“THE LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM STILL DELIVERS!"

The story of the Bethlehem 1993 Klussendorf Stamp

By Evyatar (Tari) Chelouche, and Dr. Josef Wallach

 

Note: This article was originally published  in the "Israeli Philatelist", February 2001. This is a corrected edition.

Introduction

The first part of the story of the Seasons Greetings Klussendorf Stamps, by Dr. Josef Wallach and Michal Tor-Ovadia, was published in the Aug. 1993 issue of IP (referenced herein as [1]). The article, titled "Seasons Greetings from the Holyland - The story of the Bethlehem Klussendorf Stamp", focused on the first Seasons Greetings Klussendorf stamp (FD 2.Nov.92) issued by the Israeli Philatelic Service. Three areas of interest to the Postal History researcher and stamp collector were detailed: The marketing campaign, the technical specifications of the stamp and topics from the philatelic research domain: print types, postmarks, etc.

This article is a follow-on report that focuses on the Seasons Greetings 1993 issue. The areas of discussion are as in the previous article, but special attention is given to the differentiating factors.

The Marketing Campaign

Based on the success of the 1992 pilot marketing campaign of posting Christmas cards via Bethlehem, the Israel Postal Authority and the Israeli Philatelic Service decided to re-offer this service, towards the 1993 holiday season, and precede it with an even larger marketing effort.

According to details provided by Mr. Yizhak Larom, Supervisor of postal services in Judea & Samaria, besides advertising in newspapers as in the previous year, agreements were signed with direct-mail firms in the US and Germany, for massive distribution of fliers announcing the offer. Coresco Inc., was contacted to carry out the direct mail campaign in the US. The advertisement material was sent out in envelopes bearing a sketch of a little town in the mountains and the inscription; "The Little Town of Bethlehem Still Delivers!" (Figure 1). 

Besides direct mail, there were also paid for advertisements in local as well as foreign newspapers. The advertisement in the German weekly "Neue Post", with a distribution of over 11,000,000, included an image of the Christmas 1992 commemorative postmark (Figure 2). 

Oddly, the postmark that appeared in the advertisements published in local daily newspapers, was of a different design that wasn't actually used (Figure 3). 

Special notices, in certain cases in three languages, were dispatched to Philatelic Service subscribers, churches, embassies and different authorities.

As in the previous year, the minimum order was set to 10 postal items (i.e. letters or post-cards), payable by either check or credit card. The flat rate of 1.50NIS (equivalent to 0.6US$) was charged for every card sent worldwide (Figure 4). 

This rate has a unique philatelic property associated with it, as will be described later on.

The 1993 campaign was a bigger success than the 1992 campaign, in terms of the volume of the cards sent. There were over 564 orders received from abroad, totalling over 20,000 cards. Orders originated in 24 different countries, the bulk of which came from the US, Germany, England, Sweden & Austria. Over 60,000 additional cards came from orders from within Israel, the Christian Embassy and Bethlehem postcards distributed by the ministry of Tourism (Figure 5). 

The total number of mailed postal items and distributed postcards was close to 88,000 - double the volume of 1992!

The Stamp Design

Back in the 1920's, Dr. Luciano Morpugo, an Italian Jewish photographer, travelled to Palestine and documented its sights - people and places, with his camera. In 1930, he published a book in Rome, containing a selection of 265 photographs from his journey. The book entitled "Eretz Israel (in Hebrew) - Palastina" includes an introduction written in German by Dr. Chaim Weizmann, on official stationary of the Office of the 16th Zionist Congress, dating August 9th, 1929, and sent to Dr. Morpugo from Zurich.

Mr.Yizhak Granot, Director of Stamp Production at the Philatelic Service, who designed the 1992 issue, picked an old photo of Bethlehem from this book, as the subject for the 1993 Seasons Greetings Klussendorf stamp. According to Granot, Mrs. Shulamit Aloni, who was Minister of Telecommunications at that time, rejected the original design, which was based on Christmas symbols. He was requested to come up with an alternative design, based on a scene of Bethlehem, the site from which the Christmas cards were to be distributed. His choice fell on photo no. 193, in Morpugo's book.

 

Bethlehem 1993 - Original Artist sketch by Yitzhak Granot (Courtesy: R. Midan)

 

 

Philatelic Research

The Postal Authority announced the campaign in a regular notice to the public (no. 102/93):

An additional Notice to the Public, No. 103/93, posted on the same day, announced the issue of the 1993 Seasons Greetings Klussendorf stamp on the 16.Nov.93, as well as the availability of two commemorative postmarks to mark the occasion, to be used in Bethlehem and Nazareth Post Offices.

Back to the story of the 1.50NIS flat rate. As the campaign started, the Philatelic Service started printing quantities of 1.50NIS Klussendorf stamps using the un-numbered machine at the Philatelic Service offices in Tel-Aviv Yaffo. The stamps, and the cards received, were delivered to Postal Authority contractors who affixed the stamps on the envelopes, as well as "Via Bethlehem" golden stickers. These were later on delivered in boxes to the Bethlehem Post Office, to be postmarked there.

