During 1999 Palestine issued six stamp series and two blocks: | |||||
|
Wye River Peace Agreement 1999
A block was issued on 8.03.1999 commemorating the "Middle East Peace Agreement & Wye River Conference" depicting President Yasir Arafat and President Bill Clinton in signing on 23.10.1998 the Wye River Agreement. The block contains one stamp denominated at 900 Fils and was printed by Bundesdruckerei GmbH Berlin. Print run: unknown. Perforation: K13.75.
External links:
| ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
Gaza Airport 1999
Palestine issued a stamp series on 8.04.1999 commemorating the opening of "Yasser Arafat International Airport" on 30.11.1998 under title "Open Skies over Gaza". The actual opening ceremony was held on 24.11.1998, and attended by President Yasir Arafat and President Bill Clinton, the first commercial flight happened on 27.11.1998.
External links:
| |||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
International Stamp Exhibitions 1999
A series stamps was issued on 27.04.1999 commemorating four stamp exhibitions and the 125th anniversary of the UPU:
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebron - Place of the Patriarchs 1999
A series of stamps entitled "Hebron - Place of the Patriarchs" was issued on 20.08.1999. The stamps are denominated at 400 and 500 Fils and printed by Bundesdruckerei GmbH Berlin se-tenant in a block-like miniature sheet (4x2, total value: 3,600 Fils): Zobbel ZdKb 6 in this order: Zobbel nos. 112 / 111 / 112 / 111 // 111 / 112 / 111 / 112. Print run: unknown. Perforation: K 14:13.75. The stamps feature a modern icon entitled "Die Begegnung von Mamre" (the meeting of Mamre) by Austrian artist Prof. DI. Dr. Anton Wollenek (1920–2009), knight of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, engineer and electrotechnics lecturer (at the HTBLuVA). Another of Wollenek's icons was used for the Christmas 1997 series. His work was also featured on Austrian stamps: Christmas 1994 (ANK no. 2175, FDCs shown below), and serveral of his exhibitions were commemorated by Austrian special postmarks (detail shown below). External link:
| ||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
Arabian Horses 1999
A series of stamps depicting Arabian horses (in five different coat colours) was issued on 31.08.1999. The stamps are denominated at 25, 75, 150, 350, and 800 Fils (total value: 1,400) and printed by Bundesdruckerei GmbH Berlin se-tenant in a block-like miniature sheet Zobbel ZdKb 7, containing two strips-of-five (total value: 2,800 Fils). Print run: unknown. Perforation: K 13.75:14.
| ||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
(strip: size reduced to 9/10) |
'Bethlehem 2000' 1999
Palestine issued a stamp series on 15.11.1999 commemorating the celebrations "Bethlehem 2000", the eight stamps (denominations: 60, 80, 100, 280, 300, 400, 500, and 560 Fils) depict the official logo of "Bethlehem 2000" in various colour combinations. The stamps were printed by Cartor Securty Printing, La Loupe (France) in sheets of 25 (5x5). Total value: 2,280 Fils. Print run: unknown. Perforation: K 13.25:13. The first stamp commemorating the "Bethlehem 2000" celebrations was issued in 1998: Christmas 1998 block. Further series were issued in 1999 (Christmas 1999) and 2000 (Easter 2000, Bethlehem 2000 booklet, Christmas 2000). Project "Bethlehem 2000" is also celebrated by a stamp issued on 21.08.1999 by Argentina: "Belén 2000" (Jalil & Göttig GJ 2973). The stamp (printed in sheets of 20, 4x5) and two FDCs (official and private) are shown below. One notes that the Argentinian designer has added a third dot over the Arabic "T"... British design company BBB Publishing produced large-scale (A4: 297x210mm) prints, adressed to subscribers, and with a PNA authentification certificate (see illustration below). Stamps were used from the "Bethlehem 2000" and supposedly also the "Christmas Bethlehem 2000" series. Below is shown the print for "Bethlehem 2000" with the 60 Fils stamp, and special handstamp "First Day Of The New Century 1-01-2000" (Zobbel SHS812). The motif here is a detail from the painting "The Adoration Of The Shepherds" by Bonifazio Veronese (Bonifazio de' Pitati, Bonifazio Veneziano, 1487–1553). The painting is wrongly attributed by BBB to Veronese (Paolo Callari, 1525–1588). The authentification is in the name of Zuhair Allaham, then Deputy Minister Post & Telecommunication.
External links:
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Issue "Belén 2000", Argentina 21.08.1999, with two FDCs: official one on top. | |
Millennium print, BBB Publishing, with special handstamp 1.01.2000. |
||
Christmas (Bethlehem 2000) 1999
A stamp series on the occasion of Christmas 1999 and the celebrations "Bethlehem 2000" was issued on 8.12.1999. It consists of 11 stamps denominationated at 2x200, 2x280, 2x380, 2x460, 2x560, and 2,000 Fils. The stamps were printed by Cartor Securty Printing, La Loupe (France) in sheets of 10 (2x5, Zobbel nos. 126–135) and a sheetlet of four (2x2, Zobbel no. 136). Total value of the 11 stamps: 5,760 Fils. Print run: unknown; Zobbel nos. 136 estimated at 40,000 sheetlets (160,000 stamps). Perforation: K 13.25.
The stamps use three different motifs, all from frescos of Italian renaissance painter Giotto di Bondone (1266–1337) in the Scrovegni (or Arena) chapel in Padua, Italy:
Ten stamps (Zobbel nos. 126–135) were issued in sheets of ten in in two different formats, with Zobbel no. 136 issued in a numbered sheet of four (see illustrations below). According to Josef Wallach, only the regular sheets were sold by Palestinian post offices and the Philatelic Office in Gaza. The special sheets with the silver stamps were apparently distributed by printers CARTOR through the philatelic trade only.:
The colours of the regular sheets appear to be minimally more intensive. André Mazawi reports on the 560 Fils regular (yellow) version that "the sheet margins are in a darker blue compared to the sheet of the other denominations". That seems to be a deliberate design feature, not a variant though.
This is the third installment of stamps commemorating the "Bethlehem 2000" celebrations. Other issues were released in 1998: Christmas 1998 block, further series were issued in 1999 (Bethleherm 2000 1999) and 2000 (Easter 2000, Bethlehem 2000 booklet, Christmas 2000) To make the differentiation of the Bethlehem 2000 stamps more easy, I have created a
External links:
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
Sheets for stamps 126 to 135 with the "regular" format (ten identical stamps, Zobbel nos. 126/128/130/132/134) on the left. and the "special" format (nine "regular" stamps, one silver stamp, Zobbel nos. 127/129/131/133/135) on the right. | ||
Palestine Sunbird 1999
A block was issued on 13.12.1999 depicting the Palestine Sunbird (Cinnyris osea oseus). The block contains one stamp denominated at 750 Fils and was printed by Bundesdruckerei GmbH Berlin. Print run: unknown. Perforation: K13.75.
| ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
[Created 13.09.2004, last revised 27.09.2014]
[www.zobbel.de – Dipl.-Bibl.(FH) Tobias Zywietz – all rights reserved]
Imprint/Impressum – Datenschutzerklärung/Privacy Policy