UN Personalized Stamp Sheets

S27 - Essen 2009 Color Variety

2009-05-27T09:52:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-14T19:46:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-30T18:40:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-13T08:26:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-05T13:29:00.000-08:00

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

2009-03-03T13:44:00.000-08:00

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:

S25 - Blue band, blue-green gum
S25.1 - Blue band, cream gum
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

2009-02-19T12:27:00.001-08:00

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

2009-02-18T13:50:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-30T10:11:00.000-08:00

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.

S26 - WIPA 2008

2008-10-02T09:47:00.001-07:00

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

2008-08-13T14:33:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-28T08:57:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-24T07:13:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-23T07:44:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-04T16:41:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-22T18:05:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-20T13:12:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-19T14:33:00.001-07:00

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:

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

2008-05-14T21:44:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-08T12:36:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-07T13:22:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-23T08:45:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-01T20:39:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-05T08:37:00.000-08:00

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

2008-02-27T16:18:00.000-08:00

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

2008-02-25T11:14:00.000-08:00

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

2008-02-20T08:24:00.000-08:00

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

2008-02-12T22:10:00.000-08:00

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

2008-02-09T08:00:00.000-08:00

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

2008-02-06T11:11:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-30T07:46:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-23T20:02:00.000-08:00

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!)

2008-01-21T13:22:00.000-08:00

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!)

2008-01-14T09:55:00.001-08:00

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

2008-01-10T09:13:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-07T10:23:00.000-08:00

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!)

2008-01-03T13:48:00.000-08:00

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.

S13 - Washington 2006 & the King

2007-12-31T09:40:00.000-08:00

As we end 2007, it might be appropriate to take a look at two United Nations personalized sheets that might cause some confusion. When I first starting collecting these sheets, I kept seeing ads for Elvis Presley-Washington 2006 sheets from many different dealers. I did not know if they were an official UNPA release, or some other creation.

As it turns out, during Washington 2006, a stamp dealer ordered two different versions of personalized Elvis sheets. One report says 600 sheets were ordered, and another report says 1,000 sheets were ordered. These sheets are not official UNPA releases and are akin to you or I personalizing one or more sheets. While these might appeal to Elvis collectors, and everyone is free to collect whatever they want, they are not necessary to complete a United Nations personalized sheet collection.

Happy New Year to everyone!

S13 - Washington 2006

2007-12-26T16:26:00.001-08:00

After a respite for the holidays, we resume our look at United Nations personalized stamp sheets with S13, which was released on 28 May 2006 during the World Philatelic Exposition in Washington, D.C This was an International FIP-sanctioned Stamp show, which is held in the United States only once approximately every ten years. It quickly sold out, with the last date of sale being 7 June 2006. About 4,500 sheets were produced, with the stamps based on the S11 84 cent generic sheet. The other characteristics of the stamps are consistent between the two sheets, with 13.2 perforations and a 30 mm x 30 mm stamp size The U.S. Capitol dome is the most often repeated design in the tabs, along with other Washington, D.C. sites: Jefferson Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument and the White House. Information on the designer(s) is still being sought.

S21 - World Space Week First Day and S6.1 Auction

2007-12-20T08:46:00.000-08:00

Jim received confirmation from UNPA New York (who checked with UNPA Vienna!) that the first day of issue of S21 is 4 October 2007. UNPA has offered to replace his personalized sheets when they return from the holidays. I'm not quite sure how they intend to do this, since we heard all the sheets have been sold and sent out.

A new January 9-10, 2008, Cherrystone Auction features one of the rarest personalized United Nations stamp sheets, S6.1, which has the two 37¢ stamp errors and Vereinte Nationene error in the selvage. The estimate for lot #1347 is $3,500. This seems high to me, but I don't know how many collectors there are of United Nations stamp errors. The sheet is listed, but unpriced, in Scott as 884b. There are certainly plenty of UN stamp errors to choose from, but perhaps because of its unique status, the sheet may attain a high realization. I will report on that after the auction. The auction link can be found here: http://www.stampcircuit.com/Search/. Search on "United Nations" or the lot number. If you search on United Nations, be sure to also select "All the Words."

