The Euro 2008 competition may be a sore point for British football fans, but Austria is celebrating the event with what is being described as one of the most sought after stamps of the year.

The stamp is ball shaped and has a value of 3.75 and is available in all post offices across Austria. This stamp, called “Europass” is unique because it is not made of paper, but instead is created using the fabric of the official Euro 2008 footballs!

The stamp is made using a synthetic mix with polyurethane, which makes it practically indestructible when attached to a paper surface. It is self adhesive and 36mm in diameter. It was developed in a joint effort between the Austrian postal authorities and Adidas who own the rights to the material formula. It is endorsed by UEFA and Adidas and carries both logos, and has now been named as the official stamp of the competition.

It has been described as a “sensation” among philatelic experts, because an issue like this has never been attempted. The head of Philately at the Austrian Post Office, Erich Haas, stated :”Altogether, the Europass stamp is our most sophisticated stamp in terms of typography and fabric, and is unique across the world.

The cost of production has not been revealed, but it is the opinion of experts that the stamp is being sold as a loss, funded mainly by Adidas, purely due to the advertising revenue that the stamp can produce. 500,000 copies of the stamp were produced, 10,000 of which were retained by EUFA and Adidas for promotion purposes for the upcoming football tournament. That means only 490,000 will be available for sale, and experts believe these will be snapped up by collectors well before the tournament even starts!

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