1995

[Editor's note: we do not attest to the accuracy or completeness of these notes which are provided by the Croatian and Slovenian Postal authorities.] 

(HRV) DOGS

The breeding of dogs, the classification of recognized breeds, the indigenous breeds are properties of the history and culture of a region, a country and of a nation. The dog breeds indigeneous to Croatia are: the Croatian shepherd dog, the Dalmatian, the Posavinian hunting dog, the Istrian wire-haired hunting dog and the Istrian short-haired hunting dog.

ISTRIAN SHORT-HAIRED HUNTING DOG

• Date / Vrijednost:  March 9, 1995
• Designer / Autor: Ratko Janjić, academic painter from Zagreb
• Printer / Tiskara: “Zrinski” - Čakovec
• Edition: 350 000
• Size / Veličina: 36.9 x 24.1 mm
• Perforation: 14.00x14.00
• Paper / Papir: White, 90 g, adhesive, watermark
• Technique: Multicolor offset
• Quantity / Naklada: 3 X 350 000
• Denomination: 2.20 K

One of its outstanding characteristics is the noble body shape, snow-white colour with clear red or yellow dots, a coat of short and thin hair and a long head with a ponited snout, a high-pitched, enduring voice. The shoulder height is 44 - 56 cm and the weight is 14 - 20 kg. This breed is used as an excellent hunting dog, mostly trained for and adapt at hunting hares, rabbits and foxes. Could be used as a bloodhound dog.

ISTRIAN WIRE-HAIRED HUNTING DOG

• Date / Vrijednost:  March 9, 1995
• Designer / Autor: Ratko Janjić, academic painter from Zagreb
• Printer / Tiskara: “Zrinski” - Čakovec
• Edition: 350 000
• Size / Veličina: 36.9 x 24.1 mm
• Perforation: 14.00x14.00
• Paper / Papir: White, 90 g, adhesive, watermark
• Technique: Multicolor offset
• Quantity / Naklada: 3 X 350 000
• Denomination:  3.80 K

Snow-white colour is modified with clear red and yellow patches. The head is long, with thich eyebrows. This breed has a strong body built, and a grave, sometimes gloomy expression. It has a strong, upwards straighten tail. It has a strong, deep voice. The withers height is 46 - 58 cm, the ideal for the male being 52 cm and for the female 50 cm. The average weight of a grown-up dog is 16 - 24 kg. This breed is used as an excellent tracking and hunting dog for hares, rabbits and foxes. It can also be an excellent bloodhound dog.

POSAVINIAN HUNTING DOG

• Date / Vrijednost:  March 9, 1995
• Designer / Autor: Ratko Janjić, academic painter from Zagreb
• Printer / Tiskara: “Zrinski” - Čakovec
• Edition: 350 000
• Size / Veličina: 36.9 x 24.1 mm
• Perforation: 14.00x14.00
• Paper / Papir: White, 90 g, adhesive, watermark
• Technique: Multicolor offset
• Quantity / Naklada: 3 X 350 000
• Denomination: 2.40 K

This breed is strong in body build and of average size. The colour clear red or yellow with a countershading of white on the neck, underneath, on the forearms and on the tail. It is of a moderate temperament, good-humoured. The withers height is 46 - 58 cm. It is used as a good, endurable tracking and hunting dog for hares rabbits, foxes and boars. It has a clear, sharp voice.