The Scott numbering for the United Nations personalized stamps is inconsistent at best. Normally, they list the stamps individually. For example: 880-884. A strip of the five different stamps is listed as the last stamp, but with a letter suffix. In this example, the strip of five is 884a for the stamps in the normal sheet. There are no listings for the sheets currently. However, for this sheet only, the sheet is listed as 884b, not for the strip of five. We already know that at least one sheet was broken up into two strips of 5, so this strip with the four normal stamps 880-883 plus the 37 cent 884 should be 884b, not the sheet. This is the only sheet that actually has a Scott number. And, this is one of the reasons we decided to renumber the sheets the way we have; inconsistency within the Scott numbering system.

S21 - World Space Week First Day - The Big Mistake

2007-12-17T13:06:00.000-08:00

Thanks to our European correspondent, we now know that UNPA New York made a big mistake. The first day of the S21 United Nations personalized sheet is 4 October 2007. The sheets sent to Jim Matyasovich by UNPA New York have a 25 October 2007 (see my 13 December 2007) post. Unfortunately, while this may be the first day of the "Space for Humanity - 50th Anniversary of the Space Age" stamps, it is not the first day for the World Space Week personalized stamps.

So to summarize; October 1st was originally projected in a press release about one month earlier, as the first day of release. October 4th was the opening date of the Space Week Conference and official first day of release in Vienna. Our correspondent picked up his sheets at the Vienna UNPA counter in the afternoon of October 5th and the cancelled sheets had the date 4.10.2007. October 25th was the first day of issue of the "Space for Humanity - 5oth Anniversay of the Space Age" stamps and souvenir sheets.

Needless to say, Jim is returning the the personalized sheets with the 25.10.2007 Vienna working day cancel, and has asked to have them replaced by sheets with a 4.10.2007 Vienna working day cancel. If anyone else has received these sheets with the wrong first day cancel, they should be returned to UNPA for immediate replacement. They are nothing more than used stamps dated three weeks after release.

S21 - World Space Week First Day

2007-12-13T14:19:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Jim Matyasovich, who recently received his standing order from UNPA, we now know that the true first day of the World Space Week United Nations personalized stamp sheet is 25 October 2007. On the UNPA website, 4 October 2007 is stated as the "issued on" date and in other published sources, such as Scott's online and Linn's, 1 October 2007, was stated as the release date. Obviously, this has caused considerable confusion. It took a while for Jim to receive his standing order as these had to be sent over to Vienna for the "working day" first day cancel, and then back to New York for processing. Jim has confirmed the first day with UNPA. These sheets sold out in just over two weeks!

The decision to change these sheets from the announced 41¢ stamps to 0.65 stamps was made very late in the production cycle. This may have caused delays in release, since the sheet is commemorating an event that occurred several weeks earlier.

Michel to Scott Conversion

2007-12-11T12:39:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Klaus Guhl, who's superb article on United Nations personalized stamps recently appeared in the 4-2007 issue of UNOPost (the informative publication of the German UNOP United Nation study group), we have the information needed to convert Michel catalog numbers to Scott catalog numbers. Given the deadlines for their publication, Mr. Guhl was unaware of the recent discoveries involving S6.2 and S9. However, he still provides a detailed overview of all the other issued sheets. Here is the conversion table, which I will continue to update as the new catalog numbers are released:

UNPI#	Scott #	Michel #
S1	853-857	941-945
S2	853-857	941-945
S3	853-857	941-945
S4	853-857	941-945
S5	unlisted	unlisted
S5.1	unlisted	unlisted
S6	880-884	977-981
S6.1	884b
S6.2	880-884	977-981
S7	853-857	941-945
S7.1	853-857	941-945
S7.2	853-857	941-945
S8	880-884	977-981
S9	853-857	941-945
S10	898-902	1005-1009
S11	903-907	1010A-1014A
S12	912	1019
S13	903-907	1010A-1014A
S14	903a-907b	1010B-1014B
S15	929	1040
S16	V393-397	V497-V501
S17	934-938	1059-1063
S18	939	1064
S19	931	1065
S20	939	1064

S12 - War/Peace

2007-12-10T07:48:00.000-08:00

The next United Nations personalized stamp issue sheet, is somewhat of a misnomer. The sheet was never actually made available to be personalized. So, like several other sheets, including S9 and S19, these were non-personalizable personalized sheets.

