands.



FAROE EUROPA ESSAY - Accord-ing to the Ebay seller, the block of 4 “stamps” at figure 30 was produced by the famous Danish stamp designer Hol-ger Philipsen. Originally, the stamps were to be used as a commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the Faroe Islands WWI bisect. The stamps eventually evolved into two 1979 Europa stamps designed by Philipsen, which were is-sued by the Faroe Islands

LUXEMBOURG 1956 - With all the craziness in the Europa market, one should not pass by special items that previously might have been overlooked. For example, the block of 4 of the high value of Luxembourg’s 1956 Europa set of 3 stamps, at figure 31, was listed in M-NH condition on Ebay with an open-ing bid of $1.00 and no reserve. No doubt it will sell for a lot more than the opening bid, but the fact that it is only one stamp from a set of 3 will, in my opinion, keep the bidding down.

MORE 1956 LUXEMBOURG - The registered postal card at figure 32 in ad-dition to the 2 franc franking, contains the full set of Luxembourg’s 1956 Eu-ropa stamps and a first day cancel. The card is addressed to Zurich, Switzerland.

ROMANIA “UNISSUED” - The set of 2 “stamps” at figure 33 and others like them, were seen on Ebay with descrip-tions indicating they were Romanian stamps that were “unissued.” They are not stamps but rather labels cleverly made to look like Europa stamps. They were produced for the “Romanian Gov-ernment-in-Exile” to raise money. These labels never saw Romania as they and imitation first day covers were, as best I can recall, issued out of Spain.

SPANISH ANDORRA 1972 - One “key” of Europa stamp collecting is the 1972 issue of Spanish Andorra in 1972, with the common design (sparkles) for that year. Seen on Ebay recently, was the block of 6 shown here at figure 34. There were at least two active bidders for the lot and there is no telling as I go to press, what the final bid might be.

DANUBE RIVER - Some of our mem-bers are interested in Europa “transportation, as it relates to bringing countries together. So it is with the Da-nube River. From time-to-time, coun-tries along the Danube issue philatelic recognition of the river, of the Commis-sion the controls inter-country river is-sues and the like. At figure 35 is a num-bered Hungarian souvenir sheet, issued in 1981 to commemorate the European Danube Commission. The sheet is listed in perorated condition in the Scott Cata-logue as number 2712. The design on the ship depicted on the sheet is from an earlier stamp, Hungary #1830. What makes the sheet at figure 35 interesting, is that it is listed as being in imperforate condition—not listed that way in Scott’s.

UKRAINE EUROPA 2002 - I can’t remember listing the 2002 Europa stamp from the Ukraine seen at figure 36. Here it is for the record. No other information is available at this time.

DOUBLE THEME COVER - At fig-ure 37 on the next page is a cover franked with the complete set, in se-tenant pairs, of Great Britain’s 1984 Eu-ropa stamps depicting both the legend of Europa and the Bull (Zeus) and the com-mon



Figure 30. Philipsen designed essays which evolved into Faroe Island Europa stamps.

Figure 31. High value of Luxembourg’s 1956 Europa set.

Figure 32. Luxembourg 1956 Europa stamps on first day cancelled postal card.

Figure 33. Europa design labels produced for the “Romanian Government-in-Exile.

Figure 34. 1972 Spanish Andorra in a block of 6.

Figure 35. Commemorating the 125th anniversary of the European Danube Commission.

Figure 36. National Circus of the Ukraine on that country’s 2002 Europa stamp.



“aqueduct” design. Look closely at the cancel. It commemorates the 35th anni-versary of NATO. Thus, as both a Eu-ropa and a NATO cover, it serves equally well in two aspects of the “Europa” theme.

MARSHALL PLAN TRAIN - The postal card at figure 38 was cancelled on the first day of a two-day visit to Aachen, Germany, the 7th stop on the first Germany voyage of the Marshall Plan Train. I am not sure why the card’s indicia is rated as 10 pfennigs yet bears the Berlin “Notopfer” stamp adding an-other 2 pfennigs to the rate since the card is not addressed, only cancelled on the train at its Aachen stop. These types of cards are called “blanko” in German auction catalogues. The Ebay “buy-it-now” price for the card was €80 which is a very high price for a “blanko” card, in my opinion. RECONSTRUCTION POST CARD -

The card at figure 39 in the next column has been shown before in the Europa News. There are at least two different types of these cards. This one recog-nizes European reconstruction under the ERP (European Recovery Program, known as the Marshall Plan, and the results of “Peace and Work.’

The other card bears the same design but was used to advertise a “fair” held in Rome. This post card, with several ragged corners was offered on Ebay with an opening bid of €8.

ANOTHER ERP ITEM - Figure 40 at the top of the next column, is a cover with a special cancel commemorating the European Recovery Program (ERP), or Marshall Plan. The cancel is listed in the D’Urso Specialized Europa Cata-logue as number G12, with a rarity fac-tor of 3/9, depending on the city of use. The cancel was used extensively throughout Italy with over 170 different ones recorded. There are two types of the cancel recorded. In the first, the cir-cular date stamp comes before the slogan as seen here. In the second type, the slogan comes before the circular date stamp. Of the first type, 103 different ones are recorded. Another 68 different cancels are recorded for the second type. The cover here was cancelled in Naples on June 23, 1950. Naples used 6 differ-ent circular date stamps. This one marked “corrispondenze” is listed in D’Urso as number G12/59 with a rarity factor of 4.

