Romfilatelia continues the philatelic project under the name Romanian Collections, Part II, with the theme Corkscrews.
Last year, lovers of philately had the opportunity to find on the Romanian stamps, seven images of the most interesting corkscrews, that are a part of an important collection of this type from Bucharest, which it has been certified by Guinness World Records in 2015.
We repeat this experience with seven new values, images of the same collection of corkscrews, from different epochs, each of them representing genuine pieces of art, by their beauty, opulence but also by the technical principle of removing the stopper.
In the past, not only wine bottles were sealed with a cork, but also medicine, perfume bottles, or inkwells. Therefore, the corkscrew was more of a nobleman’s accessory, than one for the commoner.
The new issue of postage stamp: Romanian Collections Corkscrews (II), available from Wednesday, March 29th 2017 in Romfilatelia shops in Bucharest, Bacau, Brasov, Cluj-Napoca, Iasi and Timisoara.
The first one, the stamp with the face value of Lei 1.60 represents a French, artistic pocket corkscrew, from the 18th century. In that period, wine was destined mainly for aristocrats, while the rest of the population would delight themselves with cider or beer. That is why pieces of this type are always decorated with gold foil and nicely ornamented.
The stamp with the face value of Lei 2.70 illustrates a gold and agate corkscrew. It is piece that was made in the 18th century by French jewellers.
The stamp with the face value of Lei 3.50 is represented the image of a barrel corkscrew. A British corkscrew with a Thomason mechanism, with the main handle shaped like an oval, and the second one shaped as a snake, it was produced in Birmingham. The innovation of the mechanism is in the removal of the cork without a direct pull, because the simple clockwise twisting of the handle allows for the introduction of the spire into the cork as well as its extraction from the bottle.
The stamp with the face value of Lei 4.00 illustrates a French produced single lever corkscrew, patented by Fernand François, in 1902. This decorated version is called “Le Rapide”.
The stamp with the face value of Lei 4.50 illustrates a zig-zag corkscrew, a very rare piece, which, unlike the others in its category, had two sets of levers, separated by a wooden handle. Thus, once the spire is screwed into the cork, the handle is pulled up and the levers extend.
On the stamp with the face value of Lei 8 is illustrated a pistol corkscrew. It is a French piece, of mother-of-pearl plated silver, which represents a firearm whose trigger is the corkscrew itself.
The souvenir sheet of the issue, with the face value of Lei 16, represents a corkscrew patented in 1904, in Denmark. Its feature is that, although it’s used to remove corks, it has no spire. On the other hand, the two serrated blades it has get introduced into the cork, and once the handle is pulled the two blades pull away from each other, hooking the cork from the inside.
The issue is completed by a set of two first day covers and as a page composition were used the sheet of 28 stamps with tête-bêche, the minisheet of 13 stamps + 2 different labels+ 10 tabs, minisheet of 8 stamps + 1 label + 6 tabs, imperforated souvenir sheet and special imperforated souvenir sheet (philatelic album).
The special product of the issue is the philatelic album created into a limited edition of 225 pcs. and equipped with an imperforated souvenir sheet having an illustrated attachment with graphic elements in gold foiling and the set of two First Day Covers with the “first day” postmark clearly imprinted in gold foiling. Each element is numbered from 001 to 225.
For further information, please contact the Public Relation Office:
Tel: 021 / 337 24 42
anamaria.anton@romfilatelia.ro
