March 2024
Book Release: "The Beautiful Collection, Sweden 1855-1872"
"The Beautiful Collection, Sweden 1855–1872" is a reproduction of a stamp collection compiled by the prominent philatelist Stefan Bielkhammar. The collection, considered the most beautiful of its kind, has been internationally praised for its exceptional quality and historical value.
The release of the book is taking place as the actual collection is set to be auctioned at Postiljonen starting on March 22, 2024, it is expected to bring up to 1 million Euro. Through the book the collection can be studied in its entirety, as it has been exhibited, before it is divided in its current form and offered to eager collectors worldwide.
Postiljonen look forward to sharing this unique stamp collection with the world and will continue the pursuit of "excellence" in philately.
About Postiljonen AB:
Postiljonen is an international auction house specializing in stamps and philately. The company was founded in 1968 in Malmö and is today the leading Stamp Auction House in Scandinavia, The sale of "The Beautiful Collection, Sweden 1855–1872" is part of Postiljonen's four-day International Spring Auction, held on March 19–22, where stamps from around the world will be sold for an estimated value of approximately 1,5 million Euro
About Stefan Bielkhammar:
Stefan Bielkhammar is a successful Swedish philatelist with a special appreciation for the aesthetic aspect of exhibition philately.
About "Excellence in Philately":
"Excellence in Philately" is a book series where Postiljonen presents a reproduction of significant stamp collections before they are broken up and sold at auctions. The purpose is to study the collection intact as its philatelic value is high.
October 2021
Benny Winther was named
"Danmarksmester" at ELBO '21
Benny Winther was named "Danmarksmester" when his collection “The classic stamps of Denmark 1851-1863” got 95 point at the national exhibition Elbo '21.
The prize sculpture was donated and presented to Mr Winther by the Postiljonen CEO Lars-Olow Carlsson.
December 2018
Peter Wittsten winner of Grand Prix
d´Honneur at THAILAND 2018
Peter Wittsten won the Championship class for his collection "Sweden 1855–1872 – The first five stamp issues".
Congratulations from Postiljonen to our much appreciated friend!
June 2018
The Silver Postiljon!
Congratulations from Postiljonen to Hallvard Slettebø
May 2017
Postiljonen to be main sponsor of three large philatelic events in Malmö, Sweden
Postiljonen AB will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2018 by sponsoring, among other events, the national exhibition MALMEX 2018. The sponsoring of the exhibition is part of a larger sponsorship agreement which in total includes three large philatelic events to take place in Postiljonen’s home city of Malmö during the next few years.
These three events are the Swedish Philatelic Federation’s Congress of 2018, to take place on April 6 – 8, of which the so-called SFF-days with their dealer bourse, lectures and other events are an integrated part. In the autumn of the same year, August 31 to September 2, the national exhibition MALMEX 2018 is to take place. Two years later, on September 4 – 6 2020 it is time for Sweden and Malmö in particular to play host to the Nordia 2020 Nordic exhibition. The organizer of these events is the Malmö Philatelic Association in cooperation with several smaller Scanian stamp clubs which will be reviving the name MALMEX, an internationally recognized name for previous stamp fairs organized by Postiljonen during the 1970s-80s.
The exhibitions are to take place at the MalmöMässan convention center and the Congress/SFF-days are to take place at the Quality Hotel View. Both of these premises lie in the business park at Hyllie, neighbouring to the Malmö arena, the Emporia shopping Center as well as of course the Hyllie station. The station lies only 25 minutes away from Copenhagen city by train, 12 minutes to Copenhagen Airport or 3 minutes away from the city center of Malmö in the opposite direction.
Postiljonen is honoured to be a part of these three philatelically important events with its sponsorship and presence. As co-sponsors for the two exhibitions Postiljonen has been joined by the internationally recognized auction house SPINK, which Postiljonen already has active cooperation with on the Nordic market, as well as the renowned international internet auction portal Philasearch. Postiljonen along with the organizing board, with Mr. Lars Nordberg as chairman, look very much forward to an exciting cooperation with these two international leaders in their field.
April 2016
The 26th winner of ”The Silver Postiljon” was Mr. Erkki Toivakka!
Mr Toivakka, "Nordic Champion" flanked by Claes Arnrup and Lars-Olow Carlsson from Postiljonen. On the far left is Chris King, chairman of the jury.
March 2016
Record prices for Icelandic covers!
