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The third and final installment of stamps issued by Vatican City under the title “Restored Sistine Chapel: Masterpieces of the 15th Century” was released on June 13, 2002. It concludes a series of five sets of stamps that were presented to document the restoration of the Sistine Chapel from 1964 to 1994. As seen in sets released in 2000 and 2001, a common stamp design was followed. The characteristic which differentiates the sets is the color of the left- and right-hand frames of the stamps. For 2002, two stamps have a silver frame and two have a gold frame. In addition, starting in 2002, the stamps of Vatican City were denominated in euros only (following the transition year of 2001 where both lira and euro values were used on the stamps). The UFN release announcing the 2002 issue concludes with the following statement: ”Continuing in the same format, the stamps also have the same layout as in the past years, which gives the stamp collection a basic unity. However, it seems appropriate to stress one feature that will not fail to excite the special interest of collectors: this collection on a single theme has marked a change in eras in the three-year period 2000/2002. In the year 2000, the four values were expressed in Lira; in 2001, the double denomination Lira/Euros appeared; lastly, in 2002 the Lira disappeared, leaving in its place the currency of today and of the future. This is a historical moment that the Philatelic Office has carefully documented in a series of wonderful art works.”The four stamps for the year 2002 portray the following masterpieces:     REFERENCES: (Note the typographical error in the title of this UFN release: it should read 15th Century) |
