URU - 2013 - #012 - SERIE - DAY OF PATIENT SAFETY

Uruguay - 2013 - Day of Patient Safety

Options:

SERIE --- 1,40 EUR
SERIE [2X2] --- 5,50 EUR
BLOCK --- 12,00 EUR
FDC not Sent --- 2,80 EUR
FDC Sent on First Day --- 9,00 EUR
COVER Sent on First Day --- 6,00 EUR

If you are interested in any of this items, or any other items from Uruguay, just make a donation including your e-mail in the description.

I will contact you as soon I receive your donation, we agree on which items do you need, and I will discount the donation done to the amount of your purchase.

Issue information:

Country: Uruguay
Date: April 11th, 2013
Printed: 15.003 copies

Stamp Shape and Size: Rectangular [27 mm. x 39 mm.]
Perforation: Circular
Gum: Water Activated

Block Configuration: 9 stamps [3 x 3]
Block Shape and Size: Rectangular [110 mm. x 150 mm.]

FDC Type: Normal
FDC Shape and Size: Rectangular [165 mm. x 105 mm.]
Cover Shape and Size: Rectangular [241 mm. x 159 mm.]

Catalogue information:

Michel: No Data Available
Ivert: No Data Available
Scott: No Data Available
Stanley & Gibbons: No Data Available

Topics:

Issue:

This stamp commemorates the national day of the Patient Safety, that is planned to occur on April 14th of each year, since the year that the stamp was released, as a consequence of a draft legislation aleady voted positive by unanimity, and still not established by law.

This draft legislation states that all institution that provides health services, will implement this day several activities in all his location to raise awareness of the relevance of the activities that improve Patient Safety.

The desing of the stamp shows mainly the logotype created for that day by the Association named "Rodrigo Aguirre Camblor - Cuidar la vida", in english "Rodrigo Aguirre Camblor - Life Care", that it is an association created by the mother Rodrigo Aguirre Camblor, after the tragic death of Rodrigo in a case of medical malpractice, and that is focus in conscientization of this problematic, in order to diminish the incidence of malpractice in health institutions.

This logotype shows a spheric map of the world, and over it, in his center, the Rod of Asclepius, the serpent-entwined rod wielded by the Greek god Asclepius, a deity associated with healing and medicine.

It also add the legend: "Educar en prevención - Control - Corrección", that in english means: "Education on prevention - Checking - Correction", that is the motto of the Association.

Finally, the desing of the stamp is completed with the classic ribbon for activism in causes, this time in collor green, and both the ribbon and the Association logotype in a background of yellow green gradient.

This Day of Patient Safety referred by this stamp is an uruguayan only special day, not an international one, and the selection of the date April 14th for it, was because that in that day was born Rodrigo Aguirre, the victim of medical malpractice already mentioned.

It also exist a proposal from the "Colegio Internacional de Enfermeras", the International Association of Nurses, to establish an international day of patient safety, on each July 25th, however, until now, no other international organization is considering it.

Rodrigo Aguirre Camblor was born on April 14t of 1983, and passed away on 2007 by the consequence of medical malpractice.

The tragedy of Rodrigo Aguirre, was a well known case of malpractice, because of the Association created by his mother, and also, because of the parentage he has to the well known soccer player and coach Diego Aguirre, Southamerican champion as a player with uruguayan team Peñarol, and also finalist of the Southamerican cup with the same team as coach. Rodrigo Aguirre was a younger brother of Diego Aguirre.

Patient safety is a new healthcare discipline that emphasizes the reporting, analysis, and prevention of medical error that often leads to adverse healthcare events. The frequency and magnitude of avoidable adverse patient events was not well known until the 1990s, when multiple countries reported staggering numbers of patients harmed and killed by medical errors. Recognizing that healthcare errors impact 1 in every 10 patients around the world, the World Health Organization calls patient safety an endemic concern. Indeed, patient safety has emerged as a distinct healthcare discipline supported by an immature yet developing scientific framework. There is a significant transdisciplinary body of theoretical and research literature that informs the science of patient safety. The resulting patient safety knowledge continually informs improvement efforts such as: applying lessons learned from business and industry, adopting innovative technologies, educating providers and consumers, enhancing error reporting systems, and developing new economic incentives.

Millennia ago, Hippocrates recognized the potential for injuries that arise from the well intentioned actions of healers. Greek healers in the 4th Century B.C., drafted the Hippocratic Oath and pledged to "prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone." Since then, the directive primum non nocere (“first do no harm) has become a central tenet for contemporary medicine. However, despite an increasing emphasis on the scientific basis of medical practice in Europe and the United States in the late 19th Century, data on adverse outcomes were hard to come by and the various studies commissioned collected mostly anecdotal events.

In the United States, the public and the medical specialty of anesthesia were shocked in April 1982 by the ABC television program 20/20 entitled The Deep Sleep. Presenting accounts of anesthetic accidents, the producers stated that, every year, 6,000 Americans die or suffer brain damage related to these mishaps. In 1983, the British Royal Society of Medicine and the Harvard Medical School jointly sponsored a symposium on anesthesia deaths and injuries, resulting in an agreement to share statistics and to conduct studies. By 1984 the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) had established the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation (APSF). The APSF marked the first use of the term "patient safety" in the name of professional reviewing organization. Although anesthesiologists comprise only about 5% of physicians in the United States, anesthesiology became the leading medical specialty addressing issues of patient safety. Likewise in Australia, the Australian Patient Safety Foundation was founded in 1989 for anesthesia error monitoring. Both organizations were soon expanded as the magnitude of the medical error crisis became known.

In Greek mythology, the Rod of Asclepius (sometimes also spelled Asklepios or Aesculapius), also known as the asklepian, is a serpent-entwined rod wielded by the Greek god Asclepius, a deity associated with healing and medicine. The symbol has continued to be used in modern times, where it is associated with medicine and health care, yet frequently confused with the staff of the god Hermes, the caduceus. Theories have been proposed about the Greek origin of the symbol and its implications.

The most famous temple of Asclepius was at Epidaurus in north-eastern Peloponnese. Another famous healing temple (or asclepieion) was located on the island of Kos, where Hippocrates, the legendary "father of medicine", may have begun his career. Other asclepieia were situated in Trikala, Gortys (in Arcadia), and Pergamum in Asia.

In honor of Asclepius, a particular type of non-venomous snake was often used in healing rituals, and these snakes — the Aesculapian Snakes — crawled around freely on the floor in dormitories where the sick and injured slept. These snakes were introduced at the founding of each new temple of Asclepius throughout the classical world. From about 300 BC onwards, the cult of Asclepius grew very popular and pilgrims flocked to his healing temples (Asclepieia) to be cured of their ills. Ritual purification would be followed by offerings or sacrifices to the god (according to means), and the supplicant would then spend the night in the holiest part of the sanctuary - the abaton (or adyton). Any dreams or visions would be reported to a priest who would prescribe the appropriate therapy by a process of interpretation. Some healing temples also used sacred dogs to lick the wounds of sick petitioners.

The original Hippocratic Oath began with the invocation "I swear by Apollo the Physician and by Asclepius and by Hygieia and Panacea and by all the gods ..."

The serpent and the staff appear to have been separate symbols that were combined at some point in the development of the Asclepian cult. The significance of the serpent has been interpreted in many ways; sometimes the shedding of skin and renewal is emphasized as symbolizing rejuvenation, while other assessments center on the serpent as a symbol that unites and expresses the dual nature of the work of the physician, who deals with life and death, sickness and health. The ambiguity of the serpent as a symbol, and the contradictions it is thought to represent, reflect the ambiguity of the use of drugs, which can help or harm, as reflected in the meaning of the term pharmakon, which meant "drug", "medicine" and "poison" in ancient Greek. Products deriving from the bodies of snakes were known to have medicinal properties in ancient times, and in ancient Greece, at least some were aware that snake venom that might be fatal if it entered the bloodstream could often be imbibed. Snake venom appears to have been 'prescribed' in some cases as a form of therapy.

