Olympic History Stamp Block by Hungary

On 13 November 2006 the intention of the Hungarian Olympic Committee and Magyar Posta, and at the same time the expectation of stamp collectors was fulfilled when Magyar Posta issued a stamp block celebrating the medal winners of the Melbourne Summer Olympic Games held fifty years beforehand. The block being released in 2010 pays tribute to the medal winners of the Rome Olympics.

The design of the numbered block's stamp shows a portrait of the Olympic champion Rudolf Karpati (fencing, sabre individual) and in the surrounding frame there are the other Hungarian sportsmen and -women who won gold medals in Rome. The composition is completed by the logo of the Rome Olympics on the right. A special feature of the jubilee block is that the inscription "Rome 1960" on the stamp and the names of the gold, silver and bronze medal winners and their disciplines on the frame are visible under UV light. The numbering, which fluoresces under UV light, is at the top right. The names of the medallists are on the first day cover and the main motif of the postmark is a stylised drawing of the Colosseum.

The issue of the stamp block was made possible by the co-operation of the Hungarian Olympic Committee and the photographs for the graphic design were provided by the Archives of the Hungarian Museum of Sport.