EUROMED 2021 stamps are here. This year’s theme is Handicraft Jewelry of  the Mediterranean. And the stamps? They are gorgeous! 

EUROMED Postal began in 2014, and has evolved into an interesting annual competition. In the first year, participating countries issued the same design. As the years trickled by competitors seriously upped their design game. Last year’s Traditional Gastronomy of the Mediterranean produced some of the most eye popping beauties imaginable.  

Voting is over for last year and we’re just waiting to hear the results. No announcement has been made on the EUROMED Postal website as yet. COVID seems to have put cramp in so many schedules. My choice? Greece. Anthi Lygka’s series of souvenir sheets are mouth watering.  

 Although I think the Greek stamps are the best designed, I’m kind of hoping Turkey wins.

This sheet makes me a bit wistful. I still miss the little Turkish restaurant that was a quick 5 min walk from my place. They’ve closed up shop now and I haven’t gotten over the loss. I used to wander down all the time for Turkish coffee and breakfast. The women who ran the shop were so wonderful and always had something special on the go. Now I’m depressing myself.  

 Previous EUROMED Postal themes 

• 2014 Theme  “The Mediterranean” (all stamps were the same design by agreement to introduce the series)
• 2015 Theme  “Boats used in the Mediterranean”
• 2016 Theme  “Fish in the Mediterranean”
• 2017 Theme  “Trees in the Mediterranean”
• 2018 Theme  “Houses in the Mediterranean”
• 2019 Theme  “Costumes used in the Mediterranean”
• 2020 Theme  “Traditional Gastronomy in the Mediterranean” 

Themes for the next two years were announced recently. 2023 will highlight Underwater Fauna & Flora and 2024 National Archaeological Discoveries. 

How to Vote for your favourite EUROMED 2021 stamps

I played around with a new plugin so we can have some fun with polls and voting. That means, you get to pick your favourite for 2021. Next year, we’ll compare how our picks to the official vote. The poll is at the end of the article.  When the EUROMED voting link is posted, I’ll include it here. 

Algeria is the only country that hasn’t posted their stamps, but they are coming July 12, 2021. You might want to wait before voting. Bookmark the page and come back on the 12th to vote. 

All the EUROMED 2021 stamps

Albania  

4 stamps, FDC, cancel, souvenir sheet

Albania is a late comer to the 2021 EUROMED series.  This set was issued May 2022.  

Designer: Bertrand Shijaku

Release date: May 11, 2022

Algeria- Chemassa (broach), Skhab (ambergris necklace)

2 stamps, FDC

Stamp one shows a chemassa (broach) and the second a skhab (ambergris necklace)

Skhab

The “Skhab” or ambergris necklace, is a precious traditional necklace of brown or black color made for Algerian women and worn by them on occasions. It gives off good scents of musk and amber that can embalm for decades, no matter how many times it is used, the temperature of the environment or where it is kept.

The “Skhab” is used in many parts of our country, including Constantine, Tebessa, M’sila, Batna, Khenchela, Boussaâda and Guelma. It is composed of:

• Wheat flour or date grains after burning,

• The souchet, round seeds with a good smell, sold at herbalists and perfumers,

• The dried fruit of a plant not too well known in our country and that smells very good,

• Natural musk, a natural fragrance with a strong and refreshing smell,

• The clove, or what is locally called “oud” and which smells very good,

• Natural amber. Algerian Post Office

Chemassa 

Its name is derived from its shape that corresponds to the shape of the sun. It is a circle with pointed borders that represent the light that springs from the sun. It is also known as “Ibzim” (the loop) in many parts of the country. The “Chemassa” is a brooch that is placed in the collar. It is made of precious metal which is either gold or silver. It is one of the best known traditional Algerian jewels, just like the “Skhab”..  Algerian Post Office

Designer: Tayeb Laidi

Release date: July 12, 2021

Croatia – Konavle earrings

1 stamp, sheet of 20, FDC, cancel

Designer: Alenka Lali (Zagreb)
Photographer: Marko Ercegovi

Welcome • Dubrovnik Museums (dumus.hr)

Release date: July 12, 2021

Cyprus – 14th to 13th century B.C.E. gold pendant

1 stamp, FDC, cancel, sheet of 8

…a gold pendant from the 14^th– 13^th century B.C.E. It was found during excavations  at Engomi and is now in the Archeological Museum in Cyprus. 
Cyprus Post Office 

Designer: Antonia Hadjigeorgiou

Release date: July 8, 2021

Egypt – necklace

 NOTE:  This stamp was not released by Egypt post although it was listed on the EUROMED site.  I’ve left the image up as a place holder to show you what the proposed stamp was supposed to look like.  Thank you to the reader for dropping the info to me.   

Release date: July 12, 2021

France – 17th century – coulas (bangle-type bracelet)

1 stamp, sheet of 15, cancel

Mediterranean red coral is widely used in jewelry making. In the hollow of the neck or the wrist, in earrings or in a necklace, “red gold”, reputed to bring good luck, still knows the same craze today.

Whatever its value, a piece of jewelry tells a story. It expresses a social status, a belonging to a religion, evokes a memory. This “memorial sign”, as Jean-Jacques Rousseau called it, is often part of a regional tradition.
In the 18th century, in the Arles region, future brides were offered the “coulas”, a bangle-type bracelet, in gold or silver, holding a chiseled medal. The coquetry of Arlésiennes stimulates the local silversmiths who compete in their know-how. The privileged relationship between Arles and the Order of Malta inspired them with sumptuous adornments. They revisit in particular the enamelled Maltese cross set with a diamond, to which they add a pendant in the shape of a teardrop.
A Latin cross for faith, an anchor for hope, a heart for charity, the Camargue cross created in 1926, whose ends recall the tridents of the gardians, has become the symbol of the Camargue soul.

