David Sela, editor of Nostalgia, sent me on Sunday, January 2, 2011, an article from Ma'ariv 1957 found by his work colleague, Nitza Wolfensohn. The article reported on the shelving by the Philatelic Service of two stamps depicting famous personalities, Ahad Haam and Ussishkin, designed by Shamir. The article described the history and activities of Shamir Brothers.

I checked the Philatelic Service catalogue and discovered that an Ussishkin stamp was issued in 1978 and was designed by Zvi Narkis. Ahad Haam waited until 1996 and his portrait appeared on a stamp commemorating 100 years to "Hashiloah” newspaper.. It was designed by another artist.

I contacted Yinon Beilin, previous director of the Philatelic Service and today working voluntarily in the archives of the service. He referred me to Gidi Mariinsky, director of production. My heart fell: I had a difficult experience with Mariinsky before when I tried to get permission to search the archive for first day covers designed by Shamir (Mariinsky conducted the requested research only after an intervention by the CEO of the Postal Services).

Within three days I received a reply from Philatelic Service customer services: “Here are the proposals for the Ahad Haam and Ussishkin stamps and, in addition, here are rough sketches for stamps depicting David Remez, Berl Katznelson and the Rabbi Kook”. They offered to send a high resolution disc directly Shenkar Institute.

Yoram Shamir 2011