Stamp & Coin Mart - April 2016_

50 APRIL 2016 http://www.stampandcoin.co.uk

Rolf Dörnbach visits the Faroes’ smallest island

 e wild beauty of the Faroes

My chosen stamp features Lítla

Dímun (SG371, 2004), the

smallest and only uninhabited

one of the eighteen islands of

the group. Its tiny size and

conical form makes it fit more

harmoniously into stamp

format than the other eleven

islands of the definitive series

showing aerial views, issued

between 1999 and 2004. The snow on its flanks presents a striking contrast

to the green appearance of the islands in general. Its steep, inaccessible

slopes and awe-inspiring topography is quintessential of the haunting,

wild beauty of the Faroes as a whole. During summer, the island serves

as a seasonal sheep pasture for the villages of Hvalba and Sandvík on

neighbouring island of Suðuroy. In autumn, collecting the sheep on the

difficult terrain is a major social event for the villagers.

Stamp collecting has been my hobby since 1940 when I was eight and

blissfully ignorant of the Faroes. While I respect the study of perforations,

watermarks and printing errors as good philately, I have always been more

fascinated by what stamps can tell me about the geography, history, nature and

culture of their country. Faroese stamps have much to offer in this respect.

We all have places in the world that we fell in love with

on first sight. Gjógv is certainly one of mine. A tiny

village, at the end of a long, winding road, almost as far

north as you can go in the Faroe Islands. It doesn’t have

a shop, and sadly it no longer has a post office. It does

have a magical church, a poignant statue to villagers

lost at sea, a trickling stream, surrounding hills,

wonderful views out to sea and across to neighbouring

islands, and an evocative tiny harbour inside a deep

cleft in the cliffs. It’s the latter that gives the village

its almost unpronounceable name. Try something like

‘Jegf ’ and you won’t be too far out.

There was a post office in Gjógv from 1920 to

1999, in two different locations. There are just five

distinctive cancellations to look out for,

following the standard Faroese pattern. Three stamp

issues have featured Gjógv – a 1982 pencil drawing of

the village, a 1990 view of the post office (with a fair

bit of artistic licence) and the 1993 Europa issue with

views inland (illustrated here) and out to sea.

John Smith, the Treasurer of the

Faroe Islands Study Circle visits the

remote village of Gjógv

A northern village

Clockwise from top: Nólsoy Post Offi ce Study

Circle postcard; ‘The helmsman’ maxicard

(1984); Mykines island (1978)

Below, left: engraver Czesław Słania’s

iconic Ram design of 1979

Collect by country

Continued on page 52➨

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