Postage stamps and postal history of Greenland

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This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Greenland.

Greenland is an autonomous country within the

Pakke-Porto stamps

Stamps were issued by the Kongelige Grønlandske Handel in 1905 for use as parcel stamps. The stamps showed the coat of arms of Greenland, featuring a standing polar bear. Letters were handled free of charge by the Kongelige Grønlandske Handel until 1938.

First stamps

In 1938, postal service was established and the first postage stamps of Greenland were issued on 1 December. The series consisted of five stamps with a portrait of the Danish king

On March 11, 1969, Greenland issued a stamp dedicated to the 70th birthday of King Frederik IX. For the first time, the name of the country was inscribed in two languages, Danish and Greenlandic.

Local issues

Ivigtut

In 1922, in the town of Ivigtût (located in the southwestern part of Greenland, now abandoned), a green stamp with the image of a polar bear and the inscription “Ivigtut Kryolithbrud Bypost 1922" (Ivigtut Cryolite Mining Local mail 1922) was issued by the local mining company providing mail delivery to the small town.^{[citation needed]}

The legitimacy of these stamps is strongly questioned, and are believed to have been created by American stamp collector Brad Arch in the 1960s.^{[citation needed]}

Thule

Stamps were issued in 1935 for the remote settlement in

• 
  Knud Rasmussen.
• 
  Danish flag.
• 
  Walruses.
• 
  Cape York.

See also

• Facit Catalog
• Postage stamps and postal history of Denmark
• Scandinavian Collectors Club
• Scandinavia Philatelic Society

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Stamps of Greenland.

Further reading

• Gilberg, Rolf. Greenland Seen Through 50 Years of Stamps, 1938-1988. Copenhagen: Kalaallit Allakkeriviat, 1989
  ISBN 8798292323
  122p.
• Hjørne, Torben. Greenland: pakkeporto, stamps, postmarks, letters, parcelcards. Århus: H. Torben, 1985
  ISBN 8788273040
  96p.
• Lidegaard, Mads. Stamps tell the story of Greenland. Nuuk: POST Greenland: Atuakkiorfik, c2000
  ISBN 8755815499
  157p.
• Wowern, Eric v. Greenland: Pakke Porto Stamps 1905-1938. Virum, Denmark: GF Frimaerker, 1987 96p. Series Title: GF catalogue; no. 1.
• Wowern, Eric v. Greenland: The Thule Locals. Virum, Denmark: GF Frimaerker, 1984 40p. Series Title: GF catalogue; no. 4.
• Wowern, Eric v. Greenland: Postage Stamps after 1938: incorporating the postmarks after 1938, formerly listed in GF 6, and also a simplified listing of the pakke-porto stamps 1905-1938. Virum, Denmark: GF Frimaerker, 1990 192p. Series Title: GF catalogue; no. 5.

• Greenland Post