New Issue: Yle (Finland)

An issue you may have missed last week is this from Finland, celebrating 100 years of the Yle. What is the Yle? It is basically the Finnish national broadcaster, a bit like the BBC in the UK. WOPA's website tells us this: "Yle will celebrate its 100th anniversary in September this year. The theme of the anniversary year is moments spent together. Posti will celebrate the event with stamps designed by Anna-Mari Tenhunen that showcase different aspects of Yle’s operations – culture, children’s programmes, drama, production and technology."

It also tells us that "the stamps feature Ransu, Riku and Uncle-Elmeri from the Karvakuonot series, musicians from the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Oona and Arttu from the Aikuiset series (actors Anna Airola and Elias Salonen). The stamps also feature the TV control room and the TV test card." I don't know anything about Finnish TV shows but obviously these will all be very familiar to Finns.

Design Quality - I don't think the design is outstanding. The stamps show stills from TV shows, a test card and a control room. They tell a story of an institution I'd guess is loved in Finland but the design itself is nothing to shout about. And what do I think of data matrix codes on stamps? Yes, I think you know by now!  4/10

Theme and Subject Choice - It seems a good choice as this is the 100th anniversary of the Finnish broadcaster. It's a really important milestone. 10/10

Historical and Cultural Relevance - This has huge cultural and historical relevance in Finland.  10/10

Innovation and Creativity - My own view is that an opportunity was missed to do something so much better. 4/10

Collectability - I have already said that these stamps mark a really important historical milestone. Does that make them collectable? In Finland, very possibly, but who will know much about the subject in teh rest of the world? 5/10

Personal appeal - I don't mind these but they don't really excite me. 3/10 Overall score - 36/60