Last year this second paragraph was devoted to an overview of my collection, but that too fell apart as I abandoned Colnect for personal reasons and haven't found a viable alternative since. Moreover, despite my best efforts to regulate my philatelic intake, which included avoiding ordering 2020 stamps from Iceland, Armenia and Azerbaijan, among other countries, stamps still penetrated my defenses at a rate faster than they could be properly accommodated.
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| Philatelic world news |
- Caucasus -- On 27 September war breaks out between Azerbaijan, supported by Turkey, and Armenia over the historically disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. Animosity between the two sides immediately spills over to social media, with postal and philatelic Twitter accounts joining the fray.
On October 9th, with no end to the war in sight, PostEurop announces the winners of its annual EUROPA stamps competition. In a plot twist that is the height of irony, the winners are Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan.2
Armenia and Northern Cyprus tweets
2 October 2020 - Iceland -- Iceland Post issues its final stamps on October 29th, signaling the end of Icelandic philately as a living institution and setting an ominous precedent vis-a-vis the future of stamp collecting worldwide.3
- India -- A territorial dispute between India and Nepal leads to the resurfacing of a 1954 stamp, which an attempt is made to promote as an authoritative historical reference.4 Border tensions between India and China lead the latter to announce its withdrawal from a planned joint issue stamp between the two countries.5,6 Pakistan Post twice issues stamps challenging India's sovereignty over the territories of Jammu and Kashmir.7,8 India Post unwittingly allows personalized stamps featuring two convicted crime lords to be printed and sold to the public.9
- Moldova -- The International Moldovan Philatelic Society indefinitely suspends operations and as many as half the employees of Poşta Moldovei's philatelic department resign in protest of the Moldovan political leadership's devastating mishandling of the country's stamp program.10
- United States -- Subsequent to the appointment of Louis DeJoy as U.S. postmaster general, #SaveTheUSPS and #BuyStamps trend on social media.11
Mail-in voting proves decisive in swinging the 2020 presidential election in favor of Democratic challenger Joe Biden.12
2020 Vote by Mail
(Image: Pixabay)
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| The best and the worst of 2020 |
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| Cream of the crop |
- Regrets? 2 minisheets, 1 first day cover -- no regrets.
- Regrets? 0 sheets, 1 first day cover -- should have also bought 1 sheet.
- Regrets? 1 sheet of each (3 total), 1 first day cover -- no regrets.
- Regrets? 1 sheet of each (3 total), 1 first day cover -- no regrets.
- Regrets? 0 sheets, 0 first day covers -- should have bought at least 1 sheet and/or 1 FDC.
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| Bottom of the barrel |
2. "New Histadrut Centennial" (design: Miri Nistor) -- Regardless of what one's feelings are toward unions, the centennial of Israel's largest federation of labor unions, the Histadrut, is a major event. Ideally, a stamp issued in tribute to the Histadrut would explore the organization's roots, development, values, and achievements in a way that distinguishes it from other organizations of its kind. One can find in "Histadrut" allusions to solidarity, diversity, workers as heroes, and equality across lines of work. Those are basic and superficial ideas. As often happens with modern commemoratives, "Histadrut" fails in penetrating beyond the obvious and in capturing a deeper insight that would lend distinction to both the design and what it represents. "Histadrut" prioritizes clean surfaces, tranquil colors and generic forms, all of which would be appropriate in the context of a logo but which make for a formulaic and thoroughly forgettable stamp.
3. "Rabbi Azriel Hildesheimer" (design: Renat Abudraham-Dadon) -- The decision to go with a minimalist color palette and to limit the composition to two images is to the stamp's credit. Nevertheless, "Hildesheimer" is the kind of stamp anyone could have designed with or without an earlier familiarity with Rabbi Hildesheimer and his legacy. Would it have been so hard to feature one of the rabbi's books or letters to better illustrate his scholarship? Instead, the stamp's background image is a stock photo of library bookshelves. It wouldn't be fair to call "Hildesheimer" an ugly stamp, but neither would it be fair not to call it a deeply disappointing one.
