MARH APRIL 2016 Issue # 432 · Davorin Jenko, was a Slovene and Serbian composer. He is sometimes...

MARCH-APRIL 2016 Issue # 432

From the European Commission

Brochure:

European Capitals of Culture

(ECOCs) are one of the most rec-

ognized EU projects. They start-

ed in 1985 on the initiative of then Greek Minister of Culture,

actress Melina Mercouri.

The idea is to put cities at the

heart of cultural life across Eu-

rope. Through culture and art,

European Capitals of Culture im-

prove the quality of life in these

cities and strengthen their sense

of community. Citizens can take

part in the year-long activities and play a bigger role in their

city’s development and cultural

expression

Being a European Capital of Cul-

ture brings fresh life to these

cities. Many of them, like Lille,

Glasgow and Essen, have

demonstrated that the title can

be a great opportunity to regen-

erate their urban centers, bring-ing creativity, visitors and inter-

national recognition.

But there is also something for

all Europeans: Capitals of Culture highlight the richness of Eu-

rope’s cultural diversity and take

a fresh look at its shared history

and heritage. They promote mu-

tual understanding and show

how the universal language of

creativity opens Europe to cul-

tures from across the world.

This year, the cities of San Se-bastian (Spain) and Wroclaw

(Poland) were chosen as ECOCs.

Poland issued the souvenir

sheet shown above on the

opening weekend of celebra-

tions in Wroclaw — 15 January.

The colorful sheets have a lim-ited edition of 150,000.

To date there is no word of any

philatelic recognition from Spain

re. San Sebastian.

Meanwhile, ECOC cities have

already been selected through 2019, one of which is Plovdiv,

Bulgaria (see page 4). ▬

WROCLAW 2016

European Capital of Culture

MARCH-APRIL 2016 432-2

New Issues

Europa 2016 "Ecology in Europe - Think Green"

v = value(s) ms= mini-sheet ss = souvenir sheet

SWEDEN 1v Issue date 14 January 2016

LIECHTENSTEIN 2v Issue date 7 March 2016

Another stylized design

that seems to be

saying “nature

good, cit-ies bad.”

GERMANY 1v Issue date 2 May 2016

AZERBAIJAN 2v + ss Issue date 25 January 2016

The stamps are printed sepa-rately, and in booklets of 8 stamps with 4 se-tenant sets:

BELARUS 2v issued in ms of 4 and 6 stamps Issue date 5 April 2016

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”.


New Issues

Norden 2016 “Nordic Food Culture”

sepac 2016 “Seasons”

GREENLAND 1v Issue date 18 January 2016

The second (non-sepac) stamp is a summer picture.

LIECHTENSTEIN 1v Issue date 7 March 2016

GREENLAND 2v + ss of same values plus a middle label (shown)

Issue date 21 March 2016

I’m sure that this is supposed to look delicious.

From the Europa Blogspot, we now have the following tally of stamps thus far in these two subtopics:

Sepac 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 no issue of San Marino no issue of Vatican

NORDEN 2016

04.01.2016 Denmark - 2 stamps (2x 8.- DKK) and one souvenir-sheet of 2 stamps (2x 8.- DKK)

22.01.2016 Finland - 1 stamp (1 klass value)

18.02.2016 Iceland - 1 stamp (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

26.04.2016 Faroe Is. - 1 stamp (9.- DKK)


http://www.sepacstamps.eu/contest/stamp-competition-2015/

http://www.sepacstamps.eu/contest/stamp-competition-2015/http://www.sepacstamps.eu/contest/stamp-competition-2015/http://www.sepacstamps.eu/contest/stamp-competition-2015/


New Issues v = value(s) ms= mini-sheet ss = souvenir sheet

BELGIUM 1v issued in a souvenir sheet of 5 stamps (shown) Issue date 5 September 2015 European Women’s Volleyball Championship Scott #2767

The 2015 Women's European Volleyball Championship was the 29th edition of the tournament and hosted by Netherlands and Bel-gium from 26 September to 4 October 2015. The name of the Bel-gian team is Yellow Tigers. The sheet is round (like a volleyball, of course) and obviously more collectible than just a single stamp.

