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Greenland

Polar Ship Gustav Holm Definitive of 1950
Postmarked St. John's, Newfoundland

Polar Ship Gustav Holm Definitive of 1950 Postmarked St. John's, Newfoundland
Polar Ship Gustav Holm Definitive of 1950 Postmarked St. John's, Newfoundland

Gustav Holm was a Danish navigator and polar explorer who mapped much of the east coast of Greenland. In the process he discovered several Inuit communities and great ice fiords. The high values of the definitive issue of 1950-1960 depict a polar exploration vessel named after him with an iceberg in the background.

This unusual example of the 1 krone brown definitive is postmarked St. John's, Newfoundland in Canada. Was it mistakenly placed in a Canadian mail box by someone from fishing boat or other ship calling into St. John's? Did it pass through the Canadian postal system unnoticed or was appropriate postage due applied? Most likely it is an example of a paquebot usage where a letter posted at sea is mailed at a port of call using the stamps of the country of origin of the ship. Universal Postal Union Convention Manual Article 06-007 states:

If the items are posted on board on the high seas, they may be prepaid, in the absence of special agreement between the designated operators concerned, by means of the postage stamps and according to the rates of the country to which the ship appertains or is under contract. Items prepaid in this way must be handed over to the post office at the port of call as soon as possible after the arrival of the ship.

Universal Postal Union Convention Manual Article 06-007
Universal Postal Union Convention Manual Article 06-007

Unfortunately, there is no way to be certain of the reason for this postmark because the stamp was removed from its cover.


Bibliography

"Greenland." Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue. 2009.

"Gustav Frederik Holm." Wikipedia. 25 Oct. 2008. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Web.
     2 Oct. 2010 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Frederik_Holm.

"Prepayment and stamping of items posted on board ship." Convention Manual. Berne: Universal Postal Union, 2018.
     Web. 16 Jan. 2019. http://www.upu.int/uploads/tx_sbdownloader/actManualsInThreeVolumesConventionManualEn.pdf.


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