The 10 basic stamps are all the same and listed as Scott #912. In an upcoming post, I will be publishing a Scott to Michel conversion. They remain the standard 30mm x 30mm, with 13.2 perforations. When this sheet was issued, it paid the 75¢ United States international postcard rate during this rate period.

The sheet was released on 10 April 2006, and was designed by Armando Milani. Beyond that, we don't have any additional information that has been release by UNPA.

S11 - Greetings from the United Nations 84¢ Generic

2007-12-04T09:55:00.000-08:00

This United Nations personalized stamp sheet was released on the same day as its counterpart, S10, on 6 March 2006. The stamps could be used to pay the United States international letter rate, which was 84¢ at this time.

The five different designs are repeated each twice and are the same stamp designs as those on sheet S6 (80¢ Generic) and S8 (Riccione), except of course, the value and a tiny year under the value, which is 2005 for S6 and S8, and 2006 for S11. The Scott numbers are 903-907.

The stamps themselves conform to the 30 mm x 30 mm with 13.2 perforation format, but nothing has been released by UNPA regarding the printer, printing quantities, quantities sold, etc. Some this this information is supposed to be available in the first quarter of 2008.

S10 - Greetings from the United Nations 39¢ Generic

2007-11-29T09:19:00.001-08:00

Interestingly, this is the only 39¢ United Nations personalized stamp sheet. The stamps could be used to pay the United States domestic first class letter rate. The sheet was issued on 6 March 2006, to comply with the increase in postal rates of the United States first class letter on 8 January 2006. This rate period lasted until 13 May 2007, afterward the first class letter rate increased to 41 cents.

Once again we know nothing about the number of sheets printed, the number of sheets sold, or the printer. The stamps themselves remain in the 30mm x 30mm size with 13.2 perforations. The 20 stamps repeat four times each, so their are five different designs, which are designated Scott #898-902. If anyone can add any additional information, it would be sincerely appreciated by all UN personalized sheet collectors.

S6.2 - Greetings from the United Nations with Vereinte Nationen Error

2007-11-24T11:21:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Greg Galletti, we now confirm the latest addition to the United Nations personalized stamp sheets. This variation of S6 has the two normal 80 cent Scott #884 stamps, however, it still has "United Nations" in seven languages, instead of the official six found on the normal sheet. These sheets were sold at Napex in 2005, so if you were there and bought a sheet, you should check your sheets carefully. This sheet differs from the pre-release version of the S6 personalized sheet (see the S6 entry from 27 October 2007) and published on the back page wrapper enclosing the Vol. 29, issue #2 of the UNP Journal, because it has the normal "Greetings from the United Nations" as opposed to "Greeting from the United Nations". Once these errors sheets were noticed at the show, Robert Gray ordered them to be immediately withdrawn. It is estimated that about 10 of these error sheets were sold prior to their ordered withdrawel.

S9 - International Year of Microcredit 2005

2007-11-22T11:02:00.000-08:00

Finally, we come to the last Scott #853-7 United Nations personalized stamp sheet. This is by far the strangest sheet, and the one that is the least well known. The H. Gitner ad of 17 September 2007 in Linn's Stamp News did not mention this sheet, and then in the 5 November 2007 Linn's Stamp News advertisement, the sheet is first listed for sale. Presumably, the sheet was discovered by Henry and Debbie, sometime between these two dates.

The sheet can still be found (at least as of this posting) on the website: http://www.yearofmicrocredit.org/pages/getinvolved/getinvolved_shopmarketplace.asp, where both a 37¢ and an 80 cent sheet are listed. Nothing on the website can be purchased, no matter how one tries. Whatever happened to the sheets, how many were printed, how many were sold is a complete mystery. According to Debbie Gitner, the 80 cent sheet was never produced, so only the 37¢ sheet was available.

