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Stamps in Three Dimensions


by Erik Jensen

"Stamps with holograms are likely soon to become a success among philatelists and high-tech fans who will discover a new collector’s field."


Such wrote German collector and stamp specialist Günter Tölcke in 1994 in an article in Deutsche Briefmarken Zeitung. The occasion was that being a metal spinner he was interested in holograms and now that these had started to appear on stamps, he wanted to share his experience with others. When you look at a hologram from different angles by turning it, you almost get the impression that you can "get around the motif" and that the colours are constantly changing.

A hologram is a two-dimensional picture with a three-dimensional reproduction of an object. The original is produced on a photographic plate by simultaneous illumination of the object from different sides by laser light divided by means of mirrors. The method is called holography. The principle was described in 1948 by the British physicist of Hungarian origin Dennis Gabor. In 1971, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for physics for his discovery.

In the early 1960’s laser technology developed, but not until 1986 was the printing technique constructed which makes it possible to produce large impressions of holograms. The first stamp featuring a hologram was issued already in 1988, and during the past 11 years several countries all over the world have issued stamps and other philatelic products with holograms.

Footnote:
On 18th October 1988 Austria issued the world’s first hologram stamp. The occasion was an export fair and the hologram showed a logo with the words AUSTRIA and MADE IN AUSTRIA.

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