The visit to Teruel was a visit to remember … Several things happened in Teruel …
The city of Teruel had never before hosted such an important philatelic event. In 2023, in addition to the 61st EXFILNA, the National Philatelic Exhibition, the city also hosted the 28th JUVENIA, the National Exhibition of Youth Philately, which for the first time were both held together.
Unlike the previous EXFILNA held in a large exhibition hall on the outskirts of Irún (see article, published in VARIABLE 66), the Teruel event was held in three well-chosen locations in the historic centre of the city, making access easy for locals and visitors alike. The dates, April 19th to 23rd and a pleasant festive and spring-like weekend, also helped, to encourage people to stroll around the city.
This major annual stamp event, the largest annual event held in Spain, is organised by Correos and the Spanish Federation of Philatelic Societies (FESOFI), in this instance with the collaboration of the City Council of Teruel and the Government of Aragon.
Correos set up a marquee in the Glorieta, a large square located over a public car park and one of the main access points to the historic centre (main picture).
There they installed the Correos and the Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre (FNMT) stands, as well as those of FESOFI, ANFIL, EDIFIL, and set up a small stamp exhibition and several exhibitions of other areas of collecting. At the back of the marquee there was a large Playmobil diorama dedicated to Teruel, created especially for this event and which attracted a large number of visitors throughout the weekend.
The large philatelic exhibition, included the collections taking part in EXFILNA and JUVENIA, as well as the 5th European Maximaphily Challenge, with international participation. This was set up in the former Banco de España headquarters (left), very close to the Glorieta, and the Centro de Ocio Joven, to the north of the historic centre. This is where most of the programmed JUVENIA activities for schoolchildren took place (images below).
For the event the organizers had prepared promotional philatelic publications about Teruel, and Correos also released several special postal and philatelic products. These included postcards and postal stationnery items, regular and personalised stamps, a commemorative mini-sheet depicting the Cathedral of Santa Maria de Mediavilla, premium sheets, folders and proofs, … all with their corresponding postmarks.
All this serves as a (long) introduction to the subject of our specialization. During this event in Teruel, Correos released three new ATM designs, two for the EXFILNA and a special one for JUVENIA, available with up to eleven different variants … more if we include the unfortunate errors … With so many issues, including two special imprints in Mora de Rubielos and Albarracín, never before had variable value stamps been so prominent and significant at a philatelic event in Spain.