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.

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.