For the fifth year in a row, Tusass Greenland Filatelia’s annual series of variable value stamps is dedicated to showcasing the fauna of the island.
The 2023 series is illustrated with four photographs of the white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla). The photographs are by Carsten Egevang, a biologist and researcher at Greenland’s Nature Institute in Nuuk who also took the photographs used in the 2022 series (see article, published in VARIABLE 67).
The rolls of thermal self-adhesive labels are manufactured by the Danish company Limo Labels A/S, with flexographic printing and with perforations around the illustration area only. The labels come affixed on a yellow release liner. This is the first series in which the new name, since 2021, of the postal company Tusass is printed as a security background in the right-hand part of the label reserved for the printing of the stamp’s data.
The new series was available from November 10th 2023. As with the earlier series, it was printed with the aCon printers and the Intelligent AR’s DKU desktop kiosk, both using the same rolls of labels but with very different imprints.
The aCon printers in Greenland are able to print stamps with any face value between 0.25 and 99.75 DKK, in steps of 0.25 DKK. Tusass Greenland’s philatelic department has three aCon printers; two are installed at the Nordfrim A/S offices in Otterup, Denmark, and the third at the Tasiilaq’s office, in Greenland. The stamps issued with each machine can be recognized by the first three digits of the code at the bottom of the label; e4c and erG for stamps printed in Denmark, and TFD for stamps printed in Greenland. In addition to these three machines (for philatelic use), there are more than 130 aCon desktop printers in use at Greenlandic post offices and companies throughout the country.
The DKU kiosk with code GL01 is also permanently installed in the Nordfrim A/S offices in Otterup, the Tusass Greenland Filatelia service center in Denmark (see receipt). On the date of release, this machine was programmed to issue stamps with four face values only, 13.00, 20.00, 23.00 and 32.00 DKK, corresponding to the current basic mail tariffs for economy and priority domestic mail, and priority mail to European countries and the rest of the world, respectively (see table below). All the stamps printed by this machine include the ‘Greenland Post‘ imprint under the face value. The first block of the code (DNDK23) at the bottom also indicates that the stamps have been printed in Denmark.
Tusass Greenland Filatelia at the Frimærke, Brev & Postkort Messe 2023
Tusass Greenland Philately, represented in Denmark by Nordfrim A/S, again attended the annual Frimærke, Brev & Postkort Messe, the major philatelic event in the Nordic countries. The 2023 fair was held at a new location over the weekend of November 11th & 12th at the Frederiksberghallerne, a multi-purpose hall located in Frederiksberg, a district to the west of Copenhagen.
Again, in addition to the stamp exhibition, there were some twenty stands at the event mainly stamp dealers and philatelic service representatives from the region.
Perhaps because of the change of location, in a place somewhat far out from the centre of Copenhagen and to some extent difficult to find, and perhaps because of the way this type of event has developed, this 2023 fair was possibly the one that registered the lowest number of visitors in recent years. A situation that is viewed with some concern by organisers and exhibitors, in anticipation of the major European philatelic exhibition – Hafnia to be held in Copenhagen, in October 2024.
Tusass Greenland Filatelia set up three units for the printing of variable value stamps on its large stand. The image below shows, the GL01 DKU kiosk and the two aCon desktop printers (codes e4c and erG).
As in previous fairs, the stamps of the ‘White-tailed Eagles’ series issued during the two days at Frederiksberg from the DKU machine includes the ‘Copenhagen 2023‘ special imprint under the face value. The imprint on the header of the receipts shows the location of this special issue.
(English edition rewritten by J. Gareze – January 2024)