The staff has also been variously interpreted. One view is that it, like the serpent, "conveyed notions of resurrection and healing", while another (not necessarily incompatible) is that the staff was a walking stick associated with itinerant physicians. Cornutus, a Greek philosopher probably active in the first century CE, in the Theologiae Graecae Compendium (Ch. 33) offers a view of the significance of both snake and staff:

Asclepius derived his name from healing soothingly and from deferring the withering that comes with death. For this reason, therefore, they give him a serpent as an attribute, indicating that those who avail themselves of medical science undergo a process similar to the serpent in that they, as it were, grow young again after illnesses and slough off old age; also because the serpent is a sign of attention, much of which is required in medical treatments. The staff also seems to be a symbol of some similar thing. For by means of this it is set before our minds that unless we are supported by such inventions as these, in so far as falling continually into sickness is concerned, stumbling along we would fall even sooner than necessary.

In any case the two symbols certainly merged in antiquity as representations of the snake coiled about the staff are common. It has been claimed that the snake wrapped around the staff was a species of rat snake, Elaphe longissima.

A number of organizations and services use the rod of Asclepius as their logo, or part of their logo.

It is relatively common, especially in the United States, to find the caduceus, with its two snakes and wings, used as a symbol of medicine instead of the correct Rod of Asclepius, with only a single snake. This usage is erroneous, popularised largely as a result of the adoption of the caduceus as its insignia by the U.S. Army Medical Corps in 1902 at the insistence of a single officer (though there are conflicting claims as to whether this was Capt. Frederick P. Reynolds or Col. John R. van Hoff).

The rod of Asclepius is the dominant symbol for professional healthcare associations in the United States. One survey found that 62% of professional healthcare associations used the rod of Asclepius as their symbol. The same survey found that 76% of commercial healthcare organizations used the Caduceus symbol. The author of the study suggests the difference exists because professional associations are more likely to have a real understanding of the two symbols, whereas commercial organizations are more likely to be concerned with the visual impact a symbol will have in selling their products.

Asclepius is the god of medicine and healing in ancient Greek religion. Asclepius represents the healing aspect of the medical arts; his daughters are Hygieia ("Hygiene", the goddess/personification of health, cleanliness, and sanitation), Iaso (the goddess of recuperation from illness), Aceso (the goddess of the healing process), Aglæa/Ægle (the goddess of beauty, splendor, glory, magnificence, and adornment), and Panacea (the goddess of universal remedy). He was associated with the Roman/Etruscan god Vediovis. He was one of Apollo's sons, sharing with Apollo the epithet Paean ("the Healer"). The rod of Asclepius, a snake-entwined staff, remains a symbol of medicine today.

He was the son of Apollo and Coronis. His mother was killed for being unfaithful to Apollo and was laid out on a funeral pyre to be consumed, but the unborn child was rescued from her womb. Or, alternatively, his mother died in labor and was laid out on the pyre to be consumed, but his father rescued the child, cutting him from her womb. From this he received the name Asklepios, "to cut open.", Apollo carried the baby to the centaur Chiron who raised Asclepius and instructed him in the art of medicine.

Asclepius was married to Epione, with whom he had six daughters: Hygieia, Meditrina (the serpent-bearer),[disambiguation needed] Panacea, Aceso, Iaso, and Aglaea,[6][7] and three sons: Machaon, Podaleirios and Telesphoros. He also sired a son, Aratus, with Aristodama. The names of his daughters each rather transparently reflect a certain subset of the overall theme of "good health"

At some point, Asclepius was among those who took part in the Calydonian Boar hunt.

Zeus killed Asclepius with a thunderbolt because he raised Hippolytus from the dead and accepted gold for it. Other stories say that Asclepius was killed because after bringing people back from the dead, Hades thought that no more dead spirits would come to the underworld, so he asked his brother Zeus to remove him. This angered Apollo who in turn murdered the Cyclopes who had made the thunderbolts for Zeus. For this act, Zeus suspended Apollo from the night sky and commanded Apollo to serve Admetus, King of Thessaly for a year. Once the year had passed, Zeus brought Apollo back to Mount Olympus and revived the Cyclopes that made his thunderbolts. After Asclepius' death, Zeus placed his body among the stars as the constellation Ophiuchus ("the Serpent Holder").

Some sources also stated that Asclepius was later resurrected as a god by Zeus to prevent any further feuds with Apollo.

Greek mythology is the body of myths and teachings that belong to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. It was a part of the religion in ancient Greece. Modern scholars refer to and study the myths in an attempt to throw light on the religious and political institutions of Ancient Greece and its civilization, and to gain understanding of the nature of myth-making itself.

Greek mythology is explicitly embodied in a large collection of narratives, and implicitly in Greek representational arts, such as vase-paintings and votive gifts. Greek myth attempts to explain the origins of the world, and details the lives and adventures of a wide variety of gods, goddesses, heroes, heroines, and mythological creatures. These accounts initially were disseminated in an oral-poetic tradition; today the Greek myths are known primarily from Greek literature.

The oldest known Greek literary sources, Homer's epic poems Iliad and Odyssey, focus on the Trojan War and its aftermath. Two poems by Homer's near contemporary Hesiod, the Theogony and the Works and Days, contain accounts of the genesis of the world, the succession of divine rulers, the succession of human ages, the origin of human woes, and the origin of sacrificial practices. Myths are also preserved in the Homeric Hymns, in fragments of epic poems of the Epic Cycle, in lyric poems, in the works of the tragedians of the fifth century BC, in writings of scholars and poets of the Hellenistic Age, and in texts from the time of the Roman Empire by writers such as Plutarch and Pausanias.

Archaeological findings provide a principal source of detail about Greek mythology, with gods and heroes featured prominently in the decoration of many artifacts. Geometric designs on pottery of the eighth century BC depict scenes from the Trojan cycle as well as the adventures of Heracles. In the succeeding Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic periods, Homeric and various other mythological scenes appear, supplementing the existing literary evidence. Greek mythology has had an extensive influence on the culture, arts, and literature of Western civilization and remains part of Western heritage and language. Poets and artists from ancient times to the present have derived inspiration from Greek mythology and have discovered contemporary significance and relevance in the themes.

The Aesculapian Snake (now Zamenis longissimus, previously Elaphe longissima), a member of the Colubrinae subfamily of the family Colubridae, is a nonvenomous snake native to Europe. With up to 2 meters in length, it counts among the largest European snakes, though not as massive as the Four-lined Snake or the Montpellier Snake. The species has been of cultural and historical significance for its role in ancient Greek and Roman mythology and derived symbolism.

The snakes hatch at around 30 cm (11.8 in) and average at around 110 cm (43.3 in) to 150 cm (59 in) but can grow up to 200 cm (79 in) (225 cm (89 in)). They are dark, long, slender, and typically about bronze in color with smooth scales that give them a metallic sheen.

Juveniles can easily be confused with juvenile Grass Snakes, also having a yellow collar on their neck that may persist for some time in younger adults. They are light green or brownish-green with various darker patterns along the flanks and on their back. Two darker patches appear in the form of lines running on the top of the flanks. The head in juveniles also features several distinctive dark spots, one hoof-like on the back of the head in-between the yellow neck stripes, and two paired ones, thereof one horizontal stripe running from the eye and connecting to the neck marks, and one short vertical stripe connecting the eye with the 4th to 5th mouth (supralabial) scales.

Adults are much more uniform, sometimes being olive-yellow, brownish-green, sometimes almost black. Often in adults, there may be a more or less regular pattern of white-edged dorsal scales appearing as white freckles all over the body up to moire-like structures in places, enhancing the shiny metallic appearance. Sometimes especially when pale in color, two darker longitudinal lines along the flanks can be visible. The belly is plain yellow to off-white while the round iris has amber to ochre coloration. Both melanistic and albinotic natural forms are known, as is a dark grey form and even erythristic specimen.

Although there is no noticeable sexual dimorphism in coloration, males grow significantly longer than females, presumably because of the more significant energy input of the latter into the reproductive cycle. Maximum weight for German populations has been 890g for males and 550g for females (Böhme 1993; Gomille 2002). Other distinctions, as in many snakes, include relatively longer tail to total body length and a wider tail base in males.

