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Wild bees – January 3, 2022
Four wild bees adorn the issue of self-adhesive definitive stamps from Liechtenstein, which will be issued in January. Around 550 species of the superfamily Apoidea – excluding the honey bee – are grouped under the term wild bees. However, they are mostly solitary and live solitarily. Only the bumblebees and some species of furrowing bees have a social way of life. Wild bees have an enormous diversity in shape and appearance. They exist in numerous shapes and colors. They can easily be confused with hoverflies or wasps.
The “Knautien sand bee” (Andrena hattorfiana; value CHF 0.90) can be observed from June to August. The pink pollen on its hind legs is conspicuous, as it gathers its food exclusively on widow’s-flowers. Among the largest bees in this country is the “wood bee” (Xylocopa sp; value CHF 1.10). It can grow up to three centimeters long. Thanks to its pure black body and blue-black wings, it can be easily recognized in the field. The “Berglandhummel” (Bombus Monticolo; value CHF 1.80) is native to sparse woods in the high mountains. This northern, cold-resistant species can be recognized by its yellow-black-orange rump. The “jewel bee” (Epeloides sp; value CHF 2.30) belongs to the “cuckoo bees”. It lays its eggs like a cuckoo in the nest of another wild bee species, where it then develops.
- CHF 0.90 Cautery sand bee
- CHF 1.10 Wood bee
- CHF 1.80 Mountain bumble bee
- CHF 2.30 Jewel bee
- Stamp size 38 x 32 mm
- Perforation 12 ¼ x 12 ½
- Sheet format 208 x 146 mm
- Design Angelo Boog, Wallisellen
- Printing Offset 4-color CMYK
- Gutenberg AG, Schaan
- Paper Stamp paper PVA 110 g/m2,
- gummed
- definitive stamps
Beijing Winter Olympics – February 4, 2022
Traditionally, Philately Liechtenstein commissioned an artist from the host country to design the Olympic stamps. Therefore this time an artist from China. Huming Wang designed the two special stamps “Skiing” (value CHF 1.10) and “Two-man bobsleigh” (value CHF 2.10), each of which was finished with a raised and foil embossing. The laser foil used for this makes the snow shimmer accordingly on both motifs.
- CHF 1.10 Skiing
- CHF 2.10 Two-man bob
- Stamp size 42 x 30.94 mm
- Perforation 13 ¼ x 13 ½
- Sheet size 208 x 146 mm
- Design Wang Huming, China
- Printing Offset 4-color CMYK + vertical
- embossing with microstructure
- + hot foil stamping Laserfoil
- Cartor Security Printing,
- Meaucé la Loupe
- Paper Truwhite FSC Mix Credit 110 g/m2,
- gummed
- Print run 32’000
Chimney sweep “Good luck” – March 7, 2022
The portrait of a chimney sweep (value CHF 0.90) and a woman chimney sweep (value CHF 1.10) can be found on stamps bearing the phrase “Good luck” in five different languages and decorated with lucky symbols – such as the horseshoe and the cloverleaf, but also the dice and the heart. These are special stamps with exclusive gold foil stamping. Although the chimney sweep was often associated with the devil – due to his black clothing – he has become a symbol of good luck over the centuries. Probably because he helped prevent fires, but also because he was one of the first people you met in the New Year. Even if this happened only because he presented his annual accounts on New Year’s Day. Today the chimney sweep is also responsible for the control, cleaning and optimization of thermotechnical installations.
- CHF 0.90 Horseshoe
- CHF 1.10 Cloverleaf
- Stamp size 40 x 28 mm
- Perforation 13 ¾ x 13 ¾
- Sheet format 208 x 146 mm
- Design Hans Peter Gassner, Vaduz
- Printing Offset 4-color CMYK + hot foil stamping gold
- Gutenberg AG, Schaan
- Paper UPM Raflatac, 110 g/m2, white Unik OBA free/perm/K80W,
- self-adhesive (water-soluble)
- Print run 32’000
400th Birthday of Molière – March 7, 2022
Who does not know – at least according to the title – “The Imaginary Sick”. It is a play by Jean Baptiste Molière (1622-1973). The French poet became famous for his farces and comedies. They are in the succession of the Commedia del`arte. Many of them achieved their effect through situation comedy. Molière is considered the founder of comedy of manners in European literature. He is considered by the French to be one of their great classics and by many to be one of the most important authors ever….
