Greenland

Greenland, or Kalaallit Nunaat, is a large island off the eastern coast of Canada. It has been part of the Kingdom of Denmark since 1814.

Pakke-Porto (1905-37)
The Danish state-owned Kongelige Grønlandske Handel provided mail service beginning in 1905. The limited amount of regular mail was carried free until the government issued its first stamps in 1938. Meanwhile, a parcel service was started with stamps with a polar bear design only inscribed with PAKKE-PORTO at top plus the denomination.  File:Greenland PAKKEPORT 5o ThieleII.jpg|5 øre Thiele II printing (letterpress). File:Greenland pakkeporto.jpg|20ø Thiele II printing. File:Greenland 20PAKKEPORTO AL.jpg|20ø Andreason & Lachman printing (offset). 
 * In 1905, 1, 5 and 10 øre letterpress values were issued line perf 12¼x12¼. This is known as the Thiele I printing. The 5 and 10 øre values exist with natural straight edges, although straightedges on panes/sheets were later officially reperfed 11½. The reperfs have been forged.
 * In 1915, 9 values were released, again letterpress but now perf 11¼x11¼. This is the Thiele II printing. The 1, 2, 15, 20 øre values exist with natural straight edges though again, the straightedges on panes/sheets were later officially reperfed 11½. The reperfs have been forged.
 * In 1937, J.H. Schulz issued 4 letterpress values: 10, 20, 70 øre and 1 kronor. These are perf 10¼x10¼.
 * Also in 1937 Andreason & Lachmon released 70ø and 1kr in offset, in the same perf as above. The offset printing is recognizable by some crooked shading lines in the shield. The hyphen in PAKKE-PORTO has squared corners.

There were various cancels used over the years that help confirm a rough date of use for used copies.Earlier stamps typically did not have dated cancels. We will get to them someday (promise).
 * A dated bridge cancel reading GRØNLANDS / KJØBENHAVN K. is a CTO cancel, used for both Pakke-Porto and later stamps.
 * Cancels in the format Nr. xx / avane were cancels for postal savings use in Northern Greenland. The numbers correspond to various post offices.

1938-present
 File:Greenland first polar bear.jpg|1938 1kr polar bear definitive. File:Greenland 1945 1ore.jpg|1945 1ø pictorial. File:Greenland liberation.jpg|1945 30ø liberation of Denmark. File:Greenland Frederick IX.jpg|1953 30ø Frederick Ix definitive. File:Greenland n lights.jpg|1963 15ø Northern Lights definitive. File:Greenland 10k polar bear.jpg|1963 10kr definitive. File:Greenland Frederick IX anorak.jpg|1968 60ø Frederick IX definitive. File:Greenland 25th liberation.jpg|1970 liberation of Denmark anniversary. File:Greenland church law.jpg|2005 9.25kr church law commemorative. 
 * Greenland's first regular postage stamps were issued beginning in January 1938 in Copenhagen/Kjøbenhavn but did not reach Greenland towns until February and far later. The stamps are inscribed GRØNLAND and show either King. Christian X in uniform or a polar bear not in uniform. New values were added in 1946.
 * In 1945, a set of bicolor pictorials was released.
 * In May of that year, the previous issue was overprinted DANMARK / BEFRIET / 5 MAJ 1945 for the liberation of Denmark. Some values were overprinted in red, some in blue, with mixups. However, the astute (or old) collector will note that many overprint errors have been delisted since it was revealed that errors were deliberated created and held back for sale for high prices by a cabal of stamp dealers.
 * In 1950, new definitives with King Frederick in admiral's uniform or the sailing ship Gustav Holm against an iceberg as designs. More values were added up to 1960.
 * In 1958, a surcharged definitive was issued as Greenland's first semipostal.
 * In 1959, Greenland's second commemoratives were issued, a series on folk tales.
 * In 1963-68, new definitives were issued with designs of the Northern Lights, King Frederick IX and (sigh) a polar bear.
 * In late 1969, KALÂDTLIT NUNÂT was added to stamp inscriptions, making them bilingual.
 * In 1979, that part became KALAALLIT NUNAAT which it has been ever since.
 * Beginning in 2003, Greenland began including year dates below the design.