Scale arrangement includes 23 scale rows at mid body (rarely 19 or 21), 211-250 ventral scales, a divided anal scale and 60-91 paired caudal scales (Schultz 1996; Arnold 2002). Ventral scales are sharply angled where the underside meets the body, which enhances the species' climbing ability.

Lifespan is estimated at about 25 to 30 years.

Block:

The block is only decorated with four Rods of Asclepius, to show the inks used in printing, and the legend of the centenary of the release "14 de Abril - Día de la Seguridad del Paciente", that it translation to english is "April 14th - Day of Patient Safety".

FDC:

The desing of the First Day Cancelation, shows only the same logotype already included in the stamp, that was builded by the "Rodrigo Aguirre Camblor - Cuidar la vida" Association for this special day, and it shows mainly the world map with the Rods of Asclepius in his center.

If you consider that there are another topics in this stamp, that were not spot in this review, you are encouraged to telling me about them, so please do not hesitate to post a comment. I would appreciate your help very much.

URU - 2013 - #012 - SERIE [2x2] - DAY OF PATIENT SAFETY

Uruguay - 2013 - Day of Patient Safety

If you are interested in any of this items, or any other items from Uruguay, just make a donation including your e-mail in the description.

I will contact you as soon I receive your donation, we agree on which items do you need, and I will discount the donation done to the amount of your purchase.

GO TO DESCRIPTION OF ISSUE

URU - 2013 - #012 - BLOCK - DAY OF PATIENT SAFETY

Uruguay - 2013 - Day of Patient Safety

If you are interested in any of this items, or any other items from Uruguay, just make a donation including your e-mail in the description.

I will contact you as soon I receive your donation, we agree on which items do you need, and I will discount the donation done to the amount of your purchase.

GO TO DESCRIPTION OF ISSUE

URU - 2013 - #012 - FDC not Sent - DAY OF PATIENT SAFETY

Uruguay - 2013 - Day of Patient Safety

If you are interested in any of this items, or any other items from Uruguay, just make a donation including your e-mail in the description.

I will contact you as soon I receive your donation, we agree on which items do you need, and I will discount the donation done to the amount of your purchase.

GO TO DESCRIPTION OF ISSUE

URU - 2013 - #012 - FDC Sent on First Day - DAY OF PATIENT SAFETY

Uruguay - 2013 - Day of Patient Safety

If you are interested in any of this items, or any other items from Uruguay, just make a donation including your e-mail in the description.

I will contact you as soon I receive your donation, we agree on which items do you need, and I will discount the donation done to the amount of your purchase.

GO TO DESCRIPTION OF ISSUE

URU - 2013 - #012 - COVER Sent on First Day - DAY OF PATIENT SAFETY

Uruguay - 2013 - Day of Patient Safety

If you are interested in any of this items, or any other items from Uruguay, just make a donation including your e-mail in the description.

I will contact you as soon I receive your donation, we agree on which items do you need, and I will discount the donation done to the amount of your purchase.

GO TO DESCRIPTION OF ISSUE

URU - 2013 - #012 - SERIE - DAY OF PATIENT SAFETY

Uruguay - 2013 - Day of Patient Safety

Options:

SERIE --- 1,40 EUR
SERIE [2X2] --- 5,50 EUR
BLOCK --- 12,00 EUR
FDC not Sent --- 2,80 EUR
FDC Sent on First Day --- 9,00 EUR
COVER Sent on First Day --- 6,00 EUR

If you are interested in any of this items, or any other items from Uruguay, just make a donation including your e-mail in the description.

I will contact you as soon I receive your donation, we agree on which items do you need, and I will discount the donation done to the amount of your purchase.

Issue information:

Country: Uruguay
Date: April 11th, 2013
Printed: 15.003 copies

Stamp Shape and Size: Rectangular [27 mm. x 39 mm.]
Perforation: Circular
Gum: Water Activated

Block Configuration: 9 stamps [3 x 3]
Block Shape and Size: Rectangular [110 mm. x 150 mm.]

FDC Type: Normal
FDC Shape and Size: Rectangular [165 mm. x 105 mm.]
Cover Shape and Size: Rectangular [241 mm. x 159 mm.]

Catalogue information:

Michel: No Data Available
Ivert: No Data Available
Scott: No Data Available
Stanley & Gibbons: No Data Available

Topics:

Issue:

This stamp commemorates the national day of the Patient Safety, that is planned to occur on April 14th of each year, since the year that the stamp was released, as a consequence of a draft legislation aleady voted positive by unanimity, and still not established by law.

This draft legislation states that all institution that provides health services, will implement this day several activities in all his location to raise awareness of the relevance of the activities that improve Patient Safety.

The desing of the stamp shows mainly the logotype created for that day by the Association named "Rodrigo Aguirre Camblor - Cuidar la vida", in english "Rodrigo Aguirre Camblor - Life Care", that it is an association created by the mother Rodrigo Aguirre Camblor, after the tragic death of Rodrigo in a case of medical malpractice, and that is focus in conscientization of this problematic, in order to diminish the incidence of malpractice in health institutions.

This logotype shows a spheric map of the world, and over it, in his center, the Rod of Asclepius, the serpent-entwined rod wielded by the Greek god Asclepius, a deity associated with healing and medicine.

It also add the legend: "Educar en prevención - Control - Corrección", that in english means: "Education on prevention - Checking - Correction", that is the motto of the Association.

Finally, the desing of the stamp is completed with the classic ribbon for activism in causes, this time in collor green, and both the ribbon and the Association logotype in a background of yellow green gradient.

This Day of Patient Safety referred by this stamp is an uruguayan only special day, not an international one, and the selection of the date April 14th for it, was because that in that day was born Rodrigo Aguirre, the victim of medical malpractice already mentioned.

It also exist a proposal from the "Colegio Internacional de Enfermeras", the International Association of Nurses, to establish an international day of patient safety, on each July 25th, however, until now, no other international organization is considering it.

Rodrigo Aguirre Camblor was born on April 14t of 1983, and passed away on 2007 by the consequence of medical malpractice.

The tragedy of Rodrigo Aguirre, was a well known case of malpractice, because of the Association created by his mother, and also, because of the parentage he has to the well known soccer player and coach Diego Aguirre, Southamerican champion as a player with uruguayan team Peñarol, and also finalist of the Southamerican cup with the same team as coach. Rodrigo Aguirre was a younger brother of Diego Aguirre.

Patient safety is a new healthcare discipline that emphasizes the reporting, analysis, and prevention of medical error that often leads to adverse healthcare events. The frequency and magnitude of avoidable adverse patient events was not well known until the 1990s, when multiple countries reported staggering numbers of patients harmed and killed by medical errors. Recognizing that healthcare errors impact 1 in every 10 patients around the world, the World Health Organization calls patient safety an endemic concern. Indeed, patient safety has emerged as a distinct healthcare discipline supported by an immature yet developing scientific framework. There is a significant transdisciplinary body of theoretical and research literature that informs the science of patient safety. The resulting patient safety knowledge continually informs improvement efforts such as: applying lessons learned from business and industry, adopting innovative technologies, educating providers and consumers, enhancing error reporting systems, and developing new economic incentives.

Millennia ago, Hippocrates recognized the potential for injuries that arise from the well intentioned actions of healers. Greek healers in the 4th Century B.C., drafted the Hippocratic Oath and pledged to "prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone." Since then, the directive primum non nocere (“first do no harm) has become a central tenet for contemporary medicine. However, despite an increasing emphasis on the scientific basis of medical practice in Europe and the United States in the late 19th Century, data on adverse outcomes were hard to come by and the various studies commissioned collected mostly anecdotal events.

In the United States, the public and the medical specialty of anesthesia were shocked in April 1982 by the ABC television program 20/20 entitled The Deep Sleep. Presenting accounts of anesthetic accidents, the producers stated that, every year, 6,000 Americans die or suffer brain damage related to these mishaps. In 1983, the British Royal Society of Medicine and the Harvard Medical School jointly sponsored a symposium on anesthesia deaths and injuries, resulting in an agreement to share statistics and to conduct studies. By 1984 the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) had established the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation (APSF). The APSF marked the first use of the term "patient safety" in the name of professional reviewing organization. Although anesthesiologists comprise only about 5% of physicians in the United States, anesthesiology became the leading medical specialty addressing issues of patient safety. Likewise in Australia, the Australian Patient Safety Foundation was founded in 1989 for anesthesia error monitoring. Both organizations were soon expanded as the magnitude of the medical error crisis became known.

