CollectorGREENLAND

150TH ANNIVERSARY OF OTTO SVERDRUP

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THE 2003 GREENLANDSTAMP OF THE YEAR

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SUBSCRIPTION MAGAZINE FOR

COLLECTORS OF GREENLAND STAMPS

VOL. 9 - NO. 1 - FEBUARY 2004

THE KINSHIP WITH THEPAINTER HARALD MOLTKE

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50 YEARS OF CIVILIANSCHEDULED FLIGHTS

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NORSE MYTHOLOGY

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KALAALLIT NUNAAT

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In honour of the joyous event of the weddingbetween Crown Prince Frederik of Denmarkand Mary Donaldson, Post Greenland hasdecided to bring forward the second stampissue of the year to the actual wedding date,14 May 2004. Therefore, the next GreenlandCollector will be published at the end of April2004. At the same time we would like toinform you that the issue date for the laststamp issue of the year 2004 has been changed to 18 October 2004. The GreenlandCollector will be published at the end ofSeptember for this issue.A new year has begun and it will be a yearthat POST Greenland regards as a turningpoint in many ways. The number of

customers at POST Greenland - Filatelia isdecreasing, which has been the case for anumber of years. Because of this we havebeen obliged to change some of our internalactivities, however, so far it has not affectedour customers. The problem of retaining thequantity of customers within the philatelicmarket place is worldwide and we experiencekeen competition from electronics, games,toys, sports and new kinds of hobbies. Ofcourse it is of outmost importance to us notonly to maintain our existing customers andgive them good service, but also to welcomemore and new customers. During 2004 wewill implement several innovative, economicaland investing initiatives. There will berestructuring within POST Greenland,amongst other things. Our website will get atotally new layout, with a higher level of simplicity and user friendliness and, due to

enquiries from a large number of customers,it will in the future be possible to subscribe tothemes.You can read about the above mentionedand other initiatives along with our next issues during the year.Greenland stamps will continue to bear aunique cultural testimony to the characteristic history, culture, flora and faunaof Greenland. We look forward to yet another year of servicing our customers as well aswelcoming many newcustomers to POSTGreenland, Filatelia.

Enjoy your reading.

Yours sincerely,Søren RosePhilatelic Manager

Publisher: POST GreenlandService: POST Greenland, FilateliaP.O. Box 121, 3913 Tasiilaq, GreenlandPhone +45 70 26 05 50 and +299 98 11 55Fax +299 98 14 32Email: stamps@tele.glWebsite: www.stamps.gl

Editors: Søren Rose, Chief Editor, Lene Skov Meyhoff, Anja Panduro Pedersen, PerttiFrandsenLayout and production: TELE Greenland,Datagraf Auning ASISSN: 1397-8632Cover photo: Erwin Reinthaler

Dear Reader,

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In the old days the original population, theInuits, called the country Inuit Nunaat meaning "country of the Inuits". Today thecountry is called Kalaallit Nunaat, whichmeans "country of the Greenlanders".Kalaallit Nunaat has been inhabited sincearound 2,500 B.C., when smaller groupsemigrated from northern Canada, crossingthe ice.After many years of conducting a policy ofisolation, Denmark set the scene for a radical modernisation of Greenland in1950. The intention of the reform was to"raise Greenlanders’ economic, materialand cultural level and, in the long run,enable them to trade with the rest of theworld."The Danish constitutional amendment in1953 gave Greenlanders the status ofDanish citizenship. Colonialism was finished. Greenland was now to be developed.The plan was for the Danish State to beresponsible for the development ofGreenland's infrastructure and provisionstogether with education and nationalhealth. Industry should focus on fishing,based partly on investment from the Danishprivate sector and various initiatives.Politically speaking, Greenland now had aprovincial council and the right to elect itsown representatives for the DanishFolketing (parliament).The 1950's and 60's were marked by Danishdevelopment policy. But private efforts forthe development of the business sector failed to materialise, and from the Green-landers’ viewpoint Danish initiatives were

not regarded as sufficient.Denmark appointed the so-called G-60Committee in 1960, with participation ofboth Greenlandic and Danish politicians.The aim of the G-60 Committee was tomake development more efficient in fivesectors: Increase employment, rationalisetrade and industry, provide more educationand more residential building. These fivepoints would concentrate the populationin the growth areas of large towns. Thisresulted in the migration and movementof whole villages - a policy which createdboth frustration and confusion in thepopulation.At the same time, a so-called "place-of-birth" criteria was used, which meant thatthe Danish workforce should be paid higherwages than the local Greenlandic workforce,the difference in wages being attributed tocompensation for the privations of beingstationed in Greenland, and also the factthat there should not be too large a discrepancy in wages among Greenlanders.Dissatisfaction with Danish politics andthe search for the roots of Greenlandic culture resulted in the first Greenlandicindependence movement arising duringthe 1960's and 70's. The self-confidence ofthe population grew and with it thedemands for self-rule.In 1971 young Greenlandic politicians werevoted into the provincial council and theDanish Folketing (Parliament), respectively.At the same time, new guarantees regarding Danish/Greenlandic politics weremade. These three newly elected men

developed the idea of Greenland's HomeRule and are regarded today as the fathersof modern Home Rule policy. TheGreenland Home Rule was a reality andcame into effect on the 1st of May 1979.Today, demands for independence fromDenmark still continue. The Home RuleGovernment has created an autonomycommission for the study of self-rule withinthe boundaries of the Danish Common-wealth. Kalaallit Nunaat has it's own flagand stamps, but share monetary standardwith Denmark.Kalaallit Nunaat is part of the Danish federation called 'Rigsfælleskab' comprisingof Denmark, the Faroes and Greenland.

