As usual, I stumbled upon this ‘find of the day’ completely by accident. I am actually searching the net for an Art Nouveau fire-place for our new home and the most beautiful items come up, except for that one fire-place…
Anyways, todays ‘find of the day’ is a rather unusual object: it’s a block of stamps from 1977.
75 Jahre Jugendstil in Deutschland (Blocknummer 14)
The stamps were designed by Peter Steiner, and issued on 16 February 1977 to commemorate 75 years of Jugendstil in Germany. That automatically implies that Germany considers Jugendstil to have started in 1902. I wonder why they chose that particular year… Anyone?
The value of the stamps was 30 Pfennig, 70 Pfennig and 90 Pfennig, a Pfennig being 1/100 of the German Mark. However, since the introduction of the euro as the single European currency on 1 January 2002, these stamps can no longer be used. They issued 11.125.000 blocks and there are still many available, even in mint condition.
When I was little, my father and I used to collect stamps. I remember us spreading our books and newly gathered stamps all over the dinner table on rainy afternoons. My father was happy when he found a stamp that had been missing from his collection and I – being so young – basically just enjoyed the beautiful pictures on stamps of exotic places. And today, after more than 35 years, a pretty stamp can still make my heart go a little faster. So, even though I am not collecting stamps anymore, I bought myself this perfect block for €1,09 (and that was including €0,64 postage!). Just because I can. And because that little piece of paper makes me happy!
Do I feel a new collection coming up?
Source
Wikipage Briefmarken-Jahrgang 1977 der Deutschen Bundespost
Catawiki
About Art Nouveau 
I see that the number of followers of your blog is rapidly increasing. Congratulations and keep up the good work.
About the ROTTERDAM ART NOUVEAU WALK. I made the walk 2 months ago and was surprised by the great quantity of art nouveau buildings that still exist after the destruction during World War II. I can highly recommend Rotterdam to lovers of Art Nouveau architecture. My special admiration goes to the WAGNERHOF in the district of Kralingen, Vijverlaan 61 to 71. A very elegant ensemble of austrian seccession inspired buildings. The full color illustrated route description with map is stil for sale at the KUNSTHAL in Rotterdam for only € 2.-.
Fred Westen, The Hague.
LikeLike
Dear Fred,
Thank you for your kind words and for your update on the Rotterdam situation. I am glad to hear that KUNSTHAL is continuing to supply the brochure with the Rotterdam Art Nouveau route and map.
Thanks for reading!
LikeLike
How wonderful to see another person with a passion for art nouveau! I have been following art nouveau topics for years now and am happy to see these stamps in your blog. I used to collect stamps and searched for art nouveau stamps out of curiousity many years ago. My favorite stamp set was a Hungarian one depicting the zodiac: http://stampshungary.com/files/filainfo/images/2005_001_csillagjegyek.jpg
LikeLike
Your stamps are nice too! Thanks for sharing.
Just the other day I saw a tweet from PostNL about a new series of stamps. They are all related to the common Dutch-Japanese heritage and include a stamp with a Van Gogh and a Breitners painting. Both painters were influenced by Japonism which was also very prominent in Art Nouveau art. I am going to have to buy these stamps too!
LikeLike
Pingback: What if you DON’T have that kind of money…? | Art Nouveau
Pingback: Nieuwe Kunst Stamps | Art Nouveau