SAINT BENEDICT - For those who collect Saint Benedict, figure 41 is an item not seen before. The Ebay seller described it as: “Council of Europe Commemorative Stamp Collection Hon-oring Saint Benedict. In 1980, the Coun-cil of Europe and its member states, Austria, Belgium, France, San Marino, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Vatican issued a series of...stamps hon-oring the 1500th anniversary of the birth of Saint Benedict, who was canonized a Saint in 1881 and later became Patron Saint of Europe. These 12 beautiful stamps have been put into a collection by Benedictine SA of France and are of-fered in this auction. Each stamp depicts a time or event in the life of Saint Bene-dict and the story is told along with the particulars of each stamp: Date of Issue, Design, Designer, Engraver and Printer. The stamps are unused, in mint condition and protected by a clear acetate.”


Figure 37. Sotheby silk FDC from Great Britain commemorating both Europa and NATO.

Figure 38. Blanko postal card cancelled on the Marshall Plan Train at its stop in Aachen, Germany on September 21, 1950.

Figure 39. Italian post card depicting European reconstruction after WWII.

Figure 40. Italian ERP (Marshall Plan) “for Italian Reconstruction” cancel from 1950.

Figure 41. Saint Benedict stamp collection.




EUROPA ACTUALLY USED - I al-ways have said that I enjoy seeing Eu-ropa stamps on covers that have actually been used. At figure 42 is an example of a single use of a 1973 French Europa stamp with a first day cancel. This item could have been picked up for a very nominal amount.

CITY OF EUROPE - At first, the cover at figure 43 looks like many other cacheted covers. Among other stamps, it is franked with Great Britain's 1992 Eu-ropa stamps. But, what caught my eye was the cancel, seen here enlarged. It recognizes the city of Peterborough as a 1992 “City of Europe.”

EUROPEAN UNION PUBLICA-TIONS - The European Union had the post card at figure 44 in the next column produced to advertise the web sites where its publications can be found.

AWARD - According to an article in the January-February 2004 issue of Topical Time, Unit member Tonny Van Lioj won the “first award” for his exhibit titled “Europa” at the Aurora, Colorado stamp exhibition, known as APEX 2003. Now, if we can get two “Europa” exhibits at the NTSS 2004 in Memphis this coming June, the jury will be able to award the Unit’s President’s Award to the best of those exhibits. There is still plenty of time to get an exhibit ready. I plan to be there and host a Unit meeting. DOMFIL 2004 CATALOGUE - While I am looking through the issue of Topi-cal Time mentioned above, I noted an excellent and lengthy review of the Domfil Europa-CEPT-Post Europ The-matic Catalogue for 2004. Nothing but praise for the catalogue. Did you know that in 1956, the first year of “Europa” common design stamps, only 6 countries issued stamps. A total of 13 stamps were issued by those countries. In 2002 61 postal administrations issued Europa stamps. I have no idea how many stamps that represents and when you add souvenir sheets, proofs, booklets, fold-ers, and all of the other things that were issued, the number of separate philatelic items must be a BIG number. REVIEW OF THE S-O 2003 ISSUE OF THE EN - And in the same publica-tion, Don Brenke gave a nice review of the September-October 2003 issue of the Europa News. The foregoing three items should convince those of you who are not yet members, to join the American Topical Association if for no other rea-son, than to receive the bi-monthly Topi-cal Time magazine.

BALTIC FAIRS - Some members col-lect “Europa” including events such as the Baltic fairs that took place in the 1910s and 20s. Those fairs demon-strated early 20th century cooperation among some European countries. While no stamps exist to commemorate the fairs, special cancels were used. Many of those cancels are quite rare, desirable and much sought after. Also issued were poster stamps (or labels, if you prefer). Those poster stamps can also be rare in their own right. Pictured at figure 44 is an example, in the Swedish language, or the poster stamp issued to commemorate the 1925 fair that was held in Stockholm, Sweden in 1925.

MAXIMUM CARDS - Figure 46 is a set of 2 maximum cards bearing full sets of France’s 1970 Europa stamps. One card has a Paris cancel and the other bears a Council of Europe cancel.



Figure 42. French Europa stamp used on cover with first day cancel.

Figure 43. Peterborough, 1992 City of Europe.

Figure 44. European Union web sites for publica-tions.

Figure 45. Poster stamp from Sweden for the 1925 Scandinavian - Baltic Fair.

Figure 46. 1970 French Europa maximum cards.



IMPERFORATE EUROPA - Figure 47 is an expert certificate from Hans-Dieter Schlegel, Berlin. It shows a color copy of Germany’s 2000 self-stick Eu-ropa stamp in imperforate condition. Seen on Ebay, it had already received 8 bids on the first day of its listing.

ROIDL AUCTION #44 - Lot #5332 in the Gernot Roidl auction #44 was a col-lection of 86 Europa related covers. Depicted in the auction catalogue were three of those covers in this and the next column at figure 48. The starting bid in the auction was €400 (about $480). The cancels depicted were all good ones. Even if there were no other “good” ones in the remainder of the lot, these three cancels would come close to the value of the opening bid. Below is a postcard with a cancel D’Urso G10 rarity factor 6/7, from the second German Voyage.

