Even though the game, or, better, sport, of bridge is internationally known, it has not drawn much attention in the world of philately: bridge-themed stamps are few and difficult to find.
This article aims to outline how bridge has featured in stamps editions. Since the author is an experienced bridge player, but not a stamps expert, I apologise for any omissions, for not indicating the perforations and for not referring to the international catalogues such as Yvert and Tellier.
We will go through international philately, Italian philately, the Intercontinental tournament in Rome and a review of Italian essays on this topic.
Fulvio Manno
Bridge & Philately – Part II
International stamps issues (§ 2)
In 1977, the second edition of the Amphilex took place in Amsterdam (Netherlands). The first had taken place in 1967 and the third & last in 2002.
On the sheet with three stamps features a bridge hand, with the Americans Robert Wolf and Jim Jacobysitting North-South, while the East-West pair was Giorgio belladonna and Claude Delmouly.
The deal was taken from a match played by the Dallas Aces against the Sharif Circus, during a tour of the USA in 1970. The all-American Aces team had been put together by the financier Ira Corn, in order to beat the Blue Team, which they managed in 1970 and 1971.
In 1970 Italy fielded a new team, with young players, new to the Blue Team. The traditional players had been away, due to work or fatigue. In 1971 Italy did not field a team at all. From the following year, the classic Blue Team came back, winning the 1972 Olympics, and the World Championships in 1973, 4 and 5, thus destroying the Aces’ ambitions.
The Aces team encompassed da Robert ( Bobby ) Wolff , James ( Jim ) Jacoby , Billy Eisenberg , Bobby Goldman , Bob Hamman , Mike Lawrence. The Circus included Omar Sharif, Giorgio Belladonna , Claude Delmouly , Benito Garozzo , Leon Yallouze. In 1970 it also featured Pietro Forquet who joined the team in Dallas for the last 3 steps of the tour.
The tour included seven american cities, matches between Circus (with the star Omar Sharif) and the home team, as well as a bridge marathon of 840 hands against the Aces, who won by 101 MP (1793-1692).
Circus won against Chicago, Winnipeg and St Paul, whilst they lost the other four matches. The tour was a great success, as it echoed in the national and local press, attracting high numbers of spectators. On the other hand, it was not a great financial initiative, notwithstanding a $50k sponsor.
Moreover, the Dutch Antilles printed an envelope with the sheet Amphilex 77. On the left we see our GB, showcasing the killing lead which mislead Jim Jacoby as declarer. In the open room, OS played a contract of 6D, making 13 tricks. In the closed room, Jacoby played 7D, with the 5S lead, through AQ in dummy. Jacoby thought that his RHO had the king and therefore did not take the finesse. He subsequently had to concede a trick to the bare KD too.
In 1978 two new nations issue bridge-themed stamps: Mali and Barbados. Mali issued two stamps, once dedicated to domino and one to bridge (values of 100 and 130 local francs respectively).
Barbados dedicated foue stamps with values 5 10 and 45 cents and 1 dollar in occasion of the sevenrs regional central american and caribbean championships.
In 1980 the Netherlands issued a stamp to commemorate the 6th Olympics, held in the Autumn in Valkenburg. Hans Kruit designed it and J E engraved it.
29 teams took part. Italy was sixth in the group stage and did not make the final: Benito Garozzo, Fabio Rosati, Lorenzo Lauria, Vito Pittalà, Silvio Sbarigia, Fabio Rosati and Ennio Modica (npc).
On the 25th August 1994, the islands of Wallis and Futuna (members of the French Polinesia) issued a stamp dedicated to bridge, representing the four suits. The value was 40 local francs. It was printed by the Imprimerie des Timbres Poste and Valeurs Fiduciares in multicolor.
No other bridge-themed stamps are found internationally.
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Fulvio Manno
English Edition by Laura Cecilia Porro
