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 Scott 467-469 (1968) Starting today, and running for the next two weeks, the Daily Email will include a link to the Vatican Easter Stamps and Postmarks Slide Show, developed by the VPS Website Team. We have done extensive research into the postmarks of Vatican City, and recently discovered documents issued by the Vatican which illustrate the special postmarks used by the city-state during the Easter season. The first Easter stamps issued by Vatican City came out on March 6, 1969, a three-stamp set based on the fresco “The Resurrection” by Fra Angelico (shown above). Surprisingly, given the importance of Easter, no Easter stamps were issued over the next 41 years, until the Easter issue of 2010, which featured an image taken from a 4th-century sarcophagus, one of the oldest known images of Easter. However, as early as 1973, Vatican City developed special postmarks to commemorate Easter. When following the pages of the slideshow, the images of the annual postmarks can be seen. In addition, starting in 2010, with the issuance of the second Easter stamp, the Vatican Post Office also produced special postmarks to be used on the first day of issue for the Easter stamps. As chronicled in recent emails, the demise of commercial producers of first day covers has led to a scarcity of both commercial and postally-used first day covers in most of our collections, and in particular covers bearing the unique first day of release cancels. It may take a groundswell of demand from Vatican City collectors to “resurrect” demand for first day covers and reinvigorate the market for these items. The Vatican Post Office produces first day covers with cachets, bearing the special cancellations. In addition, special folders are also produced for new issues which include the new stamp and a first day cover. But these products are poorly marketed and take a bit of digging to find and order through CFN. A useful reference for the special Easter cancellations can be found by clicking on the link below. Written by one of the Vatican Philatelic Society’s founding members, and a past president of VPS, Frederick Levitsky, the article shows and describes the special postmarks used in 1978. Both Mr. Levitsky and a second VPS member, Nils Rundqvist, wrote extensively in “Vatican Notes” on the topic of Vatican City cancellations and postmarks. A search of past “Notes” articles, as well as a dive into the Vatican Postmarks references accessible from the VPS Website Members Page, can provide additional background into this area of interest. We hope you enjoy the Easter Slideshow during Holy Week and the Octave of Easter. Should you have additional material related to Vatican Easter stamps and/or Vatican Easter postmarks, please contact the VPS Website Team so we can enhance the Easter slideshow. REFERENCES: |