In Greek mythology, the Rod of Asclepius (sometimes also spelled Asklepios or Aesculapius), also known as the asklepian, is a serpent-entwined rod wielded by the Greek god Asclepius, a deity associated with healing and medicine. The symbol has continued to be used in modern times, where it is associated with medicine and health care, yet frequently confused with the staff of the god Hermes, the caduceus. Theories have been proposed about the Greek origin of the symbol and its implications.

The most famous temple of Asclepius was at Epidaurus in north-eastern Peloponnese. Another famous healing temple (or asclepieion) was located on the island of Kos, where Hippocrates, the legendary "father of medicine", may have begun his career. Other asclepieia were situated in Trikala, Gortys (in Arcadia), and Pergamum in Asia.

In honor of Asclepius, a particular type of non-venomous snake was often used in healing rituals, and these snakes — the Aesculapian Snakes — crawled around freely on the floor in dormitories where the sick and injured slept. These snakes were introduced at the founding of each new temple of Asclepius throughout the classical world. From about 300 BC onwards, the cult of Asclepius grew very popular and pilgrims flocked to his healing temples (Asclepieia) to be cured of their ills. Ritual purification would be followed by offerings or sacrifices to the god (according to means), and the supplicant would then spend the night in the holiest part of the sanctuary - the abaton (or adyton). Any dreams or visions would be reported to a priest who would prescribe the appropriate therapy by a process of interpretation. Some healing temples also used sacred dogs to lick the wounds of sick petitioners.

The original Hippocratic Oath began with the invocation "I swear by Apollo the Physician and by Asclepius and by Hygieia and Panacea and by all the gods ..."

The serpent and the staff appear to have been separate symbols that were combined at some point in the development of the Asclepian cult. The significance of the serpent has been interpreted in many ways; sometimes the shedding of skin and renewal is emphasized as symbolizing rejuvenation, while other assessments center on the serpent as a symbol that unites and expresses the dual nature of the work of the physician, who deals with life and death, sickness and health. The ambiguity of the serpent as a symbol, and the contradictions it is thought to represent, reflect the ambiguity of the use of drugs, which can help or harm, as reflected in the meaning of the term pharmakon, which meant "drug", "medicine" and "poison" in ancient Greek. Products deriving from the bodies of snakes were known to have medicinal properties in ancient times, and in ancient Greece, at least some were aware that snake venom that might be fatal if it entered the bloodstream could often be imbibed. Snake venom appears to have been 'prescribed' in some cases as a form of therapy.

The staff has also been variously interpreted. One view is that it, like the serpent, "conveyed notions of resurrection and healing", while another (not necessarily incompatible) is that the staff was a walking stick associated with itinerant physicians. Cornutus, a Greek philosopher probably active in the first century CE, in the Theologiae Graecae Compendium (Ch. 33) offers a view of the significance of both snake and staff:

Asclepius derived his name from healing soothingly and from deferring the withering that comes with death. For this reason, therefore, they give him a serpent as an attribute, indicating that those who avail themselves of medical science undergo a process similar to the serpent in that they, as it were, grow young again after illnesses and slough off old age; also because the serpent is a sign of attention, much of which is required in medical treatments. The staff also seems to be a symbol of some similar thing. For by means of this it is set before our minds that unless we are supported by such inventions as these, in so far as falling continually into sickness is concerned, stumbling along we would fall even sooner than necessary.

In any case the two symbols certainly merged in antiquity as representations of the snake coiled about the staff are common. It has been claimed that the snake wrapped around the staff was a species of rat snake, Elaphe longissima.

A number of organizations and services use the rod of Asclepius as their logo, or part of their logo.

It is relatively common, especially in the United States, to find the caduceus, with its two snakes and wings, used as a symbol of medicine instead of the correct Rod of Asclepius, with only a single snake. This usage is erroneous, popularised largely as a result of the adoption of the caduceus as its insignia by the U.S. Army Medical Corps in 1902 at the insistence of a single officer (though there are conflicting claims as to whether this was Capt. Frederick P. Reynolds or Col. John R. van Hoff).

The rod of Asclepius is the dominant symbol for professional healthcare associations in the United States. One survey found that 62% of professional healthcare associations used the rod of Asclepius as their symbol. The same survey found that 76% of commercial healthcare organizations used the Caduceus symbol. The author of the study suggests the difference exists because professional associations are more likely to have a real understanding of the two symbols, whereas commercial organizations are more likely to be concerned with the visual impact a symbol will have in selling their products.

Asclepius is the god of medicine and healing in ancient Greek religion. Asclepius represents the healing aspect of the medical arts; his daughters are Hygieia ("Hygiene", the goddess/personification of health, cleanliness, and sanitation), Iaso (the goddess of recuperation from illness), Aceso (the goddess of the healing process), Aglæa/Ægle (the goddess of beauty, splendor, glory, magnificence, and adornment), and Panacea (the goddess of universal remedy). He was associated with the Roman/Etruscan god Vediovis. He was one of Apollo's sons, sharing with Apollo the epithet Paean ("the Healer"). The rod of Asclepius, a snake-entwined staff, remains a symbol of medicine today.

He was the son of Apollo and Coronis. His mother was killed for being unfaithful to Apollo and was laid out on a funeral pyre to be consumed, but the unborn child was rescued from her womb. Or, alternatively, his mother died in labor and was laid out on the pyre to be consumed, but his father rescued the child, cutting him from her womb. From this he received the name Asklepios, "to cut open.", Apollo carried the baby to the centaur Chiron who raised Asclepius and instructed him in the art of medicine.

Asclepius was married to Epione, with whom he had six daughters: Hygieia, Meditrina (the serpent-bearer),[disambiguation needed] Panacea, Aceso, Iaso, and Aglaea,[6][7] and three sons: Machaon, Podaleirios and Telesphoros. He also sired a son, Aratus, with Aristodama. The names of his daughters each rather transparently reflect a certain subset of the overall theme of "good health"

At some point, Asclepius was among those who took part in the Calydonian Boar hunt.

Zeus killed Asclepius with a thunderbolt because he raised Hippolytus from the dead and accepted gold for it. Other stories say that Asclepius was killed because after bringing people back from the dead, Hades thought that no more dead spirits would come to the underworld, so he asked his brother Zeus to remove him. This angered Apollo who in turn murdered the Cyclopes who had made the thunderbolts for Zeus. For this act, Zeus suspended Apollo from the night sky and commanded Apollo to serve Admetus, King of Thessaly for a year. Once the year had passed, Zeus brought Apollo back to Mount Olympus and revived the Cyclopes that made his thunderbolts. After Asclepius' death, Zeus placed his body among the stars as the constellation Ophiuchus ("the Serpent Holder").

Some sources also stated that Asclepius was later resurrected as a god by Zeus to prevent any further feuds with Apollo.

Greek mythology is the body of myths and teachings that belong to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. It was a part of the religion in ancient Greece. Modern scholars refer to and study the myths in an attempt to throw light on the religious and political institutions of Ancient Greece and its civilization, and to gain understanding of the nature of myth-making itself.

Greek mythology is explicitly embodied in a large collection of narratives, and implicitly in Greek representational arts, such as vase-paintings and votive gifts. Greek myth attempts to explain the origins of the world, and details the lives and adventures of a wide variety of gods, goddesses, heroes, heroines, and mythological creatures. These accounts initially were disseminated in an oral-poetic tradition; today the Greek myths are known primarily from Greek literature.

