On October 20,2008 a stamp issue honouring Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld and his expeditions to Greenland from 1870 until 1883 was released jointly by Greenland and Finland. The two postal administrations worked closely together to produce this joint issue.

Above: 2008 Finland-Greenland Joint Issue

The release was also very much a Nordic project. The stamps and souvenir sheets were designed and engraved by Martin Morck. He was born in Norway but now lives and works in Sweden. His speciality is maritime topics and he has worked extensively for POST Greenland producing some very interesting and attractive stamps. The stamps and souvenir sheets were printed by Post Denmark Stamps.

Also rather interestingly four different languages can he found on the souvenir sheets: Greenlandic, Danish, Finnish and Swedish.

Shown here is the Finnish souvenir sheet. The Greenlandic version has two stamps and a label while the Finnish variety has two stamps. The common stamp features the Sofia at anchor off the island of Disko. Nordenskiold used this ship for his 1883 expedition to Greenland. The design is based on a photograph by Axel Halmberg.

Nordenskiöld first came to Greenland in 1870. He was greatly intrigued by reports about some huge boulders at Ovifak on the island of Disko. The man examining the rock is Nordenskiöld himself.

The boulders were long believed to he meteorites and they were later taken to Sweden. This must have been a most difficult task as the largest rock weighed 22 tonnes.

They were very rich in iron ore but later research revealed that they were in no way meteorites. The souvenir sheets show a beach scene from Ovifak but it is actually a collage of two different events.

What is a label on the Greenlandic sheet is a postage stamp on the Finnish variety. The portrait of Nordenskiöld is based on a photograph by Captain Louis Palander. The Finnish stamps have denominations indicated as 1st Class (2 x 0.80 =€1.60).

The Greenlandic issue is somewhat costlier with denominations of DKK 8.50 and 16.25. The two Greenlandic stamps were also released in sheet format of 40 stamps each.

Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld was born in the Finnish capital of Helsinki in 1832. His father was a well known mineralogist.

The young Nordenskiöld was a bright student with a promising future as a scientist at the University of Helsinki. At the time Finland was a Russian grand duchy and after a speech in which Nordenskiold was highly critical of the way the Russian authorities were running the country he had to leave Finland.

At the age of 26 he settled in neighbouring Sweden. He was received with open arms and was appointed head of the mineralogical department of the Swedish Museum of Natural History. Also he was made a university professor. In 1893 he became a member of the Swedish Academy. Nordenskiöld is mostly famous for his voyage from Europe to Asia through the North East Passage in the Arctic on board the Vega in 1878-1879. When he returned to Stockholm in triumph he was received by huge crowds lining Stockholm’s harbour area. Among those present was a very young Sven Hedin who was later to explore Central Asia. Nordenskiöld wrote two books about the Vega expedition. He died in 1901 long before his native Finland obtained its national independence.

Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld along with the Vega in the Arctic is depicted on a Swedish 1973 stamp. Rather interestingly Palander’s photograph of Nordenskiöld on the two souvenir sheets was actually taken during the Vega expedition.

Above: 1973 Swedish issue showing Nordenskiold along with the Vega in the Arctic

The 1883 voyage was his very last expedition to the Arctic. He wanted to reach the central parts of Greenland to find out if there really were green forests in that part of the island. Nordenskiöld set out from Disko Bay accompanied by two Swedish Laplanders. They were excellent skiers and they were the only ones to actually reach the interior of Greenland. They needed two days to complete 230-kilometre return trip on ski. Of course they found no green forests as the interior of Greenland is covered by ice.

Back home in Sweden many people doubted that it was at all possible to complete the distance in just two days. Thus in 1884, a 220-kilometre ski race was organized in the north of Sweden. One of the Laplanders won the race in 21 hours and 22 minutes proving beyond any doubt that the Laplanders’ exploit was indeed possible.

In recent years joint issues have become very popular and Greenland has been at the forefront working with many other postal administrations to document various expeditions to the Arctic island. I guess it is also very cost effective as two postal administrations use what is basically the same designs.

This new Finnish-Greenlandic joint issue spotlights a man who contributed a lot to our knowledge of the Arctic. Adding these two souvenir sheets to a collection is a lowcost education in Polar history.