Around Europe
In the meantime almost all 2013 Europe stamps from countries that have joined CEPT have been issued, and like we already expected several stamps have appeared that fit in our motorcycle stamp collection.
At the moment of writing we only expect an issue from Georgia, as it unfortunately comes after the end date set by CEPT for issuing the Europe stamps.
Some stamps have already been introduced in Newsletter 104, but here we still mention the latest facts about them.
The theme for the 2013 Europe stamps was
'The Postman's Van' or in other words: the car of the postman. Many countries have broadened this theme somewhat and therefore we also find many other vehicles and means of transport on the stamps. Kazakstan even issued a stamp with a 'postman on a camel'. Also a lot of electrical vehicles have been depicted on the stamps. Environment friendly postmen so to say. And also these are included in this review.
Åland is immediately an electrical starter. Date of issue: May 6th. On the stamp nothing like a motorized two-wheeler, but in the gutter, in this issue one of double height, we see next to a normal post bicycle also an E-bike with pedalling assistance. We find the same bicycle on the FDC, as well on the front as on the back side.
Sheet with the electric bicycle on the gutters
The electric bicycle in detail
Front side of the FDC
Back side of the FDC
Bosnia and Hercegovina has 3 separate postal services, one for every large community: a Bosnian postal service for the Bosniaks, a Serb postal services for the Serbians and a Kroatian service. The stamp of Bosnia and Hercegovina Post (April 5th) shows a schematic moped. The stamp shows the moped in front of the skyline of Mostar. The issue comprises 2 sheets: one of 4 stamps (2 x 2 different stamps in horizontal pairs) and a sheet of 8 stamps, diverted in the middle by 2 labels, the left one also with the moped. Also in the First Day postmark we see the moped.
First Day postmark
FDC
2 kind of booklets exist with the 2 stamps glued inside, but they have not been officially issued by the post but put together by a barterer to generate profit only.
The Danish stamp block has already been announced in Newsletter 104. Date of issue: March 4th. The Nihola electrical transport bicycle for post containers has also been issued as self-adhesive in a sheet of 36 stamps.
The self-adhesive stamp
The block as mentioned in Newsletter 104
France did not issue a 'timbre avec facteur motorisé', but they put him on the official FDC and maximum card. First day postmarks have been applied in several cities, amongst which Paris, Toulouse and Strassbourg.
On June 12th Gibraltar, not being a member of the PostEurop organisation, issued a series of 4 stamps, with on the 44p. stamp a motorcycle with sidecar as has been used in England.
In 1914 Royal Mail bought 20 sidecar combinations to replace horses, to deliver the mail on the countryside. 10 of them were New Hudsons, 6 Douglas and 4 Rovers, one of which has been depicted on this stamp. Because Gibraltar is not a PostEurop member you don't find the logo on the stamp, but only a reference.
We already wrote enough about the issue from Greenland (the first of all issues on January 14th) in Newsletter 104, but I still want to show you the FDC with a stunting postman on his scooter.
The stunting postman on his scooter
The complete FDC
The combination old and new on the Italian stamps (May 9th) has been shown before. The Piaggio Liberty Delivery is equipped with a 125cc electronically controlled engine. In total the Italian post has ordered 17,783 of them.
The Piaggio Liberty Delivery
Kosova is the second exception. Republic of Kosova is, just like Gibraltar, not a member of PostEurop, but still issued 2 Europe stamps and a block with 2 stamps on May 2nd. Issues like these are called "hanger-ons" and also this issue does not carry the logo of CEPT, or PostEurop as it is called nowadays. But they are stil collected by collectors of Europe stamps. On both the most expensive of the 2 stamps and the right stamp and the margin of the block, the same image has been used of a scooter in use by the EMS service of the Kosova post.
Kroatia, being a member of PostEurop since 1993, came with a nice issue for the Tomos lovers amongst us on May 9th. Two stamps of 7.10 HRK, with on one of them postmen on mopeds.
In the horizontal stripe an image of
a Tomos moped. I am not expert enough to see whether it is the two or three gear engine, but for sure it's an L model with forced cooling. On the counter sheet the image of the postmen is also found on the sheet margin, and the lower right corner shows again the Tomos L-type.
Brochure of the Tomos mopeds
FDC postmark
Also of this issue the 'fake booklet' producer mentioned under Bosnia and Hercegovina has made an un-official stamp booklet.
The L of Liechtenstein is the next in the alphabet, and also this one has been discussed earlier (Newsletter 104). However, the stamp does not have any relation with our theme. Designer Mirjam Büchel has used a carriage wheel, a bicycle wheel and a car wheel in her design, as mentioned by the Liechtenstein post on their website. But for the maximum card they used a picture of post delivery men on an electric 3-wheeler, that is discussed later on for Switserland.
