S18 - Generic International and Pope Benedict

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

From the Artspace Gallery website we know:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

S19 - Peaceful Visions Wrong First Day

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

Sheet Numbering

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

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

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

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

S19 - Peaceful Visions

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

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

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

Market Movements

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

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