In 2023, the Correos philatelic service attended the major TAIPEI 2023 – 39th Asian International Stamp Exhibition in Taiwan (see article). In fact, since PHILATAIPEI 2016, it was the second time that Correos had its own stand at an exhibition in this Asian country.
Correos was one of the few Western postal administrations present at TAIPEI 2023, although other countries were represented by various philatelic businesses. The organisers were grateful for this participation and placed the Correos stand in one of the best locations, in the central avenue and opposite the area where the rarest stamp in the world, the British Guiana 1c magenta, was on display.
The Correos philatelic service released a commemorative issue for TAIPEI 2023 unlike PHILATAIPEI 2016, for which no special ATM issue was produced (see article, published in VARIABLE 43).
Following on from the designs for Essen (article and VARIABLE 49) and Macao (article and VARIABLE 50) in 2018, and Paris in 2019 (article and VARIABLE 55), the issue for TAIPEI 2023 is the fourth international ATM issue released by the Spanish postal service.
The special design depicts the exhibition logo and a graphic showing the Taipei 101 skyscraper (the city’s most iconic building) during the annual New Year’s Eve fireworks display.
This special issue with the MDCC code was available from August 11th, by ordering from the Spanish philatelic service, and during the five days of the exhibition, printed from the computer system installed in the Correos stand with the TAIP special code.
The stamps printed in Spain with the MDCC code have the Spanish wording, ‘11-15 Agosto Taipei‘, and the first block of the bottom code is P8ES23; P for Production, corresponding to the computer system, 8 for the month of printing, ES for Spain and 23 for the year of issue.
In contrast, the stamps issued in Taiwan are printed in English, ‘11-15 August Taipei‘, include a special graphic with the silhouette of the Taipei 101 skyscraper. The first block of the bottom code is P8CN23; CN corresponding to China, as Spain does not recognise Taiwan as an independent country …
Correos produced a commemorative postcard and a cover for this issue, as well as a special postmark. The cover and postcard are illustrated with an image of the Taipei 101 skyscraper during a fireworks display, processed by Artificial Intelligence.
Below, a first day cover with the two printing varieties. On the right, a cover with the special ATM issues for TAIPEI 2023 from both Spain and Taiwan, with the exhibition postal mark in magenta.
The last cover shown, produced by Chunghwa Post, includes a Correos ATM set with the Spanish postmark, plus the Taiwan ATMs with the three printing colours available at the exhibition, with Chinese and English postmarks, and the general postal mark.
(English edition rewritten by J. Gareze – January 2024)