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| Andrés Cadena (left), Chief of the Philatelic Service of Ecuador, and Jim Taylor |
Jim Taylor
When I look at the stamps in my
album, I often marvel at how beautiful they are, and I wonder what it must be
like to put pen to paper and actually design a stamp. Well, a couple of years
ago, I got that chance. I was attending an international philatelic exhibition
in Ecuador to mark 150 years of postage in that country. (1) Organizers were
looking for stamps designs to commemorate the event, and I thought, “Why not?”.
Initially, the idea was to issue a
sheet of stamps with all of the countries involved to publicize, and promote,
the exhibition. Each of the 20 participating countries was asked to submit a
design incorporating a scene from their homeland, and their flag. The job fell
to me because of my connection, and involvement with the Royal Philatelic
Society of Canada. Unlike many of the entrants, I threw myself fully into the
job at hand, and created an ‘essay’, which is what a stamp in the design stage
is called. My design included Canada’s flag, the RPSC logo, and a picture of a
well-known Canadian stamp. I mean, who could resist the offer to design a
postage stamp representing Canada and the Royal? I have many design ideas
teaming in my brain, and this was just one of them.
I’ve always liked the two cent
Canadian stamp, with an engraved polar bear, designed by John Crosby
(1925-2016). The stamp shows the polar bear in its natural habitat, and is a
noble representation of Canada, so I incorporated it into my stamp design.
Crosby’s stamp was issued April 1, 1953, as part of a set of the three stamps coinciding
with National Wildlife Week. I used the RPSC logo, with the Royal’s name
spelled out in Spanish on one side, the exhibition name on the other, and
CORREOS DEL ECUADOR, common on recent Ecuadorean stamps, to complete the
design.
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| Jim's essay (left) and the essay of the Ecuadorian Philatelic Association |
I submitted my entry, and waited
with fingers crossed for the result. Shortly thereafter, I received an email
from Juan Pablo Aguilar, the organizer of the exhibition, who announced that my
stamp was the ‘winning idea’ for Canada’s entry. My polar bear design was used
as the model for the ‘essay’ that the exhibition organizers then developed. The
idea was to standardize the design to create similar stamps from all of the 20
participants countries. A face value for the stamp of 50 cents U.S. was also
assigned.
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| The ecuadorian sheet and the stamp for Canada |
An actual sheet of 25 stamps was
issued with the cost for the sheet at $ 18.50 U.S. Each stamp had a face value
of 75 cents. The final designs were revised, and it’s interesting to note the
evolution as all of the stamps had to have a similar design treatment. It’s
significant that the major elements of the original designs were retained. Five
designs were added, with special recognition for the international, as well as
the national philatelic associations in Ecuador. The day of issue was September
29, 2015, which coincided with the opening day of the IX National Exhibition,
EXPO AFE, in Quito, the capital city of Ecuador. Four thousand sheets were
printed in multi-colour offset by Instituto Geografico Militar (the Military
Graphic Institute, or I.G.M.). The designer was Santiago Núñez, of the Correos
del Ecuador. Total face value of the entire printing was 75 thousand U.S.
dollars, a tiny sum compared to the printings of Canadian commemorative stamps.
One thousand of the sheets were sold on the first day at the post office stand
in the exhibition hall.
My participation was announced in
the official brochure at the launch. The English translation reads, “The design
idea for these stamps was created by James Taylor of the Royal Philatelic
Society of Canada, and the treasurer of the InterAnerican Philatelic
Federation”. Being recognized as a philatelic celebrity was rather new to me,
but a genuine highlight of my visit to Quito, and of my avocation of stamp
collecting. I’d like to acknowledge the assistance of Juan Pablo Aguilar,
Carlos Vergara, and Santiago Villagómez in contributing to this article, and
salute all the philatelic friends I made in Quito.
I distributed specimen blocks, and
pairs of my Canadian prototype essays as gifts to many of the Quito delegates.
A cover also exists. International philately is fun, especially when you’re an
active participant. Now, when ever I look at this stamp, it gives me a sense of
pleasure that I had a hand in its creation.
From The Canadian Philatelist, september/october 2018, pp. 282-283
with permission of the autor
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