The oldest known Greek literary sources, Homer's epic poems Iliad and Odyssey, focus on the Trojan War and its aftermath. Two poems by Homer's near contemporary Hesiod, the Theogony and the Works and Days, contain accounts of the genesis of the world, the succession of divine rulers, the succession of human ages, the origin of human woes, and the origin of sacrificial practices. Myths are also preserved in the Homeric Hymns, in fragments of epic poems of the Epic Cycle, in lyric poems, in the works of the tragedians of the fifth century BC, in writings of scholars and poets of the Hellenistic Age, and in texts from the time of the Roman Empire by writers such as Plutarch and Pausanias.

Archaeological findings provide a principal source of detail about Greek mythology, with gods and heroes featured prominently in the decoration of many artifacts. Geometric designs on pottery of the eighth century BC depict scenes from the Trojan cycle as well as the adventures of Heracles. In the succeeding Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic periods, Homeric and various other mythological scenes appear, supplementing the existing literary evidence. Greek mythology has had an extensive influence on the culture, arts, and literature of Western civilization and remains part of Western heritage and language. Poets and artists from ancient times to the present have derived inspiration from Greek mythology and have discovered contemporary significance and relevance in the themes.

The Aesculapian Snake (now Zamenis longissimus, previously Elaphe longissima), a member of the Colubrinae subfamily of the family Colubridae, is a nonvenomous snake native to Europe. With up to 2 meters in length, it counts among the largest European snakes, though not as massive as the Four-lined Snake or the Montpellier Snake. The species has been of cultural and historical significance for its role in ancient Greek and Roman mythology and derived symbolism.

The snakes hatch at around 30 cm (11.8 in) and average at around 110 cm (43.3 in) to 150 cm (59 in) but can grow up to 200 cm (79 in) (225 cm (89 in)). They are dark, long, slender, and typically about bronze in color with smooth scales that give them a metallic sheen.

Juveniles can easily be confused with juvenile Grass Snakes, also having a yellow collar on their neck that may persist for some time in younger adults. They are light green or brownish-green with various darker patterns along the flanks and on their back. Two darker patches appear in the form of lines running on the top of the flanks. The head in juveniles also features several distinctive dark spots, one hoof-like on the back of the head in-between the yellow neck stripes, and two paired ones, thereof one horizontal stripe running from the eye and connecting to the neck marks, and one short vertical stripe connecting the eye with the 4th to 5th mouth (supralabial) scales.

Adults are much more uniform, sometimes being olive-yellow, brownish-green, sometimes almost black. Often in adults, there may be a more or less regular pattern of white-edged dorsal scales appearing as white freckles all over the body up to moire-like structures in places, enhancing the shiny metallic appearance. Sometimes especially when pale in color, two darker longitudinal lines along the flanks can be visible. The belly is plain yellow to off-white while the round iris has amber to ochre coloration. Both melanistic and albinotic natural forms are known, as is a dark grey form and even erythristic specimen.

Although there is no noticeable sexual dimorphism in coloration, males grow significantly longer than females, presumably because of the more significant energy input of the latter into the reproductive cycle. Maximum weight for German populations has been 890g for males and 550g for females (Böhme 1993; Gomille 2002). Other distinctions, as in many snakes, include relatively longer tail to total body length and a wider tail base in males.

Scale arrangement includes 23 scale rows at mid body (rarely 19 or 21), 211-250 ventral scales, a divided anal scale and 60-91 paired caudal scales (Schultz 1996; Arnold 2002). Ventral scales are sharply angled where the underside meets the body, which enhances the species' climbing ability.

Lifespan is estimated at about 25 to 30 years.

Block:

The block is only decorated with four Rods of Asclepius, to show the inks used in printing, and the legend of the centenary of the release "14 de Abril - Día de la Seguridad del Paciente", that it translation to english is "April 14th - Day of Patient Safety".

FDC:

The desing of the First Day Cancelation, shows only the same logotype already included in the stamp, that was builded by the "Rodrigo Aguirre Camblor - Cuidar la vida" Association for this special day, and it shows mainly the world map with the Rods of Asclepius in his center.

If you consider that there are another topics in this stamp, that were not spot in this review, you are encouraged to telling me about them, so please do not hesitate to post a comment. I would appreciate your help very much.

URU - 2013 - #011 - SPECIAL CANCELATION not Sent 1 - XI CONGRESS OF (COPAPROSE)

Uruguay - 2013 - XI Congress of COPAPROSE

Options:

FDC not Sent 1 --- 4,50 EUR
FDC not Sent 2 --- 4,50 EUR
FDC Sent on First Day 1 --- 9,00 EUR
FDC Sent on First Day 2 --- 9,00 EUR

If you are interested in any of this items, or any other items from Uruguay, just make a donation including your e-mail in the description.

I will contact you as soon I receive your donation, we agree on which items do you need, and I will discount the donation done to the amount of your purchase.

Issue information:

Country: Uruguay
Date: April 10th, 2013

FDC Type: Normal
FDC Shape and Size: Rectangular [165 mm. x 105 mm.]

Topics:

Issue:

This special cancelation was released to commemorate eleventh congress of "Confederación Panamericana de Productores de Seguros (COPAPROSE)", that in english means: "Pan American Confederation of Insurance Producers", that took place in the Hotel "Radisson Montevideo Victoria Plaza", since the day of issue of this cancelation, April 10th of 2013, to April 12th of the same year.

The design of the cancelation it is composed, besides the legends included in it, by a highly stylized map of the Americas, barely identifiable as the Americas map, as it is shows only it contour and it is crossed by curved lines, that are not in the same pattern in South and North America, in the second one the continent seems to be taken away from the map. Undoubtedly a very strange design for the Americas map.

The legends names the congress in the main one: "XI Congreso COPAPROSE URUGUAY 2013", and in the circunference that works as the limit of the cancelation, the date and the place in which the congress took place is written: "10, 11 y 12 de abril de 2013 - Radisson Montevideo Victoria Plaza Hotel". Finally, the last legend, is the one for all official post office cancelations and says: "Correos URUGUAY".

For the creation of the covers in which this special cancelations will be applied, two releases were selected, and the choice of them was quite obvious. In the last years, only two stamps were issued in the topic of insurance, and both were dedicated to the gubernamental institution that provides this service that is the "Banco de Seguros del Estado (BSE)", that in english means: "National Bank of Insurances". That two stamps were released on 2001 and 2011, and there issued to commemorate the 90th and 100th anniversary of this bank.

In both stamps a headquarter of the bank is shown, in the first one the actual headquarter was depicted, and in the second one, and antique one was included, ones that now serves as an historical museum.

Although stamps were released in dates as far away as a decade, just by chance, their facial value is the same, just 12 Uruguayan Pesos (UYP). As the minimum postage value is 15 UYP, and for the application of the cancelation at least this amount should be included, a pair of the stamps was used in both non sent FDCs. Then, for the cirulated ones, as the certified local postage at the time of the cover creation was 50 UYP, a block of four was used for these covers, accompanied by a neutral mailbox stamp of 2 UYP to reach the exact postage value.

In the 11th Congress of COPAPROSE took place three different meetings: The meeting of the Board, the Annual General Assembly, and an Extraordinary General Assembly of the COPAPROSE.

These meetings of the most important organs of the Confederacy, were done in order to analyze the ongoing projects, development plans for the sector, the adoption of new administrative measures, new changes to the bylaws, among others issues.

The COPAPROSE addresses the Uruguayan Association, in developing the program for this XI Regional Congress. The remuneration of the producer, The evolution of the insurance market in Latin America, and microinsurances were issues addressed in this conference which brought together the top leaders of Latin American Insurances firms.

The Board of COPAPROSE has initiated a series of actions in order to provide useful services to member associations of the Confederation and its members. Aware of the growing importance are acquiring, in our environment, communication actions, as an indispensable tool for the establishment and development of insurance business, COPAPROSE has launched a survey among its members on the activities of their associations, which have followed a series of reflections shared by the representatives of the Board to finish in a useful guide that can serve as reference for insurance producers in Latin America, Spain and Portugal, guide that was presented in the congress.

COPAPROSE is an international non-profit institution, based in Panama, which groups Insurance Producers Associations (Agents and Brokers) throughout Latin America, Spain and Portugal, Canada and the United States.

Its function is the defense, promotion and development of the insurance producer, and the representation of their interests.

