In a letter, Vilhjalmur Sigurdsson, Iceland Post’s Head of Philately, says the agency’s philatelic operations, PostPhil, will cease at the end of 2019, after about 90 years in operation.

“Iceland Post currently has severe operating difficulties,” Sigurdsson says in a letter to collectors. The number of philatelic customers has been “decreasing year after year,” and the new CEO of Iceland Post is “cutting down everything that is not profitable in this company, including PostPhil.”

Iceland is scheduled to issue stamps for paintings by Icelandic artists and Christmas stamps on October 31, and that may be it for the country.

“The current management of Iceland Post Ltd., prefers if possible to stop issuing new stamps altogether,” Sigurdsson writes. “If the company must keep on issuing new stamps in 2020 and onward the number of new stamps will be very few each year and there will be no service for stamp collectors.” What stamp production remains may be handled by outside contractors.

Iceland Post announced the layoffs of about 50 employees on August 20th, and Sigurdsson says after October, there will only be three people handling philatelic orders. “I will leave Iceland Post Ltd., in September after 20 years in charge of Postphil.”

The art stamps being issued October 31 are shown below:

• Icelandic Art X – “New Painting“.
• Helgi Þorgils Friðjónsson – Poseidon’s Kingdom, 1988. 50g domestic (195 ISK) Daði
• Guðbjörnsson – Calda, calda, Hot, Hot, 1982. 50g to Europe (250 ISK) Brynhildur Þorgeirsdóttir – Sculpture, 1983. 50g outside Europe (315 ISK)
• Jón Axel Björnsson – Untitled, 1983. 2000g domestic (720 ISK)