20th Century
In 1904, King Christian IX became the first king of Denmark to be depicted on a stamp.
In the following year, a new type of numeral design appeared for the lower values - denomination in an oval with three wavy lines on each side, representing the three waters separating the largest Danish islands. This design proved so popular that variations on it remain in use as of 2003.
In 1907, the Christian IX design was updated with a portrait of the new King, Frederick VIII.
In 1912, several types of stamps were surcharged to 35 øre. In the same year, Denmark's first pictorial stamp was a 5-kroner issue depicting the Copenhagen General Post Office.
King Christian X appeared in profile between 1913 and 1928, in a long-lived series that featured a number of color and value changes.
In 1918, a need for 27 øre value resulted in surcharges on newspaper stamps, some of which are scarce, with prices today of up to 200 US$.
On5 October 1920, Denmark's first commemorative stamps, a set of three pictorials, marked the reunion of northern Schleswig with Denmark following a plebiscite. 1924 saw commemoratives for the 300th anniversary of the postal service, and in 1926 the original two designs were adapted for an issue noting the 75th anniversary of their introduction.
In 1927 a set of six stamps depicted a caravel, modelled after an old engraving. The 1927 set was typographed; from 1933 to 1940 the design was reissued with the use of engraving instead. The engraved design was soon changed to reduce the left-side margin, with the "Type IIs" having only one column of squares between sail and frame line, where the "Type Is" have two columns. (Both types are common today, except for the type I 25o blue.)
During World War II, Germany occupied Denmark, but the stamp program gives no evidence of that. A new series depicted Christian X full-face instead of in profile, and continued in use after the war. However mail was subject to German postal censorship.
In 1946, a new design appeared for high values; the three lions of the state seal. Like the wavy lines design, this design remained in regular use for the highest denominations into the 1990s.
In 1976 Denmark handed over responsibility for the postal service in the Faroe Islands to Postverk Føroya.
Read more about this topic: Postage Stamps And Postal History Of Denmark
Famous quotes containing the word century:
“Justice is simply the advantage of the stronger.”
—Thrasymachus 5th century B.C., Greek philosopher. The Presocratics, p. 259, ed. Philip Wheelwright, The Bobbs-Merrill Co., Inc. (1960)