The Postal History of ICAO

Iceland: 50^th Anniversary of ICAO

Issue date: 09/11/1994

Boeing 757‑200 from Icelandair over clouds; ICAO logo.

Cancelled to Order (CTO) at Reykjavík.

Cancelled to Order (CTO) at Hvammstangi.

With roughly 600 inhabitants, Hvammstangi is the largest community in West Húnaþing whose history, as an important trading centre, dates back to 1856. The town is blessed with a good harbour.

Official First Day Cover with generic aircraft on the postmark. The cachet shows a post horn, emblem of the Post Office of Iceland in those days.

A Post Horn is shown on the following covers. The post horn is a valveless cylindrical brass instrument with a cupped mouthpiece. Usually, the instrument has a circular shape or is rolled up with three turns of the tube, although sometimes it can also be straight. From the earliest days of the mounted post rider, the instrument was used by postal couriers and stagecoaches to signal their arrival and departure, before other types of signalling communications (like radio or telegraph). It was also used to act as a warning for other coaches on the road to clear the way and give them priority or have a fresh horse ready, as mail coaches travelled at high speeds. Hence, post horns are frequently used as iconography to represent postal services.

Private First Day Covers. Several private companies were issuing matching covers for issues in Iceland, with different letters on the covers (such as FM, FF, FV, N). In the current days, none is doing this any longer; the only FDCs currently issued are those from the Iceland Post Office. The letters in the lower left corner indicate the cachet maker or issuer of the cover; these covers also frequently have a number following the letters, which indicates the number of the cachet. Some cachets are available in various colours; sometimes the number changes with a different colour, but more frequently the number stays the same with different colours.

1. FM for Frímerkjamiðstöðin, meaning Stamp Centre, an Icelandic company that specialized in stamps, but also published a few games as well. This series was operated between 1962 and 1998. Co-owners were Magni Magnusson (until 1976), Finnur Kolbeinsson (until 1984) and Haraldur Saemunsson (until 1998).

The publisher FM released two covers with hand-drawn emblems: FM 496 in red and FM 497 in green.

2. FV for Frímerkjahúsið, meaning Stamp House, ran by Bolli Davíðsson in Reykjavík. The business was started by his father David Johannesson in 1952 and the store closed in 2012.

The publisher FV released two covers, one in red and one in blue.

3. FF: Iceland Stamp Company

4. N: Fritz Neve (Danish Stamp Dealer) Scandinavian Stamp Company.

The cachet shows the silhouette of the Douglas DC-4 aircraft which used to be part of the Icelandair fleet from the end of WWII until the late 1960s.