U.N. stamp achieves Guinness world record with a total of 1,969 words

By Denise McCarty 

The United Nations Postal Administration has achieved an official Guinness world record for the most words on a postage stamp: 1,969.

The stamp is one of three in a souvenir sheet issued by UNPA Oct. 27, 2017, commemorating the translation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights into 500 languages (Scott 1177).

Each stamp design features the preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights microprinted in a different language.

In French, the preamble includes 1,969 words, so the 2-franc stamp for use from the U.N. post office at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland (Scott 1177b), received the Guinness recognition.

On the $1.15 stamp (Scott 1177a), the preamble is in English (1,771 words), and it is in German (1,660 words) on the 1.70 stamp (1177c). These stamps are for use from the post offices at U.N. headquarters in New York City and the Vienna International Center in Vienna, Austria, respectively.

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UNPA applied for the Guinness record in late 2017, but only recently received confirmation that its application had been accepted.

The listing for this Guinness world record can be found online.