The meeting today was one of our members first time doing a full talk and display, his topic was “Europa”.
The Europa postage stamp (also known as Europa – CEPT until 1992) is an annual joint issue of stamps with a common design or theme by postal administrations of member countries of the European Communities (1956-1959), the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) from 1960 to 1992, and the PostEurop Association since 1993. Europe is the central theme. EUROPA stamps underlines cooperation in the posts domain, taking into account promotion of philately. They also build awareness of the common roots, culture and history of Europe and its common goals. As such, EUROPA stamp issues are among the most collected and most popular stamps in the world. Since the first issue in 1956, EUROPA stamps have been a tangible symbol of Europe’s desire for closer integration and cooperation.
The first Europa issue was on 15 September 1956. The postal administrations of the founding six members of the European Coal and Steel Community(ECSC) issued stamps with a common design: a tower made up of the letters of the word “EUROPA” and surrounded by construction scaffolding.
In 1959, the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) was formed, and from 1960 the initials “CEPT” were displayed on the joint issue stamps.
The stamps had a common design from 1956 to 1973, (with the exception of 1957). However, many countries issued a stamp that did not feature the common pattern but just displayed the word “EUROPA”. From 1974, the common design was replaced by stamps with different designs, but with a common theme.