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Hilton McLean Tysons Corner Publicity for 2008 Show
UN TO RELEASE SIX COMMEMORATIVE STAMPS AT NAPEX
NAPEX COURT OF HONOR ANNOUNCED: The Most Beautiful Czech Postage Stamps Artwork & Proofs for 10 Cent Stamp honoring 100th Anniversary of U.S. Internal Revenue Service
Boy Scouts Philatelic Merit Badge
UN First Day Stamp Ceremony
UN First Day Stamp Ceremony for 6 new postage stamps
Contact: Barbara Rasmussen brasmu@digitalconnections.net Boy Scouts Philatelic Merit Badge Boy Scouts who are working on philatelic merit badges will be able to attend a workshop at 1 p.m., on Saturday, June 7, at the annual meeting of NAPEX, Inc., at the McLean, Virginia, Hilton. Merit badge counselor Lee Hill will conduct the meeting in the Lee Room of the hotel. The workshop is free of charge, but reservations are required. The hotel is located at 7920 Jones Branch Drive, in McLean. To make a reservation, call May Day Taylor at 301.986.9066 or email her at maydaytaylor@verizon.net. Download this flyer in PDF Format to print and distribute to your Boy Scout Troop
Smithsonian National Postal Museum to Display Artwork & Proofs of 10 Cent Stamp honoring 100th Anniversary of U.S. Internal Revenue Service
The Smithsonian National Postal Museum will display a frame in the NAPEX Court of Honor. The display will consist of artwork and proofs of the 10c IRS Building U.S. Documentary Revenue. NAPEX will meet June 6-8 at the McLean Hilton 7029 Jones Branch Drive, McLean, Va. To honor the one hundredth anniversary of the United States Internal Revenue Service, the United States Post Office Department issued a commemorative revenue stamp on Sunday, July 1, 1962. Charles R. Chickering and Victor S. McCloskey, Jr., of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing designed the stamp, which depicts the IRS headquarters building on Constitution Avenue in Washington D.C. The stamp was printed on Giori presses in violet blue and bright green for use on bonds, deeds, debentures, and other legal documents. The National Postal Museum is devoted to presenting the colorful and engaging history of the nation’s mail service and showcasing the largest and most comprehensive collection of stamps and philatelic material in the world. Its five exhibition galleries present America’s postal history from Colonial times to the present, while its collections contain prestigious U.S. and international postal issues and specialized collections, archival postal documents and 3-D objects. The museum is located at the corner of First Street and Massachusetts Avenue N.E., next to Union Station and is open from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. every day, except Dec. 25. Admission is free. For more information, visit www.postalmuseum.si.edu.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
More Information: brasmu@digitalconnections.net
The Most Beautiful Czech Postage Stamps The Most Beautiful Czech Postage Stamps, an enterprise of the Czech Republic, will comprise the Court of Honor exhibit at NAPEX 2008. Made available by the Czech Postal Museum, the six frames represent the best and most interesting stamp designs in the Czech Republic. Since 1993, the Czech Republic has issued more than 550 postage stamps in volumes of tens of thousands up to a million pieces featuring different themes. The exhibit will be on display every day during the NAPEX meeting, May 6-8 at the McLean Hilton Hotel, 7920 Jones Branch Drive, McLean, Va.
The Czech Republic is one of the few countries in the world where most postage stamps are produced by a combination of the technologies of recess and intaglio printing. Presently, it may be the only country in which some issues are printed by means of the unique process of multicolored recess printing from flat plates. In principle, the stamps are manufactured with a large share of highly qualified manual work; therefore, the stamps obtain the character of a miniature graphic sheet. Their high artistic level is the result of a demanding and perfect cooperation between the designer, the engraver, and the printer.
The original designs of postage stamps are the work of leading Czech designers including, Vladimír Suchánek, Oldřich Kulhánek, Alfred Fuchs, Antonín Odehnal, Zdeněk Ziegler, Jan Kavan, Libuše, Jaromír Knotek, Karel Zeman, Adolf Absolon and Bedřich Housa. Housa is also the Nestor of the Czech engraving school in this area. Václav Fajt, Miloš Ondráček, Martin Srb, and Bohumil Šneider belong to the contemporary top graphic designers and engravers involved in stamp design.
These works are represented in the exhibit by a painting made by the Czech painter and illustrator František Kupka (1871-1957), a representative of 20th century modern art and one of the founders of abstract painting whose works are in the collections of leading world galleries. Amorpha - A Two-Coloured Fugue (from the collections of the National Gallery in Prague, one of the most famous Kupka's works, in a remarkable engraved transposition made by Václav Fajt) was issued by the Czech Republic on the occasion of the International Stamp Exhibition PRAGA 1998.
Postage stamps of the Czech Republic have resumed the tradition of Czechoslovak postage stamps. In the past years, they also won a number of international awards. The unique technology of Czech stamp printing, multicolored recess print from flat plates, has clearly contributed to their prize-winning success at prestigious competitions for the most beautiful stamp in the world, such as Grand Prix de l'Exposition WIPA, Vienna, or the Asiago International Prize for Philatelic Art, Italy. They were regular winners, especially in the category "Intaglio/Engraving", at international conferences of postage stamp printers in Washington, Berlin, and Krakow.
The artistic level and perfect artisanship of postage stamps of the Czech Republic tell a lot about the culture of this country in the heart of Europe. The stamps are not only a presentation of outstanding works of art in the past but also of contemporary Czech art design and high professionalism in the area of applied art.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: brasmu@digitalconnections.net
UN to Release Six Commemorative Stamps at NAPEX
The convention is intended as a human rights instrument with an explicit, social development dimension. It adopts a broad categorization of persons with disabilities and reaffirms that all persons with all types of disabilities must enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms. It clarifies and qualifies how all categories of rights apply to persons with disabilities and identifies required adaptations for persons with disabilities, enabling them to exercise their rights effectively. It also identifies violations of their rights and identifies areas where protection of rights must be reinforced.
