2012Hungarian-Slovenian Joint Stamp Issue - Miniature Sheet

The stamp issue ceremony took place at the international stamp exhibition Maribofila2012 in Maribor as part of the events of the European Capital of Culture. The Hungarian stamp, designed by the graphic artist Barnabás Baticz, was released by Andrea Bedecs, Magyar Posta’s commercial director. The subject chosen for the joint Hungarian-Slovenian issue are objects from the shared folk art of the two countries. The topic illustrated in the stamp designs is pottery. In Hungary the majority of the ethnic Slovenian community lives in Szentgotthárd and its surroundings. The stamp on the left shows objects and a building typically associated with this area and the community’s local history. The area of Mura, which lies beyond Hungary’s present-day borders, belonged to the Slovene area that was once part of historic Hungary. The stamp on the right shows local objects and historic buildings from the Mura area. The black ware which can be seen on the stamp is a distinctive style of local pottery. The stamps capture the chimneyless ‘smoky’ house in Felsőszölnök and buildings in the village of Filovici, where pottery is made. The border of the miniature sheet publicises the joint stamp issue in Hungarian and Slovenian. Artefacts from the shared folk traditions are featured on the first day cover and the special cancellation mark captures hands working at a potter’s wheel. The ethnographer Mrs Mária Kozár Mukics assisted with the stamp release and the Pável Ágoston Museum of Local History and Slovene Ethnicity, and the Regional Museum of Murska Sobota helped select the objects and prepare the photographs from their collections.