BRUSSEL: Diamonds, beer and the Smurfs are making return appearances on the stamps of Belgium. Just in 1983 and 1984 alone, Belgium honored the diamond industry on a 10-franc stamp (Scott 1155), pictured a mug of beer on a Made in Belgium stamp (Scott 1162), and showed a Smurf letter carrier on a Youth Philately stamp (1182). These subjects are represented on other Belgian stamps as well. This time, Belgium is featuring all three on 15 stamps issued on the same day, Jan. 29. Antwerp is considered the diamond capital of the world, a title it has held for more than 500 years. Today, approximately 80 percent of the world’s rough diamonds and 50 percent of the polished diamonds are traded through the city’s diamond district. Included in the selvage of the sheet below the words that translate to “Diamond sector” is the logo of the Kimberley Process. Bpost’s security printer printed the sheet by offset, adding a glossy varnish to make the diamonds sparkle. In 2016, the beer culture in Belgium was inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The new Belgian pane of five nondenominated stamps for international mail honors this recognition. The logos of UNESCO and Intangible Cultural Heritage are shown in selvage in the lower right. Beer bottles and bubbles from the head of the beer also are depicted in the selvage. Leen De Pooter designed the stamps and the pane. The stamps reproduce photographs representing five facets of the Belgian beer culture: craft, diversity, culture, beer and gastronomy, and the social aspect. Belgian cartoonist Pierre Culliford (1928-92), known as Peyo, created the Smurfs in 1958, drawing his inspiration for these blue characters from trolls of Nordic fairy tales. The Smurfs received their own comic book series the following year and later starred in movies and a television series.
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