4. "Haganah Organization Centennial" (design: David Ben-Hador) -- There were two crucial mistakes made with "Haganah." One was political, the other esthetic. The political mistake was hijacking Israel Post's annual Memorial Day slot to issue a minisheet for one of the three main rival paramilitary groups fighting for Jewish independence during the British Mandate period; there should have been an IDF-themed Memorial Day stamp, in keeping with tradition, and then a separate minisheet commemorating the Haganah's centennial. The esthetic mistake was colorizing black-and-white archival photos to make them more appealing, as it were, to modern eyes; artificial color is no less deleterious when applied to old photos than it is when added to food and drinks.
5. "Ludwig van Beethoven, 250th Birthday" (design: Zvika Roitman) -- "Beethoven" isn't on this list because of anything it did wrong, per se; rather, like "Hildesheimer," it is here because of what it could have done better. The key question is, Why did Israel Post issue a Beethoven stamp in 2020? Ostensibly, the answer is, Because, along with Bach and Mozart, Beethoven is one of the greatest musical minds who ever lived and 2020 was the semiquincentennial of his birth. Why, then, did the United States and Canada, or the United Kingdom and Italy, not issue Beethoven stamps in 2020? The U.S. and U.K. did devote stamps to musical culture, but they opted to spotlight local culture -- hip hop and Queen, respectively -- rather than a composer from Germany. If Israel Post insisted on issuing a Beethoven stamp, the least it could have done to justify going that route was find where the composer's biography and Jewish history crossed paths. The Stieler portrait and the sixth movement of Beethoven's String Quartet No. 14 are two such intersection points.
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| 2021 goals |
| TOPIC | SECTION | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | ✓ Ludwig van Beethoven (2020-12-15) | Stamp review |
| 2. | COVID-19 (2021-02-09) | Stamp review |
| 3. | Book review: Philatelic Passover Haggadah | Commentary |
| 4. | Movie review: Dekalog, dziesięć | Commentary |
| 5. | Interview with a philatelist (?) | Spotlight |
| 6. | Post office visit (?) | Check-in |
| 7. | Mailboxes of Yemin Moshe | Check-in |
| 8. | Top 3 stamps of the 1940s | Commentary |
| 9. | What makes a good stamp | Commentary |
| 10. | The Jerusalem Marathon in stamps | Commentary |
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| 2020 Highlights |
January
- 10-21: Visit to Malta -- Hands down the most memorable event of 2020, combining travel, running and philately into one epic adventure
- 26: Visit to Jericho -- including a visit to possibly the lowest post office on Earth
- 27: Published! -- The International Moldovan Philatelic Society, presided over by Niall Murphy, reprints "Top 5 online resources for stamp collectors" as an article in its monthly publication.
- 4: Handstamp hunting -- Having recently learned that Israel Post, in addition to issuing new postage stamps every two to three months, also accompanies each batch of new issues with corresponding custom handstamps and that these handstamps are distributed to select post offices around the country for philatelists to avail themselves of, I visit the two post offices in Jerusalem that are listed as operating hand-cancel stations for February's new issues. These are the Lev Yerushalayim and Rehavia post offices downtown. My arrival at both sites causes a minor stir, as clearly no one ever comes to these places asking about handstamps. The manager at Lev Yerushalayim takes a break from his work to attend to me personally, and his postal workers gather around inquisitively to observe as he unpacks their handstamp and prepares it for use. He dips it in an ink pad and performs several trial stamps until he's satisfied the image detail is clear. Since I have brought nothing with me for him to stamp, we agree he'll stamp a page in my weekly planner. At the Rehavia post office they are mystified by my arrival and have to phone the manager since they can't find their handstamp. They finally locate it, but the stamp is of no use as their ink pad is dry.
- 7: Twitter account created
- 10: Israel Post reports delayed mail service to China.
- 25: Israel Post reports delayed mail service to Hong Kong and northern Italy.
- 8: The chairman of the Jerusalem Stamp Club calls to inform me weekly meetings are suspended until further notice.