Voyage of the Marshall Plan Train in 1951. While it is hard to read, I believe that the cancel is dated on March 23, 1951. That date and the number 17b in the cancel, would put the train in Kon-stanz, the 61st stop when those of the first voyage are added in. The second cancel is D’Urso number P9 with a rarity factor of 10. The cancel commemorates the August 1948 Euro-pean Radio Conference in Helsingfors.

The third of the auction catalogue de-picted cancels is from the Council of Europe. Dated August 24, 1950, it is from the 1st part of the 2nd session of the Council. This cancel bears a D’Urso number CE2 and a rarity factor of 10.

LAST CONCORD FLIGHT - Some-one took a cover that had been flown on a “Europa flight” to Torkay where a CEPT meeting was taking place in 1961, and used it again with additional frank-ing to obtain a special cancel marking

the last flight of the Concorde airplane. The cancel depicts the Concorde leaving Heathrow airport and the date of October 24, 2003. See figure 49.

FRANCE 1956 MAXIMUM CARDS - Figure 50 is a set of two maximum cards with one of each value of France’s 1956 Europa stamps. The 15f card has the Paris cancel while the 30f card has the Council of Europe cancel. Seen on Ebay with an opening bid of about $21.

NATURE CONSERVATION - The souvenir sheet at figure 51 was issued by Romania to commemorate European Nature Conservation Year.


Figure 47. Expert certificate for Germany’s 2000 Europa stamp in imperforate, M-NH condition.

Figure 48. Three cancels from a lot of 86 in Roidl auction #44, January 24, 2004.

Figure 49. 1961 CEPT cover bearing a 2003 Con-corde last flight cancel.

Figure 50. Set of two 1956 French Europa maxi-mum cards.

Figure 51. Romania nature conservation souvenir sheet.




FRANCE 1997 EUROPA - Seen on Ebay, the item at figure 52 was de-scribed as a “philatelic document.” I do not know if it was officially or privately produced. Nevertheless, it is a copy of France’s 1997 Europa stamp with a first day cancel, on an item (document) illus-trated with a “puss-in-boots” drawing.

SPECIAL BELGIUM EUROPA SHEETS - The special sheets shown below and in the next column at figure 53, were produced by the Belgian Postal Administration. They all show fu7ll sets of Europa stamps in imperforate condi-tion. These sheets are much sought after by some Europa collectors. With about 30 minutes left to go on the Ebay auc-tions of these sheets (and many more similar sheets, there was substantial in-terest from 6-9 bidders on each lot. Bids were already into the mid to high $30 range and expected to sell for a bit more.

INTER EUROPA - Inter Europa is an organization of European countries that meets, sometimes at the ministerial level to coordinate and report on progress to-wards the goal of inter agency coopera-tion. The theory behind that goal is to align as closely as possible who various agencies operate in the different Euro-pean countries. Romania has been pro-lific in honoring Inter Europa with many philatelic items produced including the 1976 souvenir sheets of 4 stamps seen at figure 54 on a cacheted first day cover.

EUROPA POSTAL STATIONERY - The four items at figure 55 are pieces of postal stationery issued by the Isle of Man to commemorate various philatelic events in Europe. Each bears indicia of Europa stamps and a cachet explaining the event for which it was issued.



Figure 52. Document with France’s 1997 Europa stamp and complimentary illustration.

Figure 53. Special Belgian official sheets with 1958-1961 Europa sets.

Figure 54. Romania Inter Europa souvenir sheets commemorating 1976 meeting, on first day cover.

Figure 55. Isle of Man postal stationery with Eu-ropa stamp indicia from 1982, 1983, 1984 and 1988. All listed on Ebay with opening bids of about $1.78.



1956 GERMAN EUROPA SOUVE-NIR - The card at figure 56, bearing the complete set of Germany’s 1956 Europa stamps with a Bonn first day cancel, was seen on Ebay with a “buy-it-now” price of $15.

EUROPA IN SPACE - The three cov-ers seen at figure 57 were part of a larger Ebay lot that tied the United States space program to the one run by the European Space Agency (ESA). Columbia STS-9 was a joint effort between NASA and the ESA, Spacelab was the same. Note the combination franking and Council of Europe cancels on the covers.

FRANCO-BRITISH EXHIBITION CANCEL OF 1908—In a recent issue of Topical Time I wrote about the Franco-British Exhibition cancel of 1908 and how that cancel, seen here at figure 58, was accorded a rarity factor of 10 in the D’Urso Catalogue. An e-mail from John Embrey to the ATA pointed out that the cancel, according to George Pearson’s Special Event Postmarks of the United Kingdom, Volume I, accords the cancel a “B” on a scale of A-G, mak-ing it fairly common. I tend to agree with Mr. Embrey that the cancel is not as rare as D’Urso suggested. An Internet search on Ebay regularly produces lots of used 1908 Franco-British Exhibition postcards bearing the special exhibition post mark.

