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 The Bramante Staircase Vatican City, Scott 1568 (2014) The weekly news clip presented with the Daily Emails the last two weeks has reported on a stamp mix-up that took place with the United Nations Postal Administration (UNPA) release of a six-stamp set honoring Vatican City as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Here is what has taken place since the error was uncovered.  Archbishop Gabriele Caccia Photo courtesy of Zoe Meyers On Friday, August 28, at the annual NAPEX Stamp Show in McLean, Virginia, the first day of issue ceremony was held for the new United Nations stamps. The ceremony was hosted by VPS member John Schorn, who is the NAPEX Show Chair. The featured speaker at the event was Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, the new Papal Nuncio to the United States. Prior to his appointment, Archbishop Caccia served as the Vatican's Permanent Observer at the United Nations. His remarks revealed his expertise and desire to talk about Vatican City's status as a UNESCO World Heritage site. In addition to John and Archbishop Caccia, Richard Livingston of the NAPEX board and Greg Galletti, president of United Nations Philatelists, participated in the unveiling of the stamp designs.  UNESCO Stamp Unveiling Photo courtesy of Zoe Meyers At the end of the ceremony, presentation albums for the event are usually available. In this case, John invited Ron Todd, the UNPA's sales representative, to speak. Mr. Todd explained why only 5 of the 6 stamps were on sale and announced details of the error that had been discovered. He said, in essence, that the stamp design intending to depict the staircase designed by Donato Bramante and built in 1505 instead showed a staircase designed by Giuseppe Momo and built in 1932. Because the design appears on the €1.25 Vienna stamps, and in each of the three prestige booklets (NY, Geneva, and Vienna), those items were not available for sale. The redesigned stamp will be reprinted with an expected release date of November. The new stamp will retain the image of the Momo staircase, with the text description on the stamp being changed to properly identify it. The NAPEX website article in the References provides a clear image of the stamp error.  UNPA Representative Ron Todd Describing Staircase Stamp Issue Photo courtesy of Zoe Meyers After the ceremony, Mr. Todd let John take a photo of the presentation album and the sheet and booklet stamps. However, he could not keep the page because of the stamp error. Meanwhile, it was reported in Linn’s Stamp News that, prior to the withdrawal of the error stamps from sale, some alert early-birds had purchased them at the NAPEX show. It appears that a block of four of the €1.25 Vienna sheet stamps and two sets of the three UNESCO prestige booklets for New York, Geneva and Vienna were sold at NAPEX, bringing the total to at least 28 copies of the withdrawn stamp in circulation. The articles in the References from Vaccari News provide stories of the initial stamp announcement and the revelation of the image error. The Linn’s Stamp News article has some details from the NAPEX show. The UNESCO stamp snafu has created a collecting rarity reminiscent of the 2023 Vatican City World Youth Day stamp fiasco. It will be interesting to see if and when these rarities pop up in the philatelic marketplace. REFERENCES: |
