UNPA issues postal stationery for New York City and Vienna

By David Hartwig

On May 18, the United Nations Postal Administration is issuing postal stationery matching current postal rates for its post offices in New York City and Vienna, Austria.

Small and large postal stationery envelopes for use from the post office at U.N. headquarters in New York City are each denominated 58¢.

Three medium envelopes for use from the U.N. post office at the Vienna International Center in Vienna are denominated €0.85, €1 and €1.80, respectively.

Each envelope includes an imprinted stamp in the upper right corner. The cachet (decorative design) on the left side of each envelope features all or part of a work of art located at the respective U.N. office.

The imprinted stamp on the two UNPA/New York envelopes shows the U.N. emblem in white. It is on a pale blue background on the small envelope, and a light brown background on the large envelope.

The cachet on the small envelope shows a photograph of the large mural Relational Painting No. 90 by Swiss-American artist Fritz Glarner. The mural is located in the Dag Hammarskjold Library building at U.N. headquarters and was made possible by a 1959 grant from the Ford Foundation.

A photograph of the bronze sculpture Mother and Child by Italian artist Giacomo Manzu appears on the cachet of the large envelope. The Italian government presented the statue to the United Nations in 1989.

On all three envelopes for use from the U.N. post office at the Vienna International Center in Vienna, the stamp imprint is round and shows the U.N. emblem in white with the German translation of United Nations above it. The imprinted stamp is sage green on the €0.85, orange on the €1 and light grayish indigo on the €1.80.

The cachets on these envelopes present photographs of sections of artwork found within the U.N. headquarters in Vienna in a design that fades into white as it reaches the center of the envelope.

The €0.85 envelope shows a section of Geburtstagspoesie (Birthday Poetry) by Hans Staudacher, the €1 envelope features part of La Pioggia-Stadt unter dem Regen (City under the Rain) by Friedrich Hundertwasser, and part of Vulkanische Landschaft (Volcanic Landscape) by Peter Pongratz can be seen on the €1.80 envelope.

Cartor Security Printing of France printed the envelopes by offset lithography in quantities of 11,000 for each of the two UNPA/New York envelopes, and 12,000 for each of the three UNPA/Vienna envelopes.

The small envelope measures 165 millimeters by 92mm, the medium envelopes are 162mm by 114mm and the large envelope is 240mm by 116mm.

For ordering information for the postal stationery and related products, visit the UNPA website; email unpanyinquiries@un.org; telephone 212-963-7684 or 800-234-8672; or write to UNPA, Box 5900, Grand Central Station, New York, NY 10163-5900.

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