In the Shamir Studio files from the first half of the 70s, I found some orders and accounts of the studio. I drew from them information about works that were unknown to me and were not in the the various public collections (see List of Works yet to be found).

One of these is the official Identity Card of Israel. It was ordered by the Ministry of Interior on 10/06/74 – based on an invoice submitted by Shamir on 24/07/74.

I turned to the Population Registry in July 2008 and was told: “We do not have samples of any ID cards from the past, including the requested item”.

Two years later, I mentioned this to David Sela, editor of the Nostalgia web-site, and added some sharp criticism of the Registry. He offered to mention this on his weekly radio corner. Two people called following the broadcast. The first did not understand what ID card I was looking for. The second call was from Avraham Mann in which he said that he possessed an identity card of his late mother, issued in April 1974. I knew that this could not be the ID card designed by Shamir brothers since they only received the order in June 1974 (though I cannot be certain - following 25 years in the public sector, I know the tricks: You may have received an oral order, before issuing the official one). I did not want to disappoint Mr. Mann, and I was keen to see the ID card that preceded the one by Shamir. I arrived at his home in Bat Yam. He came out into the street and gave me his mother's identity card and stressed that this keepsake was very close to his heart. I went home and scanned the card – its cover and some interior pages. Three days later Mann called and asked if his mother's ID card was indeed designed by Shamir. I told him the truth and he promised to look for his father's ID card.

I turned to the state archivist and was told that they have a collection of passports but their documents are blocked by law from public access for 70 years. I asked him if he would search for an identity card from 1975. Two days later came an e-mail: “We have no such ID cards”.

I still have two options: look for it in nursing homes or antique markets.

Yoram Shamir 2010