Europa 2023: Guernsey (24 May)

On 24 May, Guernsey Post released six stamps under the theme of “Peace: The Highest Value of Humanity” and all are inscribed with this slogan. Issued in denominations of 56p, 79p, 87p, £1.21, £1.39, and £1.50, these have been printed using offset lithography in sheets of 10 stamps for each design. Only the middle two designs — 87p “Peace in Space” and £1.21 “New Peace Symbol” common design — are official Europa stamps bearing the logo. Additionally, these two stamps will be released in a miniature sheet. Interestingly, NONE of the promotional material that I have seen from Guernsey Post (nor does the stamp) mention Linda Bos & Runa Egilsdottir as the designers of the common design stamp.

The issue description explains,

EUROPA stamps are issued by European postal administrations and bear the official EUROPA logo, a registered trademark supported by PostEurop, the trade association representing European postal operators since 1993.

Each year PostEurop select a stamp theme for postal administrations to interpret and the issues that follow are among the most collected and most popular stamps in the world.

The theme of the 2023 EUROPA stamps issue is Peace: the highest value of humanity, to show solidarity with Ukraine.

Chris Griffiths, creative director at Two Degrees North in Guernsey, who designed Guernsey’s Europa stamps, says that the stamps designs are “completely hand-drawn and bespoke, and intended to appear slightly naive and child-like to represent a certain sense of innocence and wonder.

“The overall concept is one of humanity and peace on earth. The idea of the astronauts looking back on a happy earth allows for a lot of symbolism. The earth shows outward love towards humanity; the astronauts themselves represent a non-gender or political/racial bias – and they are holding one another to represent peace and harmony among all of humanity. They look back at earth and at each other, showing how humanity is reflecting upon itself.

“Being set in ’space’ symbolises what the future may hold and also looking at humanity from the perspective that we are all in this together, and that peace is crucial for the existence of humanity.”
Guernsey Stamps and Collectibles

Technical Information

Date of Issue:	24 May 2023
Number of Stamps:	Six gummed stamps, 1 miniature sheet
Denominations:	56p, 79p, 87p, £1.21, £1.39, £1.50
Designers:	Linda Bos & Runa Egilsdottir; Two Degrees North
Printer and Process:	Brebner Print, Onekawa, Napier, New Zealand by offset lithography on Arconvert Securpost Premium Gummed 110gsm paper
Stamp Size:	40mm x 35mm
Sheet Format:	10 stamps per sheet each design
Miniature Sheet Size:	100mm x 140mm
Perforation:	13.33 x 13.33