In 2007 I got the chance to read some of Len Piszkiewicz’s articles about Supplementary Mail. As a matter of fact, I learned information on U.S. postal history that I had in my own collection without knowing its background. And so it was an easy decision: I simply had to join the United States Stamp Society. What followed was a correspondence on different subjects during which Len invited me to write about our Stamp Club in Denmark. My first thought was: Can I as a member of a U.S. stamp club abroad contribute meaningful news towards a more or less sophisticated journal and to collectors of U.S. stamps in their homeland? Well, here is my story and it’s up to you to judge.

Our Club was established in 1999. Amongst the founding fathers was former Lt. Colonel Arne V. Rasmussen, until recently the Club’s President and Editor of its publication, USA FORUM. He has been a stamp collector since 1937, prize winning exhibitor of “Danish- and NATO Field Post” and author of NATO Postal History – Stamps and Postmarks Illustrating the History of NATO.

In December, 2005, Arne Rasmussen explained the background for establishing the Club in U.S. Stamp News as follows:

Figure 1. USSS Secretary Joann Lenz and Danish U.S. Stamp Collector Club Arne Rasmussen at the USSS Booth at Washington 2006.

I wrote a number of articles for a Danish stamp magazine Skilling under the heading The Danish Fieldpost at the Balkans. After a year or two the editor asked me to write about other philatelic subjects, and I was free to choose the subjects. Finally…my first article was: Try to collect something else – and why not USA stamps. This of course referred to the normal answer I always received when I met a new stamp collector and asked about what he/she collected, and the answer was: Denmark, Faroe Islands and Greenland.

The first article had an introduction about collecting habits in general, and then I tried to explain why I recommended collecting the stamps from the United States. It might seem strange that I started my story with all the negative remarks I had heard … but it gave me the chance to correct or explain some of the opinions that were common among collectors…

After the first articles….I received several letters from collectors. It seemed to me that these collectors were scattered all over our little country, and also that they had problems finding someone to share their interest with….(and) so I got the bright idea that there was a need for a club for collectors of U.S. stamps.

Starting and leading a club, taking over responsibility, sounds very easy, but it demands willingness, energy, knowledge and setting time aside for all the work to do. Arne – not anymore a youngster – had it all. Needless to say, his interests in U.S. stamps resulted in a huge collection. In addition he got a lot of friends in the USA, namely John Hotchner, Frank Correll, Paul Nelson, Chad Snee and last but not least Joann Lenz, Secretary of the United States Stamp Society. He and Joann are on a photograph taken during Washington 2006, shown in Figure 1.

	Figure 2. Front page of USA FORUM of Sep. 2000 with John Hotchner’s article from Linn’s Stamp News on an Officially Sealed cover translated into Danish.

Today our Club consists of 115 members. It’s purpose: To promote and develop knowledge about U.S. philately. This is mainly done through USA FORUM, a publication issued four times a year, and through club meetings. The USA FORUM reflects the members’ interests through articles on Classic USA, postal history, USA Possessions, new issues, PNCs, precancels and the like.

As always, it is difficult to know what this means to the readers. For myself as a collector and writer for USA FORUM, the membership means a lot: Becoming more experienced through knowledge-sharing, broadening my horizon on U.S. history/U.S. postal history, and finally getting the driving force for an Exhibition Collection about the 2¢ Fourth Bureau Issue (at that time I didn’t know how popular this stamp already was in your country). In 2007 it was rewarded with Large Silver in a Club Exhibition and I’m eager to go for more during our National Exhibition in 2010 in Hillerød.

By my knowledge, we see some rare items amongst our member’s collections. The perhaps most spectacular one is an Officially Sealed cover, presented by John Hotchner in Linn’s in 2000 as the “New Champion” (see Figure 2). John Hotchner wrote:

Unbelieveable. That’s the only way to describe the officially sealed… and sealed… and sealed cover. The cover bears 14 labels. Thirteen are the 1888 seal (Scott OX7). The fourteenth is a scarce Dead Letter Office seal that is not listed in Scott. It was printed in red and used to record the location of the official record of the actions that were taken by the DLO.

The cover seems to have originated as an envelope, but this is only partly apparent. Look carefully and you will see that the address is on a separate piece of paper that has been attached to a new mailing envelope using the OX seals. The red DLO seal covers a hint of the original problem – a purple handstamp reading “Unmailable.” Why it was unmailable is not clear, but I’d guess I had something to do with the sturdiness of the original envelope. What seems to have happened is that the heavy contents – note 20¢ postage, enough for four times the basic first-class surface rate to Europe – threatened to burst the seams of the original envelope. The Post Office Department therefore put the contents in one of its own thicker DLO envelopes, as evidenced by handstamped DLO inscriptions on the back. The post office cut off the front of the original envelope and sealed it onto the DLO envelope with OX seals, which also served to support the edges of the new envelope.

There isn’t anything to help determine the original date of mailing, but the repackaging and remailing took place on or about Dec. 4, 1896 (circular date stamp in the lower-left corner over OX seals). On the back is a Bremen, Germany receiver cancel dated Dec. 13, 1896.

Would this cover be as fantastic as it is without such a remarkable analysis? I have my doubts. It tells me that collecting U.S. stamps in a foreign country also means that from time to time you need help from collectors in the U.S. who are friendly enough to share their expertise with us. I myself have good reason to thank Len Piszkiewicz for his information on Supplementary Mail, especially related to my own covers, and John Hotchner for answering all my questions on the 2¢ Fourth Bureau issue.

And to all members of the United Stamps Stamp Society: If you wish a connection with a Danish Club member, try a free advertisement in the USA FORUM. Our new President’s address: Jan Filtenborg, Slienvej 24B, DK-8600 Silkeborg, Denmark. For e-mails have a look on the website: usasamlerne.dk.