EUROPA “BUYING PRICE WAR” RAGES - According to two buying adds in the January 26, 2004 issue of Linn’s, one from the Edward Younger and one from Marlen Stamps & Coins, Marlen is the leader, buying the 1956 Luxembourg Europa stamp in M-NH condition for a new high of $575 and the 1957 Luxem-bourg Europa set in the same condition for $170. The Swiss 1959 PTT overprint buying price was at $65.

DOUBLE SENDING - Figure 59 is a cover showing yet another way that two correspondents can have some fun col-lecting stamps. The upper part of the envelope is franked with two 15f values of France’s 1956 Europa set. It is ad-dressed to Brussels, postmarked on Sep-tember 24, 1956. Upon receipt, the lower half of the envelope was hand-addressed back to France and franked with the 4f value of Belgium’s 1956 Europa set. Postmarked October 11.

MARSHALL PLAN CANCEL - The penny post card at figure 60 is listed in the D’Urso Catalogue as number G8/11. It was cancelled at the San Francisco 2 post office on what appears to be Sep-tember 5th or 15th, 1950. The year slug is slightly out of alignment. A similar cancel was used at the San Francisco 9 post office.


concluded on page ...17

Figure 56. 1956 German Europa set with first day Bonn cancel.

Figure 57. Three combination covers with NASA and ESA connections.

Figure 58. Special card and cancel from the 1908 Franco-British Exhibition—not as rare as D’Urso suggested.

Figure 59. Cover sent from France to Belgium and then back again. Franked with both country’s 1956 Europa stamps.

Figure 60. four-line Marshall Plan cancel on post card mailed at San Francisco 2 post office.


EUROPA BRIEFS (concluded)

1958 EUROPA SET-OFF - Figure 61 is a partial block of 3 stamps of the 40pf value of Germany’s 1958 Europa set, with a partial set-off seen on the back of two of the stamps.

SPECIAL PRIZE - The item at figure 62 is a Waterford crystal paper weight in the shape of the Washington, DC capital dome. It was donated to the Washington 2006 committee by Colonel and Mrs. Stephen Luster on behalf of the Europa Study Unit.

EUROPA FLIGHTS - During the 1950s and beyond, Swissair undertook some flights that were knows as “Europa Flights.” A special cachet, most often struck in blue was used to identify mail carried on those Europa flights. Figure 63 in the next column is such an exam-

ple. Seen on the cover, which was sent to Bern, the cachet is highlighted for ease of reading.

REPORT FROM NORFOLK - In ad-dition to me, three other members at-tended the Unit meeting in Norfolk. They were Richard Barnes, Ken Costi-low and Bob Locke. Two important items came out of the meeting. Richard Barnes agreed to look into the issue of whether or not the D’Urso Specialized Europa Catalogue is in the public do-main or not. If it is, we can discuss the possibility of a reprint. Bob Locke showed us the CD handbook update he is working on. It is a very nice job and he will have a five year block ready for us in 2005 in the same format as the original CD. We are grateful to these two volunteers for devoting their time and effort to help out the Unit. UPDATED CD CHECKLIST - Thanks to member Bob Locke, we will have in a few years, a new CD containing the past 5 years worth of annual updates. The question for the members is whether or not to include all of the annual issues on the CD, going back to 1956, or should we offer the new CD containing only the 5 years annual supplements? Please let me have your views on this question. Steve.

SPANISH ANDORRA FDC - Spanish Andorra’s 1972 Europa stamp, in the common design of “sparkles” represent-ing communications, is one of the “key” Europa stamps due to its scarcity and price. However, the stamp can be read-ily found for sale, and acquired if you are willing to pay the asking price. It is not common on an envelope with a first day cancel as in the example here at fig-ure 64. True, the item is a philatelic souvenir, and never went through the mail, it is still, in my, opinion, not com-mon with the cancel as shown.

MARSHALL PLAN TRAIN CAN-CEL - The card at figure 65 was handed out on the 15th (mobile post office) car of the Marshall Plan train on its two voy-ages in Germany. The cancel date on this card is September 11, 1950, the first (and only) day of the first voyage when the train stopped in Stuttgart.


Figure 61. 1958 German Europa stamp with set-off printing on reverse.

Figure 62. Special prize given to Washington 2006 by President and Mrs. Luster.

Figure 63. Cover and enlarged cachet for a Swis-sair Europa flight.

Figure 64. Spanish Andorra 1972 Europa stamp with first day cancel.

Figure 65. First day of first voyage of Marshall Plan train in Germany.


EUROPA POSTAL STATIONERY

The material on this and the next page was provided for use (and hoped for publicity and sales), by Classic Philatelics. It is reprinted here with permission and grateful appreciation, to help Unit members located a source for Europa postal stationery.

The listings will continue for one more issue until completed.



EUROPA POSTAL STATIONERY (to be continued…)

To be continued...



