Europe - Postal Vehicles

PostEurop is the association representing the interests of European public postal operators. The group's mission is to promote the EU postal communication market accessible to all and to support an economy compatible with the new universal requirements. Like every year, the organisation has launched a philatelic theme. For 2013, the subject of PostEurop will be the postal vehicle, i.e. what we are more commonly known as: the postman's van. The Azienda Autonoma di Stato Filatelia e Numismatica of San Marino has entrusted Stefano Morri with the task of immortalising the annual subject with two stamps. Here, then, is the 0.70 euro Europa sheet that depicts, in an evocative drawing, an old vehicle from the early 1900s, right in front of the city gates (Porta San Francesco). Almost a sort of welcome and pass for correspondence with the Titan. The 0.85 euro one, on the other hand, retracing history, reproduces a classic 1950s Volkswagen van, painted in the colours of the San Marino flag. The vehicle is depicted, in the ‘loading’ phase, in front of the Parva Domus, a historical building that stands opposite the Palazzo Pubblico, overlooking Piazza della Libertà (formerly the Palazzo della Posta) where the mail was once sorted. Both sketches, besides identifying some symbolic places of San Marino, highlight, with a classic game of disproportions, the main object of the issue: mail. The envelopes portrayed in the vignettes, in fact, dominate the scene as if they were ‘exceptional transports’ to be handled with extreme care. San Marino-Europe, a double stamp, a journey into the present day with the postal vehicles of times gone by.