We're estimating the release date as 7 November 2005, because that is the date of the International Microcredit conference. For those of you who are wondering what Microcredit is, it's a tiny loan, as small as few hundred dollars, to an individual or small group to start a small business in a developing country. They've funded bakeries, pottery makers and other artists, and many other types of businesses. Typically, the people that are helped are poor, and cannot get credit through a banking institution. The majority are women, and the repayment rate is quite high. There are many opportunities for individuals to get involved in a program of this type.

The pictures in the tabs are credited to Adam Rogers, who is a traveling photographer and has his own website showing his work from throughout the world. All other printing characteristics are consistent with the other Scott #853-7 sheets.

More on the World Space Week Sheet, 2008 Sheets, and Naposta 2005 Sheet

2007-11-20T18:12:00.001-08:00

At the 4 November Stockerau bourse, UNPA had some Space Week sheets and sold them just on special request - they had to be asked for - none were on display. UNPA also sold a very restricted quantity the following weekend in Paris - then UNPA declared the Space Week "sold out" as they had many more orders than sheets available, and N.Y. wants all sheets sent back in order to deliver their standing orders.

We also learned that the Essen 2008 & ROMEX 2008 will be denominated in € and UNPA intends to do both with five different stamp designs.

On the subject of released designs, but never issued sheets: the original Space Week 2007 was denominated in U.S. dollars and with N.Y. generic designs. This original design was announced and pictured on UNPA's website together with the regular space issues in the forthcoming issue section, and was still shown online until the beginning of November.

The NAPOSTA 2005 sheet was officially announced and pictured in Faszination 3/2005 (with an order number) but never issued. The printing quantity was announced as 3,500 sheets, along with the price € 19,95. It was to contain12 stamps of € 0,55 and 8 stamps of € 1.10.

S21 - World Space Week Sold Out

2007-11-14T08:52:00.000-08:00

The UNPA website informs us that the World Space Week personalized sheet has sold out after a little over a month on sale. This quick sell out confirms the increasing popularity of the United Nations personalized sheets, and perhaps the popularity of space-themed philatelic items. According to UNPA the last day of sale was 12 November 2007. The Climate Change or Peaceful Visions sheets may soon follow, however, the 0.65 euro stamps in this sheet will have unique Scott numbers - so this may have led to the early sell out.

S8 - Riccione 1981-2005

2007-11-12T19:41:00.000-08:00

The next United Nations personalized sheet was issued for the 25th annual Fiera del Francobollo (Stamp Fair) in Riccione, Italy on 27 August 2005. It quickly sold out, but there is no information available on the number of sheets issued as of this posting. It is the same sets of stamps, Scott #880-884, as the generic S6 sheet. It has the same 13.2 perforations as all the previous sheets, but we still do not have any information on the printer. If anyone has any additional information, it would be sincerely appreciated by the United Nations Philatelists (UNPI).

S7 - EXPO 2005 Aichi Japan

2007-11-08T08:02:00.000-08:00

Next we come to one of the most interesting of the United Nations personalized sheets, the EXPO 2005 Aichi Japan sheet. This is primarily because of all the known and unknown varieties. The sheet was issued on 25 March 2005, still using the base stamps of Scott 853-857. Only 1,500 sheets were printed, and we know that there was 7 different printings. These frequent reprints resulted in at least 3 distinct varieties, and there may be others that have not been identified.

The most common sheet, which was probably the last one printed, is shown above. In the lower right hand selvage it has the words "Printed by the United Nations. © Japan Association for the 2005 World Exposition" printed directly on the sheet. It also has a caution in Japanese that reads, "Caution. These stamps are permitted for use only in the United Nations Pavilion at Expo 2005 and are not valid in Japan" also printed directly on the sheet.

The sheets did not start out this way. The first 100 sheets that were sold did not contain the licensed product seal and the warning was pasted on by a separate printed piece of paper that may not have been applied to all sheets. Only one of these sheets with neither the licensed product seal or pasted on warning is known in collector's hands, but others may exist. This sheet is shown below:

According to an article published in the United Nations Philatelist's Journal Vol 31 #4 by Ken Saski and also crediting Jim Matyasovich:

"The reason for this awkward change in text is as follows: The licensee of the sheet in Japan feared when they saw the first batch of 500 sheets from the UNPA, that the product might cause some confusion among the buyers in Japan. As the first day of issue was fast approaching and the licensee had no time to immediately reorder revised sheets, they decided to past the warning to the sheets. The sheets with the pasted warning (see below) were used for the first day of issue. By the time about 100 sheets had been sold, the revised sheets (very top scan) arrived and immediately replaced the (first) sheets on sale."

