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Posta Stamps No. 39 Faroe Islands February 2019 ...................................... - The Faroese Provisionals of 1919 - V.U. Hammershaimb 200 years - The Moon Landing 1969 - Europa 2019 - Faroese Watermills Test proof The Faroese Provisionals of 1919 The Chair Leg Overprints the overprinted 2/5 øre stamps, the The provisional stamps from 1919, where so-called “chair leg” overprints. lack of stamps made it necessary to over- print stamps to meet demand, are highly The most important functionaries of the sought after among stamp collectors. Tórshavn post office were Postmaster Ras- mus Kristensen Pilgaard (1st June 1917 – It is perhaps an irony of fate that the postal 31st October 1922), postal clerk Andreas impact of the Faroe Islands (in philatelic Ejnar Emil Godskesen Andersen (6th June context) - apart from the English censorship 1917 – 30th April 1920) and postal assistant – was not felt until after World War I. This Laurits Diderik Hansen (1st Novemer 1918 – may be why the situation was underesti- 30th April 1925), later inspector (1st July mated and not given timely consideration 1931 – 31st December 1946). Thus, all those by the Danish postal authorities when they responsible for the functioning of the Tór- decided to raise postal rates as of January 1, shavn post office at the time were Danish. 1919. The new rates were published in Dim- malætting (the largest Faroese newspaper Already in December 1918, Postmaster Pil- at the time) on December 14, 1918. The rate gaard had become aware of the precarious for ordinary letters up to 250 grams went situation. He sent a telegram requesting from 5-øre to 7-øre. Domestic rates for 7-øre stamps from Denmark. It had, in postcards up to 250 gm also increased - other words, become clear to him that a from 4-øre to 7-øre (domestic rates also shortage of stamps was looming. Pilgaard apply to letter cards sent from the Faroes to was requested to use 1 and 2-øre stamps Denmark). This was crucial for the future for franking since the 7-øre stamps would provisional stamps as especially the 2-øre not be arriving in the islands until after Jan- stamps were rapidly running out of stock. In uary 1, 1919. On December 30, Pilgaard tel- the following we will take a closer look at egraphed Denmark again - the situation had become untenable - the stamp stock had 2 The telegram with the instructions to overprint the 2-øre stamps arrived Saturday January 11, 1919 - therefore this date was used when Posta issued a mini-sheet celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the chair leg overprint. become depleted. On January 1, the Danish “Surcgares cipher 2 ore on necessary num- General-Directorate sent a reply to the ber of 5 ore Stamps - General Postmaster”. effect that the post office could bisect the (The telegram was in English because of 4-øre stamps and later also the 4-øre the English censorship. In this case, a spell- wrappers when there were no more stamps ing mistake has occurred in the telegram. in stock. Nothing was said about how the There should be “Surcharges” not “Sur- stamps were to be bisected, which posed a cgares”, but this is the original wording). new predicament for the postal staff. How- Thus, permission had been granted to over- ever, L. D. Hansen, being himself a philate- print 5-øre stamps with a 2-øre inscription. list, was aware that the West Indies had managed in a similar situation in 1903 by The telegram was marked as received by bisecting the stamps diagonally. The same the post office on Monday, the inscription decision was now made and carried out in reading 13.1.19. 5-7 F. However, this has no the Faroes. significance for the actual time of delivery. My conclusion is that a Danish official in However, the stock decreased rapidly and Torshavn received the telegram on the day already on January 10, Pilgaard realized that it arrived, i.e. Saturday afternoon, January although most towns and villages had their 11, at 18 pm. There is no doubt that the tel- own stamp stock, the “cash register” in Tór- egram was delivered to Pilgaard’s private shavn was almost empty. That same day a residence on Landavegin Road – if indeed telegram was sent to Denmark highlighting Pilgaard did not give any other instructions this dire situation - only five sheets of 4-øre to the Great Nordic Telegraph Company, marks were left in stock. Due to English since he must have been expecting to censorship in the aftermath of War, the receive an important telegram. General Directorate replied with a telegram in English (misspelling the word surcharges) Pilgaard may have given the deputy post- on Saturday, January 11, 1919 at 16.00: master special instructions for the delivery 3 of the telegram, since