At present there are 20 countries participating actively in COPAPROSE.

Radisson Montevideo Victoria Plaza Hotel is a hotel located on the central Plaza Independencia in the Old City neighbourhood of Montevideo, Uruguay, operated by Radisson. It is one of the top hotels in the city.

The Radisson Montevideo has 232 rooms and contains a casino and is served by the Restaurante Arcadia, one of Montevideo's best restaurants, on the 25th floor.

The original building, which opened on December 15th of 1952, and was designed by Argentine architects SEPRA, was added in 1996 a second building, designed by architects Gomez Platero, Cohesion and Alberti.

In the '60s passed through the hands of the Intercontinental hotel chain, and since 1999 is managed by the Radisson.

Radisson Hotels is a major international hotel company with more than 420 locations in 73 countries.

The first Radisson Hotel was built in 1909 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. This hotel, and then the company was named after the 17th-century French explorer Pierre-Esprit Radisson. The Hotel, was founded by heiress Edna Dickerson, and was opened on December 15, 1909 at 41 South Seventh Street in Minneapolis.

The hotel was purchased in 1962 by Curt Carlson (1914–1999) and is still owned by the Carlson estate.

The majority of Radisson-branded hotels are located in the United States. The company's headquarters, as well as the headquarters of the parent organization, Carlson, are located in a suburb of Minneapolis, Minnesota, the city where the first Radisson Hotel was built.

If you consider that there are another topics in this stamp, that were not spot in this review, you are encouraged to telling me about them, so please do not hesitate to post a comment. I would appreciate your help very much.

URU - 2013 - #011 - SPECIAL CANCELATION Sent on First Day 1 - XI CONGRESS OF (COPAPROSE)

Uruguay - 2013 - XI Congress of COPAPROSE

If you are interested in any of this items, or any other items from Uruguay, just make a donation including your e-mail in the description.

I will contact you as soon I receive your donation, we agree on which items do you need, and I will discount the donation done to the amount of your purchase.

GO TO DESCRIPTION OF ISSUE

URU - 2013 - #011 - SPECIAL CANCELATION Sent on First Day 2 - XI CONGRESS OF (COPAPROSE)

Uruguay - 2013 - XI Congress of COPAPROSE

If you are interested in any of this items, or any other items from Uruguay, just make a donation including your e-mail in the description.

I will contact you as soon I receive your donation, we agree on which items do you need, and I will discount the donation done to the amount of your purchase.

GO TO DESCRIPTION OF ISSUE

URU - 2013 - #011 - SPECIAL CANCELATION not Sent 2 - XI CONGRESS OF (COPAPROSE)

Uruguay - 2013 - XI Congress of COPAPROSE

If you are interested in any of this items, or any other items from Uruguay, just make a donation including your e-mail in the description.

I will contact you as soon I receive your donation, we agree on which items do you need, and I will discount the donation done to the amount of your purchase.

GO TO DESCRIPTION OF ISSUE

URU - 2013 - #011 - SPECIAL CANCELATION not Sent 1 - XI CONGRESS OF (COPAPROSE)

Uruguay - 2013 - XI Congress of COPAPROSE

Options:

FDC not Sent 1 --- 4,50 EUR
FDC not Sent 2 --- 4,50 EUR
FDC Sent on First Day 1 --- 9,00 EUR
FDC Sent on First Day 2 --- 9,00 EUR

If you are interested in any of this items, or any other items from Uruguay, just make a donation including your e-mail in the description.

I will contact you as soon I receive your donation, we agree on which items do you need, and I will discount the donation done to the amount of your purchase.

Issue information:

Country: Uruguay
Date: April 10th, 2013

FDC Type: Normal
FDC Shape and Size: Rectangular [165 mm. x 105 mm.]

Topics:

Issue:

This special cancelation was released to commemorate eleventh congress of "Confederación Panamericana de Productores de Seguros (COPAPROSE)", that in english means: "Pan American Confederation of Insurance Producers", that took place in the Hotel "Radisson Montevideo Victoria Plaza", since the day of issue of this cancelation, April 10th of 2013, to April 12th of the same year.

The design of the cancelation it is composed, besides the legends included in it, by a highly stylized map of the Americas, barely identifiable as the Americas map, as it is shows only it contour and it is crossed by curved lines, that are not in the same pattern in South and North America, in the second one the continent seems to be taken away from the map. Undoubtedly a very strange design for the Americas map.

The legends names the congress in the main one: "XI Congreso COPAPROSE URUGUAY 2013", and in the circunference that works as the limit of the cancelation, the date and the place in which the congress took place is written: "10, 11 y 12 de abril de 2013 - Radisson Montevideo Victoria Plaza Hotel". Finally, the last legend, is the one for all official post office cancelations and says: "Correos URUGUAY".

For the creation of the covers in which this special cancelations will be applied, two releases were selected, and the choice of them was quite obvious. In the last years, only two stamps were issued in the topic of insurance, and both were dedicated to the gubernamental institution that provides this service that is the "Banco de Seguros del Estado (BSE)", that in english means: "National Bank of Insurances". That two stamps were released on 2001 and 2011, and there issued to commemorate the 90th and 100th anniversary of this bank.

In both stamps a headquarter of the bank is shown, in the first one the actual headquarter was depicted, and in the second one, and antique one was included, ones that now serves as an historical museum.

Although stamps were released in dates as far away as a decade, just by chance, their facial value is the same, just 12 Uruguayan Pesos (UYP). As the minimum postage value is 15 UYP, and for the application of the cancelation at least this amount should be included, a pair of the stamps was used in both non sent FDCs. Then, for the cirulated ones, as the certified local postage at the time of the cover creation was 50 UYP, a block of four was used for these covers, accompanied by a neutral mailbox stamp of 2 UYP to reach the exact postage value.

In the 11th Congress of COPAPROSE took place three different meetings: The meeting of the Board, the Annual General Assembly, and an Extraordinary General Assembly of the COPAPROSE.

These meetings of the most important organs of the Confederacy, were done in order to analyze the ongoing projects, development plans for the sector, the adoption of new administrative measures, new changes to the bylaws, among others issues.

The COPAPROSE addresses the Uruguayan Association, in developing the program for this XI Regional Congress. The remuneration of the producer, The evolution of the insurance market in Latin America, and microinsurances were issues addressed in this conference which brought together the top leaders of Latin American Insurances firms.

The Board of COPAPROSE has initiated a series of actions in order to provide useful services to member associations of the Confederation and its members. Aware of the growing importance are acquiring, in our environment, communication actions, as an indispensable tool for the establishment and development of insurance business, COPAPROSE has launched a survey among its members on the activities of their associations, which have followed a series of reflections shared by the representatives of the Board to finish in a useful guide that can serve as reference for insurance producers in Latin America, Spain and Portugal, guide that was presented in the congress.

COPAPROSE is an international non-profit institution, based in Panama, which groups Insurance Producers Associations (Agents and Brokers) throughout Latin America, Spain and Portugal, Canada and the United States.

Its function is the defense, promotion and development of the insurance producer, and the representation of their interests.

At present there are 20 countries participating actively in COPAPROSE.

Radisson Montevideo Victoria Plaza Hotel is a hotel located on the central Plaza Independencia in the Old City neighbourhood of Montevideo, Uruguay, operated by Radisson. It is one of the top hotels in the city.

The Radisson Montevideo has 232 rooms and contains a casino and is served by the Restaurante Arcadia, one of Montevideo's best restaurants, on the 25th floor.

The original building, which opened on December 15th of 1952, and was designed by Argentine architects SEPRA, was added in 1996 a second building, designed by architects Gomez Platero, Cohesion and Alberti.

In the '60s passed through the hands of the Intercontinental hotel chain, and since 1999 is managed by the Radisson.

Radisson Hotels is a major international hotel company with more than 420 locations in 73 countries.

The first Radisson Hotel was built in 1909 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. This hotel, and then the company was named after the 17th-century French explorer Pierre-Esprit Radisson. The Hotel, was founded by heiress Edna Dickerson, and was opened on December 15, 1909 at 41 South Seventh Street in Minneapolis.