About 360 of the first 500 sheets were returned to the UNPA, including about 20 defective sheets. Presumably, this means only 140 are circulating. We also know that 55 of these first sheets were bought by the Japan Philatelic Agency (a stamp dealer) and some of these were canceled with their own rubber device.

Thus, we have at least 3 know varieties of this sheet, designated from top to bottom as S7, S7.1 and S7.2. It is possible that others might exist, so check your sheets and please report any new varieties so that they may be listed.

2008 Personalized Sheet Schedule

2007-11-05T12:19:00.001-08:00

Now that the UNPA web site is back up, after being down all weekend, I got a chance to review the envisioned 2008 UN personalized stamp sheet schedule. Thankfully, there are no new generic sheets on the horizon - as long as postage rates remain stable. Also, the schedule has being changing frequently, so the schedule and emissions are subject to change.

Here is what UNPA has planned in 2008:

8 May 2008 - Another personalized sheet for Essen. Presumably, this will once again be Euro denominated.
8 May 2008 - A special personalized sheet for the World Stamp Championship Exhibition in Israel.
6 June 2008 - A special personalized sheet for ROMEX in Bukarest.
8 August 2008 - A Beijing personalized stamp sheet - probably around the theme of Sport for Peace. This will coincide with the XXIX Olympiad.

So next summer looks like the busy time for United Nations personalized sheets.

On another note, I just returned from last weekend's SACAPEX in Sacramento, California. I met with the UNPA representatives there, and was able to purchase the World Space Week personalized sheet. Unfortunately, they had not received any Climate Change sheets, but hoped to have them by PENPEX in early December. Both of these sheets are now available on the UNPA web site.

S21 - World Space Week

2007-11-02T13:05:00.002-07:00

Thanks to Helmut Joerg, we now have a good image of the World Space Week United Nations personalized sheet. He believes 6,000 sheets were printed, although UNPA Vienna told him only 4,500 sheets were printed. There are two strips of five stamps, and each stamp is denominated 0.65 euros. Even though this sheet was issued on 4 October 2007, no sheets have been delivered by UNPA Vienna or UNPA New York as of this posting - over a month later.

S6 - Greetings from the United Nations (60th Anniversay of UN)

2007-10-27T08:56:00.000-07:00

The 60th Anniversary of UN Generic sheet was the first United Nations personalized stamp sheet issued to pay the 80¢ international air mail rate in effect at the time. The sheet was issued on 3 March 2005 (the same date the Student sheet was issued). The 30mm x 30mm stamps are listed as Scott 880-884 and pin perforated 13.2. It is possible that these sheets were also printed by the Banknote Corporation of America using offset lithography, but that has not yet been confirmed by UNPA.

During the release of these sheets at the ASDA show in New York City, it was discovered that some contained a rather startling error - one stamp (884 "Sphere within a Sphere") in the sheet was actually denominated 37¢. This occurs twice with in each sheet and is the bottom stamp in the first row, and the 4th stamp in the second row:

Once this error was discovered, the sheets were quickly withdrawn from sale for inspection. UNPA estimated that about 50 sheets with the error had been sold, before resuming sales of the normal sheet. These sheets are designated S6.1. They also contain another rather remarkable error. There are six official languages for the United Nations, and German is not one of them. Shown on the sheet are the words "United Nations" in seven different languages, including the German "Vereinte Nationen." Note that this has been removed in the top personalized sheet.

Some confusion over a possible third variety of this sheet was raised when the following sheet pre-release scan was issued by UNPA and published in Vol. 29, issue #2 of the UNP Journal:

Apparently, this sheet also contained the Vereinte Nationen error, but has normal 80¢ Scott 884 stamps. It also has another error; instead of the word "Greetings", is the word "Greeting". After a lot of research, this sheet does not seem to exist in collector's hands and was withdrawn from sale at Napex 2005 (where it was first discovered) before any were actually sold. About 10 sheets were destroyed.

