From the very outset Slovakia's postage stamp production has aimed to take its place alongside that of countries such as Sweden, Great Britain, Austria, France and Switzerland, who have a long tradition in issuing works of high quality. That this was not an ill-judged ambition is demonstrated by interest in Slovak stamps from philatelists in dozens of countries around the world, by their presence at numerous exhibitions and by the awards received, of which the most important to date is third place in a competition for the world's most beautiful stamp (WIPA, Vienna 19%). For the most part Slovakia's stamps are designed by the country's leading artists, which means that each is, in fact, a miniature work of art. And for five years now this miniature work of art, with the high quality of its rendering of subject and of its engraving, has travelled the postal system and told the world of its country of origin. It is not by chance that the design of the 139th Slovak stamp, issued to mark the Postage Stamp Day, depicts a graver in the form of a post horn. The graver (or burin) is the most important tool used in stamp engraving, and it is the mastery of this instrument in the technique of steel engraving that determines the final stages in the production of a superlative stamp, a process in which a considered approach by the issuing body and sensitive selection of topics and their elaboration to a high artistic standard are earlier phases. It would be no exaggeration to say that beauty and quality have already become hallmarks of the Slovak postage stamp.