Sweden

Views of Hälsingland, 1980

First issued: 4th June 1980
Currency: Swedish krona (100 öre = 1 krona)
Production: Stamp Printing Works, Stockholm

These turned up in a lot with some other things. Not a country or era I have any particular interest in: contemporary recess-printing, while undoubtedly done to a very high technical standard by the few countries which still practice it, tends to have this quite staid, self-consciously prestigious air about it which rather turns me off. But these are handsome items, without question: the designers were clearly skilled draughtsmen (or are these done from photographs?) and the famous Slania brings his usual virtuosity to the engraving. The use of negative space on the red design is especially pleasing. And certainly I'd take the placid, restrained quality of these and other Scandinavian engraved issues over the lurid Giori-press output of the French printers. 

Anyway this set here appeared in 1980 to promote tourism to the Hälsingland region, which seems to be a quiet, bucolic sort of place. Whether any of these designs are depicting any particularly famous locations I have no idea, but certainly taken together they give a nice idea of what the area is like. These stamps came out of a booklet (the only format in which they were issued?), hence the straight sides. And that's it, I think.

29/07/2017