Stamps of Spain: National Philatelic Exhibition (2014)

The Spanish National Philatelic Exhibition, EXFILNA 2014, will be celebrated this year in Torremolinos (Malaga). In its 52ndedition, we have the novelty of coinciding with the 1st European Convention for Collectors (ECC) which takes place in Spain. This show embraces different areas of collecting, such as bills, coins, bookplates, etchings, lottery tickets, among many others, and it dedicates a special section to philately and the stamp world. The ECC will be celebrated for the first time in a Spanish city and it is included within the type of international fairs embraced, often, by places like London (Stampex), Paris (Planète Timbre), and Italy (Veronaphil).
As in earlier years, EXFILNA 2014 has been organised by the Spanish Federation of Philatelic Societies (FESOFI) and has relied on the sponsorship of the Postal Service, among other institutions. In the Competition Class, more than 120 collections participate related to the groups and subgroups regulated by the Exhibition Rules, such as: traditional philately, postal history, thematic philately, aerophilately, astrophilately, postal stationary, maximaphily, tax philately, open philately, and modern philately. The section of philatelic literature has 25 participants. Also, during the exhibition several seminars on philately will take place and, for the first time, there will be an exhibition area where the philatelic novice can get to know the stamp, its history and evolution, its thematic diversity, its innovation towards a new perspective and, of course, what better way to start collecting stamps than to see a philatelic exhibition?
On the commemorative miniature sheet of EXFILNA 2014 we find the meeting place printed on the upper corner:Torremolinos from the 27th of February to the 2nd of March 2014. As a type of collage, the sketch includes different motifs and icons related to Torremolinos: the millstone, the typical skewers, etc. And the Tower, the area’s emblem, is a main element, giving its image to the engraving stamp of this commemorative issue of the exhibition.
The Tower, known as the “Pimentel Tower”, “Mill Tower”, or “Mill Viewing Tower”, is believed to have been built in the 14thcentury. It has the form of a rectangular prism and is 12 meters in height. In the tower there were various watch guards so that in the case of catching sight of enemy vessels they could make smoke fires, during the day, and light signals, during the night. In this way they alerted other towers to the danger.