- 0: Published! -- The Israel Philatelic Federation prints my article on the Malta Postal Museum in their quarterly publication, Shovel.
- 9-21:
Visit to Romania and Bulgaria
- 21: Instagram account created
- 31: Israel Stamp Reviews records its best month of traffic -- 1,124 views.
- 18: Finally a visit to Bethlehem, but alas at night, i.e. no post office check-in
- 5: Arrival of Alexandru Ioan Cuza cover from Chișinău, courtesy of the International Moldovan Philatelic Society
- 9: First visit to the Jerusalem Flea Market, a weekly vintage fair with several stamp vendors
- 13: Having recently discovered that there is a second stamp shop in Jerusalem, I buy a first day cover stockbook there for ₪125.
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| סניף דואר הורדוס, ירושלים צילום: אמיר אפסאי King Herod post office, Jerusalem Photos: Amir Afsai 27 August 2020 |
- 27: Visit to the Hordus (King Herod) post office to pick up a package of Syrian stamps ordered from an Israeli collector
- 1: Visit to the Old City post office to pick up a package of Lebanese stamps ordered from an Israeli collector
- 5: Nexofil breaks Israeli hearts by not including a single stamp from Israel in any of its categories in the Best Stamp in the World competition for 2020, in the process also shattering my prediction that "Monsters" would take home a trophy and become a philatelic cult classic. That being said, an Israeli coin does win an award in Nexofil's sister competition, Nexonum.
- 12: Published! -- FILABRAS Associação dos Filatelistas Brasileiros, presided over by Paulo Ananias Silva, reprints my report on the Israel-Brazil joint issue stamp in its semimonthly publication, translated into Portuguese by Niall Murphy.
- 29: First contact is made with Israel Post's philatelic department after complaining to them about a two-week delay in the arrival of December's batch of new issues in Jerusalem. They are prompt and courteous in their replies but never explain why the delay went on for so long. A part of me wonders if the stamps would ever have been sent to Jerusalem had it not been for my inquiry.
References
1. Nic Newman, Richard Fletcher, et al. "Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2020." Reuters Institute, June 2020.
2. "The 2020 Most Beautiful EUROPA Stamp winner for the online competition is Turkish Post PTT." PostEurop, 9 October 2020.
3. "The last issue of Icelandic stamps - 29th Oct 202[0]." Iceland Post, 27 October 2020.
4. Pragadish Kirubakaran. "India-Nepal Border Row: BRM Stages Unique Postage Stamp Protest Along Border." Republic TV, 13 July 2020.
5. "China cancels commemorative stamps with India." Reuters, 8 December 2020.
6. Geeta Mohan. "India says Chinese claim on cancellation of event to jointly release stamp 'factually incorrect.'" India Today, 12 December 2020.
7. Zulfiqar Baig. "Govt issues Youm-e-Istehsal stamps." The Express Tribune, 4 August 2020.
8. Aizbah Khan. "Pakistan Post Issues New Political Map Commemorative Stamps." BOL Network, 24 December 2020.
9. Abhishek Mishra. "Gangsters Chhota Rajan, Munna Bajrangi on stamps; UP postal officers stumped." India Today, 28 December 2020
10. Андрей Гилан [Andrey Gilan]. "Poșta Moldovei не держит марку. Как на госпредприятии «экономят» миллионы [Poșta Moldovei does not keep the brand. How millions are saved at a state-owned enterprise]." NewsMaker, 29 July 2020.
11. Ariel Shapiro. "Trump Vs. The Postal Service: Behind The Movement To #SaveTheUSPS." Forbes, 12 April 2020.
12. Adrian Beaumont. "Joe Biden wins US presidential election as mail-in votes turn key states around." The Conversation, 8 November 2020.
13. Nirit Shalev-Khalifa. "Murals in Israel." Israel Philatelic Service, September 2020.
14. Amots Dafni. "Summer Flowers." Israel Philatelic Service, June 2020.
Archives
• 2019 | Year in Review
• 2018 | Year in Review
• 2017 | Year in Review
• 2016 | Year in Review
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