We've mentioned the Europa stamps a couple of times on the blog before, but never properly introduced them... so if you're interested in the history of this postal collectible, this post is for you!

The idea of making a "join stamp emission" came up in 1952, as a way to symbolise the joint community of interest and objectives that was starting to take shape in Europe. When the Treaty of Rome was signed some years later, the six countries that joined the new European Coal and Steel Community (Belgium, France, West-Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands), issued a commemorative stamp: the first Europa stamps.

The stamp design was made by the French artist, Daniel Gonzague, it was a tower formed by the 6 letters of the latin word for Europe: Europa.

The newly created European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) took over the administration of the EUROPA stamps in 1960. In 1973 they decided that, in order for stamps to remain interesting for collectors, the common design should be replaced by a common theme, that each country was free to interpret in their unique designs. The themes would be chosen as a way to bring the different countries together to represent Europe.

In 1993, the management of the Europa stamps was taken over by PostEurop and the CEPT logo was then replaced by the new EUROPA logo. Today, all of these stamps that are released are done so by PostEurop, the association which represents the interest of European public postal operators.

In addition to deciding the themes of the future EUROPA stamps, PostEurop members have also created an annual competition, where everyone can vote for the “Best Europa stamp” of the year.

The popularity of the Europa stamps prompted many smaller administrative regions or special territories to express their interest in joining the group of issuing countries, and thus the circle grew larger. Currently, over 60 European countries issue Europa stamps annually.

To learn more about these special stamps, check out Jürgen's fantastic blog on Europa stamps (which he has been collecting since 1987). He also wrote a comprehensive 5-part series on the history of the stamps, which he kindly allowed us to condense for this blog post.

PostEurop is once again hosting their yearly competition to choose the best EUROPA stamp of 2012!

As some of you might know, the theme for 2012 is Visit... and the idea was for each country to showcase itself, and promote tourism.

Here is a small selection of the 51 stamps in the run-up:

Aren't they all lovely? We already feel like going on a European roadtrip!

To see all the stamps and vote, go to the competition page and pick your favorite. May the best stamp win!

PS - We're always curious to know... which one did you choose?

On the last post, we mentioned the new stamp from the Dutch postal service featuring Postcrossing, which was launched this past Saturday on the Postex event.

Paulo gave a short presentation about the project, and received the first sheet of stamps from the hands of Berend Dorgelo, from PostNL.

Designer Garech Stone, from the Stone Twins, also gave the audience some insights about the design process, and shared some "easter eggs" hidden in the stamps! For instance, can you find the suited monkey with a gun? :)

As part of the stamp launch, PostNL is organising a contest where Dutch postcrossers can win a travel voucher of 500 euros, if they use the stamps on their Postcrossing cards. To participate, have a look at the contest page.

Once again, our heartfelt thank you to PostNL, Raymond68 and all the people who were involved in the process of making this dream come true!

This was a big step in our postcard revolution, and we look forward to collaborating with other postal services in the future! :)

Yes, you read that right! On October 14th, PostNL will launch a real stamp, featuring Postcrossing! How awesome is that?

For us, it's a huge honour that the project was deemed worthy of being featured in a stamp, and we're very grateful to PostNL (the Dutch postal service) for making this dream come true. We'd also like to thank postcrosser Raymond68 - the Postcrossing stamp exists because of his efforts and persistence.

The stamp was designed by Garech and Declan Stone, and features all kinds of traditional postcards strewn about, as if scattered on your doormat. Here is what the stamp sheet looks like:

Neat, right? There are several different stamps, both for Europe and the rest of the world, featuring the traditional postcard motives.

The first stamps will be delivered to Paulo on October 15th, during the Postex event in Apeldoorn. Postex is an annual event for philatelic collectors, featuring celebrating associations, youth philately, traders from home and abroad, foreign postal administration(s), Day of the Stamp, exhibitions and much more.

If you're in the area, come and say hi! There will be plenty of stamps for sale, and we'll have a small presentation about Postcrossing around 10:30am.

We'll be back on the weekend with more information about the stamp, and also to give away a few sheets! :)

This week, the US Postal Service announced that it will start to honor living people in its stamps, in hopes of increasing public engagement with snail mail.

Up until now, only deceased people were considered to be featured on their stamps, but this recent measure opens the door to a world of new possibilities...

So we wanted to ask you: which living person would you like to see featured on a stamp, and why?