United Kingdom / English
Royal stamp of approval:
Stamp of Belgium’s King Philippe created on ROLAND press
Belgium commemorated King Philippe’s ascension to the throne on 21 July 2013 with the issue of new stamp, printed on a ROLAND 704 3B.
Pierre Leepoel, Manager of Stamps Production Belgium of bpost said: “In Belgium we have been printing stamps to commemorate the head of state ever since the 19th century when Leopold 1, first King of the Belgians, stepped forward.”
Royal launch
On October 15, the new stamp was officially launched by King Philippe himself, who started up the ROLAND press before being taken on a tour of the print factory where he admired the exhibition of six stamps depicting his rise from baby prince to head of state.
Press does ‘an excellent job’
Three million copies of each of three variants of the stamp were initially issued – a relatively short print run. “That’s why we chose the ROLAND 704”, said Leepoel, “This machine runs 15% of the 400 million stamps that are produced every year.
“After a full refurbishment five years ago, the press was transferred from the printing site in Brussels to the one in Mechelen and it’s still doing an excellent job here. Its stable performance and consistent color quality are very important for us to make the new stamp for our King.”
