S26 - WIPA 2008

The most expensive United Nations personalized sheet to date was issued on 18 September 2008 by UNPA Europe. The sheet contains ten 1.40 € stamps (five different stamps, each repeated twice) that depicts scenes of the Vienna International Center. The five designs show interior and exterior views, the United Nations flag, and member flags. The sheet is currently on sale on the UNPA website for $30.95. A difference of $16.00 from previous issues.

The border sheet design includes the Prater, the giant Ferris Wheel, St. Stephen’s Cathedral and the Gloriette of the Schönbrunn Castle. No information has been forthcoming from UNPA on the designer of the sheet or the stamps.

Once again, this particular sheet is not personalizable. The pre-printed se-tenant labels show the UN and WIPA labels. The WIPA stamp exhibition was held 18-21 September 2008 in Vienna, Austria. This was the sixth time since 1881, that the city of Vienna hosted an International Stamp Exhibition. The theme of WIPA 2008 was “The Future of Philately”, and the program of events were dedicated to the future prospects of stamp collecting.

I have received a report that two types of gum have been observed on the sheets. One has a blueish color and the other is a cream color. Please check your sheets and let me know if you can confirm this report.

S19 - Peaceful Visions - Sold Out

Today, I returned from a two week vacation and checked the UNPA website. I was expecting to see that the Beijing Olympic United nations personalized sheet would be sold out. To my surprise, the Peaceful Visions sheet was the one shown as sold out. The last day of sale was 31 July 2008.

Sport for Peace - Beijing - 8 August 2008

Since I will be away for the next few weeks, I wanted to publish this scan of the upcoming United Nations personalized sheet. This sheet will be released on 8 August 2008 in coinciding with the XXIX Olympic Games in Beijing, China. The reason I did not want to wait until my return, is that I expect this sheet to sell out quickly. The Chinese are known to be avid collectors of postage stamps, and this issue will be in heavy demand from the Chinese community as well as topical collectors of sports and Olympic stamps.

This personalized sheet can be pre-ordered by using the mail order form in the UNPA publication: Philatelic Bulletin No. 87. As of today, the sheet is not available from the UNPA website. If you do not receive this publication, you can download it from the UNPA website and then order the sheet. Try to get your order in as soon as possible. Most likely this sheet will be assigned the cataloge number S25, but we need to wait until 8 August 2008 to offically assign that number.

S24 - United Nations New York City 94 Cent International Generic

The second United Nations personalized sheet that was released on 12 May 2008, is the 94 cent International airmail rate generic, that can be personalized by visitors to the UNPA in New York City. As with its 42 cent counterpart, this sheet was designed by Rorie Katz, who is on the UNPA staff.

The sheet features ten identical stamps, all showing the UN emblem in light blue on a white background. The generic pre-personalized sheet has five separate designs in the tabs each repeated twice. The tabs show landmark scenes from around New York City, and include the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, an evening scene of Times Square, the Chrysler Building and the Brooklyn Bridge.

Once again, we have not found any information on the printer.

S23 - United Nations New York City 42 Cent Domestic Generic

Now that the summer is heating up, and we are getting close to the Beijing Olympic Games United Nations personalized sheet release, I thought it best to get all the previous issues cataloged, and all the information we know about them published.

The first of the two personalized sheet that were released on 12 May 2008 was the 42 cent generic sheet. The stamps in this sheet pay the current United States first class mail domestic rate. This is the standard sheet available at UNPA New York for personalization by visitors. Many of the sheets that are discussed here are "pre-personalized" as they commemorate a specific event. There is no way for a collector to personalize them differently.

This sheet is in the standard twenty stamp format with five different designs repeated four times. The stamps feature photographs taken at the UN Headquarters Building in New York. The five stamps show the sculpture Single Form by Barbara Hepworth, the UN flag, an interior scene of the UN General Assembly, flags of member states, and an exterior view of the headquarters. In the tabs of the stamps is the United Nations logo with a white background. I have not found any information on the printer of this sheet.