See also: Fauna - Native dogs of Istria

(SLO) Fossils/minerals - Karavankina schellwieni

• Date of issue: March 29, 1995
• Type: PZ
• Photography: Anton Čebron
• Design: Mirko Majer
• Motif: Karavankina schellwieni
• Printed by: DELO - TISKARNA d. d., Ljubljana
• Printing technique: 4-colour offset
• Sheet: 25
• Paper: Chancellor oba free L.S.PVA GMD 100g, gummed
• Size: 28,80 x 40,32 mm

The world famous fossil locality in the Dolžan Gorge above Tržič offers in inexhaustible wealth of various Lower Permian fossils. More than 80 species of brachiopods alone are known, of which over 20 were found here before anywhere else in the world, and had already been described and pictured by 1900. Karavankina schellwieni, from flesh-coloured limestone, was described in 1966. This new genus and species is characterised on the exterior surface of the valves by parallel belts that are strewn with tiny warts, the remains of small prickles. The animal was anchored with these in the limy mud of the seabed. Adult valves are about one and a half centimetres long and around two centimetres wide. Karavankina schellwieni Ramovš, 1966, lived about 275 million years ago in the warm Palaeotethys sea.

The Lower Permian Karavankina schellwieni is a new genus and new species, differing essentially in its internal structure from the Lower Carboniferous species Productus elegans. The latter from Dolžan Gorge was described in 1900 by the German palaeontologist, E. Schellien.

Prof. dr. Anton Ramovš

Slovene geological trail

Professor Anton Ramovš has described fossil life in the Jesenice and Tržič areas in his popular science works, and we have obtained unique information on the formation of the Earth. Within the Tržič Society of Friends of, Minerals and Fossils, we decided to link these amazing finds to a trail which, in agreement with the Mountaineering Association of Slovenia, we have called the "Slovene Geological Trail".

The expert guide to the path and daily control points produced by Prof. dr. Stanko Buser has become a valuable handbook for visiting this area. It is meant for students, scholars, scientists and all friends of the natural sciences at home and abroad. The trail leads one through the unspoilt nature of the Slovenia parts of the Karavanke and Julian Alps. It is around 1,500 kilometres long, and there are some 900 viewing points on it.

The Slovene Geological Trail is the only project of this kind in the world, a geology laboratory in nature, a polygon for meeting scientists from all over the world.

Dolžanova soteska, Dolžan Gorge, is a very important element of the Slovene Geological Trail, much visited by the world's scientists.

The issue of special postal stamps in a series of fossils minerals is a valuable contribution to understanding the natural wealth of Slovenia in the field of geology, palaeontology and mineralogy, and an enrichment of the world's philatelic treasury.

You, too, can become a member of the Society of Friends of Fossils and Minerals of Slovenia and visit the Slovene Geological Trail. Good luck!

For the Society: Mirko Majer

(SLO) 50th anniversary of the end of World War II

• Date of issue: March 29, 1995
• Type: PZ
• Design: Rudi Španzel
• Motif: Flowers
• Printed by: DELO - TISKARNA d. d., Ljubljana
• Printing technique: 5-colour offset
• Sheet: 25
• Paper: Chancellor oba free L.S.PVA GMD 100g, gummed
• Size: 28,80 x 40,32 mm

On 9 May 1945, the commandant of the eastern group of the German Army, Lieutenant-General Aleksander Lohr, in the presence of the British military mission and representatives of the Yugoslav army, signed in Topolšica the document of surrender of his army. Thus officially ended the Second World War in Slovenia.

There were many victims of the Second World War, and the memory of it is still painful. During the war and immediately after it, hundreds of thousands of people were killed, displaced, plundered or otherwise afflicted; a huge number for such a small nation, which in 1941 numbered one million two hundred thousand, of which 95 percent were Slovene by nationality. Today, fifty years after the end of the Second World War, the number has increased to around two million. Thanks to our own efforts, we live in peace and in our own State. The following advice suggests how we will preserve both:

A small nation must be unanimous if it wants to survive.

Anton Trstenjak

• Date of issue: June 8,.1995
• Value: 2,4 kn
• Author: Danijel Popović, designer from Zagreb
• Size: 48,3 x 29,8 mm
• Paper: white 115g, gummed
• Perforation: 14, comb
• Tehnique: Multicoloured Offsetprint
• Printed by: "Zrinski" - Čakovec
• Quantity: 200000

• 146 (left, top) - Martina Kramer "Installation" (a part) 1994
• 147 (right) - Mirko Zrinšćak "Paracelsus Paraduchamps" 1989
• 148. (left, bottom) - Goran Petercol "Shadows/136" 1993

This year the Venice Biennial XLVI is the centenary celebration of its establishing (1895) and yet another opportunity for our selector Igor Zidić to promote the Croatian artists M. Kramer, G. Petercol and M. Zrinšćak. Their art represent syntheses of analytical forms translated into respectable unities whose energy and meaning broaden perception of new regions and new potentials.

