Ski tips 28.10.2020

Dynamic in neon

As a “skiing nation”, Austria has a long tradition in skiing as a sport. Fittingly, this year’s stamp on the topic of technical innovation impresses with both its shape and its colour: a ski tip made with a genuine ski coating.
Following on from stamps made of lace, porcelain, glass and leather, the ski stamp is another highlight for stamp collectors. It impresses with its unusual materials and its iconographic shape, so familiar to ski enthusiasts: the stamp looks like the tip of a ski, and the mountain panorama hinted at in the background combined with the skier makes it clear that that is precisely what is intended. 
The particularly special feature of this stamp is the material. In general, an actual ski is made from a combination of different materials such as wood, metal and plastics. For this stamp block a similar production technique was used. A thin layer of aluminium-plastic composite was cut out to the shape of a ski tip using a CNC-controlled milling machine. The silvery surface of this aluminium composite was brushed, and when viewed from the side looks like the edges of a ski. Then a special acrylic glue was used to apply the yellow original ski coating, specially adapted in strength for the stamp. Just as it is in the production of actual skis, the image was printed as a mirror image on the back of the coating so that the design is seen on the surface through the ski coating.

Series: Technical innovations
Face value: EUR 7.00 
Day of issue: 23.10.2020
Stamp size: 43.00 x 42.00 x 3 mm
Artwork: David Gruber
Printing: Variuscard Produktions- und Handels GmbH
Printing technique: screen printing
Amount printed: 150,000 on blocks of 1 unit each 

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