February 1st, 2022 – Ivory Coast Historic Serie 1

“The first African NFT stamp collection is a veritable distillation of all of the art south of the Sahara. In cooperation with Stampsdaq, our reliable partners from Estonia, we are happy to announce that it is finally available for all NFT enthusiasts and stamp collectors,” said Isaac Gnamba-Yao, CEO of La Poste de Côte d’Ivoire.

“I do believe that it is just the beginning of the African philatelic renaissance. In the next few months, we will hopefully offer a dozen other NFT stamps dedicated to the history and culture of our country,” added Gnamba-Yao.

The first African NFT stamps collection includes three NFT stamps from the 2005 edition with traditional African masks called ‘Masque Dan’, ‘Masque Zamble’ and ‘Masque De Gu’ still serving as an important role in local rituals and ceremonies.

Tribal traditions
“The Zamble mask is very particular to the Gouro ethnic group of Côte d’Ivoire as it represents an animal that combines the antelope and the leopard. The mask is utilised for family rituals, sacrifices offered to the ancestors or on the occasion of great funerals,” explained the Ivorian postal group.

The series also includes one historic stamp from 1959 named ‘Elephant’ in three denominations or inscribed values of a singular stamp. The historic stamp is the first postage stamp of Côte d’Ivoire as an independent country.

“With this first series of NFT stamps from the Ivory Coast Post Office, we are launching an African philatelic renaissance,” said Andrii Shapovalov, CEO of Stampsdaq.

“By recreating over 100 years of African philatelic heritage in NFT format, we aim to revive and introduce the philatelic values to the existing global philatelic community as well as to the young NFT enthusiasts.”