01100322The Home Rule – 25 yearsIssue date: 26.03.2004DKK: 11.0050 stamps per sheetFormat: B-horizontalPrinting method: OffsetPaper: TR4 yellow fluorescentTypography: Morten StürupOutside measurements: 31.08x23.60 mm

KALAALLIT NUNAAT

Members of the landsting in front of the landsting building in Nuuk.

25 years of the Greenland Home Rule

Text by Ivalo Egede, the Greenland Home Rule · Photo: Knud Josefsen

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The story of Otto Sverdrup is in many waysthe story of the arctic explorer and captain,who was never successful on a rostrum – letalone at marketing himself in his own days inthe same successful way as his famous fellowcountrymen, Fridtjof Nansen and RoaldAmundsen. He was a modest man, withoutany reason to be. For Otto Sverdrup was theworkingman, the practical man and the handyman within arctic exploring. He wasthe one to do the "tidying-up" – but most ofall, the one to map larger geographical territories during one single arctic expeditionthan any other arctic explorer. The arctic adventures of Captain Otto Sverdrup began in 1872, when at only 17years of age he was apprenticed to a shipmaster. An education he completed inthree years. Otto Sverdrup met FridtjofNansen for the first time in 1877 and a lifelongfriendship began. Eleven years later OttoSverdrup participated in Fridtjof Nansen’sexpedition across the arctic ice cap. The lackof knowledge of the ice conditions along theeast coast of Greenland led to great difficulties

for the expedition right from the start. As amatter of fact it is doubtful that the participants of the expedition would havesurvived had it not been for the splendid seamanship of Otto Sverdrup. In addition tohis practical experience, Otto Sverdrup hadthe advantage of being both exceptionally fitphysically and mentally strong. These qualitieswould prove very important in his adventurous life.Otto Sverdrup was a key figure in the construction of the arctic vessel "Fram". In1893 Fridtjof Nansen set off on his famousexpedition to the North Pole with OttoSverdrup as captain of the ship. WhileFridtjof Nansen and his companions tried toreach the North Pole using dog sledges andskiis, Otto Sverdrup navigated the "Fram"safely through the ice until the expeditionwas able to return to civilization in 1896.Shortly after his return and having set therecord at the time for any human expeditionin the northernmost parts of our planet,Fridtjof Nansen provided the opportunity forOtto Sverdrup to take over command of the

second expedition of "Fram". The ship wasrebuilt and in 1898 Otto Sverdrup set off onhis new expedition. The goal was to lead"Fram" as far north as possible along the westcoast of Greenland and then to navigate theexpedition around the northernmost part ofGreenland and then south along Greenland’seast coast. However, the ice condition madeit impossible to navigate through "KaneBasin". Otto Sverdrup had to change hisplans and instead he explored the territorywest of Ellesmere Island. The expeditionspent the next four years carrying out extraordinary exploration trips using dogsledges; often setting out from frozen, naturally made harbours. So he became thefirst to thoroughly map the southern andwestern coastline of Ellesmere Island. All inall approximately 160,000 square kilometres– an area the size of half of Norway!Otto Sverdrup overcame an early loss of hisphysician as well as the closest to a shipwreck he could come, due to a fire onboard.In 1902 "Fram" returned to Oslo and OttoSverdrup and his companions returned

In spite of his considerable arctic expedition achievements around the turn of the 20th century, the NorwegianOtto Sverdrup, has always been overshadowed by the Dane Knud Rasmussen as well as his famous fellowcountrymen Fridtjof Nansen and Roald Amundsen. In many ways it is a pity, because not only did OttoSverdrup participate in Fridtjof Nansen’s expedition and was captain on the ship "Fram" during the expeditionto the Arctic Ocean, he also undertook his own research expedition with the ship "Fram" in the CanadianArctic over a period of four years. Therefore it is now time to celebrate the considerable arctic expedition achievements by Otto Sverdrup. POST Greenland is delighted to be able to present our readers and collectors– in coalition with Canada Post and Posten Norge (the Norwegian Post) – the story of Otto Sverdrup –arctic explorer in Greenland and Canada.

150th anniversary of Otto Sverdrup – a Norwegian Text by Pertti Frandsen · Photo: Asbjørn F. Aastrøm-expeditions

Otto Neumann Sverdrup – a modest, but extraordinarily important arctic explorer.

JOINT ISSUE – NORWAY, CANADA, GREENLAND

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home to a munificent welcome by theNorwegian population, the State of Norwayand the Norwegian scientists. Otto Sverdrupwas presented with the Royal NorwegianSociety’s golden medal. The exercise of sovereignty over the territories Otto Sverdruphad explored and claimed in the name ofKing Oscar II, remained a matter of disputeuntil the Canadian government bought OttoSverdrup’s papers shortly before his death in1930. At the time Otto Sverdrup achievedgreat international fame for his explorations.However, his achievements were celebratedmuch less in Norway than his formerly mentioned colleagues. Finally in 1957 amonument was erected in Steinkjer, thehometown of his parents, in honour of theirlocal expedition hero.With this joint issue of a special stamp inhonour of Otto Sverdrup, POST Greenland,Post Canada and Posten Norge hope to contribute to the greater awareness in people’sminds of the fantastic arctic explorations ofthis Norwegian – and who knows – maybealso give him a more prominent position inthe history books.

