Icebreakers

Three new postage stamps

On 7 September 2005 there were three new stamp issues in Finland: a booklet of four 1st class non-denominated stamps depicting icebreakers, a miniature sheet of four 65 cent stamps portraying the Old Church of Petäjävesi and a 1st class non-denominated stamp showing a cloudberry, the bogland delicacy.

Three generations of icebreakers

The Icebreakers stamp booklet depicts the Finstaship icebreakers Urho, Otso, Fennica and Botnica. The ships represent the last three generations of Finnish icebreakers. Each stamp shows the name and building year of the icebreaker, and also the name and building year of the sister ship.
The oldest of the vessels in the stamp booklet, 30 years this year, is the icebreaker Urho. Otso was built in 1986. The ship is more modern in terms of technology and in particular more cost effective than Urho. Fennica, built in 1993, is the first multipurpose icebreaker in Finland. In the winter the multipurpose icebreakers sail in domestic icebreaking duties. In the summer they have offshore duties in the service of international oil and gas industry. The newest of the ships depicted on the stamps is Botnica. It was built in 1998 with advanced multipurpose icebreaker technology.

Four stamps in booklet

The four stamps of the booklet illustrate the 24-hour operation of the Icebreakers - the top stamp depicts evening, and the next ones night, morning and day respectively.

Stamps designed by Lakaniemi and Rumpu

The Icebreakers stamp booklet was designed by graphic designers Ari Lakaniemi and Susanna Rumpu. The stamps are based on photographs by Matti Lehto (scale models), jarmo Vehkakoski and jouni Klinga (background pictures). The price of the Icebreakers booklet is 2.60 euro. The stamp booklet contains 1st class non-denominated gummed stamps.
Finland: September 7, 2005

More information

Stamps Finland
Postage stamps 2005
Postage stamp 150 years
Christmas in Finland
Children's right in focus
Finland 2005 stamp issues