Danish postage stamp with overprint (part 2)

Tenth Danish Philatelist Day from September 2 to 6, 1938, celebrated with a stamp exhibition in Slagelse. The stamp with the overprint DFU FRIM-UDST 19 38 in red was issued on September 2, 1938. However, not every stamp in the sheet was provided with the overprint. The overprint was arranged like a checkerboard, with the stamp next to the one with an overprint remaining blank. Consequently, both horizontal and vertical pairs could be collected, as well as blocks of four. The surcharge on the 5 Øre stamp was also 5 Øre, but one could only buy horizontal or vertical pairs. The original stamp was issued on December 10, 1937, and had a print run of 23.444.000 copies. Of these, 400.000 stamps were overprinted. 396.250 copies were sold, and the remainder was destroyed. The overprint issued in 1938 was for the exhibition held in Slagelse on the occasion of the 10th Philatelist Day. These day(s) were held from September 2 to 6, 1938. The overprint is in red on the 5 øre stamp. The abbreviation DFU stands for Danmarks Filatelist Union, and Frim. Udst. stands for Frimærke Udstilling. The collections on display had to be presented on cardboard sheets measuring 26,5 x 28 cm. The exhibition was announced as an 'international exhibition' and registered as such with the FIP. However, in Europe, an international exhibition could only be organized once a year, and an international exhibition had already been held in Prague. So, they had a problem. All the printed matter, advertising material, etc., was already ready when this problem was recognized. As a solution, the exhibition was presented under the name 10th Dansk Filatelisdagsudstilling, and the various federations were able to live with that. Among the exhibitors were many foreign collections (including the collection of Jean Poulis with his collections from Holland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania), and the jury was also international, including the Dutch Captain Zwolle from Amsterdam? (strange, but that is how it was stated). The exhibition comprised 165 entries, consisting of 3.000 album pages, and was exhibited in 14 different classes. During the exhibition, a special postal flight was organized to Copenhagen, and 10.000 pieces were sent along. The stamp with the overprint was authorized for franking mail to foreign countries and was available upon presentation of the admission ticket. Children paid 50 øre and could purchase a maximum of 20 stamps. Adults paid 1 Krone and could purchase a maximum of 40 stamps. With a passe-partout of 2,50 kronen, one could purchase 100 stamps. The print run of the stamp amounted to 396.250 copies. Here too, an exhibition stamp with a rotatable date was made available. September 4th was the actual Philatelist Day, and on that day the exhibition was visited by a 'mobile post office'. This bus used a special stamp featuring an image of the bus and the text SLAGELSE 1938 4. Sept. 10. FILATELISTDAG. The imprint of this stamp was purple. Another special stamp for this mobile office was in black and bore only the text 'DANMARK det rullende postkontor' with the date -4.-.38.14-22. For the postal flight to Copenhagen, a special stamp featuring an airplane and a stylized map showing the route Slagelse – Copenhagen was used. This flight took place on September 6. Additionally, four special envelopes, three cards, and a souvenir sheet were issued. So collectors certainly had plenty to enjoy! The original series lends itself perfectly to specialization. Not only because of the various printing techniques, but certainly also due to the use of different paper types and perforations. And let us not forget the overprints with POSTFÆRGE, the parcel stamps used by the Parcel Post Service on the ferry services between various islands. But that is another story…