arctic explorer in Greenland and Canada01100321. Joint issue GL-NO-CANThe expeditions of Otto SverdrupIssue date: 26.03.2004DKK: 17.5040 stamps per sheetFormat: F-verticalPrinting method: CombinationPaper: TR4 yellow fluorescentArtist: Martin MörckOutside measurements: 33.44 x 28.84 mm

01106321. Souvenir sheetJoint issue GL-NO-CANThe expeditions of Otto SverdrupDKK: 17.50

01303016. Souvenir folderJoint issue GL-NO-CANThe expeditions of Otto SverdrupDKK: 50.00

From the first expedition with "Fram". On 11 March 1895 the partici-pants were ready to depart. Fridtjof Nansen and Frederik HjalmarJohansen would try to reach to North Pole. From the left: Otto Sverdrup,Fridtjof Nansen, Hendriksen, Pettersen, Mogstad, Roald Amundsen,Frederik Hjalmar Johansen, Jacobsen, Scott Hansen and Juell.

Sledge tracks from thesecond "Fram" expedition.Several tracks span morethan 1000 km roundtrip fromthe mother ship.

A comparison of these two maps clearly show the territory mapped by the expedition participants during the four years thesecond expedition of "Fram" lasted.

Photo: Frammuseet Pictures: From the book "Aldri Rådløs" ("Never in Doubt") by Per Egil Hegge, J. M. Stenersens Forlag AS.

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Of course the largest island in the worldhad already been crossed by aircraft prior tothis first scheduled flight service betweenDenmark and Greenland. The famous letters by Charles Lindbergh from his flightacross, for example, Greenland are highlyvalued collector’s items. Some Danish adventurers have also madetheir mark in the history books for flyingacross Greenland. In 1938 the Dane LaugeKoch took off to find some islands, whichallegedly were situated just off the northeastern coast of Greenland. LaugeKoch never did find the "mirage islands"during this flying expedition – this was,however, only due to the fact that thesearch took place in latitudes a bit toonortherly. The 50th anniversary of the firstcivilian scheduled flight service between

Denmark and Greenland had already commenced in 1941, when the USA build alanding strip in the West Greenlandic town,Søndre Strømfjord, in Greenlandic:Kangerlussuaq (pronounced somethinglike: Gaarnger-schluus-suak). During theSecond World War thousands of the Allies’combat planes flew via Narsarsuaq in SouthGreenland and Kangerlussuaq to Europe inorder to aid in the effort against theLuftwaffe. After the war, when Denmark became amember of NATO, a defence alliance between the Danish and the Americangovernment was established. This allianceentitled the USA to build distinct militarybases in Kangerlussuaq and Thule.Concurrently with the construction of theThule Air Base in 1952-53, the Americans

began to withdraw from Kangerlussuaq andprepared to shut down the base. However,when the Korean War broke out six monthslater, the USA changed their minds.Kangerlussuaq has been used for civiliantransportation since 15 November 1954,when Scandinavian Airlines System, betterknown as SAS, established an intermediatelanding on their arctic route betweenCopenhagen and Los Angeles. The basebecame an important stopover on the longflights between Europe and the USA.Passengers, who wished to travel fromDenmark to Greenland, just had to take theflight to Los Angeles and get off inKangerlussuaq. When SAS became capableof flying the arctic route non-stop in 1966, anew and permanent route between KastrupAirport in Denmark and Kangerlussuaq was

50 years of civilian scheduled flights

On 15 November we shall celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first civilian scheduled flight service betweenDenmark and Greenland. It will be a very special day in Greenland and POST Greenland is very pleasedto be able to mark this important event with a special stamp.

Text by Pertti Frandsen · Photo: SAS

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established and, today, the airport hasdeveloped into being one of the busiest airports in Greenland - a transit airport anda centre for all travellers, who are going toother towns in Greenland. The flight routesbetween Kangerlussuaq and other Green-landic towns have been used by AirGreenland since 1965.In 1987 the outworn DYE-stations were closed and so the base in Kangerlussuaqlost its original function and therefore wereno longer of interest to the Americans.Because of this they wanted to withdrawand negotiations were initiated. All partieswere prepared to let the withdrawal periodlast 10 years, since neither the Danish northe Greenlandic Home Rule could afford topay the yearly approximately 80 millionDanish crowns it cost to run the base.

When the Berlin Wall was knocked down in1989, however, the Americans all of a sudden wanted to leave the base as soon aspossible. The gradual conveyance no longerappealed to the Americans. However, thenegotiation parties succeeded in reachingan agreement of a transitional period of 2years, which meant the last American wasto leave the base on 1 October 1991 – severalyears before it was first agreed upon. In theend the Danish State promised to give ayearly contribution of 60 million Danishcrowns to run the airport. At the same timethe Greenland Home Rule took charge ofthe airport after the Danish Ministry ofDefence. On 25 October 2002, SAS completed its lastflight from Kastrup Airport to Kangerlussuaq. However, the decision

made by SAS to pull out of flights toGreenland was not the end of all civilianscheduled flights to and from Greenland.Nowadays Air Greenland is the only companyto carry out civilian scheduled flights between Greenland and Denmark.Incidentally, the Greenlandic base was oneof the very few places for which theAmericans never paid any rent. On theother hand they handed over Kangerlussuaq with all its usable buildingsand facilities to the Home Rule without anycharge. The only condition made by theUSA was the right to use the airport inKangerlussuaq on payment should any critical situations occur around the world.