Martina Kramer (born in Zagreb, 1965) uses elementary geometrical forms, simple materials, gentle, dark shades and contrasting colourings. The pale, visual and plastic afterimage rejects any idea about "yes" and "no" decisions. The mixed identities of her objects are fused into multiple visual and mental readings.

Mirko Zrinšćak (born in Volosko, 1953) is an artist whose artistic personality was formed in the time when our tradition and memories were rediscovered again. He is trying to reconstruct fragments into trustworthy unities. He uses forms simple and generalized enough to correspond to the time which has left clear marks on them.

Goran Petercol (born in Pula, 1949) is an artist of basically analytical approach to the reality around him. He uses principles of both deliberate and spontanious order in creating new stylistic relations with a predominant "experience of difference". The playful projection of light on tangible surfaces creates a perfect setting for the encounter of half-phantom objects which randomly float and finally organize themselves into "encouraging answers". (Mladenka Šolman)

The stamps were issued in commemorative 20-stamp sheets and 4-stamp sheetlets. HPT put on sale a First Day Cover and a First Day Sheet

LESSER KESTREL (FALCO NAUMANNI)

• Date of issue: June 8, 1995
• Design: KREA, Gorica
• Printer: DELO - TISKARNA d.d., Ljubljana
• Realization: Pola (6)
• Perforation: comb
• Size: 40,32*28,80
• Paper: Chancellor oba free L.S.PVA GMD 100g, gummed
• Face value: 1 SIT
• Print quantity: 300000

The Lesser Kestrel is undoubtedly one of the most endangered bird species in Slovenia, since it threatens to disappear from all its habitats here. More than a thousand pairs nested in Slovenia in 1960, when the number of nesting stations began to fall drastically. In 1993, only 10 pairs nested in Dolenjska, the Ljubljana Barje and its surroundings, and in 1994, not a single active nest was found. The Lesser Kestrel usually nests in churches and other buildings in the countryside, and migrates in the autumn. It is very similar to the ordinary Kestrel, but the latter also nests in trees, does not migrate so far, and may also be permanent or roaming. The Lesser Kestrel migrates in August or September to the central part of West Africa, where it overwinters, and returns here at the end of March or beginning of April. During nesting time, it feeds mainly on mole crickets. The cause of such a drastic decline in the numbers of Lesser Kestrel must be sought, amongst other things, in the use of various poisons (pesticides) in agriculture and intensive (monoculture) agriculture. The Natural History Museum of Slovenia has been studying the life of this endangered species for a number of years. The Lesser Kestrel is on the Red List of endangered species in Slovenia. 

ROLLER (CORACIAS GARRULUS)

• Date of issue: June 8,.1995
• Design: KREA, Gorica
• Printer: DELO - TISKARNA d.d., Ljubljana
• Realization: Pola (6)
• Perforation: comb
• Size: 40,32*28,80
• Paper: Chancellor oba free L.S.PVA GMD 100g, gummed
• Face value: 60 SIT
• Print quantity: 300000

The Roller, this wonderfully coloured and secretive bird, was once fairly common, mainly in Štajerska and Prekmurje. It was most easily seen sitting of electricity or telephone wires, from which it preys there on various small animals, from insects to small mammals hiding among the grass and other plans. It is a migrant, flying to south-east Africa in September, and returning in April to its nesting site. It nests in hollow trees, sometimes also in buildings. The number of Rollers in Slovenia has fallen so sharply in recent years that only a few pairs are still nesting. There are many causes, from the destruction, or drainage, of the areas where the Roller nests, to the use of various pesticides in agriculture. Slovene ornithologists have followed its decline for a number of years and are trying to preserve its habitats and set up artificial nesting sites in order to keep this species here. The Roller is also on the Red List of threatened birds in Slovenia.

