Denmark Christmas Seals in the Colnect catalogue

[drabarthel]

I had to realize that, when size information is given at all, it is almost always incorrect for the Danish Christmas seals. The illustrations are often of very poor quality, and special formats such as booklets, reprints, and souvenir sheets are frequently missing altogether. Furthermore, in the more recent issues, there is no distinction made between gummed and self-adhesive seals, and so on and so forth.

In total, thousands of individual entries in the catalogue would need to be corrected or supplemented. Is there a simpler way to do this—such as a CSV table that could be imported—to make the process easier than editing or adding each value one by one?

By way of background: I have created a digital album for the Danish Christmas seals covering the years 1904 through (currently) 2010. As such, I have accurate measurements for all seals as well as a comprehensive set of self-created images. I would be happy to make this knowledge available to others via Colnect. However, manually editing each of the many, many individual entries would simply be too time-consuming for me.

[tcawe]

We offer CSV import for new items but not for editing. It's possible to import and delete the old but it'd probably better to do the edits directly on Colnect and see how they reflect. How many items do you need to update? Have you spoken to the coordinator about it?

[drabarthel]

Shortly after I wrote this I became editor and since then the Denmark Christmas seals section has been improved at least a little bit.

[tcawe]

Great. I'm happy to know our editing tools are suitable for the needed improvements. Happy editing

[drabarthel]

That you have created this wonderful online catalogue with it's tools is very good. Thank you very much!

[tcawe]

Thank you It has been a wonderful team work of so many people around the world. Thanks for joining in

[raoul62]

As a collector of Jul Stamps, i have clearly noticed the increase in quality and quantity @drabarthel . Well done.

Rome wasn't built in one day, but it eventually became a global city.

Every change is progress.

[drabarthel]

Some time ago, Denmark’s Christmas seals were separated from the general Cinderella category and grouped into a dedicated Cinderella subcategory of their own.

In the course of my work on the catalog so far, I have observed the following: Danish Christmas seals are generally characterized by a Christmas-related design and by an explicit designation as Christmas seals (e.g., Jule, Julen). All Christmas seals have served—and continue to serve—a charitable purpose and therefore also qualify as charity seals.

However, not all Danish charity seals are simultaneously Christmas seals. This applies, for example, to the early issues from Odder. In their initial years, these seals had no inherent Christmas-related theme. Even the early issues of the Danish Christmas Seal Collectors’ Club (DJF) frequently had no connection to Christmas at all.

If one were to apply the current division in the Colnect catalog—between general Cinderellas and Christmas seals—with strict consistency, some of the Odder issues or those of the DJF (specifically the early ones) would have to be assigned to the general Cinderella category, while later issues with an inherent Christmas theme would belong in the specific Christmas category.

In my view, this would create more confusion than clarity for catalog users.

I therefore suggest expanding the definition of the current Christmas seal category to include a charity seal category as well. Only in this way—while strictly adhering to catalog nomenclature—can Cinderellas from Odder or the DJF (used here merely as examples) be cataloged in a systematic and consistent manner.

The category of “pure” Cinderellas would then primarily include exhibition seals, company advertising labels, seals with a general national, historical, or cultural context, as well as seals issued by organizations, for example for the administration of membership dues (political parties, and the like).

[raoul62]

Weren't those Odder stamps (even the older ones) issued especially in December to give charity the Christmas spirit? Christmas = Jul (Jól, Julen). I think they all fit well in 'Denmark: Cinderellas Stamps - Christmas Seals'.

I love the breakdown, and the naming (Cinderellas Stamps - Christmas Seals) lends itself to expansion to other countries. I wouldn't include other charity stamps that aren't Christmas stamps here.

'Cinderellas Stamps - Christmas Seals' could perhaps also be used for other countries where Cinderellas were specifically made and sold during that period. There are some very large and popular Christmas seals collecting areas in other countries: all the other Scandinavian countries, the United States (+/- 1,500 Christmas Cinderellas on colnect today), South Africa and Canada, for example, have released beautiful Christmas stamp Cinderella series and continue to do so today.

If you transfer all other Denmark charity cinderella's to 'Denmark: Cinderellas Stamps - Christmas Seals' ... should the name then be changed back in ... 'Denmark: Cinderellas Stamps'?

I'm a fan of the split because of two important advantages:

1. A well-defined and extensive collection area gets a place of honor (its own area);

2. The other cinderellas get more breathing room, resulting in more appreciation and attention.

Merging... then those two, in my opinion, important advantages are lost.

Both advantages can attract specific collectors. And attraction always means conversion. Conversion to Premium, of course. The higher the conversion, the more investment are possible, in a place that can already be called a collector's paradise.