Pilgaard himself was at a time. They were, however, never sold at that time on official business in Tvøroyri, without being cancelled by the post office! where Mortensen was preparing to sell In total 155 sheets of 15,500 stamps, were Smiril to the Faroese Parliament. Such a overprinted in this way. deal would have had significant conse- quences for postal communications As far as I know, no documents exist that between the islands. can confirm Godskesen Andersen’s later statement that January 13, 1919, was the Due to Pilgaard’s absence, it devolved on first day of use of this 2>5-øre stamp. In Godskesen Andersen, the deputy com- fact, there exists at least one envelope can- mander of the post office, to come up with celled on Sunday, January 12, 1919. I am not a solution. He made a draft of how an over- able to say if this is a genuine item, but we print could be implemented. (One of these know that the post office staff were at work “essays” is the theme of the mini-sheet, on Sunday, January 5, 1919. It is therefore which will be issued on January 11, 2019). quite possible that the staff was also work- The printers at Dimmalætting rejected the ing on Sunday, January 12. We know that a task - probably due to time constraints, but number of envelopes franked with other they gave Andersen the single character stamps were cancelled this very Sunday. types 2, Ø, R and E which could used in the This question must therefore be left open. overprint. Having secured these types, Godskesen Andersen instructed master car- penter Peter Poulsen to embed them in a On January 23, 1919, S / S Botnia docked in chair leg. This is how we got the chair leg Tórshavn with the stamps that Pilgaard had overprint. It was first used on Monday, Jan- ordered. At the same time, Denmark uary 13, 1919, according to Godskesen ordered a halt in the sale of provisional Andersen’s own account several years later. stamps – an instruction promptly obeyed by One sheet of 100 stamps was overprinted the Tórshavn post office. It was wintertime 4 The Chair Leg Overprint so transporting the new stamps to each Tingakrossur nr. 3 (the Faroe Islands’ sec- nook and cranny in the islands took several ond largest newspaper at the time) features days – which is why we will find these a humorous column on January 22, 1919: stamps also being cancelled at a much later date. According to Ingvard Jacobsen, a phi- Stamp “Epidemic” latelist and columnist for Nordatlantex-76, “Our postmen has recently been busy deal- these stamps were valid for franking until ing with stamp collectors speculating in December 31, 1926, although this was of no 2-øre - overprinted 5-øre stamps - as the practical significance. stock of 2-øre stamps has long since been exhausted. Earlier, mostly boys were occu- Looking at the newspapers from these pied in this strange business (of stamp col- days, we find several items of interest: lecting), but now grown-ups - a newspaper editor being one of the most eager! – are The newspaper Dimmalætting No. 5, notes joining the game, sending piles of self-ad- already on January 15, 1919, that there is dressed letters to the post office. They very great interest in these stamps. On the expect a big win: it is reported that a 2-øre front page, we find a large advertisement: stamp can suddenly rise to the value of 50 kr.! An amusing example of this “stamp epi- “Buying Stamps! demic” is the “prize-puzzle” used as bait by Buying 5-øre stamps at highest prices, Dimmalætting. It’s so easy that any child overprinted with 2 Ø. In Thorshavn. can solve it, and that is exactly why the edi- The Stamp Fair, Copenhagen. “ tor can expect to receive solutions by the dozens - with 2-øre overprinted stamps! And on page 3 in the same newspaper we Which is what this is all about. But some- find another request for these stamps times these “speculators” get cheated. A signed by Johs. Olaus Joensen, Tórshavn serious man - according to the story - came one of these days into the post office with a 5 Godskesen Andersen, the deputy commander of the post office, 4-øre wrapper. Photo: Peter Sondhelm pile of letters, all of which were addressed Sources: to himself! The postman wrapped a band • “The Faroe Islands Interim Probably around the pile, franked it with a 50-øre 1919” by Kristian Hopballe and Steffen stamp and returned the pile to the man. Riis. 1986. The man both cursed and swore! “ • Ingvard Jacobsen, columnist for Nord atlantex - 76. (Booklet published in Yes, stamp speculators abounded and today connection with a stamp exhibition in many collectors do not attach any great Tórshavn 1976) value to envelopes with the inscription “P S • Aage Tholl and Rowland King-Farlow Johannesen, Vaktarhusgøta”.

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