THE MEDITERRANEAN GAMES

Title: THE MEDITERRANEAN GAMES
Date of Issue: 16 June 2009
Country: San Marino
Denominations:€ 0,60 – 1,40 – 1,70

The Mediterranean Games are a multi-sports event hosting countries from the Mediterranean Basin. The Games are organised under the supervision of the International Mediterranean Games Committee. The first Games were held in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1951, and were officially recognised in Helsinki in 1952, with the intention to make the competition a symbol of peace in a period clouded by tensions between major powers.

Women's competitions were only introduced during the 1967 edition, in Tunis. Since then, the Games have been held every four years (since 1993 they are held the year following the Olympic Games). From the 26th June to the 5th July, 2009, Pescara will host the 16th Mediterranean Games. The philatelic set issued to commemorate this event, depicts simply sketched figures, which single out and interpret movement, physical effort and competitive tension. In the € 0,60 value, four athletes take part in a race, whilst the € 1,40 stamp depicts the close-up of a cyclist, and on the € 1,70 value, two athletes confront each other in a Greco-Roman wrestling match.
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WRITERS

Title:WRITERS
Date of Issue: 16 June 2009
Country: San Marino
Denominations: € 0,36 - 0,85 - 1,40
The set is made up of three values and pays homage to the following writers: Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) on the bicentenary of his birth, Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) on the 150th anniversary of his birth and Raymond Chandler (1888-1959) on the 50th anniversary of his death. Imaginative and symbolic power and an attraction to mystery characterize Poe, a great writer whose troubled life was cut short by an untimely death. His stories cover various genres, from horror (The Black Cat), to thrillers (The Fall of the House of Usher), from science-fiction (Hans Pfall) to detective stories, with the triptych Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Mystery of Marie Roget and The Purloined Letter. In these three latter novels, the eccentric and solitary investigator, Auguste Dupin uncovers horrific enigmas with intuition and lucid rationality.

The € 0,36 value depicts a black cat, recalling the horror story of the same name and the character of Auguste Dupin. Master of the hard-boiled detective novel which originated from U.S.A.'s turning point in the '30s, which saw ever more action combined with deduction, in The Big Sleep, Chandler brought to life the private detective, Philip Marlowe, a fully developed character who, in 1946, found his perfect personification as a solitary, tough and ironic hero, in the guise of Humphrey Bogart, alone against the corridors of power in a corrupt high society. There are seven novels, where mystery is practically more important than its solution, and the realistic language merges with a rich, evocative style, deriving from the European classical tradition. The € 1,40 value is dedicated to the private detective, Philip Marlowe, characterised by his inseparable hat resting on the phone. Conan Doyle's fame is identifiable with the character of Sherlock Holmes, the investigator with a thorough, scientific and infallible logic. A successful character, protagonist of 62 novels and stories, who soon became too burdensome for Doyle, who killed him off in 1894; however, following protests by his readers and editor, he was forced to bring him back to life, continuing his adventures until 1927. The € 0,85 stamp recalls the famous character of Sherlock Holmes with the image of a bloodhound following footprints.

38th ICPO-INTERPOL EUROPEAN REGIONAL CONFERENCE

INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF ASTRONOMY

The International Polar Year 2008

Date of Issue: 18 November 2008
Denominations: € 0.60, 1.20, 1.00

The International Polar Year (IPY) is a major scientific programme centred around the study of the Arctic and Antarctic from March 2007 to March 2009. The IPY, desired by the International Council for Science (ICSU) and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), will in actual fact be the fourth polar year, after those of 1882-3, 1932-3, and 1957-8. To thoroughly cover both the Arctic and the Antarctic to the same degree, IPY 2007-8 will take into consideration two complete annual cycles between March 2007 and March 2009 and will involve over 200 projects, with thousands of scientists from over 60 nations examining a vast range of aspects of physiological, biological and social research. This is also an unprecedented occasion to demonstrate, follow and realise scientific projects in real time. In particular, investigations will be made into climate changes in the polar zones, and the researchers will be able to provide fundamental information for the battle against global warming. The Azienda Autonoma di Stato Filatelica e Numismatica has thought to give priority to the photos taken by the researcher, Lucia Sala Simion, with their strikingly clear details and conceptual reference to the themes of the IPY. Through her images they wished to give importance to the preservation of the purity of Nature (€ 0.60 value) to maximising the beauty of the landscape and unspoilt nature; to the protection of the fauna in serious danger of extinction (€ 1.00 value); to the science (€ 1.20 value) with the presence of man as observer to formulate an adequate technological solution.

The road cycling world championship - San Marino

Date of Issue: 22nd August 2008
Denomination: € 0,85 and € 3,25

500th ANNIVERSARY OF ANDREA PALLADIO'S BIRTH - San Marino

Date of Issue: 22nd August 2008
Denomination: € 1,00

The Olympic Games in Beijing - San Marino

Date of Issue: 13th June 2008
Denomination: € 0,36-0,65-0,85