The hotel was purchased in 1962 by Curt Carlson (1914–1999) and is still owned by the Carlson estate.

The majority of Radisson-branded hotels are located in the United States. The company's headquarters, as well as the headquarters of the parent organization, Carlson, are located in a suburb of Minneapolis, Minnesota, the city where the first Radisson Hotel was built.

If you consider that there are another topics in this stamp, that were not spot in this review, you are encouraged to telling me about them, so please do not hesitate to post a comment. I would appreciate your help very much.

URU - 2013 - #010 - SERIE - PROMINENT PERSONALITIES OF URUGUAY, NIBYA MARIÑO

Uruguay - 2013 - Prominent personalities of Uruguay, Nibya Mariño

Options:

SERIE --- 1,40 EUR
SERIE [1X2] with LABEL --- 3,20 EUR
SERIE [2X2] with LABEL --- 5,60 EUR
BLOCK --- 10,00 EUR
FDC not Sent --- 2,80 EUR
FDC Sent on First Day --- 9,00 EUR
COVER Sent on First Day --- 6,00 EUR

If you are interested in any of this items, or any other items from Uruguay, just make a donation including your e-mail in the description.

I will contact you as soon I receive your donation, we agree on which items do you need, and I will discount the donation done to the amount of your purchase.

Issue information:

Country: Uruguay
Date: March 22nd, 2013
Printed: 15.000 copies

Stamp Shape and Size: Rectangular [39 mm. x 27 mm.]
Perforation: Circular
Gum: Water Activated

Block Configuration: 8 stamps [3 x 3] and one Label at position 2,2
[ [STAMP, STAMP, STAMP]
[STAMP, LABEL, STAMP]
[STAMP, STAMP, STAMP] ]
Block Shape and Size: Rectangular [150 mm. x 133 mm.]

FDC Type: Special for this issue
FDC Shape and Size: Rectangular [169 mm. x 89 mm.]
Cover Shape and Size: Rectangular [241 mm. x 159 mm.]

Catalogue information:

Michel: No Data Available
Ivert: No Data Available
Scott: No Data Available
Stanley & Gibbons: No Data Available

Topics:

Issue:

This stamp is a new release of an annually that is being issued since last year about prominent personalities of Uruguay. This year, the honour of being chosen for this serie, it is for Nibya Mariño, a contemporary classical pianist from Uruguay.

The stamp, which was released just one day before the 94th birthday of Nibya, shows a picture of her, deeply concentrated and with fierce attitude, with his hands over a black grand piano, in one of his recent concertos.

The design is completed with the logo of the serie with the legend "Personalidades destacadas del Uruguay", that in english means "Prominent personalities of Uruguay", crossed with a white and sky-blue national ribbon, and bellow of this legend, the name of the pianist honoured.

This release repeats the block configuration introduced in the eight issue of this year about soccer team "Defensor", and adds an unique label in the center position of the block, making it a valuable collector item, as it exist only one for each eight stamps that composes the block. Both Label and block design will be described later, each one in their respective sections.

In relation to the annually serie, this second release shows that there is from a wide domain that the personalities are selected, as the other personality selected was from a completely different activity, as it was Enrique Iglesias, an also contemporanean, however an economist man, that received global recognition after being elected president of the Inter-American Development Bank in 1988.

Finally, another topics that could be considered to be present in this stamp are: women, music, musical instruments, wood, and gray hair.

Nybia Marino Bellini was born on March 23th of 1919 in Montevideo, and is a worldwide known Uruguayan classical pianist.

He began his musical training being very small with Master William Kolischer. He debuted at the age of six years, and only a few years later, still being a little girl, she gives a concert at the theater "Colón" in Buenos Aires, playing the Concerto in LA minor Op 54 by Robert Schumann, under the direction of Ernest Ansermet.

He traveled to Paris to improve her technique, where she took part in several competitions, standing out his performance in Brussels, in the Isaye contest, where she was the best and get very good returns. From there, Mariño began a series of concerts throughout Europe, Latin America and the United States.

He continued her studies in the United States with Claudio Arrau, considered the greatest pianist in the world. In this country recorded three CDs, two works by Schumann and the other with the Concerto for Two Pianos of Poulenc with the also Uruguayan Enrique Graf and an orchestra, under the direction of David Stohl.

She had played in the most important theaters of the world, both in the U.S. and Europe. He formed a remembered duo with Hugo Balzo. In 1994 she received an award from the Organization of American States (OAS) for her contribution to the artistic community of the Americas.

In late March 2009 he was honored for his 90 years of life. The concert, organized by SODRE Symphony Orchestra under the direction of maestro Piero Gamba, included the Piano Concerto No. 4 Op 58 by Ludwig van Beethoven.

She is married to Walter Pintos Surmani (son of well known uruguayan architect Walter Pintos Risso), and is the mother of Sergio Pintos Marino.

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also popular as a tool for composing and rehearsal. Although not portable and often expensive, the piano's versatility and ubiquity have made it one of the world's most familiar musical instruments.

Pressing a key on the piano's keyboard causes a padded (often with felt) hammer to strike steel strings. The hammers rebound, and the strings continue to vibrate at their resonant frequency. These vibrations are transmitted through a bridge to a sounding board that more efficiently couples the acoustic energy to the air. The sound would otherwise be no louder than that directly produced by the strings. When the key is released, a damper stops the string's vibration and the sound. See the article on Piano key frequencies for a picture of the piano keyboard and the location of middle-C. In the Hornbostel-Sachs system of instrument classification, pianos are considered chordophones.

The word piano is a shortened form of pianoforte (PF), the Italian word for the instrument (which in turn derives from the previous terms gravicembalo col piano e forte and fortepiano). The Italian musical terms piano and forte indicate "soft" and "strong" respectively, in this context referring to the variations in sound volume the instrument produces in response to a pianist's touch on the keys: the greater the velocity of a key press, the greater the force of the hammer hitting the strings, and the louder the sound of the note produced.

The piano was founded on earlier technological innovations. The first string instruments with struck strings were the hammered dulcimers.[3] During the Middle Ages, there were several attempts at creating stringed keyboard instruments with struck strings. By the 17th century, the mechanisms of keyboard instruments such as the clavichord and the harpsichord were well known. In a clavichord the strings are struck by tangents, while in a harpsichord they are plucked by quills. Centuries of work on the mechanism of the harpsichord in particular had shown the most effective ways to construct the case, soundboard, bridge, and keyboard for a mechanism intended to hammer strings.

The invention of the modern piano is credited to Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655–1731) of Padua, Italy, who was employed by Ferdinando de' Medici, Grand Prince of Tuscany, as the Keeper of the Instruments. He was an expert harpsichord maker, and was well acquainted with the body of knowledge on stringed keyboard instruments. It is not known exactly when Cristofori first built a piano. An inventory made by his employers, the Medici family, indicates the existence of a piano by the year 1700; another document of doubtful authenticity indicates a date of 1698. The three Cristofori pianos that survive today date from the 1720s.

While the clavichord allowed expressive control of volume and sustain, it was too quiet for large performances. The harpsichord produced a sufficiently loud sound, but had little expressive control over each note. The piano was likely formed as an attempt to combine loudness with control, avoiding the trade-offs of available instruments.

Cristofori's great success was solving, with no prior example, the fundamental mechanical problem of piano design: the hammer must strike the string, but not remain in contact with it (as a tangent remains in contact with a clavichord string) because this would dampen the sound. Moreover, the hammer must return to its rest position without bouncing violently, and it must be possible to repeat a note rapidly. Cristofori's piano action was a model for the many different approaches to piano actions that followed. Cristofori's early instruments were made with thin strings, and were much quieter than the modern piano—but compared to the clavichord (the only previous keyboard instrument capable of dynamic nuance via the keyboard) they were much louder and had more sustain.

Cristofori's new instrument remained relatively unknown until an Italian writer, Scipione Maffei, wrote an enthusiastic article about it in 1711, including a diagram of the mechanism. This article was widely distributed, and most of the next generation of piano builders started their work due to reading it. One of these builders was Gottfried Silbermann, better known as an organ builder. Silbermann's pianos were virtually direct copies of Cristofori's, with one important addition: Silbermann invented the forerunner of the modern damper pedal, which lifts all the dampers from the strings simultaneously.