LESSER GREY SHRIKE (LANIUS MINOR)

• Date of issue: June 8, 1995
• Design: KREA, Gorica
• Printer: DELO - TISKARNA d.d., Ljubljana
• Realization: Pola (6)
• Perforation: comb
• Size: 40,32*28,80
• Paper: Chancellor oba free L.S.PVA GMD 100g, gummed
• Face value: 70 SIT
• Print quantity: 300000

A few decades ago, the Lesser Grey Shrike was very common here. It nested in trees in the vicinity of meadows and fields. It was also numerous in orchards near houses. After the cutting of the hay, it collected food (grasshoppers and other insects) for its young. Numbers in Slovenia have been relentlessly falling for some years now, and there are already no more in certain areas. Some tens of pairs still nest, mainly in north-eastern Slovenia. The Lesser Grey Shrike is a migrant, which departs from these parts in August. It overwinters in the African savannah, and returns to its nesting sight in April or early May. There are various causes of its decline, from a lack of suitable food (because of pesticides) to obvious changes to its habitats. The Lesser Grey Shrike is also on the Red List of threatened birds in Slovenia.

BLACK HEADED BUNTING (EMBERIZA MELANOCEPHALA)

• Date of issue: June 8, 1995
• Design: KREA, Gorica
• Printer: DELO - TISKARNA d.d., Ljubljana
• Realization: Pola (6)
• Perforation: comb
• Size: 40,32*28,80
• Paper: Chancellor oba free L.S.PVA GMD 100g, gummed
• Face value: 215 SIT
• Print quantity: 300000

The Black Headed Bunting, which we can claim with some pride first to have been noted by our compatriot, I. A. Scopoli, has long nested in Primorje, the Slovene littoral. Nesting sites in Slovenia are at the north-east limits of its nesting region. This bird migrates across Asia to overwinter in India. It returns from India at the beginning of May, and leaves again in August. It nests in smaller bushes, medium high weeds or vines. There has not been reliable data on nesting of this species in Slovenia in recent years. Most of the nests have been destroyed to make way for monoculture, mainly orchard plantations. The Black Headed Bunting is also on the Red List of threatened birds of Slovenia.

See also: Fauna - Birds of the Northern Adriatic Region

Stamps were printed in sheets of 20. Hpt issued a First Day Sheet and a First Day Cover (FDC).

LOGGERHEAD TURTLE (CARETTA CARETTA) 

• Date of issue: June 29, 1995
• Author: Dragutin Cifrek, academic painter
• Printed by: “Zrinski” - Čakovec
• Size: 35.5 X 29.8 mm
• Paper: white, 115 g, adhesive
• Comb perforation: 14
• Technique: Multicolour Offset
• Quantity: 350 000
• Value: 2.40 kn

Sea turtles belong to a group of higly endangered marine animals, almost on the brink of complete extinction. This ancient group of reptiles appeared on the Earth about 150 mil. years ago. Having been regarded as infernal creatures in ancient times, the turtles have always preserved their mystery - the moment they hatch out, the baby turtles rush towards the sea and disappear in its deep waters.

The loggerhead turtle is distributed in the waters of the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans, in the Black sea and in the Mediterranian, being the only species nesting in the moderate climatic zone.

It has a thick, shell around its body, built out of large rib bones and covered with horny scales. The loggerhead turtle is a carnivore, feeding mostly on crustaceans, fish and mollusks. These cool-blooded animals can sometimes be seen floating on the sea surface and collecting the necesary heat and energy for moving. They use their lungs to breath, can dive very deep and stay under the sea surface for more than half an hour.

