2288) E TEMPO DE ESPERANCA ("A Time for Hope", Portugal: An Innovative Stamp: Correios de Portugal (or CTT - Portuguese Post) has issued a Postage Stamp for "HOPE" during the period of the Wuhan (China) Virus Pandemic gripping the world: Date of Stamp issue: 06.11.2020:
The Souvenir Sheet is the first in the world to ever be produced with graphene insert that contains an information circuit, featuring a poem by Miguel Torga - "Contagion".
The Cover of the Stamp Album titled "E TEMPO DE ESPERANCA (A time of Hope and Looking Forward)
The description of the theme for the "HOPE" stamps mentioned in Portuguese.
A TIME FOR HOPE: (A description in English):
In 2020, the new coronavirus pandemic (of Wuhan, China origin) shocked the entire world.
Empty streets, boarded-up shops, closed schools, cancelled flights. The advent of working from home. The absolute necessity of wearing a mask and using hand gel, the paradigm of physical distancing. Hugs and other displays of affection forbidden.
The economic crisis has resulted in millions of people losing their jobs and being plunged into poverty, a situation that advanced more rapidly than political decision-making.
The measures put in place to combat the pandemic have paralysed entire sectors of the global economy and led the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to make unprecedented forecasts: the global economy could shrink by 4.9% in 2020 itself, with the United States, Eurozone and Japan leading the slide.
Even for those who were not directly affected, the pandemic is becoming the most important variable in disruption of life on a scale that was thought to exist only in the realm of speculative fiction.
Nevertheless, the obligatory confinement many societies found themselves in also brought to the surface signs of hope in humanity and the capacity for regeneration and reinvention in many people.
A new perspective of the effects of pollution, as a result of the severe reduction of all activities; a feeling of planetary union, since the disease is global and does not discriminate along geographial, religious or political lines; a general appeal to creativity to reduce the effects of isolation; the more widespread adoption of acts of kindness and respect for others, the practice of solidarity as a pillar of social behaviour.
CTT has issued this Souvenir Sheet, which has an insert made out of graphene - a material now being used for the first time in Philately - with an engraving of the poen "Contagion" by Dr./writer Miguel Torga, written in Coimbra and dated 15.09.1951:
"A hope remains,
The optimistic constancy of dawn.
The crowing cock and my neighbour
The blackbird at my window
Dispel all worry and despair.
Like the fallen rising anew,
The verses straighten, they are reborn,
And though uncertain, inspiring carry on ......."
The above description is in Portuguese (already given one frame before in English).
The Soevenir Sheet shows the Stamp and the graphene insert.
On an Android Operating System, one can activate the NFC (Near Field Technology) feature to capture the lines of the poem for reading.
Technical specifications:
Date of Stamp issue: 06.11.2020
Souvenir Sheet: Value : 5.00 Euro
No. of Sheets printed: 50,000
Illustration: Joao Machado
Translation: Kennis Translations
Paper: FSC 110g/sq m
Size: Souvenir Sheet : 125.00 mm x 95.00 mm
Printing: Offset
Printer: Cartor
First Day Cover (FDC): C5 - 0.75 Euro
Brochure: 0.85 Euro
Interesting links to posts on Portugal and Spanish Coins and postage stamps on this blog:
For interesting posts on Coins and stamps of Portugal, please visit the following links:
The "Age of Discovery" Escudo Banknote Series:
My Stamp Album - The Adventures of Tori & Co.:
For interesting posts on Coins and stamps of Spain, please visit the following links:
For posts on coins issued under the Eurostar Coin Programme, please visit the following links:
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