David Feldman Olympic Games and Football June 4, 2019

Olympic philately has evolved since the Italian IOC member Bonacossa started an Olympic stamp collection back in 1925. Some collectors began their collection in 1936, and the past IOC President, J.A. Samaranch started his collection in 1945. The Italian school started in 1950, followed closely by the German IMOS in 1952. Olympic philately has evolved into two streams – the purely philatelic one and (in majority) the thematic one. Lately, the trend is a confluence of both streams. Whatever the road chosen by the collector, there is one aspect which is overlooked, the INTER- DEPENDENCE of the items in this catalogue. The collections presented are a good example of facilitating INTER-DEPENDENCE, so let us have a closer look at what is meant by this term. PHILATELIC INTER-DEPENDENCE means the close relation of two or more items. This relation is overlooked, by which it is meant that the collector is satisfied with one item of the two or more related items. A good example would be the 1st day material of the 1896 OG : One will find one stamp or cover cancelled at one widow of the only Post Office in Athens. On March 25th 1896, eight windows were operational at the PO. To have one item of that day is nice, but for a more instructive and explicit collection, it would be better to have 1st day items from as many windows as possible. A second good example would be the proofs and essays of the 1924 Paris Olympics. Most collectors have already several items, but none (to the best of our knowledge) have shown and explained all the stages of their progress to the definite design. This auction offers the possibility to acquire many of the possible different stages. THEMATIC INTER-DEPENDENCE is manifold. Admittedly, some of the latter have already been practised (daily programs, propaganda, cancellations, etc.) but the presented material allows for in-depth exploration and the exploitation of such INTER-DEPENDENCE. Take for instance, as an example, the postcards from the inauguration ceremony of the Berlin Stadium on 8.6.1913. It is true that the scarcity of the known cards – and the price asked in the past – resulted in most of the more advanced collector to be satisfied with one item. However, many different things took place on the stadium that day. The opportunity is given to document all the events of that day because the cancellations were altered every hour (from noon to 8pm). Another good example are the postcards (LBR or Stadion) from the 1912 Stockholm OG. The INTER-DEPENDENCE is clear (the daily programme) but more so if one looks at the amount of cards cancelled every day (see table in the introductory text to this section) which influences the degree of rarity. This eample shows both Thematic and Philatelic inter-dependence. A further Thematic INTER- DEPENDENCE are the preparations (pre- Olympic) for the 1916 OG that were to take place in Berlin. This chapter should and must include the German preparations (civil and army), the Russian ones in Kiev and Riga, the 1914 IOC Congress in Paris, the Baltic Games in Malmö (1914) and the Replacement Games in Stockholm and Holland (1916). INTRODUCTION