S18.1 - Generic International and Pope Benedict Sheet

After much discussion with all the experts in United Nations personalized sheets, UNPI has come to the conclusion that this sheet should be listed as S18.1. We have studied the stamps on this sheet, and clearly it is the same stamp as shown on the UNPA special cancel covers (see the 7 May 2008 entry). The 90 cent international rate stamp is a much lighter blue color than the one in the S18 personalized sheet, and the the letters in "UN" are much thicker and closer together. This qualifies as a separate printing, thus the designation, S18.1.


As can be seen in this ad from the Philatelic Exporter; 25,000 sets of Pope covers were prepared for the QVC shopping channel. This equates to a least 2,500 sheets. Given that IGC also wanted Pope sheets for their covers, we estimate that about 3,500 sheets were needed. Since the Pope's U.S. visit was approximately one month from the U.S. postal rate changes, and the issuance of two new generic personalized sheets, it is likely that UNPA did not have enough sheets on hand to personalize with the Pope's picture and created a second printing of this sheet. Today, these sheets can only be bought from dealers and are not directly available from UNPA. However, the stamps are perfectly valid and can be mailed from the UN headquarters. It is also possible that some of the sheets were sold by UNPA, provided that a customer order was placed for S18 sheets between the time of the Pope's U.S. visit and before the S18 sheets went off sale. Thus, we need to acknowledge this as a separate printing and give it catalog status, unlike the Elvis sheets, which only had changes in the tabs.

Originally, we were going to number this sheet as 18a. However, several readers pointed out that S5.1 is just a change in the stamps (imperforate) and S6.1 is a variation in two stamps having the wrong denomination. Thus, to be consistent, this sheet has to be changed to S18.1. My apologies for the confusion.

I hope this brings closure to this sheet. It is time to move on to the two sheets issued on 12 May 2008.

S22 - Essen 2008 off Sale

Today, 22 May, the Essen 2008 sheet was announced by UNPA as being sold out. So 21 May 2008 would be the last day of sale. We have also learned from our friend Helmut that an initial supply of 5,000 sheets was sent to Vienna, and that this personalized sheet was sold in Essen for € 9.50 (exact price based on UNPA rate of exchange would have been € 9.48, which what was charged on postal orders). The sheet was designed by Mrs. Mazdia of UNPA Vienna.

Missing UN Personalized Sheet

According to UNPA's Bulletin #86, on page 26, a new United Nations personalized stamp sheet was to be issued for the World Stamp Championship in Israel. There was no place to order this sheet in the Bulletin, even though it was to be issued on 8 May 2008, the same day as the Essen 2008 personalized sheet. Nor is it listed on the UNPA website. Does anyone have any additional information? Was a sheet placed on sale at the World Stamp Championship on 8 May? The show ends 21 May 2008. Please let us know if you attended this exhibition and visited the UNPA booth.

S22 - Internationalalen Breifmarken-Messe Essen 2008

The next United Nations personalized sheet was issued on 8 May 2008, at the International Stamp Exhibition in Essen, Germany. The design in the background depicts the mineshaft in "Bauhaus" style, the last colliery (a workplace consisting of a coal mine plus all the buildings and equipment connected with it) that was shut down in Essen. The colliery and the coking plant of the "Zollverein" (German customs union) belong to the more remarkable industrial monuments in Europe and are a UNESCO world cultural heritage site since 14 December 2001. The personalized sheet was issued to commemorate UNPA Europe's 18th participation at this fair.

The stamps, which have not yet been assigned Scott or Michel numbers, consist of 2 x 5 stamps, each being € 0.65. The UN logo and the 2008 Essen show cachet are featured on the tabs of the stamps. The photos of the stamps represent the following, reading from left top to bottom:

1. United Nations Headquarters—Vienna International Centre
2. Flags on the “Memorial Plaza”—Vienna International Centre
3. “Woman Free” sculpture by Edwina Sandys, 1989—Vienna International Centre
4. AQA—Water with a Human Face—drinking fountain as a living piece of art; designed by Hansi Dietrich of Unitas Humana
5. Japanese Peace Bell on the “Memorial Plaza”—Vienna International Centre

When the sheet was first announced, it was to be sold for € 12.95, which would have equated to $20.43. On the afternoon before the sheet was to go on sale, the price was changed at the UNPA online site to the standard $14.95. I wonder what they were sold for at the Essen show?