DENMARK 3v issued as self-adhesive FRAMA labels Issue date not known NORDIA 2015

Doubtful that this will be listed in Scott. NORDIA 2015 was held 30 October—1 November in Täby Sweden.

BULGARIA ss Issue date 21 December 2015 PLOVDIV, 2019 European Capital of Culture Never too soon to get the planning (and the hype) started !

MACEDONIA 1v Issue date not known European Men’s Basketball Championship (Eurobasket) 2015 EuroBasket 2015 was the 39th annual edi-tion of the EuroBasket champion-ship. It took place in four different countries (Croatia, France, Ger-many, and Latvia), making it the first EuroBasket held in more than one country. Held last Sep-tember, Spain won the title by defeating Lithuania 80-63.


New Issues v = value(s) ms= mini-sheet ss = souvenir sheet

SERBIA 1v SLOVENIA 1v Issue date 6 November 2015 Davorin Jenko Joint Issue

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

MARSHALL ISLANDS ss Issue date 3 October 2015 25th Anniversary of German Re-unification

“Deutsche Einheit” is a key event in the unification of the continent.

SERBIA 1v Issue date 2 October 2015 Joy of Europe

MONTENEGRO 1v Issue date 22 October 2015 Joy of Europe

UKRAINE 1v Issue date 14 October 2015 Day of Defender of Ukraine

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.


Cinderella, or Pumpkin? — Dana Roper

I’ve been conflicted about these

things for years, and I’ve now

decided that it’s time to write an

article about them. I’m talking about the “junque” issues that

we’ve been reporting on sporad-

ically for some time now.

Specifically, they are what many

would call “wallpaper” issues

from an outfit called the Inter-

governmental Philatelic Agency

(IGPC), which we wrote about in

the last EN. To be fair, there are also many bogus issues that em-

anate from a printing press in

Lithuania, and it’s sometimes

hard to tell them apart. But there

is a big difference.

The IGPC is a recognized stamp producing agency. Their stamps are valid for postage in the issuing country, even though 99.99% of them never see service.

The Lithuanian labels mean-while, are responsible for al-most all the real junk from the breakaway Russian republics (Abkhazia and Tuva are notori-ous examples) and these often include Europa issues. An ex-ample of the latter is shown below; it was issued in 2003 in the hopes of cashing in on the “Posters” theme:

The story is different for Europa-

related topics. Foremost among

these is the Concorde SuperSon-

ic Transport (SST). Runners-up include Europa Space (such as

the European Space Agency’s

Giotto comet probe), high speed

trains (primarily the Eurostar

Chunnel train), and historical

events.

Oh wait, don’t forget Europa

sports, especially football (aka

soccer). As you will see on the

following pages, these can all

add up quickly.

So why bring these up at all? My

decision follows that of the edi-

tors of the Scott catalog, who

have decided to start listing

them, albeit begrudgingly. The fact that Scott seems to have

been dragged kicking and

screaming is shown by the terri-

ble way that they have chosen to

list them.

Why do I say that? Simply be-

cause they are listed almost as a

footnote. The approach is logical, but not helpful. Let me back up a

bit and explain.

My source for most of these list-

ings is a dealer/distributor in

Lithuania (of course) called

NEOFILA (neofila.com). Besides

labels, they list many of the is-

sues from the IGPC. Their new issue listings follow a standard

format. Each country is given a 2

-character designator, followed

by issue number, as shown in the

following example:

Issue # GB-15206a/b, where

GB=Guinea-Bissau

15=2015 2=2nd issue of the year

06=6th topic of that issue

a=design layout no.1 for that

topic (followed by b, c, etc.)

It’s easy to be taken in. Steve

Luster included some of these

during his tenure as editor, since

they sometimes appeared in mainstream philatelic publica-

tions. The irony is that Steve, and

ESU founder Robin Crowley, are

no doubt spinning in their graves

at the thought of their being

mentioned, let alone listed, in

the EN.

So, how to tell if a country is a

legitimate stamp issuer? Often

there are telltale clues. In the

case of Abkhazia, issuing a block

of 4 showing former president

Bill Clinton in his underwear with

Monica Lewinsky was a pretty

good giveaway. Another was the tongue-in-cheek “Marx/Lennon”

sheet shown below, also from

Abkhazia:

Kidding aside, these labels often

assume the names of otherwise

legitimate countries, such as

Madagascar, Ivory Coast, Kosovo,

etc.

