Belgian Youth Philately stamps focus on millennials

New Stamps of the World by Denise McCarty

New stamps from Belgium take a humorous look at some characteristics of millennials, generally considered to be people born in the 1980s or 1990s.

Called the Anatomy of a Millennial, the pane of five nondenominated stamps was issued June 17. It is part of Belgium’s Youth Philately series that began in 1979 with a stamp featuring the comic book character Tintin as a stamp collector (Scott 1036).

The new pane features another fictional character, Chrostin created by comic artist Christina De Witte.

De Witte, who was born in 1996, also designed the stamp pane. In an interview published in Philanews, the new-issue magazine of Belgium’s Bpost, she said that she had previously designed her own personal stamps (known as MyStamp in Belgium), and it was one of her dreams to create “real postage stamps.”

De Witte also said that millennials are sending more mail, adding “I’m delighted that they can now do it with stamps with the effigy of Chrostin.”

The stamp in the center of the pane shows Chrostin’s midsection with her heart featured. Except for the country name, the text on the pane is in English, and “Swipe Right” appears at the bottom of the stamp. According to the inscription in the selvage beside it, the stamp is called “Contemporary Romanticist.”

Chrostin’s hands are included on two of the stamps in the pane: the Conscious Do-Gooder in the upper left and the Digital Native in the lower right. The remaining two stamps are called Passion = Work (upper right) and No Place Like Home (lower left).

Bpost Philately and Stamp Printing printed the stamp pane by offset.

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