Issues of polish stamps I/1999
 
   

CHINA 1999 - WORLD PHILATELIC EXHIBITION

   

No. of stamps: 1
Face value: PLN 1.70
Printing technology: offset
Paper: fluorescent
Size: 31.25 x 39.5 mm
Size of the block: 80 x 95 mm
Issue: 900,000 pcs
Designer: Małgorzata Osa
Date of circulation: March 31st, 1999
   
"China 1999" World Philatelic Exhibition will be held on August 21st-30th this year in Beijing, organised at the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the People's Republic of China.

Due to the participation in the Exhibition, the Polish Post shall introduce a stamp in the form of a block into the market. The stamp represents Chinese ideograms (signs which cannot be divided into elements equivalent to phonetic parts and which represent whole terms) expressing the contents: "China 1999. World Philatelic Exhibition" and fragments of a dragon, constituting a symbol of happiness according to the Chinese mythology. The cover of the block presents the dragon and symbolic sea waves.

A special date seal will be applied in the Post Office Warsaw 1 on the day of the introduction of the stamps into the market.

       
 
   

EASTER
   


No. of stamps: 4
Values: PLN 0.60; PLN 0.65; PLN 1.00; PLN 1.40
Printing technology: rotogravure
Paper: fluorescent
Size: 31.25 x 39.5 mm
Issue: PLN 0.60 - 7,400,000
            PLN 0.65 - 4,500,000
            PLN 1.00 - 1,900,000
            PLN 1.40 - 1,900,000
Sales sheet: 50 pcs
Designer: Janusz Wysocki
Date of circulation: March 5th, 1999
   
Easter stamps prepared by the Polish Post this year are sort of a continuation of the Christmas series issued in November last year. Three stamps out of four of them represent subsequent scenes from the Grudzi±c Polyptych from the 14th century, well known to you already. So each stamp represents respectively:
  • - PLN 0.60 - prayer in Ogrójec;
  • - PLN 0.65 - carrying the cross;
  • - PLN 1.40 - Resurrection.

    • The last stamp, with the face value of PLN 1.00, represents a beautiful picture of Pieta from Tub±dzin, painted by an unknown painter in the 15th century.

    Two FDC envelopes are an interesting supplementation of the stamps. They represent masterpieces of Medieval artists housed in the National Museum in Warsaw, namely:

  • - entry of Christ to Jerusalem by an unknown painter from Gdańsk;
  • - the Last Supper by Colijn de Coter.

    • A special date seal will be applied in the Post Office Warsaw 1 on the day of the introduction of the stamps into the market.

           
     
       

    POLES IN THE WORLD
       

    No. of stamps: 2
    Values: 1 zł, 1,60 zł
    Printing technology: offset
    Paper: fluorescent
    Size: 43 x 31,25 mm
    Issue: a' 800.000 pcs
    Sales sheet: 20 pcs
    Designer: Jacek Konarzewski
    Date of circulation: February 12, 1999
       
    The Polish Post has just introduced two stamps devoted to Poles who lived and worked abroad, and did extraordinary things. They left a permanent image, making the name of Poland famous.

    Ernest Malinowski, whose 100th anniversary of death will be celebrated on March 3rd this year, is the constructor of the famous Central Trans-Andean Railway in Peru. It is called a marvel of the engineering art of the 19th century. It is 218 km long (from Callao to Oroya) and most of it is located over 2000m over the sea level. It riches its highest peak in Ticlio: 4818m over the sea level, and this is why it is a railway located at the highest point in the world. A special sign placed there is presented on the FDC envelope accompanying the stamp. The stamp itself represents a portrait of Ernest Malinowski and a bridge over Verrugas canyon, belonging to the biggest constructions of this type in the world - it is 175m long and its height is 77 m.

    Rudolf Modrzejewski, known in the United States as Ralph Modjeski, son of the famous actress, Helena, also became famous as a constructor of bridges. His most famous constructions include the Benjamin Franklin Bridge on the Delaware river in Philadelphia, which is presented in the second stamp. It was erected in 1926 and it had a record-breaking suspended span and elastic steel pylons 110m high. His work during the construction of the Trans-Bay bridge in San Francisco and in Quebec was also evaluated very positively.

    A special date seal will be applied in the Post Office Warsaw 1 on the day of the introduction of the stamps into the market.

           
     
       

    I LOVE YOU
       

    No. of stamps: 2
    face value: letter mark "A" and "B"
    Printing technology: offset
    Paper: fluorescent
    Size: 40.5 mm x 40.5 mm
    Issue: A - 2.500.000
                B - 3.300.000
    Sales sheet: 16 pcs
    Designer: Jacek Konarzewski
    Date of circulation: February 05, 1999
       
    It is already a tradition that the Polish Post is preparing special stamps for all those in love and not only for them at the occasion of the St. Valentine's Day. This time, we have decided to invite our customers to play domino. It is worth trying it. Maybe, you will be lucky and the effect will be the same as in the stamps.

    A special date seal will be applied in the Post Office Warsaw 1 on the day of the introduction of the stamps into the market.
           
     
       

    HISTORY OF THE POLISH MILITARY FORCES - THE NAVY
       

    No. of stamps: 2
    Values: PLN 0.55, PLN 0.55
    Printing technology: offset
    Paper: fluorescent
    Size: 39.5 x 31.25 mm
    Issue: a' 1,000,000 pcs
    Sheet: 20 pcs, a' 10 pcs of every stamp
    Designer: Tomasz Bogusławski
    Date of circulation: January 4th, 1999
       
    "I order to found the Polish Navy on November 28th, 1918, and I appoint Navy Colonel Bogumił Nowotny to be the head of the Navy Section at the Ministry of Military Affairs" - the document signed by Józef Piłsudski initiated the formation of the Polish Navy, which celebrates its 80th anniversary at present.

    The Polish Post decided to join the celebrations by means of an emission of two post stamps. Made in the convention of black-and-white convention, they are sort of a chronicle, because they present the history and the present day of the Polish Navy. The destroyer ORP "Piorun" shown in the first stamp, was used under the Polish banner during the Second World War. It helped scuttle the German ship "Bismarck". After the war, the ship, so meritious for Poland, was returned to the British Admiralty according to the respective agreement. The second stamp represents a contemporary military ship used by the Navy since 1994, and bearing the historic name of ORP "Piorun".

    A First Day Circulation (FDC) envelope with a special date seal applied in the Post Office Gdynia 1 shall be sold on the first day of the introduction of the stamps into the market.