FEPA News

FEPA NEWS 45 56 Developments in Philately A prestige booklet based on the Hafnia miniature sheet celebrating 400 years of the Danish post was issued. The stamps are the same as the miniature sheet but in di�erent configurations with each stamp paying the DKK 25 domestic rate. New EUROPA 2024 stamps, three designs by Bertil Skov Jørgensen featuring underwater fauna and flora, paying the DKK 50 international rate, in the form of a souvenir sheet. Sheets of five or ten stamps celebrating 400 years of postal delivery, five designs by Thomas Thorhauge showing delivery o�cers, paying the DKK 25 domestic rate, but with no value indicated. Then on 26May 2024, His MajestyThe King’s birthday, a souvenir sheet for the accession of King Frederik X on 14 January 2024, designed by Ella Clausen and photographed by Steen Ewald, was released in conjunction with Greenland and the Faroe Islands. This is also available in a souvenir folder for all three issues. The sheet prepays the DKK 50 international rate and is available from “selected stamp dealers and on PostNord’s website.” But, it appears, not from post o�ces … While Queen Margrethe II was not the last monarch to appear on a Danish postage stamp, it seems strange that the King’s head has yet to appear on domestic mail in Denmark. Fig. 9: 400 years of the Danish post issued 23 May 2024. Fig. 12: Accession of King Frederik X issued 26 May 2024. Fig. 10: EUROPA 2024 Underwater Fauna and Flora issued 23 May 2024. Fig. 11: 400 years of postal delivery issued 23 May 2024. Is this a harbinger of change elsewhere? Denmark is a small country, about one tenth the size of France, and with a population just under six million. It’s hard to see how larger countries can do the same, but its certain that Denmark’s reforms will be closely watched by other postal providers and governments - and it doesn’t look good for stamps - or philatelists. Acknowledgements : Dansk Filatelistisk Tidsskrift (6/2023); Linn’s Stamp News online (Jan 2, 2024); PostNord press releases (2023-11-30 and 2023-06-28); Official Journal of the European Union (Volume 62 9 August 2019); Copenhagen Economics (https://copenhageneconomics.com/publication/a-new-stage-for-postal-regulation-insights- from-recent-developments-in-denmark); European Union: Digital Public Administration factsheet 2022 Denmark.