On 1 April 1976, the Faroese Post Office was established as an independent body. The first two stamps celebrating this event were engraved by Slania. Both stamps are inscribed Postverk Foroya with the date of the Post Office opening.
The first stamp depicts a Faroe Islands postman carrying a stout walking stick, and a bag of letters strapped to his back. This is quite a stunning image which Slania engraved from a photo by Otto Blehr. I did a bit of a Google search to see if I could find anything on this guy, and all I managed to find was an Otto Blehr who was the Prime Minister of Norway, who died in 1927, well before the photo in question woukd have been taken. So I guess he's not our man! According to the Heindorff site, the postman's name is J.P. Henriksen.
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The second stamp in the set is one that is right down my alley, seeing as though I'm heavily into boats and ships on stamps. This lovely stamp depicts a Faroese boat sitting atop some raw building materials. This style of boat derives from the Viking long boat. They are traditionally a rowing boat, constructed in the clinker method - in this method the planks overlap forming stepped sides.
Here is an image of an actual Faroese boat, sourced from the website: faroestrands.wordpress.com
Until next time...
Stay Slania Crazy!
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