Europe Stamps 2013:
The post car, old and new

In Newsletter 103 we could already read that Greenland issued its first stamp relevant for us MFN-members: a stamp with an image of a scooter. Although the official theme for the Europe 2013 issue is "The post car, old and new", most countries have chosen to use postal transport in general and thus it could be expected that some more stamps would become available for us. And indeed, so it is. Probably Eric can fill a few pages with them.
In total 48 countries joined the CEPT (Conférence Européenne des administrations des Postes et Télécommunications) but not all of them joined the sub-organization CERP, of which the letters RP stand for Regulation Postal.
Of all countries that participate in the stamp issue 2013 (39) it is Greenland that opened the series on January 14th. The designer/drawer Christian Fletcher Rex (amongst others drawer of Asterix and the Vikings, the movie based on the comic book Asterix and the Northmen) has chosen for the oldest form of postal transport in his country that is still used today: the dog sledge. And next to that a group of modern vehicles, with in front the postal scooter that is most important for us.

the stamp has also been issued in a collectors sheet of 9 stamps (counter sheets contain 40 stamps) and a booklet with self-adhesive stamps. On the front page of the booklet an image of the dog sledge:

There will for sure also be more interesting information about the other motorcycle stamps, but I already want to mention the italian stamp here. If you take the former newsletter stamp made by Paul you will find the same motorcycle there that the Italian designer has used for their stamp. Just a coincidence, or did Paul inspire them????

On the stamps, designed by Silvia Isola, old is depicted against new. That's why we see on the motorcycle stamp a Moto Guzzi Galletto (Galletto = young cock) from 1962 and a modern Piaggio Liberty, in use by the Postal service from this year on. The other stamp shows an old post car and a contemporary hybrid driven vehicle. Normally not interesting for us, but in this case it is as the thing is produced by........ Ducati, which gave it the nickname 'Freeduck'.

The 2 Italian Europe stamps - on the right the 'FreeDuc'

The Europa 2013 issue does not only bring us 'real' motorcycle stamps, but also some side- and debatable stamps. For instance Liechtenstein came with a stamp with wheels, used for postal transport, in a stylistic drawing. With a bit of imagination you can see a motorcycle wheel in it:

Many of the sets and series show electrical vehicles and often these are 'mopeds' that we can add to our collection without doubt. It becomes more difficult when it concerns electrical bicycles or bicycles with pedalling assistance.

For instance this Swedish stamps has already led to some discussion. At first glance it looks like a bicycle, but it is a bike with pedalling assistance. Electrical. Some people will say that this does not belong in the book with 'real' mopeds, but others (among whom myself) think that it does belong to the motorised 2- and 3-wheelers.

The Swedish electral post bicycle

And now the Danish Europe stamp: an electrically driven modern carrier tricycle:

This cart, made by the Copenhagen company Nihola, is used to transport rolling containers with post for companies throughout cities.
Thus ample food for discussion about the question whether we should included these (silent) mopeds in our collection.
For now the Europe 2013 issue already delivers us a lot of collecting fun.

Hans de Kloet

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