Greenland

and Thule

1st November 1938

↓ - Thule

Europe

50, 50a

There is a display of Greenland Postal History from PIPEX here.


Design 1	Design 2
Sc1	Sc7	x

perf 13x12½, no wmk, engraved
Printed by H.H. Thiele, Copenhagen

Description	Date	Design	Scott#	SG#
1 øre olive-black	1938	1	1	1
5ø rose lake	1938	1	2	2
7ø yellow-green	1938	1	3	3
10ø purple	1938	1	4	4
15ø red	1938	1	5	5
20ø red	1946	1	6	5a
30ø blue	1938	2	7	6
40ø blue	1946	2	8	6a
1 krone light brown	1938	2	9	7

Wikipedia: Greenland is an autonomous country within the Danish Realm, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe (specifically Norway and Denmark, the colonial powers, as well as the nearby island of Iceland) for more than a millennium. In 2008, the people of Greenland passed a referendum supporting greater autonomy; 75% of votes cast were in favour. Greenland is the world's largest island,over three-quarters of which is covered by the only permanent ice sheet outside of Antarctica. With a population of about 56,480 (2013), it is the least densely populated country in the world.
In 1973, Greenland joined the European Economic Community with Denmark. However, in a referendum in 1982, a majority of the population voted for Greenland to withdraw from the EEC (later expanded into the EU), which was effected in 1985. In 1979, Denmark had granted home rule to Greenland, and in 2008, Greenlanders voted in favour of the Self-Government Act, which transferred more power from the Danish royal government to the local Greenlandic government.

Thule local

1935

Thule

Thule is not mentioned in the Scott or Gibbons catalogues. Tim Balm (FICC#91) wrote a piece on Thule for the FICC Journal in 2001, quoted extensively below,

"The November 2000 issue of Scott Stamp Monthly (SSM) had an article on Greenland stamps which
contained a short discussion of the Thule locals. This article provides additional information that I thought I'd share.

The Thule stamps were issued in 1935 to commemorate the establishment of a trade base and mission in this small area by Cape York in 1910. The stamps' life span was short as usage was invalidated on Aug 1, 1937 when Greenland took over the Thule region from Denmark. In fact, the 5-stamp "first issue" set was the only set issued by this local post. During the period of use, the stamps were only for mail between the Cape York Base oftice and Copenhagen. As with other local post stamps, additional franking (in this case, Danish) had to be applied to forward the mail beyond Copenhagen.

According to the SSM article, a Danish catalog (unidentified) reports the original printing was approximately 250,000 of each value. The stamps were perf 14.5x14. Reprints were also mentioned without details." A souvenir sheet of the stamps was produced perf 11.25, date unknown: these should not be confused with the originals.

The Thule locals are listed in the Michel, AFA and Faut catalogs, but, as noted, not in Scott or Gibbons.