ISO50

Amy Henderson of AQ-V recently acquired a large collection of old United Nations stamps:

Because the UN is an international organization, its stamp must bear symbols that will be recognized universally. Besides the beauty of the design, the UN Design Committee must consider the political implications of any symbolism used. Naturally none of them can stand for anything contrary to the standards and principles of the United Nations, nor can they represent any one culture, religion, or race.

It was the Design Committee’s suggestion that the official five languages—Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish—should be used on as many of the stamps as possible. This was the origin of the “five-language border” which has become characteristic of UN stamps.

This set is the first post in a multi-part series, and I can’t wait to see the rest. In the meantime you can check out David McFarline’s flickr collection or previous posts for more stamp goodness.

via AQ-V