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This cover is part of Southern Covers, a private collection of 163 First Day Covers from South Africa and the homeland states. New to all this? Read the guide, or just browse the whole collection.

Commemorative

South African Nobel Laureates 1

South Africa, Pretoria · 1996-11-04

Official

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front

Cachet: The cachet is an engraved style illustration in deep sepia tones showing a winged angel figure kneeling on a stack of books, reaching up toward a stylised atom with orbiting particles. A caduceus with two entwined snakes rises behind the figure, and a set of scales rests nearby along with an hourglass, symbols associated with medicine, justice and time. The books beneath the figure suggest literature and learning, drawing together the different fields recognised by the Nobel Prize. Below the illustration the title "South African Nobel Laureates 1951-1993" appears in a formal serif type, underlined along the bottom of the design.

Info card

No info card was provided for this cover.

Additional information

This cover is postmarked on 4 November 1996 in Pretoria, with a special Nobel Centenary Year cancellation. The five stamps honour South Africa's Nobel laureates, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, awarded the Peace Prize in 1984, author Nadine Gordimer, awarded the Literature Prize in 1991, Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk, jointly awarded the Peace Prize in 1993, alongside a stamp marking the Nobel Prize itself from 1901 to 1996. The cover was issued to coincide with the hundredth anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death in 1996, the year that also marked the centenary of the will that established the prizes bearing his name.

Theme: Heritage

Condition: FineGood condition. Minor wear or small imperfections, but overall well-presented.

Addressed: No

Signed: No

SAPO serial number: 6.47

Estimated value: ~US$0.1

This is a high-level, subjective estimate only, not a professional appraisal.

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