Circle Shape Austria stamp – Europa 2011: Forests

The United Nations has declared this year to be the International Year of the Forest. On this occasion, Austria Post, in cooperation with the Austrian Mint, is issuing an attractive commemorative block whose round motif shows typical representatives of the flora and fauna of the Austrian forests.

Roughly 47% of the Austrian territory is forest.

The forest, an important habitat for many Austrian animal species, can without doubt be regarded as a “true performance wonder”. It fulfils a large number of irreplaceable functions for us humans and our environment – thus for instance it supplies the renewable, environment friendly and natural raw material wood, for which at present there is hardly any intelligent alternative.

The unique ecosystem of the forest is home to a natural treasure that must be preserved at all costs. The new commemorative block is a small contribution to encouraging the corresponding awareness.

Circle Shape Stamp Austria Post from another world 2006

Post from Another World

A beautiful circle shape stamp in a miniature sheet and the meteorite particles has been applied to the circle stamp. A unique Odd Shape Stamp from another world... A priceless one in my odd shape stamps collection.

The ground meteorite has been applied to the stamp by the Austrian State Printing Company using a method specially developed for this purpose. The meteorite was first examined by the Vienna Natural History Museum, an institution that has acquired an excellent international reputation through over 200 years of collecting and investigating meteorites, and identified as being H-chondrite (a stone meteorite, subgroup of “ordinary chondrite”). The Vienna Natural History Museum’s examination provides ... more
The ground meteorite has been applied to the stamp by the Austrian State Printing Company using a method specially developed for this purpose. The meteorite was first examined by the Vienna Natural History Museum, an institution that has acquired an excellent international reputation through over 200 years of collecting and investigating meteorites, and identified as being H-chondrite (a stone meteorite, subgroup of “ordinary chondrite”). The Vienna Natural History Museum’s examination provides proof beyond doubt that an original meteorite has been used for the stamp. The meteorite most probably originated from the Asteroid Belt, an accumulation of hundreds of thousands of chunks of stone, ranging in size from gravel stones to mountains, that orbit the sun between Mars and Jupiter (at an orbital radius around three times the distance between the earth and the sun).
The chemical composition of the mineral olivine (stated as Fa18) is typical of this kind of meteorite, and can be verified by examining the meteorite dust on the stamp. The chemical and physical properties of the meteorite examined, like all other meteorites, are such that they constitute no risk to human health.
The part of the roughly 19 kg meteorite that was not required for the production of the stamp has been deposited as a reference sample at the Vienna Natural History Museum, where it is on display.

Release Date: 2006 - 03 - 24
Number of Copies: 600.000
Printing Style: Photogravure
Design: Michael Rosenfeld
Printed by: Österreichische Staatsdruckerei
Type: Block issue
Unit Price: 3.75 EUR