Commemorative Snake Island Stamp Flying Off Shelves in Ukraine

Picture: Ukrposhta

Early in the Ukraine crisis, the country observed solace in the bravery of its soldiers. In distinct, an incident at Snake Island—a armed service outpost on the Black Sea—became a rallying cry. On the to start with working day of the Russian invasion, recordings expose that a team of Ukrainian soldiers told a Russian warship, “Go f*** by yourself,” when asked to surrender. To commemorate this act of defiant bravery, Ukrposhta—the Ukrainian Postal Service—held a contest for a Snake Island stamp. Now, Ukrainians are lining up in droves to get their fingers on this particular stamp.

The successful design and style by Lviv-based artist Boris Groh was introduced final thirty day period and now that the stamps are offered, they are flying off the shelves. Just one million stamps and 20,000 envelopes ended up issued by the postal services, with no strategies to print extra. Due to the fact the stamps went on sale, images of lengthy lines at the post workplace have been traveling all-around the net, with studies that persons are ready in line for up to six hrs for the stamps. Right after sharing some of the pictures on its formal Facebook, Ukrposhta quipped that it was likely the very first time that lines for stamps have been for a longer time than for iPhones.

“I am certain that Ukrainians and our friends from overseas will be pleased to receive letters with these types of a postage stamp,” shared Igor Smelyansky, the standard director of Ukrposhta, at an opening ceremony in Kyiv. “And currently in this postal way we the moment yet again remind the invaders that they really should right away get off our land and adhere to their ship.”

Smelyansky also famous that 700,000 stamps are currently being marketed in Ukraine, with 200,000 established aside for Russian-occupied territories. Yet another 100,000 will be sold on the web, such as overseas, starting up Thursday. The stamps, which are sold in denominations of $.77 and $1.83, have also built their way to eBay wherever they are on present for up to $3,000. The postal services has condemned eBay profits, reminding buyers that there is no way to know if the resources will be made use of for charitable functions. Instead, they really encourage participation in a special charity auction staying held on Friday for a stamp signed by the soldier who uttered the now-famed phrase.

To give all people a good probability at obtaining a stamp, Ukrposhta limited income to no extra than six stamps for every human being. They also canceled all early online orders to tamp the stream of consumers seeking to hoard and resell stamps. On Wednesday, they declared that all of the allocated stamps ended up marketed out within just Ukraine and that the remaining stamps would be on sale on the web. At the time of crafting, the Ukrposhta internet site was down, very likely thanks to a flood of requests.

Even though Ukrposhta reiterated that no more stamps would be issued, they are searching at methods to continue on the spirit of the structure and promised extra information about other branded initiatives, these as t-shirts, subsequent week.

Boris Groh gained a contest by the Ukrainian Write-up Business office to layout a stamp commemorating Snake Island.

1 million stamps were printed and Ukrainians waited in line for hours to get their fingers on them.

Stamp amassing, Kyiv. pic.twitter.com/at4JT6YFTl

— Mark MacKinnon (@markmackinnon) April 20, 2022

So … we are are standing on-line waiting around for a new batch of the Ship Stamp… the Stamp is life! pic.twitter.com/lSJIpgYXhm

— Vladislav Davidzon (@VladDavidzon) April 19, 2022

h/t: [NPR]

Relevant Article content:

Uk Unveils Particular Leonardo da Vinci Postage Stamp Selection

Initial U.S. Stamp by Alaska Indigenous Designer Tells a Tale of Tlingit Lore

USPS Releases Stamp Series That includes Popular Figures of the Harlem Renaissance

Barbados Celebrates Centenarian Citizens by Printing Their Portraits on Postal Stamps