For Europa collectors, the good

news is that there aren’t a lot of these dubious things masquer-

ading as real Europa issues any

more. (But, they are out there.

E.g., see “Buyer Beware” in EN#

402-19, and “The ‘Stamps’ of the

PMR” in EN# 413-15,.)

http://www.neofila.com/


Cinderella, or Pumpkin? — cont’d

For example, shown above are

three different topics in the sec-

ond 2015 issue from Guinea-

Bissau.

In this issue, there were 24 dif-ferent topics covered, from

Mushrooms to Churchill. Most

topics were given a 4-stamp

sheet (denoted by the “a” suffix)

and a miniature sheet of 1

stamp (denoted by a “b” suffix).

To repeat, that’s a whopping 24

topics covered in this particular issue (GB-15201 through 15224),

for a total of 44 stamp sheets.

Topic: Fire Engines. GB-15205a and 15205b

Topic: Concorde. GB-15206a and 15206b

Topic: Lighthouses. GB-15207a and 15207b

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-

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

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 that way.

Another problem is the implicit

assumption that all the similar

formats make up a set, even

though they cover an array of

topics. Once more, no one col-

lects that way, and I doubt that anyone will shell out hundreds of

dollars to do so.

Finally, I suspect that Don Smith

and I may be the only collectors

on earth who will search through the Scott catalog listings looking

for appropriate topics.

Just savor that for a moment.

There were 9 issues for Guinea-

Bissau in 2012, averaging 20 or

more topics per issue. That’s about 350-400 stamp sheets.

And this is just one country.

Now note the similarity in stamp

designs. That is a defining char-

acteristic of each issue, and a key

factor in how Scott chose to list

them.

The IGPC boasts that their de-

signers can crank out a flurry of new designs quickly. A glance at

this issue shows how.


GUINEA 2ss GU-15422a/b

Issue date 3 September 2015

Channel Tunnel


And still we might miss some-

thing in all that fine print. Or

Scott will omit a crucial detail

(e.g. they might say “airplane” instead of “Airbus”).

I suspect that the editors at Scott

know all this. Their approach

simply lets them use the least

amount of paper possible to list

these issues, and by adding a ridiculously high catalog value

they are announcing their con-

tempt.

So why list them at all? Because

they are real stamps, and now Scott can say that they have

listed them.

That last observation raises an

interesting point, namely what

should these things be worth? NEOFILA usually has a price

somewhere between $5 and $10

for each sheet. That’s a lot, and

adding up all the prices actually

gives credence to Scott’s num-

ber. Still, no one is expected to

buy anything other than the top-

ic that interests them, so we are back down into the $10-$20

range for a pair of sheets.

Are they worth even that? It de-

pends on what you enjoy collect-

ing. Robin and Steve are shout-

ing down from the heavens that they are not worth a plugged

nickel, let alone the paper it

takes to show them. Skimming

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.


As to what they are worth, again

that is up to you. IGPC will sell

them directly, but they add a ser-

vice charge plus postage and handling (P&H) that can add up

to $20 or more. NEOFILA also

sells directly, but again with P&H

and you’re dealing with Lithua-

nia. They will then show up on

eBay and delcampe, and new

issue dealers such as Herrick and

Marlen will finally list some of them. Shop for price. If there’s

something you really want, don’t

wait too long; they tend to dis-

appear. I suspect that unsold

copies of these things are treat-

ed like books that don’t sell.

They simply go into a big

“remainders” bin, never to be seen again except in an occa-

sional packet. Which says some-

thing about their value. ▬

So, are these collectibles or just junque? Following Scott’s decision, we herewith will pre-sent Europa related stamps of this genre as we become aware of them … unless or un-til it gets totally out of hand. Meanwhile, look for the “glass slipper” as shown on the top of these pages.

SOLOMON IS. 2ss SI-15502a/b Issue date 30 November 2015 25th Anniversary of German Re-Unification



GUINEA 2ss GU-15408a/b Issue date 3 September 2015

SOLOMON IS 2ss SI-15419a/b Issue date 25 September 2015

TOGO 2ss TG-15408a/b Issue date 26 October 2015

European Football (Soccer) Championships 2016


UEFA Euro 2016 is scheduled for 10 June—10 July 2016 in France.

