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

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.