The stamps, in denominations of 42 cents, 94 cents, F.s. 1,00, F.s. 1,80, € 0,55 and € 1,40, measure 30 mm horizontally by 40 mm vertically, perforation to perforation. Perforation size: 14 x 13 1/2.
The horizontal sheets of 20 stamps have four marginal inscriptions, two in the top margin and two in the bottom margin. The marginal inscription consists of the text “United Nations”. One copyright symbol with the year 2008 appears in the lower left margin.
Rorie Katz of the United Nations designed the stamps. Joh. Enschedé Stamps Security Printers B.V. (Netherlands) printed them in offset style. They will be issued in the following denominations and quantities: 42 cents, 224,000 stamps (11,200 sheets); 94 cents, 174,000 stamps (8,700 sheets); F.s. 1,00,142,000 stamps (7,100 sheets); F.s. 1,80, 142,000 stamps (7,100 sheets); € 0,55,186,000 stamps (9,300 sheets); and € 1,40,186,000 stamps (9,300 sheets).
The 42 cents stamp commemorates Accessibility. The stamp image features the International Symbol of Access—a representation of a person in a wheelchair.
The following text appears in the right tab of the stamp sheet:
To enable persons with disabilities to live independently and participate fully in all aspects of life, States Parties shall take appropriate measures to ensure to persons with disabilities access, on an equal basis with others, to the physical environment, to transportation, to information and communications, including information and communications technologies and systems, and to other facilities and services open or provided to the public, both in urban and in rural areas. (Article 9)
In most societies, there are innumerable obstacles and barriers that hinder persons with disabilities. These include such things as stairs, lack of information in accessible formats such as Braille and sign language, and community services provided in a form that persons with disabilities are unable to benefit from. Through the removal of these obstacles and barriers, everyone gains from a more accessible and equitable world.
The International Symbol of Access, featuring an individual in a wheelchair, is among the most recognized symbols in the world. It symbolizes areas where barriers have been removed to allow access for everyone.
The 94 cents stamp features a Braille motif. The design spells the word “UN” in Braille script using embossed raised Braille characters to allow the stamp to be touched and read. The following text appears in the right tab of the stamp sheet:
States Parties shall enable persons with disabilities to learn life and social development skills to facilitate their full and equal participation in education and as members of the community. To this end, States Parties shall take appropriate measures, including . . . facilitating the learning of Braille . . . (Article 24).
Braille is an important support to education and communication for blind individuals. Braille characters are a formation of six dots in the shape of a rectangle, with up to 63 possible combinations using one or more of the six dots. These dots are embossed onto thick paper by hand or machine and read with the fingers moving across the Braille characters. Louis Braille devised the system in 1821,which is now used in every country. The bicentenary of Braille’s birth is on January 4, 2009. Braille is used less frequently today. In some cases, blind children are denied the right to use Braille. It is important, in the era of technology, that blind individuals are not deprived of the right to read and write Braille. The F.s. 1,00 stamp, entitled “Nothing about us without us”, features an abstract drawing of two hands shaking each other, forming a heart shape. The following text appears in the right tab of the stamp sheet:
In the development and implementation of legislation and policies to implement the present Convention, and in other decision-making processes concerning issues relating to persons with disabilities, States Parties shall closely consult with and actively involve persons with disabilities, including children with disabilities, through their representative organizations. (Article 4)
“Nothing about us without us” is the motto used by the global disability movement in its quest to achieve the full participation and equalization of opportunities for, by and with persons with disabilities. It focuses on the active involvement of persons with disabilities in the planning of strategies and policies that affect their lives.
No one knows about disability issues better than persons with disabilities themselves. Persons with disabilities played an active role throughout the negotiations of the convention. To ensure that the best decisions are taken, persons with disabilities must be consulted regarding policies that have an impact on their lives, including the implementation of the convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Barbara Rasmussen at brasmu@digitalconnections.net.
The theme for this year’s National Philatelic Expositions of Washington, D.C. (NAPEX) is the 200th anniversary of the election of James Madison to become the 4th president of the United States. NAPEX will be held June 6-8, 2008, at the McLean Hilton, Jones Branch Drive, McLean, Virginia. Madison, the son of a Virginia planter, was also a principal author of the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and with Thomas Jefferson worked to establish freedom of religion in Virginia. He was the youngest of the five founders of the Republic, and in the eyes of many scholars, the most gifted thinker. As the fourth president, he inherited the embargo on European trade that his predecessor Jefferson established, and which ultimately led to war with England. He was the first president who was confronted with prosecuting a war, but that war emphasized the reality of American independence and forced other nations to honor American neutrality. It was the last time that the United States and Great Britain were enemies in time of war. Madison was the last of the founding fathers. He lived until 1836, fifteen years after John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on July 4, 1821, the fiftieth anniversary of the Republic. NANPEX will feature approximately 286 frames of exhibits. Societies convening at the show this year include American Revenue Association, France and Colonies Society, and the Christmas Philatelic Club, Show Chairman Darrell Ertzberger has announced. Attendees can take advantage of special hotel rates at the McLean Hilton. The show’s bourse will feature at least 43 dealers. This year, NAPEX is establishing a new organization, “Friends of NAPEX.” For a membership fee of $20, participants may enter the show one hour early on Friday and Saturday. John Warren, exhibits chair for the show reminds exhibitors who are sending their exhibits that they must use the U.S. Postal Service and send their exhibits to Mr. John Warren P.O. Box 70464 Washington DC 20024. For additional instructions for exhibitors and more information about NAPEX go to www.NAPEX.org.
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