Malta (May 9th) goes back in time with 2 old-fashioned vehicles on 2 stamps. On the most expensive one (€ 1.19) a Lambretta 3-wheeler is depicted, model Lambro FDC 125 (F for Furgone = van, the D is a model-serial letter and the C stands for Cabin), riding in Dingli street in the city Sliema at Malta. The stamps have been issued in sheets of 10 stamps of the same value and 2 labels. One of the labels in the Lambretta sheet contains the logo of the Maltese post and the other (position 1-2) a picture of the post cart depicted on the stamp.
Also available in a stamp booklet, with on the left the FDC postmark
FDC with both stamps
Norway is on June 10th the next one with a real motorcycle on their stamp. The cheapest in this 2 stamps counting set (13.00 NKr) shows a Harley Davidson from 1932, used to empty post-boxes. Nowadays this Harley is in the Post Museum in Lillehammer.
The maximum card is nothing more than an enlargement of the stamp, but on the FDC the Harley's suddenly became English ones.
Maximum card
FDC with mirrored Harley's
Portugal made a real party of the issue. Together with their islands they issued on May 9th 3 sets of each 1 loose stamp and a block with 2 stamps. On the stamps of Portugal we don't see motorcycles, but we do on the stamps of Madeira and the Azores.
Madeira shows a post quad on the loose stamp. The same stamp has been included in the block, with below it an extra stamp that is only available in the block,
showing the quad in use on the island.
On the set from the Azores again a loose stamp and the same stamp in a block, together with a postman on this motorcycle.
In the illustration on the FDC that carries all 3 stamps, we find back all used vehicles. The FDC's with the 3 stamps are all provided with a postmark in Lisbon. The 2 FDC's with the motorcycle blocks are cancelled in respectively Funchal (Madeira) and Ponta Delgada (Azores).
FDC with the 3 different stamps, cancelled in Lisbon
FDC with the stamps of Portgal, cancelled in Lisbon
FDC with the stamps of Madeira, cancelled in Funchal
FDC with the stamps of the Azores, cancelled in Ponta Delgada
Spain does not bring us inspiring news. On their stamp only an electrically driven 4-wheeler, but on the accompanying maximum card we see a scooter of the brand Cooltra, again electric.
The Cooltra scooter
Also on May 9th Turkey issued 2 nice stamps. On the stamp of 1.10 Lira we see different post vehicles: amongst others a scooter and a 3-wheeler like the Malta Lambro. On the 2.20 Lira stamps the horse-with-carriage that has also been used for the FDC postmark, next to old means of transport amongst which a motorcycle with sidecar.
Sweden (March 14th) had the bicycle with pedalling assistance that we already discussed in Newsletter 104. Here an image of the block containing the 2 stamps.
Switserland is the last comer with not less than two 3-wheelers. At May 7th they came with a sheet containing 2 x 8 stamps with electric post vehicles. Both stamps have been printed in the sheet in such a way that they make 4 pairs of 2 stamps each.
On the first stamp, let's call it the car stamp, a Tribelhorn from 1941 in Bern, used for bulk post transport. Already 100 years ago Tribelhorn built the first electric post car for the Swiss post.
Standard electric Tribelhorn 3-wheeler from 1919
The Post version of the Tribelhorn 3-wheeler
Maximum card with the Tribelhorn
On the second stamp, the E-trike stamp, we see a product of Kyburz, the DXP. The Kyburz is also the 3-wheeler that we find on the maximum card of Liechtenstein.
The construction of the Kyburz DXP
The Kyburz DXP is one of the more than 4000 electric vehicles in use by the post. Earlier the Swiss post issued a series of pre-franked envelops with the Oxygen E-scooter. On the Oxygen only not less than 1700 postman do their daily round.
The postmark that has been used for the FDC's and maximum cards of this issue emphasizes again that the vehicles are electric:
Germany, Liechtenstein, Austria and Switserland together have issued a collectors folder that contains the 4 issues from these countries. Apart from that a lot of information and data is given on the pages.
Europe stamp enthusiasts had the opportunity to vote before October 19th to choose the most beautiful Europe stamp of the year. On a plenary meeting in Brussels the winner was announced, and the public's winner is..... Turkey. Second ended Hungary and as third Poland and Switserland together. An expert jury chose the entrance of Finland (a post motor-bus) as winner.
The winner
And finally we have a special postmark with a post vehicle in the 'Europe' theme. On the stamp fair in Essen (Germany) a special postmark had been used to cancel all these brand new Europe stamps. Nice postmark and nice card but..... who is this man behind the moped?????
Hans de Kloet
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