The commemorative postage stamp that Bata Živojinović received on the last day of 2023 tells about him, but also about the spirit of the time in which he lived
For the first time in the history of Serbian philately, the Post of Serbia published a commemorative postage stamp on December 31, 2023, to mark the anniversaries of two films - 50 years of the film "Sutjeska" and 2024, 55 years of the film "The Bridge". The jubilees are united by one stamp because Bate Živojinović acted in both films.
In the announcement of the Post of Serbia, it is written that this shows exceptional respect for the character and work of Velimir Bata Živojinović, the globally most famous actor from this area. On the stamp, he was portrayed in a suit and bow tie by the creator of the Post of Serbia, Miroslav Nikolić.
Types of postage stamps
There are regular, commemorative, additional, personalized stamps. Commemorative postage stamps with a picture or motif represent a tribute to deceased greats and are published on the occasion of anniversaries, the success of sports players and teams, or the commemoration of an important event in national history, culture, art and science. Like the regular ones, they are also used to collect postage, but they are printed in a small circulation - - in our country lately, usually in the volume of 25.000 marks.
Along with the anthem, coat of arms and flag, the postage stamp is one of the main features of the identity of each country. There are known examples of two or more countries in the world having a very similar (same) flag, or a melody for the national anthem, but their postage stamps are exclusive, unique.
The Post of Serbia told Vreme that postage stamps "travel through time" because in 50 years, when someone looks at the program for issuing commemorative postage stamps for the year 2023, it will be clear what were the important topics of the state of Serbia at that time.
Last year's stamps
Last year was marked by stamps featuring great people on the occasion of their birth anniversary: Petar II Petrović Njegoš, Nadežda Petrović, Nikola Copernicus, Mihajlo Pupin. Then, 70 years of the daily newspaper "Večernje Novosti", 100 years of basketball in Serbia, 100 years of the PTT museum, 100 years since the founding of the Republic of Turkey, protected animal species in Serbia.
The Belgrade Philharmonic also received its commemorative stamp, 14. December, on the occasion of the centenary of the orchestra, when the Post Office released an edition of commemorative postage stamps dedicated to the jubilee under the name "Art". The stamp features a portrait of Ivan Tasovac - the former director of the Philharmonic, orchestra motifs and the institution's logo.
The Post of Serbia says that by appearing on a Serbian postage stamp, the Belgrade Philharmonic will live forever because the memory of its 100 years will live on as long as philatelists, stamp collectors and their commitment to this form of art.
Works of art
In the world, jubilees and major events are not a mandatory occasion for the publication of a commemorative postage stamp. For example, the British Royal Mail published a limited series of stamps to mark the 40th anniversary of the premiere of the first episode of the cult BBC series "The Boys", which featured scenes and famous lines from the main characters. The legendary sentence: This time next year we'll be millionaires ("This time next year we'll be millionaires"), ended up on stamps of Britain, as well as the unique characters of Del Boy, Rodney, Uncle Albert, Grandpa...
In addition to having a nominal and collector's value, the postage stamp has all the characteristics of a work of art in terms of its character and method of production - there is also a gallery of stamps as works of art in the PTT store, in Takovska street in Belgrade.
Marks of the times
What sets the domestic production of commemorative stamps apart from others and adds to its aesthetic value is that our creators make their art samples in a traditional way, using different painting techniques. This is how it happens that for one motif on a stamp, a whole series of sketches and drawings with the same theme is created, from which a small art exhibition could be made. Only in the next phase of the process, art solutions, drawings are digitized, prepared for printing and sent to printing houses, from which they then start their way to post office counters.
In November 2022 in Johannesburg, in the competition of the world's largest philatelies that issue more than 70 commemorative stamps annually, the Post of Serbia won second place.
Andreja Milenković is the only author from this area who received the award for "the most beautiful stamp in the world" at the world's largest philatelic exhibition in Italy in 1968. It shows the landscape of Lake Bohinj. In November last year, the Museum of Applied Arts in Belgrade presented his retrospective "The Stamp of Time: Graphic Communications of Andreja Milenković", on the occasion of the centenary of the artist's birth.
The most valuable Yugoslav and Serbian stamps
They say that one of the most valuable postage stamps in our region, and also among the most frequently forged in Italy, are the first stamps of the new, communist Yugoslavia. They were created by academic painter Đorđe Andrejević Kun and personally printed in 1944 on a mold made of pear wood in Drvar. Out of a total of 20 copies of that series, only two were found and preserved in the collections of Belgrade museums.
The first Serbian stamp was printed on June 14, 1865, by order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Principality of Serbia. The first stamps, worth 2, i.e. 1 par, that the Principality of Serbia printed were the so-called "Newspaper stamps", with a depiction of the national coat of arms of Serbia, according to the design of the painter and lithographer Anastas Jovanović, and were used to pay postage for foreign newspapers and magazines that were sent to subscribers by mail from abroad.
The Law on Post, which the young Serbian state passed on May 1, 1866, provided for the printing of postage stamps that would be used to collect postage, i.e. sending letters. Thus, on July 1, 1866, the first regular stamp with the portrait of Prince Mihailo Obrenović was published, the first Serbian stamp that was used to collect postage.
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