The Soliloquy of a Postage Stamp #9: Fouad Kronfol

THE SILVER ANNIVERSARY, 1971

In last week's Quarterly Newsletter we featured stamps and covers that commemorated UNICEF's 20th. Anniversary, as part of the special issue covering the first 25 years of UNICEF history. Our timeline covered the progressive events that went from imagination, to vision, to creation, to extension, to confirmation, to evolution and to recognition.

This week we showcase the philatelic items that were issued to celebrate the 25th Anniversary itself.

By the end of its first quarter century UNICEF had become an established and well respected organization within the UN System which was starting its Second Development Decade.The budget had risen to close to $100 million and its field operations were reaching children in 120 developing countries in all regions of the globe. The philatelic manifestation of this positive situation was the record breaking number of countries issuing stamps to commemorate UNICEF's 25 anniversary.In my collection - certainly not complete - there are close to 100 items of stamps and covers from various sources.

But first.... here are more of the "in-betweens", issues by countries which missed the 1966 anniversary but still issued stamps to honour UNICEF later;this pretty set from Iraq includes two stamps and a "souvenir sheet", showing a mother and three children with the UNICEF logo and the date 1968.

This First Day Cover from Egypt (UAR) celebrates Universal Children's Day and UNICEF.It was issued in Cairo on 11 December 1968, the anniversary day of UNICEF.Both stamps show children; in the first, a girl and a boy with an arc spanning their hands, dated 1968; in the second a group of five different children are holding each other.Both stamps have a 10 mils surcharge. The postmarks also show the UNICEF logo with the date and inscription of "Universal Children's Day " in Arabic.

Another lovely FDC from Algeria has a cachet that replicates the stamp's design. This is a stylized depiction of a mother and child with a bird hovering overhead. The design is by "Baya" and it was printed by Courvoisier in France. The two post marks show the date as 27 Decemver 1969, issued from Alger. The inscription around the cachert and under the stamp is" Protection de la Mere et de l'enfant"....

This attractive three stamp set from the Philippines commemorates UNICEF and marks the 15th anniversary of Universal Children's Day. The design features the UNICEF logo with a series of eleven heads of children from different countries arcing on both sides of the centrepiece.

This French stamp was issued to mark the 10th anniversary of the European Conference on Postal Services and Telecommunications (1959-1969). Its particularity is that the postmark shows the UNICEF logo and the ad for UNICEF Greeting Cards indicating that "10 cards equal one child saved", presumably part of the annual campaign of the French National Committee for UNICEF.

Oddly, the UN Postal Administration did not issue any UNICEF stamps for this important milestone. Here I show the sticker/ postmark which was placed on mail from the UN for UNICEF's 25th anniversary.It is dated 4 August 1971.

In my collection about 70 countries issued UNICEF@25 stamps..surprisingly not including any of the five permanent nations of the Security Council ; in fact very few European states (Italy, Spain) and a few in the Eastern Bloc (Czechoslovakia, Poland, Yugoslavia and German Democratic Republic) issued stamps. The majority of issues for this important milestone were from the developing countries reflecting their increased recognition of UNICEF and its accomplishments

Here is a great reproduction of a painting of mother and child from Argentina. The artist is J.C.Castagnino; the stamp does not have a UNICEF logo, but inscribes the 25th. anniversary on top, and the date 1971 under the painting.

This cute two stamp set from Burma shows the UNICEF logo and dates 1946-1971; the first stamp shows a child drinking milk in front of boxes marked UNICEF. The second has no direct relation to UNICEF but shows a horse and two dolls as marionettes depicting children's playthings.

Here we have a bloc of four stamps from the Central African Republic. It is an imperforate issue. The inscription shows the 25th anniversary of UNICEF on top , then six babies within a white oval on which is written "the Universal Children's Day".

The Republic of Burundi issued this lovely souvenir sheet of three stamps with UNICEF marked on each of the different Madonnas and Child; the set was issued for Christmas 1971. All three stamps are surcharged 2 Francs each.

The First Day Cover shown comes from the British Virgin Islands and was post marked from Tortola on 13 December 1971. The two stamps show six children from different continents each next to a building block having one of the six letters of UNICEF. The cachet marks UNICEF 25th anniversary with two children placing a set of building blocks vertically to spell UNICEF.

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