Piano-making flourished during the late 18th century in the Viennese school, which included Johann Andreas Stein (who worked in Augsburg, Germany) and the Viennese makers Nannette Streicher (daughter of Stein) and Anton Walter. Viennese-style pianos were built with wood frames, two strings per note, and had leather-covered hammers. Some of these Viennese pianos had the opposite coloring of modern-day pianos; the natural keys were black and the accidental keys white. It was for such instruments that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed his concertos and sonatas, and replicas of them are built today for use in authentic-instrument performance of his music. The pianos of Mozart's day had a softer, more ethereal tone than today's pianos or English pianos, with less sustaining power. The term fortepiano is now used to distinguish the 18th-century instrument from later pianos.

In the period lasting from about 1790 to 1860, the Mozart-era piano underwent tremendous changes that led to the modern form of the instrument. This revolution was in response to a preference by composers and pianists for a more powerful, sustained piano sound, and made possible by the ongoing Industrial Revolution with resources such as high-quality piano wire for strings, and precision casting for the production of iron frames. Over time, the tonal range of the piano was also increased from the five octaves of Mozart's day to the 7⅓ or more octaves found on modern pianos.

Label:

The label design is divided in two frames. The right one shows a beautiful picture with a close-up of Nibya Marino in her youth, with it sight pointing a bit upwards, and her hands together below her chin. Then, left one also present a picture, however this time of a poster that promotes an early concert of this pianist.

The concert was held, as it is said in the poster, on a Saturday June 24th, of a year that we do not know, in the auditoriom of the "Orquesta Sinfónica del Servicio Oficial de Difusión Radio Eléctrica (OSSODDRE), that is the national symphonic orchestra of Uruguay. The concert, as also expressed in the poster, has two functions, one at 18:00 and the other at 21:00, and was directed by Lamberto Baldi, one of the most known directors of the OSSSODRE.

The poster besides the information about the concert, shows another nice picture of Nibya, wearing a dress, and looking very young, surely younger even than in the right picture.

Finally, also from the poster, it could be seen that the coat of arms is included in it, so this label could be useful, for very deep searchers collectors of topics coat of arms, and also for collectors of animals, specially horses and cows, measurement instruments, specially scales, and Lighthouses, as a horse, a cow, a scale, and the Hill of Montevideo with his lighthouse are included in the Coat of Arms of Uruguay

The "Servicio Oficial de Difusión, Radiotelevisión y Espectáculos (SODRE)", that in english means "Official Service of Broadcasting, Radio, Television, and Shows", is an institute under the Ministry of Education and Culture of Uruguay, for the dissemination and generation of information, art and culture in general. It was created by Law No. 8,557 on December 19th of 1929.

Created as "Servicio Oficial de Difusión Radio Eléctrica", that could be translated in english to "Official Service of Radio Electric Broadcasting", its initial function was to broadcast cultural and information programs, that is transmit shows or performances of an artistic, scientific, illustrative or entertaining purposes for the spiritual improvement of the country's inhabitants. The law also mandated creation, among other things, of schools and conservatories, and to acquire and lease phonographic material, theatrical, cinematic, or printed music that relates to their activities, also to edit catalogs, programs or other publications, among other things. By the same law established a symphony orchestra, a chamber, a choir, a ballet, theaters, an audio library and other departments.

The SODRE now has four stable divisions: Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Music, Choir, and Corps de Ballet, and it also had the "Escuela Nacional de Danza", in english "National Dance School", also three medium wave radio stations, two in shortwave and five in modulated frequency. Besides it has a Museum of the Word, that treasures intellectuals recordings of speechs done by personalities from art, culture, society, politics, and a National Archive Image that, in addition to preserving a valuable historical heritage , it also produces and exhibits films and videos.

The "Orquestra Sinfónica del SODRE (OSSODRE)", the SODRE Symphony Orchestra, began operations on June 20th of 1931, directed by Vicente Pablo. With 103 musicians, began the path of longest-lived body in Uruguay in the official plan. In the history of the orchestra it is remarkable the contribution of Erich Kleiber. During World War II, Uruguay get benefited from the arrival of teachers who settled in America.

Then, directed by Kleiber, Albert Wolf and Fritz Busch, OSSODRE received the distinguished visitors as Jascha Horeinstein, Paul Paray, Clement Krauss, Hermann Scherchen, Victor de Sabata, Malcolm Sargent, Arthur Rodzinsky, Nikolai Malko, Paul Klechi, Witold Rowicki, Leopold Ludwig, Wilhelm Van Otterloo, Kiril Kondrashin, Jean Martinon, Enrique Jorda, Antal Dorati and Howard Mitchell, among others.

After that there came a crisis with the removal of most of the musicians and was called Lamberto Baldi to reorganize the orchestra. Following an international call, the OSSODRE reached its highest level, however, with the departure of Baldi, programs began to lose interest, and the Studio Theater fire in 1971 was a blow to the orchestra. Thereafter, he had no fixed place, so it has to rehearse and act in Teatro Solis and other rooms. This led to impairments in the technical and the beginning of a period of ups and downs.

The stable direction of Juan José Castro enriched the repertoire of the twentieth century, with fundamental contributions of De Falla, Hindemith, Stravinsky, Dmitri Shostakovich, Bela Bartok. From 1985 came back world renowned directors such as Simon Blech, Jorghe Rotter, Shunji Aretani, and new names like the Mexican Eduardo Diazmuñoz, Nicolas Rauss, Nicolas Pasquet or Brazilian David Machado.

At a later stage, was appointed artistic director Roberto Montenegro, who was inclined to more sober and traditional repertoire than its predecessor. Then headed Piero Gamba and stable David Machado as director from 1966. His unexpected death left a void that Piero Gamba was able to fill in the emergency.

Lamberto Baldi was born on 1895 in Orvieto, Italy, and passed away on 1979 in Montevideo, he was an Italian conductor and composer.

Baldi received his musical training in Orvieto, and then studied with Ildebrando Pizzetti in Florence. After working in various European countries, in 1926, he emigrated to South America. Until 1931 he was Director of the "Sociedad de Conciertos Sinfónicos" of San Pablo, and then he worked until 1942 (and again in 1951-1953) as director of the OSSODRE.

Then he conducted at the Colón Theater in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and wwas director of the Municipal Symphony Orchestra of that city from 1947 to 1949. Finally, from 1962 to 1963 he organized the Chamber Orchestra of the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon Caloustre.

Baldi led mainly on the works of contemporary composers such as Claude Debussy, Paul Hindemith, Arthur Honegger, Igor Stravinsky, Eduardo Fabini and Héctor Tosar. He also orchestrated the opera Euridice by Jacopo Peri, who had worldwide success after its premiere on 1949 in Montevideo.

Block:

The block design is nice and reinforces the content of stamps and label. The major highlight of it is the inclusion of another picture, surely from the same concert as the one of the stamp photograph, in which Nibya's hands receive the main attention, as they are placed above the stamps and between the two legends of the block, that repeats the ones of the stamp, that are "Prominent personalities of Uruguay, and the name of the pianist.

The picture mentioned it is blurred and faded as one goes from up to down, and the design is completed with a set of four stylized icons of grand pianos to show the inks used to print the block.

FDC:

The cancelation is quite simple, besides the legends present in both stamp and block, that express the name of this anual serie, and the name of the personality chosen this year, i also includes a section of the keyboard of a piano.

Then, about the cover of the FDC, it is a special one, specially built for this release. However, the design of the cover it is intentionally not fully original, as is it is follows the same pattern of the one made for the release of this serie of prominent personalities of Uruguay of past year. The only difference is that now "Sra. Nibya Mariño" replaces "Cr. Enrique V. Iglesias" of the previous cover, however maintaining the same stylized font.

If you consider that there are another topics in this stamp, that were not spot in this review, you are encouraged to telling me about them, so please do not hesitate to post a comment. I would appreciate your help very much.