FEATURE ARTICLE the current splits within the organization. "At the moment it looks a bit worrisome. "But," Mr. Kemppinen continued, "the E.U. has faced these types of crises be-fore. Political integration is not some-thing that can be reached overnight. It took 50 years to reach a common cur-rency. It might take a couple of years more to reach political integration." This is not to neglect the historic mean-ing of the looming enlargement, by which the European Union, which started with just six countries, will be-come a 25-member club bringing most of the former East Bloc states, including Poland, the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Hungary, into its democratic, free-trade embrace. Still, as the enlargement approaches, the group has been en-meshed in a host of arguments, small and large, stemming from one common root, experts say. "The basic, central conflict has to do with the distribution of power between the big and the small states," said William Drozdiak, director of the Trans-Atlantic Center of the Ger-man Marshall Fund, a research organiza-tion. "The danger is that what you'll end up with after enlargement is a glorified customs union," he added. "All the pre-tense of a common European defense and security policy would fall apart, and you'll see more and more the big coun-tries just getting together to create coali-tions of the willing to do things on their own. That's where we're heading." His assessment is far from universally shared. Yet the accumulated disagree-ments of the last few weeks and months have led other people to worry that the organization's goal of moving from eco-nomic integration to common policies in defense and foreign affairs will at the very least be difficult to accomplish. The immediate battleground has to do with the new constitution, whose pur-pose is to create the rules by which the expanded European system will operate. The draft of the constitution has been criticized by Poland and Spain. They are demanding more weight in the European Union's councils of power than the cur-rent document gives them. One reason for their dissatisfaction is that an earlier plan, agreed to in Nice two years ago, gave Poland and Spain almost as many votes each in the European Council as Germany, which has about twice as

many people as either country. Now, to their displeasure, the earlier system has been jettisoned in favor of an arrange-ment known as the double majority, which would give greater weight to the bigger countries: Italy, France, Germany and Great Britain. At the same time, the French and the Germans worry about the danger to them of giving a preponder-ance of voting power to the smaller states. If, for example, there were to be another debate like the one over war in Iraq, a combination of smaller states could win official support for a policy that France and Germany bitterly op-posed. French and German power cer-tainly seemed to be on display in the recent action on the rules regarding the euro, which specify that no country us-ing the currency can have a budget defi-cit exceeding 3 percent of its gross do-mestic product or an inflation rate higher than 3 percent. Paradoxically, it was Germany itself, by far the European Un-ion's most important economy, that in-sisted on strict anti-inflation curbs as a condition for creating the euro in the first place. But that was a decade ago, before anybody imagined that the economies of Germany and France would go into pro-longed recessions, making it politically impossible to keep deficits below the required levels. Facing that situation, both countries will by the end of this year have surpassed the deficit ceiling three years in a row. Despite bitter oppo-sition from many bureaucrats, they per-suaded the organization's finance minis-ters not to impose the costly penalties that are required in the official currency stabilization rules. The reaction shows not only concern over the two countries' power, but also the way toward possible compromises. In the end, according to senior European Union officials, there was no great appetite for imposing pen-alties on the Germans in particular, be-cause the other countries need Germany to resume its economic growth. In other words, what seemed to prevail was a recognition that not all of the member states need to always be precisely equal.

"Germany and France have always been the engines of the union," Pavel Telicka, the Czech ambassador said, "and we don't have a problem with that. It's the real-

EUROPE’S VISION OF UNITY MEETS HEADWINDS

By Richard Bernstein and published in the New York Times of December 4, 2003 and provided to us by member Robert Locke.

BRUSSELS, Dec. 2 — The grand, even historic vision shared by all of the 25 current and imminent members of the European Union is that the organization, begun as a simple customs union several decades ago, will move to ever higher levels of integration, able to forge com-mon European positions on defense and foreign policy as well. But the recent reality of the union has been a series of crises and disagreements that have led some analysts to wonder if it can work at all with so many members of such differ-ent sizes and interests. It is now making final preparations for its largest expan-sion ever, with 10 new member countries representing about 80 million people scheduled to join next spring. Lately, it seems, the European Union can hardly take a step without finding itself entan-gled in some maddeningly divisive issue. Controversy erupted last week over a decision to allow France and Germany to run budget deficits that exceed statutory limits governing the euro, leading to suspicions of one set of rules for big countries, another for small ones. Right after that, Britain, France and Germany agreed on a common European defense policy but had to omit any reference to a headquarters, to avoid a suggestion of competing with NATO. Next week, foreign ministers from member countries will meet in Brussels to decide whether to adopt a new constitution. Its text, al-ready the subject of a year and a half of intense negotiations, is still producing arguments, mostly over how power is to be distributed among the members, but not only over that. There are also fierce disagreements over the demands of some countries that the constitution's preamble mention God. There are even debates over whether to give the holder of a post to be created soon the title of foreign minister or foreign affairs representative or something else.

