Postmark Calendar

I'm finished with my busy work period and am adjusting to a life of laziness - so lazy that I missed the match I had for yesterday, an old stamp from Victoria.  Drat & blast.  For today, however, I can match twice with each of my projects.  October is a busy month on my stamp calendar and November & December will be even busier.  So, I'll be hogging the thread for the next little bit.

First off for the day is an old King Frederick IX definitive from the last series before his death, the one with the funny font.  Huge round zero, squashed up digit in front of it and a funny space between them.  Typographical commentary aside, this October 3 postmark comes from Christianshåb, now known as Qasigiannguit.



Up next from Greenland is this October 3, 1982 bilingual cancellation from the capital city of Godthåb / Nûk, now spelled Nuuk.  A team of sled dogs with all 8 dogs all vying for the lead dog position - chaos on the sled trail!



From my small glassines I can show this October 3, 1898 postmark from Victoria's capital city of Melbourne.  Queen Victoria graces this stamp from Australia's colonial era.



And finally, here's a German stamp featuring President Paul von Hindenburg overprinted for use in Alsace after Germany's annexation of that territory in World War II (see this Wikipedia article on the Battle of France in 1940).  The October 3, 1941 postmark is from Hagenau, once again a part of France and known to us by its French name of Haguenau.  I guess I might as well fuss about the typography here as well - what's with the upside-down 8s?  Put the bigger loop on the bottom!  ha ha



Ryan

Back to La Cannet today, with a stamp that commemorates the Battle of Bir Hakeim, Libya.

Until 1905, Greenland had no postage stamps - postage from Greenland to an office in Denmark was free and Danish stamps were used for any further transport.  From 1905 to 1938, the same treatment existed for letters, but parcels had a postage charge and separate Greenlandic designs were used for these parcel stamps.  The parcel stamps were also used as savings stamps (around 80 percent of them were used for this purpose) and of course collectors were buying them as well, so actual parcel usage of the parcel post stamps is relatively rare and the catalogue values are accordingly high.  Starting in late 1938, postage stamps became available for use in Greenland, although all domestic mail remained free until 1958.  I don't have many of the oldest series of stamps that show dates but here's one of them.  King Christian X was Denmark's monarch for these oldest stamps.  His brother was King Haakon VII of Norway.  How do brothers become kings of different countries?  One of them gets elected!  Scandinavian royal history is a bit odd.  Here's an October 7 postmark on a stamp of Christian X with his fancy hat.



History lesson is now over so it's back to something we've seen plenty of before.  Here's the son of Christian X, King Frederick IX.  The October 7 postmark was applied in Søndre Strømfjord, now known as Kangerlussuaq.



A look through my small glassines leads to one match with this colonial Tasmanian stamp issued in 1878 featuring Queen Victoria.  The October 7 postmark comes from East Devonport.



Ryan

October 8

The clock tower in Berne, Switzerland is featured on this 60 centime, rose red, perf. 11.5 stamp (Scott 391; 1960) postmarked in Zurich on this date in 1973.

Here's another look at the 1978 stamp which commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Commission for Scientific Investigations in Greenland.  The design features a microscopic view of the crystal structure of meteorite iron.  The October 10, 1978 postmark is a bilingual machine cancel from Søndre Strømfjord / Kangerdlugssuak', now known as Kangerlussuaq.  Kangerlussuaq is the site of the former USAF Sondrestrom Air Base.



A look through my small glassines brings us to my first match from Burma, now usually known as Myanmar, although the BBC still uses "Burma" quite a bit.  Come to think of it, this is the first time I've been able to show King George V in our calendar thread as well.  This overprinted Indian stamp shows an October 10 cancellation.



That was the first time for KGV but Queen Victoria has popped up repeatedly and here she is again.  October 10, 1903 from the Australian state of Victoria.  Perhaps Melbourne but perhaps Shelbourne, and we don't know what comes in front because there must be some extra letters in there - North or South or East or West or Port or who knows what.



Ryan

For October 11 I can show a pair of stamps with first day cancels from Egedesminde / Ausiait / Aasiaat (Spiderville).  My DAKA catalogue fills in the details - as with most Greenlandic first day cancels, they are designed to be applied over a block of four and it just happens that I have the quadrant which contains a legible day & month.  The first stamp is a 1976 design featuring the coaster vessel M/S Kununguak and a pilot boat helping it on its way.  The postmark shows a bilingual town name.



The second stamp to be shown is from 1984 and the first day cancel on this one had the town name only in Greenlandic - the Danish versions of town names have been missing from Greenlandic first day cancels since this issue, which was the first to have a strictly unilingual town name (the first day cancel inscription is still shown in both Greenlandic and Danish).  This homely fellow is a spotted wolffish.



I'm in a bit of a rush so I'll just show the stamps from my small glassines and bug out of here - first, a New South Wales issue with an October 11, 1905 George Street North postmark.  George Street is in Sydney.



Finally, another copy of the domestic letter rate stamp used in Lorraine during the German annexation of that territory in World War II.  The October 11, 1941 cancellation is from Metz.



Ryan