At the time the campaign was launched, 1.50NIS was the class "C" overseas airmail postage rate (e.g. USA). Two days after the issue of the previously mentioned notices, a postal rates change took place. The new rates as of 10.Nov.93 were: inland letter 0.85, letter to Europe 1.30, letter to the USA 1.60, and letter to the Oceanic region 2.00NIS. The new registration surcharge was set at 3.00NIS. Six days later, on November 16th, the new Klussendorf stamp was issued. The stamp was sold at the Philatelic Service counter and at major post offices at the new rates: 0.85, 1.30, 1.60, and their registered counterparts 3.85, 4.30 and 4.60. Other values were obtainable only by special order in values exceeding the inland rate of 0.85NIS and up to 15.00NIS. Dealers as well as collectors, obtained sets of stamps at the new rates, neglecting the fact that there was another official rate in effect: the world-wide flat rate of 1.50 for Cards sent out of Bethlehem. It for that reason that the 1.50NIS stamp can be found only on covers that were part of the Christmas cards campaign. There is no trace of this stamp in collections of mint stamps or dealers stocks. It seems that this characteristic of the 1993 Seasons Greetings Klussendorf stamp is unique in the Postal History of Israel!

The 1993 stamp exists in the same machine print varieties as its1992 predecessor: the Philatelic Service machine (without machine cliché number), and the on-site machines with the 023 cliché (in Tel-Aviv & Bethlehem). As stated in [1], the two 023 machines could be distinguished by a "Wide-Setting" and a "Narrow Setting". The 023-W was positioned at Bethlehem, and the 023-N was positioned at Tel-Aviv, whereas in 1992 they were positioned the other way around!

Study of Postmarks

Throughout the period of sale of the 1993 Seasons Greetings Klussendorf stamp (16.Nov.93 - 10.Jan.94, i.e. a total of 56 days) various commemorative as well as definitive postmarks were used. These were:

  1. Machine slogan cancellation "Bethlehem", normally found on Official First Day covers. Two dates of slogan cancellations are known: FD and 1.Dec.93(*).
  2. Cast Rubber hand-stamp "Bethlehem". In 1992 only 2 hand Cast Rubber stamps were prepared: for the first and last day. The Bethlehem Post Office complained that the Type Set stamp was heavy and difficult to use. Therefore, in 1993 additional Cast Rubber stamps were prepared (a total of 11 different stamps were recorded). The Post office staff used these to cancel the Christmas Cards stamps on Mondays and Thursdays.
  3. Type Set (hand stamp with changing date) "Bethlehem 1". This stamp was used daily in the period 16.Nov.93 - 31.Dec.93. Another characteristic of this stamp is that the Hebrew date is below the Gregorian date (whereas in the machine slogan & cast rubber stamps the Hebrew date is above the Gregorian date.
  4. Cast Rubber hand-stamp "Christmas / Noel" 24.Dec.93. Available at the Philatelic Service offices and Bethlehem Post Office.
  5. Regular definitive trilingual postmark: used in the period 1-9.Jan.94.

Notes:

(*) The 2nd Slogan cancellation use is rather unusual, and was probably to allow for mass cancellation of greeting cards / covers via Bethlehem.

Table 1 summarizes the known postmark types, and gives the time line of their known usage:

 

Table 1: The different 1993 Bethlehem cancellations

Postmark

Bethlehem 1

Bethlehem

Characteristics

Hebrew date below Gregorian date

Hebrew date above Gregorian date

Type/s

Type Set

Machine Slogan, Cast Rubber

Known Dates

Used daily 16.Nov.93-10.Jan.94

M.S.: 16.Nov.93, 1.Dec.93

C.R.: 1,6,9,13,16,20,24,27,31.Dec.93

 

Postmark

Christmas/Noel Ornamented
Postmark

Bethlehem 1 צה"ל

Bethlehem 2 צה"ל

Characteristics

Image of angle, Christmas inscription

צה"ל on top
Hebrew date above Gregorian date

Type/s

Cast Rubber

Type Set

Known dates

24.Dec.93

1-9.Jan.94

 

 

Notes:

(*) Two different postmarks for Christmas day exist: the ornamented one and the Bethlehem 1 Type Set.

(**) In the period 1-9.Jan.94 the trilingual definitive postmark was used in Bethlehem, instead of the special commemorative postmark.

(***) Two types of Nazareth postmarks exist as well: Machine Slogan and Cast Rubber.

Study of Registration Labels

In the study of the various registered covers, one can distinguish between 2 different types of "Bethlehem" registration labels that were affixed to the envelopes in Bethlehem as well as Tel-Aviv (at the Philatelic Service). The different types are summarized in Table 2:

 

Table 2: Registration labels used on Seasons Greetings 1993 covers

Location

Special markings

Gum Type

Figure no.

Tel-Aviv

 

Regular gum

Bethlehem

No. 4, Underscore below "H"

Regular gum

Summary

            The 1992 Seasons Greetings Klussendorf stamp attracted special attention, being the first in what later became a series of seven consecutive issues of Seasons Greetings Klussendorf stamps (1992 - 1998). Its first successor, the 1993 issue, provided us with a richer domain for study of Israel Postal History in terms of the different postmarks recorded. But above all, the outstanding philatelic characteristic of this issue is the story behind the 1.50NIS flat rate stamp - uniquely found only on covers used to mail Christmas cards via Bethlehem in 1993. From a philatelic perspective there is no doubt: Bethlehem delivered again!

         

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