United Nations stamps, plus two messages-in-bottles stories

[asakiyume]

Did you know the United Nations issues its own stamps? It does. Initially they were only in US currency and sold only at UN headquarters in New York. The first was sold on United Nations day (24 October) in 1951. Now they're also issued in euros and Swiss currency in the UN's Vienna and Geneva offices.

Human rights, the environment, endangered species and peace are all subjects of universal concern to the peoples of the world. They are also subjects which the United Nations Postal Administration (UNPA) has promoted on its stamps.

Because United Nations stamps reflect the work of the world Organization, the stamps extend beyond the boundaries of philately to draw attention to significant world problems and to serve as a reminder of the UN’s commitment to its goals.

The United Nations is the only organization in the world which is neither a country nor a territory that is permitted to issue postage stamps. It is also the only postal authority to issue stamps in three different currencies, namely U.S. dollars, Swiss francs and Euro.

(From "United Nations Stamp History,")

And I have one! Here it is; I've scanned it.
(It's not on a subject of universal concern, but world treasures are good subjects for stamps, too.)


I also have two stories about messages in bottles. One is about a fisherman from Iceland: as a boy, collecting eggs, he put a message in a bottle into the bay. Nineteen years later, as a man collecting eiderdown (from eggs to eiderdown), he found the same bottle, some seven miles from its original location. (Story here.)

The other is about a really cool-seeming guy, Chad Pregracke,, founder of Living Lands and Waters, who has a mission to clean up the great rivers of the United States. He's got a collection of about 70 bottles, which he says have contained all sorts of things--messages to departed loved ones, musical scores, dollar bills, even suicide notes. (Story here.)

One of Chad's bottles, containing a photo of Bill Clinton. Photo by Erica Peterson

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

The suicide one is very sad . . . Messages in bottles are strange things--they show a desire to communicate, but in a sort of lottery-ticket way. They're a request for a a miracle, because what are the chances that someone finds the message? And when you put in remembrances of people who have passed away, or feelings of thanks, or commemorations of, say, a wedding, what doing is something else--it's a ceremonial gesture with the possibility of a future witness, if someone should find it. And I guess a suicide note in a bottle is someone who wants to express their despair, and yet doesn't feel able to leave it for friends. Wanting to make a statement, yet wanting it to be hidden at the same time. I understand that feeling--not the despair, but the wanting to speak, wanting to make a declaration, yet wanting it not to be heard by anyone who knows me.