MALDIVE IS 2ss MV-15C07a/b Issue date 15 December 2015

MOZAMBIQUE 2ss MZ-15311a/b Issue date 15 August 2015



TOGO one of two ss TG-15608b 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 one of two ss CA-15620b Issue date 15 December 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.

NIGER 2ss se-tenant in a continuous design NE-15406c Issue date 26 October 2015

This is an interesting new gimmick. It is listed in NEOFILA as two souve-nir sheets printed se-tenant, with a single design across the two con-nected sheets. The continuous design appears to be the Italian Frecci-arossa. The second stamp from the top depicts the Eurostar.

European High Speed Trains


SOLOMON IS one of two ss SI-15207b Issue date 26 June 2015

That’s the Thalys train on the stamp

SOLOMON IS 2ss SI-15509a/b Issue date 30 November 2015

Eurostar is in the upper right


MALDIVE IS 2ss MV-15C03a/b Issue date 16 December 2015

The bottom sheet shows the fate-ful moments when the runway debris caused the first and only fatal crash of the aircraft. ▬

ST. THOMAS & PRINCE IS

(SAO TOME E PRINCIPE) 2ss

ST-15413a/b

Issue date 18 November 2015


Concorde SuperSonic Transport (SST)

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC 2ss CA-15413a/b Issue date 12 October 2015

SOLOMON IS 2ss SI-15115a/b Issue date 24 May 2015


MOXAMBIQUE 2ss MZ-15111a/b Issue date 15 April 2015

15th Anniversary of the Tragedy of the Concorde:


NEW ISSUES WITH

Scott CATALOG NUMBERS - Don Smith

From Linn’s

Special Editions

= position in proposed new HB outline (ref. EN# 404-12)

EuroMed is an interesting sub-topic that has been addressed here pre-

viously, notably in EN# 423 and 429. I decided to Google it again, and

the first relevant hit yielded the following:

Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EUROMED) “The Union for the Mediterranean promotes economic integration and

democratic reform across 16 neighbors to the EU’s south in North Africa and the Middle East. Formerly known as

the Barcelona Process, cooperation agreements were re-launched in 2008 as the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) .

“The re-launch was an opportunity to render relations both more concrete and more visible with the initiation of new

regional and sub-regional projects with real relevance for those living in the region. Projects address areas such as

economy, environment, energy, health, migration and culture.

“Along with the 28 EU member states, 15 Southern Mediterranean, African and Middle Eastern countries are members

of the UfM: Albania, Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Monaco, Montene-

gro, Morocco, Palestine, Syria (suspended), Tunisia and Turkey.”

So, should EuroMed be elevated to category 1 status (i.e., 1d) as a legitimate area of formal cooperation?

COUNTRY SCOTT # DATE OF ISSUE DESCRIPTION * Albania 2968-9 2-Sep-15 Europa 2015 (2969 a s/s; 1969a a booklet of 2) 1 Antigua 3304c 1-Dec-15 Napoleon 4c Argentina 2739 21-Jul-14 Airbus A340-300 3b Armenia 1039 12-May-15 Eurasian Economic Union EN 431-4 3b Azerbaijan 1092 22-Sep-15 Modern Architecture, joint w/Russia EN 430-5 3b Azerbaijan 1094 16-Oct-15 Dancers, se-tenant pair, joint w/Moldova EN 431-4 3b Belgium 2767 7-Sep-15 European Women’s Volleyball Championships EN 432-4 3c Bosnia-Herz. 749 9-Oct-15 Men’s European Basketball Championships 3c Bosnia (Serb) 518-20 17-Apr-15 Europa 2015 (520 a ss of 6) 1 France 4868, 4870 4-Sep-15 Marianne of Europe (4870a booklet pane of 6) 3b France 1o74 2-Oct-15 C/E Official – European Union flag EN 431-4 2a Germany 2866 1-Oct-15 German Reunification, 25th Anniv. EN 430-4 4b Italy 3282 30-Jan-15 Turin: 2015 European Capital of Sport EN 426-5 3a Kyrgyzstan 495 16-May-15 Eurasian Economic Union EN 429-16 3b Latvia 907-8 10-Apr-15 Europa 2015 (907a: tete-beche pair, 907b: bklt of 4) 1 Liechtenstein 1654 7-Sep-15 Alpine Landscape, se-tenant pair, joint issue 3b w/Slovenia 1141 EN 430-5 Liechtenstein 1662 16-Nov-15 Sepac 2015 EN 430-3 1c Lithuania 1060-1 9-May-15 Europa 2015 1 Luxembourg 1415 22-Sep-15 Sepac 2015 EN 429-9 1c Romania 5520, 5520a 3-Feb-2014 Black Sea Boundary, 5520a is a ss of 1v 421-16 3b Slovenia 1135 9-Jul-15 Euromed EN 429-6 3b Slovenia 1141 25-Sep-15 Alpine Landscape, se-tenant pair, joint issue 3b w/Liechtenstein 1654 EN 430-5


