New joint issue features environmental theme

By Denise McCarty

Sweden and Denmark participated in a semipostal joint issue to raise funds for environmental causes.

The four stamps, two for each country, were issued May 7 by Postnord, the company established through the merger of Sweden’s Posten AB and Denmark’s Post Danmark A/S.

The designs are identical with the exception of the denominations and the country name, “Sverge” on the two Sweden semipostals and “Danmark” on the Denmark stamps.

For the first time, the Postnord logo is included on a stamp design. This logo is in the upper left on all four stamps, with the panda logo of the World Wildlife Fund in the lower left.

The central part of each design is in a circle, representing Earth. One design features houses and a wind turbine on an island in a lake, and the other shows deer in a meadow.

If you look closely at the designs, other items can be seen. For example, the wind turbine design includes a bird in the upper left of the circle and three fish in the lower right. Also, there are dotted lines in the clouds, probably representing rain.

On the other design, the doe and fawn are looking toward a city skyline, which also includes a wind turbine.

The inscription “For miljons skull” above the denominations translates to “for the environment,” according to an article in Postnord’s new-issue bulletin for Sweden.

The Sweden stamps are inscribed “brev + 1kr,” which means that they pay the basic domestic letter rate (7 krone) and that 1 krone will be donated to charity. In the case of the Sweden semipostals, it is the Earth Hour City Challenge, the World Wildlife Fund’s international project for sustainable cities.

The Denmark stamps are denominated 10kr+1kr, with the extra 1kr going to the World Wildlife Fund’s Earth Hour lights-off campaign.

Ditte Rosenorn Holm and Gustav Martensson of the Postnord stamp design department designed the stamps.

They were printed by offset in panes of 10 comprising six of the deer designs and four of the wind turbine designs.