between Greenland and Denmark

0110032350 years of civilian scheduled flights GL-DK Issue date: 26.03.2004DKK: 8.7540 stamps per sheetFormat: F-verticalPrinting method: OffsetPaper: TR4 yellow fluorescentArtist: Anne-Birthe HoveOutside measurements:31.08 x 23.60 mm

Airbus

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Shortly after the co-operation between POSTGreenland and Air Alpha Greenland to fly anairmail service had commenced, I was offereda job as co-pilot. For some years I had pilotedcharter services, ambulance planes andsimilar types of planes on the northwesterncoast of Iceland, which is where I come from.I had never been to Greenland before andtherefore it was with great excitement I saidyes to the offer.It was indeed to become a very exciting time.The organisation had just begun and a lot ofnew things still had to fall into place to getthe entire operation running smoothly. Itwas somewhat of an upheaval for me suddenly having to load 8-900 kg on and offthe plane – often 5 to 6 times a day. My armshung down all the way to my feet and myback ached when, late in the afternoon, wewere able to pull the plane into hangar inIlulissat.

Flying in GreenlandIt was not an unknown experience for me tofly in bad weather, since the weather inNorth Iceland is very far from winning anycompetitions for most hours of sunshine,but I soon realised that this postal route wasnot for any "fine weather" pilots. The destinations reach from Nuuk in thesouth to Upernavik in the north – a distanceof 1000 km and as it often occurs on thislong stretch of coast, we have to take themany different weather conditions into consideration. In the beginning there was only one CessnaGrand Caravan (OY-TPG) associated with theoperation. Later on yet another caravan wasprocured. The Cessna Caravan has proved tobe a fantastic plane to transport mail between the small runways on the coast. Thesingle-engine plane is especially equippedwith various additional instruments, radios

and the like – specifically intended for flyingin Greenland. It is a very reliable plane and ithas only caused very few problems. Particularly in the spring and autumn monthswe often run into problems with ice formationsin the clouds. The caravan is not equippedwith a pressurised cabin, which is why ourusual flying altitude is approximately 10,000feet (3 km). This means we often do not flyabove the layer of clouds, but have to flydirectly through the cloud formations, whichat certain temperatures and conditions maycontain ice to a large or small degree. The plane can withstand a certain amount ofice, but it does happen on occasions that aflight to a destination has to be postponedbecause of the danger of ice formations. In the main the weather is actually very goodand often we possibly have the best view inthe world straight from our workplace.

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Postal pilot in Greenland

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�Text by Gudleifor Arnason (Levi) · Photo: Jack Stevens, American meteorologist at Thule Air Base

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In March 2003 POST Greenland marked the100th anniversary of the Danish literaryGreenland expedition 1902-1904 led byjournalist Ludvig Mylius-Erichsen. POSTGreenland paid tribute to the fact byissuing two special stamps, a souvenirsheet and a souvenir folder in a joint issuewith Post Danmark. Incidentally, the Danish literary Greenlandexpedition was the very first expedition, inwhich the Danish artic explorer KnudRasmussen participated. The rest of theparticipants in the Danish literaryGreenland expedition were – besides KnudRasmussen and Ludvig Mylius-Erichsen –the Greenlander and catechist JørgenBrønlund, the physician Alfred Berthelsen –and the painter count Harald Moltke.Harald Moltke was the artist who paintedthe designs for the very first two Greenlandstamps issued in 1938. Because of this, we

in POST Greenland have a particularly special relationship with the Danish painter. Consequently POST Greenland found itmost natural to arrange a memorial exhibition for Harald Moltke during"Frimærker i Forum", since the year 2003was the 65th anniversary of the foundationof the Greenlandic postal service as well asthe 70th anniversary of the all too earlydeath of Knud Rasmussen in 1933. Theexhibition was held on 23 to 26 October2003 in Harald Moltke’s old home inFrederiksberg, Denmark. Harald Moltke lived from 1871 till 1960. Heparticipated in several arctic expeditions. Itwas up to Harald Moltke to provide the illustrated documentation of the expeditionsand especially to depict the northern lightsas lifelike as possible. Under harsh conditionshe managed to depict the northern lights ina series of paintings, which are considered

as being some of the finest of their kind inthe world. Harald Moltke’s fascinating paintings andillustrated documentations from the arcticexpeditions, e.g. the Danish literaryGreenland expedition 1902-1904, constituteexceptional and quite invaluable historicaltestimonies of some of the most significantethnographical studies of Greenland of thetime. Besides drawings of the northern lights, Moltke also drew a series ofGreenlandic portraits – among others thelarge painting "Knud Rasmussen reconnoitresthe ice cap". Posterity can learn quite a lotby studying the pictorial art and themomentous testimonies of his participationsin e.g. the Danish literary Greenland expedition 100 years ago.

The kinship of POST Greenland with the painter Harald Moltke

From the vernissage of the Memorial exhibition for Harald Moltke.From the left: Jens Fynbo, the Greenland collector Flemming

Petersen, Philatelic Manager Søren Rose as well as Susanne Hart Hansen. The painting by Harald Moltke in the back-

ground portrays his wife Else Moltke and their daughter Rose Moltke playing the piano. The painting below

also portrays his daughter Rose Moltke.

