COVER N.174 - POLAND

Postmark: Gdansk 50 - ZA 17.10.2022  
Posted on the 17th October; received on the 27th October 2022
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Joint issues are a good idea insofar as they illustrate a common ground  relation between two or more countries,  bearing witness to a shared  goal, feature, tradition, heritage, whatever... Moreover, they are an indicator that the relation, in principle - for one cannot ever be 100% sure about what the future is holding in store - is sound, sustained and sustainable.

Of course they also bear witness to geopolitical considerations. There are some issues that would be as bewildering as well received   if ever they were to see the light of day and  just out of my head I can think of many a pair of countries that I would love to see giving a step forward and issuing a joint issue celebrating their common heritage, goal, tradition, or, even better, their commitment to a peaceful and enduring, sustained and sustainable relation...

we all can, can't we....?

Thank you so much for your nice Cover Roman. A grain of salt can only add flavour to anyone's collection  😀

Salt, sodium chloride, is an essential product, both as a preservative and a nutrient mineral, luckily plentiful in nature ...in some places, that is, since even today it is still used as money in remote areas of Ethiopia, I read somewhere.

Extracting it is an activity that has been carried out for thousands of years, ever since man first discovered that adding salt to food could be a means of preserving it for future usage, making life a little easier for our ancestors.

in general terms, salt is either extracted from the water through evaporation and precipitation  and this can be either sea water or phreatic water that runs through salt deposits such as we have good examples in my own country, or by mining rock salt - in itself a deposit from ancient salty waterways that have long dried up - directly from the earth, as with any mineral..

A salt mine can be a thing of wonder, and I well remember my visit to Salina Turda, in Romania

Salina Turda, Romania

Poland also has some such mines and two of them are so relevant that they were declared  World Heritage Sites by the  UNESCO.

These are the mines of Wieliczka and Bochnia, The latter, according to Wikipedia, has the distinction of being the oldest commercial company in Poland, and the largest salt mine in Poland, having been established in 1248. Salt extraction at the mine ceased in 1990, but it was far from abandoned because the micro-climate in its chambers  characterised by  constant temperature and humidity, and a pure, unpolluted air saturated with sodium chloride, was judged beneficial to certain ailments what led to the creation of a sanatorium, which can accommodate 300 beds. The mine, with a  maximum depth of 468 m,  also has several churches  carved in the salt rock  and its galleries and chambers are not only a tourist attraction but also a site for the  organisation of corporate and indoor sports events.

In Croatia you don't have to go that deep inside the earth's crust to extract salt. In fact it has been  extracted from the Mediterranean water in the Ston region since at least the times when the territory fell under Roman rule, in 147 B,C and the salt pans  of Solana Ston (saltworks Ston) are claimed to be the oldest in Europe, and the oldest active salt pans in the world.

The complex  occupying an area of 429.840 m2 has 58 salt pans divided in 5 sections and 9  crystallisation pans, producing approximately 2,000 tons of salt each year, which with the exception of one named Mundo (World. as a curious note the same word with the same meaning is used in my own mother-tongue)  all are designated by names of saints: Francis, Nicholas, Balthazar, Anthony, Joseph, John, Peter and Paul.

These two salty landmarks were chosen by the postal administrations of Poland and Croatia as the subject for a joint issue dedicated to the "Treasures of the Earth" that began to circulate on 02DEC2021.

The 2 stamps on the Polish issue are denominated both at 4 Zloty and just like their Croat counterparts are illustrated with photographs of the Stan Salt pans - Croatia -  and Bochnia salt mine - Poland.

The Postmark on the stamps informs us that the cover was mailed from the city of Gdansk.