I don't have any information on the designer or quantities printed. If someone could share that with us, I'd be happy to pass the information on to everyone.

S18 - Generic International and UNPA's Pope Benedict Cover the Final Word

As we saw with sheet S5, the "My Visit to the United Nations" student sheet, one of the criterion for listing a stamp in a commercial catalog, is that is must be available for postal use. Since these Pope Benedict covers are souvenirs; one cannot obtain stamps and post his or her own cover using this stamp, they will NOT be listed in any catalog. Yes, they are different from the S18 stamp and were produced in personalized sheet format. However, since no sheets were ever made available to the public (mint or precanceled), UNPI has decided NOT to give this sheet a separate Snn number. The next sheet, Essen 2008, will be assigned S22. We will cover this personalized sheet in the next blog entry. Your comments on this decision are welcome.

S18 - Generic International and UNPA's Pope Benedict Cover Update

Well, here we go again. In my previous post, I stated that the new 90¢ generic "...stamp is only available used; currently there are no mint sheets or singles available to collectors." While this is true, there is this single sheet that was given to Pope Benedict XVI. The UNPA publication Philatelic Bulletin No. 86 (May - June 2008) states:

"In honour of the visit of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to the United Nations on 18 April 2008, UNPA is issuing a special commemorative cover. The cover consists of the standard UN official cachet affixed with a 90¢ stamp and a tab with a dove. It has a special cancellation with the outline of a dove and the following text: “His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI Visits the United Nations 18 April 2008”.

The special cover, which is in limited supply, will automatically be provided to customers who maintain a standing order account for New York miscellaneous products.

Subject to availability, all other customers can order this special cover by using the order form attached to this Bulletin.

The United Nations is presenting a special gift to Pope Benedict XVI in honour of his visit. The gift contains a unique (one of a kind) Personalized sheet encased in acrylic, the special souvenir cover produced by UNPA, and a special plaque with a statement by the Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon..."

Thus, one sheet does exit. We'll see if anymore of these sheets "walk" out the door and become available to collectors. If you hear of one, please let me know. My thanks to Ken Sasaki for referring me to the Bulletin. Also, I completely agree with him; that this sheet should be made available by UNPA to the general public.

S18 - Generic International and UNPA's Pope Benedict Cover

Recently, UNPA has begun selling an official cover that commemorates the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the United Nations. This cover appears to be a single and a tab from the S18 - 90c generic International United Nations personalized sheet. If the scan is not all that clear to you, it says "His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI / Visits the United Nations / 18 April 2008."

What is strange, is that the stamp and tab are on the United Nations Headquarters First Day of Issue Official Cachet. That is, until we realized that the stamps are very different. Please look closely at the detail provided in the next scan:


Here you can see, that the colors are significantly different, the lettering is thicker, and the spacing between the "U" and "N" of "UN" is also very different. Thus, we have a completely new stamp issued on 18 April 2008. This stamp is only available used; currently there are no mint sheets or singles available to collectors. If you want a complete United Nations stamp collection, you'll need to purchase this cover, unless UNPA has a change of heart.

According to Jim Matyasovich, who spoke directly with an official at UNPA, a completely new file was created for this stamp, and a completely new printing was made for this stamp. While this stamp does have a tab attached, we cannot give it a sheet listing (Snn) number, because no sheets were ever sold to the public. However, I would expect it to receive official catalog status once what you've read here is confirmed by the catalog companies.

We have no other information on the number of sheets produced. This is NOT a case where UNPA was using up non-personalized S18 sheets, and just printed the dove tab onto existing sheets. Again, this is a completely new issue.

I would like to publicly thank Helmut for the scans and first pointing out the differences between the two stamps.