Text by Pertti Frandsen · Photo by Finn Yde-Andersen

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When I began to sketch, the assignmentwas to illustrate Nordic Gods, since the twostamps are the Greenlandic contribution toa Nordic series about the Gods. I did not,however, consider the Greenlandic figureswhich are found in the legends to be Godsin the same sense as for example Odin,Freya and Loke in the Norse mythology –instead I chose to depict figures which arepresent in the Greenlandic myths.The common ground among the Inuits hasbeen the sealing and whaling culture aswell as a shared range of spiritual beliefsand rites. The Moon Man and the NorthernLights are two of the spiritual figures, whichare present in many tales in the Green-

landic mythology and are also the twoaspects, which POST Greenland has chosento be illustrated on our joint Nordic issue oftwo stamps as well as one souvenir sheet.In Greenland the Inuits have generallyfocused on and worshipped darkness andthe dark forces, because they wanted to beable strongly to withstand the dark spiritsduring the long polar nights, which also areaspects of the everyday life in Greenland. In Greenland the Moon Man is calledAningaaq, brother of the Sun. The MoonMan appeared in the shape of a huge manwearing a white polar bear skin and he wasone of the most important aspects in thetales by the Inuits in East Greenland and

Alaska. The Moon Man was sometimes astubborn and angry man, who was able todescent to Earth, seize the catch and punishpeople who did not follow his rules. TheMoon Man was the one who controlled thefertility of animals and people and naturalphenomena, such as the tide, thunder andsnow-fall as well as controlling the sealingpatterns among the sealers. The Moon Manwas extremely fond of women. He still runsacross the sky trying to catch his sister, theSun, in order to be with her. However, he hasnot yet succeeded in catching her. In themeantime he has plenty of time to seduceother women, whom he brings home.Because of this, the shaman sometimes has

Norse mythology –

Text by Nina Spore Kreutzmann and Søren Rose · Photos by Asger Fredslund

The artist Nina Spore Kreutzmann Photo: Tegnestuen Tita

Once again the eight Nordic countries have made the decision to join forces in a stamp issue – this time a series of 6 stamps in allissued over a period of 6 years, featuring the topic "Norse Mythology", with one joint issue every other year. POST Greenland somewhat differs from the rest of the Nordic countries using their very own Inuit legends and myths. The stories are numerous andhave been embodied by several experts as well as historical figures. When he returned from the Danish literary Greenland expedition100 years ago, Knud Rasmussen was one of the few lucky ones at a very early time to experience the exciting stories first hand atsome of the first meetings with the original Inuits. His impressions of the Inuit tales of spirits and beliefs can be read in many of his books.

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to go to the moon to bring back a woman.Sometimes she does not even want to bebrought home! There are several tales of theMoon Man and his sister, the Sun, withwhich we strongly recommend the readerbecomes acquainted.Arsarnerit – the dead who play ball. In orderto enter the land of the dead, all dead peoplehad to crawl through a large hide after whichthey were cleansed of all evil. Usually it tookone year to crawl through and on Earth it wasthe year of mourning for the surviving relatives.Henceforth the dead lived off berries andravens so, in former times, people did notlike the thought of ending up among thedead in the sky. The dead in the ocean ate allkinds of marine animals, so death at sea wasfar preferable. The only pastime for the deadin the sky was to play ball and, therefore,when the northern lights appear in the skythey are happily playing ball with a walrushead. It is said to be dangerous to whistleduring the northern lights – because then thedead will come to get you. Try to whistleduring the northern lights one night and seewhat happens – if you dare!

the Moon Man and the Northern Lights

01106324MiniarkNorden - MyterDKK 12.00Udgivelsesdag: 26.03.2004Trykkemetode: OffsetPapir: TR4 yellow flourescent

Common to both:Issue date: 26.03.200450 stamps per sheetFormat: B-horizontal Printing method: OffsetPaper: TR4 yellow fluorescentArtist: Nina KreutzmannOutside measurements: 31.08 x 23.60 mm

01100325Norden – Myths 2/2The Northern LightsDKK 6.50

01303017Souvenir folderNorden – MythsDKK 117.00Udgivelsesdag: 26.03.2004Contains one mint sample of eachof the 8 Norden souvenir sheets2004 by the Nordic postal servicesincluding, of course, the Nordensouvenir sheet by POST Greenland.

01100324Norden – Myths 1/2Moon ManDKK 5.50

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POST Greenland has repeated its successfulcompetition for the fifth consecutive year byinviting collectors of Greenland stamps, readers of the Greenland Collector and anyoneelse interested to vote for the stamp of the yearfrom a total of 16 stamps, all issued by POSTGreenland during 2003. All participants in thecompetition took part in the draw for the firstprize, which was a beautiful soapstone mini-statue of an East Greenlandic drum dancer.In addition, we drew 10 ‘consolation prizes’ inthe form of beautiful Greenland philatelic gifts.This time it was clear from the beginning thatthe stamp G-315 would become the ‘2003Greenland stamp of the Year". This stamp wasout-and-out in the lead right from the beginningof the competition and won with 340 votes,equivalent to 26.8%.Once again the winner is one of our popularship stamps, "Godthaab" denominated DKK

