J.R. Sabin Glossary

Jack Sabin's Abbreviated Glossary of Danish Philatelic Terms
[In Progress]

John R. Sabin Gainesville, Florida (draft of 8.2.05)

The premier catalogs and auction houses in Danish philately issue their materials only in Danish, which may make reading auction catalogs and stamp catalogs difficult for those of us who collect Danish stamps, but are not fluent in the language. In order to make life a bit easier for all of us, I have compiled a short glossary of Danish terms which one finds in various stamp catalogs. I hope this makes things a bit easier for some of us. The words are those found frequently in the AFA Catalog and the DAKA Håndbog, and in several of the Danish auction houses catalogs, in particular those issued by Thomas Høiland, Jan Helding, Viking Frimærker, H.J. Rasch, Vejle Frimærker and others. Some other words, not peculiar to philately but often encountered in catalogs, are also included.

The indexing in this glossary is made according to Danish lexicography. Thus, æ, ø, and å follow z, in that order. In addition, the definite is generally formed by adding -et or -en to the root noun, so look for the root. Plurals generally end in -er, at least for the regular nouns.

Please let me know of any additions/corrections/changes that need to be made here.

A very large glossary of stamp collecting terms in many languages can be found at: http://www.askphil.org/b25htm

Danish English equivalent
aerogram aerogram afskåret cut off almindeligt papir ordinary (not flourescent) paper analinrosa aniline rose, aniline pink anbefalet registered annulleret cancelled ark sheet (of stamps) arkrand selvage arkstørrelse sheet size - typically 50 or 100 stamps attest certificate of expert opinion of authenticity automatfrimærker stamps issued by an automat (1919 - 1932) avisportomærker newspaper stamps bagside back side bleg pale blok block blækannulleret hand cancelled in ink blå blue blågrøn blue-green bogtryk flat plate printing, letterpress printing bredrandet with wide margins brev letter brevklip stamp on paper brevkort postcard brud break brugt used brunrød brown-red bundtryk burelage bypost local (city) post bølgelinie (type) wavy line type (e.g. AFA 42ff, Scott 57ff) Dansk Vestindien Danish West Indies (St. Thomas, St. Jan and St. Croix) dato date dobbeltark double sheet - typically 2 x 100 stamps dobbelte brevkort double postcard dobbelttryk double impression eksemplar example enkel, enk single enkelte brevkort single postcard essay essay fabrikationsnummer production number farvefrisk fresh, not faded, color farver colors farvestreg colored line fejl error, fault fejlagtig faulty feldpost field or military post fin fine fireblokke four block, block of four fluorescennde fluorescent fodpost foot post (Copenhagen) fold fold forbundet joined forside front frankeret franked, postage paid frankeringsetiketter postal labels - you dial in the amount, printed "stamps" frimærker stamps frimærkrhæfte stamp booklet frjlperforeret misperforated førstedagskuvert first day cover gammel (sing.), gamle (pl.) old garantistempel guarantee stamp garenti guarantee god good gravering engraving grovtakket coarsely or roughly perforated grøn green gråbrun grey-brown grålilla grey-lilac, grey-mauve gråviolet grey-purple gul yellow gulbrun yellow-brown gummi gum hage hook, protuberance (see AFA 40x) helsager postal stationery in general hjørnefold corner crease hjørnetal corner numbers (see AFA 32ff.) hovedsag the main issue hver anden every other hæfte booklet højre right i in indicium, indicia indication that postage was paid - a stamp, impression, or lable indstiksalbun stock book interessant interesting isoleret isolated julemærker Christmas labels (cinderellas) kamtakning comb perforated - perforated with a comb-like perforator karavel caravel, ship karmin carmine karminrosa carmine-rose karton card stock kastaniebrun chestnut-brown kliche cliché, die for a single stamp - vignette plus frame knæk break kobberstik copper plate, recessed engraving on copper kobbertryk copper print komplet complete konvolutter envelope korrekt correct korrespondancekort letter card korsbånd newspaper wrapper (with