S18 - Generic International and Pope Benedict

Recently, Marlen Stamp and Coins, Ltd. began offering a Pope Benedict sheet commemorating his visit to the United States on 15-18 April 2008. On 18 April 2008, Pope Benedict delivered a public address to the General Assembly of the United Nations on the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Pope Benedict noted that, if rights are to be more than legal fictions, they must have their foundation in justice and religion.

The Marlen United Nations personalized stamp sheet is a commemoration of that event. The personalization was done by UNPA at Marlen's request, much like you or I could do if we wanted to send UNPA a scan of Pope Benedict and pay $14.95 per sheet. Marlen is currently selling these souvenir sheets for $74.95 per sheet. They are similar to the two Elvis sheets in that they commemorate a specific person or event, and they are printed by UNPA

I try not to make judgments in this Blog on what individuals should or should not collect. I leave that choice up to everyone, and if you collect this type of material, that is fine. I only try to present the facts despite the promotion that Marlen has written on their website:

"UNITED NATIONS POPE BENEDICT SURPRISE SHEET MINT NH THIS SHEET WILL NOT BE SOLD TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC---THROUGH THE UNPA. THIS IS AN OFFICIAL ISSUE OF THE UNITED NATIONS. THIS SHEET WAS ISSUED SPECIFICALLY TO MAKE COMMEMORATIVE COVERS FOR HISTORIC SPEECH BEFORE THE UNITED NATIONS ON FRIDAY. WE HAVE ASCERTAINED THAT JUST ABOUT THE ENTIRE PRINT RUN HAS BEEN UTILIZED FOR COVER GENERATION. IF YOU WANT A PIECE OF PAPAL HISTORY THIS SHEET IS FOR YOU. WE ONLY HAVE A FEW SHEETS AVAILABLE."

Nothing said here is untrue. The sheet will not be sold to the general public by UNPA. Marlen owns the sheets and can sell them either intact or broken up to make commemorative covers. However, this sheet will never be listed in any United Nations specialized catalog.

S15 - 50th Anniversay of Japan's Accession to the UN - Update

Thanks to Dieter Wolke, a UNOP member, we now know the name of the designer of the 50th Anniversay of Japan's Accession to the United Nations personalized stamp sheet. It is Toshiro Sawanuki, who is an official artist for Arts 4 A Culture of Peace & Development Programme for the WAFUNIF Programmes in support of the United Nations System. He held his one man exhibition in 2004 at Artspace Gallery in New York.

From the Artspace Gallery website we know:

"Mr. Sawanuki was born in Tokyo in 1950 and started his career as an art director in making popular Japanese TV programs, commercials and films. With a recognized talent, Toshiro Sawanuki became an accomplished cosmic artist in 1989. Flow of cosmic vision has been motivating his creation for the new millennium world with more than 400 original acrylics that depict infinite energy from the universe, peace on planets, love for humanity, harmony and joy.

Inspired by the new millennium energy, the artworks of Toshiro Sawanuki invite you to the magnificent space journey where you can recognize the blessings and preciousness of our mother planet, common home and origin for all creatures without borders. Cosmic Art of Toshiro Sawanuki provides such opportunity for people of all ages beyond difference of nationality, identity, culture and beliefs.

DEDICATED TO THE INTERNATIONAL DECADE FOR A CULTURE OF PEACE
AND NON-VIOLENCE FOR THE CHILDREN OF THE WORLD 2001 - 2010

Cosmic Art of Toshiro Sawanuki will be dedicated to the Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the world proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 53/25 spanning through the decade, 2001-2010. It is regarded as a model in promoting six unifying and interrelated values, identified by several Nobel Peace Laureates, as common to all societies, cultures and nations:

RESPECT ALL LIFE
REJECT VIOLENCE
SHARE WITH OTHERS
LISTEN TO UNDERSTAND
PRESERVE THE PLANET
REDISCOVER SOLIDARITY

Changing the world by saying “Yes” to coexistence, to listening, to respecting life, to understanding others, to equality and to respecting the planet.

Changing the world by saying “No” to violence, to crime, to conflicts, to war and
to separation.