8.75, printed in combination print, horizontalG-format, drawn and engraved by MartinMörck, who is the well known artist of several ofPOST Greenland’s stamps. Martin was responsiblefor the winning stamp last year too – which wasalso a ship stamp. Once again POST Greenlandcongratulates Martin on the selection of one ofhis beautiful ship stamps as the "2003Greenland stamp of the Year". The competition for second place was a bitmore exciting; in this case the stamps G-303(Sledge dog puppies), G-306 (Saunder’s Island)and G-318 (the Christmas stamp denominatedDKK 5.50) almost tied. The sledge dog puppiesdrawn by Naja Abelsen was the one narrowly totake the second place with 140 votes, equivalentto 11% of all valid votes. An even more narrowvictory in third place with 131 votes, equivalentto 10.3% went to the Christmas stamp denominated DKK 5.50 drawn in Kunuk Platoú’s

characteristic andartistic style. The winner of the beauti-ful first prize was W.H.’t Hooft from the Netherlands, whowas delighted andmost surprised whenwe called him upwith the good news.The 77-year-old Mr.Hooft became a subscriber in theearly 80’s during avisit to Copenhagen.He collected stampsduring his youth, butthen took a break until sometimeduring the 70’s, whenhe rediscovered an

interest in stamps. Mr. Hooft had many complementary comments to say aboutGreenland stamps and he hopes to be able tocontinue his collection for many years to come.Mr. Hooft, who has had a great interest inGreenland and the Greenlandic culture eversince his early youth, now enjoys the first prizewhich is decorating his home in Oosterhout inthe Netherlands. The consolation prizes havealso been forwarded to the 10 additional winners. POST Greenland is delighted with thepositive response from our readers and collectorswho participated in voting for the Greenlandstamp of the year. We take the opportunity tocongratulate all the winners and are grateful fortheir great support. We look forward to organisingthe competition for the "2004 Greenland stampof the Year".

The winner of the yearly competitionamong all subscribers!Oddgeir Strømme from Norway was veryhappy and surprised, when I told him hehad won POST Greenland’s first prizeamong the subscribers 2003 – a book byIvars Silis entitled "My Wide, White World- 30 years with a camera in Greenland". Oddgeir collects themes and has beendoing so for many years but in June 2003 hedecided to take out a subscription toGreenland stamps and was the lucky one tobe drawn from the many thousands of subscribers. All of us at POST Greenlandsend our hearty congratulations to Oddgeir.

2003The Greenland stamp of the Year

The votes were distributed as follows:Number

G-no. of votes in % Title PositionG-303 140 11.0 "Sledge dog puppies" 2

G-304 73 5.7 "Portrait of a sledge dog" 6

G-305 37 2.9 "Sledge dog at work" 11

G-306 122 9.6 Expeditions I - "Saunder's Island" 4

G-307 25 2.0 Expeditions I - "Knud Rasmussen" 14

G-308 59 4.6 Additional value stamp - 8

"Santa Claus of Greenland"

G-309 32 2.5 Qaanaaq 50 years 12

G-310 14 1.1 "Europa" stamp 2003 - Poster Art 16

G-311 18 1.4 Cultural heritage IV - Comb 15

G-312 87 6.8 Cultural heritage IV - Ice bucket 5

G-313 51 4.0 Ship stamp II - "Emma" 9

G-314 41 3.2 Ship stamp II - "Gamle Fox" 10

G-315 340 26.8 Ship stamp II - "Godthaab" 1

G-316 27 2.1 Ship stamp II - "Sonja" 13

G-317 70 5.5 Christmas stamp - 1/03 7

G-318 131 10.3 Christmas stamp - 2/03 3

1267 99.7

Invalid 4 0.3

Total 1271 100

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The exhibition "Frimærker i Forum" washeld from 24 – 26 October 2003. It is thelargest collector’s exhibition in NorthernEurope with approximately 60 sales boothsand with postal services and stamp dealersfrom across Scandinavia and Europe. It wasrumoured among the dealers that sales atthe previous year’s exhibition had beenexceptionally good; so a few more stampdealers had been lured to attend Forum.On 24 October we were ready at POSTGreenland’s sales booth with somewhatmixed views. Six months of preparing lectures,the exhibiting of artefacts as well as visitsby some artists had to form a synthesis. Wedid not expect the success to match the onewe had the previous year, however, alldoubts soon proved unfounded. At the opening a large crowd of people were readyto plunge into Forum’s stamp mekka. Onceagain I send a thank you to the good spiritsand patience of our customers. This yearPOST Greenland’s sales booth carried thetheme Knud Rasmussen and "The Mappingof Greenland". We had arranged to borrowsome items from Knud Rasmussen’s Houseand Arktisk Institut (the Arctic Institute),

such as paintings, a sledge and a kayak.Flemming Petersen exhibited his veryunique collection of letters, which KnudRasmussen had written during his expeditionsin Greenland. Therefore the scene was laidfor an interesting mixture of Greenland’shistory, very vividly lectured by IbEisenhardt (Knud Rasmussen’s House) andLeif Vanggaard (Arktisk Institut) during allthree of the days. We were also visited by acouple of fine Greenlandic sledge dogs

accompanied by Mai Anouk Høllet and herhusband. The artists Naja Abelsen, InaRosing and Martin Mörck signed their stampsand the author Ole Vendtegodt signed hisnew ships book "Ships in GreenlandicWaters – over 1000 years" - Volume 1 of 2.The preparations for this year’s Frimærker iForum exhibition have already begun and Ilook forward to seeing you there again thisyear.

FRIMÆRKER I FORUM 2003

Winner of the competition held during "Frimærker i Forum"

The winner of the book "Peary Land" was Ebba Sembach from Brøndby,Denmark. She answered all three questions correctly as follows:

• How many times during 2003 did POST Greenland issue stamps?Correct answer: "3 times"

• Which of the four ship stamps was elected stamp of the year 2002?Correct answer: G-293 "Nordlyset"

• In which town is POST Greenland, Filatelia situated?Correct answer: "Tasiilaq"

We thank everybody for the great interest in the competition and heartily congratulate Ebba Sembach and hope that she enjoys the read.