Designer: Florence Gendre

Release date: July 12, 2021

Greece – dove earrings, gold buckle, silver gilt necklace, bridal breastplate

4 stamps, 2 FDCs, cancel, souvenir sheets, limited edition numbered album

Album contains stamps, FDCs & info sheet on the jewelry

• Golden earrings with hanging doves (pigeon – depends on translation) Early 2nd c. BC (Benaki Museum)
• Golden Buckle 6th-7th c. Mytilene Treasure, Kratigos, Lesbos (Byzantine and Christian Museum)  
• Silver gold-plated collar with silver accessories, corals and colorful stones (Benaki Museum)  
• Composite bridal breast ornament with silver tiles, chains and pendent crosses Aidipsos in Euboea, 19th c. (Benaki Museum)  

Designer: Eleni Apostolou

ELTA released a video showcasing the jewelry and the stamps:

Release date: July 13, 2021

Jordan – handicrafts from Jordan, Lebanon, Syria & Palestine

4 stamps on a souvenir sheet, FDC, cancel

The stamps include handicrafts from Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Palestine

• Jordanian necklace, silver chain with gemstones consisting of ruby and carp.
• Palestinian shatweh headdress from Bethlehem whose front is covered with rows of silver coins and necklace attached to it.
• Syrian earring is silver with gemstones.
• Lebanese bracelet is made of carp and Ruby.
     

Designer: Partners Advertising Company

Release date: July 12, 2021

Lebanon – earings

Designer: LibanPost in collaboration with jeweller M. Selim Mouzannar, (“the Couture Design Award 2016”)

Release date: August 24, 2021

Malta – 19th c earrings, pendant & brooch

3 stamps, FDC, cancel

• a set of earrings ‘Tais’
• a Maltese Cross pendant
• seed pearl brooch 

All three 19th century pieces are made from gold, and embellished with seed pearls. These three pieces of Jewelry were displayed in the 2013 exhibition ‘Vanity, Profanity and Worship: Jewelry from the Maltese Islands’ organised by Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti and held at the Casino Maltese, Valletta. Maltapost Philately – EUROMED – Handicraft Jewelry in the Mediterranean (maltaphilately.com)

Designer: MaltaPost p.l.c.
Images: Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti

Release date: July 12, 2021

Montenegro – earrings

1 stamp, FDC, cancel

“earrings with the representation of oxen heads made of gold and granite, dating back to the 4th-3rd century, the Hellenic period” Pošta Crne Gore

Designer: Romana Pehar

 Release date: July 12, 2021

Morocco – earrings with rams horns called “KHORAS KBACH”

1 stamp, FDC, cancel

The stamp reproduces the work of the artist Faissal BEN KIRAN who designed the “KHORAS” earrings using a watercolor technique on paper.

Designer: Faissal Ben Kiran  

 Release date: July 12, 2021

Portugal – trumpet earring and spiral pendant earring

2 stamps, FDC, cancel, info bulletin

The two stamps show a Collection of Monte Molião, dating from the 5th century B.C.E, with a photograph by José Pessoa, of the Municipal Museum of Sines and a Collection of Gaio, from the 6th century B.C.E., with a photograph by Luísa Oliveira, of the National Archaeological Museum.

According to Virgil Hipólito Correia, and as mentioned on the page of this issue, “since the beginning of the metal ages, goldsmithing has been a privileged field of experimentation and a preferred means of producing prestigious objects: large solid gold jewels, which marked the end of the Bronze Age”. News (ctt.pt)

Photographers: José Pessoa & Luísa Oliveira 
Designer: Atelier Design&etc / Hélder Soares

Release date: July 9, 2021

Slovenia – Gold Earrings from the Školarice Site (Late 3rd/Early 4th Century AD)

1 stamp, FDC, cancel

On the hillside above today’s Ankara road hub, one of the more affluent families from the Trieste or Aquileian agra built a Roman villa in the mid-first century. The management of the villa lasted until the middle of the fifth century, when it was destroyed by fire… 
The site called Školarice was discovered and researched in 2002, before the construction of a motorway junction. It is the most extensive complex of roman villa with its own burial site in the Slovenian part of Istria. Land of brands – EUROMED POSTAL – Handmade Jewellery of the Mediterranean (dezelaznamk.si)

 DDC_020_100_JWDQWSVVKBNIVKIHYZYMHNGHHTYDYD.pdf (eheritage.si) 

Designer: villa creativa

Release date: July 12, 2021

Spain – Mudejar art – gold and pearl earring

1 stamp, sheetlet of 6, FDC, cancel

Details coming

Release date: July 12, 2021

Tunisia – necklace, pendant, bracelet

2 stamps, FDC, cancel

Details coming

Release date: July 12, 2021

Turkey – Tie Pin

1 stamp on a souvenir sheet, FDC, cancel

Telkari (Filigree) technique, which is one of the Turkish handicraft techniques, is a decorative art similar to fine-looking lace obtained by curling, wrapping or knitting thin silver or gold wires to form various patterns or by soldering them on a metal background. Telkari is also referred to as “filigree”. Filigree is a combination of the Latin words “filium” (yarn) and “granium” (wheat).

 

The “Tie Pin” on the stamp is inspired by rumi patterns and is made by filigree technique and designed by applying inlay and embossing process in patches. The “Tie Pin” in the first day cover made using turquoise stone was inspired by palmet patterns and made with filigree technique and adorned with mosaic art. Euromed 2021 

Designers: Irmak ÇAM and Leyla AYDIN KARA
FDC designer: Asl ÖZTÜRK

Release date: July 12, 2021

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If you like thematics, check out the list Thematic Series & Competitions at the top of the page.