The artworks of Toshiro Sawanuki drawn under the 6 values will be displayed at the official launch of Arts for A Culture of Peace & Development Programme for WAFUNIF Programmes in support of the United Nations System. Part of the sales will be donated to WAFUNIF’s Culture of Peace Learning MultiCentre in Nicaragua."

S19 - Peaceful Visions Wrong First Day

Last year, one of the co-founders of the UNPI United Nations personalized sheet numbering system received a first day canceled Peaceful Visions sheet from UNPA that is a little strange. If you look closely, you'll notice the cancels are 14 May 2007. This is actually the first day of S17 and S18, the generic 41 cent and 90 cent personalized sheets. The Peaceful Visions sheet wouldn't be released for another two weeks, on 1 June 2007. Needless to say, he is not returning this sheet as it makes a very nice item for his collection!

Sheet Numbering

If you have a copy, take a look at the 25 February 2008 issue of Linn's. On page 26 is an ad from WorldStamps.com - Frank Geiger Philatelist, that uses the UNPI numbering for personalized United Nations sheets! I have purchased UN stamps from Frank in the past and have always been very satisfied. His unique methods of packaging, make it fun to open up the envelope! I am happy to see the numbering system continues to be adopted by both dealers and collectors.

I also have a "head's up" for everyone. On 12 May 2008, the United States will be increasing is domestic and postal rate from 41 cents to 42 cents. Although I don't know the new international rate, we can probably expect that to rise along with the domestic rate. So, on 12 May 2008 we can probably expect new generic sheets from UNPA and the withdrawal of S17 and S18. If you don't have your set yet, be sure to order it soon.

S15 - 50th Anniversay of Japan's Accession to the UN Auction

I was watching eBay item #310024298255, to see how it would do in a no reserve auction. This is one of my "must buy" sheets, because of the very low printing quantity of 2,500 sheets (25,000 stamps), and its listed catalog status. It closed on 24 February 2008 for $63.00 after 5 bidders placed 12 bids. The seller has to pleased with that result. Again, I urge all my readers to obtain this sheet before the price rises again.

S19 - Peaceful Visions

The next United Nations personalized stamp sheet was issued on 1 June 2007, and as of this date, remains on sale at the UNPA website. It is a very strange emission in a lot of ways. First, the U.S. international airmail rate had changed from 84 cents (the value of each stamp on the sheet) to 90 cents in the previous month. So, the stamps in the sheet paid no discernible rate at the time of release.

Next, when the sheet was released, the stamps were to be the same stamps as in the Japan 50th Anniversary sheet. Since there was such an outcry over the Japan anniversary sheet, UNPA probably decided to go ahead and release this sheet, so as to lower the rarity of the stamps in that sheet. Unfortunately, that did not work at all. The Japan 40th Anniversary sheet was printed with offset lithography by Sprintpak Security Print (Australia). The perforations are 14.4 x 14.4 and the stamp size is 30 mm x 30.55 mm. The Peaceful Visions sheet was printed by Lowe-Martin Co., Inc. (Canada) using a 600 dpi digitized 4 color process. The perforations are 13.2 and the stamp size is 30 mm x 30 mm. Needless to say, the stamps in the sheet received their own Scott number (931) and Michel Number (1065).

Finally, the sheet is not personalizable. This is due to the artwork on the tabs by Slavka Kolesar, who also designed the stamp set issued at the same time. So, while the name "personalized stamp sheet" is somewhat of a misnomer, we can just think of the sheet as "personalized only by Slavka Kolesar."

Market Movements

Whenever I receive the latest issue of Linn's, the first thing I do is check to see if it contains an advertisement for United Nations Personalized sheets from Henry Gitner Philatelists, Inc. Debbie and Henry Gitner have been staunch supporters of United Nations philately and especially for the personalized sheets. Their full page Linn's ads are a strong indicator of the interest in the UN personalized sheets. They have made numerous discoveries in the field, including the 2005 Microcredit sheet. Also, they have adopted the United Nations Philatelists' UN personalized sheet numbering system, which has also now spread to Germany thanks to Klaus Ghul and his articles in UNOPost.

