POST OFFICES LOOK AHEAD TO 2023
Plans for the commemorative stamps to be issued during 2023 have been revealed by many post offices around the world, with themes set to include peace, sustainability, and the Chinese New Year.
The United Nations Postal Administration (UNPA) will mark international events including World Art Day, International Tea Day, World Ocean Day, the United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, and World Mental Health Day, whilst they will continue their long-running Endangered Species series, and issue a stamp with the title ‘Don’t Choose Extinction’ in July.
Guernsey Post’s first stamps for 2023 will cover the Chinese New Year: The Year of the Rabbit (20 January); the 150th anniversary of publication of Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 days (15 February); the 100th anniversary of the Guernsey Rotary Club (15 February); the Centenary of The Little Chapel, Guernsey (date to be confirmed); and a stamp set titled ‘In Memory of Queen Elizabeth II’ (date to be confirmed).
Hong Kong Post is one of many post offices set to issue stamps to mark the Chinese Year of the Rabbit, and an array of stamps and stamp sheets will be made available in January, including a set of four stamp sheetlets featuring all twelve Lunar New Year Animals in handicrafts, lending, according to the Hong Kong Post website ‘an ambience of joyous festivity of the new year’. Later in the year Hong Kong will issue stamps with subjects including Seasonal Trees, Toys, the Jingguanlou collection of Chinese paintings, and ‘A Tribute to Healthcare Workers’.
Aland, the autonomous region of Finland, will issue stamps on themes including boat building, sustainability, and the second part of the three-year vintage tractors series. Eivor Granberg, Business Area Manager of Stamps & Postal Services said: ‘We offer a wide and varied program that reflects current and universal topics. I am proud to introduce more stamp debuting artists than ever before who have created innovative and interesting stamps. The stamps featuring the three winning summer cottages from the “My summer cottage” stamp competition will be released on Åland’s Autonomy Day, and the peace theme characterizes several stamps.’
Switzerland will celebrate 200 years of Swiss steamboat travel and the anniversary of the Landesmuseum in March. Based in Zurich, the Landesmuseum is the country’s national museum. Meanwhile, teh Czech Republic will issue a block of four stamps entitled ‘Shakespeare’s Plays’ in September, with other subjects planned including the founding of Czechoslovak Radio, professional basketball player Jan Velesy, and ‘Giovanni Santini and his buildings’.
The common themes of ‘traditional markets’ and ‘Peace – the highest vale of humanity’ will be represented on stamps from many different countries. The ‘traditional markets’ theme has been chosen by members of SEPAC (Small European Postal Administration Cooperations) including Vatican City, Monaco, Guernsey, Jersey, and the Isle of Man. Meanwhile, Europa stamps on the theme of Peace will be issued by a wide range of European countries, following a request from Ukrposhta, Ukraine’s postal authority, to change the 2023 theme to show support following the Russian invasion.
SPANISH STAMP ISSUE HALTED BY COURT
The release of a 75c stamp marking the 100th anniversary of the founding of the communist party of Spain, announced earlier this year, has been halted by a judge.
The single stamp was set to be issued on 12 November, but just two days before the release a Madrid court issued a temporary injunction, with the case set to be reviewed further. Featuring a hammer and sickle and a red star, the lawsuit was brought about
