Stamp-on-stamp designs celebrate the 65th anniversary of UNPA

By Denise McCarty

The United Nations Postal Administration commemorates the 65th anniversary of the UNPA New York office on a pane of 10 stamps and se-tenant labels being issued May 30 during World Stamp Show-NY 2016 in New York City.

The stamps feature stamp-on-stamp designs of U.N. stamps, and the se-tenant labels show photographs of the interior and exterior of the headquarters.

Each stamp is denominated $1.15 to pay the basic international rate and has the text “Celebrating 65 Years” at the top of the design.

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The selvage of the pane includes the WSS-NY 2016 Statue of Liberty logo in the upper right and a reproduction of the U.N. The Rampart of Peace poster by French graphic designer Jean Carlu (1900-97) on the left.

A brief history of the UNPA New York office is inscribed in the selvage: “The United Nations Postal Administration (UNPA) New York office is celebrating its 65th anniversary this year. Established by a U.N. General Assembly resolution in 1950 and subsequently by an agreement with United States Postal authorities in 1951, the first United Nations stamps were issued in US dollar denominations on United Nations Day, 24 October 1951.”

The 1¢ Peoples of the World stamp from the 1951 first issue (U.N./New York Scott 1) is shown in the stamp-on-stamp design in the upper left.

Another stamp from the 1951 issue, the 5¢ U.N. International Children’s Emergency Fund stamp (Scott 5), is depicted in the lower right. 

This is actually a stamp-on-stamp-on-stamp design because the 5¢ stamp is shown on a 1991 commemorative marking the 40th anniversary of the UNPA (U.N. Vienna Scott 122).

Two other stamps in the pane also picture stamps issued for the U.N. post office at the Vienna International Center in Vienna, Austria: a 1988 Human Rights stamp (Scott 86) on the left in the second row, and a 1990 Fight AIDS stamp (100) on the right in the fourth row.

Stamps for the U.N. office in Vienna were first issued in 1979. A third U.N. post office, located in the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, opened in 1968.

The remaining six stamps in the 65th anniversary pane picture stamp-on-stamp designs of U.N. stamps issued for the New York office.

Starting in the upper right, they are the 1964 10¢ Three Men United Before Globe (Scott 127), the 1983 20¢ 35th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (415), the 1978 18¢ General Assembly (301), the 1989 25¢ U.N. Peacekeeping Forces (548), the 1986 44¢ Stamp Collecting (474), and the 1986 33¢ International Peace Year (476).

The 1986 Stamp Collecting stamp was issued May 22, 1986, the opening day of the Ameripex 86 international show, and features a self-portrait of stamp engraver Czeslaw Slania (1921-2005) at work.

For ordering information,­ click here; email unpanyinquiries@un.org; telephone 800-234-8672; fax 212-963-9854; or write to UNPA, Box 5900, Grand Central Station, New York, NY 10163-5900.

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