"It is a serious thing," Reijo Kemppinen, the spokesman for Romano Prodi, the European Commission president, said of



FEATURE ARTICLE (concluded) One reason for their dissatisfaction is that an earlier plan, agreed to in Nice two years ago, gave Poland and Spain almost as many votes each in the Euro-pean Council as Germany, which has about twice as many people as either country. Now, to their displeasure, the earlier system has been jettisoned in fa-vor of an arrangement known as the dou-ble majority, which would give greater weight to the bigger countries: Italy, France, Germany and Great Britain. At the same time, the French and the Ger-mans worry about the danger to them of giving a preponderance of voting power to the smaller states. If, for example, there were to be another debate like the one over war in Iraq, a combination of smaller states could win official support for a policy that France and Germany bitterly opposed. French and German

power certainly seemed to be on display in the recent action on the rules regard-ing the euro, which specify that no coun-try using the currency can have a budget deficit exceeding 3 percent of its gross domestic product or an inflation rate higher than 3 percent. Paradoxically, it was Germany itself, by far the European Union's most important economy, that insisted on strict anti-inflation curbs as a condition for creating the euro in the first place. But that was a decade ago, before anybody imagined that the economies of Germany and France would go into pro-longed recessions, making it politically impossible to keep deficits below the required levels. Facing that situation, both countries will by the end of this year have surpassed the deficit ceiling three years in a row. Despite bitter oppo-sition from many bureaucrats, they per-

suaded the organization's finance minis-ters not to impose the costly penalties that are required in the official currency stabilization rules. The reaction shows not only concern over the two countries' power, but also the way toward possible compromises. In the end, according to senior European Union officials, there was no great appetite for imposing pen-alties on the Germans in particular, be-cause the other countries need Germany to resume its economic growth. In other words, what seemed to prevail was a recognition that not all of the member states need to always be precisely equal. "Germany and France have always been the engines of the union," Pavel Telicka, the Czech ambassador said, "and we don't have a problem with that. It's the reality."

2004 NORDIC ISSUES

Top of the World of Stamps - a new Nordic stamp partnership In 2004 the links between the eight Nor-dic postal services will be strengthened under the "Top of the World of Stamps" partnership. The first three series of stamps focus on the theme of Norse My-thology. The first stamps will be issued on 26 March, and will deal with the world of the Norse Gods. All the stamps will be gathered in a folder, making it easy to find stamps from all over the Nordic region (Denmark, Finland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland, Nor-way, Sweden and Aland). The folder contains all eight interpretations of the main theme in the form of eight blocks of stamps with one or two stamps in each. The format is the same for each block. The sagas are told in pictures on the blocks of stamps, and in an accompa-nying text in the language of the country of issue (plus English and German). The folder can be ordered from the postal services taking part. The Top of the World of Stamps 04 folder will be pre-sented and launched at the NorrPhi104 exhibition, to be held in Taby outside Stockholm on 26-29 March 2004. In

January a website at the address www.topoftheworld.nu will be opening, where both the folder and each series will be presented.

Nordic stamp partnership since 1956 - The postal partnership between the Nor-dic countries started in 1946, when Den-mark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden formed the Nordic Postal Asso-ciation. The aim was to coordinate postal deliveries between the countries in-volved. One result of this partnership was the issue of joint stamps, and these so called "Nordic stamps" have become an interesting object for collectors. The first joint Nordic stamps were issued in 1956, the countries taking part being Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland. The motif in all these countries was the same: five flying swans to sym-bolize the five countries. Subsequent series also had a joint motif (Viking Ships in 1969, the Nordic House in Reykjavik in 1973, and Water Lilies in 1977). In 1980 the five countries started presenting their own motifs on the same theme: Old Crafts (1980), Tourism (1983), Twin Towns (1986), and Folk Costumes (1989). By then the Faroes had joined the partnership, and Aland and Greenland joined two years later. The joint Nordic stamps continued in

1991, 1993 and 1995 on the theme of Nordic Travel, 1998 (Shipping) and 2002 (Public Art). Since 1956 joint Nor-dic stamps have been issued on 14 occa-sions. The partnership is now releasing the new "Top of the World of Stamps" folder and a series of stamps on the theme of Norse Mythology. It is natural for the people of the Nordic countries to join forces and form networks across their borders. History, the same cultural inheritance and an understanding of each other's languages have all helped this process. Today there are many channels for Nordic partnerships, including the Nordic Council (a parliamentary forum) and the Nordic Council of Ministers (cooperation between governments). In a new stamp partnership known as "Top of the World of Stamps ", the postal services in the eight Nordic countries are issuing a joint stamp series in three parts focusing on Norse Mythology. The first part will be issued in 2004, and will depict the world of the Norse Gods. The organizations taking part are the postal services in Denmark Finland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and 4land. They each convey their ideas about the myths. in their own block of stamps, and these will all be gathered in a joint



COLLECTING METER MARKS

may be the sequential number of the impressions taken on a specific ma-chine—but I doubt it. For some collec-tors, it is fun to track down all of the different marks to see how many were used. What follows is a series of marks from one lot sent by Mr. Kensing.

So, if this article strikes your fancy, be on the lookout for other similar meter marks. If any different ones are found, report them to me and I will keep a tally of the ones that are found. By writing up our findings, we add to the philatelic body of knowledge surrounding one aspect of Europa philately. Good luck on the hunt.

If any Unit members would like to do research on other philatelic marks, please let me know what they are and if possible, send along some illustrations. I will try to feature them in subsequent issues of the Europa News.

