COVER N. 432 - ICELAND

Postmark: Kópavogur Islandpóstur 14.03.2024 

Posted on the 14th March; received on the 30th March 2024

_________________________________________________________________________________

Iceland, the land where trees were swapped by waterfalls, black crystal beaches, permanent white, lava blankets, aggressive vulcanoes... all of an immense beauty, but all of them a reminder that nature is the king, and we, Man, the subjects.

Takk fyrir, Steinunn.

On May 2020  Iceland Post informed that they would no longer issue stamps, in order to cut back expenses. Luckily they did not live to their word :-) and last year a four stamp set was issued to celebrate the 150 years of the first Iceland stamp.

Let's hope this is a recurring trend for I, for one, can always do with beautiful flora stamps as the ones on this cover, especially that  of the common seal (Phoca vituylina) issued on 28JAN2010 as part of a 2 stamp set (5 and 220 Króna) dedicated to Seals.

The 50g (I presume this to be used on domestic letters up to 50 grams) is a single stamp issue, dated of 29OCT2020, and it features a photograph of a mink (Mustela vison).

The postmark hails from the city of Kópavogur, Iceland's second most populated town, part of the greater Reykjavik region.

COVER N. 412 - ICELAND

Postmark: Kopavogur Islandspóstur 12.02.2024

Posted on the 12th December 2023; Received on the 22nd February 2024

_________________________________________________________________________________

Brrrrrr.... should be cold out there, even though fire seems to burn perpetually not far from the surface, as so many recent eruptions of several  of Iceland's many volcanoes have proven lately.

Iceland, the photographer's paradise, the place where you can put a foot on the americas and another on the old continent, while chewing on some rotten dried shark piece of meat. For all these reasons and many other I'd love to visit one day,

Until then I can always enjoy the beautiful cover The flying Dutchman made sure I'd get, so as not to leave Iceland unticked in my list of countries.  Hartelijk dank, Eric!

- Johannes S. Kjarval (1885 - 1972) was an Icelandic modernist painter whose works defy classification within any of the styles and currents for which modernism was known for, although these were fully assimilated by the artist, and synthesised into his own personal style.

His works can be divided at large into three thematic groups - portraits, landscapes and  fantasies - and it is to the later that the magnificent painting “Yearning for Flight”, illustrating the mythological story of “Leda and the Swan” can be attributed.

This is the painting that was chosen to illustrate the 100 Kronur stamp issued on the occasion of  Kjarval's birth centenary, on 15OCT1985. Of note is the fact that the stamp painting was also used to illustrate a 2000 Kronur banknote issued in 1986.

- The theme for CEPT/EUROPA stamps in 1992 was "Voyages of Discovery in America". 

This is a theme that is still open to controversy as there are two main contenders to the title of first European on American soil: Christopher Columbus, on his voyage of 1942 and Leif Erikson, in 1000.

 

Iceland post chose to highlight both epic journeys on its issue, which began to circulate on 06APR1992, illustrating two 55 kronur stamps with a depiction of Erikson's drakkar on one stamp and Columbus Santa Maria carrack on the other. The individual stamps were also issued integrated into a souvenir sheet, this time without the white frame around them. The full issue (stamps and sheet) can be seen on the cover.

- The 10th anniversary of Reykjavik’s water works was also the occasion for Pósturinn to issue on 07MAY209 the 10 Kronur stamp, which can be seen on the lower left corner of the envelope.

Judging from the postmark the cover was mailed from Kopavogur, Icewland's second most populous city.