Not unexpectedly the spring auction at Postiljonen with the Indriði Pálsson collection of Classic Iceland became a great success. Several record prices were noted and most expensive was a cover with a 16 skilling that sold for 130 000 Euro. The bidding in the auction room in Malmö became intense when in addition to the visitors, several phone bidders also fought for the coveted items. A unique cover with 16 skilling sent in 1874 from Djúpivogur on Iceland to Copenhagen, the only known letter with this denomination in perforation 14 x 13 ½, was sold for 130 000 Euro. A domestic cover with 4 skilling cancelled in Hjardarholt and sent to Reykjavik in 1873, the only known skilling letter with this postmark was sold for 90 000 Euro. Also a beautiful First Day-cancelled Postal Stationery card with 5 aur and additionally franked with 5 aur blue went well. The starting price was 10 000 Euro but the hammer landed on 35 000 Euro. Only one of the 207 items in the Indriði Pálsson auction was unsold (however sold after the auction) and the total turnover was almost 600 000 Euro. The general auction also delivered several fantastic results. Greenland was in great demand and a parcel card with 20 and 70 øre Schultz together with 1 kr. sold for 5 200 Euro. The auction featured a wonderful section of Danish West Indies as well, which included a pristine never hinged block of 16 of 14 cents sold for 15 000 Euro and a very beautiful margin copy of the due stamp 10 cents blue, sold for 1 650 Euro. The Finnish section presented a foretaste of what is to come in terms of fantastic items at the autumn auction in September. A unique letter with 10-fold postage to Sweden with ten 32 penni stamps in a vertical strip sold for 25 000 Euro. Postiljonen promises a “Finland Special” auction that among other things includes an exceptional Postal Stationery section. The Swedish part of the auction also had some very nice items. A piece from a cover sent to England in 1858 with a strip of 3 of 24 Sk. Bco was sold for 10 000 Euro. Bidding was intense on a unique color proof in violet of 40 öre Gustav V. The starting price was 500 Euro but the final hammer price reached 2 800 Euro. A very big estate with accumulations from around the world was offered at this auction. At the end of World War II the stock was hidden away in sealed boxes, opened in the 1950s and then not touched again for the next 50 years. Some hammer prices worth mentioning was the Great Britain lot sold for 7000 Euro (estimate 1500), Italy for 4 800 Euro (estimate 250) and the Soviet Union 13 500 Euro (estimate 1000). The prices above are excl. buyer’s commission and the total auction turnover was 1,4 million Euro.
January 2016
Spectacular Finnish Coat of Arms Cover at auction
An absolutely outstanding cover from Finland to Sweden will come up for sale at the Postiljonen Spring Auction in Malmö 18-19 March. It is a 10-fold rate paid by taking a vertical strip of 10 of the 32 penni Coat of Arms from a double-sheet and therefore with a white “gutter” in the middle! The letter was sent by ship from Åbo in Finland to Westerås in Sweden and the reason for the high franking was the content consisting of shares in the Åminne Zink Aktiebolag for 10.000 marks. It is the most remarkable cover franked with stamps of the 1875 issue and almost unthinkable that such an item can even exist. Especially as the double sheets (two with 5 x 10 stamps each) were usually separated at a very early stage. Besides it is in top quality and in wonderful appearance. The cover has been kept in the same collection for at least 40 years and probably much longer. It is unique as a strip of 10 as well as for the cover rate and to our knowledge this is the first time ever it is offered at auction. This Spring Auction of Postiljonen will also include the first part of the famous Indriði Pálsson Large Gold Medal collection of Classic Iceland with two of the most attractive of the existing Skilling covers and many more rare and beautiful items from this exciting island. It will be presented in its own catalogue. Among other highlights of the auction is an exceptional section of Danish West Indies including unique items and an extensive section of isolated frames and other varieties. Germany is represented especially by a very unusual offer of German Empire early never hinged stamps, sets and miniature sheets. As always a lot of important and well filled collections worldwide are up for sale and this time also a great number of exciting duplicate lots of older issues, mostly coming from old estates including some going 50 years back in time or more.
December 2015
“The Indriði Pálsson
Large Gold Medal Collection of Classic Iceland”
Postiljonen has been entrusted the sale of the fantastic “Indriði Pálsson Large Gold Medal Collection of Classic Iceland”.
This collection is world famous and was regarded the most important and complete collection of classic Iceland in 2001 when it was awarded Large Gold at the HAFNIA 2001 Exhibition. Mr. Pálsson is the first and so far only collector in Iceland reaching the highest international medal level.
The late Mr. Indriði Pálsson was a well-known and respected businessman in Iceland. Mr. Pálsson was CEO for Shell Iceland for almost 20 years, he was also a valued board member of large companies such as Icelandair and Iceland’s largest shipping company, Eimskipafélag Íslands. He was chairman of the Rotary Club from 1985 to 1986 as well as the Grand Master of the Fremasons in Iceland between 1988 and 1999. The President of Iceland awarded him the order of the large Knight's Cross in 1993.