S5 - My Visit to the United Nations (Student Sheet)

2007-10-23T08:34:00.000-07:00

The next United Nations personalized stamp sheet was placed on sale on 3 March 2005. Its purpose was to provide an inexpensive souvenir for the thousands of school children that visit the United Nations every year. The sheet could be purchased for $4.95 at the time. Only 1,600 sheets were produced. There is one caveat for the low price, it was only available in canceled condition. The sheet sold out on 31 May 2007, after being added to the UNPA Bulletin and web site.

This sheet is not Scott listed, even though the stamps are different from the Scott 853-857 stamps. Each has the year 2005 below the 37c, as opposed to the year 2003 on Scott 853-857. As can be seen in the detail below, the UN Security Council image shows the ceiling in the photograph, the UN Emblem is a different blue, UN General Assembly is completely reversed, the UN Nations Flags and UN NY Headquarters also have significant color differences. Other printing characteristics, such as print method, perforations, stamps size, and printer are the same as Scott 853-857.

The reason these stamps are not Scott listed is that they do not conform to all of the listing criteria established by Scott. Among other things, the stamps must be available in uncanceled condition to be postally used on outgoing mail. Since the Student sheet was only available with a printed cancel, they could never be used to send cards, letters or packages from the United Nations headquarters in New York City.

On 11 June 2007 Linn's reported approximately 1 or 2 of these sheets were sold imperforated. For the United Nations personalized stamp sheet listings, these sheets are designated S5.1.

S4 - The Great Hanshin-Awaji (Kobe) Earthquake Sheet

2007-10-22T12:15:00.000-07:00

Whereas at least a few of the S3 - Essen 2004 United Nations personalized sheets were made available by UNPA to collectors, and most of the S2- Hong Kong Stamp Expo were purchased directly by collectors, the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake sheet was primarily given out to dignitaries attending the 10th anniversary event. Thus, the only way to obtain a sheet was to purchase it on the secondary market from a non-collector. Needless to say, this has been difficult due to the dispersion of the sheets, and since only 1,000 sheets were printed.

All of the same print characteristics, other than the labels and selvage, are identical to the previous three sheets and the basic stamps are still Scott 853-857. The sheet was initially released on 17 January 2005. Photo credit is stated on the sheet itself: Luminarie photo credit: Valerio Festi/I & F, Inc./Kobe Luminarie O.C. The beautifully lit Kobe Luminarie has been held every year to symbolize the ongoing restoration and reconstruction of Kobe following the devastation of 1995's Great Hanshin Earthquake. It is a cultural event encompassing art, music, etc.

S3 - Internationalen Briefmarken-Messe Essen (2004) Stamp Show

2007-10-21T21:54:00.000-07:00

As we continue our tour of Scott 853-857, the next UNO personalized sheet appeared at the Essen 2004 stamp show. This surprise sheet was issued on 3 June 2004, and only 2,500 sheets were printed. It completely sold out, but I do not know the date of sell out. If anyone has that information, I'm hoping they'll share it with everyone else.

Interestingly, there are some mock-up scans floating around on the Internet that show different stamps than the "as issued" sheet. The image is shown below for reference purposes:

Note the revered image of the General Assembly stamp. At first, collector's were wondering if this was some type of strange error. However, this is just a pre-production mock-up and no sheets were issued with this configuration (at least until the Student sheet was issued!). There are other differences in the other stamps as well.

S20 - New Climate Change and World Space Week Sheets Released

2007-10-19T14:16:00.000-07:00

My friend Dick Powers, the editor of the United Nations Philatelists Journal, recently returned from Sescal 2007 and emailed me that he'd purchased the new Climate Change sheet. This sheet has been designated S20. It has a release date of 24 September 2007, and it's based on the generic sheet, S18, released on 14 May 2007. It has the same 10 x 90c format as the S18 sheet with different selvage and labels.

