S27 - Essen 2009 Color Variety

I received an interesting report from Helmut that a few Essen 2009 United Nations personalized sheets sheets (blue-green gum) were found with a much fainter red color - that does not mean that somebody else cannot have a large quantity of them However, it is an interesting variety to keep look for.

S27 - Essen 2009

On 6 May 2009, UNPA issued a new United Nations personalized stamp exhibition sheet to commemorate the 19th International Stamp Fair 2009 in Essen, Germany. The sheet is composed of 10 stamps in the denomination of € 0,65. The photos on the stamps represent the following (right row, top to bottom):

• Flags of the Nations at the Memorial Plaza, Vienna International Centre;
• View of the Memorial Plaza and the D-tower of the Vienna International Centre;
• Detail of the sculpture “The First Swallows” by Juozas Mikenas;
• M-Building. On 25 April 2008, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik jointly inaugurated the new conference building (M-Building) at the Vienna International Centre. The United Nations Secretary-General stated: “The building will also be used as the central hub of many diplomats from all around the world to discuss the future of our world.”
• Detail of the oil painting “Schmetterlingsbaum” (“Butterfly-tree”) by the Austrian artist Rudolf Hausner.

The background image of the special personalized stamp sheet “Essen” features the World Heritage “Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in Essen”. The emblems beside the stamps alternatively depict the UN logo and the show cachet. The sheet was designed by Deborah Halerin and Eduardo Sinoy of the United Nations.

Thanks to Helmut, and the UNPA Vienna Newsletter, 7,500 sheets were produced and I have several reports that both the blue-green gum and the cream gum varieties are available. He also reports that perforation is the same as with previous sheets: 13 1/4 comb., outer right vertical perf line between labels and selvage is line perforated 13 1/4.

A new correspondent, Marc, wrote to let us know that he found 33 sheets with blue-green gum. This color may be more scarce than the cream gum, since he looked at over 1.000 sheets. He also found an ungummed sheet on white paper with perforations.

Collectors have asked if there is a way we can buy and sell sheets from other collectors. I am not sure of the best way to do this, but if anyone has any ideas, please email me.

I sincerely appreciate everyone who contributes to this blog. We must share information since no single collector knows everything about the United Nations personalized sheets. Please email if you can contribute anything. I still have a small backlog of correspondence that contains additional information that I will add to the blog soon. Please be patient, I can only write in my spare time. Thank you!!

More Gum Discoveries

Jim Matyasovich continues to make new gum discoveries. He is corresponding with many collectors of United Nations personalized sheets, and has put together the following spreadsheet. This list is the latest information we have on all the gum varieties, please email him or I if you can add to the list.

SHEET	DESCRIPTION	GUM
S1	GENERIC - GREETINGS FROM NY	SHINEY CREAM
S2	HONG KONG STAMP EXPO	SHINEY CREAM
S3	ESSEN 2004	SHINEY CREAM
S4	GREAT HANSHIN-AWAJI EARTHQUAKE	LOW SHINE WHITE
S5	MY VISIT TO THE UN (STUDENT SHEET)	DULL WHITE
S5.1	MY VISIT TO THE UN (STUDENT SHEET)	DULL BLUE/GREEN
S5.2	IMPERFORATED	DULL BLUE/GREEN
S6	GENERIC - GREETINGS FROM NY (60TH)	DULL WHITE
S6.1	GENERIC - GREETINGS FROM NY (60TH)	DULL BLUE/GREEN
S6.2	TEXT & STAMP ERRORS	DULL WHITE
S6.3	TEXT ERROR	DULL WHITE
S7	EXPO 2005 AICHI JAPAN	SHINEY CREAM
S7.1	NO RED BOX	DULL WHITE
S7.2	RED BOX PASTED ON	SHINEY CREAM
S8	RICCIONE 1981-2005	DULL WHITE
S8.1	RICCIONE 1981-2005	DULL BLUE/GREEN
S9	MICROCREDIT	SHINEY CREAM
S10	GREETINGS FROM THE UN-DOMESTIC	SHINEY CREAM
S11	GREETINGS FROM THE UN-INTERNATIONAL	SHINEY CREAM
S12	WAR/PEACE	BLUE/GREEN
S13	WASHINGTON 2006	SHINEY CREAM
S14	BERLIN	SHINEY CREAM
S15	JAPAN 50TH	SHINEY CREAM
S16	ESSEN 2007	DULL BLUE/GREEN
S17	UN NYC - DOMESTIC	DULL BLUE/GREEN
S18	UN NYC - INTERNATIONAL	DULL BLUE/GREEN
S18.1	UN NYC - INTERNATIONAL - POPE'S VISIT	DULL BLUE/GREEN
S19	PACEFUL VISIONS	DULL BLUE/GREEN
S19	FIRST DAY CANCELED	DULL BLUE/GREEN
S20	CLIMATE CHANGE	DULL BLUE/GREEN
S20	FIRST DAY CANCELED	DULL BLUE/GREEN
S21	WORLD SPACE WEEK	DULL BLUE/GREEN
S22	ESSEN 2008	DULL WHITE
S22.1	ESSEN 2008	DULL BLUE/GREEN
S23	UN NYC - DOMESTIC	DULL BLUE/GREEN
S24	UN NYC - INTERNATIONAL	DULL WHITE
S24.1	UN NYC - INTERNATIONAL	DULL BLUE/GREEN
S25	BEIJING - BLUE BAND	DULL WHITE
S25.1	BEIJING - BLUE BAND	DULL BLUE/GREEN
S25.2	BEIJING - PURPLE BAND	DULL WHITE
S25.3	BEIJING - PURPLE BAND	DULL BLUE/GREEN
S26	WIPA	DULL WHITE
S26.1	WIPA	DULL BLUE/GREEN

Notice that two different gum varieties goes back at least to S6, and can also be found on S7, S8, S18. More discoveries are awaiting.