I save the Gitner ads to compare how the market has changed for the sheets over the preceding month or two. There were no price changes between the 5 November 2007 and the 24 December 2007 advertisements. However, there are a couple of interesting developments in the recent 11 February 2008 ad. First, the S5 2005 Student sheet jumps from $74.95 to $99.95, a rise of about 33%. S6, the generic Greetings for the United Nations sheet, jumps from $149.95 to $199.95, another 33% increase. S8 Riccione moves from $99.95 to $124.95, a 25% increase. All other sheets remained stable between the two ads. Again, I would urge you to purchase the scarcer sheets as soon as possible. There are probably more price increases in the future. You can download all the previous Linn's ads from the Gitner website at http://www.hgitner.com.

S18 - United Nations New York City International Rate

The next United Nations personalized stamp sheet was issued on 14 May 2007 and remains on sale on the UNPA website, probably until the United States international first class mail rate changes (possibly in June 2008). This sheet and S17 were issued simultaneously and are intended to be the main two sheets for tourist and philatelic personalization during a visit to the UN.

This sheet was designed by Robert Stein (who unfortunately for United Nations philately, passed away in July 2007). The ten 90 cent stamps themselves, are similar in design to S16 (Essen 2007), except for the denomination. The stamps are still 30 mm x 30 mm with 13.2 perforations. The Scott number is 939 and the Michel number is 1064.

S21 - World Space Week Catalog Numbers

I just received an email from one of our correspondents that Scott finally released the catalog numbers for the World Space Week personalized stamp sheet back in late January. They are Vienna 404-408. So, if we believe that there are only 6,000 sheets available, once again we have some very rare United Nations stamps. Only 12,000 possible sets might exist. I'm eagerly awaiting the announcements from UNPA (supposedly in this quarter) that will let us know the printing quantities.

S17 - United Nations New York City Domestic Rate

The next United Nations personalized stamp sheet was issued on 14 May 2007 and remains on sale on the UNPA website, probably until the United States domestic first class mail rate changes (possibly in June 2008). This sheet was designed by Rorie Katz. The stamps themselves, are a rehash of S01, other than the change in value from 37 cents to 41 cents. Therefore, as you would expect, the stamps are still 30 mm x 30 mm with 13.2 perforations. The Scott numbers are 934-928 and the Michel numbers are 1059-1063. This would be a good sheet to personalize on your next visit to the United Nations as a souvenir.

S16 - Internationalen Briefmarken-Messe (R!) Update

Thanks to our European correspondent, we now believe that 20,000 sheets were printed - not 2,000. This means that each design would be available in a quantity of 40,000 - but remember, many of these sheets will never be broken up. We also know that an initial shipment of 5,000 sheets was sent to UNPA Vienna for the Essen 2007 stamp show.

While we now believe that there are ten times as many stamps as originally thought, this is still a very small printing for all United Nations philatelists. I urge all collectors that might still need this sheet to purchase one as soon as possible.

S16 - Internationalen Briefmarken-Messe (RR!)

The next United Nations personalized stamp sheet is the first Euro-denominated sheet issued, issued for the Essen 2007 stamp show. The sheet was made available on 3 May 2007 and quickly went off sale on 23 May 2007. Only 2,000 sheets were reported to have been issued. Once again, the five 0.55 Euro stamps of each design (x2), must be considered very scarce. Only 4,000 of each of the stamps are available to United Nations philately. To form a complete collection of United Nations stamps, many of these sheets will be broken into two stamp sets, and the price will continue to rise as United Nations collectors realize how scarce these sets are. The stamps have been given their own Scott numbers (Vienna 393-397) and their own Michel numbers (Vienna 497-501).

In general the stamps conform to the standard 30mm x 30mm format with 13.2 perforations. Currently, we do not know the designer of the sheet or printer. Once again, that information is needed from other collectors, since UNPA has not been helpful.

S15 - 50th Anniversay of Japan's Accession to the UN (R!)

The next United Nations personalized stamp sheet is considered very controversial. The sheet was issued on 21 September 2006. It is estimated that 2,500 of the sheets were printed (one report says 2,000), so at most, only 25,000 of these unique stamps exist. The stamps have been given their own Scott number, 929; and their own Michel number - 1040.

