The Slovenian stamp referred to in the San Marino thread is altogether different, although just as bizarre. It was that country's response to the "Europa" annual imposition, which some countries clearly regard as an annoyance to be shrugged off with a token gesture, and others as a serious design challenge. The 1995 task was 'Peace and Freedom', and many were the routine doves and olive branches that graced dull and unimaginative offerings. The British, typically, served up a mishmash of a set in their blockish format referencing the Red Cross, the UN, and, oh yes, there was some war or other a long time ago.
Slovenia, uniquely of the 41 participating countries, decided to go heavy and full-on. "The 50th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Concentration Camps" it announced above a startling image of a skeleton copulating with an apparently consenting woman. A se-tenant stamp is less clear: the woman springs free from an indeterminate, corpse-like shape, and in the distance what looks like the regular layout of a concentration camp stretches out to the skyline.
The evidently grave and challenging intention of these stamps make them an uneasy companion to the ludicrous San Marino comics with which, perhaps too quickly, I linked them.
Michel catalog give it number 110/111 klb with nice value of 18.00 euro, per mint, nh, but as I remember, no one is willing to sell it less than 20.00 euro in small sheet format of 4 sets, so, keep an eye on this issue!
As a result of Guthrum posting an image of this issue, I was curiously fascinated (perhaps morbidly) by it. There are few (if any) issues in my field of collecting that stir any interest in a design element.
This however caused me to want to find out what exactly the artist's thinking was behind these two designs. I tried to find out more information about the artist Rudi Å panzel but any details regarding this particular issue, have not transpired.
Nonetheless, I looked for a complete 'sheetlet' (or is it miniature/souvenir sheet; who cares!). I know I didn't have to buy one to research it but felt if I did not, it would eventually fade from memory. Having one in my possession would hopefully cause me to 'endeavour to persevere'.
Coinciding with Milco's post, my copy arrived today from Italy, so I don't need to post an image. For those interested, I paid £3.39 plus £1.99 postage; $7.85 (€7) inclusive; considerably less than here in the UK.
Might be worth checking out if Rudi was ever hired again! Less easy, but no less interesting, would be to check out the reaction in Slovenia to that issue, if indeed postage stamps generated any reaction in that country at that time.
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