Switzerland annually issues a set of Pro Juventute semi-postals to benefit youth and family welfare causes. This year`s stamps, issued on Tuesday, also will help youngsters and the public to identify various trees and at the same time promote awareness of endangered woodlands.
Each stamp depicts the shape of leaves and fruit against an outline of each tree. This year`s theme of the Pro Juventute (For Youth) Foundation stamps is ”Woods Part of the Child`s World.” The designs illustrate the copper beech, 50+25 centimes; Norway maple, 70+30 centimes; common oak, 80+40 centimes; and spruce, 90+40 centimes.
The Pro Juventute series usually includes four stamps, but an extra semi- postal will be issued this year to herald the fund-raising venture`s 80th anniversary. The 50+25-centime stamp portrays the head and shoulders of a statue of Melchoir, one of the three Magi. The statue dates from the early 18th Century and is on exhibit in the Swiss National Museum in Zurich during the Christmas season.
As usual with semi-postals, the first numeral is the postal fee that will be retained by the Swiss postal authorities and the second is the donation to the foundation to fund youth activities and welfare work.
Switzerland also will issue a 90-centime commemorative on the centennial of the Central Office for International Carriage by Rail.