Another new sheet, tentatively designated S21 was released on 4 October 2007. It contains 10 x 0.65 euro stamps and was released for World Space Week. There are some bad scans available, but we'll wait until we have a good one to post it. The sheet was designed by Donato Giancola and printed by Joh. Enschede (Netherlands).

S2 - Hong Kong Stamp Expo

2007-10-18T16:17:00.000-07:00

The second United Nations personalized sheet was something unexpected, and caused quite a sensation among collectors and in the philatelic press. Only 1,000 sheets were prepared for the Hong Kong Stamp Expo which took place from 30 January to 3 February 2004, and they quickly sold out. Charges of creating an artificial rarity were leveled against UNPA by many collectors and writers.

The sheet was not considered a separate entity by UNPA, because the stamps, Scott 853-857, had not changed. Only the selvage and labels changed. Scott does not list the sheets separately when only the selvage (or labels) have changes, because they publish a stamp catalog - not a selvage catalog. UNPA felt it did not create any stamp rarities and the Hong Kong Stamp Expo show souvenirs, these personalizes sheets, were comparable to other show souvenirs, such as the White and Blue cards that were frequently available at European shows.

Many collectors found this not to their liking, and since this was an official UNPA release, they began looking for the sheets. Very quickly the sheets reached a price of $150, before settling into the $125 range. I am not sure of the exact date of sell out, but presumably it was on or just before 3 February 2004.

S1 - Greetings from the United Nations New York City (Generic)

2007-10-15T19:08:00.000-07:00

On 26 Nov 2003 the UNPA launched the first sheet of United Nations personalized stamps. The product was developed to provide a special sheet of souvenir stamps for the many thousands of tourists that visit the United Nations in New York.

The product consisted of a gummed stamp sheet 11 1/2" X 8" containing twenty 30mm x 30mm UN 37¢ stamps pin-perforated 13.2 with with blank tabs next to each stamp. The blank tab was to be used to capture your photo image, therefore allowing you to post a letter with your own personal image. Sheets were also available with generic UN images on the tabs. The gum is shiny, white and with medium florescence.

The five images on the stamps include the UN Security Council, UN Emblem, UN General Assembly, UN Nations Flags and UN NY Headquarters. The sheets sold for $14.95 with personalized or generic labels. The Scott numbers are 853-857.

The 100,000 sheets were printed using offset lithography by the Banknote Corporation of America (USA). The designer was Rorie Katz of the United Nations. Currently, I do not know how many of the 100,000 sheets were sold, or the date the sheet went off sale. Once that information becomes available, it will be added to this commentary.

I am indebted to Jim Matyasovich for has invaluable assistance with this post, and working with me to standardize the sheet listing numbers. Dealers were using a variety of designations for various sheets, and this became confusing. There is no copyright for these sheet designations, we want everyone to use them freely.

Naposta 2005

2007-10-12T09:24:00.001-07:00

While searching the web today, I ran across an interesting scan of an unissued United Nations personalized sheet from Naposta 2005. If anyone has any additional information, or if one of these has found its way into private hands, we'd love to hear about it.

While this is not the best scan (it's all I have), the two stamps appear to be the 2005 Vienna United Nations Horse and Rider and the Soccer Player from the International Year of Sport issue. The Berne, Switzerland based graphic designer Roland Hirter was chosen to design these stamps. He had won a 2004 competition for his designs. The set of six stamps (two each for New York, Geneva and Vienna) was issued June 3, 2005. The values of the stamps are each 0.55 euros.

First Post

2007-10-11T15:43:00.001-07:00

This blog is an attempt to aggregate information on UN Personalized stamp sheets. I have searched the web and could not find anything very much. Therefore, I am asking all faithful readers to please contribute to this blog. The UNPA has been less than forthcoming to share information on this topic. Here is the word for word reply to my inquiry on the names of designers, number of sheets printed/sold and dates of availability:

Mr Wallace,

UNPA is in the process of planning the development and launch of a Personalized Stamp Album which would feature all the UN issued sheets as well as printing specifications. Therefore, UNPA will retain the information to be published in this product until its official release to the collector market which is planned for early 2008.

Regards,

UNPA

So it's all a big secret - until you run out and buy their collector's album. Given their current ties to Davo, this might be who is preparing this album.