There is so much to unpack when looking at Danish stamps for 2021. This year, well, they just make me hungry. Very, very hungry.  January started the collecting year off with a delicious 5 stamp set of cakes. If you are a food on stamps collector, don’t miss the accompanying prestige booklet. Everything about these stamps is perfect, from the background colours to the food photography. Full credit for making the cakes shine goes to photographer Stine Christiansen. 

Bask in the scent. Feel the texture. Somehow, the food becomes so vivid that you can almost taste it. Photographing food is one of the most tactile and sensorial experiences you can create with an image. Food – Stine Christiansen

Videos & stamp topics

I’ve included a few links to YouTube videos in Danish, but don’t let that discourage you from watching them. Language isn’t a barrier and they are lively and fun videos. Most of the websites I’ve added are in Danish as well, but many come with excellent English translations. As always, if the sites don’t pop up in English, use Google Translate. I found the English translations were quite good. 

Tribute to Czesław Słania one of the greatest 

Now for the stamp celebration I’ve been awaiting. Czesław Słania, (1921 – 2005) was one of the great engravers. Born in  Czeladź Poland, he spent most of his career in Sweden. He began work with the Swedish Post office in 1959 and became Royal Court Engraver of Sweden in  1972. His work has graced over 1000 stamps and banknotes from over 30 countries in a career that spanned from 1951 to 2005. Chances are, if you’ve collected stamps for any length of time, you’ve handled one of his works.

Hans Christian Andersen stamps 1975. Engraved by Czesław Słania

He worked on 236 for the Danish Post office, including the set above for Hans Christian Andersen’s Centenary of his death. They feature Numskull Jack, Hans Christian Andersen and The Marsh King’s Daughter.  Claus Achton Friis’s design, based on earlier drawings by Vihelm Pedersen and  I. Frolich and a photograph of Andersen, allowed Słania to really show off his engraving skills. 

For collectors of Canadian currency, Czesław Słania has a connection here. He engraved the 2002 $5 and $100 bank notes. If you’ve handled the popular “Hockey Sweater” $5 bill, then you’ve seen his work: 

The $5 note, issued in March 2002, was the second in the series. The face features a portrait of Sir Wilfrid Laurier produced by the noted Swedish engraver Czesław Słania and a vignette of the West Block of the Parliament Buildings. All notes in the series feature a stylized Maple Leaf flag in the top right-hand corner. The back of the note celebrates the theme Children at Play with images of children skating, tobogganing, and playing hockey. A quotation from The Hockey Sweater by Canadian author Roch Carrier is also featured.
untitled (bankofcanada.ca) page 108

Canadian $5 bill Sir Wilfred Laurier All Rights Bank of Canada

Canadian $5 bill showing children playing hockey. All Rights Bank of Canada

Słania’s image will appear on a number of stamps throughout Europe this year and I’ll try to link through to them as they arrive. Norwegian engraver Martin Mörck was tapped for the daunting task of engraving the Czesław Słania tribute and it should arrive in August. Danish post has already released the image and it’s posted below. 

Enjoy Denmark’s 2021 offerings.

Danish stamps  2021 January

Cakes

5 stamps, strips of 5, prestige booklet

” The stamps show five delicious cakes created by the winner of the Danish television show Den Store Bagedyst (equivalent of The Great British Bake Off).” PostNord butik

Danish TV has episodes of Den Store Bagedyst on Youtube. The language difference didn’t hinder the joy of watching. It’s easy to follow, and pure delight. Check out season one: Den Store Bagedyst | DR1 – YouTube 

Artist/Baker: Annemette Voss Fridthjof
Photos: Stine Christiansen
Christiansen is a Copenhagen photographer who specialises in food & lifestyle photography
CAUTION: Don’t go to her food photos if you are hungry. You’ve been warned.
Graphic design: PostNord Stamps/Ella Clausen

Release date: January 4, 2021

The Golden Age – Danish history of innovation and work 1800-1850

5 stamps, strip of 5

Photos: Costin Rado (Sylfiden) and Bertil Skov Jørgensen
Drawings and design: Bertil Skov Jørgensen
Jørgensen designed Greenland’s Old Banknote stamp series that started in 2017. The current issue was released Feb. 2021. He engraved his first stamps for Danish Post in 2008 for Breast cancer awareness and has created over 28 stamps for Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands.

“The stamps presents examples of the numerous discoveries and works from that period of the Danish history (around 1800-1850) that came to play a key role in the country´s society and self-image.” PostNord butik

If you’d like to learn more about Danish history of innovation check out Scandinavian innovation and design | The Danish approach (denmark.dk)
This site The History of Denmark 1800-1825 – The Royal Danish Collection (kongernessamling.dk) includes information about the period covered by the Golden Age stamps. 

Date of issue: January 4, 2021

Danish stamps 2021 May

 EUROPA 2021 Endangered National Wildlife – Butterflies

5 stamps, strips of 5 

• Alcon Blue
• Northern Chequered
• Skipper Pearl Bordered Fritillary
• Common Yellow Swallowtail
• Purple Edged Copper

The five butterflies listed are native to Denmark and rapidly disappearing. Find more information on the Europa 2021 page.

Artist: Marianne Therese Grønnow
Designer: PostNord Stamps/Ella Clausen

Release date: May 20, 2021

Danish stamps for 2021 August

Cz. Slania Centenary 

1 stamp, souvenir sheet

Photograph of Slania: Wayne Chen
Photo background minisheet: Lennart Nilsson
Artist/Engraver: Martin Mörck
Norwegian engraver/artist Mörck has created stamps for 21 countries, including what is now considered a great classic Canadian stamp, the $2 Polar Bear. Look to Greenland for his recent stamps “Fish in Greenlandic waters“. He has also engraved the 2021 Greenland Slania centenary. 
Designer: PostNord Stamps/Ella Clausen

Release date: August 12, 2021

Danish stamps for 2021 September

Everyday Heroes

Better photos to come

• Villy Rønn
• hospital clown Luni Smil
• 10 year old Mikkel Madsen
• Nancy Maati
• Leif Framke

5 stamps

Artist: Thomas Thorhauge
Photos: Dan Møller Graphic
Designer: PostNord Stamps/Ella Clausen

Release date: September 16, 2021

If you enjoyed the brief Czesław Słania tribute, take a look at another great engraver. Canadian Herbert Schwartz engraved some of Canada’s most iconic stamps.

Herman Herbert Schwartz (1885-1962) brilliant Canadian stamp designer

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