Text by Lars Anker-Møller · Photo: POST Greenland

The following stamps will be withdrawn fromour sales list on 31 March 2004, provided theyare not sold out prior to this date. Any remainingstocks will be shredded.

Final Saleon 31 March 2004

01100250. 07.05.1999Europa VIDKK 6.00

01100261. 21.02.2000The wild reindeer huntDKK 5.50

01100275. 05.02.2001Farewell to the landDKK 5.00

01100280. 09.05.2001Europa 2001DKK 15.00

01100290. 05.03.2002Drum. Cultural heritage IIIDKK 4.50

01100291. 05.03.2002Mask. Cultural heritage IIIDKK 4.75

01106D83. 16.10.2001HAFNIA01 souvenir sheetDKK 34.75The stock figure is 89,763

News from POST Greenland

On 26-28 March POST Greenland will participate inthe exhibition "NorrPhil 2004" in Täby (Stockholm,Sweden). Please note: No special exhibition cancellation will be produced for "NorrPhil 2004".

Royal wedding – joint issue on 14May within the Danish federations

On 14 May 2004 Crown Prince Frederik of Denmarkwill wed Australian Mary Donaldson. A joint issuefrom the three postal services within the Danishfederation marks this joyous royal event.Consequently, on 14 May Post Danmark, PostverkFøroya and POST Greenland are each issuing twospecial stamps and one souvenir sheet. Also, allthree of the souvenir sheets from the postal services will be issued in a beautifully designedsouvenir folder. You can read more about this inthe Greenland Collector, no. 2, 2004, which, due tothe occasion, will be published in late April.

Collecting themes, take a look at this!

As from today it is possible to subscribe to 6new subscription themes introduced byPOST Greenland, Filatelia.

The themes are as follows:

Payments to the Greenland Christmas SealCommittee can be made to:The Bank of Greenland, P.O. Box 1033, 3900Nuuk, GREENLAND. Account No. 6471 –1406970 or to: BG Bank A/S, Girostrøget 1,0800 Høje Taastrup, DENMARK. Account No. 1199-60072868.IBAN: DK2564710001406970, BIC: GRENGLGX

or

BG Bank A/S, Girostrøget 1, 0800 HøjeTaastrup, Account No.: 1199-6 0072868IBAN: DK86 300000060072868, BIC: DABADKKK

Naturally payments may still be made incash, by cheque, international reply couponsor by credit card to: The GreenlandChristmas Seal Committee, P.O. Box 19, 3913Tasiilaq, GREENLAND.

You may pre-pay your subscription to ChristmasSeals 2004, provided you enclose a note about it. Itis not possible to use POST Greenland’s giro accounts in Denmark or other countries, since theGreenland Christmas Seal Committee and POSTGreenland are two separate companies.

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• Nature

• Animals

• Transport

• Anniversaries/events

• Art/Culture

• "Europa"

It is possible to subscribe to stamps, upper/lower marginal, FDC, maxicards, postcards,souvenir sheets, stamp booklets and souvenirfolders within all the themes – just fill in theorder form!Please call +299 98 11 55 if you have any questions about the themes mentioned above.We will be ready at the phone.

Look at the offer on www.stamps.gl – it also applies to additions to an existing subscription!!!!!

The year pack 2000 is sold out!On 14 November 2003 our year pack

2000, item no. 01304000, was sold out.

The year pack was issued on 09.11.2000

and cost DKK 147.50. The stock figure for

this year pack is 29,576.

Methods of payment – The Christmas Seal Committee

SOLD OUT ON

7 JANUARY 2004

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Worth knowing…Please send your orders/amendments to:POST Greenland, FilateliaP.O. Box 121, 3913 Tasiilaq, GREENLANDPhone: (+45) 7026 0550 and (+299) 98 11 55Fax: (+299) 98 14 32Email: stamps@tele.gl

Any change in name, address and/or subscription must bereceived by POST Greenland, Filatelia no later than 5 weeksprior to an issue.

When exchanging stamps worth more than DKK100.00, POST Greenland, Filatelia charges a fee of45% of the face value. No more than 3 exchangesper customer per year are allowed. The maximumannual value of exchanged stamps per customercannot exceed DKK 50,000 in nominal value. Thestamps are always exchanged into new stamps ofthe customer’s choice. The fee of 45% must alwaysbe paid in cash and is therefore not payable usingother stamps. For further information please contact POST Greenland, Filatelia.

NOTE: Please do not write your order on a girotransfer form as computers process these automatically.

