Stamp exhibition

A stamp exhibition paying tribute to the late Gibraltarian stamp designer Freddy Ryman has opened at the Gustavo Bacarisas Gallery.

Yesterday the extended family of the designer, prolific between 1966 and 1991, together with his son Paul Ryman and daughter Patricia Sanguinetti gathered for this special event which will remain on show until the end of today and is free for all to see. It is 50 years since the first stamps designed by Mr Ryman were issued.

They were also the first special stamps for Gibraltar produced specifically for a Gibraltar-related event. They were a set of three stamps marking the European Sea Angling Championships that were held in Gibraltar in 1966, against a backdrop of growing Spanish restrictions against Gibraltar that culminated in 1969 with the closing of the land frontier by Spain. They were also intended to promote Gibraltar tourism.

Opening the exhibition at lunch time yesterday, in one of the vaults of the gallery, which brought together family and friends and members of both the Royal Gibraltar Post Office and the Gibraltar Philatelic Bureau, stamp collector and enthusiast Richard Garcia having organised the event with Stephen Vinales paid tribute to Mr Ryman and to his large volume of work.

Mr Garcia said commented on how Freddy Ryman had arrived as a stamp designer in no small way with his work having reached out to the four corners of the globe, and Gibraltar stamps achieving a new height of popularity.

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