Collecting Esperanto on Stamps

Judging by all the comments on this week's blog post on 125 years of Esperanto, it is quite a popular subject to collect! That's why I thought it would be great to have a proper Esperanto thread on this forum where we can all share our Esperanto stamps, cinderella, covers etcetera.

To start off, here's two stamps issued by Austria. The first one was issued in 1949 to mark the Esperanto Congress in Vienna. Designed by W. Dachauer, it depicts the usual green star, the most potent of the Esperanto symbols.

I like their second stamp better, to be honest. It also has the green star but in a slightly classier design by E.Schrom. This recess-printed stamp, engraved by G. Wimmer, was issued in 1954 to mark 50 years of Esperanto in Austria.

On a separate note: do you think we could discern a pattern in why certain countries issue Esperanto stamps where others don't? I sometimes think that they are more often issued by countries which have just come out of a rotten or oppressed period (or are still stuck in one of those), Esperanto being a language of hope and reconciliation after all.

Found another one!

Issued by Brazil on 19 January 1937 (!) to mark the 9th Brazilian Esperanto Congress in Rio in November 1936 (!). No idea why the stamp was issued some two months after the event....

The design shows the by now inevitable green star, surrounded by the flags of all the participating nations. I like the design but, even though the colour choice is an obvious one and a relevant one, too many of these will make for a collection which is not too pleasing to the eye. Glad to know not all Esperanto stamps are in green only!

Edited By Adrian on 27/07/2012 08:27:47

*cough* Adrian, in this country we spell Brazil with a zed.

Zorry!

That made me giggle far too hard for this time on a Fri morning!

Nothing like a merry start to the day!

I knew I had another one somewhere, and here it is:

Bulgaria this time, issued in 1963 to mark the 48th World Esperanto Congress, which was held in Sofia, hence the Arms of Sofia in the design by St. Kunchev.

Been sorting some more East German miniature sheets (see this blog post) and found another Esperanto item:

Issued in 1987 to mark the centenary of the language. It's quite a clever design with the founder's shoulders evolving into a globe with various slogans such as Esperanto Working towards World Peace, For Friendship between Peoples and No Future without Peace. And there's the green star as well of course.

Edited By Adrian on 05/09/2012 19:33:28

Adrian, I bought my first Esperanto item yesterday; a German postcard sent to England in 1947.

It was sent from the small American enclave of Bremen which lay in the British Zone. The Americans used the ports of Bremen and Bremerhaven as entry points into Germany right up to the 1990s. As is printed at the bottom left corner, the language to be used (for censorship purposes) in this case is Esperanto. The message on the back is in this language and appears to concern the H. von Stephan stamp. The actual card is printed in German and English otherwise.

Yes, if I can make it out well enough it goes something like: the sender wants to send this card because of the new Heinrich von Stephan card. He goes on to praise HvS and states he's having a good time in Bremen.

It might be worth researching this Friedrich Hahn a bit further. Here is a LINK which links him to esperanto and the 'Jugendzeitschrift des Deutschen Gewerkschaftsbundes'.