One Penny Black
Find Your Initials!

Page 44, lot #136-236

We are glad to have been entrusted with this exceptional collection of "Penny Blacks", built up by a Scandinavian collector trying to find all the positions, sometimes also on covers.

When the World's first stamp was designed, it was decided that the plate positions should be shown on the stamps by letters. The result was that in the lower left corner of the stamps, the letter "A" was shown in the whole horizontal top row of twelve stamps, and another letter in the lower right corner, running from "A" to "L".

Faroe Islands Exhibition Collection
Part 2

Page 117, lot #604-659

After the successful sale of the first part last autumn, we are happy to now offer the second part of this very important postal history collection of Faroe Islands, built during several decades and exhibited at various occasions.

As you will see, this part also covers all periods of the interesting philately and history of the islands, starting with the early period and the use of classic Danish stamps. This is followed by the exciting provisionals created due to lack of stamps during the war period, which significantly affected the issuing of stamps and the mail, laying the ground for a great postal history period.

Pakke-Porto Stamps 1905-1937
Part 2

Page 131, lot #669-789

After the successful sale of the first part of this exceptional collection last September, we are very happy to present the second and final part. Again with a small but very special section of very rare “DANMARK BEFRIET” items.

This time it has been extended by many items from the astounding “Athelstan Collection”, which among other things contains an amazing selection of parcel cards and envelopes, colony postmarks as well as other specialities.

Hence the variety is immense when it comes to printings, shades, perforations, varieties etc. and the quality is exceptional with numerous superb and excellent items. This is really a special opportunity if you want to improve your collection or even more so, if you wish to start collecting these fascinating issues.

We hope you will enjoy studying this extensive selection.

Gary T. Athelstan

Page 186, lot #978-1345

Gary T. Athelstan at right, in Magni Magnusson’s store in Reykjavik

Gary was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1936 and started collecting at an early age. His interest began with his Icelandic grandparents. His grandfather came from Akureyri and his grandmother from Seyðisfjörður.

Gary has a PhD in psychology and his career was as a professor at the University of Minnesota. His interests were helping people with physical disabilities as well as with psychological and vocational issues. He lectured at the University of Iceland as a visiting professor in the 1980s on these topics to help develop care for disabled people.

He also travelled to Iceland to visit relatives, to play in bridge tournaments and to explore the country. His great-great grandfather was the founder of the Good Templars organisation and his home is kept as a museum in Akureyri.

In addition to collecting stamps, coins and banknotes, he also enjoys fishing, bridge, and travel. He is married to a second generation Hungarian-American, which got him started also on collecting Hungarian philately.

We are very grateful to Gary and his wife, Gail, for entrusting us these vast and amazing collections. It is a great pleasure for us to present these fantastic collections from this exciting island, brought together by Gary for many decades and covering most areas of philately in extreme depth.

Gary also built a vast and astounding collection of Greenland, these items are also offered in this auction, from lot # 660 onwards.

Please enjoy!

Did You Know?

Page 203, lot #1074

It was the Head Postmaster in Reykjavik who was responsible for ordering new stamps when the stock was about to run out. The person who held this position, Mr Óli Finsen, passed away in March 1897.

During the following summer the stock of 3, 6 and 10 aur stamps was about to run out, but Óli’s successor was obviously not as experienced and did not send a new order until 31st August.

During October the need for 3 aur stamps was acute and a decision to surcharge 5 aur stamps was taken. First a red “3” was printed, however, this was not considered visible enough on the green 5 aur stamps so another surcharge was printed on top of the “3”, the Icelandic word for three, “Þrir”.

The six upper rows of the sheet got the “Þrir” surcharge in a slightly smaller type than the lower four rows. The main part of the 5 aur sheets that were surcharged in this first printing were perforated 12¾ but a few sheets were perforated 14 x 13½. These are considerably more rare, especially in unused condition, with only twelve copies known with small “Þrir” and one copy with the surcharge in larger size (please see the census in the Facit catalogue). These are highly sought after by collectors.

Since these stamps rapidly ran out, a second printing was done without the red “3” and all on sheets perforated 12¾.

The great number of varieties on this issue provides a good opportunity to form a specialized collection and this auction contains several such varieties.

“The Heijdenberg Collection“

Separate Catalogue #245

Anders Heijdenberg was a man with many passions, among them wine, art, and music. Anders held a degree from the University of Gothenburg and went on to take the corporate world by storm, working in finance at B&W (department store chain) and IKEA for many years. Later in his career, he focused on investing privately. Introverted to most, but loving, funny, and witty to those in his inner circle. Anders had a passion for cooking and entertaining those close to him, harbouring a special talent as a gifted sommelier. He was a real collector, seeking out the best in wine, art, sculpture…and of course, stamps.

Anders at a young age with his stamp albums

Anders’ interest in stamps started early and continued throughout his life. Collecting stamps gave him a sense of structure and order. The variety of stamps in his collection reflects the different stages of his life; each stamp was meticulously hand selected, and each one has a story of its own. Anders set very high standards for himself, which resulted in a wonderful collection that is ready to come out from the shadows and be shared with the world. We hope Anders’s collection will offer someone the same joy and fulfilment that it gave him.

The Family

A Magic Moment

As a philatelist at Postiljonen I sometimes experience ”a magic moment”, when I get the opportunity to work with something extraordinary. This again happened to me when we were asked to assist in the sale of the collections formed by Anders Heijdenberg.

Of course, I knew about these collections since Anders was a long-time client, but I could not believe the extent of it. At the exhibition in Trelleborg 2023 Anders was showing one frame with Riksdaler covers, which was extremely impressive, most collectors of this area struggle to show more than a few pages.

Anders’ main area was Circle type, of which he formed a remarkable collection, but his material from other areas is excellent as well. For example his Skåne cancellations, of which he formed an exceptional collection in very high quality. Furthermore, his postage due collection can be considered among the best, with several unique items. Last but not least, he built incredible collections of Lion type and Crown mail.

I would like to express our thanks to Sissela Unosdotter and Anders’ children for entrusting us these extraordinary collections. I am sure that we will see many of these fantastic items in several different exhibits in the future.

Andreas Lindekvist