The Miscellaneous Box — Dana Roper

The above is a page I recently created for my “Europa Sports” subsection. The set on the top is Yugosla-via Scott # B26-31. The set on the bottom is Poland Scott # C10-12. It took me awhile to get around to mounting them because for a long time I didn’t realize that they were pertinent. The original ESU checklist didn’t show them, nor did Rogers. I found them in the D’Urso catalog. Even with that, D’Urso didn’t in-clude the Polish set in his 1962 catalog; my next catalog was 1967 and it showed up there. Then it took awhile to find some clean unused copies. All part of the fun. The page is my usual PowerPoint hack. ▬


The 1958 EUROPA Stamps — a Monograph by Steve Luster (Part 5)

GERMANY

Germany also issued two Europa stamps with the same design in 1958. They were denominated 10 Pf and 40 Pf. The 10 Pf stamp was printed in green with a blue interior line in the dove and the let-ter “E”, and the 40 Pf stamp was printed in blue with a red interior line. The stamps were designed by André van der Vossen. Both stamps depict the common design. The stamps were offset printed on watermarked DBP paper, perforated 14 x 14 by the Bundesdruck-erei, Berlin in sheets of 50 stamps. 100,000,000 of the 10 Pf stamp and 27,000,000 of the 40 Pf stamp were printed. The D’Urso Catalogue assigned the number 37 to the 10 Pf stamp and the number 38 to the 40 Pf stamp. In addition to the complete set of 2 stamps, the D’Urso Catalogue lists blocks of 4 stamps and a booklet of the postal administration (37/38A). D’Urso lists three varieties for the stamps, all for the 10 Pf value. This value is known in imper-forate condition (37B) and imperforate on three sides (37C). This value is also known with offset print-ing on the back (37D). No varieties are listed for the 40 Pf stamp. First day covers were also produced for this issue. They are known with the following two can-cels: Bonn—Der Europa Marken 1958, with check letters a, b, c, and d (37/38E); and Bruxelles-Expo (37/38G). I will illustrate a “Berlin - Charlottenburg” first day cancel in this monograph. That cancel is not listed in the D’Urso Catalogue. Finally, maximum cards were prepared for this issue (37/38F).

The Luster monographs continue this issue with the 1958 Europa stamps of Germany.


The 1958 EUROPA Stamps — a Monograph by Steve Luster (cont’d)

Here is a lower right corner margin copy of Germany’s 10 Pf 1958 Europa stamp. I illustrate it here so you can see the plate number, in this case the number “1” I do not know how many plates were used, but other German stamps have been printed from 4 plates. This next item is referred to in the D’Urso Catalogue, as a “Booklet of the postal administration”. I do not think this is a “Minister Sheet” or the booklet referred to. This sheet has the “Bruxeles Expo” cancel and likely it is a souvenir of the world’s fair. This sheet sold for 60 Pf.



Examples of cacheted German first day covers. Note that the check letters “a,” “b” and “cg” are repre-sented on this page. While the “a” and “b” check letters are listed in the D’Urso Catalogue, no mention is made of a “cg” check letter on the Berlin-Charlottenburg cover at the right on the top row. Also, note that the normal check letters are at the bottom of the lower semicircle. The “cg” check letters are at the bottom of the outer circle. I think that the “cg” is a post office designator rather than a check letter.