How to pay:By giro:

Denmark: BG BANK, Girostrøget 1, 0800 HøjeTaastrup. Account No.: 1199-940 4120. IBAN: DK98 30000009404120, BIC: DABADKKK

Sverige: Postgirot Bank AB (publ), Vasagatan 7, 105 06 Stockholm. Account No.: 41 45-9. IBAN:SE9795000099602600041459, BIC: NDEASESS

Norge: Postbanken, Kunderegister Bedrift,

0021 Oslo. Account No.: 7878.06.55312. IBAN: NO44 78780655312, BIC: DNBANOKK

Finland: SAMPO BANK, UNIONINKATU 22, 00075,SAMPO. Account No.: 800016-70617928. IBAN: Fi2580001670617928, BIC: PSPBFiHH

Holland: Postbank N.V. Account No.: 3487172.IBAN: NL92 PSTB 0003 4871 72, BIC: PSTBNL21

Schweiz: Postscheckamt, Office de cheques post-aux, Ufficio dei conti correnti postali,4040 Basel. Account No.: 40-6773-5. IBAN: CH37 0900 0000 4000 6773 5, BIC: POFiCHBE

Tyskland: Postbank, Niederlassung Hamburg, Überseering 26, 22297 Hamburg. Account No.:541414200 BLZ 200 100 20. IBAN: DE03 2001 0020 0541 414200, BIC: PBNKDEFF

Storbritannien: Alliance & Leicester CommercialBank plc, Bridle Road, Bootle, Merseyside, Liverpool GIR 0AA. Account No.: 358 7118. IBAN: GB69GIRB72000003587118

Luxembourg: Postes et Telecommunications,Division des Postes, Service des Cheques Postaux,Secretariat, 38 Place de la Gare, 1090 Luxembourg. Account No.: 26606-28. IBAN: LU18 1111 0266 0628 0000, BIC: CCPLLULL

Frankrig: La Poste, Centre Régional des ServicesFinanciers, de la Poste en ile-de-France, 16 ruedes Favorites, 75900 Paris. Account No.: 250.01F020. IBAN: FR51 3004 1000 0100 2500 1 F02 022,BIC: PSSTFRPPPAR

If you transfer an amount from outside Denmarkthrough our giro account 1199-940 4120 inCopenhagen, Euro Giro will charge you a fee foreach transaction.

Credit cards:Access, Dankort, Eurocard, Maestro, JCB,Mastercard, VISA, VISA Electron.

Cheque:- in your own currency.

Cash: - to be sent by registered mail

Postal order IRC (IBRS)- International reply coupons: value DKK 6.00 each.

One year deadline for claimsAny claims concerning stamps and philatelic itemspurchased from POST Greenland must reach POSTGreenland, Filatelia, no later than one year datedfrom the last day of the month in which the itemswere dispatched. The date of the postmark or theinvoice is valid as the date of dispatch.

Fees for registered letters and parcels dispatched from GreenlandFees for registered letters in Greenland or toDenmark and the Faroes are DKK 35.00. E.g.:Postage for a registered letter stamped with 4.75(max. 20 g) comes to a total of 39.75. For postageon letters to Scandinavia, Europe and other countries, see: www.post.gl

Payment within 30 daysPayment of our invoices is to be made within 30days from the date of the invoice.We kindly ask you to note that the registration ofyour payment will take approximately 2 weeks ormore. Therefore, you may receive an invoice witha balance which does not include your recentpayment.

All information on prices, fees etc. are subject to printer’serrors.

Anja Panduro Pedersen,Sales AssistantDanish, English, German

Lene Skov Meyhoff,CorrespondentDanish, German, English

Kristian „Karé“ Pivat,Assistant Clerk Greenlandic, Danish

Andreas Fett, Sales AssistantGerman, Danish, English

Lars Anker-Møller, Head of SalesDanish, English, German

We are your service teamWe are the people you reach whenever you write, fax, email, or telephone POST Greenland. Some of us have been here for several years whilst others are fairly new. We look forward to being of service to you regarding your philatelic inquiries.

Pertti Frandsen, Head of ProductionDanish, English, German

Sonja BrønlundAccountantGreenlandic, Danish, English

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In the next issue (April 2004), read about

• The royal wedding

• Edible Greenlandic flowers

• "Foreningen af grønlandske børn"

(the society of Greenlandic children)

• The "Europa" theme – holidays

• Tasiilaq – Hot seal on cold ice floes

• And much more….

Etching by POST Greenland – a very limited edition

Etching by POST Greenland - in a very limited edition In connection with our joint issuewith Canada Post and Posten Norge carrying the theme "Otto Sverdrup - Norwegian arcticexplorer in Canada and Greenland" a very special hand printed etching on 300 g HahneMühle art paper is offered in a very limited edition. The etching, which is drawn by MartinMörck, the artist, who designed the expedition series, will be signed and numbered by theartist, and each etching comes with a specially made passe partout. Printed in A4 size. Item no.: 01520802. Price: DKK 500.00 plus postage. The first customers to order this veryspecial collector's item from POST Greenland will become the happy owners of theetching. Please note: POST Greenland will only sell one etching per customer.

The Greenland Home Rule for 25 years – Anniversary Package

In honour of the 25th anniversary of the Greenland Home Rule in 2004, POST Greenland issues a special anniversary package in a limited number – 1000 items – containingthe following:• The special stamp "The Home Rule – 25 years"• FDC/1• Maxicard• A Greenlandic silk flag on an aluminium foot.• A map of Greenland with a print of the stamp G-250• A small handbook "Greenland in figures"• The latest issue of the "Greenland Collector"

The special anniversary package by POST Greenland will only cost DKK 75.00 plus postage. It will beissued on 26 March – but may be pre-ordered now. Item no. 01520801.

We draw your attention to the fact that the second issuedate of this year has been changed in order to coincidewith the special issue in honour of the royal wedding.Therefore the new issue date will be on 14 May insteadof 14 June. The third issue of the year will be broughtforward from 1 November to Monday 18 October.

New T-Shirts – Design: The Home Rule – 25 years

Size: Item no.:12-14 years 01520420S 01520421L 01520422

DKK 85.00

Photo

: Sø

ren

Rose