Denmark. ATM issues 2012
 
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2012. Danish birds (Finches)

Following a major increase in postal rates, in April 2011, particularly affecting postal items franked with stamps (and also ATMs), Post Danmark continued the annual tariff increase in 2012. As shown in the table below, the main postal rates have almost doubled in the past seven years.

The new basic annual series, which follows the wonderful series started in 2011 on the theme of Danish birds, is dedicated, in 2012, to Finches.
The new photographic images show three birds that breed in Denmark. The greenfinch (Carduelis chloris), the bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula), and the hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes), known in Danish as Grønirisk, Dompap, and Kernebider respectively. The excellent photographs are by Steen Agger, Gert S. Laursen and Ole Gabrielsen, from the Scanpix picture agency.
As with the previous issues, the rolls of labels are manufactured by the company Ganket A/S using self-adhesive thermal paper, and have identical characteristics to previous issues.

The new series was available from the aCon postal kiosks and printers in service, in Denmark, starting on September 5th 2012
.

The annual increase in postal rates is also reflected in the values for sets ​​planned by the Danish philatelic service for ATM issues in 2012: 6.00 - 8.00 & 12.00 DKK, corresponding to the current rates of economic, priority domestic mail and priority mail to Europe, respectively
.

Detail of the pictorial first day postmark, and official first day cover illustrated with the bullfinch, one of the birds depicted in the 2012 series.



The NORDIA 2012 ATM issues

Nordia is the great stamp exhibition of the Nordic countries, and each year it is organized by one of the five Nordic philatelic federations - Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.
After Nordia 2011, held in Jyväskylä, Finland, the organization of the 2012 exhibition passed to Denmark. Nordia 2012, with the cooperation of Danmarks Filatelist Forbund - the Danish Philatelic Federation - and Post Danmark, the Danish postal administration, was organized by the Københavns Philatelist Klub (KPK), which, this year, celebrates its 125th anniversary.

To commemorate this important philatelic event, Post Danmark released several special issues, including four new ATM issues.

The first of these, which was totally unexpected and promoted the exhibition, could be obtained, from October 15th 2012, three weeks before the start of the stamps exhibition, from the only aCon postal kiosk installed in Roskilde, the city chosen to hold Nordia 2012.
It came with some surprises. The postal kiosk is not installed in the main post office, but in the Roskilde Øst post office (Industrivej 28), located in a remote industrial and service area located east of the city, about 2 miles away from the centre.
Left. Access to the Roskilde Øst post office, with the new Døgnposten, or self-service parcel terminal.

Right. The aCon postal kiosk installed in Roskilde Øst.

The special issue shows the silhouette of the Roskilde Cathedral at sunset. It excludes explicit mention of the philatelic exhibition.
The thermal self-adhesive labels were manufactured by the company Ganket A/S, and have identical characteristics to previous issues.

Another big surprise was that unlike other special ATM releases, Post Danmark granted exclusive commercialisation of this design to the local post office. For the first time, an ATM issue could not be purchased through the philatelic service, but only from the aCon postal kiosk installed in Roskilde Øst, between October 15th until November 5th, 2012, with any value starting from 0.25 DKK (image below).
This design was also on sale, on the same dates, at the Roskilde main post office, and during Nordia 2012 in the stand of the local post office (not at the philatelic service stand !), but in both cases they only sold ATMs with the basic value of the current domestic priority mail - 8.00 DKK.

NORDIA 2012, the Nordic stamp exhibition, was held from November 2nd to 4th 2012, in the Roskilde congress and exhibition centre, which had been the venue for the previous two Frimærkeforum.

(
For more information, see articles: Frimærkeforum 2009, also published in VARIABLE 15, and Frimærkeforum 2010, in VARIABLE 19).

This major event included a large area devoted to a philatelic exhibition, with stands for the organizers and spaces for philatelic promotions. Visitors were able to participate in philatelic auctions, the presentations of philatelic programs for the following year, meet the stamp designers, and other activities. The fair included more than 40 dealers and all the Nordic philatelic services, along with Germany and, for the first time, China.


On the austere Post Danmark stand, visitors could obtain different pictorial and first day postmarks, buy the latest stamp releases, as well as the three new commemorative ATM issues and their corresponding exhibition cards, which were published especially for the occasion.

The philatelic service offered the 3-ATM strip with the basic values ​​of postage - 6.00-8.00 & 12.00 DKK, although -at the collectors request- they could print any required face value from 6.00 DKK, the current postal rate for domestic economic mail, using an aCon stamp printer.
Thus, these special designs were only on sale through advance order, and during the three days of the exhibition.

The three motifs used for the new ATM issues, which appear consecutively on the rolls, are inspired by the city of Roskilde, and while they may, initially, be a little surprising (even unattractive as the central design), we can discover the reasons for their choice. The first design shows one detail of the medieval clock inside the cathedral. In the centre, a backlit image of the wooden lift bridge leading to the Viking Ship Museum (see images below). Lastly, another image, in this case a night view, of the Roskilde cathedral. They are, therefore, three motifs associated with very common and popular philatelic topics and, in the case of bridges, also the theme for the two stamps issued in January 2012 to announce the Nordia 2012 exhibition.

The photographic images are by Lars Gejl and Lars Laursen, of the Scanpix agency.
The thermal self-adhesive labels were manufactured by the company Ganket A/S, and have identical characteristics to previous issues.

Maximum cards. Roskilde cathedral is the main monument of the city, and it is the theme chosen for three of the four Nordia 2012 ATM issues, and also for the special ATM issue for the Stamp Forum 2009 (see article >, also published in VARIABLE 15). Inside there is a magnificent fifteenth century clock (right), with mechanical figures of St. George, the dragon, and two figures named Kirsten Kimers and Per Dover, tolling two bells.
Below. The wooden lift bridge joins the workshops and activities area to the access to the Viking Ship Museum. The bridge can be seen in the right side, in the maximum card.

During the exhibition, visitors could obtain different special commemorative postmarks from the participating postal administrations.


Post Danmark prepared four general first day postmarks for Nordia 2012. Three of them are devoted to the themes of the days of the exhibition - Philately day, Family day, and Swap day.

However, these last three postmarks were not actually available during the exhibition, but only on the exhibition postcards franked with the three ATM issues.





The postal tariffs in Denmark

Basic letters
up to 50 g. franked
with stamps
(Standardbrev)
Denmark Europe Rest of the world
A
Prioritaire
B
Economique
A
Prioritaire
B
Economique
A
Prioritaire
B
Economique
2005 4.50 4.25 6.50 6.25 7.50 7.25
2006 4.75 4.50 7.00 6.75 8.00 7.75
2.1.2007 4.75 4.50 7.25 7.00 8.25 8.00
1.1.2008 5.50 5.00 7.75 7.50 8.75 8.50
1.1.2009 5.50 5.00 8.00 7.50 9.00 8.50
1.1.2010 5.50 5.00 8.50 8.00 9.50 9.00
1.4.2011 8.00 6.00 11.00 9.00 13.00 11.00
1.1.2012 8.00 6.00 12.00 11.00 14.00 13.00


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This page was created in October 2012
and last updated:  21.12.12 . English edition last rewritten by S. Goodman (21.12.2012)