His collections will be sold through three auctions starting with the International Spring Auction 18-19 March 2016 in Malmö. Part I will include highlights such as a cover with 4 skilling sent from Hjardarholt to Reykjavik in 1873. This is the only known skilling cover with this cancellation. For sale at the first auction is also a 16 skilling on cover sent to Denmark in 1874. The only known cover with this denomination in perforation 14 x 13 ½.
August 2015
The Jutlandia Collection
Postiljonen will conduct their annual international autumn auction on 1-2 October as well as an exceptional special auction of classic Denmark which will feature in a separate catalogue.
The separate special catalogue contains The Jutlandia Collection, a specialized collection of classic Denmark 1851-1863 in extraordinary quality.
The collection is unique in the way that it is built up in order to show the manufacturing process of Denmark’s first stamp issues as well as to show most aspects that relate to their usage. The collection further shows how certain problems that the Post encountered during the era were solved by e.g. changing the way of cancelling the stamps, how postage rates were updated and even how mail routes were changed due to the turbulent political atmosphere.
One example of these items is a magnificent cover cancelled with a foot post cancellation dated October 22nd 1852 and franked with a 2 RBS Thiele. The stamp was printed in August while the cancellation was only in use until late October of the same year. Only a few such covers are known, this one being the earliest and most spectacular.
The collection also includes items of a more ordinary nature, which are however seldom seen in such outstanding quality, such as the unique mint never hinged 2 RBS Ferslew which is widely regarded as being the best known example in existence.
Perhaps the most interesting item in the whole collection is the beautiful cover with a mixed franking of 22 Skilling cancelled on June 8th 1855. The franking consists of a 2 RBS Thiele as well as a strip of three and a pair of the first printing of the 4 Skilling issue of 1854. The cover is sent via Rostock to Königsberg, Prussia.
The special auction is without doubt one of the most interesting sales of classic Danish philately to date, especially regarding the quality of items as well as their rarity.
September 2013
Article in "Dagens Industri"
Dagens Industri, the largest financial newspaper in Sweden, recently featured an article about Postiljonen and Swedish philately.
Read the article (in Swedish) here!
January 2012
Kjøbenhavns Philatelist Klub
The first meeting of the year at Kjøbenhavns Philatelist Klub took place on Wednesday 4 January and according to tradition a guest speaker was specially invited for the meeting. This year Claes Arnrup from Postiljonen presented a speech.
The same evening KPK also inaugurated their new study room where the new, hand-made exhibition frames sponsored by Postiljonen are placed.
Read more about the event here!
December 2011
New brochure!
Postiljonen begins a fantastic but hectic stamp season directly after the holidays and with our new brochure we would like to give you a little taste of the activities and auction sales we are planning for this spring.
We would really like to welcome you as a consignor to these auctions, but it is urgent to start planning. We accept consignments for the spring auction until mid-January and a month later we close for the Jubilee Auction.
Click the image above to view the brochure (in PDF format) or right-click and "save as..." to download the file.
November 2011
A Sensational Discovery!
With catalogue valuation 250,000 €
This is a story about a new and amazing find, a story that for millions of philatelists around the world only remains a collector’s dream.
A Scandinavian philatelist manages to buy a large All World collection from a European auction house hoping to find some stamps suitable for his own collection. Back home he places the collection on the dining room table and starts to check the stamps. He soon comes across a stamp that alerts his curiosity, but he also realizes that it could be manipulated or forged. The stamp goes into a pile of stamps he later intends to examine further. An undisturbed hour with stamp collecting does not come often and sure enough he is soon interrupted by everyday life.
The collection remains on the table for a couple of days until his wife gets tired of it and demands its immediate removal. The album and the pile of stamps are quickly placed into a box in a wardrobe and a whole year passes until he remembers the stamp and starts to examine it. You can imagine his surprise but also scepticism when he starts to realize that the stamp might be one of the most famous stamps in Japanese philately and among the rarest issues in the world. After some consideration he sends the stamp to an expert and amazingly it comes back with a certificate that is beyond his greatest expectations.
The stamp is legendary in Japan and called “Tama 6 yo” (yo of egg-brown 6). It is a 6 SEN of the Cherry Blossom issue from 1875 in orange brown colour with syllabic (control number) 15 and before this find only 6 other copies were known. The catalogue value is in Michel a quarter of a million Euros and in the Japanese catalogue even a bit more. The postmark is a negative cross used in Tokyo and the condition is perfect. This particular copy is by some Japanese experts considered the best of the few existing copies, which are all owned by great Japanese collectors and in the coming spring a new owner may crown his collection with this jewel.
The stamp will be for sale at the Postiljonen Jubilee Auction # 200 on the 28th of April 2012 in Malmö, Sweden. The auction is going to be held in connection with the “Malmö 2nd International Philatelic Summit” which is an international seminar dealing with competitive philatelic exhibiting.
