Sunday, August 10, 2008

Olympic Commemoratives

There are 204 nations competing at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and as I watched them all walk out into the Olympic stadium during the opening ceremonies it occurred to me that it is the one event on this planet that brings together all corners of the globe. I can’t think of anything else that comes close.

The first Olympic commemorative stamps were issued by Greece to coincide with the first modern Olympic games hosted there in 1896. This was also their first commemorative issue and it consisted of twelve values. Apparently they are quite collectible today but a few appear on Ebay from time to time.

Flash forward to today and you find virtually every postal authority issues commemorative Olympic stamps. To be honest, I’ve never been even slightly interested in them until now.


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