Forget the Christmas licking – self-adhesive holiday stamps are here

BERN, SWITZERLAND – Stamp collectors and those who still send Christmas cards (and this is not a dying breed, according to the post office) have a treat in store Thursday 24 November, with the new Swiss Post philately collection going on sale.

Eight stamps are featured this year and for the first time they will be self-adhesive.

Three holiday stamps designed by Raphael Volery from Zurich also have matching gift card sets or the stamps can be purchased alone: “chapel” for CHF0.85, “Christmas tree” for CHF1.00 and “chalet” for CHF1.40.

They are collectors’ items, but can be used for Swiss internal and international post.

Four new Pro Juventute stamps have a surcharge, with the added cost going to support the organization’s projects in its centenary year of 2012.

Two have a face value of CHF0.85 (+0.40) and two have a face value of CHF1.00 (+0.50). Children’s faces draw attention to four important moral and ethical core values, Swiss Post notes: “Trust”, “Confidence”, “Security” and “Friendship”.

An additional stamp designed by Estonian-born rapper Stress (real name Andres Andrekson) shows his perception of Switzerland’s multicultural society. The colourful stamps have a face value of CHF1.00.

The stamps are available starting Thursday at the online philately shop as well as at Swiss philatelic salespoints and post offices.

Three CHF1 stamps, issued 9 September 2011 by Swiss Post, pay hommage to the Lavaux vineyards, a Unesco World Heritage site

LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – Montreux’s lakefront will be abuzz with VIPs and journalists Friday morning 9 September as “The Suisse” steamboat sets out to tour the lake in front of the Lavaux vineyards, a Unesco World Heritage site. On board will be Vaud artist Bernard Völlmy whose landscape of the vineyards and Lake Geneva, with the Alps in the background as viewed from above, features in the newest set of philately stamps issued by Swiss Post 9 September.

The latest collection of stamps is available at post offices and from Swiss Post online 9 September. The postal service is issuing five collections in 2011.

The new collection includes beautiful artwork from a group of young handicapped artists who worked with the Pro Infirmis art project “mehrlebenswert – c’estbonlavie” (lifewellworthliving).

Völlmy’s artwork covers three separate CHF1 stamps, which can be used for regular mail as well as collected. The original painting pays hommage to the extraordinary terraced vineyards that date back to the 12th century, with dry walls that can reach 15 metres in length.

The region produces some of Switzerland’s finest wines, red, white, rosé and a small amount of sparkling. It is home to several charming Medieval wine villages and has a number of popular walking paths.The painting covers a 900 hectare area of vines.

BERN, SWITZERLAND – Swiss Post’s latest stamp offerings include a package of three in honour of the Lavaux vineyards, a Unesco World Heritage site, to be issued Friday 9 September.

The stamps are part of the popular Swiss philately collection but they can also be used as normal stamps.

The Swiss postal service, La Poste, bissued the Basel Carnival commemorative stamp 5 January 2009. You can order them online, in English. Great for collectors, or even as easy gifts for non-philatelists: these are particularly charming stamps. Background story on GenevaLunch