On Monday 24 October the United Nations celebrated its 77th. Anniversary, a day all of our XUNICEF colleagues can associate with having served with the Organization in various periods and for different durations. While it is an anniversary to celebrate, we cannot but have the feeling that in today's world the UN ,its Agencies and all that they collectively stand for, are under considerable duress. The UN Charter, the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, the Convention on Child Rights and many other solemn promises that the countries have agreed to are increasingly being challenged by the realities of dramatic and sometimes existential situations all over the globe. Nonetheless, we the Retirees and Former Staff must remain steadfast in our beliefs that all we have accomplished in our individual careers must have contributed to the greater collective effort of making the lives of current and future generations better.
Towards this end, this week I feature stamps issued by the UN Postal Administration for its first ten UN Day series ,1951-1960. While the Charter was signed in 1945 the UNPA only came into existence in 1951. Some of the stamps have featured in earlier Columns of mine. What is special this week is that all the items are UNPA blocks of four stamps each with a dated tag. For info, the reader might note the fact that usually a block of stamps (4 or 6) is worth more than total of the individual stamps, and hence is considered more valuable.
This block of four stamps was among the very first issues of the UNPA which produced the series of definitive stamps for the first UN Day commemoration on 24 October 1951. The stamp was designed by O.C.Meronti from the UK and is described as showing "The Peoples of the World".
This block of four is from the same definitive series of 24 October 1951. The design shows the" UN Flag" with the Emblem adopted for the Organization. The designer was Ole Hamann from Denmark.
Here we have again the block of four stamps showing the 10 cent stamp, "Peoples of the World" designed by O.C.Meronti, UK. To note the tag which shows the UN Emblem and the inscription, "First UN Issue 1951".
This is another block from that first series of definitive stamps issued on 24 October 1951. It shows the UN Flag within a border on which are inscribed the name of the United Nations in the five official languages.
This is the first UNPA commemorative set of stamps. It was issued on 24 October 1952 and shows the image of the Veteran's (War Memorial) building in San Francisco, California, where the UN Charter was signed by 50 countries.It is inscribed, "Birthplace of the Charter".
For UN Day 24 October 1953, the UNPA issued this set of stamps that commemorated the UN's Technical Assistance activities. The coordination of such technical support to developing countries was done by the Technical Assistance Bureau (TAB) within the Secretariat. It was later on that a Special Fund was created and the two entities were amalgated within the UN Development Programme (UNDP). The design shows the UN Emblem within one of a series of cogs denoting industry .The designer was Olav Mathiessen from Denmark.
This is the 5 cent stamp of the same set as above. It was the 24 October 1953 issue for UN Day and commemorated the UN's Technical Assistance activities.
For UN Day 1954, the UNPA issued this set of two commemorative stamps showing the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, which is the UN's European Office. Built originally as the HQ of the League of Nations in the 1930's the Palais became the seat of the UN for its European region in 1947.The designer was Earl W. Purdy from the USA.
Here again we have the second stamp of the UNPA issues for UN Day in 1954, showing the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. It was considered the second largest building in Europe, after the Versailles Palace in France, and served originally as the headquarters of the League of nations in the late 1930's.
In 1955 which was the tenth anniversary of the UN the UNPA issued this set of three stamps showing a document labelled the Charter of the United Nations and inscribed with the words of the Preamble, "We the Peoples of the United Nations".The designer was Claude Bottiau from France.
This is the second stamp from the same set issued by the UNPA for the tenth anniversary of the UN and for UN Day on 24 October 1955. Note the tag which shows the UN Emblem, the dates 1945-1955 , UN Day and a large numeral of "10".
This is the third stamp from the same series of issues on 24 October 1955 in celebration of the tenth anniversary of the UN as well as UN Day of 1955. Not shown in this column is a Souvenir Sheet grouping the three stamps shown above. This was the first time the UNPA issued a Souvenir Sheet. The number of copies printed was about one quarter of the number of individual stamps. As a result this Souvenir Sheet is considered the most expensive of the UN stamps and is a special collector's item valued at about US$ 100. I have a couple of them in my albums.
For UN Day in 1956 the UNPA issued a set of two stamps featuring the General Assembly hall in the UN HQ building in NYC .The designer was Kurt Plowitz from the USA.
Here is the second stamp from the above set issued by the UNPA for the 1956 UN Day commemorations. While the tag in the 3 cent stamps above was in English , this tag on the 8 cent stamp is in French.."Assemblée 1956 Generale".
On 24 October 1957 the UNPA issued this set of two stamps in celebration of UN Day. This time the feature is the Security Council of the UN, the all-powerful group of fifteen countries, including the five permanent members with a veto (China, France, Great Britain, Russia and the USA) which represented the "victors" of the second World War.
The Council's objective is to "Maintain International Peace and Security" as inscribed on the stamps. The design shows the UN Emblem over the globe and the inscription. It was designed by Rashid-ud-Din from Pakistan.
Here is the second stamp of the 1957 UN Day issues which features the UN Security Council. Note that here also the tag is in French, "La Journée des N.U. 1957".
For the commemoration of UN Day 1958 on 24 October, the UNPA selected this two stamp set which features the UN's Economic and Social Council, the largest body in the UN organization (other than the General Assembly) to which UNICEF also reports. This is the main development organ of the UN. The designer was Ole Hamann of Denmark. The stamps show a series of industrial cogs, the inscription, "Economic and Social Council" and the main objective, "To promote better standards of life for all peoples".
This is the second stamp of the above set issued for UN Day 1958 by the UNPA. As in previous blocks of four the tag is in French, "La Journee des N.U 1958".
Here we have another two stamp set issued by the UNPA for UN Day on 24 October 1959.The feature this time is the Trusteeship Council, the third main body of the UN's Organization, but which has much dwindled in importance over the past decades. It was created so that the UN could supervise some territories which were placed under its trust while they evolved to self government or independence.The design is dramatic and shows a man with the UN Emblem behind him looking towards a more independent situation for his territory. The objective of the Council is inscribed in the the borders of the stamp, "Trusteeship Council, To Promote Self-Government or Independence for Trust Territories".
The designer was Leon Helguera from Mexico.
This is again the second stamp in block of four format issued for Un Day 1959 featuring the UN's Trusteeship Council. Here also the tag is in French, "Conseil de Tutelle 1959".
In the tenth year,1960, of UNPA issues for UN Day , the feature is the UN Complex in NY city, USA. This issue also marks the celebration of the UN's Fifteenth Anniversary.The design shows the profile of the 38 floor Secretariat building as well as the GA building and the Library. It was designed by Robert Perrot from France. The main inscription is from the Preamble of the UN Charter, "We The Peoples of the United Nations, Determined to Save Succeeding Generations From the Scourge of War" and includes the dates "1945 24 October 1960" and the Fifteenth Anniversary in the five official languages. The tag shows the UN Emblem, the Fifteenth anniversary of the United Nations and the date 24 October 1960.
The last item this week is the other stamp issued by the UNPA for the Fifteenth Anniversary of the UN as well as for UN Day on 24 October 1960. Once again the tag is in French, "XVéme Anniversaire des Nations Unies, 24 Octobre 1960". Incidentally, the UNPA also issued its second Souvenir Sheet for the occasion showing both of the above stamps.
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Fouad, outstanding collection as always! thanks for sharing. Sree
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