I love the Faroe Islands and their stamps. To my tired little brain the islands take on a mythical status. Combine cultural pride, history, wild landscape with a robust artist population and you have a recipe for great stamps. For a small country, Faroe Islands packs a hell of a wallop when it comes to putting out a quality program.

Quick mention of a set that captured my attention, and caused a bit of delay in hitting publish for this article – 2026 features the second in the World-famous pilots in the Faroe Islands series, and this year was a bonanza for research geeks. Had a lot of fun tracking down both pilots and their stories.

What I’d love to see this year is another set of NFTs. Their 2023 Stamps of Maybe were a spectacular quartet that set an impossibly high standard for the format. Artist Heiðrik á Heygum’s artwork brought the series alive. Definitely one of the world’s best NFTs to date. Guess that’s a tough act to follow. 

 You’d think I would have less to say about a small country, but hey, enjoy the program and all the lovely bits and pieces that make it so exciting to explore. 

Cheers
Catpaw

January 

Faroese Postal Service 50 Years
franking labels

4 stamps, sheets of 16, FDC, cancel
 

The Faroese Postal Service began April 1, 1976. To celebrate, the post office commissioned AnniJanni to create 4 hand drawn pictures exploring 4 aspects of postal history:

• The era when people sent handwritten letters to each other.
• The era when mailboxes were full of letters.
• The era when people sent and received many parcels, delivered by electric postal vans.
• The digital present, where it is possible to use an app, and people can send and collect parcels from parcel lockers across the country.
  Stamps.fo

Designer: AnniJanni
This appears to be Anni’s first stamp design.

The service was previously featured in 2020’s EUROPA’s exploration of ancient postal routes with their Faroe Island – two routes Klaksvík – Viðareiði & Vestmanna – Vágar set by designer Anker eli Petersen. 

You can read a bit more here Stamps.fo

Release date: January 2, 2026

February

100 Years of Scouting in the Faroe Islands

1 stamp on souvenir sheet, FDC, cancel
offset

Scouting has been part of Faroe Islands life since 1926. It began in the town of Tórshavn with the formation of the Yellow Scouts – Sigmund Brestisson’s scout corps (SSB). This stamp was officially released during a reception February 2, at Havnará. Attendees were treated to a small talk by Posta’s Ingun N. Olsen who discussed the stamp. 

Designer: Jón Magnus Joensen

Scouting was the topic of Faroe Islands’ 2007 EUROPA stamps – EUROPA / C.E.P.T.: 100 years of Scouting by Edward Fuglø.

Release date: February 2, 2026

World-famous pilots in the Faroe Islands
2nd in series

2 stamps, booklets, 3 FDCs, cancel
offset

Wolfgang von Gronau (DE)   
The Life And Times Of German Aviation Pioneer Wolfgang Von Gronau has a top notch bio on von Gronau. His epic 1932 111 day world flight covered 44,000 km.  During that trip he flew a Dornier Wal flying boat, which he named the “Grönland Wal” (Greenland Whale). He and his 3 man crew touched down or flew over:

• List auf Sylt (took off from here)
• Iceland
• Greenland
• Canada
• Aleutians
• Alaska
• Kurils
• Japan
• China
• Philippines
• Indonesia
• Malacca
• Burma
• Ceylon
• India
• Iran
• Iraq
• Cyprus
• Greece
• Italy
• finally landing at Lake of Constance

The Philippines issued an overprint set in 1932 celebrating von Gronau’s touchdown on the island. The post office used the 1932 Philippine landscapes, that came out earlier the same year. 

Parker Cramer (US)
“Parker Cramer turned up in Jacksonville about 1921.
He was short guy, which is why they called him Shorty, and he had a crooked grin.”
Parker D. Cramer

Parker Dresser Cramer and co-pilot Oliver Paquette landed on the Faroe Islands as part of a mapping flight exploring the viability of an arctic airmail route from the US to Denmark. There are conflicting details about his death date. AI has screwed up things, listing his earlier crash in Greenland as his death date, while some sites erroneously 1936, but his disappearance occurred 1931.   

Cramer’s flight left Detroit, flew north to Canada and turned east. He passed Greenland, Iceland and finally the Shetland Islands, where he landed for refueling. After taking off from the Shetlands on August 9, 1931, one last message was received declaring they could now see the coast of Norway. Sometime after that message Cramer and Paquette crashed somewhere in the cold North Sea. 

