25 August 2023
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Almost three years after Iceland Post announced that it would stop issuing stamps, the postal authority has revealed the design of a four-stamp miniature sheet produced to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the country’s first stamps, known as shilling stamps, which were released in 1873.
The minisheet of four self-adhesive stamps includes two values at 50g and two at 100g, and features drone photography of fire, ice and the northern lights, capturing the ‘variety of Icelandic nature’.
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Photographer Ragnar Th. Sigurðsson said:
‘Diversity in the Icelandic nature plays a central role, the interplay of fire and ice on the one hand, unparalleled contrasts in the landscape and the aerospace on the other, the flashing northern lights.’
Iceland Post announced that it would stop issuing stamps in October 2020 in a bid to reduce costs, with the philatelic bureau insisting that they had enough stamps to meet demand.
The new stamps were first revealed at the Nordia 2023 exhibition held in June of this year and a press release was issued to coincide with the 23 August release date.
In the statement Þórhildur Ólöf Helgadóttir, CEO of Pósturinn, said: ‘stamp collectors are ecstatic that Pósturinn is celebrating this anniversary with the issue of these stamps,’ yet it looks unlikely any further stamps will be issued.