Once they have hatched their eggs, the females will dig them into the wet, warm sand on the sea shore, carefully hiding all possible traces before returning into the sea depths. When the baby turtles are born, they start their life race from the shore to the sea. On this short journey scores of them are decimated by various predators. The biggest danger for these unique sea dwellers is the man. Turtles are appreciated because of their smooth greenish or olive coloured shells and highly nutritious eggs and flesh, which means that they are easy prey to turists and turtle hunters on unprotected sea shores and sand beaches: they can also become accidental victims caught into huge nets during fishing seasons or may die of food poisoning due to global pollution and oil spills.

Among highly endangered species of the Adriatic sea are the whales, sleek, powerful and fearless, this group of the largest mammals having ever inhabited our planet, rules the seas.

Today, the bottle-neck dolphin seems to be the only group from the species of small toothed whales still living and breeding in the waters of the Adriatic. The bottle-neck dolphin has a short, bulbous, strong head, a relatively short beak and a powerful, spindleshaped, 3 m. long body. The highest specimen caught was 3.9 m. long and weighted 275 kg. The colour of its skin is grey, almost black. The dorsal fin is of a medium size and slightly curved. The females reach sexual maturity at the age of 11-12.

BOTTLE-NECK DOLPHIN (TURSIOPS TRUNCATUS)

• Date of issue: June 29, 1995
• Author: Dragutin Cifrek, academic painter
• Size: 35.5 X 29.8 mm
• Paper: white, 115 g, adhesive
• Comb perforation: 14
• Technique: Multicolour Offset
• Printed by: “Zrinski” - Čakovec
• Quantity: 350 000
• Value: 4.00 kn

Bottleneck dolphins are distributed in the tropical and moderate zones, they are very often seen in the water of the Adriatic, close to the shore, although their number has decreased over the years.

In 1995, new "Regulations on mammal species protection" brings the bottleneck dolphin under protection of the government. However this will not be enough to restore the biological and social fabric of the Adriatic pods. Overfishing, scarcety of food, pollution and intoxication, premature births all together threaten to extinct the only whale species of the Adriatic sea.

See also: Fauna - Bottle-neck Dolphins

(HRV) TOWNS - ROVINJ (ROVIGNO)

• Date / Vrijednost: October 20, 1995
• Designer / Autor: Ivica Šiško, painter and graphic Designer / Autor:, Academy of Arts, Zagreb
• Printer / Tiskara: “Zrinski” - Čakovec
• Size / Veličina: 35,50 x 25,56 mm
• Edition: 4 000 000
• Perforation:  14.00x14.00
• Paper / Papir: White, 102 g, gummed, watermark
• Technique: Multicolor offset
• Denomination: 2.20 K

Rovinj lies on the west coast of Istria. The earliest core of the town is on the peninsula made in 1763 by joining the small islet to the mainland. The settlement dates from the 3rd century AD, and was first recorded in the 7th century. Between the 10th and 12th centuries Rovinj was independent but in the 13th century it came under Venice. Until mid-19th century Rovinj was the major town and harbour on the west coast of Istria. In spite of becoming second to Pula, Rovinj developed into an important economic and tourist centre. Rovinj is rich in cultural and historic monuments. The septagonal Romanesque baptistry is its oldest building, dating from the 13th century. The Baroque church of St Euphemia is outstanding for its beauty. Rovinj is one of the major tourist centres in Istria.

See also: Towns, Rovinj / Rovigno

• Date / Vrijednost: October 20, 1995
• Designer / Autor: Ivica Šiško, painter and graphic Designer / Autor:, Academy of Arts, Zagreb
• Printer / Tiskara: “Zrinski” - Čakovec
• Size / Veličina: 35,50 x 25,56 mm
• Edition: 4 000 000
• Perforation:  14.00x14.00
• Paper / Papir: White, 102 g, gummed, watermark
• Technique: Multicolor offset
• Denomination: 2,40 K

Croatian Post and Telecommunications sells the First Day Cover FDC and the First Day Sheet. The stamp is issued in blocks of 50.