What is so controversial, is that the personalized sheets were at first only given out to the Japanese delegation during the 50th anniversary ceremony. Most United Nations philatelists were not even aware the stamps existed until later in the year when an editorial about them appeared in Linn's Stamp News. This caused quite a problem for UNPA, since they'd given out some very rare United Nations stamps and had never made them available to the public. Finally, on 5 February 2007, the remaining sheets were sent to UNPA's standing order customers and put on sale to the public from their website. They quickly sold out.

The stamps themselves were printed with offset lithography by Sprintpak Security Print (Australia). The perforations are different; 14.4 x 14. and the stamp size is different; 30 mm x 30.55 mm, from the standard 30 mm x 30 mm that all the other stamps exhibit. I do not have any information on the off sale date or the designer. If someone has that information, we'd be grateful if you could share it with the rest of the United Nations philatelists.

S6.1 - Cherrystone January 2008 Auction, Lot 1347

Lot 1347 closed yesterday:

UNITED NATIONS 2005 80c Greetings from the United Nations souvenir sheet of ten, showing error of two 37c stamps se-tenant with 80c, n.h., v.f. It is believed only 50 of such sheets exist (and were sold during the March 2005 New York Mega Show, as supported by the copy of the accompanying article in Linn's), listed but unpriced in Scott's.

The lot opened at $3,500 and closed at $3,500. Unfortunately, this does not give us very much information. We can't tell if there was exactly one bid at $3,500, or no bids, and the lot did not sell. If I was to enter a bid, it had to be at $3,750. The Cherrystone website just says the lot is closed. If anyone knows a little more, please let us know.

UPDATE: Thanks to a reader, we know the lot did not sell.

S13 - More on Elvis

If you look in the lower right corner of the Elvis sheets, some additional information is printed during the personalization process. The first Washington 2006 Elvis-personalized United Nations sheet begin with 20060531NPRT followed by some additional identifying numbers. Obviously, this is the date these sheets were personalized 2006 05 31 or 31 May 2006. I don't know what the NPRT or rest of the numbers stand for; we're going to have to ask UNPA.

The second Elvis sheet has the following detail:


The first part reads 20060608NPRT. Therefore these sheets were printed on 8 June 2006. According to Marlen Coins and Stamps, the blue and red Elvis sheet was printed in a quantity of 600. The second Elvis sheet was printed in a quantity of 400. This clears up the discrepancy of the print totals, since we now know that 600 Elvis Type 1 were printed, and 400 Elvis Type 2 were printed, for a total between both sheets of 1,000. This only leaves 3,500 non-Elvis sheets for collectors. Given Marlen's detailed knowledge of the print quantities, I would surmise that they were the dealer that originally ordered these sheets, and all other dealers are selling the sheets on a secondary basis.

S14 - Berlin 2006 (R!)

The next United Nations personalized stamp sheet was issued for the Internationalen Briefmarken-Börse (International Stamp Show) on 21 September 2006, and went off sale on 21 May 2007. This was quite a long period of availability considering only 4,500 sheets were produced. What's more, the stamps in the sheet are actually different than those in S11 and S13, and have been given their own Scott and Michel numbers. The reason for this difference is the perforations are very different. On S11 and S13, the perforations are 13.2 x 13.2. For S14 the perforations are 14.4 x 14. Considering there are only two stamps of each design on each sheet, the 9,000 stamps for each Scott #903a-907b and Michel 1010B-1014B rank as some of the rarest in all of United Nations philately. Whenever someone asks me, I tell them to buy this sheet immediately, no United Nations collection can be complete without the five rare stamps. Compare this with the 250,000 Scott #38 sheets and you can see how rare these stamps are, and that demand will dictate continued price increases.

For the sheet itself, we know the design is based on an Edward Hardam photograph. Mr. Hardam has a photography business in the Netherlands called HeR design. Here is the original photograph taken by Mr. Hardam:


The colors of the German flag have been overlaid on this photograph, along with the stamps and other printing for the 2006 Internationalen Briefmarken-Börse.