At first sight the two meter marks look the same. But they are not. The upper one is number “E30 1047” while the next one is number “E30 1186.” Clearly, at least two different meter machines were used in producing the Europa related cancel. As an alterna-tive, the numbers “1047” and “1186”

The illustrations in this article were taken from covers sent to me by good friend Uwe Kensing of Luxembourg. The purpose of the article is to show how collecting Europa material can be expanded and how research can be done to expand the knowledge we have about Europa philately. Clearly, the type of collecting exemplified in this article is not for every collector. How-ever, some of us do have an interest in pursuing Europa philately into another dimension. It is for those people that this article is presented. Let’s look at the Europa related meter cancel below. The circular date stamp indicates that it was mailed at Bonn

Germany. Post office “Bonn 17 5300” was the point of mailing in 1992. When you look at the other meter illus-trations you will see that they are all similar in that respect. However, when you look at the value lozenge, you will begin to see the dif-ferences that are the subject of this arti-cle. Note on the example above, the meter mark is from a machine whose

number begins with “E30.” The num-ber of the specific meter used in “1047.” Now look at similar numbers on the next meter.

E30 1134

E31 0012

E30 1186

E30 1043

E31 0279


ARTICLE—POST CARDS RELATED TO EUROPEAN UNITY

What follows are some post cards, I sus-pect, with Italian origin, that have been issued over the years. They were all seen as separate lots on Ebay recently, each with an opening bid of $6.90. Note that each is either very close to, or related to an annual design/theme of Europa. Some of the cards have been used to create maximum cards. Many com-memorate the annual European “Stamp Day.”


PRICES REALIZED—AUCTION #99

194


FORWARD CALENDAR

3) How can we make the Unit or the Europa News better? Pro-mote the internet site of EN [europanews.emperors.net] or build a new one of ESU. Complete the Europa stamps catalog. Checklist of Europa postmarks. With color plates (of course that's an expensive process). Would like to see EN available on line, numbers back to edition 1 !

E-mail addresses: The follow-ing members have agreed to share their e-mail addresses with us. Haim Bassan: [email protected] Cuneyt Cuneydi: [email protected] Dale W. McNeal: [email protected] Grace Will: [email protected] Donald Hull: [email protected] Mr. P. J. Denly: [email protected]

COUNTRY DATE DESCRIPTION

Åland 26MAR04 1 souvenir sheet depicting Nordic mythology.

Andorra (Fr) 00OOO04 1 stamp on the 2004 Europa theme of vacations

Andorra (Fr) 00OOO04 1 stamp for the 10th anniversary of French Andorra’s accession to the Council of Europe.

Finland 26MAR04 2 Nordic stamps on the theme of the “mythical north.”

Finland 28APR04 2 Europa stamps on the theme of summer holidays.

France 10JAN04 1 stamp for Lille chosen as a Cultural Capital of Europe for 2004.

France 03MAY04 1 stamp for the enlargement of the European Union.

Ireland 15JAN04 1 stamp for Ireland’s assumption of the European Union presidency.

Lithuania 29NOV03 Souvenir sheet for men being 3-time winners of European basketball championships.

Moldova 05NOV03 1 stamp for Council of Europe.

Poland 12DEC03 1 stamp from a set depicting Marie Curie, a Pan-European Union member.

Portugal 28NOV03 Pan of 10 stamps se-tenant, €0.30 each stamp, for European soccer championships (UEFO).

Sweden 26JAN04 Se-tenant pair of 10k stamps depicting mountain scenes and tents.

Switzerland 09MAR04 1 stamp for the 50th anniversary of the European Soccer Association (UEFA).

Switzerland 09MAR04 1 stamp for the 50th anniversary of the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN).

Switzerland 06MAY04 1 stamp for Europa on the theme of “holidays.”

France 10MAY04 2 stamps for Europa 2004 on the theme of vacations.

France 07JUN04 1 stamp commemorating the 50th anniversary of the WWII landings and French liberation.

France 28JUN04 7 stamps on the Napoleonic epoch.

Germany 05FEB04 1 semi-postal stamp for the European soccer championships.

1)Observation on individual sets, theme and year as a whole: Where are they getting these themes? No comment. Have not seen many. It appears that issues either didn't fit the theme or fit so closely that I couldn't discern it. Do not collect beyond 1980.

2) How are we running the unit? All doing a great job! Very well. Ex-cellent! Very well. Producing a sur-prising amount of interesting infor-mation. OK. Very well. OK. Could still do with a website for members but who would take on the task?

2003 EUROPA STUDY UNIT OPINION POLL (COMMENTS AS COMPILED BY Don Smith, Unit Executive Secretary)


NEW POSTMARKS

The postmarks above were taken from the pages of November & December 2003 issues of EUROPHIL, with the ongoing permission of its editor, Mr. Oege Weijs of Luxembourg.

Additionally, we are grateful to Don Smith who supplied the Italian cancels.