S25, S25.1, S25.2, S25.3 - Sport for Peace - Beijing Olympics: Four Different Varieties

Thanks to our friend in Geneva, we now have confirmation of the fourth color/gum combination; the purple band with cream gum (S25.3). He also provides us with a clue as to when this began. For S23 and S24 (NY standard postage 2008), the 42 cent United Nations personalized sheet has blue-green gum (S23) and the 94 cent United Nations personalized sheet comes with the cream gum. I had not noticed this before, and can confirm I have these combinations. Check your copies, I would like to find out if these exist in different gum formats.

Davo Album Update

Thanks to Henry Gitner, I now have a copy of the new DAVO United Nations personalized sheet album. This album is the perfect place to store and display my collection. This DAVO album contain removable pages which allow you to work on your sheets and then place them in archival-quality clear stamp mounts. These seem to hold the sheets firmly in place, without any damage. This also allows you to insert pages where you might want to display sheet varieties.

The album itself is a black, high quality, heavy stock. It includes a dust case, to protect the sheets and the binder itself from outside influences. Each sheet has a gray-scale picture of the relevant sheet and the album included four extra blank sheets to help cover the varieties. Extra sheets can be purchased from DAVO. It is a very impressive album.

My only quibble is that the Microcredit sheet is assigned to 2003 instead of 2005. DAVO uses a numbering scheme that starts with the year, followed by the sheets in the order they were issued. So, for 2003, the first United Nations personalized sheet is given the designation 2003-1 (S1). Their designations are fine, they've just misplaced the Microcredit sheet (unless they know something more about this sheet than we do!). Perhaps this can be corrected when the pages are reprinted.

For now, I am very, very happy to have a copy of this album.

S25, S25.1, S25.2 - Sport for Peace - Beijing Olympics: Three Different Varieties

This issue has gotten a little more complicated. We have now identified three different varieties of the 2008 Sport for Peace Beijing Olympics United Nations personalized sheet. The following sheet numbers have been assigned:

1. S25 - Blue band, blue-green gum
   
2. S25.1 - Blue band, cream gum
   
3. S25.2 - Purple band, blue-green gum
   

The only variety that has not been identified is one with a purple band and cream gum. To date, the blue band, blue-green gum variety (S25) seems to be the most common. Any reports of other varieties would be most welcome.

S26 & S26.1 - WIPA 2008 - Two Different Gums

At the end of the 2 October 2008 entry, where I first discussed the WIPA 2008 United Nations personalized sheet, I mentioned a report that there are two types of gum on this sheet. Thanks again to Helmut Jörg, we now have confirmation of the cream gum (S26) and the blue-green gum (S26.1). These gums are shown below, and are the back sides of the two WIPA sheets shown above. At least in this case, there are no extreme color differences on the front side. One sheet might appear to be slightly bluer and the other, but this is just the light passing through the blue-green gum.

S25 & S25.1 - Sport for Peace - Beijing Olympics: Two Different Printings

For the past couple of months, I have been receiving reports about two different gum colors on the Sport for Peace, Beijing Olympics 2008 United Nations personalized sheet. As can be seen from these cut pieces of selvage, it is more than the gum that is different, the printed colors on the front of the sheet are also very different! In the scan shown above, the blue-green gum version is on the left and the cream gum version is on the right. UNP has decided to assign S25.1 to the blue-green gum version. It is unknown if one printing is more scarce than the other version, or if one version was printed before another version. But if you enjoy varieties, seek out both versions for your collection! Below is the scan of the gum side for the same two pieces of selvage.


I want to thank Dieter Wolke for the earliest report of the two gum colors and Helmut Jörg for supplying the selvage samples.

New Davo United Nations Personalized Stamp Album

I just received the new UNPA Philatelic Bulletin No. 89 (February - March 2009). In the Bulletin is the first advertisement I've seen for the new Dave United Nations Personalized Stamps Album. We've being hearing about this for over a year, so it's nice to see if finally released - well, almost.

I went to the Davo website today, but could not find any information on this album there. The UNPA website also does not list this specific product. You can, however, order it from the catalog. It's order number is 329-3531 and the price is $150.

The price is inline with other Davo products. They are high quality, and since the production quantity is small, you have to expect to pay this type of price for a limited edition of any album. If you'd rather not pay the $150, you could always use a nice mint sheet file album to store the sheets.

I am looking forward to hearing any reports of any new technical information on the UN personalized sheets that may be in this album.