Home > Uncategorized > June, 2009 Scott Stamp Monthly Cover Story: Bhutan’s Amazing CD Stamps

June, 2009 Scott Stamp Monthly Cover Story: Bhutan’s Amazing CD Stamps

This week at Creative Products, we are excited about Charles Snee’s cover story in the June, 2009 edition of the print magazine Scott’s Stamp Monthly on Bhutan’s long-time history of unusual postage stamps. While proofreading a 2008 entry in Scott’s annual catalog about Bhutan’s innovative new postage stamps made from colorful, functional CD-ROM’s, Mr. Snee remembered his own experiences as a young stamp collector attending stamp shows and longing to own Bhutan’s unusual stamps. So he decided to follow his curiosity, and the long and detailed article “From 3-D to CD: Innovative Firsts Found Among Bhutanese Stamps” came about, along with 11 full-color photo’s of Bhutan’s stamps.

The following is excerpted from Mr. Snee’s article:

“As I examined these most unusual creations, I wondered about their source of inspiration. Who, after all, would be so audacious as to produce a memory-storage device for a computer and call it a postage stamp? A quick chat with Scott new issues editor Marty Frankevicz revealed that the stamps are a product of Creative Productions International, a Pittsburgh-based firm founded more than three decades ago…More research revealed that the impetus behind CPI’s philatelic foray is Burt Todd, a gifted businessman…in 1966, Todd began to bring his dream to fruition, with the release of the nine circular King Wangchuck stamps embossed on gold foil. Though these were not the first of their kind, they marked the beginning of a remarkable run of stamps produced using technologies that broke existing boundaries of what comprises a stamp.”

and another excerpt:

“Todd’s expertise in the steel industry helped blaze the trail toward the next philatelic milestone for Bhutan: stamps printed on steel. The history of steel-making is depicted on the set of 12 self-adhesive stamps issued in 1969 whose designs are lithographed on steel foil (Scott 103-103k). A steel rolling mill is pictured on the 5nu airmail stamp (Scott 103j).”

To read the entire article, you must be a paid subscriber of Scott’s, one of the premiere philatelic information organizations in the world. The $9.95 fee gives full access to Scott’s entire website and all of the articles for an entire year. Visit http://www.linns.com for more information. This is the combined website for both Linn’s Stamp News and Scott’s Stamp Monthly.

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  1. Gopal
    August 23rd, 2009 at 12:16 | #1

    These CD stamps - can they be used postally? If not how can they qualify as stamps? I have another question - does the UPU have any guidelines on materials to be used for postage stamps, other than paper? Besides paper, what other materials have been used for postage stamps? How functional are they, specially stamps like CD stamps, 3D stamps, etc.?

  2. August 26th, 2009 at 11:39 | #2

    Dear Gopal,

    the CD stamps indeed can be used as actual postage on envelopes or packages mailed from Bhutan to another address in Bhutan
    or from Bhutan to another address anywhere in the world. Throughout the years, Bhutan has created actual postage stamps from materials including steel, plastic, silk and vinyl. These, like the CD stamps, are completely functional as postage.

    Bhutan Postage Stamps

  1. July 7th, 2012 at 20:22 | #1
  2. November 15th, 2013 at 03:42 | #2