His theatrical life began in 1643, when, together with his partner Madelaine Béjart and others, he founded the acting company “L`Illustre Théâtre”. This is not spoiled by success at the beginning, and economic hardships force them to leave Paris in 1645 and go on tour. In 1658, they return to Paris, where the troupe of actors is honored by Molière as the “Troupe du Roi”, and from 1661 they present their performances at the Palais Royal. During his tour, Molière wrote numerous plays in the tradition of the Commedia dell` arte: such as “The School of Women”. Specifically, this play shows how the attempt of a man to win as a wife a girl specially educated for him in seclusion fails. With these works, Molière made himself the founder of the comedy of manners in European literature. A distinctive feature of this type of comedies was the use of language specific to the status of each character. Many of them achieved their effect through situation comedy, such as in the play “The Doctor Against His Will.” Molière’s greatest literary importance lies in his character comedies. His most famous comedy of this kind is precisely “The Imaginary Sick”. Molière suffered a fatal breakdown on February 17, 1673 during a performance of the play “The Imaginary Sick” in Paris.
- CHF 1.10 Troupe du Roi
- CHF 1.10 L’école des femmes
- CHF 4.10 Molière
- Stamp size 33.334 x 38.334 mm
- Perforation 12 ¼ x 12 ¼
- Sheet size 119 x 59 mm
- Design Detlef Behr, Cologne
- Printing Offset 4-color CMYK
- Gutenberg AG, Schaan
- Paper Stamp paper PVA 110 g/m2,
- gummed
- Edition 25,000 special souvenir sheets
Europe Stamps – Stories and Myths – March 7, 2022
The member states of the Organization of European Postal Operators (PostEurop) issue stamps annually on a common theme – the Europe stamps. The theme for 2022 is Stories and Myths. For me personally a very nice theme and I am curious what the individual countries will show here. Liechtenstein’s contribution are two new definitive stamps printed together in a small sheet of 4.
One stamp shows “The White Woman” (value CHF 1.80). She is a figure that appears in numerous legends and myths in Liechtenstein. Unlike other white women in sagas of Europe, the white woman in Liechtenstein remains without a name, without a local reference, intangible, blurred. As a rule, she appears as a harmless being, seen by chance by observers or noticed by an uneasy feeling. On the stamp, the white woman floats through a field full of mullein candles and slowly dissolves into thin air, as she is said to have done, according to legend, when children encountered her. The mullein (also stylized on the stamp) represents fearlessness and protection from evil spirits.
The second stamp shows the “Tälibudel” (value CHF 1.80), a ghostly figure from the Liechtenstein Alps. The ghost – with fiery red eyes, long ears, a dog’s snout, short hair, shaggy all over his body and walking upright – chased away a farmer who was still in his hut in Malbun over Christmas and drove away all his livestock. The chase did not end until the farmer could see the little Stegkirchlein. No one was harmed, except that perhaps the farmer now suffered from post-traumatic stress syndrome. The stamp and the maxi card show the Tälibudel as a real dog, although I have read in the legend that he should have walked upright ………..
- CHF 1.80 The white woman
- CHF 1.80 The Tälibudel
- Stamp size 33.334 x 38.334 mm
- Perforation 12 ¼ x 12 ¼
- Sheet format 175 x 120 mm
- Design Eliane Schädler, Triesenberg
- Printing Offset 4-color CMYK
- Gutenberg AG, Schaan
- Paper Stamp paper PVA 110 g/m2,
- gummed
- Print run 39,000