Sunday, October 29, 2006

First Rotary Stamps





The twenty-second annual Convention of Rotary International was held at Vienna, Austria, from 22nd to 26th June 1931.

On that occasion, the first postage stamp ever to be issued in honour of any service club was released by the Austrian government.

Using six of the eleven original designs of the popular pictorial issue of 1929–30, they were overprinted in various colours with a Rotary emblem and the words - “Convention Wien 1931”

Fifty thousand sets were issued which were sold out within two days of release during the convention. The greatest part was acquired by collectors and kept as mint singles. A few exist in blocks of four. A large number was put on covers and cancelled at the convention. Only a few were used for regular postage bearing a normal cancellation.

The stamps depict various heritage buildings of pre-World War II vintage in the important cities of Austria; noteworthy is the one Schilling stamp, which features the National Library.

Saturday, October 28, 2006

Introduction

Rotary Stamps have been issued by many countries on all the continents. The golden jubilee of Rotary in 1955 provided an opportunity to several nations to honour Rotary. There are 89 different stamps issued on the occasion. Belgium was the first country to issue the 50th Anniversary commemorative on 10th September 1954, while Guatemala was the last, a little late with its issues on 8th September 1956.

1980, which marked the 75th Anniversary of Rotary, was the year when the highest numbers of philatelic tributes were paid to Rotary. Cyprus with its issues on 1st October 1979 led the comity of nations in honouring the projects of Rotary worldwide.

Austria is the first country to issue Rotary stamps; it did so in 1931.

The 22nd R.I. Convention was held at Vienna in 1931. The Austrian Government overprinted 6 stamps of a regular issue with the Rotary's cogwheel.

The concept of Rotary in India is over eight decades old, with a substantial number of Rotary clubs and Rotarians, India ranks among the frontline Rotary nations.

India has honoured Rotary by issuing 3 stamps in all, the first two were released to mark the Asia Regional Conference on 14th January 1987 and the subsequent one was released on 12th January 1998 to mark the Council of Legislation.

This blog is meant to present a glimpse of the silent tribute to this international service giant on these colourful and tiny pieces of paper that are messengers of goodwill.

The stamps that are featured here are in my collection.