November 2011
One of Finland's greatest philatelic rarities at auction
As part of Russia, Finland was among the first countries after Great Britain to adopt the system of uniform postage rates. The rate for sending a letter was decided to be 10 kopek per ounce and the solution was pre-printed envelopes in the values of 10 and 20 kopek. They were printed in small numbers and during 1845-58 in 3 issues of which the first with Standing Oval Type.
In 1850 a new stationery issue in three values was produced, it was printed with the Lying Oval Type which was later used for the first issue of postage stamps. However, this stationery is printed with the highest value, 20 kopek in black and this value was not issued as postage stamp. Therefore this stamp imprint only exists on this stationery. It is very attractive and beautifully cancelled with a boxed postmark "Helsinki 1853" on the front as well as on the back. It is one of the most famous items in Finnish philately and only two examples are known. One is on display in the Finnish Postal Museum, the second and the only one in private hands is currently in a safety vault in Malmö.
The stationery was the crown jewel in Christian Sundman’s Finnish postal stationery collection which was twice awarded Large Gold internationally. It has also been an important highlight in several other famous collections of Axel Trap-Holm, Anthon Fabergé, Mattsson and Indrenius.
This fantastic item, among the world’s rarest issues, will be sold at the Postiljonen Jubilee Auction # 200 on 28 April 2012. The auction will be held in connection with the "Malmö 2nd International Philatelic Summit“ and is expected to attract large international attention. Starting price of this unique item will be 70 000 Euro.
The same auction will also offer a copy of the first postal stationery issued already 1845 in Finland. This also has a stamp imprint in the value of 20 kopek, but it is in red and of the Standing Oval Type. It also originates from Christian Sundman’s Large Gold collection and is very rare.
September 2011
...and The Silver Postiljon goes to Göran Persson!
Mr Göran Persson was awarded The Postiljonen challenge prize, the Silver Postiljon, for his collection "4 Skilling Banco" at the National Exhibition GOTHEX 2011 in Gothenburg. The Prize is awarded as a national Grand Prix by the jury to the exhibitor with the best display in competition.
March 2011
Radio Interview
Our chairman of the board, Claes Arnrup, has been interviewed by Swedish radio. Among the things discussed was the upcoming auction (25-26 March 2011), particularly the fantastic Skilling Banco drawing by Sparre, and the future of philately.
Listen to the interview (in Swedish) here!
February 2011
A Most Spectacular Reunion!
The Fakes, Forgeries & Experts Journal and Postiljonen AB present a fabulous philatelic item - a previously unknown, reconstructed block of four of Denmark's first issue, the 2 RBS. Read more here! (1.5 MB PDF file)
September 2010
...and The Silver Postiljon goes to Jan Berg!
The Postiljonen challenge prize, the Silver Postiljon, is awarded as a national Grand Prix by the jury to the exhibitor with the best display in competition. At the National Exhibition SKÅNELAND 2010 in Kristianstad the jury awarded Mr. Jan Berg for his collection "Private ship letter stamp issuing companies up to 1900"
December 2009
ASCAT GRAND PRIX TO PIMCO’s FOUNDER MR. WILLIAM “BILL” H. GROSS
ASCAT, the world-wide society of the leading publishers of catalogues, albums and magazines for stamp collectors, has chosen to award Mr. William “Bill” H. Gross the ASCAT Grand Prix, one of the most prestigious international philatelic awards. Mr Gross is awarded the prize due to his great achievements and contributions as a Philatelist. However his acts as a Philanthropist impressed the ASCAT Grand Prix Committee even more.
August 2009
Report from the Malmö Seminar, 21-23 August
The Swedish Philatelic Federation & Postiljonen AB recently hosted a seminar about Postal History and Thematic Philately at Elite Hotel Savoy in Malmö. The F.I.P. sanctioned seminar was a big success with more than 80 participants from 21 countries attending. View the official report here! (1 MB PDF file)
March 2009
...and The Silver Postiljon goes to Joseph Hackmey!
The most prestigious philatelic award in Sweden, The Silver Postiljon, is awarded as a national Grand Prix by the jury to the exhibitor with the best display in competition. At the National Exhibition NorrPhil 2009 in Stockholm this past weekend the jury gave this challenge trophy to Mr. Joseph Hackmey for his excellent display of Cape of Good Hope. This collection was exhibited for the first time and it is now qualified to compete for the International Grand Prix at IBRA ´09 in Essen and at LONDON 2010.
This was the 20th time The Silver Postiljon was handed out since the price was established in 1977 and the first ever winner, John Jacob Engellau, then immediately went on to win the international Grand Prix in Toronto 78. Let’s cross our fingers and hope that Mr. Hackmey can repeat this great achievement.