indicta) kort card, short kronen, krone the crown, crown kronor present day Danish currency: 100 øre = 1 krone kuvert envelope or cover kvalitet quality lang long lapidarstemple san serif cancellation let light lilla purple lille small liniestemple line postmark linietakning line perforation - one row of perforation needles lodret vertical luftpost airmail luxsus, LUX very desirable lys light marginal marginal, edge matlilla matte purple meget much, plenty mørk dark mørkblå dark blue mørkgrøn dark green nedre lower nedre lower nr. stempel number cancellation nuancer color nuances nul zero nummerstemple numerical postmark NV-hjørnespids northwest (upper left) corner ny new nytryl official reprints nøddebrun nut-brown nødfrimærker WWII emergency stamps, see AFA NØ-hjørnespids northeast (upper right) corner olivenbrun olive-brown olivengrå olive-grey omvendt, omv inverted oplag printing, as in "second printing" orange orange over over overtryk overprint papir fold paper crease papir paper paquebot mailed/cancelled on shipboard par pair parstyk ke pair parti lot pengebrev letter containing cash perfekt perfect perfin perfin pergamyn glassine perle pearl perlefejl pearl error - cf. eg. AFA 23z, 24z, etc. pladefejl plate error plet spot porto postage, or postage due portofrimærker postage due stamps portomærke postage due stamp position, pos position in the sheet postfrisk mint postfærgemæker stamps valid at ferry postoffices postkort postcard postmærker postal labels - you dial in the amount, printed "stamps" pragteksemplar very fine example preussiskblå prussian blue prima first class provisorer provisional prøvemærker proofs punkt point or dot purpur purple på bagsiden on the reverse påtryk surcharge ramme, rm frame rand margin rasterfelt small white squares in a steel engraving (see AFA 196 ff.) reklamemærker stamps with advertising labels attached repareret repaired ret right - as opposed to inverted retoucheret repaired, fixed, partially re-engraved retvendt not inverted rift tear rigsbankskilling (R.B.S.) earliest Danish stamp denomination (1851 - 1854) rigsdaler unit of Danish currency 1854 - 1871: 100 sk = 1 rigsdaler rosalilla rose-purple rundt rounded rød red rødlilla red-purple rødviolet red-purple samling collection sammenhængende ligatured scepter scepter sepiabrun sepia-brown sjeldent rare, unusual skiftergrå slate-grey skilling, sk. unit of Danish stamp denomination (1854 - 1874) skillingmærker stamps denominated in skillings smuk beautiful små small småark small sheets soldaterfrimærker stamps for soldiers (WWI, 1917) sort/hvid, S/H black and white sortblå blue-black sortbrun black-brown souvenirmapper souvenir sets with folder specialstemple special postmark spids point stempel stamp, cancellation stemplet cancelled stor large streg line streng strong strib strip stumt stempel mute cancellation stålstyk recessed engraving on steel suppleringsvardi supplemental value svag weak SV-hjørnespids southwest (lower left) corner sværd sword svært difficult sæt set SØ-hjørnespids southeast (lower right) corner tak, takning tooth, perforations takket perforated tegning drawing or design tête-bêche stamps printed connected with one inverted with respect to the other tillægpris extra amount added to a semi-postal tjenste brevkort official use postcard tjenstefrimærker official use stamps tofarvede bi-colored tryk print or pressure trykoplag printing trykplader printing plates tyk thick tynd thin type type ubrugt unused - not mint, but with hinge marks ubrugt unused, but not mint uden without udfyldt filled udgave issue udklip cut square from postal stationery udstilling exhibition uklar unclear ultramarin ultramarine uofficielle unofficial usædvanlig unusual utakket imperforate vandmærke, vm watermarks vandret horizontal velcentrerede nicely centered velplacered well placed, nicely located venstre left vignette central design which, with a frame, makes an entire stamp vinrød wine-red violet purple værdier values, denominations våbentype coat-of-arms type ægte genuine ældre older ændrede altered, changed øre present day Danish currency: 100 øre = 1 krone øremærker stamps denominated in øre øvre upper åben open