A few days after Cramer and Paquette’s crash, a Norwegian fishing trawler sighted a body floating on the water. Weather conditions in the North Sea were rough, making it impossible for the ship’s crew to retrieve the body. 

From Oregon Bulletin  August 14, 1931. 
Airman’s body is believed to be sighted

Sometime in September 1931, wreckage was discovered a few hundred miles away from where they were thought to have gone down. In February 1932 a Dutch fishing trawler working along the North Sea coastlines, 25 miles southwest of Stavanger, Norway, retrieved Cramer’s briefcase from the sea. When they returned to port in March, they turned the briefcase over to authorities. In it were maps, Crammer’s pilot’s license, and various letters, including one to his mother.

From the Spokane Daily Chronicle  March 21, 1932
Flyer’s Papers Found in Sea

Parker Dresser Cramer’s last flight to Europe

Designer: Janus Dam Guttesen

Release date: February 23, 2026

Abandoned Villages: Skarð

2 stamps, 3 FDCs, maxi and post cards, cancel
offset

Faroe post office has a lengthy and solid write up of this hard scrabble village. Stamps.fo  By 1919 the village was abandoned by the remaining few who called it home. 

The island of Kunoy is characterized by a continuous high mountain range stretching from south to north. The only exception is the deep mountain gorge, Skarðsgjógv, which gave the settlement its name. Beneath the 800-meter-high mountains on the north-eastern side of the island lies the village of Skarð.

 

The village is accessible by boat, but the landing site is difficult to reach. However, there are two trails, one of which is very challenging, making the village relatively isolated. From Haraldssund to Skarð is approximately seven kilometres, and this trail is relatively easy to walk. The other trail is more demanding and extremely treacherous. It crosses the mountain gorge all the way to the village of Kunoy on the opposite side. The inhabitants of Skarð used this route when going to church or attending to errands in Kunoy, and they also carried coffins across the gorge to the cemetery in Kunoy.

 

Surrounded by mountains on one side and the sea on the other, the village of Skarð was closely tied to these powerful natural elements. Here, the residents made a living from whatever the land and sea could provide. People have lived here for centuries, but it is unknown who first settled in Skarð. What is known is that the village’s history ended on January 26, 1919.

 

Abandoned Villages: Skarð

Photographer: Andrija Ilic
Ilic is a Faroe based photographer. He began his journey in Yugoslavia, later documenting the Serbian protests against Milosevic. 

Being 24/7 out on the streets covering the big protests of Serbian people against Milosevic, it happened that a guy pulled out a gun in front of me and started shooting, I remained on the spot focusing only on my frame. Later that evening I knocked on a door of a biggest newspaper company, and I offered that exclusive photo to them. It was the first time I sold and published my photo, marking the beginning of my career official. Soon after I found my photography “home” with the news agency FoNet from Serbia and got the first big assignments, covering the war in Kosovo in 1998/99, NATO bombing campaign against Serbia 1999, the final big protest against Miloseivc and the overthrow of his regime, and the attempt of special opps trying to arrest him and extradite him to the international court. That was also a final chapter of the Yugoslav wars and drama, and ironically enough, on that occasion I was shot and wounded in my right hand by Milosevics bodyguards. I remained on the spot, managing to get my photos with just one hand. Always all-in for a photo. After the peace finally arrived in Balkans, I found myself in West Bank and Gaza Strip in the Middle East, covering the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
About Me | Andrija Ilic Images

After this chaotic and harsh beginning, he found his way to the remote Faroe Islands, finding peace and a new focus for his talents. He turned to documenting the wild and beautiful landscapes around the world, returning to his childhood love of nature. 

Release date: February 23, 2026

Mythical Creatures – Fafnir and Fenrir

2 stamps, 3 FDCs, cancel
offset

Unicorn, phoenix and Fenris wolf. 

Longish read from the news release, but worth it:

The first settlers in the Faroe Islands brought with them Norse cultural heritage and knowledge of Norse mythology. They may also have known stories about the unicorn and the Phoenix. It is reasonable to believe that later Catholic priests were familiar of these mythical creatures and told tales about them.

