One statement can be made with regard to the Austrian stamps in general: in the more than 150 years of their history they have transcended their mere function as a postage stamp – i.e. the certificate that the customer has paid the carriage fee in advance. This is proved by many theme series issued by the Austrian Mail and printed by the Austrian National Printing Office.
Postal stamps have also taken over the function to contribute to the image of the issuing country at home and abroad. And one of the most important image factors of Austria is its natural heritage, with water being a major part of it. In addition, water was this year’s European key subject for the special stamp series “Europe”. The design of a relevant stamp for our country was assigned to the Tyrolian artist Otmar Grissemann.
With the subject he selected – a leaf emerging from a drop of water – the artist underlines the connection of all that is alive with the element water. “Water is the origin of life. If water is protected, a chain reaction is triggered, which is beneficial for all living beings. This is what the leaf shall express; it is a symbol for the pulsating life,” describes Grissemann his piece of art.
1,500,000 copies of this special stamp were produced by the Austrian National Printing Office (ÖSD GmbH) in the halftone gravure process. First edition day was May 18, 2001. By the way, the ÖSD is already known throughout the world for its excellent stamp production. In the course of time about 60 postal administrations have commissioned the ÖSD to produce stamps for them. Therefore it is not surprising that the series “1000 years of Austria” won the first prize of the 8th Government Postage Stamp Printers Conference (in Rome) last year and, at the same time, the award “Stamp of the Century”.
Information & Contact:
ÖSD Marketing, Johannes Buzik
Phone +43/1/206 66-370
Fax ext. -105