Korčula is a town and a harbour on the north-east side of the island of Korčula. The exact time of the town origin is not known, but the island was inhabited as early as the 4th century BC when Greek merchants built a colony there. In 1000 AD the town was taken by the Venetians, and often changed hands, belonging to Croato-Hungarian kings at times. Korčula was a town in the early 13th century as shown by the statute of 1214. Thanks to stone quarrying it started to flourish in the early 15th century. Korčula is also known as the birthplace of Marco Polo, the famous traveller who returned from China 700 years ago. Today Korčula is a beautiful and attractive Adriatic tourist destination.

(Slo) Europe in miniature (Skis from Bloke)

• Datum izdaje/uporabe: November 16, 1995
• Vrsta: RZ
• Ilustracija: Zagorka Simić
• Risba: Zagorka Simić
• Oblikovanje: Miljenko Licul
• Motiv: Skis from Bloke
• Tisk: DELO - TISKARNA d. d., Ljubljana
• Tehnika: 3-colour offset
• Pola: 50
• Papir: Chancellor oba free L.S.PVA GMD 100g, gummed
• Velikost: 25,60 x 34,50 mm

Skis were known and used on the Bloke Plateau and in the neighbouring Vidovski hribi mountains. The skis were preserved till World War II when their use was banned by the Italian occupying authorities. After the war due to the changed traffic conditions (clearing the roads of snow) as well as for other reasons skis were no longer used. In the area of Bloke skis had been made and used for centuries, as a result of specific geographical, climatic and other conditions (dense population of the area at an early stage, age-old crossings). The first one to have reported on the use of skis was the polymath Janez Vajkard Valvasor in his "Glory of the Duchy of Carniola" as early as 1689.

(HRV) 700th ANNIVERSARY OF THE RETURN FROM CHINA OF MARCO POLO (1254-1324)

• Date / Vrijednost:  December 7, 1995
• Designer / Autor: Hrvoje Šercar, painter and graphic Designer / Autor:, Academy of Arts, Zagreb
• Printer / Tiskara: “Zrinski” - Čakovec
• Quantity / Naklada: 350 000
• Size / Veličina: 39,76 x 24,14 mm
• Perforation:  14.00x14.00
• Paper / Papir: White, 115 g, gummed, watermark
• Technique: Multicolor offset
• Denomination: 3.60 K

Marco Polo was born to an old Korčula family in 1254. His father Nikola and uncle Mate were successful merchants with the East. The brothers Mate and Nikola Polo set out to Asia in 1255 and reached China in 1266, arriving at Khanbaliq near Peking. In this was they were the first Europeans to reach China overland.

They returned from China as Kublai Khan’s envoys with a letter for the Pope asking him to send learned people to teach in his empire and thus inform the Mongols about the way of life in the West. Mate and Nikola Polo set out on the return journey with the Pope’s message to Kublai Khan in 1271 and Nikola also took his son Marco to that journey. Young Marco’s intelligence and ability to learn soon won the favour of Kublai Khan who made him his adviser after two years only, and soon afterwards Marco Polo became the governor of big provinces and the Khan’s diplomat. In the twenty years of service to the Khan Marco Polo became acquainted with the vast regions of China and with various achievements of Chinese civilization which was greatly superior to the European civilization of the time.

On their return from China in 1295, the Polos settled in Venice where they became a sensation to the crowds of listeners, but also had difficulties in proving the authenticity of their reports on the size and the riches of the distant China. His restless spirit drove Marco Polo to take part in the naval battle between Genoa and Venice of Korčula in 1298; he was captured and imprisoned by the Genose. He spent the few months of his imprisonment writing a detailed account of his travels in the then unknown parts of the Far East. His “Book of World Miracles” was written in the Provencal language and was soon translated into many European languages.

Bibliography:

• Croatian Post Inc. - Croatian Postage Stamps - English & Hrvatski
• Post of Slovenia - Stamp Land