 

The stories of Fafner, who guarded the gold at Gnita-heath and whom Sjúrður Sigmundarson stole from or killed, have been known in the Faroe Islands through the ring dance, where the ballad Sjúrðarkvæði was sung. This ballad about Sigurd Fafnirsbane has its motifs from German medieval ballads and legends, known as the Niebenlungenlied. A dwarf, Fafnir, suffered the misfortune of being bewitched into a dragon and tasked to guard his gold treasure at Gnita-heath. His brother, the dwarf and blacksmith Regin, played a part in this. When Sigurd Fafnersbane set out to kill the dragon, he had Regin forge the sword that he would use to kill the dragon. The treacherous brother not only forged the sword but also wanted his share of the gold but also sought to acquire the dragon’s supernatural abilities. The way to obtain them was through the heart of the dragon, which he asked Sigurd to give him. When Sigurd skewered the heart, he himself was the first to eat it and thus he gained the dragon’s ability to see and sense things that others could not. He also gave his wife a piece, granting her the same abilities. The treacherous brother, the blacksmith Regin received nothing, but began instead to drink the dragon’s poisoned blood. Sigurd then struck him down with a fatal blow, so that he died where he stood. Thus ends the story of the dragon Fafnir, though the ballad of Sigurd Fafnir’s Bane continues with many further dramatic events.

 

In his artwork, artist Edward Fuglø portrays these fabled animals in compositions marked by fragments and mosaics, echoing elements found in classical depictions and medieval manuscripts. 

Stamps.fo

Designer: Edward Fuglø
Fuglø is a familiar name among Faroe Island collectors. His artwork first appeared on the 1997 Christmas Seals sheet. His first postage stamps were the 1998 Year of the Ocean: Toothed Whales set.Since then he has created over 150 stamps for the Faroe post office. Torontonians may have seen his 2022-2023 exhibition Fuglakvæðið at Harbourfront Centre. Fuglakvæðið (The Bird Ballad) – Nordic Collaborations – Harbourfront Centre

Release date: February 23, 2026

April

Faroese Postal Service 50 Years

1 mini sheetlet, FDC, cancel, folder with both sheetlet and FDC
offset + hot simili foiling

On 1 April 1976, responsibility for postal services in the Faroe Islands was transferred to the Faroese authorities. Prior to this, the Faroese postal service had been part of the Danish system, with the Danish Post responsible for all mail to and from the islands. They also handled mail delivery between villages and islands within the Faroes.

One year before the transfer, on 30 January 1975, the Danish Post issued a set of Faroese stamps. However, these were cancelled with Danish postmarks. When the Faroese authorities took over, the occasion was celebrated by issuing new Faroese stamps, this time cancelled with Faroese postmarks. The public had the opportunity to purchase envelopes bearing these stamps, marked with what was called the “first day cancellation” (1 April 1976). Many people took the chance to collect envelopes with this historic first-day cancellation.

The first stamp, released in 1975, was engraved by the legendary Czeslaw Slania. He used an  original map by Lucas Jacobsøn Debes. Debes, a priest, topographer and writer, who lived on the Faroe Islands from 1652 until his death in 1675. He wrote the first book about the Islands along with drawing detailed maps – FÆROARUM – Prima & accurata delineatio (1673)

Map of Faroe Islands 1673
Part of a larger set issued in 1975

Designer: Edward Fuglø

Release date: April 1, 2026

May

Art by Hans Skálagarð: USS Constitution

Engraving: Martin Mörck

Release date: May 23, 2026

Charcot: Voyages to the Faroe Islands

Designer: Martin Mörck

Release date: May 24, 2026

Europa 2026: 70 Years of Europa stamps

Artist: Klaus Welp

Release date: May 26, 2026

Red Cross Faroe Islands 100 Years

Designer: Heiðrik á Heygum

Release date: May 26, 2026

June

The Faroese Horse

Release date: June 26, 2026

September

Sepac 2026: Skansin Fortress

Photographer: Andrija Ilic

Release date: September 7, 2026

October

Faroe Islands National Anthem – 120 Years

Release date: October 19, 2026

Christmas Stamps

Release date: October 19, 2026

Need more Faroe Islands stamps? 

Faroe Islands 2025 stamps