Finland-Sweden Athletics International 26.8.1994

Suomi-Ruotsi-maaottelu (literally The Finland-Sweden match) or Finnkampen (Swedish, literally The Finn Battle), is a yearly athletics international competition held between Finland and Sweden since 1925.

It is, since the late 1980s, the only annual athletics international (with only two participating countries) still held at a professional level. The two-day event attracts significant audiences. 

100 Years of Grönköpings Veckoblad Swedish satirical monthly magazine 29.8.2002

Grönköpings Veckoblad is a Swedish satirical monthly magazine. The name translates as "The Grönköping Weekly", or "The Greenville Weekly", Grönköping being a fictional Swedish town. The name Grönköping predates the magazine; it was first used by Albert Engström as a headline for some of his drawings in 1895.

Founded in 1902 by Hasse Zetterström as a supplement to Söndags-Nisse, it became an independent magazine in 1916. The current editor in chief of the magazine is Ulf Schöldström.

The parody language Transpiranto, a caricature of Esperanto, was introduced in a 1929 article by Nils Hasselskog, "World language in Grönköping's school" ("Världsspråk i Grönköpings skola").

Grönköping has been characterized as a Sweden in miniature. Using bombastic and anachronistic language while purporting to describe and analyse current events in a serious manner, Grönköpings Veckoblad has become a Swedish institution and a standard for what is considered good satire.

The discerning reader will notice that no value is indicated on the stamps. They were used for first class mail.

Thank you Merja.

NORDEN 80

Centenary of the Fredrika Bremer Association

1985 Table Tennis World Championships

In 1985 Sweden was host to the World TT Championships again. The tournament was held at Göteborg from 28^th March to the 7^th April. The event was till then the biggest sports competition ever held in Sweden, if you consider the number of participating countries. The previous four occasions when Sweden hosted these championships the tournaments were held in Stockholm.

Gothenburg (Swedish: Göteborg) is the second largest city in Sweden and the fifth largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 532,247, with 549,839 in the urban area and about one million inhabitants in the metropolitan area. Gothenburg is classified as a global city by GaWC, with a ranking of Gamma−. The city was ranked as the 12th most inventive city in the world by Forbes (2013).

Gothenburg was founded by royal charter in 1621 by King Gustavus Adolphus. At the mouth of the Göta älv, the Port of Gothenburg is the largest port in the Nordic countries.

NORDEN 1969

The Norden stamps are common stamp issues between Nordic countries. It is as old as the Europa stamps. The idea of a Norden issue with a common motif was bred by Foreningen Norden [the Norden Association] in a letter to the five Nordic Postal Administrations in 1951. At the conference of the Nordic Postal Association in March the same year the consensus was to accede to the idea, but for practical reasons it could only be accomplished later.

The first issue was in 1956, and had a common motive representing five flying swans. The Swan motif emanated from a poem from 1946 by Hans Hartvig Seedorff Pedersen titled "Svanerne fra Norden" [TheSwans from the Nordic Countries], which is a tribute to the free community in the five countries each symbolized by a swan- Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. In 1969 the common design was five Viking ships from a rock carving.  On February 28th 1969, the five Northern Postal Administrations issued stamps with a common motif to stress Nordic Solidarity, and the importance of Nordic co-operation in many different fields. The Swedish designer Sven Ake Gustafsson designed the stamps. They were printed at different Nordic stamp or bank-note printing presses.

In connection with the issue an exhibition with all the five Postal Administrations participating was held at the Postal Museum in Stockholm. The exhibition was held from February 28th to March 30th, 1969. A special date-stamp was used for letters and postcards posted at the exhibition. In accordance with a special agreement all “Norden” stamps were postmarked by the date of the exhibition stamp.

Thank you my friend Merja for this wonderful first day cover, with stamps of all the five Nordic countries.