I'm currently busy listing Iceland, mainly 1970s to recent used. These are particularly nice issues, well designed and printed and generally inexpensive.
Regular mail service in Iceland was first established by a charter of 13 May 1776, and on 1 January 1873, Iceland issued its first postage stamps. The design was the same as for the Danish numeral issue of the time (numeral of value surmounted by a crown all inside an oval), denominated with values ranging from 2 to 16 skilling, and inscribed ÍSLAND. All are scarce or rare, and used copies are especially hard to find.
Chronology
In 1876 the currency changed to eyrir (pl. aurar) and króna. This meant new stamps, which were issued beginning in August. The same basic design, with some changes of color and perforation, continued in use through 1901. In 1897 a shortage of 3-aurar stamps led to the overprinting of 5-aurur stamps with þrir or þrir / 3; these are rare, and unfortunately excellent counterfeits have been produced.
In 1902 the numeral stamps were officially withdrawn and declared invalid for postage, since a new set depicting King Christian IX was to be issued. But then the Minister of Iceland changed his mind for reasons which are still unclear and had the numerals reissued, overprinted Í GILDI / '02--'03 in red or black, the overprint indicating that they were still valid. While some of the overprints are common, costing the collector less than a US$ or euro, others are among the great rarities of Icelandic philately. There are also many inverts and typographical errors to be found.
In 1906 King Christian died, and so in 1907 a new series of stamps came out, featuring overlapping profiles of Christian IX and King Frederick VIII.
1911 saw Iceland's first commemorative stamps, a set honoring Jón Sigurðsson on the 100th anniversary of his birth. In February of the following year, a set was issued with Frederick's silhouette. Although Frederick died in May 1912, no new stamps were issued until 1915, when another set of the 1907 design was issued in new colors.
King Christian X first appeared on Icelandic stamps in a new set of 1920. Periodic stamp shortages plagued the postal service during the 1920s, and locally surcharged stamps were produced in 1921, 1922, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1929, and 1930. The first pictorial, non-portrait stamps were issued in 1925, a set of five showing views of Iceland. Iceland's first airmail stamp was issued in 1928; it was produced by overprinting a crude image of an airplane on a regular 10-aurar stamp.
In 1930, Iceland celebrated the 1000th anniversary of the Althing with an attractive series of 15 regular and 5 airmail stamps featuring a wide variety of historical, mythological, and scenic images. In 1928 Icelandic authorities received a proposal from the 'Society of the Friends of Iceland' Verein der Islandsfreunde in Vienna Austria, proposing to produce these stamps as a gift to Iceland for the Millenary celebrations. Against the advice of the Head Postmaster, Sigurður Briem, the Icelandic government accepted the offer to produce 813,000 kronur's worth of stamps, 600,000 kronur's worth of which were to go to Iceland, and the rest to the Society for its trouble. Iceland's share of the stamps were delivered in December 1929, but in 1930 it became apparent that a fraud had been committed and a much larger than authorised number of stamps had been produced, by the insertion of the figure '1' before the value in the print order. Police investigations had not been completed before the outbreak of World War II, and were not resumed afterwards.
In May 1931, stamps were overprinted Zeppelin / 1931 for use on mail sent via the airship Graf Zeppelin, which visited Reykjavík on 1 July. The zeppelin did not actually land, there being no facilities, but it got low enough to pass mail bags up and down.
Also in 1931, a new issue came out depicting the Gullfoss waterfall. In addition, stamps of the 1920 issue, but with the vignette of the king much more finely engraved, started appearing periodically, through 1937.
Iceland's first semi-postal stamps appeared in 1933. The subjects of the three stamps depicted categories of recipients; rescue workers, children, and the elderly.
Iceland again honored Jon Sigurðsson on its issue marking the independent republic established on 17 June 1944 (and again on the 150th anniversary of his birth on 17 June 1961 and the centenary of the deaths of Sigurðsson and his wife, Ingibjorg Einarsdóttir, in 1979).
Since independence, Iceland has pursued a relatively restrained stamp-issuing policy, bringing out about 20 new stamps each year. There are annual Christmas andEuropa issues, and sets depicting local scenery, flora, and fauna, as well as heritage and the works of local artists.
More info on Iceland (from Wikipedia)
Iceland is a Nordic island country between the North Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean. It has a population of 329,100 and an area of 103,000 km2 (40,000 sq mi), making it the most sparsely populated country in Europe. The capital and largest city is Reykjavík. Reykjavík and the surrounding areas in the southwest of the country are home to over two-thirds of the population. Iceland is volcanically and geologically active. The interior consists of a plateau characterised by sand and lava fields, mountains and glaciers, while many glacial rivers flow to the sea through the lowlands. Iceland is warmed by the Gulf Stream and has a temperate climate, despite a high latitude just outside the Arctic Circle.
According to Landnámabók, the settlement of Iceland began in 874 CE when the Norwegian chieftain Ingólfr Arnarson became the first permanent settler on the island.[12] In the following centuries, mainly Norwegians and to a smaller extent other Scandinavians settled Iceland, bringing with them thralls of Gaelicorigin. From 1262 to 1814, Iceland was ruled by Norway and afterwards by Denmark. The country became independent in 1918 and a republic in 1944.
Until the 20th century, Iceland relied largely on fishing and agriculture. Industrialisation of the fisheries and Marshall Plan aid following World War II brought prosperity and Iceland became one of the wealthiest and most developed nations in the world. In 1994, Iceland became party to the European Economic Area, which supported diversification into economic and financial services.
Affected by the ongoing worldwide financial crisis, the nation's entire banking system systemically failed in October 2008, leading to a severe depression, substantial political unrest, the Icesave dispute, and the institution of capital controls. The economy has since made a significant recovery, in large part due to a surge in tourism.
Except for the capital controls, Iceland generally has a free-market economy with relatively low taxes compared to other OECD countries. It maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides universal health care and tertiary education for its citizens. Iceland ranks highly in economic, political and social stability and equality. In 2013, it was ranked as the 13th most-developed country in the world by the United Nations' Human Development Index. Iceland runs almost completely on renewable energy.
Icelandic culture is founded upon the nation's Scandinavian heritage. Most Icelanders are descendants of Germanic and Gaelic (Celtic) settlers. Icelandic, a North Germanic language, is descended from Old Norse and is closely related to Faroese and West Norwegian dialects. The country's cultural heritage includes traditional Icelandic cuisine, Icelandic literature and medieval sagas. Iceland has the smallest population of any NATO member and is the only one with no standing army, its lightly armed coast guard being in charge of defence.
