Faroe Islands 1975 - Ancient Maps

In 1975 Faroe Islands issued its first postage stamps. And what better engraver than the one and only Czeslaw Slania to get your postage stamp history on the map?

Did I say map? Well, it just so happens that the theme for the Faroe Islands first issue is ancient maps. And I think they are absolutely beautiful. There are seven stamps in the set, three of which depict a map from 1673 by Lucas Jacobsen Debes. The map is taken from the book Faeroae et Faeroa Reservata. The other four stamps all depict the same small fragment of a larger Nordic Countries map by Abraham Ortelius, drawn in 1573. Another version of this map was printed on a stamp sheet, again engraved by Slania, and issued by Iceland, but more on that later.

Let's first take a look at the three stamps depicting the 1673 map. The man responsible for the map was one Lucas Jabobsen Debes. Debes was a priest, topographer, and a writer, specialising in the Faroe Islands. The map we are talking about here is the first known map of the Faroe Islands. This is an image of the actual map...

From this map Slania engraved a charming stamp that was printed in three different colours for the different denominations...

***

As I said earlier, there are another four stamps in this set. The image on these stamps is a section of a larger map by Abraham Ortelius. This is an image of the original map...

Instead of squeezing the entire map onto a regular stamp, Slania chose to highlight a small section of the map. Incorporating both ships and the Nordic Countries, centre left of the map, Slania has produced a lovely image - in my opinion.

Isn't the detail just exquisite! Check out those ships. I know I'm biased toward ships, but they are great, aren't they. In fact, let's take a closer look at the ship to the bottom left...

Considering this image is but a tiny section of a small design, the detail here is truly staggering. Love it! What do you think?

But the story of this stamp doesn't end here. Slania returned to this map in 1984, producing a full version of it on mini-sheet for the Iceland Nordia Exhibition of 84 and 91. This map and the other maps he did in this series are masterpieces in their own right. I plan on writing a blog for each of these lovely mini-sheets, so I'll leave the images of them for those blogs.

Until next time...

Stay Slania Crazy!