That, of course, is just my opinion and vision. If it needs to be different, that's perfectly fine too.

ps: i don't mix my Easter seals collection of the US with my Christmas seals collection of that country. And yet they are in one area on Colnect, together with a few thousand other cinderellas and seals... not easy at all.

[drabarthel]

I, too, welcomed the decision to group the Danish Christmas Seals into a dedicated category.

My concern here is purely one of systematic classification. Publication during the Christmas season can hardly serve as a defining criterion, since the exact dates of issue cannot be determined—or can no longer be reliably established. This is true even for the early Odder cinderellas, which show neither a visual nor a textual reference to Christmas.

The issue becomes even clearer in the case of the issues of the Danish Julemærkesamler Fonden af 1944 (DJF). At most, only about half of all DJF issues have an inherent Christmas-related theme, and even this is not consistently unambiguous when judged solely on pictorial design. It was not until 1977 that the DJF explicitly identified its Christmas-related issues as such. The remaining issues—typically overprinted—were released in connection with annual spring meetings of the association or to commemorate organizational anniversaries. Nevertheless, the proceeds from these issues were likewise used for tuberculosis relief and, later, for the Julemærkehjem program.

Strictly speaking, only those DJF issues that are genuinely Christmas seals ought to be cataloged under Christmas Seals. In my view, however, such a distinction would make little practical sense.

[raoul62]

I think it's assumed that Odder was used in the run-up to Christmas (December). That's what I learned from a wise Jul stamp philatelist (who has an incredibly extensive collection on this topic).

There have been some publications about Odder, mostly in Danish of course. It's a bit difficult to read if you don't know the language. And typing them into Google Translate isn't easy either. Some special characters are a nuisance for Dutch speaking persons (they're not on our keyboards).

The only word I know about is 'Jul'

odder_kerstmis.jpg

"It's probably no exaggeration to call the Odder Velgerenhedsmcerke an institution when you consider what it has become in recent years: from humble beginnings to a fundraising campaign that contributes a significant amount each year to the collection boxes that spread words of encouragement to the sick and needy in the run-up to Christmas."

Vilh. Malling. himself, Pastor of Odder at that time, and co-founder of the Odder Velgerenhedsmcerke, wrote:

"We've agreed to launch the Odder Christmas stamps. They cost only 2 ore and will hopefully be available at retailers starting tonight or tomorrow. The stamps can be affixed to all letters and parcels; the post office has given permission for this.

It's not necessary, and shouldn't go beyond the intended purpose 'Christmas stamps'. None of us will go broke if we affix the seals and the stamps side by side on the same letter. We hope this will be a small step in the fight against winter. We hope the thousands of stamps we ordered will sell out within a few days, but then we'll receive a new order soon."

odder_kerstmis2.jpg

That is why:

I think they all fit well in 'Denmark: Cinderellas Stamps - Christmas Seals'.

From the beginning, issued in december in the run-up to Christmas.

Many other charity stamps lack any connection to Christmas.

However, ALL seals, or series of seals (cinderellas) have beautiful storys behind them, mostly.

[southampton59]

Personally I am finding the latest trend of splitting Christmas seals up by years really frustrating, take Sweden as an example, 1904 - 1959, 1970, 1991, 1994, 1996, 1999 and 2001 are all together (which is how it should be) then the rest are grouped in small sections by year. If you want to go by years all you need to do is use the year function at the top, if you want to simply go through the listings you have to keep going in and out of different groupings.

This is not user friendly, this is insanity, why have a function like "Years" and then make it redundant, stupidity at it's finest.

Rant over for now

[drabarthel]

If you want to see them all together just deactivate the year filter. But may be I haven't understood your comment.

[southampton59]

If you want to see them all together just deactivate the year filter. But may be I haven't understood your comment.

They are already listed in separate groupings so deactivating the year filter will not have any effect. the year filter would separate all years not leave some together and some separate.

[drabarthel]

Now I understand what you mean: you filtered the Swedish Cinderellas by series, and in that way the annual pattern you described does indeed become apparent for the tuberculosis charity issues.

For reasons unknown to me, those who entered these Swedish Christmas Tuberculosis Seals into the catalogue assigned different series names to a lot of them depending on the year of issue. This isn't necessary, as the year of issue is separately mentioned for each seal.

In my reply, I assumed that one would open all Swedish Cinderellas first and then remove the year filter. That way, all Christmas Seals are visible at a glance—albeit together with all other Cinderella issues as well.

In the meantime your problem may have been solved. Have a new look on the Swedish Tuberculosis Seals.