Athens Pictorial Cancel
As the venue for 1996 Olympic volleyball, rhymatic gymnastics, and the final
rounds of soccer, Athens, Georgia, hoped to see substantial tourist and
spectator visitation prior to and during the 1996 Olympics. As part of a
promotional effort, Athens adopted the logo shown below for use in trying to
attract tourists.
Like Atlanta, the Athens logo could not mention the Olympics directly--but
there is an understood implication. Because the 1996 Olympics marked the
centennial of the 1896 Games in Athens, Greece, both cities have maintained
a close relationship, complete with a Panhellenic Festival.
Athens postal officials had planned to issue a special pictorial cancel for
the Olympics, but Olympic officials decided that all venues--even if located
in sites other than Atlanta--should be identified as part of the Atlanta
Olympics. Since Athens could not have its own Olympic postmark, postal
officials instead created a pictorial postmark based on Athens tourism logo.
This postmark, which went into use in early 1996 and continued to be used
after the Olympics, is shown below.
This particular cover portraying an Olympic soccer stamp was mailed in
Athens on August 3, the day of the gold medal soccer round between Argentina
and Nigeria. Because there was not an official Atlanta soccer (football)
cancel specifically for August 3, this cover marks a special souvenir of the
Olympic gold medal soccer round.
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