I have not found many maximum cards for Germany’s 1958 Europa stamps. However, here are two, each one with one value of Germany’s 1958 Europa set, and another franked with the complete set. Following the maximum cards are four covers, franked with the 10 Pf value of the German 1958 Europa set, commemorating various events.



The 1958 design was popular in Germany. Here are some examples of the 10 Pf value used on com-mercial mail. I’m still looking for a few good uses of the 40 Pf stamp on cover. What makes the below left cover interesting is the stamps used for franking. To its right is an enlarge-ment of the stamps. Note that on the left-hand stamp there is a small circle under the numeral “0” of the value. This variety is not listed in the D’Urso Catalogue. Continuing with interesting uses of Germany’s 1958 Europa stamps, the cover to the left below is a pri-vate balloon flight that took place on May 21, 1959. I know that it either started or ended in the town of Roggenburg, but I do not know the other terminus unless it was a town named Wahlwies.

Finally, here is a cover with an “Athena” cachet. What makes the cover interesting is that the cancel bears the date 4-4-59. That is the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Atlantic Charter that created NATO.

This is the fifth excerpt from Steve’s monograph. The next installment will cover the stamps of Italy. ■


BULLETIN OF THE EUROPA STUDY UNIT,

AN ASSOCIATION OF PHILATELISTS DEVOTED TO THE STUDY OF PHILATELIC MATERIALS COVERING THE IDEA OF A UNITED EUROPE... UNITED IN A POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, AND SOCIAL SENSE.

www.europastudyunit.org

EDITOR: Mr. Dana Roper, 7266 Prices

Cove Place, Gainesville, VA 20155;

email: [email protected].

OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS:

PRESIDENT: Mr. Dana Roper

EXECUTIVE SECRETARY: Mr. Tonny

VanLoij

TREASURER: Tonny VanLoij

VICE PRESIDENT: Tonny Van Loij,

SECOND VICE PRESIDENT: open

DIRECTORS: Mr. Alex Cwiekalo, Ms.

Caroline Scannel, Mr. Dan Shilcrat

WEBMASTERS: Dana Roper, (acting)

AUCTION MANAGER: Mr. Donald W.

Smith, P.O. Box 576, Johnstown, PA

15907.

EUROPA HANDBOOK: Alex Cwiekalo

ANNUAL DUES: (Including one year

of the EUROPA NEWS): Electronic

Membership only $10/yr; Standard

membership (hardcopy of EN mailed):

$20/yr USA; $30/yr outside USA.

Dues are payable as of January 1st

each year*. Payments must be made in U.S. Dollars; cash, or a bank draft, or a

money order (made payable to the

Europa Study Unit). We also have a

PayPal account (europastudyunit, email [email protected]) to which any payments can be transferred.

Any of these methods is acceptable;

however, when using PayPal please

add 7% to cover PayPal costs.

SERVICES TO MEMBERS: Periodic

bulletin (EUROPA NEWS) to all mem-

bers; website with special “Members

Only” section; periodic auctions (~3/yr)

of EUROPA-related material, EUROPA

Handbook, monographs and specialty

items available only to ESU members.

Results from our last Auction are

shown below. Bidding was slow this

time around, but from the table

below (which is also on the auction

link on the website) you’d never

know it. Thanks again to Don

Smith for all his hard work. I once

tried drawing a flowchart of all the

things involved in producing these

auctions but ran out of paper and

patience. And my hair started to

hurt. Tonny the Treasurer (sounds like

a great idea for a Saturday morning

television show) reports that the

treasury is looking good — over

$4k thanks to our members’ dues

and donations, and Don’s auctions.

The latter alone pay for one com-

plete mailing of the EN. Don is get-

ting some interesting adjunct mate-

rial, so look for unusual goodies in

upcoming auctions!

Tonny the Nag (the Treasurer’s

Evil twin) reports that we have the

usual gaggle of members who are

very slow sending in their dues. If

you are one of these miscreants,

please send us your payment. Even

if your collecting has lapsed, stay

with us for the engrossing articles!

This will be your last issue other-

wise.

