Icelandic Ono / Lennon postage stamp named third most extraordinary in 2008

An Icelandic postage stamp issued in October 2008, featuring Yoko Ono’s Imagine Peace Tower and a hidden image of John Lennon, has been named as the third Most Extraordinatry Stamp of 2008 by StampNews, a website for international stamp collectors.

Örn Smári Gíslason has designed the stamp, issued by the Iceland Post Company which has also just published a book on the Imagine Peace Tower.

Described as a ‘three layer’ stamp, it is printed in traditional four-colour offset (the first layer) but the secret is the overprinting which follows. This is done with phosphorus in silk screen, letting the picture accumulate light and then glow in the dark (the second layer). Then when it is exposed to ultraviolet light, a picture of John Lennon appears on the stamp (the third layer).