Romfilatelia will introduce into circulation on Tuesday, March 19th this year, an issue with a uniqueness attribute, illustrating in the images of the postage stamp, the perforated souvenir sheet and the First Day Cover “a new world of stamps” where the traditional binder is replaced by the digital collection.
The generic title Innovation, Steps to the Future defines an Innovation that opens a new era in philately, the NFT stamp images, postage stamps issued as non-fungible tokens (which cannot be replaced with others of the same kind).
A NFT is a type of digital asset that uses blockchain technology to authenticate the uniqueness and ownership of a digital item, such as an image, audio file, or any other digital content. In the case of NFT stamps, they are digital versions of traditional postage stamps. They are created and stored on the blockchain, which gives them digitally owned and verified properties. Typically, these NFT stamps can be collected, traded, and marketed on dedicated online marketplaces for NFTs.
Romfilatelia launched, on April 26th, 2023, on the government platform of the National Institute for Research and Development in Informatics – ICI Bucharest, the unique collection of 15 NFTs entitled “A World in a Stamp”.
Augmented reality stamps are traditional postage stamps that, when scanned using augmented reality (AR) technology on a mobile device or computer, provide an additional interactive experience. This is done by embedding a visible or invisible code on the stamp that can be read by the device running the appropriate AR application.
Once the stamp is scanned, the AR app can add additional elements to the screen, such as 3D animations, videos, sounds, or additional information about the subject of the stamp. These additional elements can provide a more interactive and educational experience for stamp collectors or those interested in the subject matter represented by the stamp.
This technology can be used to add value to stamp collections, to educate and draw more attention to the subjects represented on the stamps, or to provide a more interesting and interactive correspondence experience.
The postage stamp of the issue with the face value of Lei 13 reproduces an established traditional stamp, the Bull Head, transposed into a virtual reality, as in a website. Because the stamp also means travel, a story was imagined in which a common element appears – VR headset (virtual helmet) – through which the traditional stamp transposed in augmented reality is visualized in 3D.
Stamp also means imagination, so the future can also signify the stamp’s travel into space, websites, virtual collectors. If flown covers exist, the future may bring beautiful virtual stories through stamps.
The graphics of the postage stamp of the souvenir sheet with the face value of Lei 33 and the First Day Cover reflect exactly these ideas.
Within the existing partnership, Romfilatelia and ICI Bucharest will collaborate to break new ground to the world of stamp collecting through NFTs, augmented reality and crypto stamps.
ICI Bucharest and Romfilatelia investigate the aspects of Web3 technologies with utility, applied in the field of crypto stamps – physical collectibles accompanied by a digital equivalent (Digital Twins) in the form of NFTs.
During the Conference of April 16th-18th, 2024, Romfilatelia and ICI Bucharest will promote both the postage stamp issue Innovation, Steps towards the Future, as well as a collection of dedicated NFTs.
Romfilatelia reinvents tradition and brings its experience to preserve the charm of collecting, also bringing this passion to the age of digital natives.
The philatelic issue will be available starting with Tuesday, March 19th 2024, in Romfilatelia’s shops network in Bucharest, Bacău, Brașov, Cluj-Napoca, Iași and Timișoara and online on https://romfilatelia.ro/store/.
