12 month stamp: Valencia
If Arcimboldo were a stamp, it would be the stamp that pays homage to Palencia, which this month (only) can be bought (only) in tobacconists throughout the province. The one from Palencia or any of the other three that make up the latest installment of the "12 Months, 12 Seals" series ( Tarragona, Melilla and Caceres ) or even the entire collection that Correos inaugurated in 2017 with Guadalajara and that launches a different one every thirty days.
Everything fits in the Palencia stamp: an image of the Christ of the Otero , the Romanesque (represented by the capital and the shaft of the Monastery of San Andrés de Arroyo and by a detail of the arch of the portal of the Church of Santa Eufemia de Cozuelos), the Roman Villa La Olmeda , the Castile Channel and even a good suckling lamb.
'12 months, 12 stamps'
YOUR NAME ON A GRAIN OF RICE
the church of Sant Climent de Taull , the Seu Vella , the architecture modernist , the snails “a la llauna”, DO wines “Coasters of the Segre” , the delicious pears and the ski boot, in lleida.
Oranges, horchata, fireworks, barracks, paella, the Serrano Tower and the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia.
Madrid and his Kilometer Zero , the cooked, the Bear and the Strawberry Tree, the dump and the chulapo cap...
And so up to 52 provinces, Ceuta and Melilla included, with its 52 stamps . The philatelic subscribers, Spanish and foreign, who are making the collection will finish this series in 2021 with the latest deliveries, Biscay, Segovia and Salamanca.
That is what it consists of, concentrating in six square centimeters, " a mosaic of images that summarize the art, architecture, nature and gastronomy that can be enjoyed in the province ", as explained on the Correos website.
If the above were not enough content, all of it is embedded within, framed by his own initials, the same ones that appeared on the old license plates until the community ones began to be used, in the year 2000.
The Melilla stamp, available from November 1
For his aesthetic baroque , the topic has left some eyeballs, little accustomed to horror vacui newly coined in minimalist times . But the wink, surely, was not intended for them, but for those who remember these car plates (and have even spent long trips as children entertaining themselves with them) and those who enjoy seeing all the attractions of their place of origin captured in a recognizable way . It matters little if the san-serif typeface with rounded lines is in fashion, if the design is excessive or the colors are too many.
This is explained by the director of Post Office Philately, Modesto Fraguas , for whom "the philatelic profile of a country is a reflection of society , where everyone has to be represented". Where it fits "what you like, what your mother, your grandmother and your son like". Good marketing is the one that "knows how to look for the niche of each them and position yourself appropriately".
The different provincial councils involved in the project know it. That is why they make a gymnastic effort to include their "tourist brochures" in the prints, everything they like to show off: events, commemorations, recipes, landscapes, art ... with the only handicap that instead of doing in a multi-page booklet , they do it in a space of just a few centimeters where, in addition, other regulated information must appear: the face value in Euros and in letters, the word Correos, the word Spain and an imprint of the National Currency and Stamp Factory. Hence the explanation of these "philatelic arcimboldos".
AN ANALOGUE MEMORY OF A DIGITAL PRESENT
"When time capsules are made, stamps are always included," explains Forges. "The letters no longer circulate, but in addition to the low correspondence, it adds that there are now other postage systems, more up-to-date, digital and modern, and the stamp is affected, being lost."
This collection arose to recover stamp circulation. "Each one of the stamps is only sold in that province for a month and in the offices, in some way, they are obliged to put that type of stamp Thus, the horchata, the chulapo cap or the Palencian Romanesque guarantee the trip.
A Coruna
THE BACKGROUND OF A STAMP
Although Correos is the identity in charge of marketing them, there are many more people behind each stamp.
"The stamp is an identity of a country, who decides is a state philatelic commission, the Ministry of Transportation, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Culture, the National Currency and Stamp Factory , collectors, dealers who sell and philatelists who buy," says Fraguas.
Every year they come out 90 models . 700 requests a year are received from different institutions and organizations, and a committee of experts has the last word on this almost hundred that will finally see the light and in what form"
This is why the motifs depicted and the styles for it are so different: of the "kitsch" of the Spanish topics that they hope to find in the rest of the world (especially in Asian countries) to the most innovative styles.
This is demonstrated by some of his latest stamps, such as the one that includes a seed of a plant, those that play with the augmented reality or the QR codes and even the one that pays homage to the Beethoven year, which can be put on a turntable to listen to La Novena.
Because, as Modesto says, " the philatelic profile of a country is like its own society ", where even those who have never written a letter on paper or listened to music on a record player can find their stamp.