Greenland 1945 – Eskimo and Midnight Sun
This evocative Arctic scene from Greenland shows an Eskimo in a kayak, with the Sun poised on the distant horizon – a graphic reminder that, during summer, the Sun never sets as seen from within the Arctic Circle because of the Earth’s tilt with respect to the Sun. Conversely, in winter the Sun never rises so that the land within the Arctic Circle is cloaked in eternal night for months on end, with only a glimmer of twilight around midday to provide relief from the encompassing gloom. This stamp was part of what was called the American issue because it was printed in the United States by the American Bank Note Company.
SG number
Face value
Colour
15
2 k
Green and brown
PS: Greenland’s very first stamp, in 1938, should have been an astro-stamp, featuring an aurora. However, the King of Denmark thought that his portrait should feature instead. The original designs were kept and eventually released in 2001 in a ‘stamp-on-stamp’ design under the title ‘The stamps that were never issued’ (below).