NEW ISSUES LIST (from the January/February 2004 issue of Scott Stamp Monthly)

COUNTRY SCOTT # DATE DESCRIPTION

Albania 2704-2706 30APR03 Europa 2003 (2 stamps + souvenir sheet)

Alderney 207 10-Apr-03 Concorde

Alderney 208 10-Apr-03 Airbus A380

Barbados 1056 22SEP03 Concorde Jet

Belarus 433-4 30-Apr-02 Europa 2002

Belarus 468-9 24-Apr-03 Europa 2003

Belgium 1961 30-Jun-03 Europa 2003

Bosnia-Herzegovina 425 20NOV02 Europa currency and map of Europe

Bosnia-Herzegovina 437 20NOV02 European foresters’ competition in Nordic skiing

Bosnia-Herzegovina 442 09MAY03 Europa 2003

Georgia 286 23-Sep-02 European Soccer Cup

Georgia 306-7 10-Mar-03 Europa 2003

Germany 2269 13NOV03 Maastricht Treaty 10th anniversary

Gibraltar 946-9 15-Sep-03 Enlargement of the European Union

Greece 2061 09MAY03 Europa 2003 (se-tenant pair)

Guernsey 802-3 10-Apr-03 Europa 2003

Hungary 3840 14-Apr-03 European Union Accession Treaty

Hungary 3846 9-May-03 Europa 2003

Isle of Man 988c 9-May-03 Concorde and Airbus A380

Italy 2568-2569 12SEP03 Europalia Italia festival, Belgium (joint issue)

Jersey 1072-3 11-Mar-03 Europa 2003

Macedonia 264-265 09MAY03 Europa 2003

Malta 1123-1124 09MAY03 Europa 2003

Moldova 430-431 06OCT02 Commonwealth of Independent States

Monaco 2290-1 5-May-03 Europa 2003

San Marino 1562-3 18-Mar-03 Europa 2003

Serbia 180-1 3-Apr-03 Council of Europe

Serbia 187-8 9-May-03 Europa 2003

Serbia 192-3 12-Jun-03 European Nature Protection

Slovakia 426 06APR03 Saints Cyril and Methodius (Patron Saints of Europe)

Slovakia 429 09MAY03 Europa 2003

Spain 3214 24-Apr-03 Europa 2003

Spain 3217 8-May-03 European Year of the Disabled


THE EUROPA STUDY UNIT IS AN ASSOCIATION OF PHILATELISTS DEVOTED TO THE STUDY OF PHILA-TELIC MATERIALS COVERING THE IDEA OF A UNITED EUROPE... EUROPE UNITED IN A POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, AND SOCIAL SENSE. OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS: PRESIDENT: COL (Ret) Stephen Luster, 43496 Whetstone Court, Ashburn VA 20147 (e-mail [email protected]); EXECUTIVE SECRETARY: Mr. Don -ald W. Smith, P.O. Box 576, Johnstown, PA 15907; TREASURER: Mr. Dana Roper, 7266 Prices Cove Place, Gainesville, VA 20155; VICE PRESIDENT: Ms. Caroline V. Scannell, NYt; SECOND VICE PRESIDENT: Mr. Les Heinzel, IL; SECRETARY: Mr. Alan Cohen, DC; DIRECTORS: The Officers, Mr. Hank Klos, IL and Mr. Dan Shilcrat, AZ. AUCTION MANAGER: Mr. Donald W. Smith, P.O. Box 576, Johnstown, PA 15907. ANNUAL DUES: (Including 6 issues of the EUROPA NEWS): U.S. $10.00, Canada $11.00, Overseas (airmail) $16.00. Dues are payable as of January 1st each year. Dues will be prorated for members joining in the middle of a year. All payments must be made in U.S. Dollars; cash, or a bank draft, or a money order (made payable to the Europa Study Unit) are acceptable. MEMBERSHIP APPLICATIONS, ADDRESS CHANGES, OR DUES PAYMENTS: Send to the Executive Secretary, Mr. Hank Klos, whose address appears above.

EUROPA NEWS EUROPA STUDY UNIT BULLETIN OF THE EUROPA STUDY UNIT

(Published bi-monthly in February, April, June, August, October, and December.)

EDITOR AND PUBLISHER: Stephen Luster, 43496 Whetstone Court, Ashburn, Virginia 20147. Telephone number: (703) 729- 2852. E-mail: [email protected]. CORRESPONDENTS: Peter Alderliesten, Netherlands; M. Heaton, Great Britain; Friedrich Karl Oetker and Wolfgang Lange of Germany; Albert Merkx, Netherlands; Arne Rasmussen, Denmark, Oege Weijs, Luxembourg and André Legay, France. CONTRIBUTIONS: Contributions of news, commentary, articles, covers, postmarks, and other philatelic information dealing with the subject of united Europe, are always welcome. Materials sent for reproduction will be handled carefully and returned, but at the submitter's risk. The Editor reserves the right to edit all copy. Contributors will be acknowledged. SERVICES FOR MEMBERS: The EUROPA NEWS offers the following services to its members: Three auctions of "Europa" material per year. Write to the Auction Manager, Mr. Donald W. Smith for information on submitting lots. His address appears in the right-hand column. Free buy or sell advertisements in the EUROPA NEWS. Questions and answer column. Estate disposal assistance. Annual supplement to the Europa Handbook listing the past year's and all previous year's common design/theme issues.

EUROPA NEWS Bulletin of the Europa Study Unit Mr. Don Smith P.O. Box 576 Johnstown, PA 15907 Postmaster: Return postage guaranteed if not delivered. Mailed on: March 13, 2004

EUROPA NEWS MARCH—APRIL 2004 360-1 EUROPA NEWS · 2009. 8. 12. · 2002 I made a parachute jump...

Documents

Transcript of EUROPA NEWS MARCH—APRIL 2004 360-1 EUROPA NEWS · 2009. 8. 12. · 2002 I made a parachute jump...