Postal usage of the Icelandic Charity Stamps - Gústaf Gústafsson

8 issues of Charity stamps have been issued in Iceland with the total of 22 stamps. They are all shown in this exhibit.

The premium over the postal value varies from 10% to 100% with the average of 20%.

These stamps were not commonly used on regular mail and are extremely rare on parcel cards, like on page 6 in this exhibit.

Why were they not used on regular mail? Perhaps the author of an article in the “Frímerki“ a Magazine for Stamp Collectors, issue 2 in December 1957 appointed.

It was mostly Collectors and Stamp Dealers that purchased the stamps from the Post Office. The Public was not aware of these stamps and they were poorly advertised. The author, probably Finnur Kolbeinsson, Magni R. Magnússon or Þórður Guðjohnsen, the publishers, blamed it on the beneficiaries of the issues. They should have pushed the stamps and organized a well advertised event by motivating children and other volunteers to sell the stamps by offering them by walking door to door. They even offered a free advertising in their magazine. Up to one whole page for each event.

Exhibited in Copenhagen October 2019.