ROMANIAN PHILATELIC SUPERLATIVES OF 2011

Archive for February, 2012

ROMANIAN PHILATELIC SUPERLATIVES OF 2011

February 20th, 2012
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As at the end of each year, at the last meeting of the National Philatelic Commission a topic on the agenda was choosing the most beautiful postage stamps issue of 2011 and postage stamp which will represent Romania at international competitions in 2012.

Considering the artistic conception of the design, their originality and personalization, the harmonization of colors and the correlation with printer requirements, following the proposals from the Commission members, were agreed the following postage stamps issues:

1st place

STAINED GLASS WINDOWS – “Eng. Dumitru Furnica-Minovici” WESTERN OLD ART MUSEUM

Designer: Vlad Vamasescu

The 2nd place was awarded to Alec Bartos for his exceptional design of the “COSMOS 2011” souvenir sheet.

The complete “COSMOS 2011” stamp issue – images, technical characteristics and other details here.

3rd place
“LOCOMOTIVES”

Designer: Razvan Popescu

Article source: http://www.romfilatelia.ro/noutati/comunicatepresa.php?ContentID=423

Related to the Cosmos 2011 stamp issue see: postage stamps issue COSMOS 2011 presented at the Romanian Academy 13.05.2011

IAA 2011 Planetary Defense Conference – introducing into circulation the postage stamps Cosmos 2011

Search Continues for Secret Stamp Honoring John Glenn’s Historic Spaceflight – by Robert Z. Pearlman, collectSPACE.com Editor

February 20th, 2012
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The 1962 4-cent “Project Mercury” stamp marked the first time that the U.S. issued a previously unannounced commemorative stamp at the same time as the event it was issued to honor. (cS)

The above cover was cancelled on the first day of issue fifty years ago. The cachet designs is made by me (Alec Bartos) in 2008 in an tirage of only two coves. As a custom commissioned cachets for Mr. Ben Ramkissoon. I have remade the cachet handmade. See below:

February 20, 2012– Fifty years ago Monday (Feb. 20), John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, relied on ground stations located across the planet to communicate with his control team. But after his Mercury spacecraft, Friendship 7, safely splashed down, it was another type of station that took over tracking his historic mission: U.S. post offices.For the first and only time in the country’s postal history, the United States Post Office Department — since 1971, the U.S. Postal Service — surprised the public with the release of a secret stamp celebrating Glenn’s successful mission. The 4-cent “Project Mercury” postage stamp was revealed and immediately put on sale in 305 post offices within an hour of Glenn’s triumphant return to Earth at 2:43 p.m. EST (1943 GMT) on Feb. 20, 1962. Half a century later, collectors are still searching for those first-day-of-issue stamps.

The full article: http://collectspace.com/news/news-022012a.html

above: detail of Ramkissoon’s cov

Astro Space Stamp Society – Airmail Labels – Space thematic etiquettes – Orbit magazine – Alec Bartos design for the John Glenn 50th anniversary

astrophilately . hand made cachets . old & news . Philatelic Covers Illustrations - hand made and print . philatelic news . PHILATELY . printed cachets . space events . space news
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Romania – 2008 – “Space Exploration” stamp issue – design Alec Bartos

February 12th, 2012
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In 1958, the United States of America launched the first space mission, Explorer I that was to reveal a fundamental discovery for space explorations: due to its magnetic poles, the Earth is surrounded by a radiation belt, thereafter called “Van Allen”.
The Sputnik program implied a series of space missions no human aboard, conducted by the Soviet Union, during late 60´s and its purpose was to emphasize the feasibility of artificial satellites. The name “Sputnik” actually means “satellite” or “travel companion”. The first attempt to launch the Artificial Earth Satellite Sputnik 3 on February, 3rd 1958 was a failure but the second one, dating May 15th was a real success and managed to transport an important number of devices to be used in geophysical research into space. The magnetic recorder on board damaged and any research data registration on Van Allen radiation belts, just four months previously discovered by the American satellite Explorer I, accordingly became impossible.
In December 1958, the United States Army launched the Jupiter AM-13 missile having monkey Gordo aboard. This mission was devoted to biological research. Unfortunately, upon landing, the monkey died because of defection of the parachuting system of the missile.
The stamp with the face value of RON 1.00 presents Explorer I space mission.
The stamp with the face value of RON 2.40 presents Sputnik 3 space mission.
The stamp with the face value of RON 3.10 presents Jupiter AM-13 space mission.