I almost forgot to credit Tonny

the Printer (the final member of

the Tonny Trinity) for our surplus as

well. By taking over the printing of

the EN, we have improved quality

and cut our printing costs almost in

half. Of course, that’s because Ton-

ny volunteers his labor to oversee

the printing, bag the newsletters,

print and affix labels, add postage

and mail. Tonny says it helps keep

him active. Roger that!

This issue of the EN has 20 pages,

which is our target now, either

straight (as with this issue) or with

meaty inserts such as auctions and

handbook updates. I’d like to raise

the bar to 24 pages, but I need

some help with articles. Send me

your ideas, even if on the backs of

envelopes.

Our Handbook Czar Alex reports

that the updates didn’t make it to

this issue because Scott is slow in

reporting catalog umbers. Best to

wait one more cycle. Look for them

in our next issue.

Finally, the website is keeping up

with posting the ENs, and we just

updated the Europa header pages

files, but it could really use a fresh

look. Any volunteers? ▬

Editor’s Page

*Dues must be received by

31 January to ensure contin-ued membership, including

uninterrupted receipt of the

EN and access to the Mem-bers Only website. If you are

not paid up, this will be

your last issue!

PRICES REALIZED


This is a stamp publication, so

the editors have historically

avoided getting too political. That

said, Europa is by its very nature a political topic, so what’s in the

news has a bearing certainly on

the future of our collecting inter-

est. It is also an aspect that is

missing from most other topics

and makes ours so exciting.

What follows is excerpted from

an article that ran 19 February in

the Washington Post.

What’s a ‘Brexit’? A guide to

Britain’s EU drama:

To outsiders, it may well seem

like small fry compared to some

of the other big, scary problems facing the world right now. But a

potential British exit from the EU

– dubbed a "Brexit" by many –

would have enormous conse-

quences for Europe and, by ex-

tension, the world. And while the

fine details of EU membership

may matter, also at stake is a bigger question about the very

nature of European identity and

perhaps the future of suprana-

tional organizations.

So what did [British Prime Min-

ister] Cameron want from the

EU?

Cameron had headed to Brussels

to get a number of concessions

from EU officials. Perhaps most controversially, he wanted to

limit benefits for EU migrants

who travel to Britain, something

which his opponents say would

fly in the face of the EU principle

of freedom of movement.

“Brexit” - What It Might Mean to Europa

British Prime Minister David Cameron (R) attends a meeting with European Council President Donald Tusk (L) and European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker (C) during a European Union leaders summit .

He has also been seeking a cut

to red tape, more leeway for na-

tional governments to push back

on EU legislation, and more pro-tection for the countries of the

union that, like Britain, do not

use the euro.

Wait – so Britain could really

leave the EU?

Yes, it really could. A nationwide

vote on Britain's union member-

ship is widely expected to take

place on 23 June. The results of that vote will, in theory at least,

determine Britain's continued

membership in the EU. Over the

past few years, the United King-

dom Independence Party (UKIP)

and its idiosyncratic leader, Ni-

gel Farage, have found a reason-

able modicum of success with an anti-EU message.

What would happen if Britain

left the EU?

That's a little hard to say: No

country as large as Britain has

voted to leave the union before.

(Greenland did leave in 1982 but

under different circumstances).

That in itself may be the biggest

problem. If Britain left the EU, it

would be a sign to other anti-EU

groups across Europe that coun-tries can actually leave the un-

ion if they want to.

That could have a big impact all

over the continent, where anti-

EU parties such as France's Na-

tional Front have won significant

electoral support in recent

years. By proving that member-

ship in the union is reversible, a Brexit could severely damage

the very foundations of the EU,

itself a hugely important at-

tempt to create unity on the

continent after the ravages of

World War II.

While it's far from perfect, ana-

lysts argue that union member-ship has been a boon for Britain,

so the argument may be based

more on emotion than econom-

ics. However, Brexit uncertainty

has already hurt Britain's econo-

my: It's likely the prime minister

wants to get this out of the way

sooner rather than later. ▬

NOTICE: A red “X” on your mailing wrapper means that this is your last issue un-less you send your dues NOW. See page 19 for instructions, or use the insert from

either of the last two issues of Europa News. We don’t want to lose you!

MARH APRIL 2016 Issue # 432 · Davorin Jenko, was a Slovene and Serbian composer. He is sometimes...

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